Weigh Ins, confessions, zorbing and saving $$ cooking at home!

Happy Monday morning everyone!

WEIGH INS
Weigh ins were bust this week. I gained 0.1kg (0.2 lbs) almost nothing...but up is up. Kal gained 2.7kg in what I suspect is mostly water-weight. When I arrived at Kal's place on Friday, we were both dehydrated from the weather and lower liquid consumption all week, so we were drinking more water, especially Kal. I have a feeling it will all even out for him next week.


CONFESSIONS
This weekend isn't lengthily but it is calorie-rich.
1. We baked a cheesecake! and it turned out fantastic! Neither of us had baked one before so we were surprised when it turned out exactly like the pictures on the internet. I found this great website with all sorts of delicious cheesecake recipes. We made the White Chocolate Cheesecake.It serves 12 and so far this weekend we've both had at least 2 pieces each.

2. Slushies! Kal was so sweaty and dehydrated after zorbing at Springbank park that we had to walk to Macs and get something to cool us both down. We both had a medium $1.69, not good for us, but it could have been worse considering we used to get larges.

3. Haagen-Dazs - the pints were on 2/$7 (half price) and after a pseudo argument over Kal telling me the not so great generic brand ice cream was his and not for "general consumption"...I decided he needed to taste a REAL ice cream experience. We didn't eat much (a little goes a long way) but he knows now...and next time he reaches for his shitty brand, he'll notice a huge difference.

4. We split a pepperoni on the way home from zorbing. I needed something salty but couldn't eat it all by myself.


ZORBING!
I did not partake but the boyish grin spread across Kal's face when he emerged a bit dizzy from the giant inflatable ball showed it was a good time. His boss had bought one online and had it shipped from HongKong and decided to let everyone give it a whirl. No pictures as of yet because we forgot the camera but someone will have some up soon and I will post (with permission) or link.


SAVING $$ COOKING AT HOME


So going over this week's receipt for groceries, I decided to do a little math of my own to see how much we are saving or spending on making our meals here instead of ordering in.

These are the main dishes we were shopping for and the total prices of their ingredients purchased this week (all HST and everything calculated) compared to take-out (including taxes and delivery when applicable).

Homemade Pizza & Breadsticks vs. PIZZA PIZZA large 2 topping with Bread Stix

                             AT HOME          TAKE-OUT

TOTAL COST                   $9.41                    $24.33
PER PERSON                     $4.70                    $12.16
PER SERVING                    $2.35                    $6.08
Total Savings of:               $14.92

Homemade Chinese:  Gingerbeef, Stir Fry Veggies & Chicken Fried Rice vs. Good Fortune Chinese Restaurant

                                       AT HOME         TAKE OUT
TOTAL COST                    $19.69                   $33.44
PER PERSON                      $9.80                     $16.72
PER SERVING                     $4.90                     $8.36
Total Savings of:                $13.75

Homemade 9" Vanilla Cheesecake vs. The Cakerie Plain 9" cheesecake
The initial cake included the price of one-time purchases like the Springform Pan ($10.15 after tax) and a bottle of almond extract ($3.69). The "per person" option doesn't count this week because I put it on my half of the groceries and paid for the ingredients with my PC points.

                                         INITIAL CAKE   AT HOME HEREAFTER               TAKE OUT
TOTAL COST                      $40.67                           $26.83                        $40.68         
PER PERSON                         N/A                             $13.41                        $20.34
PER SERVING                       $3.38                            $2.23                           $3.39
Total future savings of:      $13.85


OK I thinks that's it for this week! Eat well, have fun, be happy!

Amanda

Weigh-in stats, Garbonzo Bean Brownies and this weeks best coupon victory!

This was an AWESOME weekend for food and movies and other stuff!

We found an awesome recipe online by Clean Eating Machines that makes brownies out of Chick Peas...SERIOUSLY! and it works!! It cuts almost all the worrisome stats in half (calories, fat, sodium, etc) compared to a regular coffee shop brownie. We take no credit for the recipe but are going to play around with it a bit. For sweetener we used 1/3 cup of Splenda instead of Agave Juice or Syrup (Splenda liquefies when heated so it works well). This texture is a little more like a moist cake than a fudge-y brownie but honestly....they were good enough that I can def eat it in a chocolate craving crunch and be more than satisfied! Super easy , cheap and quick to make and bake...give it a try!!

Weigh ins went AMAZING this week!
Between me almost giving up my Iced Coffees all together, along with dumping my relationship with chocolate chips and keeping up with most of my walking...I lost...drumroll......1.1 KG (2.5 pounds) this week! That puts me at 227.5 and Kal had another big loss...1.6 KGS (3.5 lbs)!!!! Honestly..we were both really surprised. We have been eating super clean during the week, indulging a little on weekends and planning our meals more. We decide what we want to eat during the week, make a list and grocery shop together on Sundays. Its been saving us some $$ too I'm sure.

