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Catching up on the budget – week 24

Okay, so I totally slacked for 12 weeks on this. I guess I lost interest, and I stopped itemizing our food purchases. But I want to get back to it!! I tried to figure out how much we had been spending, but I also just lumped household and food groceries together so I couldn’t do it exactly. I added up what we had been spending in total and just decreased the numbers by 15%, a really arbitrary number I have no way of knowing what we spent on either, but I know that is wasn’t all spent on food. So here’s what I came up with.

Week 13 – $188.59

Weeks 14-17 – $140.25 per week

Weeks 18- 21 – $127.50 per week

Weeks 22 – 24 – $90.28 per week

So as I said, this isn’t even at all accurate but it IS my best guess at what we spent on food groceries. We were eating out a lot too, which isn’t good, but if we hadn’t been we probably would have been spending a bit more.

My goal is to get back to spending under $125 per month. I think we can do it!! And I’m really going to try to stick with the weekly postings, even if it is only for my amusement and benefit I’ve started itemizing again and separating food and household groceries so I’m all set!

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by Lauren on June 16, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Budget, Goals, Groceries, Life

Posted by Lauren on June 16, 2013

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/catching-up-on-the-budget-week-24/

What to say

It’s been a couple of months since I posted. What have I been doing? Well I took quite a few steps back and gained back 10 of the pounds I had lost from my juice fast. It was mostly from too much beer. I’m back on the wagon and trying to get it back off, trying not to beat myself up for it. It happens! My goal is to just not let it keep happening. Someday I’ll be at a good weight for me and I’ll quit the yo-yo cycle, but I guess I’m just not there yet. Oh well.

We’ve been camping, movie watching, having fun with friends, and hanging in there until school is out for the summer (next Tuesday!!). I have actually been knitting a bit lately too! I have things to show you that have been long since finished. As soon as the rain stops I’ll snap some pics and share

For now I’ll share a song that I recently discovered and think is quite cool. It’s Nightlight by Little Dragon. Enjoy!

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by Lauren on May 28, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Life, Miskellaneous

Posted by Lauren on May 28, 2013

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/what-to-say/

Wednesday Weigh-in

This has been an interesting week. I think my body was telling me that I was ready to just be eating regularly again. Could this be just an excuse to go off my plan? Maybe. But I really felt like it was time to get off of the strict regimen and I want to be true to myself, so I let go of all of the rules. I also quit calorie counting because I started to feel the anxiety of oh, I can’t eat this because I don’t have enough room left. I hate that, and it will only lead to binge type behavior for me. So done with that, for now. I’ve just been eating what I feel like, which has still been real whole food, made by me. I had oatmeal, which was delicious I had beans too, which weren’t as glorious as I had them made up to be in my head?! Anyway, it has been really nice to just eat. The last couple of days I have been overdoing it though. I’m having a hard time turning the want to eat off. It’s probably partly due to that lovely time of the month, and due to the strict way I was eating. I’m not totally off the rails, still eating big salads and lots of veggies for dinner. I am still having a hard time being able to eat very much without feeling really stuffed. I do want to get back to running a lot more, so I am kind of making myself eat more even if I’m not hungry. I’m not sure that is a good thing, we’ll see. Anyway! No stellar results this week. I’m hoping that next week will be better. I’m still at the lowest I’ve been in years, and down .2 from 2 weeks ago.

