Want to try harder

kstadelh

kstadelh

Kyle, new member.
Hello. I joined this forum over a year ago and I was on a pretty effective diet. But I stopped when I had a crisis in my career. There have been a lot of changes since then. Generally my life is going a lot smoother and I now find myself with excess reserves of willpower. I feel like I if I really focus on the right thing I can make some good results. My father has inspired me by losing 25 lbs. through doing Weight Watchers. He has always been on the healthy side, but he has had this pot belly for many years. But now his belly is flat. Our whole family is very happy about this. I would do it to, but I just don't want to shell out that much money. So I am want to participate in this forum and get some weight loss encouragement.

I have gained some weight since my last diet, where I went down to about 233. I think I am about 260 right now, but I have not weighed myself in a while. So I am not sure. I want to start pushing that number down. Here are some healthy things I am doing right now.
1. Going to the gym at least 3 times per week (30 min jogging on tread mill, plus some minor weight-lifting)
2. Just decided to start using my Ab Doer again. My weight lifting has helped my upper body, but I have a hard time doing core exercises at the gym. So my core is very flabby. So I will work on my core with the Ab Doer.
3. Started a budget for eating out. $50 per week. But my goal is to not eat out and save the money for something more useful, like paying off CC debt.

What I hope to improve now is my diet, something which usually comes more naturally to me than exercise. So since I am now doing such a good job in the exercise dept. it is a very good time to start controlling my food intake. In my opinion, my diet is pretty average and on the healthier side now. But I would like to make some slow, subtle tweaks to my eating habits so that I can see more progress in my weight-loss. Most importantly I really need moral support because life is always full of ups and downs and it is really easy for me to get discouraged from taking care of my health. When I get in a really stressful moment, I instinctively go for food to sooth the pain. If I have weak morale, it is very hard to convince myself that it is not necessary. If I can have a stronger motivation, I can overcome those painful moments of weakness.

I will probably not do the extreme level of dieting that I did last year. Even though it was very effective, it took too much willpower and it was too restricting. I will focus on little things, like cutting down my carbs and sweets. I would rather have a diet that is more just like eating really healthy than a diet that is just actively trying to lose weight. Do you know what I mean? I will start posting my weight again as a way to measure my progress.
 
Hey and welcome to this part of the forum! Can I ask why you need $50 to eat out each week? Do you like cooking? It's a great idea to try and save the money :)
What are you eating in a normal day? Any favourite meals?
 
Hey Sun. How have you been? About the $50, my wife and I are starting to focus on our budget, and we will give ourselves $50 per week for any personal expenses outside of the necessities (groceries, gas, etc.). Eating out just happens to be the biggest expense we have had besides the necessities. But as I said I am going to try to save 100% of my allowance for more important things. That is, I am going to stop eating out as much as possible. I am going to do as much cooking at home as possible. I like cooking. So it can be a fun endeavor. I usually have a homemade fruit parfait for breakfast, and leftovers from last night's dinner for lunch. I try to cook healthy meals for dinner, including protein and veggies, but I do eat a lot of carbs too. I sometimes have a bowl of cereal in the early morning if I am low-energy, but I would like to change this, as it is not very healthy. One issue I am trying to work on is the money I spend on groceries. I would like to coom meals that are both nutritious and low-cost. Anybody have ideas for these kinds of meals?
 
If you like cereal maybe try to eat healthier cereals, such as puffed wheat, puffed rice, or oatmeal without added sugar.
 
If you want food that's nutritious and low-cost you can't beat legumes. Low-fat and healthy as well! Most people spend a large part of their grocery budget on meat. If you're among them, slow-cooked cheaper cuts can be really awesome. Veggie-wise it reall depends on where you live; over here (Austria) seasonal veg tends to not only be cheaper but it makes you get creative with what is at hand instead of throwing the same five things into your cart every week.
 
Actually, I kind of changed my mind. I really want to actively diet as much as possible for now. But I need a little time to make a decent plan. The only thing that sort of bugs me about dieting, other than the self-denial, is that I usually cook dinner for my family, and I am not sure how they will take it. Should I cook my diet food for them? Or should I cook their own separate meals and then just eat my diet food? Neither option seems appealing at all. Does anyone have experience with this?
 
