Losing while eating "not healthy" foods?

[rjilcott]

I wasn't sure where to put this..but here goes.

I am obese. I was given a fitbit force for Christmas and I LOVE IT!!! This little marvel is challenging me to move in ways that I couldn't get myself to move before. I work each and everyday to make it buzz earlier and earlier because it gives me a high of satisfaction that I have never had before. Now comes my question...

I would love to lose weight. I know to do this that I must eat properly....this is where I have the problem. We, like many in this day and time, are barely making ends meet. Our food, at this time, is made up of highly processed boxed meals. (Cheap beats out healthy right now) Have any of you been able to lose while eating stuff that wasn't quite healthy?

Thanks for your in put.

[bc92487]

I should tell you to be super healthy and go on a raw diet... hahaha NOT going to happen here!!! Food is expensive. By chance can you PM me. I actually lost 50 lbs in 4 months and now I am maintaining for almost 2 months... Maybe I can help you?

[Inga]

People have been losing by cutting calories using all sorts of food forever, don't worry. Eat as well as you can. In my experience though beans, rice, potatoes and veggies are cheaper than processed foods.  

[bphilb]

Ont thing that has worked well for me is the Weight Watchers meals that you can microwave.  They are not too bad and have foods like Mini Cheeseburgers and Mini Chicken Sliders that make decent snacks. Also a big one if Healthy Life bread. Of course fruits and vegtables are great snack items as well. I have never been the healthiest of eaters, but after watching my calorie intake I'm finding I can still eat a lot of food by eating healthier foods. It's been a lot of fun. Best of luck to you.

[awebz]

I completely agree with you that eating healthy is not always cheap. However I've found loopholes to at least try and eat healthier when I can. Im not sure where you're from or what area you live in but  the grocery store called Aldi has become my best friend. They offer a line of "Fit & Active" products that have become my go-to items for staying on track. I also started making my own bagged lettuce combos. I can get a head of iceburg lettuce and a head of romaine lettuce for about $2, wash it well, chop it up and put it into a ziplock bag with a papertowel and it lasts for quite a bit. The papertowel helps absorb some of the moisture. If you really put your mind to it you can really find great deals on even healthy items...you just might have to do a little research! 

[StefK]

I have just read the book "The Calorie Myth" and frankly it makes complete sense what the guy saying. Your body cells need good nutrition. He makes a distinction between good calories and bad calories. If your nutrition consists of bad calories you are in fact starving your body while putting on weight.

Take for instance a plate of pasta. It contains a lot of carbs but no real nutrition for your cells. The body cannot really use pasta therefore stores it as fat. If you ate the same amount of calories in form of veggies, fruits, meat or fish, nuts and seeds, then your body can use all of those calories efficiently and it would not store those calories as fat.

In fact the theory is, if you eat really healthy you do not have to watch your calorie intake at all.

Personally I believe that eating healthy is the most important change you can make in your diet to lose weight. Try and avoid processed foods. They contain a lot of stuff that is not good for your body.

I go and shop at Costco. They have huge bags of veggies for a very reasonable price. You will be surprised how filling a plate of broccoli can be.

I would shop around and try to replace us much processed food as possible with fresh vegetables.

Best of luck
Stef.

[StefK]

I have just read the book "The Calorie Myth" and frankly it makes complete sense what the guy is saying. Your body cells need good nutrition. He makes a distinction between good calories and bad calories. If your nutrition consists of bad calories you are in fact starving your body while putting on weight.

Take for instance a plate of pasta. It contains a lot of carbs but no real nutrition for your cells. The body cannot really use pasta therefore stores it as fat. If you ate the same amount of calories in form of veggies, fruits, meat or fish, nuts and seeds, then your body can use all of those calories efficiently and it would not store those calories as fat.

In fact the theory is, if you eat really healthy you do not have to watch your calorie intake at all.

Personally I believe that eating healthy is the most important change you can make in your diet to lose weight. Try and avoid processed foods. They contain a lot of stuff that is not good for your body.

I go and shop at Costco. They have huge bags of veggies for a very reasonable price. You will be surprised how filling a plate of broccoli can be.

I would shop around and try to replace us much processed food as possible with fresh vegetables.

Best of luck
Stef.

[runnergirl318]

Here a few inexpensive/healthy choices:

Canned tuna                              beans

oatmeal                                      lentils

eggs                                           potatoes 

brown rice

frozen veggies

Greek yogurt

I make giant batches of soup every week with canned chicken broth + bouillon cubes (inexpensive) lots of frozen veggies (any mix I feel like), canned beans and canned tomatoes and some chicken. sometimes I add a Mexican spice sometimes just traditional.  We eat this  throughout the week.  Very filling and very healthy.

[Ukase]

You want to eat cheap and healthy? This, I think, I can speak about. Or, write about, in this case. I'm not as frugal as they are on "Extreme Cheapskates", but I know a few tricks.

