#2016challenges

[hiitmetogreatness]

A list of all my challenges from 2016!

Sparking the Fire - hosted by @fatgirlgetsfitatlast, @fueling-mydreams, and @mybigfatfitlife

Real Self Love

Springing Forward

Jump Start June - hosted by @mybigfatfitlife and @deartreadmill

[ali-ha]

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[shanebaggs]

My Car

[monochromemoth]

My man @ghostgoji being a cutie pie in his @killstarco jacket with his fly new car🖤🖤🖤 . . . #monochromemoth #ashgraves #ghostgoji #killstar #killstarco #killstarjacket #challenger #2016challenger #whitechallenger #myman #mylove #thanksgiving #goth #nugoth #gothgoth #blackandwhite

[elsjewelfarefoodchallenge-blog]

What Is The Welfare Food Challenge?

I am participating in the Welfare Food Challenge to raise awareness of the extreme poverty of people on welfare. Welfare recipients have roughly a calculated budget of $19.00 to $21.00 for groceries a week (Welfare Food Challenge, 2017). I am documenting my experience of only eating food I can buy as a welfare recipient. I will reflect on the social, emotional, and physiological impact of this challenge on my daily life. My goal is to incorporate the Canada food guide and maintain a nutritional diet during this challenge.

(Government of Canada, 2020).

Welfare Food Challenge. (2017, October 2). 5th Annual Welfare Food Challenge. Retrieved March 23, 2020, from https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/

Government of Canada. (2020, January 13). Canada's food guide. Retrieved March 23, 2020, from https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/

[alleyjeffery-blog1]

Pre-Challenge Reflection

Hey, my name is Alley and I am a second year nursing student. I will be completing and documenting my first ever Welfare Food Challenge. During this challenge I will be purchasing groceries for one week based on the weekly income portion that people living below the poverty line on social assistance are allocated for food expenses. Based on the government of British Columbia's allocations for food, I will be spending only $21 dollars on my weekly groceries. (https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/)

I am not going to lie, I’m a little nervous about completing this challenge due to fear of feeling constantly hungry. Another concern that I have is that I really enjoy coffee and I often stop on my way to work or school to pick one up. However, I know that this will not be in my budget as half of my money would be spent on coffee alone. 

My plan for grocery shopping includes choosing foods that are relatively cheap and can be used to make large meals. I know that rice, noodles, beans, soup, and bread are more affordable options whereas meats, fruits, and vegetables are more expensive. I think that it will be difficult to find foods that are within my budget, healthy, and will last all week. I am hoping that there will be some deals on at the grocery store so that I can save some money. 

I used the Walmart online grocery shopping website to collect a list of foods that I plan to purchase. I don’t typically plan prior to going grocery shopping as I don’t set a budget for myself, so this was slightly time consuming as I had to find the cheapest products and food options. It was disappointing because I had to remove some items out of my shopping cart as I could not afford them. I was forced to choose between items, keeping what I thought was more important.

As you can see, I purchased the following items for a total of $19.72: 6 bananas, frozen broccoli, spaghetti noodles, a can of spaghetti sauce, yogurt, one can of soup, one can of beans, a loaf of bread, peanut butter, a box of rice, and 2 packages of instant noodles. I was able to save money by purchasing no name products in addition to sacrificing healthy food options and replacing them with processed foods. It was challenging walking through the grocery store as there were so many things that I wanted to buy but I couldn’t as they weren’t in my budget. I wasn’t able to purchase any condiments to add flavor to my food nor was I able to get a great variety of foods. I have a feeling that I will be eating a lot of left overs over the next week. 

Tomorrow I will officially start my challenge, wish me luck! For now I will enjoy my last coffee.

