First thing, I skipped my planned exercise, but I make up for it somewhat because I walked to work, which takes about 15 minutes. This morning I didn’t eat any breakfast because I was running late, but I should have grabbed a banana at least. I did have a coffee at work, which I don’t count against the diet budget since it’s nearly calorie free except for the small squirt of non-fat milk and a fake sugar packet.

For lunch, I walked home and ate, since I didn’t pack one. This was actually the first time I’ve walked home during lunch (I’ve lived here about four months). I had two high-grade beef hot dogs each on a slice of bread , a yogurt, and a mug full of potato chips. Then I walked back to work. All this walking will definitely aid in the diet.

This evening, I baked up the 5 piece chicken leg/thigh package I bought at Giant Grocery yesterday as part of the diet rations. I ate one piece as part of a meal that consisted of it, a salad with dressing I made using light mayo/ketchup/sugar/salt/water, a piece of bread, a banana, a glass of Crystal Light drink and a Pop-Tart for dessert.

I’m not feeling particularly hungry, but the need for rationing over the whole week did kick in, and I know I avoided a larger dinner, as well as post-dinner and midnight snacking. Not feeling bloated either. Another additional benefit to dieting is fewer trips to the can, not an inconsequential timesaver.

The basic differentiator to this diet is this: It costs you only an average of $5 a day. Of course, this has the added benefit of saving you a good amount of money as well as potentially lossing weight.

This diet depends on a few assumptions. They are:

1. People will ration if they can’t go buy more food when they run out.
2. People like tasty, as well as healthy, food. With somewhat limited funds, people will not simply buy quantity. They will still want taste and quality.
3. People need a specific mission to engage in, and they like to test themselves over a known timeframe, as opposed to vague goals and open-ended timelines.
4. People want to save time, not create another time sink in their lives, counting calories and weighing food, etc. Similar for money–people want to keep it, not spend it on diets.
5. People want to concentrate on things they enjoy, not on complicated diets.

Pre-mission: The purchase
This is pretty easy, and I’m going to make it even easier on myself. I plan to buy enough food for a week, averaging $5 a day. That’s $35, right? Yes, but hold on. Let’s go through this together. This is our first week, so let’s not strain ourselves. We don’t know how hard this is going to be, and we want to be successful.

There are a few things we can bear in mind when purchasing food at a typical grocery store. Small quantities cost about 30% more than large quantities. Since the first week is a trial, we’re going to buy only small quantities. So we will give ourselves an extra 30%, for about $47 for the week. (That’s only $200 a month! I know I’m closer to $500 normally. Nice savings!) Another break is we can buy on sale, and only add the sale price to our budget. Another break is we don’t include sales tax in our total. Bring a calculator to the store–yes, this is still easy, trust me. Yet another break is we can buy items that are essentially without caloric intake, such as Crystal Light drink mix, salt, coffee, bottled water, etc., as well as items that are considered condiments, (mustard, mayo, etc) as long as they are the low-calorie versions.

Now, the week before you start your diet, you should clear your food shelves, either by eating it, trashing it, or quarantining it where you are sure you won’t touch it. Not to encourage gluttonism, but I personally ate like a starving pig last week, especially the night before day 1 of diet–I bought a large Arby’s sub combo and dessert, etc, etc. I also psyched myself up for the week ahead. Frankly, the amount of food I purchased made me think I was going too easy on myself. But there is always next week to wratched down even more.

Worlds Largest Tattoo Collection
Worlds Largest Tattoo Collection! Over 35,000 Plus Tattoos! Free Lifetime Tattoo Updates For Life! Every 60 Days! Insane Tattoo Products
Worlds Largest Tattoo Collection

More Panama Products