Dieting on a Budget
This isn't going to be one of your typical "Dieting on a budget" type of blog post, this is for actual people who struggle with money and still want to diet properly. This isn't going to be the best type of diet out there but its what i myself had to do while i was struggling but wanted to drop weight and have a little big of muscle there too.
I know how hard it can be, especially with healthy foods becoming more and more expensive, making it more difficult to live a healthy lifestyle. There are non stop adverts and videos, articles and more about people need to start eating healthier and stop being obese, well its easier said than done, you cant go on and on about having too many obese people in your country when your going to keep hiking up the prices for healthy foods making it harder, if your going to complain about it then make healthier food cheaper and unhealthy foods higher in price.
When i was young, me and my family never had much money at all, every meal was a mash up of different bits of foods, like spaghetti with gravy, mash and beans, beans on toast, not very nutritional meals, over the years i gained a ton of weight from all the unhealthy foods i were putting in my body to survive, over the years i gained more and more weight until i was around 250lbs at 16 years old, it wasnt a good luck, i looked pregnant with a big round belly and i was bullied a lot.
Skipping a few years i was 18, i started working out and trying to eat a little better but it was difficult because i had little to no income, the only income i was getting was from a jobcentre, that gave me an allowance while i looked for work. i got around £114 every 2 week ($142), if i did everything they wanted me to.
I then had to pay my parent board money for living under her roof which cost me about £60 every 2 week ($75) leaving me with £54 every 2 week ($67). So i didn't really have much in terms of money.
So with this i needed to pay the gym so i had somewhere to exercise and i had to pay for food too, so after paying for the gym which was £14 a month ($17) i was left with £40 for food for 2 week ($50).
I had to make sure i had enough protein, fats and carbs in my body to make sure i was going to lose weight and not end up with a massive amount of lose skin, while trying to build a little muscle mass, it wasnt 100% accurate my diet, i probably had too little and too less here and there but i managed to get by, so down to the food.
Often my mother would make a big dinner, sometimes i would eat a small amount of that just to save money but most things she made were high in calories so i tried to stay clear. I went to the supermarket and bought a LOT of eggs, they are naturally high in protein and do carry some fat with them in the yolk but i needed that fat anyway.
So i used to buy 2 pack of eggs and in each of these packs were about 30 eggs, so i had 60 eggs, this cost me around £6.66 ($8.35), then i knew i would need a cheap source of carbs so i went for a few tins of cheap beans in tomato sauce, they carried a lot of sugar the cheap ones but i made it work, i used to half or even quarter the tin of beans to have on top of my eggs, the tins cost around £0.25p each i bought around 7/8 tins cost me £2 ($2.51), so i have spent £8.66 ($10.86) and i already have a lot of meals, but note, i had very repetitive meals, i had to forget about taste and cravings and what i wanted and just had to go with what i could afford.
Sometimes i would switch things up to having fried egg with 2 slices of white bread, i would sometimes use cheese to get my fat, or even tomato ketchup if i was having bread.
I would then buy myself some tins of tuna because they were very high in protein and omega 3 fatty oils. this cost me about £3 ($3.76) for a pack of 3/4 tins depending if there was a deal on or not, then i bought some mayonnaise for the tuna i hated it dry and on its own, this was around £0.86p ($1.08) so now i am up to £12.52p ($15.70) and i already have a good amount of meals to last me 2 week, i would buy myself a multivitamin and omega fish oil tablets cost me about £6 ($7.52), i got these because with my strict diet i needed to make sure my body was getting all the nutrients needed so i didn't make myself ill or have any deficiencies. So now i am up to £18.52 ($23.22)
I then needed some kind of leafy vegetables to help fill me up and give my body some nutrients, i would buy spinach, and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables this all cost me around £2 ($2.51) so now i am at £20.52 ($25.72), this would normally do me 2 whole week leaving me around £19 ($23.82) for any extra bits of food, maybe a sports drink or even a cheap protein supplement if any deals were on.
So there you go, the main thing to remember is if your serious about your goals and you really want to reach them, you can do it on a budget, ive had to budget for years i managed to go from 250lbs all the way down to 140lbs in less than a year, not only that i had a good amount of definition in my muscles and i actually had abs!! yes abs!! i never had abs before so i was very excited to show them off, it was hard not to be tempted, i would still give myself a little cheat meal or something i liked once every 2 week if i could.
Dont fall into all these fad diets and all these gimmicks, there are easier ways to lose weight without being on a special diet, i just made sure i had my protein, and made sure i had a bit of veg even a spoon full with each meal with a few beans for cars or bread, it was hard and it put me off eggs for life but it worked for me!
You just need to do your research there are loads of cheap sources of protein out there you just need to look.
If any of you are struggling i would be happy to help, send me a message or email and i will get back to you.