[teagantromsness-blog]

Welfare Food Challenge Pre-Challenge Reflection

Hello everyone,

My name is Teagan and I am second year nursing student at Red Deer College. I have decided to attempt the food welfare challenge this week. The food welfare challenge originated in British Columbia which challenges the BC government and how much money they give to those on welfare that they have for food. The living rates in British Columbia are so high that those that live on welfare are left with only $18. I was challenged to get all of my groceries for seven consecutive days spending only $21. The point of this challenge was to prove to the British Columbia government that those who depend on welfare do not have enough money to have a balanced diet.

Of course, the week that I decided to complete the challenge was the week that everyone started stockpiling food for the COVID-19 pandemic. This made it very hard to shop and find affordable food at the store that did not require much preparation because that is what a lot of people were buying. In the week before starting this challenge, I really thought about what I was going to eat and what I needed to do in order to not have a big shock when I started eating less. Every morning I start with a coffee, and most days I have a second one at some point in the middle of the afternoon. To plan for the challenge because I knew that I would not have any money for coffee so I only had my morning coffee. I hope that this will be enough to plan for the inevitable headache I get from the lack of caffeine! I also started eating less with my meals and did not eat as many snacks. I know that this will be hard for me because I love food J One thing that I am not looking forward to is not being able to have a cup of tea in the evening. I like to have a cup of tea before I go to bed, so it will be interesting to see how that affects my sleep, along with the lack of food.

When I was planning on going to the grocery store, I look at other people’s blogs about this challenge to get some inspiration for food. I also looked at what I normally eat and tried to decide what I would keep the same and what I would have to change for the challenge. I also had to consider what would be in my budget, and what I would have to miss out on because of budget restrictions. I was also going to go with a friend that is also doing the challenge, but I had to go with my sister because they left town. It was a good thing that I went with my sister because I had the hardest time deciding what to get at the store with my very limited options. I also had to decide what store to shop from. I am in walking distance from a Save-On Foods, but I decided that Superstore would have the most affordable prices for my budget. I realize that some people might not have the ability to choose what store to shop from, so I feel lucky that I was able to afford gas to go across town to shop at the cheapest grocery store!

This is what I ended up getting at the store after browsing the shelves for 45 minutes:

Peanut Butter - $3.48 Oatmeal - $2.98 Spaghetti Noodles - $1.98 Fusilli Noodles - $1.98 12 Large Eggs - $2.76 Plain Yogurt - $2.00 7 Carrots - $2.55 1 Loaf of Bread - $1.77 Total: $19.50

While I was browsing the shelves and constantly checking the how much I was spending, a lady shopping overheard us and asked if we needed money for groceries. It was completely unexpected because the store was very busy with people shopping for their own groceries, worrying about having enough food if they need to self-isolate for 2 weeks if they have COVID-19. I then explained that it was a challenge that I chose to spend only $21 dollars on groceries for the week. It was still very hard because you want to try and have a well-balanced diet, but with the limited grocery options and the price of groceries I could not be picky. I am going to end up eating the same thing each day, except for the flavour of oatmeal and the shape of pasta that I have. All I know is that I am going to probably end up hating pasta at the end of this challenge. I wonder how much of this I am going to end up. If I don’t want to eat a big dinner because it is the exact same thing every single day, I will probably eat smaller portions and starve myself. This will be a very good look into how those that live on welfare eat every day. I hope that by the end of this challenge I am going to be more open to giving to food banks and supporting local charities that help out those that live on welfare.

I am quite happy that I managed to spend less than $21. With the $1.50 I have left over hopefully I will be able to afford one coffee! For now, though, I will enjoy one last hot chocolate from Tim Horton's before I officially start tomorrow!

