Over the last few years DW and I have been working to cut down on our eating out. Now prior to the last few months our eating habits look like this. DW eats breakfast and lunch every day at home. I on the other hand seldom eat breakfast and eat out for lunch. For dinner we she eats at home 4-5 days a week; I eat dinner at home about 1-2 days a week. We made a change and now we eat breakfast and lunch at home, and eat out only one night a week. This allowed us to save a good deal of money, 300 - 400 dollars a month, but had some unexpected consequences for me.

I started eating a package of oatmeal for breakfast, and either a can of ravioli or a cup of ramen for lunch. Well over the last few weeks I have become increasingly irritable and been sleeping a good deal more than usual. It turns out there are not that many calories in any of these food choices. Before when I would eat out for lunch I would intake 800 – 1100 calories, now if I eat breakfast (160 calories) and lunch (240 calories) I am only around 400 calories total. I wasn’t hungry after eating so I didn’t realize this drastic reduction.

We sat down this morning and figured that my MBR requires around 1500 calories just for my body to function normal, and based on my activity level I really should be eating closer to 2000 calories. I doubt that, on average, even when I was eating out most meals that I consumed this amount of calories. I’m definitely going to have to start keeping track of my calories and make sure I’m at eating closer to these amounts.

Saving money by not eating out is great just be careful when you make sudden large adjustments to your diet.

Over the last few years DW and I have been working to cut down on our eating out. Now prior to the last few months our eating habits look like this. DW eats breakfast and lunch every day at home. I on the other hand seldom eat breakfast and eat out for lunch. For dinner we she eats at home 4-5 days a week; I eat dinner at home about 1-2 days a week. We made a change and now we eat breakfast and lunch at home, and eat out only one night a week. This allowed us to save a good deal of money, 300 - 400 dollars a month, but had some unexpected consequences for me.

I started eating a package of oatmeal for breakfast, and either a can of ravioli or a cup of ramen for lunch. Well over the last few weeks I have become increasingly irritable and been sleeping a good deal more than usual. It turns out there are not that many calories in any of these food choices. Before when I would eat out for lunch I would intake 800 – 1100 calories, now if I eat breakfast (160 calories) and lunch (240 calories) I am only around 400 calories total. I wasn’t hungry after eating so I didn’t realize this drastic reduction.

We sat down this morning and figured that my MBR requires around 1500 calories just for my body to function normal, and based on my activity level I really should be eating closer to 2000 calories. I doubt that, on average, even when I was eating out most meals that I consumed this amount of calories. I’m definitely going to have to start keeping track of my calories and make sure I’m at eating closer to these amounts.

Saving money by not eating out is great just be careful when you make sudden large adjustments to your diet.