Today, I went back to calculating every bite I eat. Yay…
I had my kickboxing class this afternoon, and as I do every week, I stayed in the gym after kickboxing was over for some light strength training. I got home with some serious food cravings because I needed to refuel after my workout. Normally, I start cooking while munching on a snack to quell my ravenousness. This week, I didn’t have anything that I could afford to snack on (I have four apples left and two days to stretch them over) and had to wait for my egg soup to cook.
By the way, when you’re hot, sweaty, and hungry, egg soup doesn’t exactly hit the spot. But I was short on time (had a meeting to get to), and I could let the egg soup cook unattended while I showered. I was still hungry after my egg soup, but I had to wait until after my meeting to eat more, as I didn’t buy anything substantial that didn’t need cooking.
I think that if I hadn’t had the break in my Food Stamp Challenge, I wouldn’t have made it through my workout today, as I may not have had the calories to spare on jumping around. Unsuprisingly, I’ve lost a few pounds in the past few days, but this is so not the way to diet.
I’ve never been a deprivation dieter. When I notice that I’m putting on weight, I try to work out more, snack less, and eat healthier, but I never let myself be physically hungry. If real “dieting,” of the appetite ignoring type, is like this, it’s no wonder people can’t stick to their diets – it requires tremendous willpower to ignore a gnawing stomach, and I can’t wait for the next two days to be over. On the plus side, because I ate so sparingly at the beginning of the week, I should have plenty of food left and can eat more these next two days. And by eat more, I mean eat more oatmeal, brown sugar, and eggs.
Day 5 food log
8:30 AM breakfast – 1/2 cup oatmeal ($0.08) with 1 tbsp brown sugar ($0.02) and a sprinkle of cinnamon (not counted); 0.75 oz peanut butter ($0.06) eaten straight.
11:00 AM snack: 1 slice of toast ($0.15) with 1 tbsp strawberry preserves ($0.10), 1 apple ($0.33)
1:00 PM lunch: 2 slices toast ($0.30), 0.75 oz. peanut butter ($0.06), 2 tbsp strawberry preserves ($0.20) and 1 apple ($0.33)
6:00 PM pre-meeting dinner: 2 eggs ($0.30), salt and pepper to taste (not counted), 1 carrot ($0.30)
7:45 PM post-meeting dinner: ~1/3 pkg frozen sweet corn ($0.33), ~1/7 box pasta ($0.18), ~1/5 jar of sauce ($0.50)
Day 5 total: $3.24