Last week – 136

This week 135.2

Lost .8 pounds

I was up last week from 135.4 the week before, so I’m happy to be back down. Maybe next week I’ll break past 135! Actually I’ve been under that most of the week, just happened to bounce back up for my weigh-in, of course

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by Lauren on March 27, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Diet, Food, Goals, Happiness, Health, Life, Losing Weight

Posted by Lauren on March 27, 2013

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/wednesday-weigh-in-9/

Food Budget Week 12

We did slightly better this week, still over budget ($125) by $25.20. I definitely tried to shop less, only hitting the stores 3 times this week apparently! Not bad. It’s weird because I feel like I have been using tons of produce every day – huge salads and 4-5 cups of veggies for dinner just for me! – but we have still had plenty of food in the fridge. That is my sign that I have a problem Anyway, here’s what we bought this week:

PRODUCE:

Asparagus $2.49
Avocados $4.49
Bananas $3.48
Bell Pepper $1.40
Baby Bok Choy $1.99
Broccoli $1.59
Carrots $5.49
Cauliflower $1.81
Celery $2.50
Chard $1.99
Fennel $1.99
Ginger $.78
Green onions $.99
Kale $2.29
Kiwi $.93
Lemons $1.00
Lettuce $2.03
Mangoes $2.38 – sadly these were rotten
Portabellos $2.99
Onions $2.70
Mixed greens $1.99
Spinach $3.99
Strawberries $4.99
Sweet potatoes $2.12
Yams $4.36
Zucchini $2.49

OTHER:

Applegate sliced turkey $4.99
Cashews $14.99
Coconut milk $1.99
Organic ketchup $1.99
Mini peppers $3.49
Quinoa pasta $3.49
Ponzu $2.49
Prunes $1.72
Rice paper $2.29
Salt $1.49
Bay leaves $1.98
Frozen blueberries $11.49
Chicken and lime burgers $3.49
Frozen green beans $1.99
Whole wheat Pita bread $1.69
Lara bars $5.00
Pomegranate molasses $3.99
Orange blossom honey $13.99
Date cookies $4.99

Looking at that, it seems like we got quite a bit of food! I’ve been spending a little more time at Trader Joe’s, trying to figure out what are the good deals and what aren’t really. I really like that there are smaller packages of things that only I like, so I can get them and not worry about wastage or trying to force them on M & K I should do a post about things I love at Trader Joe’s. Some things are great value-wise, and others not so much. If I were eating whatever I wanted right now, I would probably avoid TJ’s since I would be buying way too much stuff!

Still lots of room for improvement here so I am really going to make an effort this week to finally get under $125 this week. When I look at our spending for this month overall though, we are doing really good. We have been buying less random stuff, and most of what we have spent has been on groceries, which is a good place to invest IMO

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by Lauren on March 24, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Budget, Food, Goals, Life

Posted by Lauren on March 24, 2013

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/food-budget-week-12/

Wednesday Weigh-in

Things have been really weird this week. I’ve added back in daily salads with half an avocado and some olive oil, plus I have been roasting and sauteeing veggies for dinner. I sauteed some kale on Sunday and added soy sauce – must have added too much because my weight shot up for a few days! It came down a little today and I am almost back to where I was last week.

Last week – 135.4

This week – 136

Gained .6 pounds

I am fully prepared to see the scale go kind of crazy the rest of this month. Starting back in on the exercise and weights is likely to throw me out of whack So I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and see where I am at the end of the month. I’ve been counting calories for the last 11 days and pretty much staying right around 1700 daily, I’ve been getting around a 500 calorie deficit every day from what I think will be my maintenance number at my goal weight. Who knows if this will work but I’m going to try and stick with it and see what happens. Anyway, I hope next week will put me under 135. Maybe?!

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by Lauren on March 20, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Diet, Exercise, Food, Goals, Happiness, Health, juicing, Life, Losing Weight

Posted by Lauren on March 20, 2013

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/wednesday-weigh-in-8/

Food Budget Week 11

Well, we didn’t do great this week either, but at least we spent less than last week! Budget is $125, we spent $195.90, so we went over by $70.90. Hopefully the coming week will be even lower.

