We started out our Saturday with the normal bi-weekly groceries. That entails three stores. We start at Aldi’s and scan the aisle for anything we can get there (sticking with only organic products). We then move on to the organic market. And last but not least we finish up at a regular store to pick up anything that we couldn’t find at the other places (usually the non organic stuff...). When we got home I put everything away and made a batch of potato salad and deviled eggs. I rested a few minutes and then we headed out for a hike!
We had plans to pick up a geocache...down a very remote hiking trail. (Only 3 or 4 miles out). I have tried to grab this cache a few times. Last summer it was so overgrown and there were trees down over the path and we couldn’t get through the brush to go around the debris. Earlier this year the path was flooded and we just didn’t want to get muddy. That was last weekend also...just really muddy. This weekend however I made the vow ‘we are just going to be muddy...accept it’. The geocache trip would be coupled with hunting for morel mushrooms (yup we hunted all last weekend and the hunt was back on this weekend!) It was muddy....very muddy! At one point my foot was stuck in what felt like quick sand. Now I wear a backpackers hiking boot (recommend it for anyone with weak ankles and feet problems). The mud and mire was so deep that I was literally about 1-3 centimeters from having my hiking BOOT swamped by the mud! My boots are encased in mud the whole way to the very top of the boot...well over my ankle! It was fun though to be out!!!
So did we get the geocache? NO!!! We managed to cross the first stream by detouring a mile downstream to find a suitable place to cross. (It has rained last week and the water was too deep to cross...We have waterproof boots but seriously that only works if the level of the water does not come over the top of the boot!). The second stream...we couldn’t find a place to cross that wasn’t two feet or more deep!! No go.... yet again!!
Morel mushrooms? We looked and looked and looked. After about 3 hours we were done...and we were hightailing it back to the car. We stopped at one place. We had on the way in seen a dog leash and picked it up and put it to the side of the trail and vowed to pick it up and carry it out. We stopped to pick up the leash. Seriously, we were DONE! Right next to wear we had placed the dog leash was a mushroom! Victory! So of course we spent about a half hour or so in that location hunting!
We were wiped out! We slept so well Saturday night. Sunday I woke up and my back was so messed up! I could barely move. (I have had issues with my lower back before...to the point that I couldn’t move and had to take time off work..). It was bad. But I rested it and stumbled around the house. We had family functions to attend though so we got up and out of the house by 10...we did some more walking and checked out some ‘not so remote’ areas for some more mushrooms (yup, finding them only made jason want to find more!). Then we spent the rest of the day with family and didn’t get home until about 7pm. We relaxed a bit and then headed to bed ...ready but not ready to face another work week!
I have two main goals this week. They are to not allow any work stress to drive me toward food! The second one? First thirty minutes after I get home is dedicated to exercise...even if it is just a walk!!!! I need to start that habit!!!
It was miraculous really, the results of my official weigh in! Why yes, even after I had a week of higher caloric eating, I managed to maintain my weight this past week! Even with the stress eating and general lethargy that my work week brought...I still managed to maintain! My stats were at the top end of my caloric range pretty much all week (actually over, but who is nit picking!!)
My official top number is 1530. So I was actually over three of the seven days! It wasn’t too much better once I added in my exercise to give me my net calories!
Yes I rocked the weekend days!! So it shows me that even though my top end theoretically should have me still being able to lose a pound a week, it does not work for my body. That is more my maintain range apparently. Good to know!
Lessons learned last week. Lots of fun over the weekend. Now it’s time to get this work week rolling and rock the lower calorie count to LOSE weight and take the steps to be more healthy!!!
