Dieting on a budget?

alyth

right, the time has come, my muffin roll has now gotten so bad it's wobbling as I walk!

On a good day I'm a size 12, but I'm starting to put on huge amounts of fat round my waist - the rest of me is actually okay, so I'm figuring it's just my age!

I'm also on a really tight budget due to saving for a working holiday abroad. my figuring is that I can have something like porridge for breakfast, real oats not oatso-full of fats, god only knows what for lunch, and then something like chicken & veg for dinner. can anyone offer any advice? I've tried googling diets but quite frankly got so intimated by GI/Weightwatchers/slimming world type websites that I thought I would ask those who come up with the best ideas!

my problem - I live in rural Scotland and there are no markets nearby, farmers or otherwise, so I have to really buy stuff from Mr T, which I hate - the fruit is expensive, doesn't last long and is tasteless. I grow my own, so give it a few months and I'll be fine for veggies! I'm not a huge fan of pasta, but will eat anything else, and I have an OH who will probably demand his usual pile of meat & chips whilst I'm chomping on a plate of veg!

I'm struggling to be honest - I've hit that stage where I can't stand how I look, my middle is enormous, it's like a massive plate of jelly (sorry, too much information!) and whilst I walk for about an hour a day with my dog I think it's come to that time where I need to start being extremely strict with my diet - I'm not a fan of chocolate, but crisps and peanuts are my downfall.

So, please can someone offer me any advice?

Trow

I'm following the weightwatchers core plan - without paying them to do that.

Its great - you get a list of normal foods, that you eat as much of as you want till you are comfortably full, three times per day. You can have fruit and veg if you are hungry between meals, and you get 21 points to play with for treats or snacks other than meals.

Its incredibly easy to stick to and SO much better than pointing everything or counting calories.

There is a thread where I posted details if you want more info - I'll find it then post the link.

Trow

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=359567&page=3&highlight=weight+watchers

and also

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=379682&highlight=weight+watchers

alyth

Cheers Trow, I was about to log off there - I'd appreciate if you could find the link and let me know it, as I'm feeling a bit fed up about how I look, and feeling a bit swamped about all the diet information there is out there!

alyth

I think we must have been posting at the same time! Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it, will sit and go through it now.

Solomon_Broad

Gillian McKeith is very good at getting people to eat correctly.

http://www.drgillianmckeith.com/

Ignore anything she tries to sell you, but go for the recipes.

angelatgraceland

Just what I was looking for too! alyth-stick with unprocessed foods is the main rule. Gillian would agree to that also. Porrige is a great diet aid I found in the past. Good for breakfast, puddin, or supper! Don;t spoil it with sugar though-calories. I use Splenda which is one of the safest non aspartame sweeteners. Drink water before every meal also. Chicken is great but leave off the skin. Scrambled eggs are nice for breakfast but I ave up the toast. Only eating homebaked bread now as its more satisfying and I can add seeds to it to make it more nutritious.

GardenMillie

Here is a delicious low fat recipe for tomato and chickpea soup.

1 onion finely chopped
2 x tins of chopped toms
1 x tin of chickpeas (drained)
some dried herbs
salt & pepper
1 pint of chicken stock (from a cube is fine)

Cook the onion in a little stock (saves on oil) when soft add toms, seasoning and herbs, add rest of stock and cook for 20 - 30 mins. Add chickpeas and heat through. Take off the heat and let cool - blitz with a hand blender - this gives the soup a lovely texture and serve.

P.S. You can always add a bit of cayenne or paprika for a bit of extra flavour but it really is a warming and low fat soup with ingredients I usually have in the cupboard anyway. Good luck with the diet. I'm off to Egypt in three weeks and have been really good this week (it's the thought of getting into a bikini):p

Rachel021967

I am having the same problem. I'm following Weightwatchers Core Plan but quite a few of the weightwatchers recipes have expensive ingredients. Anybody got any budget seasonal recipes I could follow.

Almo

I can heartily recommend quorn as a dieter's friend! It is approved of by Gillian McKeith, and Weightwatchers and is often on offer at Mr T's - I recently bought two frozen packets of mince for £3.

I make a huge vat of quorn chilli, padding it out with loads of onions, fresh tomotoes, chopped tomatoes, bits of pepper etc. I used to follow Weightwatchers, so I don't pad it out with lentils as I know many people on OS do (they add more points!). The vat I made recently did about 8 portions, and worked out as less than 1 point per portion.

This is based on the points system of WW, rather than no count which is what another poster mentioned. To give some perspective, I get 18 points a day, so to have a bowl of chilli for less than a point is pretty good! Obviously you have to add points for rice etc but still v low fat.

If you have to deal with a man who likes his meat, try replacing beef mince with quorn mince and don't tell him. I promise you he won't realise and it saves you cooking two meals.

Justie

soup is your friend if you're on a budget - it's scientifically proven that it fills you up for longer and you can make it with whatever you have in, veg, chicken etc. Have a look on the BBC's Truth About Food website for details and also for some very interesting findings about how dairy products can help weight loss. And proof that portion control works.

Basically dieting shouldn't cost you any more it should cost you less - if you eat the same foods you're eating now but eat 20% less of them you'll lose weight... You don't need magic ingredients but if you reduce the amount of saturated fats and increase your intake of complex carbs (wholegrain bread, rice, pasta etc) and eat more fruit and veg then all that will help. It doesn't have to be expensive and you don't need to deny yourself the things you love just try to eat smaller amounts of them - if you love crisps put half a packet in a bowl and put the rest of the packet away until the next day - and then try to reduce it to a quarter of a packet with your sandwich rather than eating a packet of crisps as a snack. Equally don't pile on that last spoon full of mash cos otherwise it'll go to waste, save it for another meal. Eat chips if that's what you're cooking just eat one small handful and add in a big portion of veg.

Do snack though! Eat little and often. Have a banana, a bit of home made flap jack, a few nuts or something mid morning and mid afternoon - if you get 'hungry' you'll eat more than you need.

And do exercise - I lost 3 stone over 2 years because I had a brace fitted and eating was really hard so I lived off soup and rice pudding a lot :rolleyes: but it was only when I started exercising that people said 'blimey you've lost weight' as I lost inches off my thighs and waist and could really feel the difference (doing an at home DVD or 2 - Davina's power of 3 and the hot pants works out along with some arm weights if you want to know what I was doing). My weight had piled on in the first place not because I was eating anything different but just because I was eating more of it...