Any extra information about the challenge can be found here: https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/

5th Annual Welfare Food Challenge. (2017, October 2). Retrieved from https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/

[imadeufamous]

Kids are so much fun and very emotional... I want to get marry to something 😊💯💯 FOLLOW US #imadeufamousww @imadeufamousww I.made.u.famous.com 💪🏽 Website link in the B.I.O 💯 ⠀ #tentoesdownchallenge #tentoes#tentoeschallenge #banditchallenge #like4like#hitdemfolks #hitthatbitforthegram#hititforthegram #reversechallenge#populardancetrends #tzanthemchallenge#shmateochallenge #Besteverchallenge#ayoandteo#jujuonthatbeat #ftcchallenge#2k16DC #musically #NewChallenge#MillyRock #Musically #doitlikemechallenge#HitDemFolks #Hoodclips #2016challenges#doitlikebchallenge #10TC #Sogonechallenge#huhchallenge #litpowerdance (at New York, New York)

[breanneoncollegewelfare-blog]

Welfare Challenge: Pre-Thoughts. (March 7)

Hi, my name is Breanne and I am in my second year of the BScN program! Through our global health class, we have been exposed to some of the treacherous conditions people of lower income countries have to face. This class has opened my eyes to these conditions, but also made myself feel extremely grateful for the opportunities we have been given here in Canada. 

I have chosen to participate in the Welfare Food Challenge in order to test myself (and my cravings…) I typically include nutritious ingredients in my cooking and snacks, but I am also a sucker for all things cheese (all of which are not cheap items). For more information about this challenge, visit their website: https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/. According to the website, you have $18 to spend for the week, but our class has been given the leniency of $21 for the week. According to one website, the average Kenyan spends just $543 a year ($10.44 per week) on food, which is approximately 46.7% of their annual income (World Economic Forum, 2016). According to that same website, Canada spends approximately 9.1% of their annual income on food (World Economic Forum, 2016). One person households in Canada spend approximately $4650 annually ($89.42 weekly) on food (Statistics Canada, 2018). 

To go grocery shopping and keep myself (and my spending) on track, I brought a friend along for the ride. I found it very difficult to find nutritious foods that did not bring my price over budget. Therefore, the only really healthy items I could afford is one english cucumber and some frozen veggies. I decided to go with heavier foods, in order to satisfy my hunger a little more effectively. Unfortunately, I had to buy more snack foods as when I do not eat for a while, I become very shaky and weak. 

My grocery haul included: frozen vegetables, yogurt, hot dogs, blueberry muffins, applesauce, cucumber, spaghettini, bread, macaroni and cheese and milk. I only spent $17.56 to leave myself a few dollars for one caffeine fix in the middle of the week. Spending this little on groceries took a lot of effort and planning, when I am the type of person to buy food as it appeals to me from the shelf, on sale or not. 

I do feel like this will be an extreme challenge since I live on residence with 2 other girls and temptations of wings, pizza, ice cream, etc. And yes, I labelled all of my food so it doesn’t get eaten by someone else (which would put me at a further disadvantage)!

Wish me luck this week!

References:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/12/this-map-shows-how-much-each-country-spends-on-food/

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-627-m/11-627-m2018053-eng.htm

https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/?wbdisable=true I also included the Canada Food Guide for myself to glance at throughout the week and realize where I am lacking the most. 

[rhiannonbloguniverse-blog]

Pre-Challenge Reflection

Hi! My name is Rhiannon and I have chosen to participate in the Welfare Food Security Challenge as part of a school project. I’ve chosen to participate in this challenge because I myself have never experienced food insecurity but I realize that it is a very real issue for a lot of people in our society. I grew up in a middle class family with four siblings and only one working parent. Sure we weren’t going to Mexico on vacation once a year but we got by with what we had. I never once went to bed hungry or had to worry about whether or not I would have a place to sleep at night. Today, low-income families in Canada have 18$ to spend on groceries for a whole week, which round out to about 72$ for an entire months worth of food. This is an absolutely shocking statistic (https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/).

In my typical week, I spend 0$ on groceries. I am fortunate enough to live with my older sister who has three young kids and I exchange child care for free lodging and food. However, when we go buy groceries for the week, we will easily spend around 400-500$ on groceries every other week without even thinking about it. In fact, just the other day we went to Costco and picked up a 20$ bag of chocolate pretzels just because we thought they looked yummy. Before learning about this challenge, I honestly thought that this was how the majority of people in my society lived. How terribly mistaken I was. So many people are hungry and needy and here I am browsing the candy aisle at Costco just for fun every other week.

