Tearing It Up 2: Tearing It Down

Here's what I imagined occurred in the minds of the Hatandcoat blog's readers over the past week, in chronological order:

1. "Huh, no food posts. Aak probably forgot."
   
   
2. "Wait, no posts about the Baltimore Breakfast Feast and the crepes Aak made for it? What's going on?"
   
   
3. "Huh, no food posts, still."
   
   
4. "No food posts. It was kind of a silly thing to blog about anyway."
   
   
5. "No posts so far this week."
   
   
6. "..."
   
   
7. "What the hell is Aak eating? I MUST KNOW."

I apologize for creating a(n imaginary) demand and then refusing to fulfill that (imaginary) demand.

I got sick. Again.

The cold was on the edge of my awareness on Saturday, and so I packed very warm pajamas for my sleepover in Baltimore. I also started taking a multivitamin, echinacea, and zinc. All to no avail. I was feeling fine during the making of the Sunday Breakfast Feast, but afterwards, my sinuses began the long melt downwards. By Sunday evening, I was a puddle of congestion, coughing, and overall bleckiness.

Then I had a snow day, which is clearly evidence for the existence of Providence. I made lentil soup with cabbage, about which I will blog later, perhaps.

I made so much that I ate at least double portions of lentil soup for Monday dinner, Tuesday for all three meals, and Wednesday for all three meals.

I started biking again on Thursday morning, just in time for the warm-up. Very nice.

Now that I'm feeling better (still coughing, but it's not too bad), the question is, do I persist in detailing nutritional decisions and exercise quotients, or do I find another way to fill the empty space on this here blog?

I'm leaning towards stopping. It was interesting to focus so much on exactly how much I was eating, what portion size, and so on. I think I've internalized it pretty well, for now. As for the exercise, recording it or not made little difference in how much I biked, but I liked getting the stats. In a sense, I was trying to "game-ify" my life.

While posting daily was valuable and insightful (to me), I think I could derive some benefit from writing such posts weekly instead of daily. It wouldn't be scientific, but it might just be less annoying to you guys. If I really wanted to get scientific about it, I could enter calorie amounts into a worksheet and get real numbers... which leads into the second reason I'm thinking of stopping: inadequate time to navelgaze.

(I've slimmed down to the point where I can fit into my tightest jeans. I probably won't be able to maintain this state of affairs, but it's nice for today, when I have to wash my standard jeans.)

End Program.

Tearing It Up

So sorry to keep you all waiting. No, I was not on a starvation diet. I simply had no time for anything for the past couple of days.

I took some Japanese students around the campus, practicing Japanese, on Wednesday. The only real place of interest to take them was the Dairy, where I bought ice cream for the first time in like nine months. It was white chocolate with a little caramel. Then the students paid for me to have lunch with them. Even though I'd brought my lunch, I couldn't refuse.

I had to stay up late on Wednesday night, so I tried eating more to help sustain my energy. Eating more did not help, and it caused considerable... discomfort, later.

I spent money on food today at the food court on campus. I'll try not to let it happen again.

Wednesday's Meals

Breakfast: cereal, fat free milk
Lunch: medium ice cream, 4-pack of Chick-Fil-A strips, apple
Dinner: spinach and feta penne pasta with 2 ham slices cut into strips
Late Snacks: half a bag of Thai Lime Cashews, a couple of servings of yogurt-covered Goji berries, a few handfuls of almonds

Wednesday's Exercise

Biked to bus stop: 7 min.
Biked UMD-SS via trail: 50 min.

Thursday's Meals

Breakfast: bowl of kashi, fat-free milk
Lunch: spinach/feta pasta with ham
Dinner: Thai Chili's stir-fried duck with bamboo shoots

Thursday's Exercise

Walked to bus stop: 18 min.
Walked from Gallery Place to north of Columbia Heights: 1.5 hours
Walked home from bus stop: 20 min.

Friday's Meals

Breakfast: kashi, milk, crumbs of brownies
Lunch: medium salad with avocado, radicchio, carrots, and spinach leaves, brownie
Dinner: 8-count CFA nuggets, large waffle fries, grapefruit

Friday's Exercise

Walked to bus stop: 12 min (kinda ran)
Walked home from shuttle: 15 min

Happy Mardi Gras

Maybe it's the lack of sleep, or maybe it's the decrease in caloric intake, but I felt tired all day today. Just making a note.

