Eating on a budget and I’ve gained weight. Any tips to manage better please!

[Wheredidmywaistgo]

I haven’t been dieting (although I should!) but I didn’t expect to gain weight either.
I’m on a very tight budget due to a number of big expenses.
Food has involved a lot more carbs… rice pasta mainly or soup made filling with bread. Cheap fruit. Sometimes when hungry I have had a banana and peanut butter as very filling but obviously very high calories.

i was feeling good as no takeaways, no eating out, buying lattes, no chocolate bars (although some crisps)
I felt a bit heavier and yesterday I couldn’t do my trousers up!!!

I need a new diet plan!!

much smaller portion sizes, lots more veg, cut out bread and margarine, dont use vegetable oil. Nothing sweet

Smaller portions

Add tins of pulses

Don't eat crisps

Yes, the food is fine you just need less of it.

Are eggs within your budget? As they’re filling and good for you, either scrambled for breakfast or with a bit of onion and cheddar in an omelette for dinner.

Yes less of it feels like an obvious answer. Thinking about it I have started eating toast and cereal in the evening when hungry again which I didn’t ever do before.

Beans :)

I’ve been making the children eggs but might start including eggs for me too.

beans are a good call

If you can afford to - get a cheap smoothly maker (in Lidl now) I have been losing weight by making ‘smoothies’ of half a tin of spinach with tomato juice and half a tin of mixed beans and pulses (tho you could use dried if cheaper. Add flavour with a few drops of Tabasco and Worcester sauce. Is very filling as well as much healthier than pasta.
Alao have found a side benefit is I am getting more liquid and do reduced the desire to drink alcohol or cravings for sweet things.

We’ve also been on a budget and it’s so hard as a trolley full of healthy stuff is so expensive. On the budget food I am more hungry, to stay within sensible calories the portion sizes are to me, minuscule.

Eggs are great. One slice of wholemeal toast (no butter) with a poached egg (just water, no fat) and maybe some tomatoes or a piece of fruit afterwards is a filling brunch and only about 200-250 calories depending on the bread and fruit.

Christ that sounds revolting 😄Sorry.

I've had a similar experience- if I go carb heavy, I feel a lot hungrier and put weight on.

I found eating more protein helps- eggs are a good shout. You could try tempeh, tofu (I personally cook it until it's crispy as I find I don't like it when it's 'squashy'. Beans wise lentils and kidney beans are higher in protein.

I found that meal planning worked for me and using my fitness pal- I also had a skewed view on portion sizes, so this has helped me with that.

I also intermittently fast and find I work better eating 2 decent meals per day than three smaller ones. The first week was tough feeling hungry, but adding in protein helped and then my body adapted.

The budget aspect is that I find cooking from scratch much cheaper- I minimise UPFs as much as possible. I don't try to cook elaborate meals each night (maybe a more exciting, trickier dish once per week), and I cook extra a couple of times per week so a couple of days I don't need to cook at all.

If I want to lose weight I have 50g of pasta or rice and more veg/protein. I realise that's more expensive though!

How much toast and cereal in the evening? It’s probably down to that. Maybe have just one bit of medium toast with something cheap like tinned tomatoes or baked beans on top. Ditch the cheap cereal.

How many bags of crisps do you eat a day? Are they meal substitutes or extras? I mean, Victoria Beckham famously eats lots of crisps but I think for her a 100 calorie bag of crisps is a meal iyswim.

Good luck with the budget, and eat well and stay happy

Lentils and tinned beans for soups, curries and stews

Frozen veg or season veg that's on offer

Cottage cheese is good for protein

Porridge is a cheap and healthy breakfast

Are you using brown rice/whole meal pasta & bread/oats? They fill you up more than white carbs. I found when really struggling with money that the cheapest bread/pasta etc you end up eating more so spend the cost of the wholemeal versions anyway.

Otherwise - porridge made with water and a handful of cheap raisins is filling, healthy and cheap. I’ve eaten it for one or when really skint two meals a day for years.
I make a soup/pasta sauce out of a tin of cheap carrots/a tin of cheap baked beans and a tin of chopped tomatoes all blitzed with some dried herbs. Filling and we all love it. Bulking up everything with lentils and beans helps you feel full on not much money. Add a tin of butter beans to all your soups/curries/sausage casserole etc.

Don’t be too hard on yourself, you can just tweak what you are doing a little and it will help.

I make a big bowl of houmous with cheap chickpeas (or other beans) garlic, lemon and water. Maybe smoked paprika. Tiny bit of oil. Tahini can be expensive so I only put a bit in. I have that for breakfast or lunch with a red pepper and celery and I find its ages until I get hungry again as your blood sugar stays low.

Reduce refined carbs as much as possible as they are neither nutritious nor filling.

Eat vegetables and legumes instead. Reduce cost of beans, lentils, chickpeas by buying dried (in large packs from ethnic shops) and cooking them yourself. You can make a large batch and use them over several days.

Caramelized onions are cheap and enhance the flavor of many dishes. Ditto ginger and curry powder. The latter is cheaper than curry pastes.

Eggs are still fairly cheap, especially if you add egg white, and are very versatile. Boiled eggs in particular are very nutritious and filling - protein bombs. You can add vegetables to omelets and turn them into a filling frittata.

Things like chicken thighs can be braised in a lidded pan on the stove rather than baked in the oven. The latter is more energy intensive, so batch cook if you do need to use the oven.

I honestly blame toast for my putting on 2 stone. It’s cheap and easy and lovely, and it’s so “normal” - like, it’s only toast! Everyone eats toast for breakfast! But two slices of toast and toppings is a lot of calories, it’s easy to eat and not very satiating because it’s so carby, especially white toast. It really just wakes the appetite. Now I have toast very rarely (but enjoy it a lot when I do).

Add red split lentils to your soups (assuming homemade) they are incredibly filling and you won’t need bread.

Lentils are high in fibre, and complex carbohydrates, while low in fat and calories. Their high protein content makes lentils a perfect option for those looking to boost their protein intake.

You will get hungry if you're filling up on cheap carbs. You need to find cheap protein sources. Eggs are amazing but not cheap. Lentils, beans, chick peas can all be bought dried in bags from Asian shops for less than you find in supermarkets and you can give them flavour with spices and bulk up with cheap veg like carrots and potatoes. A large potion of Dahl with a small potion of rice will help keep you fuller longer. If your kids won't eat that kind of food you can modify - keep the eggs, cheese, yoghurt, meat, fish for the kids and the cheaper protein for you. You can still eat together but eat slightly different things.

Protein. Eggs, beef mince, pulses. Look for the most nutrition for your money as if you aren't getting the nutrients then your body will drive you to keep eating despite surplus calories. Look for the least processed foods.

This is a filling, hearty soup with lentils. I don’t feel it needs bread with it. I also omit the flour as it makes it too thick, you could make it with any veg really.
https://realfood.tesco.com/gallery/top-10-healthy-soup-recipes.html?id=0a9f4ddc-1513-4483-95be-0a2c5a190c3f

You need to find out how many calories you've been having and reduce those to lose weight. Weight loss needs a calorie deficit, i.e. the reverse of the excess which has caused you to put on weight. You do not need to turn meals to mush (that smoothy sounds disgusting!) or cut meals or anything else.