If you're overweight, how much do you spend on food?

[MarinkyDinkyDink]

I suppose my AIBU is 'To think I can't afford to put on weight'... but I MUST be! I'm not on the breadline. But eating any more just looks SO expensive!

This is my question:

1. I really want to put on weight
2. Every time I go to buy excess food (thinking calorie surplus) I think of my bank account
3. But when I go food shopping, I see soooo many overweight people. Some of whom MUST have less disposable income than me
4. How have they got to that weight!?
5. My jazzy banking app tells me I spend £700/mth on food (+3kids, no other adult).
6. That's 350 on food shop and 350 on eating out (we live in a very cafe-y area, but it's like fancy quiche deli salad places. Ain't nobody getting fat on this stuff)
7. Apparently UPF is great for putting on weight but I really don't like the taste and texture of processed food (which is apparently fab for making anybody overweight)

I like homemade, pure food. Like, if I want a sausage roll, I'll make sausage rolls. I don't like the taste of pre-made or cold food. I only really like hot and fresh, made on site etc.

1. Food is so expensive! I don't buy snacks or crap for the house because it's just.. more money. But discussing snacking with school mums, I'm starting to think maybe I don't keep enough snacks in.

I only eat 3 meals, I can't dream what would happen to that £700 spend if I started snacking too!

If you are overweight: HOW!? Do you spend £700+ on food/mth?

I just want to understand the balance I need to make between my spend and my weight. Is my food spend unusually low? Do I need to start splashing out on the calories?

I get that being overweight for many isn't desirable. But being underweight is no treat either.

Sorry I get all of this. Which is exactly why I am asking why, on 7 HUNDRED pounds, which I get is a lot more than a lot of people have to spend on food: I still can't gain weight. And asking if the amount of money (and as such, food) is the problem.

Oh hun... You just need to eat more calorific foods, having a larger salad isn't going to help you!

Also I think you'll find having less healthy foods is cheaper, so you don't need to increase your budget, you need to decrease it! Fattening food is cheap, healthy food tends to be more expensive...

Do you at least eat chocolate and ice cream?

I'll be honest though your post is from another planet, I'm here for the funny comments 👯

white rice and pasta and bread. You can’t dislike all of these and they are cheap.

But the thing is you're not really spending £700 on food in the way most people are thinking of it. You're spending £350 at the supermarket and £350 on some very expensive salad! £350 is really not a huge amount for a family of 5 depending on how many meals that's for. If you really can't find an acceptable eating out alternative I think you need to be taking additional food with you to supplement the café salads as it's clearly not enough to keep you going. Could you cope with cold snacks alongside what you're already having, e.g. bring nuts, trail mix, boiled eggs, cheese cubes with you to have after the salad? Or invest in a food flask and bring a nice hot creamy pasta or similar with you if it must be hot (although salad is cold in my universe so not sure why a picnic is out?)

I'm surprised at all the crappy replies on here. If someone came on asking for advice on how to alter their meals/food spend to help them lose weight, the thread would be filled with helpful advice, words of support and lovely recipes. But OP asks for advise on how to gain weight and what stuff to buy to help and all she gets is unkind comments and sarcasm. OP, I think that reqlly it's the age old phrase of 'eat less, move more' but reversed. Eat higher calorie foods. More carbs. A bit more sugar etc.

You need to see a GP or pay to see a nutritionist privately .. there are strategies for weight gain such as those used in elderly care and eating disorder recovery. It’s got nothing to do with money, it’s got nothing to do with ‘fat, poor people’ and what you think they eat. You’re coming at this problem from the wrong angle. You have to fuel your body to bulk, pro advice will help you with that.

@Shmee1988 people aren't annoyed at OP because she's asking people for help gaining weight, they're annoyed because she's basically gone Hey fatties, how can I put on weight you lazy lardarses? How much beige UPFs do I need to funnel down my gizzard?

This is one of the most unintentionally darkly hilarious MN’s threads I’ve ever read. What the actual fuck.

OP, please go and see a doctor.

Nuts, chocolate, plenty of butter, cake, lots of jam 🤣?

Oh meant to say MacDonald's milkshake as they are very high calories, or one of those over sweetened coffees with syrup and whipped cream.

So what? If she'd of said 'hey, all you skinny people, how many calories do I need to eat and how much exercise do I need to do to lose weight' that would be fine no? She's not wrong, generally over weight people do over eat or eat different things/portions to those that are slimmer. I know there's the exception where someone says 'I only eat 2 apples a day, run 3 miles and never sit down and I put on weight' but generally speaking. If over weight people are offended, that's a them problem.

I’m not so fat now but I managed to get really quite porky frugally. Lots of butter on toast was enough to do it. Plus eating the kids left overs. Some of us are just lucky enough to store flab with little to no effort. We would be excellent in a famine 👍

I get thousands and thousands in benefits and spend allllll of it on delicious junk food. I haven't eaten a veggie in decades.

It's just the cost I'm trying to understand.

I had a fish curry at lunch, and hoovered up my kids chips, chicken wrap and salad.
Pasta for tea with loads of butter and oil in the sauce, cheese on top.

An hour later, I'm marving again! This is usually the hunger I just ignore because I cannot afford to eat at this rate

I think this where biscuits and crisps need to come in.

I really am here to understand how on earth I can be putting any more calories in to myself, without adding to my food bill.

And yes noted the cafes might need to take a rest...

If you want to weigh more, simply put weights in your pockets. Also allow your body hair to grow. Hair weighs more than you think.

Yours sincerely
Viz

I've never seen such a flip-flopping humble-bragging OP before. Weird.

Anyone dipping a cream egg in butter for an after dinner snack?

Your post is awfully written but if you want to put on weight increase the fat in your diet. Fat has 9 calories per gram, whilst protein and carbs have 4. Eat loads of nuts and seeds, eat the fat on meat.

Taking this post in good faith, it’s not about the money you spend but about adding healthy calorific foods to your diet. It’s also not about modeling what ‘overweight’ people eat, it’s about modelling what healthy weight people eat.

Pre boil some eggs and leave them in the fridge to snack on, switch to full fat varieties of foods if you opt for half fat (yogurt, may etc), pop an extra slice of ham in your sandwich, buy some linseed/chia seeds to sprinkle on salads, breakfast etc as they add calories and healthy oils (omega 3 and 6, I think?). If you skip breakfast, add it back in. If you just have one slice of toast, increase it to two (ie, try to increase your portion sizes by 10%)… in the ‘weight gain’ phase, eat trail mix/nuts (lots of calories in cashews, brazils but also nutrient rich).

ie, you do the reverse what people who are dieting do. Having just lost 6.5st I am now in the increasing my food portions and adding things back to work out my maintenance calories/diet. You kind of need to do the same.

HTHs

Get your thyroid checked.

Agree with others about healthy fat etc. But if you are just too thin and need a bit of squish, I found a habit of night time cheese, chocolate or wine would do that. Try not to do all 3.

Also wash less often; every layer of dirt adds weight.

Indeed!

Surely £700 a month on Greggs sausage rolls is a joke?! I don't know how much one of those costs, but two or three a week would be more than enough for anybody.

Calories are cheap, nutrients are expensive. If you just want to gain fat fill up on cheap pasta and bread.

If you want to do it healthily I take your point it can be expensive as you will need high quality protein, nuts, seeds etc which can be pricey

If this is serious you really don't see spending £350 a month eating out isn't normal? Stop that and you will get more food to eat at home obviously!