CONFESSIONS from this weekend: Kal and I shared half a box of snack crackers, split a McDonalds ice cream cone, and shared a Kit Kat chunky. We had pizza night on Friday and had a 10" baked panzerotti each. There were no samples at the grocery store except for fruit...which just led to us buying more fruit lol so that worked out. We tried a London-licious participating restaurant called Marienbad that serves Eastern European food and it was really good. We really wanted to try some new dishes. We tried Goulash soup which was DELICIOUS! Best soup/stew I have had in a really long time...Not really a confession but the cheesecake for dessert (me) and Chocolate Truffle cake (Kal) sure does count!!! lol

Best coupon victory this week was on ..........MAKE-UP!!
Mascara, lipstick and a few other cover girl products were on for 2/$9 ($4.50 compared to $6.99-9.99 each). Then I broke out the coupon I got online ($3 off when purchasing any 2 covergirl products) and BAM I got 2 name brand make-ups for $3 each!!! ROCK ON! I signed up for the P&G brandsaver program and it was like a week later I got 4 whole pages of coupons for things that regular people actually use lol. Its been pretty great.

Ok novel is over lol. Talk soon.
Amanda

Kal Quote of the Day: "Empty it? Why? The dishwasher is just another cupboard "
Maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious.

Weigh-ins, confessions and a snack mix adventure

Hey everyone! Long time no talk I know!
Kal and I have been so obsessed with watching Trueblood and having so much fun lately that we've neglected the blog a bit BUT good news!!

WEIGH IN
I lost 1.1 pounds this week!!! Putting me in the 220's for the first time in a LONG time!!!!. I'm 229.5!
and even bigger than that.....Kal lost over a Kilogram this week!!! YAY!!

CONFESSIONS
We were both super clean eaters all week but went over a bit at Sunfest this weekend.
We shared an iced lemonade, we both had an ice cream cone from Marble Slap (1 fixin each). Mine was SOOOO good, strawberry icecream and gummy bears!!!!!! (kal had double dark chocolate with mint patties...mine was better ;oP) What else did we eat......Oh we ate a bunch of samples when we went grocery shopping, shared a Kit Kat Chunky bar AND we made these wicked awesome things called Arrowroot Squares (Kal's grandma's recipe) but I only had 1 peice!.....we'll see where the rest of the pan goes this week (KAL!) lol

SNACK MIXES!

Ok so Kal and I are going to try to give up some of our not so great snack food that we are always trying to eat in moderation but can sometimes get carried away. We are stepping away from snack crackers, chocolate chips and a few others and in exchange are going to try a few healthier chex mix type recipes but with whole grains, high fibre cereals, popcorn and pretzels. There are a TON of variations online but this week we are going to try 1 savory and 1 sweet type. We'll take pictures and slap up the recipes if they turn out. It seems a little expensive at face value to make it yourself at home but you get a TON, it lasts FOREVER in baggies/tupperware AND I have recently become a  COUPON QUEEN. For 3 boxes of cereal, a bag of popcorn kernals, pretzels, peanuts and craisons (for the sweet mix)...it came to $19.03...so we'll see how it all turns out!


I think that's about it.

Today's Tid bit about Kal: He doesn't like horse movies. Not black beauty, not Seabiscuit....no matter how motivational or inspiring they may be and yes youa re allowed to hate him for it lol

We recently went to the theatre to see "How to train your dragon" and there was a preview for the movie "Secretariat" and everyone was in awe and the kids behind us were so excited and were all "I want to see that!" and Kal plainly and more loudly than intended says "I don't like horse movies"..the children went quiet..... Hilarious.

Sinful Indulgence: Our Weekly Confessions (7/4/10)

Kal and I had a great weekend and got sidetracked with watching Trueblood and cooking (new recipes!) and bus adventures so I'm sorry this post was delayed until today BUT we're writing this at Headquarters (Kal's apartment) so I can finally put up some updates and pictures!!!!!!)

 First things first:

Amanda
Forgive me blog father for I have sinned, it has been 8 days since my last confession. This week I indulged and must repent to the readers.

• Half of a giant cookie (=6 regular chocolate chip cookies) = 665 calories
• Chicken strips and shared poutine = 940 calories for entire meal, lol no cheating
• Approx 1 cup of semi-sweet chip-its = 1280 calories (OMG math scares me at 80 cal per tbsp)
• Hula bear sugar cookie with icing bikini = 260 calories 
• Sour Watermelon slices/Fuzzy Peaches = 280 calories
• They were out of Iced Coffee mix so I had a medium Iced capp made with milk...that's +110 calories over my replacement drink.

