Dieting v saving money.

Hermia

ThriftyTraveller wrote: »

Hi,

Sorry, this is my first contribution so I hope I'm doing this right! I'd definitely say it can be challenging. I have found this issue too especially when making a switch from just buying the cheapest thing to actually being really careful about what I eat. Here's what I learnt (maybe it's helpful for you too).

Sorry for stating the obvious but the best way to make sure you don't put yourself up for temptation is not to buy those fatty foods. The more I cooked from scratch the healthier my meals were and the more opportunities I had to save money on ingredients. Yes, you can buy ready-made meals for really cheap but if you buy for example a huge bag of lentils or rice, you will be able to save money on each meal ultimately. A lot of it is also when you eat not what you eat. If you have something naughty, make sure you're not having it for dinner after 8 pm but rather for lunch or breakfast so your body has time through the day to metabolise. As far as saving money on groceries, there was a good article on the Bidvine company blog (sorry can't post links) on how to make sure you don't get ripped off when you're shopping for groceries!

I do think it is worth keeping a couple of quality ready meals in the freezer. I try and cook everything from scratch, but occasionally work will be crazy and I won't get home till 9pm. I am usually too tired to even make an omelette. I have one of those 'Cook' shops near me that sell good quality healthy frozen meals. Whenever they have a special offer I buy a few ones for emergencies.

I think each person needs to look at their lifestyle and work out where their danger zones are and prepare accordingly. If the OP can't resist the work buffets because it does save her money maybe she could take a salad to work with her and add some buffet items to it to make a meal. Or bring those items home and add some veggies to them. She is getting some free stuff, but not eating a whole meal's worth. I am quite lucky where I work in that they always order a fruit basket for meetings and it doesn't get touched. I have been known to stagger home with most of the contents of the basket before!

vodkawitch1

I think it is very easy to eat healthily on a budget these days. Aldi super 6 or the markets £1 a bowl fruit and veg, a rubber chicken, eggs etc are all good healthy stuff.

maman

BEAT_THE_DEBT wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. Yes I agree there doesn't have to be conflict but sometimes there is. I am a good planner but we all get caught short sometimes don't we. For example there is often buffet food left over in work for the next day is I eat this I save money but it is often high in fat things. I know I don't have to but that is my point it saves me money if I do

I think when you start trying to lose weight there's always the dilemma of what to do with the fattening foods that you've got in already. I think the advice to feed them to someone else is probably best or just have them as a occasional treat until they're gone and don't buy any more.


As for saving money by eating with MIL or having LOs from work: As it's family and you go every week then I'd talk to MIL and ask if she minds if you have mostly meat and veg and a small amount of gravy. If you explain why I'm sure she'll be fine with it. For the buffet stuff, I'd use it for the family but not have it yourself. Take your own healthy packed lunches to work and then you won't be tempted.


In defence of SW, it's really not a requirement to have sweetener. I've been doing SW for almost 6 years and been at target weight for 5. I've just started my second tub of sweetener in all that time plus I have one small glass of squash each morning in place of fruit juice. That's my choice. I could have none at all if I chose to. And it's not the wholegrain that's a problem it's the calories in too much bread. Personally I'd prefer to limit the bread and use my syns elsewhere but you have a choice. Nothing's banned with SW.

Pollycat

BEAT_THE_DEBT wrote: »

I get your point Polly I was just trying to say that sometimes in order not to spend money I could eat high fat food available x

Do you menu plan lunches & dinners?
If you do, it should be easy to stock your fridge with a variety of 'good' stuff so that a fat-filled sausage roll stays in the freezer.

I speak as someone who borrowed her sister's SW books and - in conjunction with pretty aggressive exercise - lost 3 stone in 7 months & has kept most of it off 12 years later. Never attended a class.
Could it be an attitude thing?
"I really want that fat-filled sausage roll"?

freyasmum

When you say "the money saver in me" - does that mean that you are genuinely on your knees skint, or are you just too tight to spend the money?

