Every day is a battle (lots of photos)

[kaitlinmeep]

I love the photo approach to logging!  And Via Ferrata - so excited for you!   I need to add that as an Epic Quest goal - I've been wanting to do one for years.  =D  Looks like an amazing adventure.  Keep up the awesome work!

[Tobbe]

Yes, the Via Ferrata was definitely the highlight of the trip! Can really recommend it to anyone!

[Tobbe]

Day 27

 

Wednesday, 8/8

 

Food log

 

Drink 1 - 07:15

 

 

I'm continuing with my ginger shot

 

Breakfast - 10:00

 

 

Zoats

 

150 g / 5 oz finely grated zucchini

rolled oats

protein powder

almonds

salt

water

Drink 2: A big cup of black tea

 

This really fills me up, and tastes a whole lot better than it looks

 

Drink 3 - 13:00 6 dl zero calorie juice

 

Lunch - 14:30

 

 

 

Bread with eggs

Bread with cheese

Vegetables to snack on

Half an egg (not shown)

Drink 4: A big cup of black tea

 

Our neighbor has been away on vacation in Finland, so we have been looking after his flowers and other plants. As a "thank you" he gave us some Finish bread. It's a thin, pretty dry and chewy, and very flavorful sourdough rye bread. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruisreikäleipä)

I had four different toppings. Eggs with herbal salt. Eggs with kaviar (a smoked fish roe spread). Mild cheese. Extra mature cheese.

The most tasty topping was the eggs with kaviar. After I finished that plate I had the other half of that sliced egg with just some kaviar on top (no bread or butter).

I always like to drink tea when I eat bread, so that was the drink of choice for lunch today!

 

Drink 5 - 16:00 3 dl zero calories juice

 

Dinner - 19:30

 

 

 

 

Galette complète

 

Buckwheat pancake with ham, cheese and an egg.

Drink 6: Glass of water

 

Preparation for today's dinner started right after breakfast when I mixed the batter for the galettes (buckwheat crêpe/pancake). There were two things I wanted to taste when my wife and I were in Paris a few weeks ago that we just never got around to. This was one of them - a galette. (The other was an eclair.)

I cheated a bit with the batter to make it easier on myself when frying the galettes. I used milk instead of water, and I added two eggs to help with binding. Since there is no gluten in buckwheat it doesn't hold together nearly as good as regular flour does!

The taste did not disappoint, and I will definitely make this again!

 

Fitness log

 

 

Morning walk. More than 5 minutes, and more than one mile.

I followed that up by doing 10 push ups when I got home again.

 

Today's breakfast and lunch combined included way more carbs than I'm used to. So I figured I better put all that glycogen to good use!

 

I just picked a few random exercises from the top of my head and performed them before getting back to work.

 

10 burpees
10 crunches
10 body weight squats
20 high knees
10 push ups
jog in place, 1 minute

 

I did three rounds of that without rest. And then efter a couple of minutes of catching my breath I did 20 + 10 push ups.

 

At the bottom of each burpee I did a push up as well, so 10 this morning, 60 during the three rounds of exercise, and then 20 + 10 afterwords. That's 100 push ups in one day!

 

 

 

 

After dinner I again felt like I had eaten a lot of carbs, and too much cheese! So I went for a 5k run/jog. I chose a trail that goes right next to one of the lakes here where I live. Such a blessing to have beautiful nature this close to our house!

 

After that run I did another 10 push ups, just because I could So all in all I got 110 push ups done today. I'm very happy about that!

 

Completed Quests

 

 

Checked of the last of my random initial "My Epic Quest" quests. Now I have more serious quests there to tackle!

 

Thanks to that trail run I can also check of some regular quests

 

Run a Trail Near Water 25 XP

Take a 10 Minute Trail Run 40 XP

Run 1 mile 25 XP

Run 1 Mile Without Stopping 25 XP

Run 5 Minutes Without Stopping 25 XP

Run 10 Minutes Without Stopping 25 XP

Run a 5k (3.1 Miles) 50 XP

Take a 30 Minute Trail Run 60 XP

 

Score! 275 XP in just one run  That's not bad!

[RubiksCat]

Beautiful scenery, and I don't know what those dishes taste like but I'm glad you enjoyed them. You're like the foreign cuisine expert of the forum.

[Tobbe]

Day 28

 

Thursday, 9/8

  

Food log

 

Breakfast - 09:30

 

 

Quark, Strawberry & Wild strawberry flavor

Kefir

Frozen strawberries

Almonds

Drink 1: Black tea

 

Tried a new flavor of my morning quark today. It was good!  But if I had to choose only one kind of quark to eat every morning I'd go with the natural, unflavored, kind.

Also, to be honest, I can't remember if that tea was the first drink that day, or if I did actually remember to take my morning ginger shot (and just forgot to take a photo of it)... Ohh well...

 

Lunch - 13:30

 

 

Ham salad with tzatziki

 

Another Greek inspired salad. I didn't have any lettuce, so I took some red cabbage instead. Also had a piece of broccoli stalk in the fridge that needed to be used, so I grated parts of it and added to my salad. Black olives, low fat feta cheese and the last of the tzatziki.

 

Drink 2: Two glasses of plain water

 

Dinner - 17:30

 

 

Charcoal grilled burger

 

You can't see it, but there is a hamburger below that big lettuce leaf  I often find that if I eat a burger between buns all I can taste is the buns. Wrapping the burger in lettuce, or, like I've done here, using only half a bun, lets more of the burger flavor through.

Also had two pieces of grilled corn with salt and butter. And next to the corn there's a small piece of grilled halloumi.