For this assignment, I was given the cap of 21$ to spend on groceries for the next seven days. I am interested to see how this week goes as I don’t consider myself to be a huge food addict. I often go a day with eating only two meals, which are considerably larger meals I guess, but I always feel full. However, I have definitely been known to snack a lot which could end up being quite the issue for me. Those chocolate pretzels will definitely need to be locked up for the next week so that I don’t cave on the first day of this experience.

In order to prepare for this challenge, I did one big grocery haul at Walmart. I picked out some of the foods I would consider cheap, yet filling so that I don’t find myself starving before bed most nights. These items consisted of apples, bread, peanut butter, oats, macaroni and cheese, and shreddies cereal. I went to the till and my total came out to 18.36$. I then went home and realized I forgot the most important ingredient, milk. So I ran over to the co-op beside my house and grabbed a jug for 2.62$. My total came out to 20.98$. I was very proud of myself that I came so close to the specified budget and still managed to stay true to the challenge!

While shopping for this weeks groceries, I came head to head with a harsh reality; healthy, nutritious foods are not in my budget. I can say goodbye to those delicious fresh fruits that everybody loves so much! 9$ for a tiny container of raspberries? Better run away fast. The majority of the foods on my receipt are high in carbs and low in nutritious ingredients. Unhealthy foods are cheap and that is just a fact no matter where you are shopping. This sad reality causes a lot of homeless people to become malnourished and therefore impairs their cardiovascular system, immune system, and just general health overall.

For more information on the Welfare Challenge, follow the link below:

https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/

[cm-courtney]

Courtney’s Welfare Food Challenge

Pre Challenge Reflection

Hello readers, and welcome to my journey of participating in the welfare food challenge. My name is Courtney and I will be reporting my experience of living with only 21 dollars worth of food for a week.

The welfare food challenge was created to raise awareness towards the amount of money welfare recipients receive. A single person on welfare in BC only receives 610 dollars a month. (5th Annual Welfare Food Challenge, 2017) Knowing all of your own expenses you can imagine how hard it is to only live on 610 dollars a month. The challenge consists of participants only spending 21 for a whole week of food. Being a person who likes to indulge in steaks, chicken, and beef. I had to rule-out purchasing meat considering their high costs. An average cost for 1 kilogram of ground beef is 11.41. (Statistics Canada, 2019) I decided that I still needed a source of protein in my diet during this week so I substituted meat for a carton of eggs. I tried to follow Canada’s food guide which suggest that people should have a vegetable/fruit, grain products, milk and alternatives, and meat and alternatives. (Welcome to Canada’s food guide, 2019) I didn’t end up including milk and alternatives due to costs but I included broccoli as a source of calcium.

This afternoon, I looked up the cheapest grocery stores in Red Deer. The Real Canadian Superstore was the one I choose. It was difficult when choosing what I was going to eat for breakfast,lunch, and dinner. I had trouble due to my particular sense of taste. The foods that I did like were often way out of my budget goal. Making one item of food take up almost half of my budget.

I was feeling stressed and nervous when shopping. I was constantly adding tax and prices together to make sure that I wasn’t going over the 21 dollar mark. After walking from isle to isle, I realized the prices of groceries are not reasonable for a person who is living on welfare. The trip also challenged my decision making as I had to sacrifice taste for nutrition and price. I ended up having a 1.60 left over after purchasing my items. I thought about going back and grabbing another item but realized very fast that 1.60 was not enough for the last item on my list which was a little jug of milk.

These are the items I got.

