Late New Year's Resolution

I'm two weeks into my a late New Year's Resolution of bringing my lunch to work and its has been going well so far.  In looking at my finances, and the "extravagance" of the triathlete lifestyle (expensive equipment purchases), there were some cuts to the rest of my life that had to be made.

Most everyone could see from my Mayorships at multiple Subways around town, it was my lunch of choice.  They had some great food for a $5.00 footlong.  Two things happened in the New Year.

#1 - They discontinued their loyalty program.  Getting a free lunch for every 10-12 stops was a great motivator, but no more.
#2 - The $5.00 footlong is becoming less and less of an attractive option as they reduced the number of sandwiches they offer.

I decided to adjust my lunch from the $7.00 meal at Subway of a Sandwich, pack of apples, and drink, to making my own and try to save money and remove a little processed food.  This $35.00 a week could turn into a new wetsuit and a few pounds!

My goal was to still have the right amount of food to keep me going, but alter it to be a little healthier as I'm sure Subway hits their food with some preservatives, as well as highly processed flour and wheat in their bread.

Lunch would now consist of:
- Sandwich - Salami, turkey slices, sliced cheese, BBQ sauce - 450 calories
- Mini carrots - 70 calories
- Banana - 60 Calories
- Nuts - 80 Calories
Total - 660 Calories

This has seemed to fill me up as much as the larger portion of around 900 calories the Subway meal had, and I've been feeling better in the afternoon as well, probably from the reduced sugar intake in my Hi-C/Sprite combo out of the soda fountain.

My two week purchases for groceries is as follows.
- Bread - $4.00
- Lunch Meats - $11.00
- Carrots - $7.00
- Mango - $6.00
- Bananas - $5.00
- Nuts - $5.00
Total - $38.00
Two weeks at Subway - $70.00

I've nearly cut my food budget in half and all for about 10 minutes of prep time a day.  Not only that, I hang out in a park near my office now and don't have to drive to get food, saving gas, and I can say my life is a fraction more "Green" than it was last year.

Next step is trying to figure out how to do dinner.  My biggest obstacle with that is when I get home, there is no way I'm waiting to cook something as I'm usually about the go all Hulk from hunger anger. 

Diet

No, this post is not about dieting, but about diet. Dieting for an athlete is not an option, and event though I restrict how I eat, I still get to eat a lot which leaves me the strength to push hard in workouts, but keeps weight slipping off me.

Getting to that golden combination of food to make you perform your best is not easy, and I still haven't found it, but a great process I have inadvertently stumbled upon is to pick something to improve in your diet once a month to make sure it works for you.

I say one thing at a time because different people react to different things. If you scrap everything you eat all at once and start from scratch, your body may revolt against it, leaving you to trial and error to discover what did it. Changing one thing a month is not such a daunting endeavor either. Over the past two years my major changes have been.....

1. killing fast food and eating Subway
2. reducing the footlong to a six inch Subway
3. switching from the bag of chips to the fruit for lunch
4. Grapenuts and another cereal for breakfast
5. Adding blueberries to my cereal
6. Eating a Powerbar mid-afternoon to keep metabolism going
7. Switching from the Powerbar to a banana
8. Piece of fruit mid-morning to reduce the overeating urge at lunch
9. Stop gorging after long bike rides with Fried Chicken or Burrito
10. Keep fruit in the house instead of starchy snacks

A few other changes did not work very well. Some things did not agree with my stomach and some bad things resulted, other things just were not filling enough for me either.

The goal should be to add to your diet's nutrition, not take away calories. Eating better will fire up your metabolism and make you feel better before and after workouts to self perpetuate weight loss and well-being.

Some of the best ideas I incorporate into my eating habits come from articles on Competitor.com, usatriathlon.org, slowtwitch, so keep up with what the athlete experts are professing, and stay away from the fads that can seriously hurt your end goals.