The Silver Lining to Having No Money

michael1983l

Yes it is sad to see the increases as well, especially when you look at what they put in those types of products, the cheap biscuits and noodles all have loads of nasty crap in them

hummingbird

EEk! I haven't looked too closely...... I probably should. Let's get over to Old Style quick! (By the way thanks for the link to that blog Nat, it looks very good!)

SpecialBrew_2

I spent the majority of summer 2005 doing what you're doing, and with much the same attitude. I couldn't bring any more money in, but I was in control of something, and proud of my progress. I was underweight by the time I got to the end of this phase, not dangerously, just borderline, but within months of starting to eat normally again I'd put it all back on plus a bit more and within a year was heavier than I've ever been. I still struggle with the effects that period had on my metabolism.

What was far worse than the effect it had on my body though was the effect it had on my mind and I made some of the most unwisest decisions of my life during that period. I'm far more ashamed to admit what follows than I've ever been to admit my debt and I could count on the fingers of one hand the people I've told about it, but if anonymously admitting it to the worldwide web stops just one person from believing that it's still possible to power your brain when you can barely fuel your body then it will be worth it.

The decision to have an extra-marital affair would have been bad enough (even if it wasn't with somebody I'd known for years as a confirmed womaniser and would not normally have looked twice at), but the decision which finally ended my 'exist on next to nothing' period (and could well have ended everything) involved a good few packets of paracetamol and still brings me my greatest shame. It's terrifying how acceptable it was to me to be told that I had to stay in the hospital until they got the test results back to show whether the drug had caused irreparable and soon-to-be-fatal damage to my liver. Nothing seemed that important any more, and eating an entire hospital dinner a few hours later was no big deal. Except it was. Almost as soon as I got a square meal inside me, the scales began to fall from my eyes. If those results came back with bad news, how on earth would I ever explain this to my beautiful children? Somewhere along the line, I'd thought they deserved better than me, but they did not deserve this. Thankfully the results eventually came back showing no damage. My mood was far from celebratory, but I knew what had to be done. The woman I'd been behaving like WAS NOT ME, so I ate another hospital meal, discharged myself against doctors orders and left her there, taking the better part of me home.

To this day the kids only know the completely fabricated story we've told them of why I was in hospital then. I immediately cut ties with the Womanising Loser, began to eat properly again and am extremely grateful that I can draw a line under it all. This line...

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If I knew at the start of that phase what I know now, I would be grabbing a packet of Smartprice crisps quicker than you can say 'Thank God for cheap and calorific junk food'

michael1983l

Thanks, that must have been difficult for you to write and thanks for sharing. I am currently going through a divorce of which I do not want to happen and I am doing everything in my power to stop it. I have had to clean up a lot of things in my life and one of the things stated was that I was a lot thinner when we got married. Lots of the things are irrepairable like my finances but I can at least get trim.

Unfortunatly she said that she wanted to start thinking about dating in January, so I have little time. I won't do it for any longer than 2 weeks, but I have been doing it around 10 days now and I am starting to get fatigue when I exercise earlier and have started to feel slightly lighter headed.

Maybe I should eat something extra today. I have some nice mussels in garlic butter sauce at home. I think you are right, I will dig into them later.

nat21luv

See that's a bit of a myth, you'll find more carp in a packet of Tesco medium range noodles than you would a packet of value ones...because crap ingredients cost more. Take a packet of crisps, value is 79-99cals, medium is 125+. Half the times its better for you to have the lower branded as it contains less salt, less additives and of course, its cheaper. This obviously doesn't apply to value items with meat...that's obviously just cheap cuttings/gristle.

sourcrates

michael1983l wrote: »

Thanks, that must have been difficult for you to write and thanks for sharing. I am currently going through a divorce of which I do not want to happen and I am doing everything in my power to stop it. I have had to clean up a lot of things in my life and one of the things stated was that I was a lot thinner when we got married. Lots of the things are irrepairable like my finances but I can at least get trim.

