Thursday, May 1, 2008

Food Budgeting

No, no - not that kind of budgeting. I may be starting to get my finances organized, but I don't expect that everyone likes that kind of torture. Instead, what I'm taking about is how to budget your calories. In addition to the planning of meals and trying to balance calories in and calories out, there's a simple thing that I have found helps me maintain my diet. I decided to call it food budgeting, but food planning works just as well.

Each morning, I or Stacie put together my food for the day while I'm at work. Grab a breakfast, lunch, and snacks, throw them in a plastic grocery bag, quick kiss, and out the door. This means I've already set aside my calories for the work day - I can't eat anything more than what's been packed, unless I go buy something from the cafeteria or the vending machine. Now, as I've made it a habit to carry very little cash (and that's only an emergency reserve) I'm not tempted to eat from either of these sources. So, while I'm at work, I would have to go out of my way to overeat.

The result? I never do.

It works so well for me that we're thinking we might do it for Stacie as well.

So, if you want to food budget, set aside everything that will be eaten during the day and when you find yourself getting peckish, reach for a snack from that bag and not the pantry. Do this and you'll find it a lot easier to know how much you've eaten during the day. Just one other way you might try to attack the cravings that come during the day.

Cheerio, happy healthy and happy Thursday!


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