How Can I Diet Cheaply?

dieting cheaply is actually not that hard. eat fruits for breakfast and snacks. buy bulk nuts also for snacks. salads are cheap if you make them at home. brown rice and chicken and fish with your favorite veggies for dinner is good also. i like whole wheat tortillas with deli cuts for lunch. i hope you do well! keep us posted!

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I agree with loveolla. Eat lots of fruits & veggies. Buy what is in season in order to be most cost effective. Chicken & fish are your best choices for protein. Don't worry to start about a lot of expensive exercise programs. Walking is one of the best there is. You can ramp it up or down according to your fitness level, increasing pace and distance as you become more fit.

I'm tired of people saying it's too expensive to eat healthily... our grocery bills went down when we switched to healthy eating. It all depends on what you will and won't eat and exactly how upmarket you want to get. You don't need fancy sauces, special or expensive ingredients.

Breakfast - oats (porridge) - not the flavoured kind, just plain old porridge oats. You can buy the cheapest brand available, oats is oats. Add a piece of seasonal fruit, some milk and some honey if you must. Seeing as a serve is 1/3 of a cup of oats the bag will last you ages. You can substitute dried fruit instead of fresh, in fact this can make a nice flavoured porridge if you put the fruit in with it while it cooks. AND you can cook it in the microwave, so it is easy and quick (2 mins!).

Lunch - Either a salad and lean meat sandwich, or leftovers from dinner, plus some fruit.

Dinner - you can make a whole heap of healthy soups and stews that cost less than $10 and will feed a family for a couple of days - a small amount of good lean meat, lots of veggies (frozen is almost as good as fresh, and is often cheaper). Add a wholegrain bread roll, or small serve of rice or pasta. Or cook a larger roast or chicken (which is expensive as a cut of meat) - but plan to use the rest of it during the whole week, for lunch sandwiches & salads.

Snacks - not too many of these - another piece of fruit, a handful of nuts.

Beverages - water. Steer clear of fruit and veggie juices, they are expensive and higher in calories than eating the real thing.

As for buying a total workout solution - you don't need to spend money on something like that. Go walking/riding/jogging for at least half an hour a day - and on top of that do some exercises - pushups, burpees, situps, lunges etc - that require little to no equipment and can be done anywhere.

Buying in bulk is a huge deal for me, especially things like brown rice, beans, and whole wheat pasta. I also look for meats on sale, and then buy the big packages and freeze the pieces individually. It can last for weeks! I also check labels on canned goods, some canned items are really cheap, and if they're not processed they can be quite healthy.

Frozen vegetables can also be a lifesaver, because they won't spoil before you get a chance to use them. They're a great backup when you run out of fresh veggies and don't want to pay for food that's not on sale.

Running is an awesome way to burn fat and get fit, if your joints can take it, and if not, walking is good, and your idea of biking to work is a great start. For strength training, simple bodyweight exercises can be great, and you don't need equipment for them.

Good luck out there!

Money is definitely *note* a requirement for losing weight. If it was, we'd all be doomed.

I'd agree with the previous posters about diet content, though deli cuts are more expensive (and contain preservatives) than cooking up a hunk of meat yourself and slicing it. If cost's an issue, stick with chicken and ignore the fish -- fish tends to be pretty pricey.

My usual lunch is a can of tuna, a tablespoon of mayonaise, a bit of ketchup and whatever greens look nice. I toss them together in the morning and put them in tupperware -- cheap and easy.

And about that bicycle -- you're two miles from the office. Walk it. Okay, maybe it adds an hour or so to your commute, but that's your exercise time too.

100% completely and utterly broke inspired me to learn about foraging. :) I've just gotten a book at the library that identifies some wild edible plants in my area. I wouldn't suggest that you run out and start eating plants that you're only mostly sure aren't poisonous, or which you think haven't been treated with pesticides. But I would suggest looking around you with your hungry eyes.

In addition, snoop around the internet for a Gleaners association in your area. I live in Seattle, and there's more than one association here. They can use volunteers and organizers and... well, somebody's gotta take some of these apples before they go bad. :) It may as well be you.

This next means of getting produce is a little complicated. I have a friend who had a "small" box of produce delivered to her house through a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program she's in. I asked her to order a large box instead of a small box, and, in return for weekly summer yardwork, she gives me half the produce from the box all year. I get free food and a little more motivation for activity, she supports a CSA she loves and gets her yard mowed, and less food goes to waste. Everybody wins!

Does your library have exercise DVDs you can check out? Use 'em for a couple o' weeks, get a new one when it gets old. I can learn belly dancing, hula, yoga- you name it! For free!

I agree with the above. The concept that you can't lose weight cheaply is a fallacy that is promoted by the people who sell "diet" food.

REAL food, healthy food can be had cheaply. A 8 oz bag of beans is $2 and will make 8 meals. A container of oats will give you 30 breakfast servings for about $5. A bag of apples can be had for $5 and will give you 20 apples on average. A large container of yogurt is $3 and will give you 6 servings - a weeks worth of breakfasts. A whole cabbage is less than $2 and will give you soup, salad, and a side dish from one head. A can of tuna in water can be had for less than $1.00. Chicken can be bought on sale for less than $2/lb if you watch the ads. A can of diced tomatoes (salt free) is less than $1 on sale and you can make a very good marinara sauce out of that, an onion, and some garlic. Add in whole wheat pasta for less than $1/lb and you have a good meal. It is possible to eat incredibly healthy foods for very little money IF you're willing to actually cook.

Now if you're talking about living on prepared meals, commercially packaged diet food, and 100 calorie snack packs, then yah, dieting is going to be expensive.

