Although the faces have changed, the hassles are just the same.

Before Tracy and I had our final chat about venturing into the working poor diet again, I battled the thought in my mind for about a week. Did I really want to put myself through this again? The lack of food. The picture of the thin body I had in my mind. The constant worrying and preparation? It was not an easy decision, but I am glad that I am attempting the Working Poor Diet for a second time. I have a friend from work who joined us this year as well. Good luck Lorianne.

We got up at 6:00 on Sunday morning. I was in bed at 2:30. Not the best idea in the world. I picked up Tracy and we were at Superstore by 7 am. I was so excited that we were there earlier enough to fight off everyone else for the 50% discounted meat. Except to my horror, there was none. There were no pink stickers. No trace of discounted meat. I was so disappointed. We were too early. And so I had to settle for regular priced meat. A sad, but good lesson to learn.

However there was a plethora of 50% vegetables. This brought back a smile to my face. I bought a bag of kiwis, grapefruits, oranges, apples, cauliflower and other fruits and veg all for 50% off. And the produce was in fairly good shape. I think the most exciting find was the 77 cent head of romaine lettuce. They were huge!

We drove to another Superstore to see if there was any meat on sale there, but unfortunately there was nothing. Tracy and I were shocked to see that the heads of romaine were $1.68. What the hell? In a part of the city where we expected to see lower prices, we actually found the majority of prices to be more expensive. Another good lesson: not all stores of the same name have food priced the same. This was not something I encountered much of the first time we did the diet.

This time around, I am aiming to maintain my current weight (as much as possible) because I am finally at a point where I am happy with my body. As such, I am having slightly higher than the recommended 3 servings of meat & alternatives from the Canada Food Guide. I am also maxing out the grains and am going to see what I can do to maintain my weight.

We shall see what happens. Day 2 is now over.

Breakfast: 2 servings oatmeal, 2 whole wheat buns with 1 serving crunchy peanut butter (more calories, protein and fibre than the smooth kind)

Lunch: 2 servings cornmeal, 3 servings sauteed zucchini, 2 servings sauteed mushrooms and 1 roasted chicken thigh, skin on ;)

Snack: 1 grapefruit and 1 kiwi

Dinner: 1.5 cups chili (2 servings veg and 1 .5 servings meat), 2 servings rice, 2 cups milk.

8 glasses of water