She Runs by the Seashore

This isn’t necessarily a running post, but healthy eating and exercise go hand-in-hand, so I figured I would share the challenge I created for myself during January.

While on Twitter one day, I realized I had packed my lunch on workdays for four out of the four days in 2016. I decided to challenge myself to eat a homemade lunch, whether I bring it to work or go home to eat, every day I work in January.

So far, it’s been 11 days, and every day, I have eaten something homemade for lunch. Most of the time, I’ll make a lunch-meat sandwich or wrap, but there have been a few variations.

Ideally, this will help me save money and be healthier. Most of the time when I buy a lunch from a restaurant at work, it’s out of laziness — I didn’t get up early enough to make a lunch, or someone else is already going to pick lunches up and I don’t have to leave my desk. But this probably costs me about $10, or close to it, each time. If I do that even once a week, that’s $40.

I also have found that I eat less when I bring my own lunch. I’ve found myself going to the vending machine for an extra snack on occasion, and I have tried to pick a “healthier” snack, like popcorn or Goldfish rather than chocolate, but I know eating from the vending machine is a bad idea.

I also didn’t put limitations on eating out for other meals, or getting coffee out (which I have done far too much this month).

As I mentioned in my 2016 goals post, I do need to lose some weight. On the first day of 2016, I weighed in at my highest weight ever, but more than that, some of my pants don’t fit and I don’t feel that I am at a healthy weight (I know it’s not all about the number).

I have felt really positive about this challenge so far and may even expand it beyond January. But for now, I’ll focus on the nine workdays I have left in January 2016.