Help...please....at the end of my rope... I NEED this.

Food isn't your enemy. It's your best friend. You're just spending too much time together

:drinker:

I never want to see the number 200 on my 5'5" frame again, and I'm probably less than 20 lbs from approaching it right now. Below is a picture of my current pantry. I look at it and 99% of me feels disgusted. Tell me IF I can fix this, HOW I can fix this, mentally, emotionally, or otherwise. I need a bit of hope to grasp onto right now. My goal would be 130 lbs. Then I'd be happy. But I can't just resort to eating oatmeal and nothing else, can I? Seems like the only affordable meal plan.
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/1058/foodismyenemy.png

I feel your pain. I am your height and felt if I ever reached 200 I would never get back ... so here I am.
What's wrong with oatmeal? Simple foods are good for you and don't have to be expensive. That's just an excuse. I spend much less on food now -- and eat better.
You are NOT trapped in that room in which you've locked yourself; there are doors all around you through which you can walk at any time. We all have our self-made prisons through which we struggle to break free. One day at a time, decide that just this one morning (each morning) you will (or will not) treat your body right. Then do it (or not) just for that one day. You can make up your mind either way each and every morning. Focus on one day at a time. You can do this with every big decision you need to make.
You're mind, though, your thinking. It needs to be retrained and like anything it takes practice to retrain your mind. But you can do it. I can do it so you can, too.

Honestly... I haven't found fast food to be very cheep at all these days. $7 for a meal or $5 for a hamberger? Unless you are eating off the dollar menu you are out almost $20 for 2 people. I have discovered that I spend less money eating at home than I did going out. a bag of burger patties is about $6-8 and the bag of buns maybe $2.50 (I buy the whole wheat buns) and I can make 5-8 burgers. Spend the other $8 on fixins and... YUMMY! (this is just an example) Chinese food is way cheeper to make at home, too.
I also shop the fruit and veggies when they are on sale.... also look for the bags of smaller apples. you get more apples per pound and a small apple is one serving, where a large apple is two. Fresh blueberries and strawberries freeze REALLY well. As do banana's if you peel them first. Most stores have their more ripe banana's discounted and bagged for sale. I buy those and peel and freeze them. You can then use them to make smoothies out of.. and someone posted a recipe for making an "ice cream" out of frozen bananas.
Another fun and inexpensive thing to try is to grow your own veggies! We can't kill a zucchini plant to save our lives!! Artichokes only get MORE prolific over time. they can be grown in pots on a balconly or porch if you rent.

Good luck to you!

While I feel bad for your situation you can only wallow in self pity for so long. It's time to pick yourself up and start living again. Take accountability for your actions and learn to help yourself. There are many people who suffer from depression and ptsd and many many other debilitating illnesses and go on to lead successful lives, hold a job and adopt a healthy lifestyle. Man up!!

Here is the key to weight loss - eat less, move more. Especially in a situation where you are just starting out on your weight loss journey. There is no need for expensive fancy bells and whistles. Find out how many calories you need to eat a day to stay in deficit and follow it!!! Buy foods that you can afford and stay within your calorie range. Take a walk everyday, hey twice day. That's it. That's as complicated as it gets.

This website needs more people like you!! Well said!

Amen to soda being a treat not a staple.

Yea, sorry, but I call bull**** on "I can't afford the food to lose weight" excuse. 1500 calories is half the cost of 3000.

I'm sorry that you are in a bad spot right now. Calories in vs calories out is definitely one place where you do have control.

First of all eating healthy is costly duh! IF I compare how much I was spending on food before I started this it was ALOT less why? well because I am buying healthier and fresher food derrrrrrrrrr! I could get a bag of chips for $!.00 as opposed to $1.25 per lbs on let's say Broccoli,.98 liter of soda as oposed to $1.99 for a gallon of skim milk or 3.99 for Special K cereal as opposed to the always on freaking sale fruit loops or lucky charms at my local store for $1.79.....

ANYWAY I say the less you work out the less caloric intake you need that is a no brainer.I didn't exercise until I lost my first 15 lbs (confidence boost) then I just walked first for 10 min not too fast and not too slow then I slowly kept increasing my time and speed.Also drink LOTS OF WATER. I drink tap bcasue I refuse to spend $4.00 on a case of bottled waters and create more waste lol

Good luck hun and your more than welcome to add me xo

Ugh.. I am so jealous of you! I blow through water bottles (I recycle them all though!) Because we have extremely high iron in our water which we have been trying to remedy since we moved into our 1st home 2 yrs ago. I wish I could drink my tap so bad! My sister has great tap water so you better believe when I go to her house I take advantage! haha

Yea, sorry, but I call bull**** on "I can't afford the food to lose weight" excuse. 1500 calories is half the cost of 3000.