Drink 3: Lots of Coke Zero. Probably around 1.5 liters / 50 oz

 

We were invited to friends for the afternoon. They always serve delicious food, not to mention their desserts! So I knew before hand that I would probably eat too much, and of the wrong things. Took all of my willpower to not eat more than this. I could easily have had another burger, or two. And more corn. And more halloumi. But as I mentioned earlier, most likely we would later be served dessert, so I didn't want to over eat already with the main course.

 

Dessert - 20:00

 

 

Bilberry pie with vanilla ice cream.

 

Pie is my kryptonite. It's difficult to see how big a portion is on a photo like this. But this was actually a bigger piece of pie than what anyone else took. Still - if this had been all I had it wouldn't had been too bad. But I went back for seconds, and my second serving was even bigger than this one

 

(Bilberries are European blueberries that are smaller and way more flavorful. They have a dark blue flesh, compared to the pale, almost white, flesh of american blueberries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry)

[Tobbe]

Day 28, part 2

 

Fitness log

 

Morning walk

 

 

 

Spotted a hare during my morning walk today

 

Box jumps

 

 

 

 

We have a big pile of scrap wood in the backyard. My sons picked out some of the wood, and then I and my oldest son used that to start building what I call a "jump box". It'll have three levels, 12 inches, 20 inches and 24 inches. I thought it would be a piece of cake to jump up on the 20 inches level. But I barely made it up on 12 inches! This will be tough! A lot tougher than I thought it would be!

 

But this was still a lot of small wins. We cleared up some of that big pile of scrap wood that I need to get rid of any way. I got some great father and son time. And I needed something to jump up on for my fitness quests!

 

Swimming in the ocean

 

 

That's my head out there in the middle! Went swimming in the ocean for approximately 150 meters. I don't like swimming. It's too cold. If it weren't for the XP I would never have done it  NerdFitness makes me do all kinds of stuff I wouldn't normally  Also, a good way to sneak a few minutes of exercise in during the day in anticipation for all the food I knew we would be served at our friend's place!

 

Push ups

 

Felt really bad about all that pie I had eaten when I got home from our friend's place. Wanted to do *something* to at least burn some of those extra calories. Couldn't go for a walk or run because I had things I had to do indoors. So I decided to do some push ups. Doesn't burn a lot of calories, but at least it's something... And it makes me feel better and not so stressed out when I get some exercise in, no matter what kind it is.

 

So I did 10 + 20 + 20 + 25 + 25 with several minutes of rest between each set.

 

Completed Quests

 

Swim 25m without stopping 25 XP

Swim 50m without stopping 50 XP

Swim 100 Meters Without Stopping 25 XP

Swim in the ocean 25 XP

Swim 100m breaststroke 50 XP

Swim 100m in open water 100 XP

 

275 XP today as well. Nice! That was not planned at all. Next time I find a measured distance in the ocean I'll have to go for 500 m for more XP. That's going to take a while...

Funny that 25 m was 25 XP, 100 m was also 25 XP, but 50 m was 50 XP

[RubiksCat]

Awesome project going on with the boxes and yea, plyometric exercises are harder then they look. Adorable rabbit (I wonder what he would've tasted like for dinner). I usually spot the occasional vulture in the sky or old snakeskin lying in the dead grass when I'm running outside.

[Tobbe]

Day 29

 

Friday, 10/8

  

Food log

 

Drink 1 - 05:00

 

 

Ginger shot

 

Today I know I remembered to take my morning shot, because I took a photo of it

 

Drink 2 - 07:00

 

 

Cup of black tea

 

Left home really early today! We were supposed to leave at 05:30, but it was almost 06:00 before everyone was in the car. Don't know why it always takes so long to get started... I was driving, and everyone else was sleeping. Good thing I had my thermos mug of tea to keep me awake!

 

Breakfast - 09:30

 

 

 

Strawberry/Wild strawberry quark

Kefir

Frozen berries

Almonds

Drink 3 - Black tea

 

We had packed packed breakfast. The rest of the family had sandwich rolls with cheese and honey, but I opted for my standard quark breakfast. Because of all the food (pie) yesterday I reduced the amount of kefir and the number of almonds compared to what I usually eat.

 

Lunch - 14:30

 

 

 

 

 

Noodles with a cream cheese based sauce with various mushrooms.

Biscotti and cannoli for dessert.

 

Went to a small neighborhood Italian restaurant for lunch that I had gotten recommendations for online. For lunch they had just two dishes to choose between, one vegetarian and one with meat. My wife and I chose the vegetarian, and our boys wanted the ragu (very similar to bolognese). Both were excellent, but I made the right choice, the mushroom cream cheese sauce was better! And the bread they served was super tasty, and perfect to mop up the last of the sauce from the plate with  

 

The biscotti was everything I expect from a biscotti with great almond flavor. I was, however, a little bit disappointed by the cannoli. I've been to Italy once, and the best sweet thing I had there was the cannoli (the strawberry tiramisu was a close second...). So my expectations were high! They did say it had a lemon filling, so I was expecting some lemon flavored ricotta. But what I got was some very dry, very sweet, lemony paste. Next time I get a cannoli I'll make sure it has a super creamy ricotta filling!

 

Dinner - 18:15

 

 

Salmon

Edamame beans

Zucchini tzatziki

Potatoes

Tomatoes

Carrots

 

We're spending the weekend with friends I haven't seen for almost a year. They live 200 km (125 miles) from me, so it's not super far, but too far to just visit for the day.

I started with what you see on the plate, but didn't have the willpower needed to just eat that  Ended up eating probably four times as many edamame beans as what you see on that plate, not to mention the amount of tomatoes I ate!

 

Evening snacks - 20:00 -> 01:00

 

 

 

Home grown cherry tomatoes and home grown physalis.

 

I ate way too many tomatoes and too many physalis. A lot more tomatoes than what you see in that photo! (But not all of that physalis, thankfully). Everyone else was eating ice cream and marshmallows. Only thing I could think of to stop myself from stuffing my face with the same thing everyone else was eating was to keep my hands and mouth occupied with the veggies that were available.

