To think it is much harder to lose weight

[NutElla5x]

if you are on a tight food budget.Lean mince for example costs 3 times as much as the fatty stuff.Chicken breasts over twice the price of a fatty thigh.Fish is very expensive,unless it's the frozen battered kind.An apple twice as much as a packet of crisps from a multi pack.Olive oil and Fry Light cost lots more than your standard vegetable oil.Unhealthy options like frozen pizza and oven chips are dirt cheap compared to a healthy meal of say lean meat and two veg.Even reduced sugar baked beans are more expensive than your bog standard own brand beans.I'm aiming to lose another two stone(lost 1 already since July),but as a single mum-with three (slim) kids to feed -working a minimum wage job- I'm finding it a struggle,so am basically just not eating through out the day and saving all my calories for my one evening meal.I'm aware this isn't a healthy way to diet though, & to be honest don't feel too great-can sometimes get cranky with hunger and also feel a bit shaky at times, so if anyone has any tips/suggestions/ on how to eat healthily on a budget I'b be grateful to hear them

Buy full fat everything. It's more filling.

I don't disagree with you, but I do have two thoughts. One is that many low cost meals can be made with chickpeas and other canned beans and/or packeted lentils. I'm thinking of something like curries, dhals or chillies or similar. Not all of these need cream and if they do low fat plain yoghurt works a treat. The other is that cheaper cuts of stewing meat can make good low cost stews and casseroles and can be cooked in advance and frozen. Also, what about pea and ham soup with cut up veges? I eat vegetarian versions of the above and all are low fat and delicious so why am I putting on so much weight FFS?

Yab just a little bit U. You're right that fresh fruit and veggies are more expensive than processed food on a calorie for calorie basis - but to lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories anyway. In theory, you could change nothing and just eat smaller portions, which would definitely be cheaper.

A small pack of crisps from a multipack wouldn't have many more calories than an apple - so you could really keep eating the same. But if your portions were too big, then you were likely having too many, so could swap 2-3 packs of crisps for one apple, which is more cost effective.

We cut back as a family and now eat much better for the same amount, by eating differently. The biggest saving by a long way has been swapping meat for veg protein - two tins of chickpeas for a curry are much cheaper than chicken thighs. We also only eat puddings and snacks at home if they are home made, so we've saved on all the snacks we used to buy. Do be aware that lots of weight loss advice is protein heavy, which can help fill you up, but is also very expensive - and dietitians say that most people nowadays get more protein than we need anyway. Instead you can keep your fat levels up and fill up that way. You don't need to eat tons - for example a single pack of sausages doesn't go far if fried up, but will easily make a whole sausage casserole, especially if you keep an eye on portion sizes

Good luck!

Ive lost 2 stone since january and to be honest i never ate the expensive mince. I just drained the fat off the mince and had less..bulked it out with veg and chickpeas etc.
I dont eat a lot of meat now anyway but what i do eat is supplemented by a load of veg..bought cheap from lidl or frozen

The cheapest thing to eat is carbs. Bread, pasta, rice etc Which we all know don't really help in the battle of the bulge.

It is a lot more expensive to eat meat, fish and salad etc. Although to be fair I would indeed save money if I stopped buying chocolate and cake.

It depends what you are prepared to actually eat if you need to save money and lose pounds. You could eat healthily and cheaply if you were prepared to swap your avocado for a turnip etc.

Re.the frozen fish fillets mentioned above, yes they are cheaper than fresh but they are foul, rubbery and horrible. And while apples are all very well as a snack am I the only person who feels more hungry after eating an apple than I was before?

I had an epiphany the other day when I was fretting about the yo-yo size of my waist over the years and I realised that at my skinniest I wasn't actually happier because my boobs got smaller (there was only just enough of them to begin with) so actually I am better off being slightly more 'cuddly' as I feel more feminine, though there is a point of weight gain I won't go past before I do something about it.

The whole thing also becomes more difficult if you are cooking for a family who don't want to eat the same healthy food as you do, or who aren't prepared to cut down on meat etc If I presented my DH with a chickpea curry he would think I had lost the plot.

It's not too bad if you eat low carb high fat - that way you get to eat the fatty mince and the skin-on chicken thighs - no worries about low fat here! When I'm trying to keep food costs down I fill up on things like cabbage. broccoli and courgettes, plus eggs, tinned tuna and a basic block of Cheddar.

I was on so many low fat diets decades ago, and was totally miserable - food was tasteless and dry and not really a pleasure - hence the fact that I didn't/couldn't eat that way long term. So glad I found a way of eating that suits me much better!

I’ve found that just eating less works. If I’m hungry I can fill up on some raw veg, especially carrots or white cabbage.

And while apples are all very well as a snack am I the only person who feels more hungry after eating an apple than I was before?
^^
Have it with peanut butter or a stick of cheese.

You don't nend to not eat op.

I've just made a massive pan of slimming world tomato soup,;really filling, and cost pence! Can also freeze it. Tonight I'll have jacket spuds with veggie bolognaise sauce , also dead cheap, filling and freezable.

Just get organised, you can do it

But yeah, fruit is pricey, with kids like mine that favour raspberries and blueberries over bananas

I tried low carb, when I ate meat. Found it bloody expensive tbh.

I do feel that it is more expensive to eat healthily even if you don't buy any junk food. Especially things like nuts. And it seems like the less ingredients an item has in it, the more it seems to cost!

The price of an item goes down correspondingly with the amount of sugar in it...from what I have observed anyway!!

Eat meat free as much as you can - sub in beans and lentils etc. You can but then in bulk and they don't really go off.

Smaller veg-heavy portions. I use a lot of frozen and buy on the reduced sections of produce aisles.

