50 Cents a Day Diet

Day 30 - The Last Day and the Aftermath...

2007-03-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

In my excitement to return to normal food. I completely neglected to put up the final post. Better late than never I say.

Day 30 was really no different than most of the other days. I was still feeling drained. The next day I woke up ecstatic that I was through with the experiment. I decided to have a kings breakfast. I walked into my kitchen and soon realized I didn't have any food. Doh! I had to settle for oatmeal again. The day after that is when I had my first big meal. I went to Johnny Carino's and ordered a calamari appetizer and chicken pasta. I could barely finish a third of my meal because I felt stuffed.

My reintegration back to normal food has not been a very difficult experience. The first few times I ate meat I would feel sick afterwards, but I'm okay now. I've just been eating less because my stomach has shrunk over the past month. After 13 days, my weight has only crept up to 152 lbs, a minor 2 lb increase. Its a good thing this experiment ended when it did. I had pretty much exhausted my food supply.

This whole experience has taught me how vital this basic necessity is and how painful it can be to not have enough food to eat. We all must take it upon ourselves to ensure that no person goes hungry. Surely there is enough wealth throughout the world for us to accomplish this task. Granted it is a large task, but we must start somewhere. My check to the local food bank has already been sent, and I intend on seeking out other charities which provide food to the more malnourished parts of the world. This world has gotten incredibly small, and we can no longer turn a blind eye those we know are in need.

My most difficult challenge was not the pain induced by the diet. It was my willpower that was tested the most in this experiment. I hope this served as an exercise for my willpower and that I am able to use this willpower in other parts of my life.

I'd like to thank Evan for spearheading this experiment. I would have not even considered something like this had not read his blog. I would also like to thank my family, friends and co-workers for their support.

When asked if I would ever attempt something like this again my response was, "not unless I lose my mind again."

Day 29 - Closing in on Home Base...

2007-03-01T21:03:00.000-08:00

One more day to go. One more day of my 50 cent diet. Even though I highly doubt there are many here in the United States which have to face such circumstances, there are many in other countries which dont have the luxury to say "one more day to go."

Even though I feel I was very compassionate to begin with, I can now truly say to those people "I feel your pain." This has also motivated me to donate towards ending world hunger. I will be taking Evan's lead and donate that which I have saved towards a charitable feeding cause.

I am truly blessed to be able to say "one more day to go."

Day 28 - I've been hibernating for a week...

2007-02-28T20:45:00.000-08:00

The lack of posts the last few days can directly be attributed to my lack of energy. Its Wednesday today and I'm still sore from some physical activity I engaged in on Sunday. My recovery time is shot. I'm counting down the days for my return to normalcy. Even though I've only lost about 13 pounds, my clothes are visibly loose fitting, and people who don't know about my experiment ask if I've lost weight. My body aches and modest physical activity wears me out.

At this point I really don't care about getting back to eating what I want, rather I want to start eating food which will properly nourish me. This is now turning out to be be much more difficult than I had originally thought.

My food stock looks good, and will be enough to take me to March 2nd, and then some days.

My weight 150.6 lbs. May not break the 140's after all...

Day 22 - Fewer Calories, Higher Quality

2007-02-22T20:59:00.000-08:00

Well I looked into the whole Caloric Reduction (CR) Diet, and the results looks very promising. Dont get me wrong, what I'm doing is not a CR diet. The philosophy with a CR diet is that you eat approximately half of the calories you normaly would (~1500 calories), however the food you eat is high quality. Heres a graph I ripped off which shows the lifespans of mice as a result of a reduced calorie diet:

We can see how mice which were fed 65% less lived considerably longer. Some studies have shown mice to live up to 40% longer.

When executing this diet, one must make sure that all the basic nutritional needs are met such as minerals, vitamins etc. Even the CR crowd feels that caloric intake below 1000 calories is technically caloric starvation. Plus the calories I'm consuming is are not high quality calories.