 

Drank mostly tea and water, but did have some kombucha as well. 

 

Drinks - 20:45 and 22:40

 

 

 

Ginger kombucha and elderberry kombucha.

 

We were treated to two different locally brewed flavors of kombucha. Both tasted great! I've had kombucha before, and know that I like it, but I've never tried this brand before. It had way more bubbles than the kombucha I've tried before. I enjoyed it  Too bad it contains sugar (needed for the fermentation process). If it didn't contain the sugar I'd drink it more often.

 

Fitness log

 

 

 

Look at the time for that morning walk/jog! Yawn! Difficult to get a good photo when it's dark and raining  I started out just walking, but because of the overeating of pie yesterday I decided to pick up the pace a bit and ended up jogging most of the way. Felt good

 

[Tobbe]

4 hours ago, Rubik'sCat said:

I wonder what he would've tasted like for dinner

 

Probably great  I love wild game meat!

[Tobbe]

Day 30

 

Saturday, 11/8

  

Food log

 

Drink 1 - 08:15

 

 

I was the only one awake at our friend's house. So I boiled myself a kettle of tea and sat down in their couch with my computer and sipped on my hot beverage. It was so peaceful! 

 

Breakfast - 09:00

 

 

 

 

 

Started breakfast with a bowl of long milk/sour milk with granola. 

They have a different dairy here than what we buy from at home. They make the most delicious long milk/sour milk! The granola was good as well. Naturally sweetened with apple juice.

After the granola I had half a levain toast with almond butter and apple slices. It was very tasty. After a few bites I added a few sprinkles of cinnamon to the apples. Made it taste even better  

Realized I needed more protein, so I had an egg with salt, without the yolk. 

Drink 2: A few cups of green tea

 

Lunch - 13:15

 

 

Egg and cheese frittata

 

Frittata/omelette with broccoli, ham, chanterelle flavored cream cheese and parmesan.

Cherry tomatoes and raw broccoli on the side.

This was serving one of two.

 

Everyone else had pancakes with whipped cream and strawberry jam for dessert, but I skipped that. Ate more broccoli and tomatoes instead.

 

Drink 3: Two glasses of water.

 

Dinner - 19:30

 

 

Cuban pulled pork

 

Pulled pork with Cuban inspired spices/flavors

Coleslaw

Mixed greens

Orange beef tomao

Cucumber

Guacamole with physalis (instead of tomatoes)

Drink 4: Small glass of red wine, glass of water

 

Wow! The meat with that physalis guac! The bomb!

 

Fitness Log

 

Morning walk

 

 

 

 

 

Set my alarm early this morning to go for a walk before anyone else woke up. Walked passed an area with houses that all looked the same. I would never want to live like that, but I liked the brick work, how they had combined totally different color bricks. A while after that I walked passed a small rose garden.

 

Ocean swim

 

The weather wasn't the best, but we went down to the ocean anyways for the kids to play for a while. It rained a bit, and was very windy. And no sun. Still, the kids insisted on swimming, so I went in with them and swam for a few meters.

 

Completed Quests

 

Go for a 20 Minute Walk to Explore a Neighborhood in Another State/Province 60 XP

[Tobbe]

Day 31

 

Sunday, 12/8

  

Food log

 

Drink 1 - 08:00

 

 

Cup of black tea

 

Picked up a free newspaper during my morning walk that I read while sipping on a nice cup of black tea when I got back home.

 

Breakfast - 08:30

 

 

 

 

 

Half a slice levain toast, one part of the half with almond butter and strawberry, one part with cheese and marmalade. Few slices of cucumber.

Long milk/sour milk with granola and strawberries.

Long milk/sour milk with oat puffs, "morning wellness" spice blend and a strawberry.

"Protein plate" with egg white, ham and cucumber. 

Another piece of ham, and a slice of cheese (not pictured).

Drink: Several cups of tea

 

Had a bigger breakfast than initially planned today. Felt bad about that  Wish I had skipped the bowl with granola. I had already tasted that yesterday, so it was unnecessary to have that today again. (But it sure did taste good, especially with the fresh strawberries!) I also regret that last slice of cheese that I had.

 

The marmalade I had on my piece of cheese toast was really tasty. It was a gooseberry/elderflower blend. I have never tasted a marmalade with that flavor before, but it went really well with the cheese! The "morning wellness" spice blend was a mix of cinnamon, turmeric, cardamom and ginger.

 

Drink - 11:30

 

 

Carbonated pear juice, 1 dl

 

This felt very luxurious! We even drank it in champagne glasses

The others ate fruit and salted almonds as well, but I just tasted the drink.

 

 

Lunch - 13:00

 

 

Chorizo sausages

Romaine lettuce

Spiced cauliflower rice

Filled pasta (three different kinds)

Parmesan

Home made marinara sauce

Drink: Water

 

The plan was to only have the chorizo and spiced cauliflower rice. But then the other grownups, and especially the kids, wanted the fresh filled pasta. It's something I've always wanted to try to cook at home as well. So I couldn't resist trying it. And of course I wanted to try all three different fillings that were available. (Roasted red union, mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes. Porcini and truffles. Ricotta and chanterelles.) All three were delicious, so I had one more of each. I also had some more marinara, more parmesan and another piece of sausage. I felt bad about eating the pasta. Both because of the white flour (gluten, quick carbs) and because of the total amount of food. I wasn't hungry enough to justify eating that much.

 

Drink - 15:00

 

 

Black tea and water

 

Going home from our visit with our friends I had black tea and water while driving.

 

Snack 18:00

 

Three cherry tomatos

One big leaf of cabbage

 

Dinner - 20:30

 

 

 

Crisp bread with eggs and kaviar

White and red cabbage

Cauliflower

Crisp bread with butter and cheese (sorry for the weird colors in the photo, it's the same plate (so should have the same color) in both photos...)

