Breakfast Burritos and Royals Comebacks

Same old, same old.

Same old delicious breakfast burrito,

same old delicious grilled chicken.

After the Market, Sidney and I joined my mom and we all headed up to the lake. We made a quick detour back to Sidney's house, and then took the back roads all the way. In the meantime, the Royals were playing, so of course we tuned in. They had eventually fallen behind by a score of 7 runs to 1. By the time it was the 9th inning, almost all hope was lost. It seemed bleak, but I say "almost" because, with this team, they are never out of a game until the 27th out. Our first batter in the 9th inning struck out against their closer. Then our next batter hit a home run. After a few more hits, several errors by the opposing team, and some very generous gifts from their pitchers, the Royals completed an incredibly miraculous comeback, scoring 7 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win the game in walk off fashion. This was no ordinary Royals comeback, which are very common. What's even more amazing is the fact that this comeback came just one day after a 5-run comeback victory the day before. It was really quite something to listen to while driving through the countryside!

We eventually found our way to the lake, riding an extreme buzz from the excitement of the game. For a snack, my mom and Sidney convinced me to try some "fresh salsa" that looked to me more like chunks of tomato.

We had some deli-fresh and very festive tortilla chips to go with it.

So I tried it. And I, harboring an impassioned hatred of tomatoes, actually sort of liked it. It wasn't gut-wrenchingly vomit inducing, so either I and my tastebuds are maturing and changing, or there was something in this that masked the tomatoes' true flavor. Or maybe the tomatoes themselves were just very bland. Whatever it was, I'm not saying that I now like tomatoes, nor that I will start eating them more frequently. In fact, I will not change my stance on tomatoes at this time; I am simply stating that in this particular situation I did not find them revolting.

Later for dinner, we had some real food. And by real food, I mean food that's not tomatoes.

I had a pecan and a dark chocolate-covered almond. And that was my entire dinner.

Just kidding.

There was more food cooking...

We were getting ready to use the brand new grill that I so expertly had just built by hand. And by built by hand, I mean put some pipes together and tightened some screws. It was a labor of love. And this was precisely the last time that this grill would ever be clean.

These were chicken sausages from the deli at Sprouts. There were two varieties: half were chicken Parmesan and the others were spinach feta.

The ones with visible green splotches are of the spinach feta variety.

I got half a sausage's worth of each variety and stuck 'em on a bun. Each sausage was about a half pound, so a half a sausage was about 4 ounces. In my opinion, the chicken Parmesan kind had a slightly stronger flavor, but both were actually really good. I had some chips to complement and add texture.

Having some room left in my daily calorie count, I had two more halves, or 8 more ounces of chicken sausage.

And with only a few calories remaining, I had a small piece of vanilla-flavored graham cracker.

It was a good day.

Keep Calm and Lean On (Me)

I again started off the day right.

And to celebrate this right start, right after leaving the hospital I went straight to the Rec and peddled my butt off.

I again did some HIIT. This time it took me a little less than 20 minutes. I then headed back down stairs, but instead of doing legs, I was smarter and more bro and did arms. I did some sets of curls and some sets of triceps. I threw a set or two of chest in there just to really round out the bro routine.

When I got home, I grilled up about 3 pounds of chicken thighs with some onions and carrots. There was also an ample amount of garlic and onion powders, as usual.

I ate 1 pound of the 3.

I then succumbed to the urge to eat something sweet. I had a solitary CRUNCH egg. A little old, but still good!

Then I went and bagged some sunflower seed. All totaled, I bagged thirty 25 pound bags. So let's see, I lifted them after I bagged them, I lifted them when I stacked them...yep, that comes out to me lifting around 9,000,000,000  pounds total. Good for a second workout.

Right about when I got done is when Sidney got home. She still had muffins and brownies to bake, so I helped (sort of). The first thing I did was make the crumb topping for her blueberry muffins.

If it doesn't look that crumbly, well, that's because it isn't. You see, I used stick margarine instead of actual butter. Oh well, this made for a surprisingly tasty and incredibly addicting "quick cookie dough." I admit it; I ate a little bit of it. Okay, I ate more than I should have. It was literally margarine, sugar, and flour. Who says no to that?! Crazy people, that's who! (Sorry to all you crazy people out there whom I may have just offended.)

Sidney and I then went out to dinner. Constrained to a maximum budget of $30, we contemplated where to go. Eventually, we settled on Applebee's. I had been wanting to go to Applebee's since I hadn't been in about 4 years, and since I have fond memories of pleasant experiences from my previous visits.

Besides, it's nice to support a local Kansas City business.