For additional information on the Caloric Reduction diet, visit this wikipedia page.

As for me, I'm making a list of all the food I plan on eating once I'm off this ridiculous diet. My weight today: 153.2 lbs.

Day 21 - More Purchases... Now Im broke

2007-02-21T21:04:00.000-08:00

Here are more receipts for the food that I have bought so far:

The punks at HEB raised the price of eggs. I didn't even notice when I bought eggs the last two times. The extra 30 cents spent shouldn't put a big hamper on my plan because I had set aside an extra buck anyways.

So far the total amount spent is at $14.17. This should provide me with enough funds to purchase an additional loaf of bread and 2 more packs of ramen noodles. My food stash is looking fairly good. I will probably run out of peanut butter in a few days, however. I've barely consumed a quarter of my margarine, but everything else seems like it will be just enough.

I'm still feeling acid refluxy. It always strikes after meals. I'm still hoping this is temporary, even though it doesn't seem that way. I think this diet is starting to catch up with me. As suggested by others I will try to drink more water.

My weight: 152.8 lbs. Looks like I'll be breaking into the 140's. I never thought I would weigh less than 150 lbs.

Day 20 - Acid Reflux...

2007-02-20T20:05:00.000-08:00

Man I felt sick this morning. I couldn't even finish my first cup of coffee. Usually I go through 3 cups right in the morning. My stomach felt a bit acidy. It went away in about an hour, but I'm starting to feel the same way right now for some reason.

This event coincides with my including ramen noodles into my diet. I was starting to run low on rice, so I purchased some packs of ramen noodles. Ive been eating half a pack a day for lunch. Maybe my system is not used to it. Lets hope this is temporary, even though this is the third time this day I'm feeling crappy.

Day 19 - Newfound Respect for Bread Crust...

2007-02-19T19:01:00.000-08:00

Its true that you gain a new found respect for something that becomes scarce all of the sudden. Even though I've been raised not to waste food, I probably would've tossed the end remains of a loaf of bread as seen in the picture.

The end slices of bread never really did appeal to me, but now I eat it knowing that it provides sustenance for me. Trashing it would truly be a travesty considering that there are those in the world who are eating even less than what I am eating this month. I have the luxury of reverting back to my old eating habits whenever I please. But then there are also those who are not as lucky.

Day 18 - Arbitrary Information

2007-02-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

Today I've put up a graph of my weight loss so far. It doesn't really provide any significant insight into the matter, but charts and graphs are cool (says the engineer within).

The standard deviation for this data is 0.54 lbs, which is essentially the average weight lost per day. Since there are approximately 3500 calories in 1 lb of fat, I would say that I am short 1894 calories in a day (if I wanted to maintain my existing body weight). That goes to show how much I was eating to begin with.

You'll also notice a point (Feb 12th) where my weight actually goes up. This is probably due to the fact that body weight typically fluctuates throughout the day.

My weight as of tonight: 153.4 lbs (factored into graph).

Day 17 - The Analysis as Promised...

2007-02-18T20:13:00.000-08:00

I had stated in my last post that I was going to provide an in depth analysis of my stool to determine if I am healthy (as recommended by a co-worker). Well, here it is:

I'm no expert, but it looks okay to me...

Okay that's a candy bar, not my excrement. It's just a good ol' Milky Way. This gag is a tribute to Dave Chappelle's Tyrone Biggums skit. And no I didn't eat it afterwards... it went right down the toilet. I just saved it the trouble of having to endure my gastrointestinal tract.

Current weight: 153.8 lbs

Day 16 - Joint Pain...

2007-02-17T19:00:00.000-08:00

My bones are starting to hurt a bit. Specially in the morning, my back is fairly stiff and my shoulders ache. I'm guessing its due to the lack of calcium. Ive been advised by some to take multi-vitamins to supplement my food. But that would be cheating wouldn't it?