I'm sorry that you are in a bad spot right now. Calories in vs calories out is definitely one place where you do have control.

First of all eating healthy is costly duh! IF I compare how much I was spending on food before I started this it was ALOT less why? well because I am buying healthier and fresher food derrrrrrrrrr! I could get a bag of chips for $!.00 as opposed to $1.25 per lbs on let's say Broccoli,.98 liter of soda as oposed to $1.99 for a gallon of skim milk or 3.99 for Special K cereal as opposed to the always on freaking sale fruit loops or lucky charms at my local store for $1.79.....

ANYWAY I say the less you work out the less caloric intake you need that is a no brainer.I didn't exercise until I lost my first 15 lbs (confidence boost) then I just walked first for 10 min not too fast and not too slow then I slowly kept increasing my time and speed.Also drink LOTS OF WATER. I drink tap bcasue I refuse to spend $4.00 on a case of bottled waters and create more waste lol

Good luck hun and your more than welcome to add me xo

Ugh.. I am so jealous of you! I blow through water bottles (I recycle them all though!) Because we have extremely high iron in our water which we have been trying to remedy since we moved into our 1st home 2 yrs ago. I wish I could drink my tap so bad! My sister has great tap water so you better believe when I go to her house I take advantage! haha

Get a water softener system. It may be expensive up front, and may seem expensive to keep, but how much more, over the life of a softener system, are you not only spending on that bottled water, but also your clothes, dishes, clothes washer, and anything else that you're using in that water and have to replace sooner because the water ruined it? We had the same issue (and general, hard-as-granite water, I kid you not), and the Culligan system we had installed was probably one of the best "home stuff" investments we've made.

Yea, sorry, but I call bull**** on "I can't afford the food to lose weight" excuse. 1500 calories is half the cost of 3000.

I'm sorry that you are in a bad spot right now. Calories in vs calories out is definitely one place where you do have control.

First of all eating healthy is costly duh! IF I compare how much I was spending on food before I started this it was ALOT less why? well because I am buying healthier and fresher food derrrrrrrrrr! I could get a bag of chips for $!.00 as opposed to $1.25 per lbs on let's say Broccoli,.98 liter of soda as oposed to $1.99 for a gallon of skim milk or 3.99 for Special K cereal as opposed to the always on freaking sale fruit loops or lucky charms at my local store for $1.79.....

ANYWAY I say the less you work out the less caloric intake you need that is a no brainer.I didn't exercise until I lost my first 15 lbs (confidence boost) then I just walked first for 10 min not too fast and not too slow then I slowly kept increasing my time and speed.Also drink LOTS OF WATER. I drink tap bcasue I refuse to spend $4.00 on a case of bottled waters and create more waste lol

Good luck hun and your more than welcome to add me xo

If your money is so tight that you're comparing a $1 difference between an arguably healthy drink (milk) and empty calories and actually considering the empty calories solely because it's cheaper, then you probably need to rethink some things. Powdered and canned milk can be bought for what amounts to about $.50 a gallon, and as an added bonus, doesn't spoil (well, canned does, after you open it). With a little practice/experimenting, you can get it to taste pretty close to regular milk.

Special K is not really any better than Fruit Loops, actually. If you're going for cost savings, pick up a giant box of plain Cheerios (or the generic, if your store has it) and add your own sugar if you feel the need. Check for coupons, too. My store gave me a coupon for a free box of Cheerios one time.

As for the broccoli vs potato chip comparison... well, there really is no comparison. Fiber, vitamins, minerals, the potential to mix with a hundred other things to make it go farther (stir fry, anyone?) vs ....well....eating half a bag of empty calories and not feeling full.

Someone else mentioned the extreme couponing thing. While I think some take it a little too far, most of them have the right idea - scout the deals, learn how to "stack" the coupons, stock up on non-perishables when they're cheap, and buy the things that are on sale, even if you don't normally get that brand or whatever. Once you start making more money, you can afford to be choosier, but if you have a really tight budget, then you have to take what you can find sometimes.

"$1.99 for a gallon of skim milk"

Wow.....where are you that milk is only $1.99?????????????

"$1.99 for a gallon of skim milk"

Wow.....where are you that milk is only $1.99?????????????

Yes where is that??? The cheapest I can get milk especially skin is $3.89 a gallon!!!! I look far and wide!!!

You don't have to spend lots of money on healthy food. I am a SAHM with a 8 month old baby, 4 year old, and my husband one that gets a paycheck. Money is ALWAYS tight and I eat healthy and spend aproximately $100 on all 4 of us for a weeks worth of groceries. I would love to eat organic but we just don't have the money for that.