Here’s what we bought:

PRODUCE:

Asparagus $2.49
Avocado $5.67
Bananas $6.67
Bell peppers $6.49
Broccoli $.53
Brussels sprouts $3.79
Cabbage $.32
Cantaloupe $2.47
Carrots $5.49
Celery $1.42
Chard $3.98
Southern blend greens $2.29
Cucumber $1.53
Dates $8.49
Grapefruit $1.52
Habaneros $1.12
Kale $4.58
Lemons $1.50
Lettuce $3.29
Mini peppers $3.99
Mushrooms $2.99
Onions $3.69
Lemon plum $1.17
Snap peas $5.99
Spinach $11.97
Yams $4.05

OTHER

Raw milk cheese $2.69
Frozen cod $15.59
Almonds $12.79
Cashews $6.99
Dried cranberries $1.99
Mints $6.99 (not really food :lol)
Raising $8.89
Rice milk $13.79
Tea $4.99
Frozen berries $11.89
Frozen veggie burgers $5.88
Crackers $1.99

At least most of it was spent on produce?! I will be juicing a lot less this week so that should cut our costs down by a lot. I will try to pay more attention to the sales flyers too, and hit the co-op at least one day this week.

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by Lauren on March 17, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Budget, Food, Goals, Groceries, Life

Posted by Lauren on March 17, 2013

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/food-budget-week-11/

Wednesday Weigh-in

So how was my first week off of all juice? Pretty good, I think. I am still drinking 1 1/2 quarts of juice most days, and have added protein powder in 3 different ways. I mix it with almond milk and ice, another drink is Naked green machine with pp, and then I have been having a fresh green smoothie for dinner with berries, banana, almond milk, and pp. The emptiness is gone! I am starting to feel like I have LOTS more energy, and my weight is still down! Just because I’ve felt like doing it, I’ve been adding up the calories for the last few days and it’s been around 1700 each day. I guess I am curious to see just how many calories I can eat and still lose weight, so maybe counting is a good thing right now.

Anyway, this week it seemed like my body didn’t quite know what to do. There were four days when the # stalled and then inched up, then finally today it went back down. I haven’t seen today’s number in probably 3 years!! And before that, it had been another 3 years I’m sure. So glad to finally be back in the 130s for good, and I’m looking forward to leaving those, hopefully in the next month!

Last week – 136.8

This week – 135.4

Lost 1.4 pounds

So this week I am adding a lot of things! I have mapped out a running schedule in hopes that I will be training for a marathon once again. The running starts today, not much, only 1.5 miles but I haven’t been doing much of any running since October. I have done a few runs here and there but nothing consistent. The plan is to start out and see where I am in a few months, then decide about marathon training. Strength training starts today too. I plan on doing it 2-3 times per week, probably 3 times right now since I won’t be running longer than 3 miles for a while.

I’m also adding salads this week! Or cooked veggies. I’ve decided too that if I want some fruit I can have it too, but really I’m getting plenty in my juice and smoothies. I’m probably going to finish off the bulk of the fruit that I have left in juices and then switch it to mostly veggie juice because I think I might be getting too much fruit. Sometimes I feel a crash and I suspect it is too much sugar from the fruit.

So that’s that. I’m so glad that I didn’t automatically put on pounds since I added more than juice, but we’ll see what happens now that I will be eating actual food :lol

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by Lauren on March 13, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Diet, Exercise, Food, Happiness, Health, juicing, Life, Losing Weight, Running

Posted by Lauren on March 13, 2013

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/wednesday-weigh-in-7/

Food Budget Week 10

Another big spending week over here! We spent $280.10 and the budget is $125, so over $165.10 – yikes! We went shopping every single day this week K has decided to just do 7 days of juice fasting, so hopefully we will be spending a little less this coming week. Also I’m going to start eating salads this week and maybe whole fruit, so that should help too. Here’s what we bought:

PRODUCE:

