(Above: my celebratory meal at IHOP this morning.)

I made it! My challenge officially ended as I went to sleep last night (well, early this morning), and now I can eat whatever I want once again.  But that thought isn’t as comforting as I thought it would be.  More on that in a bit.  First, let’s cover what I’ve learned in the past 5 days.

This challenge wasn’t what I thought it was gonna be.  The things I thought were going to be hard, weren’t as hard as I had imagined, and things I didn’t even consider really started getting to me. 

So being borderline hypoglycemic growing up and learning to eat on a schedule, I thought hunger would be the biggest challenge.  But it wasn’t.  Not even close.  In fact, I really only allowed my hunger affect me on the first day of the challenge.  Maybe that’s easy to say now that I’ve had a proper breakfast, but I think that’s the truth.  I knew I could only eat what I had in my budget and so I comfortably dealt with the hunger.  And for the first time I realized what hunger was.  I had always associated hunger with a feeling in my chest, which I know sounds weird, but it is what it is.  Now I know hunger is more like a muscle ache in my abdomen…at least, that’s what I think that pain is.  But anyway, because I still ate a breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the hunger was manageable because I knew I would be able to eat again.  It wasn’t like I was simply fasting.  I was getting some nutrients at regular intervals.

The fatigue was a challenge I hadn’t been anticipating.  I was just tired all the time.  Especially at night.  I didn’t have energy for a lot of things.  But I knew life had to continue as normal for the completion of this task to be considered a success.  I still had to wake up and go to work because hungry people have no choice but to work if they’ve got a job.  I couldn’t call in sick (even though I considered it twice) just because I was exhausted, hungry and had a headache.  I had to work, because people with malnutrition go to work all the time (sometimes even if they do get to live on more than $1.50 a day).  I couldn’t skip out on bible study or hanging out with friends just because I didn’t feel 100%.  Let’s say I lived on a $1.50 all the time.  I couldn’t just stop seeing people and hanging out with people just because I was tired. 

The monotony was definitely a problem, and to read more on that, you can see my Day 4 post here.  Eating the same thing over and over was more of a challenge then I thought it would be, because I eat the same thing all the time.  Ask anyone…I have a Dinty-Moore beef stew every day for lunch.  No big deal.  But when lunch is tasteless rice and green beans, yeah, it starts to get hard to swallow.  It was hard to make it through my last lunch on Friday, but I was determined!

But through the fatigue and monotony, I’ve learned some very key things…or rather God taught me some key things.  Let’s recap: My food intake does not need to impact my emotions and mood.  I can be hungry AND nice.  Read more on that here.  I am so blessed.  I can generally go out to eat or pick up fast food if I really don’t like what I have to eat at home.  I can go into a grocery store now and basically buy whatever I want.  I don’t have to think through per ounce prices.  I just get what I want to get! Obviously that’s not a good habit for anyone to be in, no matter how much income they have.  And God is teaching me now to carry a thrifty mentality out past the challenge.  I have a budget now that I am working very hard to stick to.  Because as I remembered in day 4, God really does care how I spend my money, and I want to be a good steward of the blessings He’s bestowed upon me. 

Which brings me to the question: What now? How do I let these 5 days become something more? How can I let what I’ve learned shape me and grow me into the person God longs for me to be?

First, I don’t ever want to go to a grocery store again and not know exactly how much I’m going to spend by the time I get to the cash register, and I want that number to stay within a budget.  Going to the grocery store last Sunday night was eye-opening.  Every selection was carefully chosen to provide the utmost nutrition with the least amount of money possible.  I want to allow that experience to shape how I shop in the future.  I want to think about the cost of what I’m getting and whether or not it will benefit me nutritionally. 