I check the sales ad every week before making my grocery list. I plan my meals around the sales. HEB has what they call meal deals. You purchase an item or maybe a few and get an item or items for free. HEB also has coupons placed by all the products that are on sale so I look for the coupons in the store. I don't know where your from, but I'm pretty sure HEB is only in Texas. So you might check your local stores for the sales and clip coupons to help save on grocery bills. I try to stay around the perimeter of the store, fresh fruit, fresh veggies, meat, dairy, and grain products. I buy whatever veggies are on sale and buy big packs of frozen vegetables. I stay away from all canned veggies. Most of your junk food will be in the middle. I buy full fat dairy products and just keep my portions under control. I also don't buy any low fat or specialty foods. If you check the labels, low fat products might be lower in fat but have extra sodium, and/or sugar in them. Read the labels and portion control is the key. I try to stay towards the leaner meats like chicken but I do buy ground beef. I cook the beef and drain and wash the grease off. I cook at home most of the time. We eat out about once a week. If you work , cook the meals in advance. If you normally cook at dinner, double the serving sizes and refrigerate the leftover for you and your fiance to take for lunch the next day.

As far as exercise goes, you don't have to have money to exercise. For strength, google at home workouts. There are tons of workouts that do not require a single piece of equipment. If you have a Pinterest account, there are tons of them under fitness. Go for a walk in the park, around the neighborhood, or run for your cardio.

You mentioned debt which is a big stress or. Google frugal living. We were spending $100 on directv so we looked for alternative solutions. We ended up buying a Roku ($50-100 one time fee) for each room (bought one at a time) and pay for Hulu Plus (8.49 a month) and Netflix (7.99 a month). If you choose this method, Netflix has a bunch of workouts available. Honestly, we love the roku and prefer it over directv. We also cut off our home phone since we both have cell phones. Look for frugal ways to save money so you can buy things you need, want, pay bills, save, and pay debt off.

From the post, you sound very stressed. You need to find a good way to relieve the stress. Try yoga, relaxing bath, read a book, take a walk, go for a run, or do something you enjoy.

If there is a will, there is a way. You can do this and lose the weight. Use that feeling of discontent to drive you to your goal weight. And when you want to give up, remember the feeling and keep going. If you want to give up, remember you can push through it and meet your goal, or eventually end up starting over again. To me, pushing through sounds much better than starting over again. Add me if you want. And ignore all the negative responses.

Spinach leaves are your friend. Cheap for a good amount, too.

Boneless skinless chicken breast. Better to buy fresh, but the frozen bags are cheap. So much you can do with it, too.

Healthy cereals are usually a good investment. You get a week's worth for like $3.50-$4.00.

Eggs - Buy them in bulk and use them in the following proportion: 1 whole egg, 2 egg whites.

Whole grain pasta.

Canned no salt added tomato.

I understand the depression and the PTSD. I have both as well, and although its such a struggle some days, I've noticed with my new job that when I'm actually up and doing things and working and am distracted, I ultimately feel in such a better mood. I still get caught up in little bouts, but keeping a common goal and making sure you give yourself as much positive encouragement as you can will help. Even if it's on little sticky notes or a whiteboard, just to remind you.

I'm not digging the un-supportive views from the fiance, though...

like everyone else said, eating healthy doesn't have to be expensive. It is all about portion control and exercise. The deemed "healthy" foods that seem expensive, really aren't when you consider. There's a trick to it! These foods are usually very filling if eaten at the right pace in in the right portion. Therefore, you'll be having smaller portions of the "expensive" stuff, and being able to keep it and use it longer than something cheap that wouldn't fill you up at all.

Also, the internet is FULL of coupons. I'm sure you can google just about ANY item or store and get some sort of printable coupon worth at least a little bit of money off. Or, start couponing. There are plenty of coupons in daily papers, and there are always fantastic sales going on.

I don't have exercise equipment, so I too, am trying to find ways to exercise with little to no help. This means taking walks, jogging a big, doing jumping jacks and crunches, riding my bike, etc.

You'll get there.

Feel free to add me as a friend, and I can be there any time to help you with some positive encouragement, or even if you just need to talk about problems fueling the depression and PTSD.

OP: Shop at the fringes of a grocery store, not the center aisle. Anything prepackaged is always going to cost you more. Get oats, dried beans, brown rice and whole wheat pasta (if on sale.) All these things will fill you up and are better for you. Another thing I do is shop at a Farmer's Market at about the last hour of closing time, I find the sellers will do steep discounts just to move their stuff.