Monday's Meals

Breakfast (8:30 am): okonomiyaki

Lunch (1:30 pm): brown basmati rice, Punjab Eggplant curry (TJs)

Dinner (8:00 pm?): brown basmati rice, the rest of the punjab eggplant curry microwaved with a little tofu, a few spears of baby corn, and some chicken stock

Monday's Exercise

Morning commute: frazzledly biked to the metro (7 min), then biked from CP station to class, late (10 min)

Started to bike home, then realized I had a flat. Went to the Bike Shop on campus where the guys helped me patch it for free. (walking: 10 min)

Biked UMD-SS via roads at night: 45 min at least

Tuesday's Meals

Breakfast (7:00 am): bowl of Puffiins with fat-free milk

Lunch (12:30 pm): medium-large salad of a little lettuce, a lot of mung beans, and a lot of carrots, with that ginger/soy/sesame/rice vinegar dressing, plus a PBJ and an apple.

Dinner (8:00 pm): spinach and feta pasta (a bowl and a half, perhaps too much), a large piece of king cake (definitely too much)

Cheating Late-Night Nosh (just now): a large piece of king cake (Happy Mardi Gras)

Tuesday's Exercise

Biked SS-UMD via roads: 30 min

Biked UMD-SS via trail: 45 min

Biked to library, then bike shop and grocery store, then home on a new back wheel: 25 min?

30 Little Parties

It was a pretty heavy weekend. Parties will do that to you. And I feel like losing so much sleep has had negative effects on my health as well. Too bad late-Feb-early-March is birthday season--mine included!

I'm thinking for my 30th birthday I will have 30 little celebrations instead of one big bash. It'll help if I think of other people's birthday parties as my own. Actually, I think I'll claim that Saturday night was my first birthday party this year. 29 more to go.

Sunday's Meals

Breakfast (11:45 am): 10 reheated gyoza, less than a cup of grapefruit juice

Lunch (3:45 pm): s'mores at Cosi (7 marshmallows, 3 graham crackers, less than half of a hershey bar), peppermint tea (no sugar)

Dinner (8:30 pm): big salad with mung bean sprouts and a new kind of homemade dressing (ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, hot oil)

Sunday's Exercise

Biked SS-Dupont: 45 minutes

Biked Dupont-SS: about an hour

Kinda Cheated, But Rock Band's Awesome

Cleaned my room, did laundry, went on a date, and went to a birthday party. Long day, and here I am, at 4:45, writing a blogpost. I'll make it short.

Today's Meals

Breakfast (12:00 pm): two oreos

Brunch (2:20 pm): a bowl of leftover miso soup with enoki mushrooms and wakame and tofu

Dinner (6:30 pm): Thai Tanic Star (I overstuffed myself; instead of 80% full, I felt 120% full)

After-Dinner Scrabble (7:30 pm): green jasmine tea with half a sugar packet

Supper (9:30 pm - 3:00 am): birthday party snackfood, including

• two bruschetta (bread, mozzarella, tomato, basil leaf)
• half a tomato slice and a basil leaf
• about 10 chips with salsa
• two spinach/pepper cheese quiches on water crackers
• about 3oz of cheese with crackers
• two and a quarter Georgetown cupcakes (so freaking good; I had red velvet, vanilla, and a vanilla with raspberry icing)

Today's Exercise

Walking (1.5 hours total) to bus stops and party

Playing Rock Band at the party (it was awesome, until my voice died on Buddy Holly by Weezer)

Excesses

I had to go to Bethesda today to return a J-video to Daruma. Then I turned and went right back home. Long ride. I got cold.

I cheated on my no-snacking policy, but it was for a good cause. I made hummus for my roommate's book club, and so I had to partake of it. But I had very little, I swear. And the chocolate truffle... well, at least I only had one?

Today's Meals

Breakfast (9:00 am): one bowl of miso soup with enoki mushrooms and wakame (and tofu), one cup of peach juice.

Lunch (12:00 pm): most of a small gala apple, a double-decker PB&J

Dinner (6:00 pm): new batch of homemade gyoza, one okonomiyaki, a cup or less of plain yogurt

Unnecessary Snacks: black bean hummus on baby carrots or bagel chips, one chocolate truffle

Today's Exercise

Biked to bus stop in 6 minutes (record! I got all the yellow lights)

Biked UMD-Bethesda-SS: 2.25 hours

Patience

I should've cooked something tonight. I had the time, since all I did until 8:30 was procrastinate, but instead of making okonomiyaki or curry or some sh!t like that, I just didn't have the patience.

You know, I'm starting to get annoying by having to chop salad stuff every morning. I guess I'm starting to see why people prefer those pre-mixed bags. But getting a head of lettuce is soooooo much cheaper... You're tearing me apAAArt! Do I stay cheap, get lazy and spendy, or just stop eating salad all the time?