Second, I don’t want to eat out a lot anymore.  If my friends are going out, I’ve learned that I can sit there and just get water (more on that in Day 1).  This morning, I went to IHOP and was completely disillusioned.  I spent more in one meal than I would have in two weeks on the $1.50 a day challenge…nearly $15.  And on what? A short stack, some fruit and an orange juice.  And I couldn’t even finish my pancakes! (Oh yeah, side note…this challenge will shrink your stomach AND your capacity to digest highly processed foods).  What kind of display of stewardship is that? I was appalled and felt so bad.  I could have gone out to the store and bought pancake mix and a whole jug of juice AND fresh fruit for that price. 

Now I realize it’s unrealistic to expect that I’ll never eat out again.  But now I’ll think twice about where I go and what I order and how much of it I consume in one sitting. 

Third, I want to remember that there are people in my own city and Church who are much less blessed than I.  I want to become less selfish with my financial resources and be able to help people out where I can.  I don’t know what that’s gonna look like, but I can start perhaps with tithing faithfully (yeah, never been so great at that).  And then on top of that perhaps start donating regularly to a food bank or soup kitchen.  I’ll look into this more in this upcoming week.  But I have to do it soon so that the memory of this challenge will be fresh in my mind.  I need to commit while I’m still resolved. 

Well, I think that’s it.  Thanks for joining me on this journey friends! You have no idea how much I’ve appreciated your support this week.  Your support fueled my energy in many cases, and it’s helped me make it to the end with a new perspective.  Thanks friends for allowing God to use you in my life this week!

Today is officially the last day of the challenge, and I’ve made it.  I’ve just eaten my last knock-off cutie and I only have two meals to go before I can go back to life as usual.  We call this the Home Stretch.

Now, an important question keeps nagging me.  I can’t get it out of my head, and so I’ll share it with you and see what you think.  Simply put: What now?

Ok, so I lived on $1.50 a day for 5 days.  So, what?! People do this all the time.  Day in, Day out.  We’ve been through this point, in fact.  The question is, how do I let these past 5 days change me; change my behavior? 

More on that in Day 5’s blog, but first, let’s take a look at Thursday’s (Day 4’s) challenges.  Monotony is of course a challenge at this point in the game, but with the end in sight, the monotony is doable.  I can see that this challenge will end soon, and so I can stick it out for a few more meals.  But really, if I had to do this for weeks, or years, and eating this way became a way of life, I think I might go crazy.  Though, if I was doing this indefinitely, I think I would make concessions to eat the free food offered me. 

Like Thursday night when I went to a friend’s house for dinner.  I wouldn’t have had to pay for that meal, I could simply enjoy it.  But then again, I am on this challenge, and so last night I simply sat at the table and enjoyed their conversation rather than their food.  The meal looked and smelled wonderful, but don’t pity me.  It wasn’t hard to deny myself that food.  I know what I’m trying to accomplish, and what my goals are, and for 5 days (if only 5 days), I’m choosing to stick to those goals.  And because I am resolved to do so, sitting at a table while everyone eats around me isn’t hard to do at all.  But I will say, eating before I went over to their house helped a lot. 

These past 5 days have shown me that it’s not necessary to buy food in order to fellowship with people.  I can go out to a French restaurant and enjoy my coworkers company without ordering food.  I can go over to a friend’s house and have fun without having to be extravagant.  I think if nothing else, I’ll be able to really allow this knowledge to change my future behavior. 

Weight loss is always something I’ve struggled with, and lately, my spending has been a tad bit out of control.  In setting a budget for the month, I’ve already spent 2/3rds of my monthly budget on eating out.  And I did that by the 3rd day of the month.  Wow.  

I happen to believe that God cares about what I do with my money.  I think He wants me to honor Him in all areas of my life, including my finances, but I’m getting too caught up in a lifestyle of excess.  Going out to eat whenever I feel like it because I can.  Eating as much as I want because it feels good to do so.  But I’m realizing that I don’t need to go out to eat several times a week.  Once a week is plenty, and even then, I have now learned that I can go out with people to hang out without having to spend money. And I don’t have to always been 100% satisfied with my food intake, because I know in doing so, I am reaching some of my other goals: losing weight, saving money, and having more money available to donate to foodbanks, soup kitchens, other people, etc.