Day 1 - all in all, not so bad. However, it did get off to a rough start... after my 50 minute cardio workout this morning, I was really looking forward to peanut butter toast and hoping the weakened coffee would be worth it. Turns out cheap white bread toasts pretty fast so it burned. Not to worry, the peanut butter covered up a lot and I ate it anyway (there is no such thing as throwing out in this experiment, rations are sacred!) It was a brief moment of panic though.
Before leaving for work, I left a check for our cleaning woman, who comes every Monday. As I wrote the check, it dawned on me that this was the equivalent of 8 weeks of rations!!! Yikes, and we get our house cleaned every week. But while it did make me stop to think, i'm not ready to give up a clean house just yet. Now that I know I can eat cheaper, that might just be the better option :) But in all seriousness, it did make writing the check a lot harder.
Lunch was somewhat dismal. As I planned my meals for the week yesterday, I decided that I would save some "treats" for later in the week, when i'll need to dig deep :) So, today's lunch was ramen noodles and peas. It was tasty, but salty and I don't normally eat so much starch.... which i'm wondering if that is what made me a little sleepy (anyone know the answer to this, i'd love to know!) Given the super cheap lunch, Nicole and I decided to split a can of Coke Zero as an afternoon pick-me-up. We held it dear and drank it slow, like a fine wine... aahhhh... although we did both agree later that it made us feel hungry afterwards (again, any of my doctor/nutrition friends have a clue why that would be?)
The Coke Zero was a reminder of what I mentioned yesterday - we Americans are all about taste, and the bigger the better! That has certainly been evident in the comments i've received on my Facebook $1.50 a day posts... from, "No wonder you're so skinny (love you cuz!)" to sentiments of wishing me luck in the challenge, to my dad saying he wasn't sure he could read my blog because he didn't think he could read about his daughter starving. While sweet and with good intentions... come on people, it's only 5 days... PLUS, the point is to raise awareness for people who don't have this choice. But I guess it's not the kind of thing people automatically know how to support or comment on... kind of like my business school colleagues who asked why I would volunteer to be poor when I joined the Peace Corps, instead of getting the power job right away. But i'm not alone, there are at least a few others like me, willing to do something for a cause (shout out to the Solidarity Sisters!)
I digress in carb-induced stream of consciousness...
The afternoon felt long, but not too unlike any other Monday. After work, our group met at Nicole's house for a Solidarity Sisters dinner of black bean burgers and rice. I think we were all excited to see what looked like a tasty evening meal. It wasn't bad, but sure needed something... like salsa or fresh tomatoes on top... instead we used a pinch of salt. It certainly could have been worse, I think we were just anticipating something with a little more oomph.
So are you curious to see how I made out with my budget today? Here's what I consumed and the cost:
So I actually came in under my $1.50 budget. It is clear this will be an exercise in portion control, which I thought I was pretty good at... then it made me think, am I going to consume MORE calories than usual because of all the starch? So I tracked it all and not that you can't tell from looking at the list, here is how the nutrition broke down:
Total calories for the day = 1,136 (a little less than what I normally consume when I exercise)
Fat = 27 %
Carbohydrates = 62% (shocker... not really... but definitely way more than I usually consume)
Protein = 12% (while it was a lower percentage than I normally get - basically I made up for lack of protein with carbs - I did manage to get 33.5 g of protein, which I don't think is horrible)
As I mentioned earlier, I figured I would start out with the less appealing foods to save some of the things I like more for later in the week. But, today made me take another look at my meal plan, which I ended up tweaking.
Tomorrow is another day... first impressions, we can do this. The biggest challenge I see for myself is the elevated levels of starch. This vegetarian needs some veggies!!
Before leaving for work, I left a check for our cleaning woman, who comes every Monday. As I wrote the check, it dawned on me that this was the equivalent of 8 weeks of rations!!! Yikes, and we get our house cleaned every week. But while it did make me stop to think, i'm not ready to give up a clean house just yet. Now that I know I can eat cheaper, that might just be the better option :) But in all seriousness, it did make writing the check a lot harder.
Lunch was somewhat dismal. As I planned my meals for the week yesterday, I decided that I would save some "treats" for later in the week, when i'll need to dig deep :) So, today's lunch was ramen noodles and peas. It was tasty, but salty and I don't normally eat so much starch.... which i'm wondering if that is what made me a little sleepy (anyone know the answer to this, i'd love to know!) Given the super cheap lunch, Nicole and I decided to split a can of Coke Zero as an afternoon pick-me-up. We held it dear and drank it slow, like a fine wine... aahhhh... although we did both agree later that it made us feel hungry afterwards (again, any of my doctor/nutrition friends have a clue why that would be?)
The Coke Zero was a reminder of what I mentioned yesterday - we Americans are all about taste, and the bigger the better! That has certainly been evident in the comments i've received on my Facebook $1.50 a day posts... from, "No wonder you're so skinny (love you cuz!)" to sentiments of wishing me luck in the challenge, to my dad saying he wasn't sure he could read my blog because he didn't think he could read about his daughter starving. While sweet and with good intentions... come on people, it's only 5 days... PLUS, the point is to raise awareness for people who don't have this choice. But I guess it's not the kind of thing people automatically know how to support or comment on... kind of like my business school colleagues who asked why I would volunteer to be poor when I joined the Peace Corps, instead of getting the power job right away. But i'm not alone, there are at least a few others like me, willing to do something for a cause (shout out to the Solidarity Sisters!)
I digress in carb-induced stream of consciousness...The afternoon felt long, but not too unlike any other Monday. After work, our group met at Nicole's house for a Solidarity Sisters dinner of black bean burgers and rice. I think we were all excited to see what looked like a tasty evening meal. It wasn't bad, but sure needed something... like salsa or fresh tomatoes on top... instead we used a pinch of salt. It certainly could have been worse, I think we were just anticipating something with a little more oomph.
So are you curious to see how I made out with my budget today? Here's what I consumed and the cost:
| Breakfast coffee | $0.22 |
| toast (2) | $0.10 |
| 1.5 tb peanut butter | $0.08 |
| total breakfast | $0.40 |
| Lunch ramen | $0.10 |
| Lunch - peas | $0.08 |
| Coke Zero - 1/2 can | $0.30 |
| total lunch | $0.48 |
Dinner | |
| lime wedge for water | $0.04 |
| ginger snaps (2) | $0.03 |
| black bean burgers w/rice | $0.28 |
| Total Monday | $1.23 |
So I actually came in under my $1.50 budget. It is clear this will be an exercise in portion control, which I thought I was pretty good at... then it made me think, am I going to consume MORE calories than usual because of all the starch? So I tracked it all and not that you can't tell from looking at the list, here is how the nutrition broke down:
Total calories for the day = 1,136 (a little less than what I normally consume when I exercise)
Fat = 27 %
Carbohydrates = 62% (shocker... not really... but definitely way more than I usually consume)
Protein = 12% (while it was a lower percentage than I normally get - basically I made up for lack of protein with carbs - I did manage to get 33.5 g of protein, which I don't think is horrible)
As I mentioned earlier, I figured I would start out with the less appealing foods to save some of the things I like more for later in the week. But, today made me take another look at my meal plan, which I ended up tweaking.
Tomorrow is another day... first impressions, we can do this. The biggest challenge I see for myself is the elevated levels of starch. This vegetarian needs some veggies!!
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