I don't think I want to give up the salad thing yet. It's the only way I get any greens.

Today's Meals

Breakfast (7:30 am): scrambled quick eggs with a real egg thrown in, with chives, on top of wheat toast.

Lunch (12:30 pm): salad (balsamic v), rest of dal curry from Trader Joes, brown basmati rice

Dinner (6:00 pm): bigger salad (bv), a bowl of orzo (leftovers reheated from freezer), and two Kashi waffles with drizzles of syrup and yogurt on top (the proportions of yogurt to syrup were off)

Today's Exercise

Biked SS-UMD via roads: 35 min

Biked UMD-SS via trails: 45 min

Extended

Today I attended a talk by a famous Japanese author/actor/poet. All of the Japanese department was there, with many teachers near retirement age sitting in the front row. As the speaker began to talk about Genji, Don Juan, and erections, I really wondered what my teachers were thinking.

After the talk, I had to do homework on campus with a classmate. Since I knew I would be delayed getting home, I packed a tide-me-over fruit meal. I'm still not sure if I should have just packed a whole dinner... nutrionist-with-all-the-answers, where are you?

Today's Meals

Breakfast (7:00 am): scrambled "Quick Eggs" with garlic, diced red pepper, and chives on toast

Lunch (1:30 pm): salad with tomatoes & artichoke hearts (etc), rest of yesterday's navratan kurma curry from Wegman's, brown basmati rice

Tide-Me-Over (5:30 pm): grapefruit, small gala apple

Dinner (9:00 pm): one serving of dal curry (Trader Joes), brown basmati rice, five storebought gyoza

Today's Exercise

Walking: to Metro, to Study Abroad office, to library, to class, to administrative buildings, to Study Abroad office, to lunch, to class, to study, to bus stop, and from Whole Foods to home (4 miles in all?)

Sweating: over the state of my financial affairs, over sudden deadlines for studying abroad, over three quizzes (14 lbs)

Change I Can Hope For

I definitely feel thinner. When I stand up straight, I feel like a line instead of a blob. Still, I look forward to one day incorporating some strength training into this regime. I know you do, too.

Today's Meals

Breakfast (7:00 am): grapefruit, banana

Lunch (12:30 pm): orzo, 7 gyoza, not-too-big salad

Dinner (7:00 pm): rest of orzo (except what I froze), navratan kurma curry from Wegman's (1.5 servings, 150g), an appropriate amount of brown basmati rice, and a cup of grape juice for dessert.

Today's Exercise

Biked to bus stop: 8 min

Biked UMD-SS via trail: 1 hour

Struggling

I'm so behind in a couple of my classes, and it's not easy to catch up. The Classical Japanese class is kicking my ass. I'm avoiding doing translation for it right now, but I can't do that for long. Got to get to class in a couple of hours.

Monday's Meals

Breakfast: "perfect" scrambled eggs (3) with chives & sundried tomatoes, two pieces of toast

Lunch: rest of curry with a small helping of mushroom orzo

Dinner: 12 gyoza (did I mention they were the best ever?) and a big salad

Monday's Exercise

Biked SS-UMD and UMD-SS (about 1.5 hours)

Bored With It

I'm getting a bit bored with detailing all of my meals, so I guess the Readers are, too. (I know my so-called co-blogger is.) I apologize, but I'm not going to stop yet. Knowing I'm going to record and transmit what I eat and do makes me more careful about eating choices and more likely to push myself to exercise.

I guess the only way to keep doing this is if the Hatandcoat blog has more content than just my mastications and physications. Ideally, this would be partially the responsibility of my so-called co-blogger. We all know he's not up to the task. So I'll try to offset these kinds of posts with better content inbetween.

(I should be studying, it's true. Actually, I'm studying while typing this: I'm practicing my listening. I've got a Japanese historical drama on in the background.)

Today's Meals

Breakfast (10:30 am): banana, a bowl of Kashi GOLEAN and fat-free milk

Lunch (2 pm): a biggish bowl of leftover orzo, a biggish bowl of salad w/balsamic vinaigrette

Dinner (7pm): a bowl of half-curry, half-orzo leftovers, one cup of yogurt

Today's Exercise

4:05-4:45 pm: a walk around the 'hood.

UPDATE: HOLY CRAP

I completely forgot to tell you about how I cheated today. I had around 30 Jelly Bellies between Breakfast and Lunch. They were from my roommate, who handed out valentines to me and the others here in the house. I thought about throwing them out or giving them away, but didn't. Instead, I devoured them in about five minutes.

Like Jacques the cleaning shellfish in Finding Nemo, I am ashamed.

