Info all Articles

As I mentioned in yesterdays WIAW, this week I am healthy feasting and having a ‘set back’ week in my training. I’ve still been working out, but I’ve been taking it easier. Yesterday I just did 1.5 miles on the tread instead of 3 miles and cut my overall workout time down. On Monday I made up my own little light strength routine although I think it must have been tougher than I realised as I’ve had the worst DOMS in my abs! This morning I did yoga for runners then instead of going to the gym after work I came home and relaxed with James. It felt good to be so kind to myself!

Eats wise I’ve been enjoying more smoothies (sans stevia and gums) and salads:

Spinach, romaine, courgette, vanilla sun warrior, agave syrup, water, ice, ground flax topped with figs, honey and bee pollen

Spinach, pink lady apple, almond milk, 2 tbsp almond butter, cinnamon, ice topped with more cinnamon, buckwheaties and bee pollen

Spring greens, 2 pears, chocolate hemp protein powder, water, ice topped with raw chocolate hazelnut butter and raw pear and ginger granola

‘Rainbow’ salad with romaine, finely sliced spring greens, alfalfa sprouts, yellow pepper, carrot, red cabbage, beetroot, sunflower seeds, lemony hemp dressing (lemon juice, good hemp oil, coconut aminos)

Snacks have been a mix of fruit, veggies, nuts and dried fruit:

Apple, carrots, dried apricots and hazelnuts

Clemintines, apple, macadamias

For dinner I had spiralised courgettes with green goddess dressing topped with roast kabocha and some additional tahini miso dressing:

This was so good!

Dessert has been lots of fruit:

Frozen cherries, frozen grapes and a chopped apple

Frozen raspberries, raw chocolate granola, almond milk

I’ve really enjoyed all these eats, just goes to show how tasty healthy foods can be!

Big Budget Challenge Update

I don’t really have much to report this week to be honest! Pay day is next Friday and it can not come quickly enough. I’m doing well keeping up with my good habits regarding my grocery spending but with Christmas fast approaching my thoughts are turning to Christmas shopping which I have to admit is a bit distracting!

I am starting to think about how I can be a bit thrifty over Christmas and not go over the top as usual. I’ve came across a few really useful websites I’m going to make the most of:

Money Saving Expert – this is just full of lots of money saving advice and tips. You can sign up for their weekly email and get alerted when certain discount codes are available.

Voucher Codes – A great website that lets you search for voucher codes

Top Cash Back – gives you cash back when you click through their links and make a purchase online.

With more and more of us doing our shopping online I think sites like these could be really useful ways of saving a little bit of cash, especially at this time of year! I’ve also came across a few great blogs:

A Thrifty Mrs – a fun frugal lifestyle blog – I love her ‘how to’ pages and may have to try out the home made Christmas decorations!

Miss Thrifty – another great blog full of lots of tips for saving money including shopping, fashion, cheap recipes etc.

Skint in the City – I only discovered this blog via Huffington Post today but I love it! Lots of great tips and tricks for the style conscious girl

Big Budgeters joining in:

Head on over to Celery and Cupcakes and check out her Tofu Meatballs recipe! Sharon at Bit of the Good Stuff has posted her update that’s really full of some excellent tips. Alissa at Not Just Apples has posted her update – sounds like she’s got some good deals from Waitrose and has posted a lovely sounding recipe for brown rice congee porridge. Thanks for the updates everyone!

Come on all you Big Budget Challengers out there, only a couple of weeks to go! How about we all try and post a recap / update in these last two weeks to share how we’ve all been doing?

In line with being kind to myself, I think I’m going to take the rest of the week off blogging – but I do have a fun post scheduled for you tomorrow! Tomorrow night I’m off to the amazing Durham Lumiere festival – I will be getting lots of photographs hopefully! Then the rest of the weekend I think I’m going to try and recharge my batteries a bit as I have an insanely busy work week coming up.

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your week and have a great weekend!

Don’t forget to check out my November sponsor giveaway for a chance to win Linwoods and Good Hemp Goodies!