 

I wasn't all that hungry. But my wife hates it when I don't eat (she has bad memories from me starving myself). So I planed to just have one small crisp bread with a few slices of eggs. But again, this meal made me feel like crap about myself and my self control. The second crisp bread with eggs was not planned. And definitely not the last two pieces of crisp bread with butter and cheese  (Yeah, I have only prepared one of the pieces on the photo, but I added butter and cheese to the last bit as well before eating it.)

 

So this is meal three out of three that left me feeling like I hate myself  And this sucks!

 

Fitness Log

 

Morning walk

 

 

 

 

 

Today's morning walk took me to a place called Jakriborg. It's a small town/society with a very unique architecture. The closest you can find anywhere else in the world is the German town Lübeck. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakriborg

 

Exploring the neighborhood with our friends

 

 

My entire family joined the wife of the couple we stayed with for a walk of their dog, and for a chance for their daughter to show the local skate park. The dog is a Shih Tzu mix, so a small dog with short legs. And our kids are young. So it wasn't the fastest walk. But at least we got out for almost half an hour!

 

Completed Quests

 

Go for a 20 Minute Walk to Explore a Friend’s Neighborhood 40 XP

 

So I moved this quest from yesterday to today instead. While I did walk (more than) 20 minutes to explore our friends' neighborhood yesterday I didn't feel I met the rest of the quest criteria 100%. The full details are "Go exploring in a new area while visiting a friend. You can go walking with your friend or arrive early for your visit to take your walk.". And I didn't go walking with my friend (I went alone), nor did I arrive early to take the walk (I was already sleeping at their place, so I couldn't "arrive" there). Today I did actually walk with my friend, so now I feel much better about ticking off this quest!  

[Tobbe]

Day 32

 

Monday, 13/8

 

Horrible, horrible eating day today. We had friends over for dinner tonight and I just couldn't handle all the delicious food. I've been fighting my urge to eat all-the-things every day since Friday (with the grilled burger and blueberry pie), through the weekend spent at our friend's house, and now today with friends for dinner. I did alright up until dessert. Then I lost it  

  

Food log

 

Drink 1 - 08:00 Ginger shot

 

Lunch - 14:30

 

 

Cauliflower fried rice with chicken

 

Riced cauliflower

Carrots

Bell peppers

Leek

Garlic

Ginger

Chicken

Egg

Greek yogurt

Thai sweet chili sauce (sugar free)

Sambal oelek

Drink: A glass of water

 

Got caught up with work today, so I unintentionally skipped breakfast. But it kind of fitted to do that today because I knew I'd eat too much later tonight. Anyhow, this is one of my favorit meals. It tastes really good, it has sauce, so it's not too dry, and it's really healthy! (Only questionable thing is the sweet chili sauce I guess since it has artificial sweeteners in it, but I don't care too much about those right now.)

 

Dinner - 18:00

 

 

 

Pizza with salad

 

Home made thick crust pizza.

One pizza bianco with a sauce made of cream cheese, créme fraîche, garlic, salt and pepper. Topped with baby spinach, sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, pine nuts and an olive oil basil dressing.

One regular pizza with marinara sauce, cheese, ham, black pepper salami and mushrooms.

Drink: Coke Zero, several glasses

 

That pizza bianco is the favorite home made pizza that we make. I love it! I could easily have eaten three or four slices more, but tried to not be a pig with the food.

 

Dessert - 19:45

 

 

Blackberry cake with sweetened whipped cream

Drink: Black tea

 

I started with one big serving of dessert. I ate that, and then stopped. I was full, and didn't want to take even more cake in front of my wife.

But then she went outdoors for a little bit with our guests and left me to clear the table. That's when I had another serving, with no one watching. At this point I had lost all willpower to resist any sugary food. With all the white flour/quick carbs in the pizza dough and all the sugar in the cake I was flying high. I was like a drug addict looking for the next hit. All I could think of was all the sugary high fat foods I could possibly find in our house. I then cleared the table and put everything away. Out of sight - out of mind. Right? Not so much... Later that night while my wife put our kids to bed I quickly snuck out in to the kitchen and grabbed a third serving of the cake and sweetened cream.

 

 

I finished off my binge with several spoons of peanut butter with honey and a few handfuls of salted peanuts. To break the binge I went outdoors and took a 20 minute walk. Didn't really help with how I felt, but when I got back my wife succeeded in convincing me to go to bed. Hadn't she been home or awake I would have continued eating even though I hated myself at this point, and knew it would be even worse tomorrow.

 

Fitness Log

 

 

 

 

Saw a deer on our lawn this morning when I went for my morning walk. It quickly got scared and ran away, but I did manage to get a couple of (lousy) photos of it

 

Completed Quests

 

Nutrition: Create Your Food Log #3 200 XP

 

I have now kept my food log for more than 30 days and can finally complete the last food log related quest!  Huge XP score!

 

Fitness: Morning Mile #2 75 XP

 

Forgot to count the number of days I've been going for my morning walk. But I went back and had a look. I started day 24 (Sunday, Aug 5) and I've been doing it every day since then. Today is day 32 (Monday, Aug 13). That means I've been doing it for nine days. The requirement is seven days. Another completed quest! Now I'll just have to keep walking to complete the "Walk to Mordor #2" quest. 21 more days to go for that one.

[Tobbe]

Day 32, part 2

 

Random

 

 

 

@Maiyama Finally got around to cooking that apple butter. It's super tasty! Can't wait to try it with your quinoa porridge  

 

I followed this recipe: https://www.texanerin.com/homemade-apple-butter/ But I only made 1/4 of a batch. And I didn't have any apple juice at home, so I added a little bit of extra apple, and some water instead. Since I didn't add any sugar, or any other preservatives, it'll only keep for approximately five days in the fridge. I won't be able to use it all, so I will probably have to freeze most of it. But that's no problem. I'll just freeze it in portion sizes and thaw it out in the porridge while cooking it.

