Over the past years, eating three meals a day has not been consistent within my daily life. There were days where I skipped breakfast or lunch or both. Since I am responsible for my own meals, I found myself too busy and tired to cook. Other times, I was just too lazy. Skipping meals became part of my routine and I initially didn’t mind it at all. That was until I found out that I lost a lot of weight at the end of last year. While I managed to gain back the weight I lost by eating more for a couple months, after that, my habit of skipping meals started again. I’m worried that my weight might fluctuate again, which is why my challenge was to go 7 days without skipping a single meal.
I began my challenge on Monday and ate cereal for breakfast. Lunch and dinner was easy because I bought plenty of McDonald’s from the previous day and ate a burger for both meals. Though it wasn’t the healthiest, it was convenient and I didn’t have to worry about preparing dinner when I came home from school.
The next day, I woke up ten minutes earlier than my usual alarm to prepare breakfast and lunch. Because I prepped all the ingredients the night before, assembling spam musubi was a lot easier and quicker. I ate half of one for breakfast and packed two for lunch. But I ate one and gave the second to my friend as she didn’t have any lunch. Too lazy and tired to cook a time consuming meal after school, I tossed frozen chicken into a pot of chicken broth along with some vegetables and pasta. I really underestimated the portion size as there was still a big pot left after me and my brother ate our share.
Although, it was a smart idea to cook a lot because on Wednesday, I ate big portions of chicken pasta for both breakfast and lunch. But I was quickly tired and grossed out of chicken and pasta after those meals. Luckily, I didn’t have to think of dinner because my family was invited to a banquet. We ate at a Chinese restaurant and there were a bunch of leftovers that I took home after.
On the fourth day, I had no appetite to eat anything in the morning. I didn’t want to fail my challenge but as I prepared my lunch, the smell of food made me sick so I decided to skip breakfast. Lunch was leftovers from the Chinese restaurant: stir fried beef and mushrooms with rice. Right after school, I finished the rest of the leftovers then took a nap. Since I was too busy with finishing homework, I had instant ramen for dinner.
I had to retake a test at the end of school on Friday so I wanted to make a hefty lunch which can keep my energy levels up. The morning was solely focused on making my lunch. So by the time I finished cooking, I was about to be late. I quickly took a couple bites of the leftover eggs I made, chugged a bottle of energy drink, and ran out the door. Lunch was a big breakfast burrito that had eggs and sausage. I texted my brother beforehand to thaw some chicken and made chicken, broccoli, and rice for dinner.
I knew that I would struggle the most during the weekends. Saturdays are my work days and to maximize the amount of sleep I can get on the weekends, I skipped breakfast. I wasn’t hungry during work and instead of eating a meal, I snacked on crackers. I came back home at around 6 PM and bought some popcorn chicken, which I only ate half.
Since I felt bad about the lack of meals I consumed on Saturday, for my final day, I decided to wake up a bit earlier than I usually would on Sundays and ate brunch. I had a bowl of cereal along with a rice bowl that included a fried egg and leftover popcorn chicken. After doing chores, I made noodle soup for dinner.
By the end of the week, I knew that I had failed since I either skipped a meal or only had a snack as a meal for four of the seven days. While I do feel disappointed, this challenge has made me realize that I can cook bigger portions of food and prepare dishes beforehand, which makes assembling and eating meals a lot easier. I’m now more motivated to find new recipes that are quick to make and easy for my stomach, especially for days where I have no appetite.