Oozing with Orzo

I slept really well last night. Finally. I woke up and did my taxes. I went to Wegman's (my first trip there). I went to H-mart. I got home, filed my FAFSA, watched the rest of Slings & Arrows, and cooked Creamy Mushroom Orzo. (It's a Rachel Ray recipe from a book I found in my place. It made way more than it claimed to make, and it took a lot longer than 30 minutes. Shame on you, Rachel Ray, shame on you and your EVOO.)

I didn't study at all today, to my shame. Still, got a lot done.

Today's Meals

Breakfast: steel-cut oats with too much maple syrup, two hard-boiled eggs with menmi, about half a cup of grapefruit juice.

Lunch: an assortment of snacks and samples at Wegman's and H-Mart, including:

• a sliver of chocolate bread
• a piece of white bread dipped in swiss-cheezy fondue
• two dolmas
• a couple handfuls of olives
  
• an unidentified sliver of fish with ketchup and seaweed
• a potsticker
• a bit of fermented veggies
• a fishcake with hot ketchup
• a piece of chocolate manju

Dinner: a bowl of orzo with portobello, crimini, and porcini mushrooms, chicken stock, heavy cream, olive oil, garlic, onion, white wine, thyme, and rosemary. For dessert, a banana.

Today's Exercise

Standing up while cooking?

Walking around supermarkets?

Sleepy

Long ride today. Weird schedule. Woke up really early to do homework for class, then was late so I took the bus, then after class I went to Bethesda via the Sligo Creek and Georgetown Branch trails, then I biked home. I'm just about ready for sleep.

Today's Meals

Breakfast (7 am): bowl of puffins with skim milk, small handful of almonds, hard-boiled egg with menmi and a little white rice

Lunch (10:45 am): banana, PB&J sandwich, and less than a cup of white rice with ume (plum) & seasoning

Afternoon Snack (4 pm): free samples at Trader Joes: a few berries and a piece of mango, a bite of angelfood cake, half a "Chocolate Decadence" chocolate

Dinner (6:30 pm): biggish bowl of curry-rice, malt glass of grape juice

Today's Exercise

Biked to bus stop: 8 min

Biked UMD-Bethesda: 1.5 hours

Walked around Bethesda: 40 min

Biked Bethesda-SS: 45 min

Homework To Do.

Today was a long day, and, unfortunately, I don't have much time to sleep tonight. So I'm making this short.

Today's Meals

Breakfast: one banana, one grapefruit. (7:00 am)

Lunch: appropriate portions of curry-rice, small salad with artichoke hearts, pepperoncini, carrots, radicchio, lettuce, one hard-boiled egg, and homemade red wine vinaigrette. (12:30 pm)

Dinner: 1/2 a sakura roll, eel avocado roll, and edamame at Old Dominion Brew House. (8ish pm)

Today's Exercise

Biked to bus stop: 8 minutes.

Biked UMD-SS: 1 hour (due to wind).

Various walking: maybe 1.5-2 hours.

Proportionate Portions?

I'm noticing a trend: I am packing bigger lunches than I was last week and the week before.

My lunches have been Japanese curry-rice for the past couple of days. Since I made it myself, there were no serving size suggestions for me to follow. Tuesday, I packed maybe 2 cups (maybe more) of the curry, plus a regular helping of rice. Today, I brought less curry but a lot more rice.

Am I overanticipating how hungry I'll be? Or am I merely reacting to my caloric use being upped due to biking every day?

It'd be nice to have a nutritionist around at all times to ask these kinds of questions.

I hope the next iPhone has a built-in scale that integrates with a nutritionist app. It would be nice to know how many calories it thinks 8 ounces of V8 is... oh... you can read that on the label... still, wouldn't it be cool?

Today's Meals

Breakfast: hardboiled egg + some avocado + white rice + menmi + natto, all mixed in a bowl. The egg and the avocado helped with the stickiness, but didn't really add flavor.

Lunch: curry-rice with too much rice (and maybe a little too much curry), salad similar to yesterday's with homemade red wine vinaigrette.

Dinner: a small amount of curry-rice, a small piece of veggie lasagna, and 8oz of V8 (low sodium but with salt and sriracha)

Today's Exercise

Biked SS-UMD via roads (35 min)

Biked UMD-SS via trail (1 hour)

80%

No, "80%" does not refer to the percentage of Aak posts... although that might be accurate.*

I've neglected to mention another part of my overall strategy in this program of eating and exercise: the 80% rule.

Somebody told me that it's an old Chinese saying that you should only eat until you're 80% full. I happen to know that the Chinese have gone through some low-rice times in their day, so I take this adage to be the wisdom of the poor. I also thought it made sense because, long ago, someone told me that you don't really feel food in your stomach until 20 minutes after you swallow it.