 

[Tobbe]

Day 33

 

Tuesday, 14/8

 

Right back up on the horse again! As usual when I slip up like this I always regret it a lot the day after. It's never worth it! But that's nothing new to anyone I guess. Hindsight is always 20/20, right? I will try to make a bigger effort of asking myself "Will eating/drinking this make me happier tomorrow?" and then actually listening and acting on my answer to that question. I mean, sometimes, even if it's crap food, it will genuinely make me happier to eat than to skip it. But just stuffing my face with more and more of the same food (like the cake yesterday) is not one of those things.

  

Food log

 

Breakfast - 11:00

 

 

Quinoa and steel cut oats apple pie porridge

Drink: Black tea (what else, right )

 

@Maiyama Thank you, thank you for the porridge recipe! This was a great breakfast  I would never have thought to combine quinoa with SC oats and make breakfast porridge out of it. Quinoa for me is a typical dinner food. With the apple butter I cooked yesterday, and my apple pie flavored whey protein powder (and everything else of course) this was truly a breakfast to remember!  Didn't have any walnuts, nor the granny smith apple, called for in the recipe. But a red jonagold apple and almonds worked well too

 

Drink 2 - 12:00 A glass of Coke Zero

 

Lunch - 14:30

 

 

Pizza with a big salad

Drink 3: A glass of coke zero

 

I had one small piece of leftover pizza. The rest of the family had 2 - 3 pieces each. But instead of feeling totally left out I opted to have one small piece and eat it with a big salad.

 

Drink 4 - 16:00

 

 

Sugar free energy drink, watermelon flavor

 

I only got about four hours sleep tonight, so I needed some extra caffeine to get me through the afternoon. Drank it pretty fast and got a little jumpy from the caffeine overload  So I did a few push ups to channel all that energy somewhere!

 

Dinner - 19:30

 

 

Leftover cauliflower fried rice and chicken.

 

I only ate half of that plate. Trying to compensate for all the extra calories I ate yesterday...

 

Fitness Log

 

 

Morning walk, that after a while turned in to a morning jog. Was still feeling pretty full from all the food yesterday. And feeling bad about my eating behavior was also an extra incentive to run for a little bit (running burns more calories than walking!)

 

Noteworthy Struggles

 

 

The rest of the family were plating up leftover cake from yesterday for dinner, while I was trying to convince myself to eat chicken and vegetables instead... Going to someone else for a birthday party or other happening is difficult when it comes to the food. But at least it's usually just for that one evening. When we're the ones hosting we always have the fridge full of delicious, but very unhealthy, leftovers for days! The temptation to make bad food choices is really real. 

[Tobbe]

Day 34

 

Wednesday, 15/8

 

Mentally I'm feeling much better today! It's reassuring to know I can pick myself right back up again after falling of the wagon like I did the day before yesterday.

Today I'm excited to start my travel to the US!

  

Food log

 

Drink 1 - 06:50

 

 

Ginger shot

 

Took the last of the ginger/lemon/chili/honey shot today. Perfect timing too, since I won't be home for well over a week! I'll make another batch when I get back home from the States.

 

Drink 2 - 08:40

 

 

4 dl / 1.7 cups of black tea

 

I was feeling more hungry than I usually do this morning. Had to drink a big cup of tea to kill some of the hunger pangs.

 

Breakfast - 10:15

 

 

Wild strawberry and strawberry flavored quark

Kefir

Frozen strawberries

Brazil nuts and hazel nuts

Drink 3: Black tea

 

Drink 4 - 12:50 6 dl sugar free juice

 

Lunch - 15:30

 

 

Fried cauliflower with chicken, greek yogurt, kimchi and chili flakes

Drink 5: A glass of water

 

We had great weather this afternoon, so I ate my (late) lunch out in the sun  Leftovers, as you can see. But to change it up a little bit I had kimchi and extra chili flakes instead of the sweet chili sauce and sambal oelek I've been eating before. Kimchi and fried rice is a common combination, so it was a no-brainer combination really... But I think I do prefer the sweet chili sauce and sambal with this dish.

 

Drink 6 - 18:00

 

 

Sugar free RedBull

 

On the train, which is the first leg of my journey to USA  

 

Snack - 19:30

 

 

A plum

 

I was feeling a little bit hungry, so I had a (very red) plum. Wasn't 100% ripe unfortunately. Better luck next time!

 

Drink 7 - 20:00

 

 

Half a bottle of Pepsi Max Lime

 

I was really thirsty for some reason, and was craving something carbonated. So I bought a bottle of Pepsi Max when I got off the train. Only had half of it. Need to be able to sleep early today. Getting up at 04:30 tomorrow!

 

Fitness Log

 

 

Longer, and faster, morning walk/jog than usual today. It was such a beautiful morning, and I was listening to a good pod cast where they were talking about running. So I got inspired and extended my morning walk a little bit  Also, last chance to be a little bit healthy before indulging in all the awesome/horrible American food

 

Noteworthy Struggles

 

Once again the rest of the family had leftover pizza and blackberry cake for dinner. To be able to resist the temptation to eat that today again I didn't even join them at the dinner table. I went to take a shower instead, and didn't go out in the kitchen until they had cleared everything away. Then I reheated my chicken and veggies dinner.

[Tobbe]

Day 35

 

Thursday, 16/8

 

A full day of traveling. Because of crossing so many time zones I wouldn't look too closely on the different times for my drinks/meals...

  

Food log

 

Drink 1 - 05:40

 

 

Drank the last of my Pepsi from yesterday, and some water on the airport this morning since I can't bring those through security.

