Thursday, July 5, 2012

This Is It: The Grocery Challenge 2012 Ends

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After my meltdown yesterday, I decided to revisit MyFitnessPal. I have already received tremendous support from my husband and my friends – THANK YOU to everyone for every word of encouragement. This is it.

After discussing techniques to speed metabolism from Dr. Oz this morning with a dear friend, I decided one major thing needs to change: I need to stop this damned Grocery Challenge. We made it 41 days without buying a single grocery, and cooking what we had at home, which got pretty weird at times. I don't consider this a failure, I think we were pretty strong the whole way. We were tempted while we collected boxes at every local grocery store, but we still stayed true to the course. We didn't buy anything. However, now it's time to focus on something more important: our health and finances. The cost of buying snacks in the vending machines at work is staggering, not to mention the entire machine reeks of back fat.

Inspired and excited, I stepped into Target on my lunch break to buy a few healthy items to snack on at work. I laughed out loud and ironically, Bill called me at that very moment.
Bill: "Why are you laughing?" 
Me: "Because I just walked into Target...and literally every shelf in the grocery section is empty. Every. Single. Shelf."
Every. Single. Shelf.
At this point, he started to crack up as well and mumbled, "Do you think it's a sign from the Universe telling you that the Challenge isn't over yet?" I said, "I'm taking it as a sign that this isn't supposed to be easy, but I will find something healthy anyway. I need my snacks!!" 

So here it is...the end of the Grocery Challenge 2012...and this is what did it for me:
A girl's gotta eat! $15 in almonds & apricots is totally worth saving $1.50 at the vending machine and fighting my inner snack-attack every afternoon from 3:00-4:30. I'm proud we made it as long as we did. And now, I'm thrilled to say I will snack on HEALTHY things this afternoon.

I'm amazed at how emotional this Challenge was. Along the way, Bill and I laughed with family and friends about how ridiculous the food was that we were eating, but I tried to stay positive. "We're on a mission." I would say.

When the meals got weird, the emotional hit set in. I wasn't satisfied because what we were eating wasn't delicious. I was constantly craving food because I THOUGHT I was hungry ALL the time, and I KNEW there wasn't any more food to be had. This made me realize, what about the children of the world who are hungry all the time, and don't have the luxury of "deciding" when the game is over. What about the parents who can't run out to buy healthy snacks for their families, or feed them satisfying meals?

This Challenge brought more out of me than I thought it would. I now see food in a completely different light. I've never gone hungry, but the last 41 days I've felt hungry every minute just knowing I wasn't allowed to go to the store to buy what I wanted. Next time you scamper into Jewel or Target for some snacks, imagine that the shelves are empty. It has been a very humbling 41 days.

Thanks to all for your support and encouragement along the way - this has been a time we'll never forget.

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