(Hooker Falls-Dupont State Forest, NC)
I feel like I should start off with the positives of this weekend. I got a lot of great activity in! On Saturday, I went to my second kickboxing class. I still loved it and it was a great workout! I burned even more calories this week because I pushed myself harder. I love that I am getting a great upper body and cardio workout at the same time. When I was finished, I had burned 700 calories!
Then on Sunday, we drove out to Dupont State Forest and hiked out to many of the waterfalls within the area. The hiking is pretty easy out there with some inclines but we hiked for almost 3 hours. I burned over 600 calories when we were finished hiking.
R is way more adventurous than me....when she found out that you could "walk" behind Bridal Veil Falls, she had to go back. I knew when we went out to Dupont State Forest yesterday, that she would be doing this. I decided not to hike behind it but I still enjoyed hiking to the top of this waterfall.
(The only reason why I included this picture is because there's a heart shaped water puddle if you look closely...I just thought that was cool.)
I also had 2 recipe successes this weekend. I made gluten free pancakes that were a success and I made the Lotsa Veggies Lentil Soup from Appetite for Reduction. The gluten free pancakes were exciting because I have tried this before with no success. This time, I used the Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour with a little bit of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Oat Flour is it was a great success. The consistency was fine and they didn't fall apart. I know R was excited because she eats gluten free all of the time and I think this was the first success for gluten free pancakes.
The picture below is of the Lotsa Veggies Lentil Soup from AFR. Have you checked out this blog before? She is working her way through Isa's entire cookbook and taking pictures of everything she makes. I love it!
I guess I should just go ahead and talk about my Eat to Live-Week 3 results. I still lost a little bit of weight. I lost 0.4. It's better than nothing. I will be honest, I am struggling with Eat to Live and I just have myself to blame for this. I have become too relaxed and eating things that Dr. Fuhrman would probably not approve of (Starbucks Decaf Soy Misto). Starbucks soy milk has quite a bit of sugar in it and I know that's why I like the drink so much. Also, I have started using some stevia again to sweeten things. Part of this is because I don't really think stevia is bad for me and part of it is because we were using way too many dates to sweeten things. Not only do the calories add up, but it's expensive. (I will talk about budgeting in a minute.) So, I am going to do my best with Eat to Live for the final 2 weeks of the program, but then I am seriously considering going back to my weight loss roots....Weight Watchers. I have taken a break from Weight Watchers for about 9-10 months and have been struggling to lose weight for about the past 6-7 months. It's just something I am thinking about right now. Now that I have a better grasp of calories, I might be able to be more successful with Weight Watchers and not abuse the whole "free fruits and veggies" thing. We will see.
I said I would talk about budgeting in a minute. I was pretty shocked when I did the math for last month's grocery spending. For two people, we spent over $700 in groceries. Yikes. I have set a goal for us this month to spend $500 or less and that will include going out to dinner if we choose to do that. That way, if we decide to go out to dinner, we know that we might be struggling a little bit more with our grocery budget and we might have to work more on making due with what we already have. We want to move out of our current rental place and get a better place that has more space and is nicer. But in order to do that, we know we will be spending more money. Money can be so frustrating!
Thanks for the tip about AFR blog.
ReplyDeleteI too have been on and off the Eat to Live program (have been a Vegan almost 4 years now) and I think it makes total sense and I know I need to stay on the strict version for health reasons, but I have a hard time with it...but I am using less salt, almost no oil and incorporating more veggies into our regular meals.
Keep up the good work--you inspire me.