For starters - there are beans in a can and beans in a bag. At my neighborhood Wal-Mart, I can get a can of beans for 66 cents. Or, I can get a one pund bag of beans for $1.26. The catch is, the beans are raw and if you've never made your own beans, you may not know that the beans are sort of dehydrated when you buy them in the bag. So, you're getting about 4 times as many beans as that one can. (roughly)

So, always buy your beans in the bag. Just like your cereal, if you must eat cereal, get it in the bag. The savings are in the bag! (Malt-O-Meal slogan)

Greek Yogurt - yes, it's good for you. It's got a fair amount of protein. If you're like me and don't really like the taste without the fruit to sweeten it up, it can be really, really overpriced. Even plain - $4.88 for 32 ounces seems like an awful lot of money to me.

There are YouTube videos that show how to make your own yogurt - and you can make it fairly easily - but it's cumbersome, takes up space and it may not turn out quite like the store bought stuff. Just like with Almond Milk. You can make your own, but you don't really save that much money, unless you're making a large amount of it. So, my advice is to use coupons. Search for them on the web, but don't assume all yogurts are the same. Those marketing people are sharp and disguise their products well. Read the labels - make sure it says Greek!

Canned Tuna is another vastly overpriced product if you're not careful. Buy it in quantities as large as you can stand - but check the price per ounce. Sometimes, the larger container is more per ounce than the smaller ones. Don't get suckered for brand named tuna. It's all tuna. But, check your ingredients list to be certain. Coupons for this product are also abundant on the internet.

Oatmeal - my grocery store (Publix) routinely has buy one, get one free deals on Oatmeal. It's cheap, filling and low on the glycemic index. Get plain, not the sugary stuff, as you'll get more oatmeal for your money. You can always add your own sugar if you must. (Plain oatmeal would probably require a LOT of getting used to. If it's not in a smoothie, I MUST use brown sugar to get it down.)

Brown rice is the same whether it's Uncle Bens, or Sam's, or Jasmine's, or Mahatma. It's all brown rice. Some is par-boiled (larger in volume) so you pay a little bit more for a fair amount of less rice. So, avoid the minute rice! It's more expensive.

Potatoes - if you have a choice, choose a sweet potato over a regular potato. Regular potatoes are okay - but the sweet potato has more nutritional value. And, they can be found very cheap.

Buy your meat in bulk for more savings. It cracks me up when I see these people at Publix pay 5 dollars a pound for chicken breast, when they can get it at Wal-Mart for 2 dollars a pound. You can be more socially conscious when you can afford it.

Frozen veggies are not always the cheapest route. Sometimes, the flea markets and farmer's markets have better deals on fresh veggies. Especially at the last hour because they don't want to pack that stuff back in, they want it gone. Negotiate! Cash is king, and the more you buy, the better deals you can make.

For me, I like the texture of a fresh veggie over it's frozen counterpart. Nutritionally, it's essentially the same.

If you need protein, protein powders are really expensive, but for the amount of protein you get, it's the best deal.

The worst part is you have to spend a little more money to save a little money. But, you get a lot more food.

[get2fitK8]

try to eat more of the "good foods" and less of the "bad foods". Stop buying chips and cookies and soda and instead buy frozen veggies (They carry them in the bigger dollar stores now), canned fruits or vieggies, scale back on meat (if your scraping by you probably are already doing this.) Make some veggie soups with bread, rice and beans, and so on. Buy the produce in season. Oatmeal is not more than sugared cereals.

Try replacing just one high processed bad food for a frozen veggie and go from there.

[abb123]

I have a similar issue, not because I can't afford healthy food, but because I am outrageously picky.  All of the foods that I get any satisfaction from are generally bad for me, either a lot of carbs (pasta based dishes) or a lot of salt.  Dairy products are also a big weakness of mine as I love milk and most foods with generous helpings of cheese (mac n cheese and lasagna are my favorite dishes).

I am overweight by quite a bit, but I have noticed that I can lose weight rather quickly by increasing my activity slightly (which you may be well on your way to doing) and cutting out just a few of my indulgences.  I stopped drinking milk all together, unless I am using it in cereal or as an ingredient.  I no longer drink carbonated beverages and I try to use the light versions of any condiments that I use (mayo, cheese, ketchup, etc)

Replacing carbonated beverages and milk with water yielded HUGE rewards.  First, the calories and fat intake dropped tremendously, that much is obvious.  But also, carbonated beverages will cause your stomach to expand (one of the reasons gastric bypass patients don't drink carbonated beverages) .  In turn, this means you are going to eat more and feel hungry more often.   

I use crystal light because I don't like plain water, but if you can drink ice cold water all the time instead of other drinks, you will actually "gain" negative calories, because your body has to expend energy to warm the liquid.  If you drink 8 glasses of water per day, it probably wouldn't amount to more than 15 or 20 calories, but every little bit counts, especially when you consider that your not taking in 200 calories from one can of soda... thats a 220 calorie swing!

Good luck with your weight loss.