I think, just by reading your journal, you might want to start re-training your brain to think of food as nutrition and energy that you put in your body. You used the words deprived and diet-foods, doesn't seem appealing and those are HUGE factors that set you up to fail. How are you going to keep this up long term if you feel deprived and un-appealed by food? A healthy, nutritious food doesn't have to taste bad just like a high-sugar/fat dessert might taste like cardboard.

Find flavour profiles you (and your family enjoys) through spices. Like Cate and Sharilee said, your family will benefit just as much!

We do a lot of family-style meals. I'll make a salad, side veggies, generally a starch (rice or potato), meat and fruit. It ensures that everyone gets something they like in portions they enjoy! When I want pasta, I make it from scratch. It ensures I've made one portion AND since it's a bit more labour-intensive, I appreciate it a LOT more (same with bread). Even soups, I make from scratch so they're loaded with veggies and broth instead of potato, thickeners, salt and preservatives. If you're planning on cooking, it really does make a HUGE difference how you look at foods.

There's nothing wrong with a nutritional shake here and there or diet bar - I use shakes quite a bit tbh, but I enjoy them. I read someone on here saying with every pound they lost, that was the last time they were going to see it on them and that resonated with me. It's exactly the point of losing weight - this isn't to be miserable and skinny but figure out how we control food and exercise without it controlling us.

Good luck - it sounds like you're off to an AWESOME start!!!
 
kstadelh said:
Hey Sun. How have you been? About the $50, my wife and I are starting to focus on our budget, and we will give ourselves $50 per week for any personal expenses outside of the necessities (groceries, gas, etc.). Eating out just happens to be the biggest expense we have had besides the necessities. But as I said I am going to try to save 100% of my allowance for more important things. That is, I am going to stop eating out as much as possible. I am going to do as much cooking at home as possible. I like cooking. So it can be a fun endeavor. I usually have a homemade fruit parfait for breakfast, and leftovers from last night's dinner for lunch. I try to cook healthy meals for dinner, including protein and veggies, but I do eat a lot of carbs too. I sometimes have a bowl of cereal in the early morning if I am low-energy, but I would like to change this, as it is not very healthy. One issue I am trying to work on is the money I spend on groceries. I would like to coom meals that are both nutritious and low-cost. Anybody have ideas for these kinds of meals?
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I'll start off by saying I'm a chef so I'm very familiar with food cost and preparation whether it is for meals at a restaurant or at home. I think it's awesome you like to cook and, in my opinion, home cooked meals (even the 'unhealthy' kind) are much more nutritious and healthy than processed, store-bought stuff. So, good for you :)

With that being said, in most areas of the country (I'm assuming you live here in the US because you used pounds for weight and not kilograms) you can save money by buying frozen fruits and vegetables rather than fresh. Look for deals though for fresh produce - obviously, fresh is better, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with frozen produce. The nutritional depletion when freezing produce is very minimal (much better than canned) so you'll be saving money and keeping nearly all the nutrition.

Also, buy in bulk when you can. Certain healthy items like rice, oatmeal, dried fruits, nuts, etc - any item that will realistically last for months without spoiling - can be purchased in bulk for a much cheaper cost 'per ounce.' Sure, you'll be spending more up front but, in the long run, you'll save a bunch of money as well. For instance, if you can go to the grocery store and buy a 2-lb bag of brown rice for $2.49 or 5-lb bag of brown rice for $4.00, choose the 5-lb bag. Per ounce, it's cheaper ($.08 per ounce vs $.05 per ounce). In the long run, looking at the "per ounce" cost of food will save you a decent amount of money.

To save money, avoid the "instant" foods - instant oatmeal, minute rice, etc. You're paying a ton of extra money for the convenience so, as long as you have the time, cook raw ingredients. Sure, raw rice might take 20-minutes to cook but you'll also save a bunch of money.

And, always look for sales. It's tedious, but check through local ads and take note of what's on sale.

Oh, and buy whole cuts of meat and butcher them yourself (if you can). You will save a TON of money that way. For instance, at our local grocery store you can buy three chicken breasts for about $7.00 OR you can buy a whole chicken for about $3.50. It makes more sense (financially) to buy the whole chicken and cut it up yourself, you know? Same goes for pork, cuts of beef, fish, etc.
 
People in my house eat what I make them - otherwise they can sort themselves out! When Yank doesn't want what I'm having I'll either tweak what I'm having (same protein but I'll have quinoa and he'll have normal rice or pasta) or he can fend for himself! How are you getting on lovely?
 
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