I don't need no stinkin vitamins anyways. I've also been advised by some to see a doctor. Well, doctors are for unhealthy suckers. Its all a big pharmaceutical conspiracy anyways. They'll be telling me I need to take certain medication, which I wont, just so they can line their grubby pockets. All jokes aside, I feel well enough not to seek medical attention.

I had a bit of a scare recently when the news broke that Conagra was recalling their peanut butter because of reports of salmonella. Luckily my brand was not one of the ones being recalled.

I've also had a co-worker suggest that I monitor my stool to determine if it looks healthy. Even though I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between healthy and unhealthy stool, (unless it was green) next time I'll provide an in depth analysis of my fecal matter to see how I am faring.

Day 15 - The Mountain Has Been Peaked...

2007-02-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

Well I cant believe it, but half of this experiment is over. I didnt think I'd lose this much weight, but I guess I was wrong. I really should have done the calorie analysis prior to starting this. I'm also doing pretty good with budgeting my food. In fact I feel that Ive been fairly conservative with my food which will allow me to perhaps consume a bit more.

The extra buck I had set aside will probably get used up seeing how my rice consumption is more than I thought Id would be.

I dont really feel sick or weak. Aside from minor joint pain every now and then, I feel Im doing pretty well. I dont really feel sluggish after meals seeing how Im not really eating that much to begin with.

Its all downhill from here... hopefully.

Day 14 - The Day You Love to Love...

2007-02-15T07:31:00.000-08:00

All was well on day 14. Pretty standard day I would say. The oatmeal went down just fine. Stayed in just fine too. I'm already starting to make a list of the food that I'll be comsuming once I'm done with this whole ordeal.

I'm finding that I am able to eat on time as per my schedule during a weedkday when I work. I can never seem to stick to my schedule on the weekends. I feel it is very important that I continue my diet my adhering to my regimen, if I plan on keeping this up.

A few years back I had heard some information on a caloric restrictive diet and how it increased the lifespan of mice and other animals. I did some more reading on the subject just recently and I was very impressed with the results. I'll share what I read in a future entry.

Today my weight fluctuated between 154.6 (early morning) and 156.4 (evening) lbs. My guess is that my weight loss is starting to plateu. Just to avoid errors with the weighing scale, I purchased one that guaranteed weight indication within 0.2 lbs. I test the repeatability of the scale by weighing myself multiple times. So far the scale repeats the same weight flawlessly. I also read somewhere that body weight usually varies depending on the time of the day. I'll try to get more information on that if I can.

I'm almost halfway there and quite honestly, I want to get back to eating all the junk food that I had taken for granted.

Day 13 - First Major Sign That Something is Wrong...

2007-02-13T21:56:00.000-08:00

This morning, I was driving to work and I had my steaming cup of oatmeal in a mug with me. I had added enough water for me to drink it rather than have to use a spoon. So I as I'm cruising down the freeway at a crisp 70 MPH, I take my first sip of oatmeal. My stomach suddenly started to feel strange, but I took another swig of oatmeal... bad idea. I then started to dry heave, thinking, "oh my god, here it comes". So I desperately look around the car and find my lunch bag. I emptied out the contents of the lunch bag, and then I emptied out the contents of my stomach into the lunch bag... all while trying not to slam into the 18-wheeler barreling down the lane next to mine. I cant even remember the last time I've vomited before today. Must have been a very long time ago. Well now Im officially anorexic AND bolemic

I dont know what the heck THAT was all about... I didn't know malnutrition lead to upchucking food. Seems counter-intuitive, considering that my body would want food when it doesnt have enough food.

I'm now considering discontinuing this experiment. I havent even made it half-way through and already Im staring failure in the eyes. Hopefully this was an isolated incident. Before I started this experiment, a friend had asked me "what if you get sick? You're going to stop right?" I had dimissed his concerns by telling him "I dont get sick," and "I'll deal with it if I do." Easier said than done apparently.