Eating healthily does not have to cost you the earth and, even if it IS a bit more expensive, it's going to keep you fit, healthy and going far, far longer than a diet full of processed rubbish.

How much does porridge cost? Probably no more than 20p a bowl made with milk and eaten with banana, have a baked potato with salad and tuna for lunch, or soup. Lean meats, eggs, you can stretch these with fresh veggies and it will be a LOT cheaper than buying processed foods. It isn't THAT expensive. If you want something, have it, but don't be so miserly (when you don't need to be) as to potentially damage your health in the long term just so you can save some money.

Also, and I'm sure you didn't mean it intentionally, if I were your mother in law and thought that you were only going over because it saved you money (as it reads up there), I'd be quite upset

kboss2010

vodkawitch1 wrote: »

I think it is very easy to eat healthily on a budget these days. Aldi super 6 or the markets £1 a bowl fruit and veg, a rubber chicken, eggs etc are all good healthy stuff.

I agree but it depends what you're used to eating. My OH grew up on tasty British stodge & Indian curries made with ghee and he finds the light, delicate flavours of the Japanese-style cooking I favour tasteless because he's used to thick gravies, rich & creamy curry sauces and carb overload with heaps of salt, butter and fat.

And I've realised that after living with him for years I've become a salt fiend too. I never added salt to food, didn't eat fish & chips or anything deep fried, never kept crisps and biscuits in the house and rarely ate potatoes but I'm now a stone overweight, my skin is greasy and I can't taste a lot of the food I used to eat because I've picked up his bad habits.

So I've switched to porridge with linseed, honey and walnuts for breakfast, oatcakes, cottage cheese, grapes & pistachios for lunch and am limiting myself to one small portion of "stodge" for our evening meal. I haven't lost any fat yet but I'm feeling much better and I'm not constantly feeling like I'm sweating out grease anymore.

VfM4meplse

I have some empathy for the OP. I'm generally healthy in my food choices, but the minute I see a YS (esp on pastries) somehow the joy of the bargain overcomes any regard for health

Prothet_of_Doom

Let me see.
A small bowl of cereals and skimmed milk for breakfast, a packed lunch with an apple and an orange and a yoghurt, lots of water all day from the tap, followed by any combination of food you like as long as the whole day consumes less than 1800 calories.

Vs

A big bowl of cereals and some toast and butter, and tea with sugar, followed by a mid morning snack of a bacon butty and any biscuits and cakes that seem to arrive at work daily as someone is celebrating something by trying to kill me slowly by giving me a heart attack, followed by a canteen lunch with chips and pudding and custard, and more cake in the afternoon and coffee with sugar and then later, wine, beer, and starter, main course and pudding and then supper and chocolates. and finally a scotch drowned in full sugar ginger ale.
I reckon 3000 to 4000 calories and £10 more a DAY, and I'm saving money on bog roll too.

No need for expensive diets. Just eat less and make more home cooked meals.

Slinky

Only way I have ever found to lose weight is cut down on carbs. Bread, cereals, pasta, potatoes, rice, pastry etc have no regular place in my diet.

Increased consumption of fats - cheese, eggs, nuts, full fat yogurt, butter instead of low fat spread, berries instead of oranges, dark chocolate

Sounds mad, but if you read "Escape the diet trap" by Dr John Briffa it explains how and why this works.

It's not the fat that makes you fat, its the carbs and fat in combination.

Both OH and I lost over a stone and have maintained our healthy weights for nearly 2 years.

Pollycat

BEAT_THE_DEBT wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. Yes I agree there doesn't have to be conflict but sometimes there is. I am a good planner but we all get caught short sometimes don't we. For example there is often buffet food left over in work for the next day is I eat this I save money but it is often high in fat things. I know I don't have to but that is my point it saves me money if I do

To me, the bit in bold is somewhat contradictory.

If you have planned and prepared a healthy lunch and you have it with you at work, it shouldn't matter that there is a veritable feast of left-over fat-laden food.
You simply eat your healthy lunch.
Why wouldn't you?

Could it be less a moneysaving issue and more a craving for something that you really want to eat but you know will mess up your diet?