Dieting v saving money.

NewShadow

Pollycat wrote: »

OK.
But one has to decide if she's happy to eat crap rather than healthy stuff.
Personally, if I was on a diet - be it SW, WW or anything else, I would step away from the left-overs.

Doesn't it come down to how committed you are to your diet?

Which I think is the point of this thread - the conflict between being committed to a diet and taking advantage of opportunities to save money/reduce waste/cut costs.

I mean, that's basically the thread title...

GreyQueen

Slinky wrote: »

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.

:T This is essentially primal/ paleo type eating; cut the low-grade carbs down to very low/ totally avoid, avoid synthesised oils and eat good fats, unprocessed meats and fish, nuts, and veggies, with small amounts of fruits, preferably berries.

I have to be very cost-conscious but, having switched to this style of eating 4 weeks ago, I have lost 4.6 kg at a steady .01 or so most days. I fell off the wagon over Easter, due to being away with family and back on the bread & spuds (plus chocolate and biscuits ) and this stalled the steady weight loss for 10 days, otherwise it would be more.

I'm not in a financial position to bin things not fitting in with the new-to-me diet, so am not 100% on track yet. I am eating them (slowly and not daily) and not replacing them. Thus far, my food spends are still no more than £40 a month, just buying different things. Liver is very cheap - paid 29p for 110g this week and got a very hearty meal from that. A meal which left me bubbling with energy and not hungry for about 16 hours.

NewShadow wrote: »

I know people who have crashed out of diets because they've hit a (natural) plateau and have cut their intake to try and beat it. There comes a stage where your body is losing muscle faster than it's losing fat - resulting in your metabolism crashing and you being hungry, tired, and craving quick energy foods constantly.

Eat less, move more is some of the worst and most destructive diet advice there is.

Eat real food and build muscle is much, much better.

:T I don't want to lose muscle, or bone. I want to lose adipose tissue. The idea is to get rid of the habits which were causing that to pile up (5 stone overweight ) whilst building up muscle mass. I'm middle-aged, and I don't need to by skinny-fat or fashionably-thin and feeble, I need to be strong to lead an active life in the last third of my life-span. And I am bliddy well determined to do it, too!

You cannot exercise overweight off. You need to modify your diet permanantly to get rid of it and move moderately (walking is fine) and then add relatively-modest amounts of high-intensity exercise such as occasional sprints and a bit of weight training.

Check out websites like marksdailyapple.com. Ordinary folks, not young in most cases, and with chronic ill-health are getting healthy, fit and in many cases totally ripped on very little exercise.

If you over-exercise, you will damage your body, suppress your immune system and become unhealthier rather than healthier. Oh, and it also stimulates appetite, so you'll probably end up bingeing on far more calories than you just expended.

BEAT_THE_DEBT

NewShadow wrote: »

Which I think is the point of this thread - the conflict between being committed to a diet and taking advantage of opportunities to save money/reduce waste/cut costs.

I mean, that's basically the thread title...

Thankyou new shadow it was indeed the intention of the thread.

annab275

I know the feeling - since trying to save money on food I seem to be spending more! Have decided to try and do low carb which has worked in the past and use eggs, mince, tinned tuna, cheese as the main protein. This way, I will not even bother with snacks, processed junk and eat lots of veg and salad. I certainly wouldn't bother with one of the diet clubs as there is so much information online anyway, as well as some good forums for support and encouragement.

General_Grant

maman wrote: »

You don't need to walk on by, stop and have a good look and only buy anything healthy. I buy most of our meat YS and freeze it in portions. It's the same with offers, nothing wrong with offers on something like baked beans or tuna or yogurt but keep clear of the multi-packs of crisps!

OTOH multi-packs are easier to incorporate into a calorie-controlled diet as you have greater portion control (at least compared with those large "sharing" bags). I do weigh out 25g portions from the bigger bags but have crisps less than once a week on average.

tain

Gloomendoom wrote: »

There is no conflict in my eyes. If you want to lose weight, you simply eat less. Fewer sausage rolls, for example.

Eating less means you will spend less on food.

Not the case at all. You can eat 10x MORE carrots and cabbage, yet still lose weight.


Poor effort.

Mark_Beech

Two things:

1). Maintaining your health should ALWAYS come before saving money
2). Dieting makes you fat

If you go on any "diet"you may lose weight in the short term but depriving yourself of your usual calorie intake will also result in your metabolic rate being depressed ..... so that when you resume your old calorie guzzling ways your weight will rebound and you could end up heavier than you were in the first place.

The ONLY way to lose weight and MAINTAIN your desired target weight is to completely change your lifestyle and eating habits. As one of the earlier contributors observed it is perfectly possible to enjoy your diet and not feel deprived. You simply eat less of the high calorie items.
I call it the "One" diet. You can have one biscuit, one chocolate (or piece of a bar), one SMALL glass of wine, one glass of beer, one small piece of cheese etc etc ...... you get the picture.
You satisfy your cravings but don't end up two stones overweight.

The final thing to say is that although it is clearly VERY healthy to get regular exercise ..... this won't on its own result in any great weight loss. Calories (unfortunately) are only "burnt" off very slowly. And paying for gym membership might not be the best way either ....... unless you're using the running machines. Aerobic excercise like running, swimming or walking are the best for burning calories - so save yourself some money - the best excercises are the free ones. Do some regular press-up and sit-ups at home and go for a walk or run.