-Rice

-Bag of frozen veggies

-Bananas

-Ichiban instant noodles

-Bread

-Peanut butter

-Eggs

Looking at all the food I got, I feel that I have some decent meals. Bananas and peanut butter on toast for breakfast. Ichiban and frozen veggies for lunch. Rice, veggies, and eggs for dinner. I am a bit nervous that my stomach will not be full enough at the end of the day due to my constant obsession with snacking but I have faith that I will be able to complete the challenge.

https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1810000201

https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/

[ali-ha]

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FULL VIDEO LINK IN BIO🔥🔥🔥 We out here doing bad stuff. One last ride with the boys I am already missing them 😭😭😭. We did so much crazy Shit at csumb for two semesters. @lesleeisme @connorfritz49 . . . #slimthugga #howbowdah #cashmeousside #csumb #cashmeoutsidehowboutdat #catchmeoutsidehowboutdat #allthesehoeslaughinlikesumnfunny #daniellepeskowitz #queendanielle #pinkguy #dankmemes #tentoesdownchallenge #tentoes #tentoeschallenge #banditchallenge #like4like #hitdemfolks #hitthatbitforthegram #hititforthegram #reversechallenge #populardancetrends #tzanthemchallenge #salicerose #musically #NewChallenge #2016challenges #doitlikebchallenge #Sogonechallenge Calm your airbags it's satire (at Mission Bay)

[meganhconrad-blog]

Pre Reflection of the Welfare Food Challenge:

March 24th, 2019

Hello everyone and welcome to my welfare food challenge blog. My name is Megan and I am a college student. For the next week I will be blogging about my experience in trying out the welfare food challenge. 

The welfare food challenge is something done by people all over the world in order to gain perspective on the current welfare allowances in British Columbia, and to understand what it’s like to like on such a limited grocery budget. This week I was challenged to live off of $21.00 of food and to report about how it made me feel as well as how it challenged my everyday lifestyle. 

Before setting out to get groceries, I didn’t really have much of a plan in mind. I knew that I wanted to get rice, oats, eggs, and some sort of fruits or vegetables with whatever money I had leftover after finding some hearty core foods. I ended up going to two separate grocery stores and a nearby friends farm to pick up my food. The first grocery store was No Frills, I thought this was a great option to find foods I needed at a much lower price that regular supermarkets. This store definitely fulfilled my food needs and I was able to get everything I had in mind for the challenge for only $13.99. 

After checking out, I thought I would treat myself with the leftover $4.01 that I had. I then went to the Co-op, where I would normally do my grocery shopping, and found a few, more flavorful, items. 

After checking out of the second grocery store, I drove out of town to my friends farm where I was lucky enough to purchase some eggs to eat throughout the week. As eggs are one of my favorite foods I was very excited to get such a great price on them. 

Unfortunately it was very difficult to purchase a ton of items with lots of flavor with this budget so I had to make due with what I had and buy things I wouldn’t normally cook with. I have always been someone that loved trying new and exciting foods and also maintaining a very healthy diet, so this challenge will definitely be difficult for me as I say goodbye to some of my favorite spices and foods. 

With a total of $20.92, here is what I got:

- 1 large bag of potatoes (I was very shocked to see how little an enormous bag of potatoes cost.)

- 18 farm fresh eggs. I am very thankful to have friends and family in the farming industry to purchase things like eggs from, especially at such a discounted price which I’m sure will help in this challenge. 

- 1 bag of rice

- 1 bag of oats

- 1 can of chickpeas

- 1 can of tuna

- 6 bananas

- 3 apples

- 1 loaf of bread

- 1 bottle of ranch dressing

After some serious meal prepping this evening, I feel that I have a lot more food than I thought I did, however, I may not feel like this once I start to get through the week. Meal prepping will definitely be the make or break of this challenge for me since I live a very busy live and don’t normally have tons of time throughout the day to make meals. Some of the advantages I would say I have in this challenge is that I would not consider myself a picky eater, I have no food allergies or diet restrictions, and I am open to trying just about anything. I mentioned before that I got some items that I wouldn’t usually eat in my everyday lifestyle, but I figured that I could try some new things, such as canned tuna which I’ve only eaten once or twice in my life, as well as canned chickpeas. 

