Buying food

Today is the final day of the 'fasting' portion of the optifast programme. From tomorrow, we will eat four pouches/meal replacements per day and replace the fifth pouch with a meal that has 200 calories and 15-20g of protein. 

I kept to the fasting regime really well, far better than I expected. And then three weeks ago I went on holidays for two weeks and, well, I did not keep to the fasting regime. I mean, I didn't discard it entirely but I did decide to eat some things while I was in Ireland. Not large amounts of things, and I definitely felt it in having an uncomfortable tummy for the day if I did eat, but I probably ate something on more days than not. And in the last two days, I ate quite a bit of chocolate. Still, from the first day back, I was back to the pouches and have kept to it. I presumably lost less weight than I might otherwise have lost but I assume that the bloods I'll be having done tomorrow won't be as good as they might other have been. Most of all, it was good to feel out my boundaries a little bit and recognise a few of the situations and foods that are likely to be problematic. I'm trying to take a more pro-active approach and actually deal with that kind of thing. My therapist is going to work on it with me over the next while.   

And with eating the food comes the buying of the food. Far more than eating, my spending has gotten a bit out of control over the last month or two and I need to rein that in properly now. I've just bought what I needed to get started this week but from next week/the start of November I plan to switch to a cash envelope only for food. My plan is to allocate €150 per month. That gives me €30 per week in 'five-week' months, or, in a 'four-week' month, €30 per week plus another €30 to stock up on things or buy more expensive items, like olive oil or the good balsamic vinegar or meat.

 Meal planning will be the order of the day for sure.