Apples $5.27
Avocado $2.25
Bananas $5.74
Beets $.98
Bell peppers $4.17
Blackberries $1.98
Broccoli $.50
Cabbage $7.77
Cantaloupe $6.92
Carrots $5.49
Celery $5.77
Chard $3.98
Collard, spinach, and turnip greens mix $6.87
Cucumbers $1.53
Grapefruit $4.68
Habaneros $.6
Basil $5.78
Jicama $1.64
Kale $6.87
Lemons $3.80
Limes $5.58
Onions $1.66
Oranges $13.20
Pears $.60
Pineapple $4.00
Daikon radish $1.22
Spinach $7.98
Tomatoes $12.00
Yams $10.80
Wheat grass $2.98

OTHER

Brown rice flour $.01 (free with another flour purchase)
Buckwheat flour $5.78
Garbanzo bean flour $2.99
Chocolate bars $11.96
Coconut milk $3.98
Honey $8.75
Macaroni and cheese $4.58
Mushroom stock $6.00
Cashews $5.00
Peanut butter $2.79
Jasmine rice $6.99
Rice noodles $10.76
Crystallized ginger $6.59
Spaghetti sauce $10.00
Tea $12.00
Wild rice $4.99

We also spent $34.49 at the asian store on various jars and noodles, I’m not going to itemize those though. A lot of the OTHER stuff we didn’t really need, but it was on sale so we took advantage of that. I’ve been trying not to buy special flours, but I do want to try some things with the brown rice and garbanzo flour so I’m pretty sure I’ll use it up instead of waste most of it. We also didn’t need to buy the macaroni and chocolate, but oh well I hope we will do a lot better this week and spend A LOT LESS!!

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by Lauren on March 10, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Budget, Food, Goals, juicing, Life

Posted by Lauren on March 10, 2013

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/food-budget-week-10/

Day 30

It’s day 30 of my all-juice fast!!!! I honestly cannot believe I made it this long!! Well, I guess I can. I was about to throw in the towel around day 14 I think? But I decided that I was just doing it, no matter what. I have a big problem. Too many times I will make a goal or declaration that I am going to do something, or more likely, stop doing something. I last a few days, weeks, a month, and then I just give up or give in. I wanted to prove to myself that I could actually commit to something and get this – follow through!! In many ways this thing has been easy. It has been really hard at the same time. I think it has been so easy for the most part since I decided I was just going to do it. No ifs, ands, or buts. I kept picturing myself at the end of 30 days, knowing I had completed and how proud of myself I would be!! Whether or not you think the juice fast is totally stupid or a great idea, there is something in that – that I said I would do it and just didn’t give up. And if you think a juice fast is small potatoes, well just try one

Anyway, the hard work doesn’t stop now. I’m actually not even phasing out juices for a while, and I will probably keep them in the daily or weekly rotation. I am definitely working my way back to eating in a way that I want to sustain long term, but I also want to keep juicing. I will probably have a juice most mornings. For the week to come I’m adding smoothies with my juices. I’ll still be having half my intake be just juice. As far as the smoothies, they will be green, have almond milk and protein powder and fruit – wonderful, whole fruit. I hope they will be as filling as I think they will be, and I know they will taste awesome. Anything different at this point will be awesome!!

Tomorrow is weigh-in day, and the final day for the weigh-in on the juice fast. I’m pretty happy with the results. Stay tuned!

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by Lauren on March 5, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Diet, Goals, Happiness, Health, Juice Fast, Life, Losing Weight

Posted by Lauren on March 5, 2013

http://cookeatrunplay.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/day-30/

Food Budget Week 9

Not a good week over here! The budget is $125 and we spent a whopping $208.57!! So we overspent by $83.57. In our defense, we stocked up on a few things, like the apples, oranges, macaroni, and Naked drinks. The fridge is also pretty full right now so we have enough stuff for a few days maybe. Although with K starting a juice fast tomorrow I can only see the food spending going up higher. Oh well. It won’t be like this every week! Once we are all done with the fasting stuff I will really try and buckle down and make up for these overages! My plan is to hit up the co-op more this week, I got some pretty great deals there this past week.

Here’s what we bought:

PRODUCE