I am both excited and very nervous to start my week tomorrow. I am hopeful that the foods won’t be too bland, and that I won’t get bored of the repetitive taste of my meals. Here’s to seven days of the welfare food challenge!

Information about the Welfare Food Challenge: https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/

A stat to compare the amount given by welfare to the average amount Americans spend on food a week: https://news.gallup.com/poll/156416/americans-spend-151-week-food-high-income-180.aspx 

[regannen-blog]

Pre-Challenge Reflection

My name is Reganne and tomorrow I will be starting a 7-day food security challenge. The challenge entails only spending $21 for a week’s worth of food, which is based off welfare allowances in British Columbia. I look forward to putting myself in someone’s shoes who is living off this allowance, as I have never had to live off of only $21 for food in one week. I think this will be a challenge for me, as I tend to snack frequently throughout the day. 

Upon buying my groceries at Walmart, I came to realize how hard it was to find cheap produce and meat. I did manage to find reduced priced turkey sausage that I can pair with perogies or rice. It was difficult adding the prices of all the foods together at the store, and I ended up having to put one item back as a result of miscalculation. I did end up spending $20.67, which was just under budget. My biggest worry about this food challenge is getting bored of eating similar things everyday, but I plan to add different ingredients together, and cook different styles of eggs. 

I will be posting pictures of what I eat everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as blogging my experience. See you tomorrow on my first day of the Welfare Food Challenge! 

Here is the link to the Welfare Food Challenge Website if you would like more information on the background of this challenge. 

https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/

-March 24/2019

[niamhramage-blog]

Pre reflection: The Welfare Food Challenge

Hello and welcome to my experience trying the Welfare food challenge. My name is Niamh and I will be blogging my week trying the challenge for the first time. 

This challenge was created in order to give people a personalized look into the current welfare allowances in British Columbia, in order to create awareness for the people that must live their day to day lives with such a limited grocery fund. Participants are challenged to go one full week only eating $21 of food.

Earlier this morning I made a trip to the cheapest grocery stores I could find in order to gather the necessities I knew we’re important to last the whole week on such a strict budget. I tried to focus mainly on carbs and proteins, any food I knew would do a good job to fill me up and came in bulk. As a result, all of my groceries for the week came from The Giant Tiger and Walmart. At these locations I was able to find fairly cheap foods as well as a few discounted items. 

I found the shopping experience made me slightly anxious, since I was nervous I wouldn't be able to find enough food to last me the week while staying in the budget I had been given. The realization of how expensive groceries can be really hit me. 

After searching both stores for the best deals, I finished with the total cost of $19.89. This surprised me because after gathering all of my items I was convinced I would have to forfeit an item in order to stick to the given twenty-one dollars.

These are the groceries I finished with:

4 cans of beans

7 bananas (discounted)

1 bag of carrots 

1 bag of potatoes

1 bag of oats

1 container of blueberries

1 bag of rice

After looking at all the groceries together, I am uncertain on how full I will end each day and what combination of food I will choose. I am happy that I managed to gather the necessities. Although I have a few ideas that I could use to keep the meals interesting, I am sure that by the end of the week I will have become bored of the blandness of each meal and be tired of how repetitive each day is. I am excited to try the challenge and see how this meal plan will support my lifestyle over the next seven days!

The Welfare Food Challenge: https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/

[cchilliak-blog]

Pre-Challenge Reflection

My name is Caitlin and I will be doing the Welfare Food Challenge as part of a project for my Global Development class. This challenge is buying groceries for a week with only $21.00. This budget is based on the current welfare budget in British Columbia which is actually $18.00 for groceries for the week.