Total Damage =  3535 calories
HOLY SHIT! I actually feel really terrible about this because at first I honestly didn't think I did too bad this week. That is over a POUND of fat's worth of calories.....but I lost half a pound this week so I guess I'm still doing ok.

Kalon
This week has been my first week that I've gained weight. I wasn't expecting to do so poorly, so I am disappointed in myself.

• Half of a giant cookie (=6 regular chocolate chip cookies) = 665 calories
• 2 Girl Scout Cookies (150)
• Fish and Chips and Poutine (+600)
• Sour Watermelon slices/Fuzzy Peaches = 280 calories
• Bottle of 7up (1.5L) = 634
• +2 Beers Over Weekly Amount (290)
  

Total Count: 2619

I think I did worse skipping exercise rather than eating worse. Here's to another busy week. At least I did better than Amanda.

Weekend Update 

FIREWORKS
Canada day Fireworks were awesome and romantic!! and No junk food was consumed!

LONG LOST SQUASH PHOTOS
I was so excited when I got my squash gear and Kal was going to teach me how to play! I felt like a pro in my hot pink shorts, goggles and racket....I even have a head sweat band now...hellz yes!

THREE CATEGORIES OF GROCERY SHOPPING
I recently noticed that when Kal and I shop...there seems to be a pattern. There are three types of item purchased when we shop.

1. Food that is to be cooked and eaten together. Yep all that delicious and wonderful bonding time spent preparing and eating food together.
2. Kal's food. This includes his favourites and the stuff he uses for lunches and work. The thing is these also appear delicious to me...which brings us to the most recently discovered category of food...
3. DECOY PRODUCTS. These are somewhat equally delicious foods but purchased and strategically placed in the cupboard as to distract me from Kal food and thus prevent me from eating it.

HAPPY CANADA DAY! JUNE SUMMATION

Hey Everyone!
I hope you are all having a great day off (or looking forward to one tomorrow).
Kal and I made it through the month of June with our blogging and as soon as he is done his overtime, there is going to be many more cooking adventures and physical activities...and hopefully some of the job applications I submitted will come back with an interview or two so I can have some moolah and we can go do something exciting and fun to share with you!


I tallied my month of June walking on the Her Progress page and WOW - all those walks add up baby!! I'm hoping this month Kal and I can do more structured exercise stuff together. I dragged him outside for a walk and coffee Date Night last night. (We haven't had many dates, we just sort of met once and have been together ever since) ANYWAY, He sits at the computer all day at work and then comes home, tired, and sits on the computer there (and talks to me on msn :oP so I can't really complain) but we need to get out there more and get active!

Tonight is fireworks!!!! Because we couldn't be together for Victoria day fireworks, I want to try my best to put together something at least a little romantic despite my lack of planning and cashflow (I forgot everything is closed today!). I washed up my softest throw blankets and they are in the dryer with extra bounce sheets now. We are going to Harris Park so I wanted to take a picnic with us. I have whip cream, fresh strawberries and grapes; I'm going to cube some marble cheddar for crackers AND I even fished out what's left of my bottle of Caramel Baileys (not much left) to add to some homemade hot chocolate. (KAL IF YOU ARE READING THIS - DO NOT FINISH WHAT'S LEFT OF THE CHOCOLATE MILK...WE NEED IT BECAUSE I'M OUT OF WHITE MILK! lol) This should prevent us from overstuffing ourselves with whatever unplanned dinner we have and then help avoid whatever junk food is open tonight while we're out.

(FYI His desk isn't normally this messy! This was def a combo effort and a lazy weekend!)

In the 2.5 weeks we've been at this challenge to eat better and be more active, we've done pretty well compared to not doing anything at all. We've both lost just under 2 pounds each and even a couple inches. Slow and steady wins the race!  Kal  is even sharing his cookies now instead of us eating them all which is HUGE progress!! (everyone clap for Kal with a mouthful of cookie lol) I'M EVEN BACK IN MY "NORMAL" PEOPLE JEANS WITH MINIMAL MUFFIN TOP!!!! Normal = not bought at a plus sized store. They are from Bluenotes, size 36. I wore them last night and Kal said he didn't even recognize it was me walking down the street (He lies but I like it *wink*)

OK People! I think that's it! Fireworks at 10pm...be there or be square!
Weigh-in and measurements are tomorrow and of course CONFESSIONS on Sunday!

Talk soon!
Amanda Fudge