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Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #22: Skip Diet Foods, Drinks & Pre-packed “Healthy” Snacks

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diet foods diet drinks pre-packagedIt’s day 22 of our October Challenge and we are focused on how we can save some money while losing the weight at the same time.  Today’s Weight Loss on a Budget Tip: #22 – Skip Diet Foods and Pre-packed “Healthy” Snacks.

That’s right!  I’m talking about snack packs, frozen diet meals and powdered diet drinks.  You just don’t need them to lose weight.  Focus on eating REAL, unprocessed foods and drinking lots of water.

Diet Snack Packs – You save money by buying in larger quantities and breaking the food down.  You can repackage your own snacks that you buy in bulk.  Weight or divide out the food in small, low calorie portions and put it in sandwich bags.  It’s all about portion control.  You ALSO should not be fooled into thinking that just because you ate 3 100 calorie packages that it wasn’t as bad, because they are diet portions. 🙂  Most people don’t just have one portion of diet products, they have 2 or 3.

Diet Drinks – When it comes to diet drinks, sometimes the extreme sweetness just continues to keep your sweet tooth alive, super charging it.  You never divorce yourself from the sugar rush with these drinks, thus your cravings continue to rage on.  Drink more water and save your money.  Drink tea with a little natural sweetener like honey or agave when your willpower is low.

Frozen Diet Meals – Do you research and really consider how much money you’re spending on frozen diet meals.  Could you avoid things like sodium and preservatives by not eating those foods?  How much money would you save if you made your own meals and ate leftovers as well?  Are the foods too high in calories, hidden sugars or fats?

Other Diet Foods – If the diet products are being sold at a premium, avoid them.  There are cheaper options.  You don’t have to buy something because it’s labelled low-fat or diet. Buy the most health food you can afford.  That should be your goal.  Don’t let the marketing tactics suck you in.

 

 

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #21: Look for Free Weight Loss Related Offers Online

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free offers weight loss relatedWeight Loss on a Budget Tip #21: Look for Free Weight Loss Related Offers Online!  That’s right!  If you are willing to do the work you can find lots of offers for free stuff online that can help you with your weight loss efforts.  Here are just a few examples (some are limited time offers):

Free Meal Plans:

Sites where you can find offers for free stuff:

Take your time and do your research.  Check out the websites for your favorite brands and plan how to buy them.

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #20: Learn to Save Money on Fruits and Veggies

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Today’s Weight Loss on a Budget Tip – #20: Learn How to Save Money on Fruits and Veggies.  Consider this…

“Researchers at the University of Arizona recently spent a year tracking families’ food-use habits. Working with the United States Department of Agriculture, they interviewed the families about their eating habits, collected their grocery receipts, watched them prepare meals, and then sifted through every last discarded lettuce leaf, slice of bread, burger and bean.  The results, reported in 2002, were pretty shocking. The families tossed out an average of 470 pounds of food per year——about 14 percent of all food brought into the home——at an annual cost of $600. Every day, they discarded more than half a pound of fruits and veggies. In total, Americans chuck a fourth of all the produce they buy, mostly because it’s gone bad, says Timothy Jones, PhD, contemporary archaeologist at the University of Arizona. Nationally, we dump $43 billion worth of food every year.” – Vegetarian Times

save money on fruit veggiesI would like to believe that since things are a bit tighter financially these days, with our economy, that we are doing a better job of not wasting money on food in general. Here are some tips to help you do that:

Deals at Farmer’s Markets –

  • Visit sellers at your local farmer’s market an hour before closing time.  You may be able to negotiate deals on produce so that they don’t have to take as much inventory back to the farm.
  • Don’t be afraid to haggle on price with farmers.  It’s common at markets, especially if you plan to buy in bulk or large quantities.
  • You may be able to negotiate a lower price if you are a regular, weekly customer.  Many sellers appreciate the repeat, regular business and may give you a discount for loyalty.

Store Your Fruits and Veggies Properly – If you don’t know how long your veggies will last or how to properly store them, you may end up with wasted food which means wasted money.

  • Know that some fruits should not be stored next to others – Some fruits and vegetables produce ethylene gas.  This is a gas that causes produce to ripen.  This can speed up the aging process of fruits or cause premature ripening (aka.causing food to spoil).  Here is a list of ethylene emitting foods and ethylene sensitive foods.
  • Check out this fruit and veggie nutrition database and find out how to store various produce.  For example, did you know that you should store apples in the fridge, away from foods with strong odors, for up to 3 weeks?
  • Here is another list of storage tips from farmfreshtoyou.com.
  • Do some research on what you can store on the counter and what you should refrigerate.

