18 and can't control groceries

littlebritain13
littlebritain13 Posts: 5
in Food and Nutrition
I am an 18 year old female.
I currently do not work because I am busy with college. I COULD get a job if I wanted to but I don't think it is the right time as it would just become a burden.
With that said I need extreme help.
There isn't that much healthy food in my house. I have 3 other siblings and my parents. My mother won't go out of her way to buy certain food for me.
We are the average home fridge; hot pockets, toquitos, burritos... basically anything cheap and microwaveable.
HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LOSE WEIGHT UUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH
Any ideas?
I am already going to exercise, I have a treadmill and a bunch of workout tapes so that is okay but diet wise?... uuuggghh

Replies

  • lenoresaari
    lenoresaari Posts: 500 Member
    Thats a tough one. Portion control is all that comes to mind. Do you get an allowance?
    Perhaps they can give you a few dollars every week to buy celery,carrots,apples and oranges?
    Fill up on water. Thats free! Hang in there.
  • littlebritain13
    littlebritain13 Posts: 5
    That's all I could think of either!
    No, I don't get an allowance. : /
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    Weight loss comes from a calorie deficit, not the foods you eat. If you really do only have access to the foods you mentioned then just know how much you're eating and log the calories. Stay within your goal and you'll still lose weight.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,089 Member
    If you have even a little money of your own for discretionary spending (eating and drinking with friends; money for gasoline or public transportation -- substitute biking or walking for some of that travel), redirect some or all of it to buy some groceries yourself. Biggest return in terms of healthy foods per dollar (or pound or euro) spent would be things like oats (rolled cook more quickly than steel-cut, although some people prefer the texture of steel-cut); dried beans, lentils, or split peas; brown rice or whole grain pasta; root vegetables (onions, carrots, potatoes, turnips/swedes/rutabagas) and cabbage. Fresh fruit, at least in the places I shop, tend to be more expensive per serving.

    You could microwave one of those frozen burritos your mother buys, set aside half of it for another meal, and add some of your own beans and brown rice to bulk out the remaining half burrito with more nutritionally dense food.

    Maybe you could even convince your mother to buy some of these foods for you if you buy some for yourself and figure out what things cost, so you can make the case that it would be cheaper to eat nutritional whole foods rather than frozen entrees where you're paying a great deal for convenience.
  • Marryparker
    Marryparker Posts: 46
    Portion control is only way
    If you will eat healthy things but in large quantity u will still gain weight lol :p
    So doent matter what you are eating but it should be under your calorie goal :)
  • purplepopsicles
    purplepopsicles Posts: 18
    Grocery shopping is a chore. Maybe if you volunteered to do it once a week or so your mom would let you pick out some foods that you want (in addition to food for the family) and you could get some vegetables or whole wheat bread or whatever. I'm pretty sure if you offered to cook healthy meals she would let you get ingredients for them (frozen foods are not the cheapest). Just some ideas, I definitely get where you're coming from!
  • Ed98043
    Ed98043 Posts: 1,333 Member
    Weight loss comes from a calorie deficit, not the foods you eat. If you really do only have access to the foods you mentioned then just know how much you're eating and log the calories. Stay within your goal and you'll still lose weight.

    This. If you can't control the type of food you eat, then you can only control how *much* of it you eat. It sucks, but it's doable. I lost 35 lbs when I was 15 just by eating smaller portions of whatever the rest of my family was eating. Exercise helps, too.

    The good part is that it's super easy to keep track of calories with prepared foods (I know, I'm stretching here but just trying to find something positive!).
  • littlebritain13
    littlebritain13 Posts: 5
    Thank you ALL so much for your impute!
    I was feeling like it might be a lost cause and some of you had terrific ideas!
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    offer to make some of those microwaveable things yourself for the fam just have her buy the ingredients. it probably ends up being cheaper and definitely healthier. the burritos are a good place to start. make some and freeze them but since they are ones you're making it you can control calories, protein and sodium.
  • Genette38
    Genette38 Posts: 51 Member
    Grocery shopping is a chore. Maybe if you volunteered to do it once a week or so your mom would let you pick out some foods that you want (in addition to food for the family) and you could get some vegetables or whole wheat bread or whatever. I'm pretty sure if you offered to cook healthy meals she would let you get ingredients for them (frozen foods are not the cheapest). Just some ideas, I definitely get where you're coming from!

    This is an awesome idea /\
  • Kanohane
    Kanohane Posts: 112 Member
    You need to get a part time job or your "own" income.. Ask your college about workstudy

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