Losing weight the healthy way and on a budget

moonbrown

Hi, I need to lose weight and get fitter. My poor body is in a right state. I would like to join a slimming club but to be honest that is money I dont have to spend. Has anyone got a pointers please? I have googled and found lots of information but none of it is free when it comes to diet plans etc. I just dont know where to start

Greatful for any tips. Thanks. Sharon

angelil

Go vegetarian (and by that I mean proper vegetarian with plenty of fruit and veg, not just Margherita pizza and chips ). Seriously. You will drop pounds in no time. Or at the very least go vegetarian/pescetarian for most of the week and seriously cut your meat intake.

SoSilver9

you could google myfitnesspal lots of free info and there are UK members

Helen2k8

You'll get a gazillion conflicting ideas on diet and exercise - it might help to know what condition you're in at the minute; whether you're close to e.g. a council gym for classes, or a park that does health walks. Any particular hobbies? Fancy volunteering to walk dogs at a local animal rescue place?

My own opinion is something like this http://www.marksdailyapple.com/welcome-to-marks-daily-apple/

podperson

I always find it a little strange when people say they have no idea where to start on getting healthier. Think about what you eat normally - do you eat a lot of junk food/ready meals, do you snack a lot, do you have large portions, do you eat large amounts of things like crisps, sweets, chocolate, biscuits? Do you eat fruit/veg? Do you do regular exercise?

Owain_Moneysaver

Keep a food diary of everything you eat and its calories.

Then see what you can change, eg

3 potato waffles with dinner = 600 calories. Big bowl of steamed cauli, broccoli and carrot = 150 calories.

plain wholemeal bread roll for lunch = 200 calories. 2 ryvita biscuits with ham or luncheon meat and low fat mayo = 120 calories.

Making those two changes would save you about 500 calories alone.

And you can borrow diet books out of the library - you don't have to buy them.

outtawork

go on the love food hate waste website, it gives u portion sizes,recipes & lots of advice on eating more healthy food. I had a budget of £25 a week, started this healthy eating September 2011 & have now lost 4st & I am never hungery.

Fire_Fox

Do you have any health problems, even minor ones like joint niggles? Are you clinically obese (sorry)? If yes to either you first port of call is your GP to get a basic check up - blood pressure and resting heart rate.

Second thing is to read up on and start to follow our government's recommendations for healthy eating and lifestyle - loads of stuff on NHS Choices. Please don't follow fad diets or commercial 'nutrition' websites, many of these contain information that is unsafe.
http://www.nhs.uk/LiveWell/healthy-eating/Pages/Healthyeating.aspx
http://www.nhs.uk/LiveWell/Loseweight/Pages/Loseweighthome.aspx

Assuming you are healthy: exercise wise get hold of a pedometer (sometimes these are *free*) and work your way up to the recommended 10,000 steps every day, to make it harder add in bursts of brisk walks or hills or stairs. If you have a smartphone or MP3 player get on iTunes or similar and download *free* podcasts for walking programmes, fitness, nutrition and weight management.
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-adults.aspx
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/getting-started-guides/Pages/getting-started-guides.aspx

Healthy eating: the minimum fruit and veggies is five a day but the research actually supports nine a day in a rainbow of colours for optimum health! These are full of water, fibre, vitamins and minerals and not high in calories, so base your day around seven to nine a day. Weezl74's threads are worth searching for - she has done several eat healthy on next to nothing (£100 for a family of four for a month!). She did work out the cheapest five a day and it was about 35p - something like onion, carrot, raisins, canned tomatoes, marrowfat peas, frozen sweetcorn?? OK so that is six .... :rotfl:

Beans and lentils count once per day, they are super cheap if you buy them dried, very filling and a good source of minerals and fibre with a little protein. Vegetable and bean curries make good vegetarian/ vegan meals - curry powder is cheaper than paste, creamed coconut gives a lovely rich texture, healthy fats that may help boost your metabolism, count towards five a day and cheap.

Then you need some protein, some of which should come from your three portions a day of reduced fat dairy products for bone health. Skimmed milk powder is cheap and versatile, reduced fat cheddar (30g is a portion), plain Smartprice yoghurt in the large tubs, Value cottage or reduced fat soft/ cream cheese.

You also need oily fish for omega-3s several times a week. This is also a good source of protein and of calcium too if you mash in and eat the soft bones. :T Research suggests both calcium and omega-3s help with weight management. The large cans of pilchards in tomato sauce and pink salmon are probably the cheapest and easiest. You can eat meat but is is quite expensive and doesn't provide the range of nutrients that dairy and oily fish do.

Between the fruit and veggies, beans/ lentils, dairy and oily fish you have most of the nutrients you need! The only other food group is carbohydrate rich foods, try to choose ones that are lower on the glycaemic index, this means they keep you feeling fuller for longer and stabilise your blood sugar. These include: beans and lentils, jumbo oats, pearl and pot barley, sweet potatoes, brown basmati rice, wholemeal spaghetti, brown pitta bread. None of these are pricey, just watch your portion sizes try to make vegetables the focus of the meal.

HTH.

margaretclare

moonbrown wrote: »

Hi, I need to lose weight and get fitter. My poor body is in a right state. I would like to join a slimming club but to be honest that is money I dont have to spend. Has anyone got a pointers please? I have googled and found lots of information but none of it is free when it comes to diet plans etc. I just dont know where to start

Greatful for any tips. Thanks. Sharon

It's impossible to know, without knowing what you normally eat, how active you are, your age, lifestyle etc.

The best advice I can give is: eat proper food. No takeaways, fast-food, ready-meals, fizzy drinks, the like. Always eat a proper breakfast and I don't mean cereals and toast - some protein, an egg in some form is what we do, and it keeps us going for hours.

Your 'poor body is in a right state'. What exactly do you mean by that? Certainly, obesity is bad for the body, putting strain on the heart and everything else - is that what you mean?

'None of it is free'. Well, how did our ancestors cope - obesity has only become an epidemic over the last few decades? They were not surrounded by temptations to snack, for a start, and they lived active lives.

'Diet plans' may not be the best idea. Statistics show that many who lose weight on a 'diet' will put the weight back on, and more. Sensible eating should be the aim.

HTH

lynneee

Keep a food diary for a couple of days then you know what you really eat in a day ( I was shocked when I first did this!) Then work out if there are any easy ways to cut calories (eg switch roast potatoes for boiled, fried bacon for grilled, poached egg instead of fried egg). Also look at what liquid you drink in a day. I used to take 2 sugars in my tea, so switched to one sugar then 1 sweetner, and went from blue top (full fat) milk to green top. Lots of little things that all help shift a few lbs without feeling like you are depriving yourself too much.
Good luck!

Sharon87

I'm like the OP, been overweight for a while, been on a few diets in the past. But recently I've started getting unhealthy, not put any extra weight on, but maintaining my 2.5 stone overweight!

I did quit the gym as I wasn't motivated and kept hurting my ankle, knees.etc Really need to go find a swimming pool, but winter doesn't make me want to swim lol.

I've not been eating very much but eating rubbish. I think I need to do some muscle building exercises as once I have more muscle it burns fat quicker. I've lost weight in the past, it's just keeping it off, and keeping active and healthy is the main problem. Life changes so quickly, especially my routine due to working short contracts all the time.

I've been eating breakfast most of the past couple weeks, which is new, so I've made a start there! Healthy cereal too, well it's like shredded wheat with frosted bits on top. So mostly healthy!