I did it! I made it through all seven full days of the Food Stamp Challenge without breaking!
Day 4, Thursday, was okay. Breakfast was the standard yogurt and Special K Bar. Lunch was my $1 pizza, which felt like such a treat even if it wasn’t the best tasting thing I’ve ever eaten. I ate my dinner of a Boca burger with cheese on whole wheat before heading to my Bread for the City board meeting. I resisted eating the usual pizza and salad provided at our Board meetings, and just had a glass of water. Several other board members and staff were participating in the challenge, so there were many of us who weren’t eating. We spent some time at the meeting reflecting on our experiences, and the solidarity was helpful in reminding me why I agreed to take on this challenge in the first place and why an organization like Bread is so necessary.
Day 5, Friday, was the toughest of all for me throughout the challenge. Lately, I’ve been hitting the gym five days a week and I tried to stick with it during the challenge, which was tough. After my workout on Friday, the rest of the day was a struggle. After four and half days of eating so few calories, burning quite a lot (although not as much as usual, as I had zero energy left to do any weights), and then enduring the Code Orange air and 90 percent humidity, memories of heat exhaustion in Delhi came flooding back. But, alas, no access to Limca Cola to perk me up.
I could barely focus at the morning workshop I attended, and I was so cranky and hungry and numb as I slugged back to my office throughout the downtown heat, loathing the smell of the city in the summer. I ate my last remaining tuna and cheese sandwiches. I somehow managed to stay alert by constantly drinking water through my afternoon meetings and the graduation of WAWIT’s inaugural class (even my weariness from the Food Stamp Challenge could not keep me away!).
I was too exhausted afterwards to do anything but go home and go to bed.
Day 6, Saturday, was tolerable. Having purchased just enough yogurt and Special K Bars for my weekday breakfasts, I had been counting on eating toast for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately, I had miscalculated how much bread I had, so I had to skip breakfast on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, I slept in and then hit the gym. I staved off my hunger with leftover pasta and beans throughout the day. I got pretty creative with tossing pasta with a little olive oil and spices to try and fool the palate into thinking I was eating something different. I didn’t have a choice, as I was out of pretty much everything else.
Saturday evening, I met some friends for movie, which was good since eating wasn’t involved. Afterwards, we decided to enjoy the pleasant weather and catch up over drinks at a place with an outdoor patio, which meant tap water for me and beers and munchies for everyone else. It actually felt good to be able to exercise some will power, but then I was starving by the time I got home. As it was after midnight, I decided it was too late to eat and went straight to bed and tried to forget about being hungry.
Day 7, Sunday, could not pass fast enough. By the end of the day, I had eaten almost all of my remaining pasta. I have maybe a couple of ounces of dry pasta left, but other than that, I have eaten every scrap of food I purchased for the challenge.
I weighed myself before and after the challenge. I lost four pounds. I think I ended up skipping a total of three meals during the seven days. Reflecting on the past seven days, I am reminded of my experience bungy jumping in New Zealand:
a) I did it on a whim.
b) It was horrifying.
c) I’m glad I did it.
d) I proved to myself that I could do it without chickening out.
e) I don’t feel the need to ever do it again.
f) Now, that it’s over, I have a feeling of sweet relief.