Day 12 - Evident Symptoms of Malnutrition...

2007-02-12T19:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some symptoms of malnutrition that I've found on the internet. Lets see how I stack up:

Anemia - No I don't think I have this. I haven't had a doctor check me out. So I don't know for sure I guess.

Weight loss, decreased muscle mass, and weakness - Most definitly have experienced this. So far I'm down 6 lbs, weighing in at 157 lbs. Weakness not as much. Sure I lack some energy but I'm far from weak.

Dry scaly skin - The skin on my hand still hasnt healed from rock climbing yesterday. Usually it heals up by the end of the same day. So definitly feeling the pain on this one.

Edema (swelling, due to lack of protein) - I think I get plenty of protein, so I don't have to worry about this one.

Hair that has lost its pigment - Negative on this one.

Brittle and malformed (spooned) nails - My nails have always had slight ridges, and maybe its just my imagination, but it seems they have gotten ever so slightly more ridges.

Chronic diarrhea - Not chronic, mild perhaps.

Slow wound healing - Haven't really incurred any particular wounds.

Bone and joint pain - A little bit actually, specially in the colder weather.

Mental changes such as confusion and irritability - Why the heck do you want to know anyways??? What the heck am I doing??? I dont even know...

Goiter (enlarged thyroid) - A self-exam I just performed indicates that I do not suffer from this particular ailment.

Therefore in my non-expert opinion I would say that I am suffering from acute malnutriotion. Nothing serious ofcourse.

Day 11 - More than 1/3 done....

2007-02-11T21:20:00.000-08:00

I was driving back to my apartment again tonight. And I passed by the same number of fast food places as I did last Sunday. This time I had no wish to stop and eat a burger. A stark constrast from last Sunday's episode.

I went rock climbing again, and again it wore me out me pretty good. Im just sad to see that I've probably lost a good portion of my muscle mass due to this experiment. And as Ive already said, Im finding my clothing to be too large. Soon I'll put up a Jared (the Subway guy) style picture.

My weight as of tonight: 156.4 lbs.

Day 10 - Missed Another Day... Dang

2007-02-11T00:54:00.000-08:00

Well pretty much the same thing happened again yesterday. Came home and went to sleep, forgetting about the blog. Almost happened today as well, but here I am.

So its been pretty much the same schedule except I'm really starting to skip meals. I need to get a handle on that. I feel that I'm starting to exhibit signs of malnutrition. My co-worker friend showed me a list he found on the Internet. Soon I'll put up that list and evaluate which symptoms I have.

But for now, the show must go on...

Day 8 - Heres what I'm actually eating...

2007-02-08T21:31:00.000-08:00

I'm finding that a strange sensation is coming over me. I don't feel like eating much at all. In fact, I get full after a few bites and even feel a bit sick if I finish my tiny portions. So Ive been missing a few of my meals here and there. I can totally see what drives anorexic people. They get so used to consuming small amounts of food that anything more makes them sick.

Anyways, as promised, here is the breakdown of my food consumption for any given day (even though I'm definitely eating less now)

Oatmeal - 1/2 cup
- 130 Calories

- Fat - 4% DV

- Carbohydrates - 17% DV

- Protein 6g

Bread- 4 slices a day.

- 280 Calories
- Fat - 4% DV
- Carbohydrates - 20% DV
- Protein 8g

Peanut Butter - 1 Tablespoon
- 95 calories
- Fat - 12.5% DV
- Carbohydrates - 1% DV
- Protein - 4g

Rice - 1/4 cup
- 160 calories
- Fat - 0% DV
- Carbohydrates - 12% DV
- Protein - 3g

Tomato Sauce - 35 grams
- 11.5 calories
- Fat - 0% DV
- Carbohydrates - 0.57% DV
- Protein - 0.57g

Eggs - 1 3/4 eggs (average)
- 131.25 calories
- Fat - 14% DV
- Carbohydrates - 0.875% DV
- Protein - 11.275g