 

Drink 2 - 06:10

 

 

Sampled some really good rooibos tea at the airport while waiting for my flight.

(Yeah, I know it's technically not even a tea, but that's what we're all calling it, isn't it? )

 

I love walking around at airports sampling free stuff  But today I was here too early, so a lot of shops hadn't opened yet.

 

Drink 3 - 07:50

 

 

I was expecting to be served breakfast on my first flight this morning, but we got nothing at all. Not even a cup of tea was offered. But I had a can of coke in my backpack that I drank instead for eating breakfast.

 

Drink 4 - 09:15

 

 

Sprite Zero that I had to guzzle down before clearing the next security check

 

Lunch - 12:10

 

 

 

Shepherds pie

Salad with ranch dressing

Roll with butter

Two crackers with cream cheese

Cherry crumble cake

Mushroom pasta

Drinks: Diet coke, water, black tea

 

I was really hungry by the time they served lunch. So in addition to what I was served at first I also had half a serving of their vegetarian alternative, which was a mushroom pasta. It was all very delicious! Airplane food is really getting much better than it used to be! I think I'll have to try to recreate that shepherds pie at home. The ground beef in the bottom was really flavorful! I know it had carrots in it. It also had some kind of very dark green small leaves. I'm not sure if it was pieces of spinach, or if it was some kind of herb... If I do make it myself I'll make it with cauliflower mash instead of regular potato mash as they've used here. Or maybe I'll do a sweet potato/cauliflower combination for the mash. We'll see... 

 

Snack 1 - 13:00

 

 

White chocolate Snickers bar

White chocolate Twix bar

 

That cherry crumble cake dessert, and the quick carbs in the pasta I had for lunch really triggered my sweet tooth, so I caved in for the temptation of the candy bars I had in my backpack  I don't like the taste of regular chocolate, so I never eat it. So never in my life have I eaten neither Snickers nor Twix bars before. But when I saw them in white chocolate versions I got really curious about tasting them! I can't say I'm a huge fan of white chocolate either, but at least I can tolerate it, and eat it if there's not too much of it compared to other flavors in whatever it is I'm eating. The outcome of my little taste experiment is that I will probably never eat the Snickers again. Didn't really enjoy the taste or the texture enough to be worth the price or the calories. The Twix however I can see myself eating again it tasted much better. Not good enough that I'll go out and buy it, but if someone were to offer me a piece I'd say "yes" and "thank you". In the rare cases that I do buy candy for myself there are better tasting options out there! 

 

Snack 2 - 14:50

 

 

Vanilla ice cream

 

This was a pleasant surprise! I've never been treated to ice cream as a snack on any flight before. Wasn't the best vanilla ice cream I've had, but it was also not the worst... But it did keep that sugar high I was on going...

 

Snack 3 - 16:00

 

 

Protein bar and coke zero

 

At this point I had given up. By now I was just eating everything and anything. Mostly because of boredom I think. This was a loooong flight. More than nine hours.

A pretty nasty tasting bar. I'll never buy that one again. It was one of those "healthy" bars with no artificial sweeteners (they use fruit juices instead) and some seeds and oats for healthy fats and complex carbs.

 

Snack 4 - 16:20

 

 

Pretzels and orange juice

 

Sorry for the horrible photo. It was a pretty bumpy ride at times

As I said, by now I had given up. Now I'm even drinking my calories  

 

Dinner - 18:40

 

 

 

Cheeseburger sliders

Sweet potato and feta sliders with beetroot relish

Coke Zero

 

The vegetarian sliders tasted so much better than the cheeseburger sliders! Way more flavorful.

 

Snack 5 - 19:30

 

 

An apple

 

Didn't want to have to check the "I bring fruit in to the country" checkbox on that slip of paper you have to fill in when entering the US, so I ate it just before getting off the airplane. It tasted really good. With all the unhealthy snacking I'd been doing for the last few hours I think my body really enjoyed getting something real, something more healthy.

 

Snack 6 - 18:20

 

 

Biscoff cookies

Black tea

Canadian Dry Ginger Ale

 

Third and last flight! Four and a half hours, and all they serve is this tiny snack... But I was really happy they had the biscoff cookies. I've wanted to taste them for so long! And now I finally got a chance. And they did not disappoint! Super tasty

 

Drink - 20:30

 

 

Coke zero, lime and ice

 

Last thing I was served during my trip

 

Fitness Log

 

 

 

Super short morning walk today. Just from the hotel to the train pretty much.

 

 

With all the walking at the different airports I feel I more than made up for the shorter than usual morning walk  And when I landed I walked with my luggage from the airport to our hotel. Took me almost an hour.

 

[Tobbe]

Day 36

 

Friday, 17/8

 

A lot of walking. A lot of eating

  

Food log

 

Breakfast - 08:00

 

 

 

 

Fresh and dried fruit, some nuts

Greek non-fat blueberry yogurt

Poppy seed pound cake

Cinnamon swirl pound cake

BP&J bagel

Cream cheese and jam bagel

Waffle with syrup and cinnamon/sugar blend

Waffle with honey

Two cups of tea

 

We don't have bagels where I live, so I always have to eat that when I travel to the US! We also don't have grape jelly, so can't have proper PB&J sandwiches... We also never do waffles for breakfast. (By "don't have", I mean it's not available in regular grocery stores. I'm sure there are speciality bakeries that make bagels. And while I'm pretty sure you won't find grape jelly anywhere, you might find some craft jam maker somewhere that cooks grape jam. But I've never seen one.)

 

Bad excuses to eat like crap for breakfast, but that's all I've got as my defense... 

 

Snack - 11:40

 

 

Bean and corn quesadilla

 

Sampled a piece of "Trader Joe’s Chipotle Vegetable Quesadillas" while shopping at TJ's. It was surprisingly good for a pre-packaged meal I must say!