Now I think there's another reason that the 80% rule works: it prepares you for hunger.

When I gorge myself, I find I get sharp pangs of hunger just a few hours later. This might be psychological. But it might be that my stomach stretched during the meal and then feels really empty afterward. If I stuff myself at dinner, I'm more likely to have a large late-night snack.

Whereas if I only eat to 80% capacity, I still feel a little (20%, for the math-unsavvy) hungry. Since I stay a little hungry afterwards, I can deal with being hungrier later.

Does that make any sense? Is there science behind this idea? I wonder.

Today's Meals

Breakfast: hard-boiled egg with menmi*, bowl of Puffins with skim milk

Lunch: more than I probably needed of Japanese curry (chicken, celery, carrots, potatoes, jalepeno peppers, green pepper, and curry sauce) over white rice

Dinner: big salad w/half an avocado and red wine vinegrette like yesterday, small bowl of white rice with a little plum/sesame flavoring on top.

Today's Exercise

Biked SS-UMD via roads (35min)

Biked on campus to bookstore (10min)

Biked UMD-SS via trail (45min)

*UPDATE: 58% of Hatandcoat posts are by Aak. 87% of Districted posts are by me, too. Hatandcoat has posted 33% of all posts, when you combine the two.

**Menmi is a soy-sauce-derived noodle base. It is more flavorful than soy sauce. It is delicious! I like it on udon, soba, natto, rice, just about anything you'd normally put soy sauce on.

Aak the Eater?

I'm glad Hatandcoat saw fit to update us about his whereabouts. More frequent updates would be appreciated, or else the hating will continue.

I don't hate, though. I only seethe.

I ate no meat today, although I'm cooking a Japanese curry meal for tomorrow that has one chicken breast in it.

This was a very productive, good-food day. I woke up early, started making oats, and while I waited for oatmeal I cut up lettuce, radicchio, carrots, sun-dried tomatoes, a couple pepperoncini, and a quarter of a green bell pepper for a salad for lunch. I topped the salad with half an avocado (salted) and a hard-boiled egg (made last night).

I made the dressing next: olive oil, red wine vinegar, Spanish rosemary, a little Spanish thyme, salt, and pepper. Interesting results, but the key was to use not very much on my salad. It ended up going very nicely together. I used the dregs of my dressing to jazz up my morning hard-boiled egg. Interesting results, again.

Today's Meals

Breakfast: steel-cut oats w/milk and honey, and a hard-boiled egg with the above dressing.

Lunch: salad and dressing as described above, white rice and half a Punjab Eggplant curry packet from Trader Joe's.

Dinner: rice and the rest of the Punjab Eggplant, a whole grapefruit, and 4-5 tbs of plain yogurt.

UNNECESSARY SNACK: one piece of black Aussie licorice, offered me by my roommate.

Today's Exercise

Biked both SS-UMD and UMD-SS by way of the roads (a route that is steep and strenuous at some points, moreso than the trail)

The Program

Success!

From hardly ever biking in November and December, and from overeating on the holidays, I got a bit... chunky. As I don't weigh myself, my best way to express this is in pants sizes. I went from my normal tight-34 waistline to a medium 36. I even had to put on my loose-fit 36 pair for a few weeks to breathe.

I implemented a plan to decrease my waist: no snacking.

For over a year, I'd been snacking between meals pretty frequently. This was okay for me since I was exercising at the gym as well as biking a lot. But the idea of snacking between meals is designed to make your big meals a little smaller. I never did that part of it. Plus, my "snacks" ballooned into little meals, or "prandicles." I never had much impulse control.

So I decided this January to cut out all the snacks. Exceptions only to be made when there would be a stretch of 6 hours or more between meals. My three meals are reasonably-sized; I try to stick to single-servings. I've also been biking at least two days a week for the past three weeks, and, when I am not biking, I'm walking quite a bit of the day (to the shuttle, to classes, and back.

As of this week, I've been able to fit back into the 34-size jeans without problem.

I'm excited about this, but I also realize that it took me over a month to get back down. I'm planning on implementing more exercise every week. And, since this blog seems so vacant these days, I guess I'll document my progress here.

Today's Meals:

Breakfast: a bowl of Puffins with plain yogurt.
Lunch: one slice of french toast, Grapefruit and Avocado Salad
Snack: a cube of parmesan and a handful of raw almonds
Dinner: leftover chicken/spinach/paneer curry w/rice, 8 gyoza (steamed then fried)

Today's Exercise:

Walked for 20 minutes or so down to Sligo Creek and back.