However, I've gained back the 25lbs I recently lost, and just ate four bags of mini cheddars. 😂

I think people overlook eggs. Tesco do 15 mixed size free range eggs for £2. Even a one egg omelette is filling. Eggy rice with an onion and frozen peas/mixed veg is cheap and quick.

I think you need to explore different recipes and foods.
I managed to lose 12lbs in a month and actually spent less on food during that time.
The only meat/fish I ate was chicken and Tuna, and I ate lots of vegetables, chick peas and lentils.

I found the opposite OP. Whenever I have a financial crisis and have to stick to a low budget the weight falls off me without even trying. Thats because I don't buy things like doughnuts.
You don't need to eat the things you mentioned to lose weight. I bought baked beans (the normal kind, 30p a tin from Sainsbos), wholemeal bread, basic pasta, eggs, a small amount of cheese, tinned tomatoes, bananas,carrots, broccoli, onions, lentils, etc, and made meals out of them (along with some basic flavourings)
As for the spray oils, you can either put ordinary vegetable oil into a spray bottle, or use a small amount of boiling water to stir fry instead.
I also walked a lot because I couldn't afford transport, which probably helped.
Instead of oven chips I cut potatoes up and made wedges. (Just another example of how to adapt to a cheaper but still reasonably healthy)
Because this basic diet worked really well for weight loss I've kind of stuck to it, even though I can afford more fancier food now. Still losing weight, though more slowly now which is fine.
And my daughter ate these meals as well, even though she has funny tastes (being autistic). I realise children don't always like plain basic meals but thankfully she was ok about it.

Its just an excuse OP, the answer to weight loss is to eat whatever you fancy/can afford, just less of it.

The trouble is, this requires a lot of self control and willpower which most people lack.

It is much easier to take positive action, i.e. to Do Something (buy 'healthy' food, join WW) thank it is to resist doing something (reaching for snacks when hungry)

Just find your willpower OP, it will be in there somewhere!

I get what your saying about things like multi packs of crisps or doughnuts being cheaper than the good stuff but I don’t think healthier food is always dearer in comparison.

You don’t need to not eat!

For breakfast what about
Weetabix
Porridge
Scrambled egg
All pretty cheap, filling and healthier choices

Lunches
Soup ( you could make some once a week and have a few days/all week)
Egg ‘muffins’
A tuna sandwich ( if you mix the tin of tuna with mayo and a bit of sweet corn it would do 2 days sandwich)
Again all pretty cheap, will fill you up

Dinner
Big pot of bean chilli (have it with jacket potato one night, rice another and you could have a portion on its own for lunch as well)

Basic spaghetti with a sauce ( tin of chopped tomatoes, onion, garlic, bit of purée simmer) could add in any veg you have knocking around

Veg pasta bake ( use courgette, mushrooms, chopped tomatoes)

Jacket potato with beans/tuna

Omelette

Lentil stew

Again all fairly cheap and will fill you up

Snacks
Carrot sticks
Bananas
Cucumber sticks
Jelly ( fairly low cal, cheap to buy and takes minutes to make, let it set overnight)

Some fruit and veg is expensive Yes but things like cucumber, lettuce, bananas, carrots, cabbage, broccoli are very reasonably priced

Nothing wrong with buying what you describe the as “Fatty” meat that will fill you up more than the lean imo and it’s not bad for you when you think of the size portion you actually eat

Same with beans you don’t need the low sugar ones, the standard ones are absolutely fine and if your really worried about the sugar just have half the tin.

Thing the key thing is probably planning wisely

I disagree that weight loss is about willpower. Willpower is something that wears out very quickly, so relying on it is a sure fire way to failure. Instead, you have to change your habits. Don’t have food in the house that you are tempted by, that way your willpower gets a rest. Change your habits slowly and be kind to yourself.

Willpower is something that wears out very quickly, so relying on it is a sure fire way to failure

Actually, this is the exact opposite if the truth; the more you exercise any kind of impulse, be it willpower, or indeed giving into a craving, the neurotransmitter dopamine strengthens the neural pathways involved.

They actually grow stronger with regular use.

Why Willpower Doesn’t Work When It Comes to Eating and Weight!

The trouble is, there are a lot of biological systems at work behind the scenes that are present precisely to ensure that we get the sustenance we need to live. Those systems feature a host of hormones such as ghrelin, leptin, insulin, cortisol and more – all hormones that regulate hunger, fullness, cravings and the like. They’re what we run up against when we try to lose weight by restricting our eating.

According to Dr. Kari Anderson, binge eating specialist and executive director of Green Mountain at Fox Run, “Those systems make it near impossible to eat less than we need on the strength of will alone.”
And to be clear – when folks in good health restrict their eating by ignoring hunger, they are eating less than they need. When they try to follow diets that dictate what, when and how much to eat, they’re putting themselves squarely at odds with the potent survival drive embedded in basic human biology. The difficulty in following diets has very little to do with will.

I think YABU. Healthy food can be really cheap to cook. The trick is to stop eating so much meat. You really don't need to eat it at all if we're going to be honest. Either don't have any meat at all or limit your meat consumption by only having it a couple of times a week or fleshing it out E. G. Beef stew you can add barley or lentils or beans of sone kind. Then things liss crisps vs apples. Let's be perfectly honest here, if you are trying to loose weight you really shouldn't have snacks anyway. Cut out unnecessary expensive food groups. Cut out unnecessary snacking. And make everything from scratch (try making yoghurt from scratch as well, it's very cheap and very easy).

Cough, bullshit cough

I don’t see the point in buying the lower fat mince because I always fry the fat off and drain it away anyway.