Margarine - 1/4 Tablespoon
- 25 calories
- Fat - 4.25% DV
- Carbohydrates - 0% DV
- Protein - 0g

Mayonnaise - 1/2 Tablespoon
- 50 calories
- Fat - 8.5% DV
- Carbohydrates - 0% DV
- Protein - 0g

This brings the Grand Total to:

-*- 882.75 calories
-*- Fat - 47.25% DV
-*- Carbohydrates - 51.% DV
-*- Protein - 32.845g

The scary part is that just to be safe, I calculated this with more than I would normally eat. Looks like this diet is fairly mal-nutritious.

My weight last night was 157 lbs. My coworker friend stated that I am "withering away". Another problem I'm noticing is that my pants are loose now. I might have to get my waist size back up or else I have a whole closet full of jeans which are a bit too large.

I'm going to see if I can increase my food intake somehow... Perhaps eating what I've planned is a good start.

Day 7 - What the heck happend to Day 6?

2007-02-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday I came home from work, ate an egg and a slice of bread, and pretty much passed out in my bed. I was going to take a nap around 7PM, and it was supposed to be a 30 minute nap. I woke up around 2 AM, shut all the lights off and went back to sleep. Hence, no blog entry. I find that I really lack energy throughout the day. However, its getting easier to resist the temptation to eat the food that I want to eat. I would have to say that's the hardest part of this whole experiment.

Unfortunately today I had to deviate from my experiment. Might as well be honest. I realized that I had a lunch meeting with my boss scheduled. I didn't want to look like a weirdo by not eating anything. It was a buffet style restaurant, so I ate the most minimum amount of food without looking anorexic. I had a few shreds of lettuce, a small amount of rice, and 1/4 cup of corn, and a fried oyster. Not to mention, I feel that I balanced my caloric intake by not eating anything else for the rest of the day, nor did I eat anything prior to. Funny thing is, I didn't feel hungry for the most part throughout the day.

My weight this morning was 158.6 lbs and tonight it was 158.4 lbs. So overall there was a net weight loss anyways.

Tomorrow I'll provide a break down of my caloric intake to see how much I'm actually eating every day.

Day 5 - Five days have passed but Im still not used to this

2007-02-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

Here are the receipts for my purchases so far:

So far thats $8.06. For the time being I plan on sticking to my original plan. That weird mild stomach ache comes and goes still...

Onward and Upward!!

Day 4 - My Stomach Hurts....

2007-02-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

Today my stomach started to hurt after my oatmeal lunch. I think I had put in too much water. Even though it was gone in about an hour, there were still lingering effects for the rest of the day.

I'm not going to let this diet keep me from doing the things I enjoy (except eating) and here I am today at a rock gym with my buddy:

-

-

-

Granted I didn't go at it for the duration I usually do, plus I felt exhausted afterwards, I still enjoyed it.

I encountered a problem on the 1.5 hour drive back to my apartment. For every fast food joint I saw, the following thoughts crossed my mind:

Maybe one burger is okay
Why the heck am I doing this stupid experiment anyways?
My God, this is only day 4
I need to just scrap this whole thing and buy a dang burger
Me hungry

I fought the temptation every time and kept on driving. I was very hungry on that drive home...

Sick and tired of the same dinner, I decided to mix things up again. I took some tomato sauce and mixed it in water and heated it up. Then I toasted up a slice of bread and crumbled it into the tomato soup. Presto! Tomato & crumb soup. Tasted great too.

My weight today: 159 lbs. Wasn't planning on weight loss, but oh well...

Day 3 - The Monotony is Killing Me...

2007-02-04T00:29:00.000-08:00

At this point its getting harder and harder to resist food that surrounds me. But I'm trucking on along. I just hope I can keep this up.

I feel that this diet provides me with enough nutrition, however, until now I didn't realize how I used to eat a lot of food very casually.

