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Financial Journey You CAN Lose Weight on a Frugal Budget
Losing weight
doesn’t have to lead to an increase in your grocery budget. I have often
heard this common complaint when it comes to dieting. I also can relate to
this subject because I have tried losing weight a variety of different ways.
More...
On the high end, there are plans that could cost you a bundle if you go with their prepackaged food plans. It’s tempting because the meals sound so gourmet, commercials make them look like restaurant fare, and they take away having to make last minute decisions or planning for the future. They also entice you with a low registration fee because they make their money on the food they sell. One big problem–once you’ve lost the weight–you haven’t learned to eat differently to maintain your weight loss without continuing to buy their pre-packaged meals. Support groups have proven to be very effective for helping to lose and maintain weight loss, but there are weekly or monthly fees attached that can add up. These plans have proven to be highly effective, but the ongoing costs might not be friendly to your budget. With some creativity, you can develop your own weekly support group of friends. I found the one key thing that helped me in support groups was the accountability of weighing in weekly. The exchange of ideas was also helpful–there are many community boards on various sites to provide and share support and exchange ideas, as well as report your weight loss for the week. Sometimes we are taken in by commercials and ads that make "their product" sound like a magic potion. The Hollywood Diet with an orange color drink makes it looks so easy, I never tried that one! Let me just remind you, there are NO magic potions! I once succumbed to buying some hypnosis tapes at a pretty hefty price because I was feeling desperate. Fortunately, the company refunded my money when I received them and I explained to them that I didn’t think they would work for me. I have overspent on my grocery budget to buy pre-packaged dinners, liquid replacement meals, protein snack bars, 100 calorie pre-packaged snacks, diet snapples for a treat, etc. I have joined support groups and purchased a lot of their prepackaged snacks which can run about $2 per snack bar or liquid meal replacement. In the long run, I found that following some very basic and sensible plans have helped me lose the weight without spending for the 'extras' and I’m able to do it without feeling deprived. If you are willing to put in a little extra effort to get started–you will find that you can cut your food costs, as well as have your meals prepared ahead of time. If you are lacking good resources for low fat recipes, there are three very frugal sources--the internet, cookbooks from thrift stores and books from the library. A first basic rule to follow is to get rid of any non-diet friendly foods from your environment. If you have members in your family that won’t buy into this, ask them to put their stash of food somewhere where you won’t find it. Eventually, you can start to eat the foods you enjoy in moderation–but until that time comes I would recommend not storing them in the house. Fresh produce is one of the dieter’s best friends. I buy the produce that is on sale each week. This gives me a good variety over time without costing an arm and a leg. When something I really enjoy is on sale, such as strawberries, I’ll buy extra and freeze them. I have also found that buying berries frozen at wholesale stores is more cost effective than buying them fresh. When they thaw, they make a nice juice to put in my yogurt, cottage cheese, and cereal. I’ve also learned not to purchase excess in bulk. It’s tempting to buy the large bags of apples and pears from the wholesale stores, but I hate it when I have to throw out spoiled fruit. It is the same as throwing money down the drain. Many veggies can be purchased on sale, blanched and frozen for future use. If you have the ability to plant a garden, take advantage of this great opportunity. I live near the forest and the deer, rabbits, and other wild life would enjoy my harvest before we could. But I have a lot of friends that have an overabundance of tomatoes, zucchini, and other produce that are happy to share their extras with us. We enjoy lean meat as part of our diet–mostly chicken and pork loin. I will also buy the leanest ground round and occasionally a London broil. I purchase whole turkey breasts since we found that the white meat was what we enjoyed the most. All meat in our home is only purchased when it is available at a very good sale price. I purchase enough to last a few months and break the package sizes down to make dinners for two and wrap securely in saran wrap and foil. We love different legumes which are extremely cost effective and healthy. I can fill a crock pot at night or in the morning with some very delicious lowfat recipes. Some might be legumes, lowfat taco soup, chicken in cranberry sauce and many others that I have gleaned from browsing the internet. Once we have our meal, I freeze the rest in portions for two and have several meals made ahead for very little cost and effort. This is not only cost effective, but it helps you to control your portion sizes if you freeze the portions ahead of time. Designate a leftover shelf in your refrigerator so food won’t turn into science experiments after you have forgotten what is in there. It’s helpful to keep a list on the outside of the frig to help remind you what you still have to use up. Plan about 7 to 10 simple meals that are cost effective and lowfat. When you don’t have the imagination or time to spend in the kitchen this list can be extremely helpful. My list includes omelets, soup and sandwich, baked potato covered with veggies or homemade low fat chili, salads, cold and hot whole grain pasta dishes, and low fat tostados. You can keep veggies chopped up in containers, low fat or fat free cheese, olives, feta cheese and other goodies in the fridge. Chili and shredded lowfat chicken can be fixed in the crockpot and frozen in small portions. During the summer there are some wonderful cold soups you can make. You can create a salad bar, potato bar, pasta salad bar with all of these different kinds of foods on hand. Plan at least two or three breakfasts you can enjoy and alternate, as well as several things for lunch. Variety will help prevent boredom, which leads to losing momentum. It takes some time to get your food stockpiled and portioned. But the crockpot can do a lot of the work for you while you are doing something else! On the weekend you can cook things that can serve double or triple duty during the week, such as a turkey breast, chicken breasts, meatballs and meatloaf. You can also cook pork loin in the crockpot and shred and use for a variety of recipes. Tostados can be very lowfat by baking a corn tortilla until crisp and adding shredded pork or chicken, tomatoes, lowfat cheese, lettuce, a few sliced olives. I’ve suggested a variety of ideas to get you thinking, but searching the internet and cookbooks, using your imagination, you can make all kinds of fun and tasty recipes. Grow your own herbs–that is one thing I can do on my deck without the wildlife eating them! They add a wonderful gourmet touch to meals. And, don’t forget your sweet tooth. You don’t have to give up dessert because you are losing weight. There are hundreds of low fat dessert recipes. Make some No Pudge fat free brownies (delicious!!) with a dollop of fat free cool whip.. Make ice cream sandwiches with 2 squares of chocolate graham crackers with a few spoon fulls of fat free cool whip. I can buy the off brands of cool whip for .77. Buy low fat frozen yogurt and diet root beer and make a root beer float. Make fat free sugar free pudding mixes–and be sure to search cookbooks and the internet for other great ideas. A couple of other rules that won’t cost you a penny. First, stop eating at least a few hours before you go to bed. Several experts recommend making the kitchen off limits after 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. Second, get moving and keep moving. The more you can exercise along with cutting back on portion sizes, the faster the pounds will melt away. Enjoy the warm summer evenings to go for a walk, and even better take an early morning walk as well. If you find yourself sitting a lot, get up and move around. Walk around while you talk on the phone, do some exercises while watching television. Too hot to go outside? Try out a yoga and pilates video or DVD from your library. This is not a comprehensive list of the many things you can do, but I hope it will stimulate your own thinking and to help you realize losing weight can be done on a frugal budget! I’ve created my own mantra, and you might want to develop your own. I borrowed mine actually from Nike–Just Do It!!!
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Copyright © 2006 by Karen Kuebler. All rights reserved. Want more money-saving tips? Get a FREE Subscription to our monthly newsletter!
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