 

Drink - 12:00

 

 

Coconut water

 

My friend I'm traveling with bought a bottle of coconut water. Had a few mouthfulls, didn't like it. So he gave it to me. I had maybe half the bottle, but didn't really like it either, so we threw it out. Had it been calorie free I probably would have finished it. But if I'm going to drink my calories, I'm going to make sure it's something I really enjoy drinking!

 

Drink - 13:00 Coke Zero

 

Lunch - 14:40

 

 

Cheesecake

 

We went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch... Another one of those "enjoy while you can" things. We don't have The Cheesecake Factory where I live. Don't have any cheesecake shops/restaurants/cafés at all actually. And this one is my absolute favorite. In their own words "Mango Key Lime Cheesecake - Topped with Mango Mousse on a Vanilla Coconut Macaroon Crust". OMG!

 

It's also 1200 kcal, without the extra whipped cream

 

Dinner - 17:30

 

 

 

 

Tortilla chips with salsa

Small margarita

Beef taco

 

 

 

Fish taco

Tequila shot with a slice of cinnamon spiced orange

Tortilla chips with salsa (not pictured)

 

 

 

Taquitos with rice and beans

Margarita

 

 

Huckleberry float

 

We went on a food tour during the afternoon/early night. So that was our dinner tonight. I've divided the photos per stop of the tour above. Best food was the beans and rice (the taquitos on the same plate were very bland, and the guacamole wasn't very good either). Best drink was the tequila with cinnamon spiced orange. The tequila on its own was super smooth, and I'd gladly drink it as-is. But with the orange and cinnamon it was awesome! Much better than the regular salt+lime tequila shot combo   

 

Fitness Log

 

Morning walk

 

 

Morning walk, exploring the closest neighborhood around the hotel we're staying at

 

Swim

 

I was really hot when we got back to the hotel about an hour before the food tour was about to start, so I swam laps in the hotel pool for 10 minutes.

 

All day walking

 

 

Got a lot of steps in today! Doesn't compensate for all the bad nutritional decisions I've made during the day, but at least it helps a bit

 

[Ingagr]

Great job! I really love your photos and the places you go for a walk. Looks like somewhere far north  in Europe, isnt it?

[Tobbe]

15 hours ago, Ingagr said:

Great job! I really love your photos and the places you go for a walk. Looks like somewhere far north  in Europe, isnt it?

 

I've posted a lot of photos of beautiful nature from when I was on vacation in Norway. Could it be those you've seen?

[Tobbe]

Day 37

 

Saturday, 18/8

 

Mostly good choices

  

Food log

 

Breakfast - 08:40

 

 

 

Scrambled eggs with hot sauce

Veggie sausage

Shredded cheese

Salsa

American "Canadian bacon"

Fruitbowl

Zero fat vanilla Greek yogurt

One cup of black tea

 

I had tasted most of the "bad" stuff for breakfast yesterday. So today I wanted to make healthier choices. Also keeping Steve's "two in a row" rule in the back of my head. Yesterday they had pork and turkey sausages instead of the veggie sausage. Had they had that today this breakfast would have been even better!

 

Drink 2 - 11:00

 

 

Cherry flavored Coke Zero

 

Another thing we don't have where I live. So I wanted to taste it. Did I like it? Let's just say I'll never buy that drink again in my life!

 

Drink 3 - 11:30

 

 

Zero calories Monster energy drink.

 

This one tasted much better than the coke!

 

Lunch - 15:00

 

2 sweet potato fries

 

Again, yesterday was horrible.

 

The lunch I had yesterday was a horrible choice looking at it from a pure physical health perspective. So today I wanted something healthy. But we couldn't find any good options in the area we were. So I decided to just skip lunch. I knew I'd again eat things that aren't very good for my health later tonight for dinner. My friend didn't want to skip lunch though, so I tasted two of his sweet potato fries. They were really good. Especially the thin and super crispy one! (Not pictured)

 

Drink 4 - 17:30

 

 

Fermented juice

 

Didn't really care for the flavor of this one. I think something less sweet, like perhaps lemon, would taste much better. In fact, I read "Lemon - Ginger" on the label when I looked at it in the store, and thought that was what this one would taste like. But it tasted Cantaloupe melon. Reading "Stevia" on the front I assumed it would be a zero calorie drink. Not until I had finished it all did I realize that the bottle contained 80 kcal. A quick google told me I'd have to walk or swim for about 15 minutes to compensate for those calories. So that's what I did.

 

Dinner - 20:40

 

 

Pacific Poke Soba Noodles

 

Went to "BJ's Restaurants and Brewhouse" for dinner today. I had already browsed through their menu online. So I immediately knew what I wanted. But look at that messy plating! I would never serve something like that when we have friends over for dinner! But at least it tasted really good! I ate it all, except for maybe half of the noodles.

 

Dessert - 21:15

 

 

Oreo pizookie

White chocolate and macadamia pizookie

Monkeybread pizookie

 

My friend and I split a "Pizookie Trio". I ate a little bit more than half of it. It was really good! Definitely something I'd eat again  (But I probably won't, unless I decide to bake it myself.)

 

Fitness Log

 

Morning walk

 

 

 

 

 

@Ingagr Those are three photos from my morning walk today. Didn't plan to post them at first, but since you commented about the photos from my walks I figured I should post some new ones from today  

 

Swimming

 

Did laps in the pool again today.20+ minutes. Swam some extra minutes to burn off the calories from that melon water drink I had (I did 10 minutes of extra swimming, and 10 minute extra walking.)

 

Workouts

 

Did my first Academy workout today! Yay, finally! I've been waiting to get started, but been putting it of because I could never get off my ass and select warmup- and cooldown exercises.

