Day Two: B-L-D. 2013 Hunger Challenge

Last night was pretty hard.  I went to bed around 9:30 with the intention of falling asleep pretty quickly, but was kept up by my slowly grumbling stomach.  As I tossed and turned, my body couldn't relax and the pang became annoyingly noticeable.  By two in the morning, all I could think of was, "Can't wait for breakfast... Ugh."  I think it was around 3 when I finally dozed off, thankfully.

The dog wakes me up every morning quite early, as dogs do, but today I woke up feeling motivated-- if not a little sluggish.  I usually let him do his business and then crawl back into bed, but today I simply made the bed, checked me email and began to put together breakfast.

I'm not normally a breakfast gal, but after yesterday I thought it pretty important to fuel up for the day, since I have bunch I need to get accomplished and will be whirring for a few hours solid.  Today I made myself one soft scrambled egg, 2 slices of whole wheat toast, 1/2 cup of sliced strawberries and my token 1/2 cup of whole milk.  That's a bigger breakfast than I would ever normally eat, but I have to say, I feel better when I do.  Starting off my day at 369 calories.

Note to self: still waiting for my stone fruits and melons to ripen.  My strawberries were ready to eat and will need to be used within the day or tomorrow, while my larger fruit is still firm and inedible. The cantaloupe has about a day, along with the watermelon, but the peach, plum and nectarine were all unripe when purchased.  Craving the lightness and sweetness of fruit, so berries will have to do for now.

We'll see how far my resilience lasts today on a full morning meal...

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I got most of my errands finished up, including lugging 23 quarts of paint down to the hazardous waste recycling center, braving Costco at 10am for a box of triathlon nutrition bars for the hubbs, watering the garden and spending a hot hour at the dog park.  I've been busy this last hour writing other articles and keeping correspondence up to speed, all while enjoying a semi-dull lunch.  Not much you can do with carrots (1 carrot) and white rice (1/2 cup), so I portioned out a little (1/4 cup) of last nights leftovers for substance.  Topped off with a glass of sparkling water, I feel satisfied if not underwhelmed.  Saving our fresh tomatoes for this evenings tacos.  Why don't I just have a sandwich you ask?  Well, I couldn't afford lunch meats, and other than that I have cheese, which I'm trying to make last all week.  I gobbled up my lunch quickly, all 356 calories of it.

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This evening I prepared the hubbs favorite- Mexican food!  Well, sort of.  As close to it as I can get. I used our 80% lean ground chuck (4 oz per), flour tortillas (1 per), tomato (1 chopped), and Monterey jack cheese (2oz), along with white onion (1/2 chopped) and I thought that I'd try shredded carrots in place of something crunchy, like lettuce (1 carrot).  I tossed in some garlic (1 clove, minced) for some flavor with the beef and then decided to add hot water to the mixture and braise it.  I find that when you have a cheaper cut of meat, especially ground beef, it always helps to braise in order to soften up the texture.  It will also help to permeate the garlic into the beef, giving it a richer flavor.  

Not the prettiest, but it didn't taste bad!

I had a hard time with this meal because I desperately wanted to keep eating the tacos.  I could sit and eat four or five if left to my own device, but I'm sticking to the plan and only allowing myself a serving. Luckily, a serving of ground beef is rather generous, so this meal, wrapped up in a large tortilla, was plenty satisfying.  Self-restraint is more difficult when it's a favorite food.  I will be taking advantage of these leftovers for sure-- maybe for lunch? 

I've found that by dinner time, I'm pretty darn ready to eat.  We generally aim for 6:30 at the latest (due to the hubbs work schedule) and on Day Two, I was definitely feeling the growl by 5pm.

Tomorrow, I think I'll try going lean and light.  That's been a big struggle, figuring out how to eat well enough to feel energized and FULL at the same time.  I can't eat potatoes all week or I won't be able to move, nor can I eat only raw veggies or lean meats for the opposite reason- I'll faint.  Plus, I'm swimming my regular 1200 meters in the morning, we'll see how that makes me feel.   

Day Two... Done.