I also mixed things up a little bit today. Since I woke up late I didn't eat my oatmeal until 1pm. Then instead of lunch I just had a peanut butter sandwich. For dinner, I cooked some rice and tossed in an egg. The result was not too bad:

My egg rice bowl actually did taste pretty good. The tomato sauce again helped spruce things up a little bit. Up to this point my strategy has been to eat small portions throughout the day. Ive got to continue with that trend because it seems to be working. The only problem is that I've already gotten severely bored with my meals. But I guess if 15 bucks is all I had for food I'd just have to suck it up. However, the monotony is killing me.

Day 2 - This Isn't So Bad...

2007-02-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

Heres day two, and well, I'm still alive. I stuck to my regular schedule of meals. Here's my schedule spelled out:

Morning - 1/2 cup of oatmeal with water

Mid-morning Snack - Peanut butter sandwich

Lunch - Rice with tomato sauce

Dinner - Two eggs and two slices of bread

Up to this point I've faced only a few difficulties. The number one issue is having food flaunted in my face constantly. It wasn't too bad at work, but when I went to my parents' house over the weekend, I met with a kitchen loaded with food. Then theres the fact that I still can't cook rice. Yesterday I think I had put too much water in my rice, today, not enough water. So today instead of pasty rice, I had the opportunity to enjoy crunchy rice... delicious!

Turns out oatmeal is actually pretty for your health. Oatmeal contains insoluble fiber which fights cancer. It also contails soluble fiber which reduces your bad cholesterol (LDL) without reducing good cholesterol (HDL). This should hopefully help balance out the cholesterol I consume by eating eggs. A correlation has been between lower risk of heart disease and eating oatmeal.

So far so good.

Day 1 - And So it Begins...

2007-02-01T13:48:00.001-08:00

Have you ever put water in cereal as a desperate attempt to eat cereal when you’ve run out of milk? Then did you realize that you probably should’ve just made that run to the supermarket? That’s sort of the situation I dealt with this morning. Usually I look forward to my morning bowl of milk and oatmeal. But today I had my oatmeal with water and it wasn’t appetizing in the least. I had thought that this would be a cakewalk, but its turning out to be a little bit more difficult.

My 9:00 am snack was a peanut butter sandwich. That was right on time, because I was started to feel a bit hungry. Lunch wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The tomato sauce really brought out the flavor in my rice paste.

Anytime I tell people about my experiment, they seem to think that either I’m crazy or strapped for cash. Well I have plenty of cash, sanity on the other hand…
My weight this morning was 162.6 lbs. I feel that I’ve planned out my meals very well and that I wont lose too much weight by the end of this month.

I haven't started, and Im already regretting this....

2007-01-28T17:06:00.000-08:00

During my initial research phase I considered tuna as my main protein source. While I was checking out tuna at the grocery store I ran across a Chicken of the Sea can of Mackerel. The mackerel and tuna cost the same per unit weight so I decided to buy it to see if I could eat that instead of tuna. Little did I know what it looked like inside:

Keeping an open mind, I decided to give it a try. Turns out it tastes just as good as it looks... I eventually dropped tuna altogether and replaced it with the incredible edible egg. For 50 cents I could buy a can of tuna, or 5 eggs. The choice was clear.

Well the time to commence this experiment is fast approaching. After rigorous revisions of my food list I have finalized what I'll be eating for the next month:

I've left around a buck as contingency money. I've already bought the items above to get the ball rolling. However, it turns out I can't cook worth a crap. I was preparing rice for tommorow's lunch and what I ended up with was a paste like substance. Didn't taste great either. Due to limited supplies I will be enjoying the rice paste with tomato sauce tommorow for lunch. We'll see how that goes.

Another major hassle is that I drive to another city and stay there for the weekend. Therefore I'm going to have to haul the food back and forth every weekend.

I havent even started this experiment yet and Im already regretting it.