 

Completed Quests

 

Fitness: Warm It Up 40 XP

Fitness: Cool It Down 40 XP

Fitness: Complete your first workout 25 XP

10 Bodyweight Squats 40 XP

Fitness: Complete a workout on the road 25 XP

Fitness: Complete your first workout 25 XP

 

[Ingagr]

Thank you! Those are really big trucks!

[Tobbe]

Day 38

 

Sunday, 19/8

 

Mexico

  

Food Log

 

Breakfast - 07:00

 

 

Lemon pound cake with whipped cream and strawberries.

Drink: Black tea

 

Horrible choices nutrition wise. At least I didn't eat a lot of it!

 

Snack - 11:00

 

 

Mexican candied peanuts

(ate maybe 5 - 10 peanuts)

 

Second Breakfast - 11:30

 

 

Tamales

 

Pork tamales, chicken tamales, cheese tamales and sweet corn tamales

(All combined I ate probably 1.5 whole tamales)

 

12:20 - Snack

 

 

Fresh coconut with chili powder and chili sauce

 

Lunch - 13:30

 

 

 

Tortilla chips with salsa and guaccamole

Mixed Mexican platter

 

Snack - 16:30

 

 

 

 

Mexican candy

 

Dinner - 17:20

 

 

Fish taco

 

This wasn't the best tasting fish taco I've ever had, but it was definitely the most authentic, made in a back alley taco shop from the ground up, right in front of my eyes, in Mexico. What an experience!

 

Snack - 19:30

 

 

 

Doritos Dinamita

 

Not as spicy as the name would have you think. But still very tasty

 

Snack - 20:20

 

 

Churros

 

Never tried churros with sweetened condensed milk before. It was very good! But my favorite is still to eat them with soft serve ice cream! (And I want sugar and cinnamon, not just sugar, on the churros themselves )

 

Fitness Log

 

Morning walk

 

 

Swimming

 

Did laps in the pool for 15 minutes after getting back home to the hotel from Mexico. This marks the third day this week I've gone for a swim.

 

Completed Quests

 

Go Swimming 3 Times in a Week 25 XP

[Endor]

Big trucks and lots of chilli stuff, seems we're on the same page!

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

[Tobbe]

Day 39

 

Monday, 20/8

 

First day of conference

  

Food log

 

Breakfast - 09:15

 

 

 

Half a bagel with cream cheese and jam

Half a bagel with peanut butter and jam

Three pieces of waffle

Drink 1: Black tea

 

The plan was to skip breakfast today. But when I saw they had blueberry bagels I couldn't resist  And then I went for the waffles as well  

 

Drink 2 - 12:00 20 oz Coke Zero

 

Dinner - 18:30

 

 

 

 

 

Beef taco

Chicken taco

Raw veggies with hummus

Pita with artichoke dip

Spring roll and coconut shrimps with sweet chili sauce 

Beef satay with peanut sauce

Vanilla churros

Drink: 1 glass of red wine

 

I skipped lunch today because I knew there would be lots of food for dinner. I went back for seconds for most of the food you see in the photos. The vanilla filled churros were really good. I have never had filled churros before.

 

Fitness Log

 

Morning walk

 

 

Workout

 

Completed Steve's hotel workout, https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/the-20-minute-hotel-workout/

In 15 minutes I managed to do 3 rounds of level 2. Also did the warm-up from that article. Finished with the stretch I had selected the day before yesterday (Stacy's pdf).

 

Completed Quests

 

Fitness: Cool It Down 40 XP

Fitness: Pushup 60 XP

Fitness: Squats! 60 XP

 

(I have done these earlier, but haven't marked them off before, so I clicked "complete" after doing them today.)

[Tobbe]

Day 40

 

Tuesday, 21/8

 

Full conference day

  

Food log

 

Breakfast - 08:30

 

 

 

Fresh berries

Croissant (the thing on the photo had chocolate in it, so I switched it for a plain croissant)

Some kind of butter/spread

Strawberry jam

Blueberry muffin

Lemon muffin

Watermellon

 

Turkey breakfast sausages

Potato wedges

Scrambled eggs

Green bell pepper

Cherry tomato

Apple smoked bacon

 

Drink 1: Black tea

 

Lunch - 11:30

 

 

 

Salad with lime/cilantro dressing

Guaccamole

Grilled chicken breast

Tater tots with cheese and choritzo

Grilled peppers with cheese

Chicharróns

Tortilla chips (ate a few before the photo)

 

Fresh berry tartlets with vanilla custard (I had four of them)

 

Drink: Water + unsweetened iced tea

 

Snack - 15:30

 

 

 

Vanilla ice cream

Strawberry cheesecake ice cream

Mango popsicle

Lime popsicle (not shown)

Coconut popsicle (not shown)

Strawberry popsicle (not shown)

 

The mango and strawberry popsicles were the best!

 

Dinner - 19:00

 

 

 

 

 

Vegetarian portabello slider

Pulled pork and coleslaw slider

Burger and caramelized onion slider

Tater tots

Sweet potato tater tots

Ranch dressing

Burger dressing

Garlic and cheese fries

 

Salad with blue cheese, feta cheese, olives, mushrooms and sunflower seeds

Blu dressing

Feta dressing

Vinegrette

 

Bacon donuts

Vanilla macrons

Raspberry macrons

 

Drink: Red wine with coke and ice, diet coke

 

The pulled pork sliders were good! I had four of them. The garlic fries tasted really good too! The bacon donuts were unreal! So good! Had three. The macrons were not even worthy of being called macrons. Not compared to what I had when I was in Paris. Still had two of each flavor.

 

Fitness Log

 

Morning walk

 

 

Long walk this morning! 9.2 miles

 

Workout

 

 

Tried some wall climbing today. Lots of fun! Unfortunately I can't check off any quests, because it states it has to be an indoor climbing wall, and this was clearly outdoors