Missed out on picking up another ear this year. :(

Definitely cooling off, if it’s still this cool at this time of day. Might want to bring something with sleeves for circle.

Free beer for all the hashers…and this is only the stuff I picked up from Kelly yesterday.

First tine I’ve made pizza in years…and the first time with a low-carb “fathead” crust. Toppings are pepperoni, jalapeño, and mushroom.

48 hours from one meal to the next..broke the fast with a ground-beef taco salad (because Taco Tuesday…but in a glass bowl instead of a tortilla bowl) and some scrambled eggs. Hunger pangs weren’t that bad yesterday, but were getting a little bit annoying this afternoon.

A frequent recommendation I’ve seen from those who (1) are fasting or (2) recommend fasting is to include meat stocks among the liquids you use to keep hydrated. They’re fairly low-calorie (probably under 100 calories for a cup) so they don’t break your fast, they’ll help keep electrolyte levels from getting out of whack, and the collagen (think “melted Jello”) in a decent stock fights off the hunger pangs.

The only trick is that you most likely want to use homemade stock…not the stuff you buy in cartons (which seems to mostly be flavored water) and definitely not the stuff you buy in cans (which is mostly very salty, flavored water). Beef stock can take 6-8 hours or more on the stovetop, but a pressure cooker (I have an 8-quart Instant Pot) knocks the total time down to about 2…fast enough for after work. I just knocked this together from recipes I’d seen, and it turned out pretty well for a first effort:

3 lbs. beef shanks and oxtails
1 large yellow onion, cut in eighths
2 carrots, roughly chopped or broken up
half a bundle of parsley
1 tsp black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
1/2 gal. water (more or less, to cover)
a few splashes of red wine

Roast the beefy bits at 450° for 40 minutes. Load the veggies and spices into the pressure cooker while you wait. When done, add the roasted beefy bits to the pressure cooker, deglaze the roasting pan with wine, and add the bits thus obtained to the pressure cooker.

Close up the pressure cooker and set it to run for 60 minutes at high pressure. Use natural release to bleed off the pressure at the end, open the lid, and use a strainer to fish out most of the meat, bones, and veggies. (Optional at this point: pull the meat off the bones, bag it, and freeze it for later use…in what, I haven’t yet figured out.) Pour the remaining contents through a colander into a large bowl to catch the remaining solids (maybe add some cheesecloth for more filtration). Have some right away after you skim off the fat, or refrigerate and remove the solidified fat tomorrow.

I’m sick of feeling run down all the time. I’m sick of being overweight. I’m sick of sleep apnea, and I’ve been warned about high blood pressure. Let’s see if I’m sick enough of the above to stick with a plan to do something about it.

Intermittent fasting begins today: nothing but water, coffee (currently my usual black with no sugar), and maybe some beef or chicken stock (the hipster douchebag who coined “bone broth” when we already had the perfectly adequate “stock” can DIAF) while fasting, with some effort at not completely backsliding while not fasting. How long each fasting interval lasts is yet to be determined, though I’m thinking it should be at least 24-48 hours at a bare minimum, with one meal before going back on.

Starting weight is 285. I have a bunch of suits in my closet, purchased when I was closer to 215-225, and I’d like to not have to buy a new one when my sister gets married next summer. Longer-term, I suspect 185-195 would be a reasonable goal.

Parker, InterAm, Las Vegas RDR…the trifecta is complete.

She has a bit more gray than this now. :)

Down the street at Denny’s right now before continuing with day 2.