Research Sales Online

  • I’ve said this before, but searching for deals online is key to saving money.  Visit the website for the local grocery store you prefer and look for deals on produce before you visit the store.

Buy Fruits and Veggies in Season

  • Some fruits and veggies are cheaper when they are in season because less have to be imported and there are more available on the market.

Buy Frozen

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #19: Use the Crockpot or Slow Cooker

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slow cooker crock potThis month I’m sharing a tip each day about how you can save money while losing weight.  Here is today’s tip: Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #19: Use the Crockpot.

How can a Crockpot save you money?  When you are cooking your own meals and using healthy recipes to stay on course with your weight loss goals, slow cooking has a number of benefits:

  • Saving time, because time is money. You can put your ingredients in the pot and spend time doing other things (like exercising).
  • You can buy cheaper cuts of lean meat because slow cooking will tenderize them.  You can also use affordable things like turkey legs or neck bones for flavor.
  • Slow cookers and Crock Pots are cheap to buy (around $30) and use less electricity than a stove.
  • Save money by making large recipes and then freezing or storing the leftovers.  No need to buy a meal when you have a great one in the fridge.

The other reason you should embrace using a Crockpot or slow cooker is variety.  There are hundreds of healthy slow cooker recipes you can try that have a lot of flavor, so that you never get bored.

Here is a sample of some of the great recipes out there:

Low Carb

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #18: Make Shopping List Before Going to the Grocery Store

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Today’s Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #18 – Make an Actual Shopping List.  We have all heard the old expression, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.  Well, that saying rings true when it comes to eating for weight loss.  Chances are that the majority of what you are eating are foods that you have prepared for yourself.  I talking about homemade, healthy recipes and and healthy convenience foods like, yogurt, whole wheat cereal or low sodium soup.  You can save money and stay on track with your weight loss goals by making a list before heading to the grocery store.  It requires willpower, but you can do it!

  • With a shopping list you will better be able to avoid the negative foods that would contribute to weight gain.
  • With a list you will know what foods your need to buy in accordance with what you plan to eat for the week and what recipes you will be making.
  • If you assess what you have at home and what you need to buy before your regular weekly trip to the store, you will make less trips to the grocery store during the week, saving gas…thus saving money.
  • A list will help you void overbuying or buying the things you don’t need.  Save money $$$
  • Don’t worry about the brand names, just get the foods on your list.  Ingredients should be your focus, so as long as the food label nutrition info shows that the food is healthy the brand name is secondary.  Not buying brand names can save you $$$.
  • Compare prices.  You may have one brand on your list, but another brand is on sale.  Embrace your options.
  • Avoid impulse purchases and being lured into buying things you don’t need based on sales and special offer displays.
  • After making your list, look at the website for the store you are going to and look for deals on the items you plan to buy.  You can of course look at your coupons as well, if you are “couponing”.
  • Don’t shop when you are hungry or having strong cravings because you’ll be more likely to divert from your list.
  • There are some good list building, meal planning and family focused apps out there that allow you to manage your list on your phone.  Fooducate is one example of this.

If you need help putting a list together, we’ve got shopping lists that you can take to the store with you as a part of our Free Meal Plans.  Check out our 4 week plans.  One is for vegetarians and the other is just clean eating.

shopping list

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #17: Consider Joining a DietBet

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dietbet articleIt’s time for Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #17: Consider Joining a DietBet.  So, what is DietBet?  It’s a online diet contest/weight loss betting pool site that gives you 28 days to lose 4% or more of your weight.  If you meet the goal you get a cut of the pot of everyone’s bets.  Bet amounts vary.

“DietBet is a game where you’ve got 4 weeks to lose 4% of your starting weight. To begin, everyone puts money into the pot. After four weeks, whoever’s hit their 4% goal is a winner and splits the pot.” – dietbet.com

Kinda cool, right?  It’s a new school take on the old school practice of weight loss pots at the office, among friends, etc.  You can start your own dietbet and compete with friends, with family or you can find a contest on the DietBet website.

Is it legit?  They have a lot of controls to try to ensure fairness.  You can check out the details on their website.

“Players will submit official weigh-in photos at the start and end of a game. DietBet will verify each photo and certify the final winners.”

“Two days before your game begins, you’ll be prompted to submit your official starting weight.
Our standard weigh-in process involves you submitting two photos, one of you on a scale in airport security attire; another of the scale’s readout with your weigh-in word.”

The weigh-in word is a great idea.  You don’t find out what the word is until 2 days before the contest starts to put it in your before photos (on a piece of paper).  You get a new word at the end of the contest for your after photos.  That makes it very difficult to cheat. Here is the list of dietbet games that are currently going on.