I scoured the menu, looking for selections that may stay within my 900 or so calories remaining for the day. Thanks to MyFitnessPal, I was able to estimate the caloric values of several of my top contenders. For example, the 4 Cheese Mac and Cheese with Chicken had around 1,700 calories, so it was out. But my initial front runner, the Bourbon Street Chicken and Shrimp, with only around 610 calories, got the nod. So that's what I ordered!

It came out sizzling, with a nice-sized chicken breast, plenty of blackened shrimp, ample amounts of grilled onions, and some cubed red potatoes to boot. I can see how this is around 600 calories; it was just the right size.

Sidney ordered a Thai Shrimp Salad.

I did taste it, and it was pretty good. It was actually a salad that I could have been happy with being my main meal. Maybe. It was still a salad, after all.

After our dinner, Sidney and I drove up to Rock Chalk Park since she had never seen it before. On the way, the clouds looked rather...well, interesting.

They didn't get much better as we drove on, with this shelf cloud looming in the distance.

We decided to curtail our lollygagging and head home. As we got nearer and nearer to Sidney's house, the clouds got nearer and nearer to the ground.

It was actually quite interesting and spectacular to behold. As long as those clouds don't rotate quickly, I'm fine.

When we got home, Sidney and I sat down on the couch to watch Ella Enchanted. After many frustrating DVD imperfections, we finally finished the movie.

Sidney, not knowledgeable of my earlier moment of weakness, offered me another CRUNCH egg.

Of course, I ate it. But even with this extra bit of energy, I still don't think I really got all that huge today. Keep Calm and Lean On.

Taco The End

Today, I was more able to control what food I ate and how much brotein and calories came with it. 

I started off with a brotein bar, which has nutrition information posted. 

I then helped Sidney bake cookies, and this happened to be the once instance of slight uncertainty. I had a small, small piece of surplus cookie dough, a small bite of an odd numbered oatmeal cookie, and about half of a frankencookie.

It was part Devil's Chocolate and part Chocolate Chip Walnut Oatmeal. This was actually the first properly baked Sidney cookie I've eaten all year, and I only ate about half!

For dinner, I heated up the last remaining taco burger patties. These were 4 ounces each of 93% lean ground beef, and one of them had Kraft Sharp Cheddar American cheese on top. 

Then I baked a pre-packaged teriyaki pork tenderloin with nutrition information included. 

It was 18 ounces, with about 130 calories for every 4 ounces. So, total this thing had about 585 calories for a little over a pound of pork. This seemed surprisingly low to me, but whatever. I ate it all, save for a small piece I donated to a worthy cause (Sidney). It was actually quite delicious!

I also had a little Buffalo sauce with the burgers and the tenderloin, because Buffalo sauce = happiness. 

Blowing Cold

I got up this morning to run with my mom around our neighborhood. In order to prep for such an energy expenditure, and to try to stave off too much atrophy, I shoveled some pecans and chocolate covered almonds into my mouth.

We then went for our run. It was a beautiful morning. It wasn't too hot, not too cold, either. It was a little humid, but a little sweat never done hurt nobody!

To prevent any further muscle loss, I made some breakfast. I sauteed some onions with 4 ounces of the chicken leftover from last night.

Then I whipped up 3 eggs with some sour cream and threw them in.

A couple minutes later and after the addition of some shredded and Colby and Monterey Jack cheese, I had breakfast.

I ate the remaining 4.4 ounces of chicken with some honey mustard to complement my omelette egg thingy.

I then went back to bed and slept until 1300. I regret nothing.

When my dad got home, we went and picked up my car. The A/C worked perfectly, and hopefully it stays that way with the heat predicted to be imminent.

We then attempted to decide what to do for dinner. It came down to either Church's Chicken and their new Honey Butter Biscuit chicken tenders or the classic LC's Hamburgers. We chose the latter.

I had about 926 calories left today, and I didn't want to completely blow my cut. So I went light. I ordered a single bacon cheeseburger with grilled onions.

That's only 1.4 pound of meat with a slice of cheese and two strips of bacon. But this combination doesn't taste as good anywhere else. This is one of the best places to get a burger that I know of.

I did steal a few of my mom's fries.

I also sampled an onion ring and a couple fried mushrooms.

And I also tried the ranch, which was quite peppery, but in a really good way.

And apparently you have to be a chemistry major to know what the heck you're drinking.

But this was an extremely satisfying meal, especially since I don't think I went too far over my calorie limit.

My dad did get a soft serve twist cone...

..of which I had a small taste. It was another good day, and seriously, LC's is one of the best places to get a burger.