My Two Challenges for the Month...And How They Have Been Adjusted

After yesterday, I figured out a few things.  First, if I am to not spend money or eat junk food for a month I better be held captive in a remote place with no hope of running into my friends, a store, or a fast food place for the entire month.  That being said, I do want to reap some of the benefits of these challenges so this is what I have changed:

• Whole 30/Paleo Challenge.  This is what I wanted to do, and what happens when you don't do it right.  I even had this nifty paleo grocery shopping guide.  And then I ran into some friends and collectively we ran into In N Out Burger...and boy did that burger taste good.  But oddly, a bit after eating the burger, I had a weird feeling.  I am thinking it was the wheat in the bun that made me get this odd cough that I always got after eating except I hadn't noticed it at all the few days that I didn't eat any wheat.  Then I thought hmmm.  If, as I have suspected for some time, wheat has such an impact on me, I certainly didn't want to throw in the towel on the whole diet thing.  But at the same time, I am pretty convinced that I can't do a strict paleo diet because, well, I really do love food.  Greek food, Chinese food, Mexican food, French food, Thai food...you name it and I will probably want to eat it.  So...I decided that while the challenge may be a fail, making better choices in the food I eat is doable.  So today, I just decided to eat what I want but to make better choices.  We went to lunch at The Palms today and their buffet is awesome.  Instead of eating everything there, I started with a big salad then moved on to vegetables, salmon, and a couple of beef ribs.  I skipped the beautiful dessert trays and had fruit for dessert.  I also skipped anything with wheat (such as breaded and fried anything and the pita that would have been good wrapped around the falafel balls and tzatziki sauce which I ate by itself), but did have some dairy (couldn't pass up the mozzarella and tomato salad).  Also, hubby thought I would cave and head to Baskin Robbins but I didn't and the only snack-type item we have at home is fresh fruit so I will try to avoid bringing any junk food into the house.  Overall an OK compromise (but I would have really liked to do 30 days of strict paleo just to see what would happen!).
• No Spend Challenge.  Again, I seem to not be able to not spend.  So I have decided to watch what I spend but try to justify each item I purchase (and hopefully talk myself out of buying things I don't really need).  Today hubby spent $1 on the slot machine while he was waiting for me (and won $13).  We also had a nice buffet lunch which was free from the comps he received from the casino.  That was all of the money we spent today.  I will probably be shelling out $95 for karate lessons this month which I will justify by saying that earning a black belt is one of my goals for this year AND that at six lessons a week or 24 lessons a month, the $95 breaks down to a bit less than $4 per lesson which is a bargain.

So there you have it.  I have very little willpower, unfortunately, but I will use what little I have to make small changes over time which will (hopefully) lead to bigger and better changes in the future!