When I started cutting out packaged and processed foods from my diet and started eating real foods that I prepared myself, my grocery bills dropped like crazy.

By far the most expensive part of eating well is PRODUCE! If you haven't already done so, locate a farmer's market in your area. You will not only save probably 60% over what you'd spend in the grocery store, you will also get much fresher fruits & veggies.

As for the workout, personally I think you could do better than Taebo in terms of bang for the buck (and time spent too, since that isn't free either). No offense to Billy, but he's been bested in the home fitness workout area by a mile. Head over to Beachbody.com - there are several programs there that work UNBELIEVABLY well. I'm not a coach or spokesperson, just a happy customer (and I've done Taebo too btw). Also, a lot of their programs have payment plans which helps when you are on a budget!! A few I would highly recommend - anything in the Turbo Jam series (similar to Taebo but better), Chalean Extreme, P90 or P90X if you want to get in REALLY good shape. Hope this helps :) Good luck!

Before I go further, stop saying "weight loss". You want FAT loss, not weight loss. That said, here I go:

First, what characteristics, in your mind, must foods exhibit for you to deem them "healthy"?

Second, where did you get the idea that you have to eat "healthy foods" in order to lose fat? You should be eating genuinely healthy foods anyway, but they are in no way required for you to lose fat.

Can you afford a bag of frozen chicken breasts and a bottle of fish oil and a multivitamin? Yes? Oh, well then you can lose fat.

Losing fat is about the calorie deficit, not about some magical food described as "healthy".

You also do not need to do absurd volumes of exercise to lose fat. In fact, too much exercise and too little food will send your body a signal loud and clear that it should burn as little fat as possible.

If you want sensible, rational programs based on volumes of scientific studies poured over, picked apart and reassembled by someone with a long, long track record of helping people get very lean, then you need Lyle McDonald.

You can see what Lyle's programs have done for me at my blog "Barry's Body Transformation".

When you do get some $$ you should try Nutrition in Motion . It's a great and convenient way to eat healthy fresh foods and lose weight. I found that because I'm single I was going out to eat at least 3-4 days a week and grocery shopping but because I can't eat a whole head of lettuce or a whole head of broccoli I would throw out so much of what I bought. Now, I don't have to spend time grocery shopping or cooking, I'm eating way better than I was and I'm only spending slightly more money (maybe $10 more per day). Not bad! I know it's not the answer you're looking for but I swear when you can afford it you should totally try out their service. It will change your life!

check the sale papers and plan your menu before hitting the store. i have been ultra poor and have found a dozen eggs, pepper, onion,tomato, and broccoli with a loaf of whole grain bread and theres a whole week of dinners or breakfasts.

What I would do if I wanted to diet cheaply, is simply eat the good, fresh food available at your local farmer's market or grocery store. There's no need to buy expensive diet foods like slimfast and such. I've lost 15 lbs so far, and all I did was eat a little less, and a little healthier, and work out more! There is no need to buy that "taebo" thing, or any other workout program. If you have cable, the free Exercise TV channel is a great way to get free workouts. There's even some Taebo available on the channel, if you want! If you do this right, dieting can even save you money!

in malaysia, if u dont have rm30/ AU$20 a day u r not healthy.

I, too, am tired of people complaining that it costs too much to eat healthy. I am a dietitian and recently did some cost comparisons for my clients. The cost of a loaf of 100% whole grain bread is exactly the same as a loaf of white bread. The same is true for whole grain tortillas or english muffins vs their white counterparts. Buying produce in season is another great way to save money. Frozen, plain (no added sauces) vegetables are cheap. The price of a 1/2 cup of frozen vegetables was between $.25-$.30 based on the large, family size bags. For snacks, the cost of a granola bar (from a box of 6) is cheaper than a candy bar. Try to pick a granola bar where you can see the grains (rather than a cereal bar) and that is not loaded with extra sugar. Prices will vary from store to store and area to area so items may be more expensive where you are.

I cook meals on weekends and freeze in single-serving containers to eat throughout the week - much, much, much cheaper than eating out or buying Lean Cuisines - and much healthier and more delicious, too!

Eating lots of fruits and vegetables won't make you more broke. And lots of exercise of course. Just keep it simple.

Cooking in is a good idea. You can limit your calorie intake, and cook everything to your liking.

Quinoa! Quinoa is a Latin grain that has the single distiction of being a complete protein. I cook it up, add raw and/or lightly steamed veggies (saving money on not buying meat = more fruits and veggies!), spray on Bragg's Amino Acid (great salt substitute). It's inexpensive, nutritious, and travels well. Buy foods high in fiber, i.e. broccoli, carrots, etc, and you will both eliminate waste you don't need, and it fills you up more than lower fiber foods, and keeps hunger at bay longer so you don't eat as much. You'd be surprised how much food you don't need to get substantial nutrition. Also, eat as many colors as you can. More colors = more nutrients. Drink Yerba Matte, as well as black, white, green and oolong teas in place of coffee. These teas boost your metabolism, and are great for your mind and skin. You can buy in bulk at either Whole foods or an Herbal store.

Intreval training will give you a MUCH better workout than just straight training. You run for a minute (or whatever works for you), then walk for a minute. I've worked out behind a runner at my gym and seen myself get sweaty faster than the runner, in less time.

Best wishes! =)

Best wishes

Can someone please recommend a Menu of what to Eat for 3 meals a day...Plus snacks..Breakfast..snack..Lunch..snack..Dinner..snack.

I need to get all of this for $10 a day or Less..and I am not a Cook..and can only scramle a Few eggs and cook a few burgers on the George Foreman.

I am by myself and spending about $450 a month on Food..Eating a McDonald's etc.