HELP!!

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Ok so I have tried many weight loss techniques, the most effective being a combination of clean eating and exercise. But unfortunately my hours from my work were cut and I can't afford to buy that amount of fruit, veg and meat everyday. (when it's all you're eating, to get the calories you need to buy big amounts!)

Before this, I tried limiting my calories to 1200 per day, with 5 days exercise per week burning around 400 calories.
I lost a few pounds with this, but nothing extremely noticeable.

I went from 145 to 136 within the last 2 years, and have been yo-yo-ing up and down like crazy - I'm currently 142.
And please don't leave comments saying "142 is a good weight you don't need to lose anything" because when it's mostly fat it is not a good weight.

So I've decided I'm going to try out some new things to try get to my goal weight of 130, but wanted some advice. What does everyone think of the "tea detox's" or the shake diets or even just a plain old "smoothie diet" for a few days per week, along with 4-5 days exercise?

Replies

  • dwh77tx
    dwh77tx Posts: 513 Member
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    Yes, the Shake diet will help you lose the weight fast, but how sustainable is this? You're not going to drink just shakes forever, and then the weight will come back on. Slow and steady...
  • 2013sk
    2013sk Posts: 1,318 Member
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    Nope, I don't agree with any diet..........!!

    Just pick healthy options, Calories in V's calories out

    Drink lots of water and exercise

    Diets.........It comes off, then on, on, off............No good!!
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    I'm confused. Your shakes are more affordable per calorie than things like chicken, apples, broccoli and potatoes? What shakes are you buying? If they're so cheap per calorie, I might want to check them out!
  • drkrx
    drkrx Posts: 2
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    Sure you'll lose weight with shakes but it will not keep it off because our bodies weren't meant to live like that. Have you checked farmers markets and friends with gardens to get the veggies and fruit you need? And it is Ok to eat frozen veggies.
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
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    Extreme approaches don't seem to work out too well for you. Stop doing that. Just run a 0.5-1 lb/week deficit for a while, with exercise.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    Instead of going to a less healthful diet how about going to a more frugal diet. For example, start replacing a lot of your meat consumption with beans. Beans bought dry in the bag are incredibly cheap. Cabbage is your friend. There's a lot of healthy food in a single head of cabbage, red or white, and it really is delicious if you DON'T boil it. Carrots are also good, cheap food. Find a farmers market or vegetable stand along the highway. These often have very cheap veggies. If you live in a central city, even a smallish one, there is probably someplace the local restaurants go to get veggies that also sells some retail. Here, its the so-called "State Farmer's Market" which is really just like an industrial park for wholesale food sellers.

    If you are really in a financial tizzy, check out your local food pantry's eligibility requirements, if any. Hubby and I volunteer at the local one and it gets lots of veggies in to distribute.

    And cruise the web for some helpful info like:
    http://www.benchfly.com/blog/poverty-nutrition-a-fugue-in-egg-minor/
    http://www.benchfly.com/blog/poverty-nutrition-ii-beans-rice-and-their-infinite-variety/

    I have some suggestions on my foodie website: http://heidicookssupper.com. I often do things that make meat come out to less than $1 per serving. Even though we are only two, I buy the large, family-sized packages of meat when they are on sale and freeze meal-sized portions. Just this week, London Broil was two-for-one at the supermarket. I divided it into meal sized portions and put them in the freezer (and I only have the little freezer in the fridge, not a chest freezer). It worked out to 24 servings of beef for $16 or $0.75/serving. Watch for whole chickens on sale. We get four meals for 2 out of a single chicken: two white meat meals, a dark meat meal, and soup.

    Please feel free to contact me if you want more help findings ways to continue to eat healthily on the cheap.
  • NatashaAlexandra
    NatashaAlexandra Posts: 70 Member
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    Excellent suggestions!!

    For the people asking about shakes... I'm merely asking for opinions if you think they would actually work! I don't have any shakes in mind, I was going to make some myself or smoothies. But this too would require a lot of fruit/veg!

    I do kinda feel that doing a limited detox diet is a bit stupid because I would end up putting the weight back on very quickly I would guess.

    I am going to visit the market tomorrow and try to pick myself up a few bargains, I just need to get rid of my sweet tooth habit and cut down on carbs. I am not a huge fan of a lot of vegetables so I've always leaned towards eating more fruit than veg but I'm going to experiment with some veggies to lower my sugar intake!
  • LeilaFace
    LeilaFace Posts: 412 Member
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    Excellent suggestions!!

    For the people asking about shakes... I'm merely asking for opinions if you think they would actually work! I don't have any shakes in mind, I was going to make some myself or smoothies. But this too would require a lot of fruit/veg!

    I do kinda feel that doing a limited detox diet is a bit stupid because I would end up putting the weight back on very quickly I would guess.

    I am going to visit the market tomorrow and try to pick myself up a few bargains, I just need to get rid of my sweet tooth habit and cut down on carbs. I am not a huge fan of a lot of vegetables so I've always leaned towards eating more fruit than veg but I'm going to experiment with some veggies to lower my sugar intake!

    I too hate a lot of veggies and leaned heavily on fruit. I'm also on a very frugal budget. What I've started doing to get more veggies in is throwing them in my salad. Snap peas, sweet peppers, celery covering them in oil/vinegar makes me not hate them so much and now I eat them solo sometimes or with hummus... Being frugal does suck I try to buy my meat, veggies and fruit from a local organic store (so expensive but they last longer than the fruits/veggies I buy at the farmers market and they're not covered in pesticides or whatever people are *****ing about these days). Then I buy filler stuff at wal-mart or something - lentils, black beans, chick peas, quinoa, etc ... It's a pain to go to two places but it helps. Sometimes I buy my fruits and veggies when there's a sale at the local grocery store. You do what you can but you'll find a way to make it work, promise.