(@QuadQueen you better be proud)
So Iāve been about 150 calories below my goal the past few days. Just how my meal prep worked out. Iām mainly low on my carb numbers. Was going to just add a banana and call it goodā¦. But then I had a different idea.
For backstory, Iām not a good cook. Like, I feel, a lot of Americans, I didnāt have a ton of real home cooking in suburban America. Hamburger helper, pizza, etc. lots of pre-prepared foods, heat up and go meals, you know what I mean.
But Iām increasingly wanting to become a better cook. Not because I want better tasting food, but because I just BELIEVE it has to be good for you. Iāve traveled pretty damn extensively around the world at this point, spent time in Africa, Middle East, Europe, Asia. You see SO much more home cooking in a lot of these places, people having a āspreadā of food at their meals. Thereās a reason America is so fat. (And donāt get me wrong, there are a ton of factors, to include how tough all these well prepared meals are to do in a dual income home.)
But, I was watching some videos of Dagestani Wrestlers the other day (big Khabib fan), and saw a video of them eating, and it just floored me the nutrition of these guys compared to most American athletes. Hell, just showing the vendor food in some of these areas, for a couple bucks you are eating better than anything besides a nice health food restaurant in this country. So I decided I was gonna start trying to expand a little bit. Not every meal, but once a week or so try something new, learn some skill, and try to establish some healthy cooking habits (AKA: other than weekly cooking a shit ton of ground beef and white rice).
So, decided to make a vegetable soup for my remaining Macros.
Kind of winging this here, but the general process:
One: Shovel snow to actually get to the grocery store
Two: Assemble ingredients
Three: Chop up and cook carrots, leek, and onion. (Should of grabbed celery tooā¦)
(Note: purposely no tomato. My dad has like 5 dishes he knows how to cook, and one of them is an absolutely terrible vegetable beef stew, so I was trying hard to avoid this memories lol)
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Add potatoes and chicken stock. Season with salt, pepper, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme.
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take out a few ladles, blend them, return to soup. (I thought this would thicken it more than it did)
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add peas to soup, and enjoy
Honestly, besides the 17 minutes of crying while trying to dice an onion, this really wasnāt that hard to prep. I think I went a little heavy on the pepper seasoning, but overall still really good!
Macros ended up being 133cal, 6g protein, and 29 carb.
Life needs more soups.
Also, I had to name this recipe in my macro app, and I went with āshire stewā because I swear this looks like the stew Samwise made after SmĆ©agol brought them rabbits lol. Also, it would be very easy to add shredded chicken to this and make it an actual meal.
Other Atlas Ramblings brought to you by an unplanned snow day:
- I see lots of āhealth foodā stuff on social media, especially since I spent the last two days diving into recipes and stuff for ideas. Why the hell is everyone eating on a cutting board?
- I am becoming nerdier as I age. I was very much the ājockā growing up. Now? Iām listening to YouTube videos explaining warhammer 40k lore lol. (Donāt actually play the game because not willing to take out a second mortgage for tiny army men, plus idk anyone who plays, but the story is interesting)
- 3 days into doing some mobility stuff, and I swear my joints are cracking more than ever! But maybe thatās a sign of something good. I find that asking me to do a real mobility session is unlikely. BUT, if I pick a few movements for a day and do them in between sets of lifting, that actually makes my time in the gym more fun, because I donāt get bored sitting around between sets.
- getting an itch to get back into some sort of fight sport. With grad school on the horizon plus my job and lifting goals, not really a good timeā¦. But maybe I can fit something in.
- I really like my new job. Enough that I may try to transition to something similar in the civilian field. But dang, it would be tough money wise. Definitely taking a comparative pay cut if I stay in federal service instead of going private sector. Which I, as an individual, donāt really mind. But, I do like the idea of being able to have my wife not work once we have kids, and idk if, with this pay scale, and the cost of living in the DC area, if thatās really a feasible option. If I grab an MBA and leverage my experience, then it wouldnāt be a concern, but federal service only pays so well, and Jesus lifeās gotten expensive. For now, we are both getting O3 pay, so money is beyond flush, but just trying to look 5 years down the line and see some options.
- (these ramblings have no theme lol)
- I think thereās a āRangeā of calories your body can burn. To elaborate, I think I can cut calories by a certain amount from my TDEE, and Iāll lose weight, and vice versa for gaining. But, I donāt think that my TDEE is really 1 number, as in I donāt think I burn 3287 calories a day or something like that, and any calories above or below will go to some level of bulk or cut. Realistically, I feel like Iāve got like a 200-300 calories range where itās all āmaintenanceā. If I eat more, my body just burns it or disposes of it, but I think that the āmaintenanceā range really does have a little give in it. I have nothing to back this up, donāt ask me to support it.
- how come whenever I am trying to find a stud in my wall, itās a near impossible task, studfinder be damned. However, everytime I try to place drywall screws, I without fail find the damn stud.
- I think people on social media get WAY too comfortable calling things poison. Drink enough water and you die. It aināt poison.
- that being said, one of the few things that people regularly consume, alcohol, really IS poison, and everyone keeps on trucking with that, so maybe relax on calling out apples.
- I saw a video of someone meal prepping ground beef, banana, and maple syrup. And Iāll be honest, that sounds so terrible that Iām almost tempted to make it just so I can see lol.
- trying to cut back on caffeine. Have a strong energy drink craving every day, itās 50% ritual at this point. Well, I drink and LMNT packet everyday, so decided to get the canned LMNT drinks instead. Carbonated, definitely hits the same spot as energy drinks do mentally, and cheaper since Iām just having one can of LMNT vice a packet of LMNT and an energy drink.
- I do think Iāll start drinking coffee again though. Better form of caffeine, and smaller dosage
- I want more soup. Not because Iām hungry, but because itās cold outside, and kinda chilly inside tbh, and warm soup feeds the muscles and the soul