Going into this week I did some thorough research on the cheapest groceries stores in my location. I compared Safeway, Superstore, and Walmart and found that Walmart with their great value brand would be the cheapest. My favourite protein to eat is chicken so I had my heart set on getting a rotisserie chicken. Through my research, and reading the fine print I found that at Walmart once the chicken has been cooked it can only stay in the heated display for five hours. Once it has reached five hours they have to discount the chicken at 50%. So, knowing that they put them out around 0900 I knew I had to go around 1400 to be able to ask for the discount. This was a huge deal because the whole seasoned rotisserie chicken came to $4.23. This allowed me to get more produce which is usually expensive this time of year.

I was not overly sure what my total was going to be so I brought what I had in my cart which added up to $19.93.

Here is what I bought:

-1 box of cream of wheat

-3 bananas

-1 seasoned rotisserie chicken

-1 box of chicken broth

-1 head of iceberg lettuce

-1 long English cucumber

-1, 900g bag of rotini pasta

-1 alfredo pasta sauce

-1 bag of pre-sliced carrots

Once I got home yesterday, I meal prepped for the week, making chicken noodle soup, chicken and pasta meals with cooked carrots, and veggie snack containers.

I then decided to calculate calories per meal and snacks to find out my daily calories.

Approximate calorie breakdown:

-Cream of Wheat:

           -110 calories/meal

-Salad:

           -113 calories/meal                 263 calories/chicken Cesar salad meal

                       -Carrots: 6 calories/meal

                       -Lettuce: 14 calories/meal

                       -Cucumber: 3 calories/meal

                       -Ranch and Cesar Dressing: 90 calories/meal

                       -Chicken: 150 calories/chicken Cesar salad meal

-Soup:

           -284 calories/meal

                       -Broth: 9 calories/meal

                       -Pasta: 225 calories/meal

                       -Carrots: 6 calories/meal

                       -Chicken: 44 calories/meal

-Supper:

           -398 calories/meal

                       -Chicken: 102 calories/meal

                       -Pasta: 225 calories/meal

                       -Sauce: 60 calories/meal

                       -Carrots: 11 calories/meal

-Snacks:

           -1 Banana: 90 calories

           -Veggies: 10 calories/serving

           -Cream of wheat: 110 calories/ serving

I then decided with my final $1.07 to get a snack high in calories as my daily calories for this week will be very low. I decided to go back to Walmart and I bought a bag of chips for $1.02, bringing my final total to $20.95. I was relieved that I was able to buy this snack with only $0.05 left remaining.

With each snack bag containing 156 calories/ serving

My Health Alberta recommends for a female my age to ingest 1,800 calories/day. However, this week I will only be eating 1181-1261 calories/day.

This decrease in calories per day has me quite concerned. However, I have separated my food into what I will eat each day, knowing that if I am hungry day one I will overeat and then when day seven comes I would have no food left to eat.

Being active is very important to me so I have decided to download an app called FatSecret where I can track my caloric intake as well as my activity. This app connects with my Fitbit so I will be able to see the calories I burn versus the calories I ingest. I will refer to this app every day and use it as a guide throughout this week’s experience.

When it comes to eating, I tend to eat plain food with little seasoning so I am not overly concerned with the blandness of my food. However, I tend to eat different meals every day, but this week I will be eating the same meal. This is my biggest concern looking into this week. However, I feel up for the challenge and look forward to what this week will bring. For the next seven days, I will report on my days with pictures of my meals, giving some insight on my experience.

Below are the following links to the websites and apps I will be utilizing during my journey:

Welfare Food Challenge:

https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/2016challenge/

My Health Alberta:

https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=aa144561

FatSecret App:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/calorie-counter-by-fatsecret/id347184248?mt=8

Fitbit App:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/fitbit/id462638897?mt=8

Canadian Food Guide:

https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/hc-sc/migration/hc-sc/fn-an/alt_formats/hpfb-dgpsa/pdf/food-guide-aliment/print_eatwell_bienmang-eng.pdf