Join me on a frugal, family health kick.

[VoldemortsNipple]

Ive been stuck in a rut for a while now, eating rubbish and snacking on high sugar snacks. My main excuse, diets are too expensive, I cant afford and havent got time to join the gym.

I know Im being unreasonable, I know how to eat healthily and walking outdoors is free, Ive just been too lazy.

Ive looked online for free diet/fitness plans but always find them too much hassle to set up and begin with a shpping list as long as your arm.

In the past when I've been sucessful losing weight and getting healthy, the most useful tools have been a support network and keeping a record of what I eat.

So here is what I propose if you would like to join me. It pretty much the basics for most diets, just without the fancy recipies.

Aim to drink 8 glasses of water each day
Aim for between 3 and 5 portions of fruit and veg each day
Record meal plans daily (use free version of my fitness pal if you are calarie counting)
Aim for three meals and two snacks daily.
Aim for three 30 minutes of exercise each week. (walk, run, bike ride, old fitness DVD etc...)
Share hints, tips and recipies for achieving the above on a tight budget.

Ive done a cupboard search and planned for tomorrow/ day one.

Breakfast: special K (thats been sitting here for ages)

lunch: tuna wraps with cherry tomatoes.

Snacks: hardboiled egg and banana chips

Tea: Something with beef steaks, maybe a stir fry or curry. I will have to shop for something to go with it. A stir fry would give us two portions of vegetables so if I get a bag of apples or some fruit juice, that would make our five a day.

Download my fitness pal and put all that into it.... You may get a surprise!

Before tea.... 716 calaries. That leaves me 484 calaries for tea :) I don't want to be too strict on calaries though, its more about making healthy choices on a budget.

My special k is stale! Managed to eat about half before I ditched it. So I'll have one slice of toast when I get into work and pick some fresh ceriel up today.

most cereal is high in sugar - porridge is better. if you have time the best option is to make an omelette.

I have porridge for breakfast every day. I make it with skimmed milk powder, mixed dried fruit [basic range] and a little cinammon.
Costs pennies and fills me up all morning [I can even swim for an hour on it].

I like porridge and eat it a lot in the colder months. The DCs prefare cereal. Todays menu was about using what was in rather than making excuses about needing to go shopping. I think I've got some porridge in though so I can have that through the week.

I had a spare boiled egg so I've just eaten that rather than toast. It does mean that I would have eaten two eggs today but never mind. Protein keeps you fuller longer than carbs so hopefully I will last out till lunch. :)

Try adding some berries with your breakfast - I know that's where the cost comes in but Tesco have strawberry punnets for £1 and frozen fruit or a banana is often cheaper. That keeps me going all morning. I use all bran or branflakes.

Lunch. I have a wrap, pitta or sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber or a big bowl of home made soup. I always have a yogurt and piece of fruit to follow.

Tea. Any lean meat, fish, prawns. Stir fry (with minimal oil) or make a tomato based sauce. Always have 1/3 - 2/3 veg. Omelette or baked potato (especially with baked beans)

Snacks. Fruit, yogurt (low fat pref. natural) low fat hummus and vegetable sticks. Pickles

I have lost 2 stone doing this and it wasn't too difficult.

Grapefruit also great and if you can get them, the pink ones are much sweeter :) I get 6 for a £1 from my local market and was shocked to find that my kids love them too. Great for reducing antioxidents, supposed to help suppress the appetite too..

I ended up having spag bol for tea because DD decided to cook before I came home. I still only went 30 calaries over my limit :)

Thanks for all the tips regarding breakfast. I'm not a big fan of breakfast so skipping it is always a bad habit when I'm not eating properly. Tomorrow I'm going to have shredded wheat and cherrys. Cherrys were only a pound a punnet in Tesco :)