Weight loss and healthy eating for a debt free life

CRANKY40

I've been thinking about this for a while and I've seen a few other people mention weight loss so I wondered if we should have a thread. There's a giving up alcohol one but obviously we can't give up food. I also realise that not everyone with a food buying problem is overweight. 

I overbuy and some of the overbuying was involved in some of my credit card debt. I'm just not good with food. I go grocery shopping, buy a bunch of random things as well as what was on my list and then I'm horrified when I look in the fridge and it all needs to be used but none of it goes with anything else or something that I no longer fancy eating needs to be used before the things that I want to eat. 

Unsurprisingly I'm also overweight. When I was small my mum used to cry because I wouldn't eat and I was so skinny. I have to say that I think I have the hang of it now. I had to lose weight to have a partial knee replacement last summer and I'm on a waiting list to have the other knee done so I can't put any weight on. I would also like to lose a bit more because my clothes fit better and my sister took away all of my trousers that were too big so that she could wear them instead. 

I realise that it's Easter this weekend and chocolate will be everywhere so I'm not proposing that we start today - unless you want to of course. I'm thinking anyone wanting to lose weight can get themselves a start weight sometime before a week on Saturday (6th of April) and we'll take it from there. Hopefully we'll have some interesting discussions and maybe learn some new recipes and end up healthier (physically or mentally) as well as being able to support each other through the debt free/staying debt free journey.😊

Four_Seasons

Thank you Cranky it's a lovely idea, would love to join x

Lonelygambler

Hey good luck on your journey. 

There is SO much information / fads / advice / guidance.

Buying food and eating food is often driven by emotion and feelings. 

With some knowledge of health and fitness my advice is to try and cut down 150 calories a day and try and get 10,000 steps in as a first start. 

I’ll be following. 

WinterWarrior

Thank you Cranky. That is so familiar…I love buying food, I love eating, but tbh I don’t enjoy cooking, so once it’s in the fridge or cupboard I can’t find the enthusiasm to make a real meal out of it. MrWW will not cook, but loves to eat….however, the things he likes to eat are things I don’t want to eat all the time, so then I’m left either eating something I’m not too fussed about or making two meals. 

I would love this thread to include photos of peoples meals if that would work? Other people’s use it all up meals, healthy meals and or lower calorie meals would be such an inspiration ❤️

CRANKY40

Lonelygambler said:

Hey good luck on your journey. 

There is SO much information / fads / advice / guidance.

Buying food and eating food is often driven by emotion and feelings. 

With some knowledge of health and fitness my advice is to try and cut down 150 calories a day and try and get 10,000 steps in as a first start. 

I’ll be following. 

The 10 000 steps is a bit tricky because I can't actually walk properly. I've lost 2.5 stone so far, I just need to keep it there and lose a bit more if possible. Thanks for your interest.

CRANKY40

WinterWarrior said:

Thank you Cranky. That is so familiar…I love buying food, I love eating, but tbh I don’t enjoy cooking, so once it’s in the fridge or cupboard I can’t find the enthusiasm to make a real meal out of it. MrWW will not cook, but loves to eat….however, the things he likes to eat are things I don’t want to eat all the time, so then I’m left either eating something I’m not too fussed about or making two meals. 

I would love this thread to include photos of peoples meals if that would work? Other people’s use it all up meals, healthy meals and or lower calorie meals would be such an inspiration ❤️

I'm with you there. The HT's favourite meals are pasta in tomato sauce or pizza both of which I'm not that keen on. 

Frugal_aspirations

I would love to join. I think I have the hang of not spending on everything apart from food when I’m out of the house. It all adds up on my spreadsheet and my dress size. I’d also like to be able to wear all my lovely smaller clothes because otherwise they are a disappointing waste of money. I’m on the old style weight loss challenge as well. 

CRANKY40

I did look at the old style one @Frugal_aspirations but I think the problem for some of us here is tied up with spending if you know what I mean so I thought we deserved a thread of our own. I do cook OS as much as possible as I really don't like ready meals.

In the spirit of money saving I turned some of last summer's tomatoes into pasta sauce yesterday (they were frozen in bf's spare freezer). I've another batch to do yet but I bought a manual food mill and it was so much easier to process them that way than it was trying to peel them then put them through a sieve like I did the year before. You live and earn huh? 

joedenise

When I was making pasta sauce with last year's tomatoes I just cooked them with some chopped onions and then whizzed them up in a blender, skin and all, until almost smooth and then continued with adding herbs etc before freezing.  Was very successful and very easy.

I'm currently just trying to lose a few lbs so will be following this thread.

Frugal_aspirations

CRANKY40 said:

I did look at the old style one @Frugal_aspirations but I think the problem for some of us here is tied up with spending if you know what I mean so I thought we deserved a thread of our own. I do cook OS as much as possible as I really don't like ready meals.

In the spirit of money saving I turned some of last summer's tomatoes into pasta sauce yesterday (they were frozen in bf's spare freezer). I've another batch to do yet but I bought a manual food mill and it was so much easier to process them that way than it was trying to peel them then put them through a sieve like I did the year before. You live and earn huh? 

I know exactly what you mean - it’s definitely where a lot of my possible NSDs are lost 

CRANKY40

Thanks @joedenise. If I was making it just for me I would have done that but friend whose garden we grew the tomatoes in and my son are both sensory eaters. For friend I just give him the pasta sauce back with added herbs and let him do whatever he wants with it. I will add onions, mushrooms carrots and lentils to my half and stick some of that in the blender for my son who knows what I put in it but he has a problem with some of the textures.