Toward the beginning of my journey I shared that I believe one of the major causes of my obesity was I found some sense of normalcy or control over my life when I would be able to go out and eat with friends or even by myself; this was probably because growing up my family ate out a lot and so when I went to college and was dirt poor it would bother me if I didn't have $ to spend on food so as soon as I got $ I would usually spend it on that- hence gaining even more weight.
Since the beginning of this journey that has been something I've been working on changing- realizing that my sense of normalcy and self-control shouldn't come from being able to eat whatever/wherever I want, but from having control over food and not the other way around- not eating out/eating bad just because I can.
Well, out of curiosity the other day I went online to my bank account and decided to add up the amount of money that I spen in August on eating out...um...wow. I really would rather not say how much I spent eating out but let's just say it is more than my rent or my car payment. Say what!? Yep. It's true. So after I picked my jaw up off the floor, I realized that I may not have successfully broken this pattern of getting my sense of normalcy and control from eating out after all so I began a 2 week experiment; here are the stipulations:
1- No frivilous eating out; I can only eat out 1 meal per week each week (unless someone else offers to pay).
2- No spending ANY $ on food outside of that one meal. Too often I convince myself that I need to go to Trader Joe's or another supermarket for groceries but I really don't. I'm challenging myself to not buy any more groceries but eat off of what I already have in the house.
I began this experiment this past Monday and so far so good. I have spent a total of $17 dollars on food this week where I would normally have spent at least $45-$50 and this isn't even including the weekend (which is when I usually spend the most!).
Truthfully, I'm learning A LOT from this experiment and I'll be sharing some of these lessons throughout the week but first I thought I'd show some of the interesting creations I've been coming up with since my challenge to only make meals from what I already have at home (nothing too exciting- just some of my basics):
Peanut Butter Oatmeal- I eat this for breakfast every morning at work (M-F) and I love it. I use high fiber maple syrup instant oatmeal (160 cals), 3/4 cup skim milk (60 cals), and 1 tbls of all natural reduced fat peanut butter (95)- a little high in cals but SO filling and SO delicious!
I created this yummy salad with romaine, homeade chicken salad (including crazines), and instead of using croutons I used pretzel thins from trader joes! Get this- 23 pretzel things for only 110 cals!
Flat bread white pizza (or at least that's what I call it!) I used the flatbreads above from Trader Joes (110 cals), mushrooms, tomotoes, light provolone, hummus, and garlic! Throw it in the oven and hello deliciousness!
Alright, excuse the fugly picture but I've been meaning to make something like this for awhile and finally got around to it- and BOY was it easy peasy! I just got a bag of mini red potatoes, cut em up, rolled em around in some oil and Mrs. Dash, threw em in the oven for 10 minutes and then enjoy an amazing side dish!
I can't lie- not eating out hasn't been easy for me- particularly when I'm used to eating out 8ish times a week but it really just isn't worth the effect that it's been having on my bank account or on the scale.
Anyone else wanna join me for week 2 of this challenge?