Survivorman

I hardly ever watch TV, but one of my favorite shows is Survivorman. I like the outdoors, and it's fun to see Les Stroud try to make the most of what's available. It comes quite close to reality, though since he has a rescue team just a radio call away, he's not really in much danger. I like it better than Man vs. Wild, the show by the Brit Bear Grylls.

Separately, I heard recently that CNN tried to do a show about surviving on food stamps (or, as the program is called now, "SNAP"). The two clicked, and I had an idea: what if I tried to live on the amount provided in the SNAP program, for a month, in San Francisco? One thought led to another, and here I am, starting off April starring in my own "Survivorman: San Francisco on SNAP!".

But first, ground rules:

1. I have to eat healthy; since I'm mostly a vegetarian, it'll mainly be fruits, veggies and legumes.
2. No cafeteria food at work. We have a subsidized cafeteria, so it would be cheating to use that.
3. If I can afford it, eat organic.
4. I have to maintain a reasonable gym schedule and workout regularly.
5. SNAP gives about $96/month per adult. State/County adds a similar amount (the CNN folks used $176 as their budget for the month). So I'll be limiting myself to an average of $5/day.
6. I didn't prepare myself for this. "Survival" just happens; you aren't given weeks to prepare. So I started this 'diet' of mine with some leftovers in the fridge, and nothing else.

Yesterday I weighed myself at the gym, and I'm at 206lbs. Lets see where I end up on 05/01 .