I'm eating my lunch as I write this. A lunch I packed myself from home, I'll have you know. A lot of nights my brain says "we're too tired to take all that time to pack up lunch for tomorrow. Let's do it tomorrow morning; we'll get up extra early!" And the next day I either end up (a) being late to work, or (b) going out for lunch. So, since I knew this week's episode of The Biggest Loser was all about healthy food choices, particularly when eating out, just for kicks I decided to time myself to see how long it really took to make my lunch.
I didn't come up with this brilliant idea until I'd been doing what I do to pack my lunch for a few seconds. Then I had to watch TBL for a couple of minutes to check out the dishes in the food challenge. Then I forgot to turn off the timer when I was done. So I had to guess a bit. Overall, I estimate it took me seven minutes of reasonably focused on what I was doing time to make my lunch. Ten minutes for so-so focused on what I was doing (making my lunch often involves tripping over my dogs as they beg for treats or try to get me down on the floor to rip my throat out and then get onto the counter to eat all the lunch fixings).
Seven minutes to make up a lunch that is much cheaper than and usually much healthier than what I can get eating out. I can do that. Generally speaking, my lunches from home average about 600 calories. Today's lunch is a ham and swiss sandwich on sweet dark (whole grain) bread with a small amount of light mayo and honey mustard (about a tablespoon total) with pickle chips (I get my veg where I can). Carrots with low cal ranch dressing. Just dabs of the dressing; I think two tablespoons is 50 calories and I have maybe two teaspoons of dressing. I get sick of eating carrots without it, so the calories are worth it to me. Green seedless grapes, about 15. And fat-free chocolate pudding (I was tired of yogurt that wasn't Greek yogurt, which I just discovered). Some days I save the pudding (or yogurt) for an afternoon snack. I get off work at 5:30; I usually start thinking dinner will sound good soon between 4:00 and 4:30.
But hey! I'm supposed to be talking about The Biggest Loser. And eating my lunch. Let's try that.
As you know, Red team fell on their big fat swords to keep Shay in the house last week. Shay is PISSED that they had to make that sacrifice and she vows never to trust Purple again. Poor Mo. Dr. Phillian is out in full force when the contestants tell them what happened. She tells them they need to put themselves first in this, no matter what. It's putting other first that got them into this. Amanda talking heads that she must do well because she is America's Choice. I am getting tired of that.
Tracey sees Dr. H and he sidelines her completely for the week due to "muscle damage" and the toxic by-products of that. A lot of other bloggers felt that cleared everything up, but not for me. Which muscle? Did she pull the crap out of a hamstring or are we talking her heart? She didn't seem to be going quite that hard for the former so that latter seems most likely and that would be extremely serious. She can't do any activity other than easy daily activity (like walking up stairs to her room) and Dr. H says he would rather she not even lose any weight at all that week. Tracey talking heads about how eager she is to get into the gym and how she's a panther inside. I'm wondering if panthers eat their young? Cause otherwise that makes no sense. Tracey tells Mo he is carrying the team for yet another week.
The contestant's kitchen is padlocked, stem to stern. They're all extremely disappointed but I'm thinking that they're all heavy enough that any one of them could easily rip those doors off their hinges. Don't tell me at least one of them wasn't thinking about it. This week the contestants have to eat out and eat healthy all week. I wave my Taco Bell grilled chicken burrito at the screen to emphasize Allison's words.
Food challenge. Three meals, the teams have to guess which one is healthiest. Winner of the challenge gets free healthy groceries for a year. Shay, with three jobs (and who could find time to work out with three jobs, eh?), is psyched to win. I vote for the BBQ chicken as the healthiest, and I, along with all but three of the teams, lose. The real trick in this one was that the creamed spinach on the healthiest meal was low-fat creamed spinach. Me, I saw the creamed spinach and immediately said no. There is a follow-up question (how many calories in the healthiest meal) and Pink wins it.
The teams order out. They're doing them on the phone, in turn; can you imagine the poor restaurant? People are very clear about what they want and do not want in their orders, so of course they get their food and it's all screwed up. Always tell them you are allergic to whatever you want to change. That tends to stick in their mind for fear of death and subsequent lawsuits. Nice product placement with the gum in these scenes, by the way. By the way he's tapping it, I bet Danny is a smoker.
Bob and Jillian take them all out for healthy Mexican food. Since they're not at Baja Fresh, good luck with that. Jillian says she needs to teach them all how to be high maintenance. Hey, Tracey's already there! Poor waiter. I hope he gets a huge tip. Every one does pretty well with their meals. There is a salad with chicken, avocado and mangoes that looks fabulous. I go to my kitchen to get some sugar free Jello for dessert.
Dr. Phillian makes an appearance at the table and imparts some good advice as she browbeats Rebecca (by the way, what the hell is up with Rebecca's hair?): Unless the changes you make have a purpose behind them, it will feel like torture to do it. Very true.
Physical challenge. Basically, they are on planks above a pool holding up all of their own bodyweight by their arms. Funky lifejackets, by the way. I wonder if the challenge would have been easier to have been face down on the plank versus face up like they were. Some one try it and let me know, yeah? Shay is the last girl hanging, which good for her. It gets down to Allen and Daniel and looks like we could be here for a while. Immunity is on the line and Daniel went home last season in Week 4 so he is determined to stay. Allen finally drops (did it look like he threw the challenge to anyone else?) and Daniel wins! Orange has immunity. Which turns out good for the weigh in.
Last change workout. While Tracey sits forlornly at the dining room table, beatings commence. Mo is wounded (pulled something in his back, I think, and he has my heartfelt sympathy) but limps back to push through. Amazing.
Weigh in. Daniel loses a big fat donut hole, and charges of gameplay are immediately made. Beats me, but it was a good week for him to have immunity. Allen looks pretty fly already. He must wear his weight like I do; equally, all over, down to fingers and toes. Rebecca's hair really bugs me. Toolio and the Brown team end up below the yellow line. They plead their cases, tears abound, more tears at the vote, and Toolio is going home. At home, he is below 300 lbs (299) and hopes to drop the remaining 99 by the finale.
And my lunch is over. Next week, the players go to black and blue teams. Here's hoping that choice doesn't fall to psycho Tracey!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
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