Unfortunatly she said that she wanted to start thinking about dating in January, so I have little time. I won't do it for any longer than 2 weeks, but I have been doing it around 10 days now and I am starting to get fatigue when I exercise earlier and have started to feel slightly lighter headed.

Maybe I should eat something extra today. I have some nice mussels in garlic butter sauce at home. I think you are right, I will dig into them later.

Hey I hear ya barking big dog, i`m in a similar situation marriage wise, I look at it this way, the marriage would not have ended if you were both happy, she obviously wasn't, same situation here, good on yer for losing the weight, but don't do it for her, do it for yourself, I don't know the ins and outs of your situation, but people tend to do what they want to do despite what the other half thinks about it, after a year im learning to move on, oh and how you manage to eat for £1.80 a day ill never know lol I cant eat processed food as I have high BP so have to eat fresh meat and veg as much as possible, as you never know the true salt/fat/sugar content otherwise, good luck to you anyway mate.

michael1983l

nat21luv wrote: »

See that's a bit of a myth, you'll find more carp in a packet of Tesco medium range noodles than you would a packet of value ones...because crap ingredients cost more. Take a packet of crisps, value is 79-99cals, medium is 125+. Half the times its better for you to have the lower branded as it contains less salt, less additives and of course, its cheaper. This obviously doesn't apply to value items with meat...that's obviously just cheap cuttings/gristle.

I am not disputing that the normal range has crap in to or even more of the bad stuff but the list of E numbers on the back of a pack of Asda smartprice noodles is quite has as well as the saturated fat levels and salt. I think its best to eat as much fresh as possible.

SpecialBrew_2

michael1983l wrote: »

Thanks, that must have been difficult for you to write and thanks for sharing. I am currently going through a divorce of which I do not want to happen and I am doing everything in my power to stop it. I have had to clean up a lot of things in my life and one of the things stated was that I was a lot thinner when we got married. Lots of the things are irrepairable like my finances but I can at least get trim.

Unfortunatly she said that she wanted to start thinking about dating in January, so I have little time. I won't do it for any longer than 2 weeks, but I have been doing it around 10 days now and I am starting to get fatigue when I exercise earlier and have started to feel slightly lighter headed.

Maybe I should eat something extra today. I have some nice mussels in garlic butter sauce at home. I think you are right, I will dig into them later.

<Hugs> We're all more than our finances, and life is usually a tangle of money, body issues and relationships for loads of us, but it's a lot easier to deal with if you're feeding your brain Good luck with your lady, but don't let anyone demand to much from you. A genuine display of effort that's beginning to show results is usually enough for most people - it's unlikely that a transformation into Brad Pitt over the course of two months is required We're all worth more than what we look like, too.

My lurkdom on here goes back a lot longer than my registration date, and many moons ago I read a thread somewhere on the forum which showed that a lot of budget brands are identical to their more expensive counterparts but just have different wrappers and a much shorter use-by date. There's a marked difference between the taste of Kelloggs cornflakes and the cheaper brand so obviously this is not universal, but for many things you're just paying extra for the label and the chance to store it a bit longer. It's just a matter of experimenting, but there were plenty of contributors to the thread I read back then (no idea where it is now, sorry) who had actually worked in food factories and seen slightly older produce (still well within the user date) be diverted to the budget line, even though it was the same as the stuff packaged under a more expensive label. Another incidence of needing your brain about you in so that you can out-wit the advert men, judge the food not the packaging and decide for yourself

Fallen5024

you need to eat to lose weight. As soon as you started eating properly you will gain most the weight back as your body will start to store the fat incase you do it again and not eat properly x

hummingbird

Fallen5024 wrote: »

you need to eat to lose weight. As soon as you started eating properly you will gain most the weight back as your body will start to store the fat incase you do it again and not eat properly x

This is so true - I know from experience as it has happened to me. In 2011 I lost about 2 stone in a few months - people started commenting, and even though I had started off overweight I could see a few folks were concerned.

The weight went back on when I started eating more, and now my body "knows" - it stores more to protect you from a future famine.