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #16: Stop Drinking Soda and Sweet Drinks

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Ladies, one of the ways that many weight loss plans get us to lose weight is by telling us to avoid a whole food group.  Sometimes this advice is counterproductive and you don’t get the nutrients, vitamins, fiber or protein you need because you have cut something out that the body needs.  However, with today’s tip, I’m sure  you can cut these 2 things out and you won’t miss out on vital nutrients.  In addition, you will be able to save some money.

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #16: Stop Drinking Soda and Sweet Drinks

That’s right!  If you haven’t already stopped drinking soda and sweetened drinks, there are so many reasons why you should.

  • The sugar and caffeine content is the major reason to stop drinking it in terms of weight loss.
  • If you are drinking diet soda, you may feel like it’s harmless but the affects of faux sugars are debated.  Some have connected sweeteners with nerve damage and other potential health risks.
  • Sugary Drinks are one of the major ways that people take in unnecessary calories.  Don’t drink your calories.

For the purposes of our October Challenge, I want you to consider leaving soda of all kinds and sugar filled drinks alone.  Try it for the rest of this month and see if it makes a difference.  Save your money.  Save calories.  It’s a win win.

You don’t need these drinks in terms of your daily nutrition.  Drink more water.  Drink tea.  Have a green smoothie. Make some fresh juice.  Your kidneys and your waistline will thank you.

soda sweet drinks

 

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #14: Eat Out Less

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Eat out less

Tip #14 for our October Challenge is at the top of the list when it comes to losing weight on a budget…”Eat Out Less“!!  That’s right, It’s another no brainer.  Eating at restaurants is on average more expensive than preparing your own meals at home.  You will save money not only on the cost of meals, but also on things like the cost of alcohol, valet parking, city parking and tipping a waiter.

In addition you’ll avoid many desserts and extra calories in foods in general.   Consider this; When you don’t cook the food, you don’t know what’s in it.  When you select and prepare your own food, you can save money but also save yourself from the foods that will counter act your positive weight loss efforts.

When I say “eating out”, I’m talking about dinners on the town, lunches at work, coffee drinks, cupcakes from a cute store and food out of vending machines…just to name a few sources of food that you may be spending money on.  Think about how you can cut back on some of this eating and how you can prepare more meals at home or in ways that will save you money.

  • Pack you lunch
  • Buy healthy drinks in bulk and take them with you
  • Eat and drink before you go out with friends so that you won’t be tempted or you will eat significantly less
  • Buy healthy snacks in bulk so that you aren’t tempted by the vending machine snacks

 

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #13: Get Free Health and Weight Loss Books on Nook and Kindle

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Hey Ladies, tonight I want to share my latest Weight Loss on a Budget tip.  Tip #13: Get Free Health-Related Books on Nook and Kindle.  That’s right, there are some great, free books available for your Kindle or Nook free of charge that have awesome recipes and wellness info.  NOTE: Please note that these books may not be free forever.  Some books are just free for a limited time, so take advantage of the deals while you can.

kindle nook free books

How do you find these books?

Here are some examples:

Examples of free Kindle ebooks in the “Health, Fitness and Dieting” category

Examples of free Nook ebooks in the “Diet and Health” category

Weight Loss on a Budget Tip #12: Plan Your Leftovers

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Today’s Weight Loss on a Budget Tip will help you save money on your meals, especially when eating out in restaurants.  Tip #12: Plan Your Leftovers!  There are many reasons why leftovers are awesome when you are on a budget:

  • Eating leftovers means that you are not purchasing or preparing new food for each meal. Eat what you’ve already prepared at home.  Have dinner leftovers for lunch, for example instead of buying your lunch while at work.  Save money and time.
  • At restaurants, you can request in advance that they put half of your meal in a “to go” container so that you can take it with you.  This will help you to cut down on calories (serving size) and give you a restaurant quality meal to enjoy the next day that you’ve already paid for.  Sweet!
  • Saving food for leftovers will help take you out of the mindset that you have to eat EVERYTHING or your plate.  Many people end up feeling bad about not eating their whole meal because we are taught, as children, to not waste food.  If you keep in mind that it’s ok to save some food for the next day, those thoughts of being wasteful won’t creep in.
  • Weight Loss calls for most of us to make more meals at home.  Make sure that you consider how you will store the ingredients that you are prepping so that if you put your meal together it will last for a day or two.  For example, if you have to freeze elements or keep them separate in the fridge, you may want to keep that in mind.
  • Find recipes that allow you to prepare large portions for a reasonable price.

leftovers save money