budget friendly diet and exercise plan... help!

You can go on you tube and find workout videos on there. Wal mart has some pretty cheap/decent dumbbells. Or go to a second hand sports store. They should have decently prices dumbbells as well. If you have time on your lunch break and an area that is safe, go for a walk/jog then. I do that now. Run on my lunch break so I don't take too much time away from my fiance and fur babies (dogs).

I try to eat as healthy as I can afford and I do all workouts at home, either on the tv or walking/running. My best advice if you want to lose it is to make time to do it. Get up a half hour earlier then you normally would. I try to do my workouts before my son is even out of bed. And so far I've had great success and I will continue to if I put the time and effort into it.

Try jumping rope and running outside - those are two cheaper exercises (one time shoe cost and a jump rope is around $15. You can even get jump ropes with weights in the handle so you can get a bit of weight endurance training in too).

For food... since you're cutting calories, can you simply buy less food? That would be alright on the budget.

Buying in bulk might be a good option too but even then, you have to wait until the bulk food is on sale. So it might be a bit more money the first time you buy the bulk food but then you have time to watch the fliers. I even get my mom or sister to let me know if they see a good deal. Buying in season fruits and veggies can help as they will usually be cheaper at the right time of year.

Can you start a garden? You can grow your own food and gardening is alright for burning calories too. If you have a friend who is interested in gardening, they may even share seeds and tips. You could look into canning your own veggies and fruits for winter. I don't know what the price point is on that.

I haven't mastered this either. When I eat out less (since it's so expensive) my grocery bill goes way up!

When I started I would put my computer on the kitchen counter and follow walk at home videos on youtube. My kitchen was my gym. Now I get up and walk at sunrise for exercise. I would also leave my computer on the counter and walk in place I checked out FB, MFP and other sites. As far as diet is concerned all you have do to is eat at a deficit. In other words eat less and cut back on the junk foods. Drink lots of water and keep moving.

There's a smart phone app called Sworkit. It's great when you can't leave the house but still want a bit of a work out. It also syncs your calories burned to MFP. There's the free app but you can also upgrade to Pro and get a few more workouts out of it.

I hope this helps. Good luck

You can put the kids in a stroller/front baby carrier and walk in parks, neighborhoods, even walmart. It will be good for your older child too. I had a friend that walked with her husband in walmart several times a week. You can get a mini trampoline. You can buy weights and work out your own routine and do it at home. You can even walk in place while you watch tv with your family. Canned foods make good weights. My favorite exercise is walking in the park and I do hand weights at home and count my calories regardless of what I eat. That's the way it works, if you can't get what some people think you must have to lose weight, just track what you do have to eat. Truth is you'll lose the weight anyway. You definitely want to get a food scale, that's the only thing I would think is an absolute must. See if you have craigslist out there, it's a great place to find stuff for much less.

Bags of dried beans, rice, barley, oat bran, pasta, etc. should be available. Frozen fruit and vegetables can be reasonable and sometimes have more nutrition in them than fresh ones. You can use dried milk. You'll do great!:flowerforyou:

It's so hard sometimes to eat healthy on a budget! And I disagree with the posters who say eating less helps all that much. Here's what I've found helps. Frozen/canned fruits and veggies: they are just as good for you as fresh, as long as you buy kinds with no added fats or sugars. I buy fresh when I can, but here, frozen veggies are $1/lb, frozen fruit is $2 or $3/lb, canned fruits and veggies are around $1 - $1.50. I mix frozen fruit with milk for smoothies. Bags of frozen chicken here cost $6 for 3 lbs. I cook about a pound for lunches during the week. Brown rice and beans (even canned) are inexpensive as well.

This is a good blog - http://goodcheapeats.com. If you can get to the library for an hour or so, you can get some good ideas.

If you are willing to use government aid, you probably qualify for WIC, which provides milk, eggs, cheese, cereal, bread, produce, etc for kids under 5 and pregnant/nursing moms. If not, look for a food pantry. Even if it doesn't have a lot of really healthy stuff, you can feed your hubby the crap you get there and use the savings for the good stuff.

Try the library for workout tapes. Walk early in the AM or after the kids are in bed (you said you live in the desert, so I suspect midday walks with littles might be a bit hot!). Fit in 5 minutes of dance, strength moves, stairs, etc several times a day - it adds up.

You can do it!

yes. eating less food is cheaper. you lose weight by a deficit. less food is less money.

It's so hard sometimes to eat healthy on a budget! And I disagree with the posters who say eating less helps all that much.

How can you disagree with that...calorie deficit for weight loss...even if you eat Kraft dinner, hot dogs and french fries everyday you can still lose weight as long as you are in a deficit.

To the OP...exercise is free...walking kids, playing with kids, even with internet access with fitnessblender.com

"healthy diet" is very subjective. Eat at a deficit, try to get in as many nutrients as possible and you will lose weight.

I have a garden and it's exercise (trust me) even if it's a patio garden...

Plan your meals for the week partly around what is on sale at the grocery store. If you don't get the flyer for some reason, it is usually on the website!

Don't be too hardline about what is "healthy". For example, frozen waffles and english muffins often go on sale, and you can use them to make sandwiches. I used to add cream cheese, chives, bell peppers, and dill, and maybe a sausage patty from a roll in the freezer section when I was on a budget. Frozen pizzas often go on sale, and if you give everyone 1 slice + a side (fruit that is in season, and fits in your budget, or even divide up a bag of popcorn) then it isn't bad at all calorie wise.

I second buying foods that take more prep. Boneless, skinless, chopped, peeled, etc, you pay for that convenience. You can also save the scraps in freezer bags and use them to make your own broth, which you can use to cook with. You can make soups or substitute for oil. Don't buy lunch/snack packed items -- buy big bags and portion out into sandwich bags yourself if anyone is bagging a lunch.

You can make sauces and freeze them separately. Freeze in ways that you can thaw just enough -- either for one meal or for a week's use. Then when you make pasta, or rice, or beans, or whatever, portion the sauces minimally. No 3 ladles per person, mix it in just enough to be tasty.

Bags of beans may be cheaper than canned. Frozen or canned may be cheaper depending on sales. Always compare, don't just buy the same thing every time.

See if you have any bakeries or butchers or anything that you could get to. Sometimes they are surprisingly cheaper. Not for everything, mind you, but you might be surprised what you can get.

Buy whatever you can in bulk. And make lots of food and freeze it, if possible, as you can dip into it in weeks that you have less in the budget. If you can swing it, stock up on certain sale items -- you can buy bread to freeze, buy extra butter or margarine when it's on sale, etc.

If you have any resources to get food for free or subsidized, use them.

Basically, you don't have to eat any certain foods to diet. You just have to hit your calorie target. It does NOT have to be all "clean" or whatever. Buy the best foods you can in your budget. Buy things you and your family like. Look at ways to cut calories (substitutions, lower portions, etc). Choose your extras wisely (snacks, desserts, drinks are all basically extras that COULD be cut, but if you can work some of them in, do it -- hot chocolate for the week might be cheaper than ice cream, and would be easier on the calories, and you can still make it into a fun evening thing.)

You also do not have to exercise to lose weight. You can lose the 30 lbs without! But it's nice, so it's worth trying to fit in. YouTube has tons of great free stuff, and you can run it from a phone/computer/tablet/whatever. If that is not an option, look for printable things and either print them or copy down the routines by hand. Try to move more in general. Chores, food prep, shopping, etc is all activity, and it's all good for you, even if you can't fit in much in the way of a sustained workout. (If you do this, don't log it.)