» posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 8:20 am by Lily
A Quick Way to Save Money and Lose Weight
At the beginning of the year I had signed up for The Self Jump Start Diet, which is a day-at-a-time makeover of your food habits. I learned a couple of things there that I am putting into practice that I know will save me money, and hopefully will help me lose weight:
Tip # 4: Have a Game Plan — Plan your healthy meals and snacks in advance.
Tip # 7: Stash Snacks — Stash a supply of filling snacks to grab when you need a bite.
On a normal work day I do not eat breakfast, I have a mid-morning snack, then lunch, then a mid-afternoon snack. I am ashamed to confess that for the most part, the snacks come from the vending machine. The items there cost between $0.50 to $1.00 so I will just average it out to $0.75 per item, which makes it $1.50 per day. Lunch costs between $6.00 to $10.00, so an average of $8.00. So everyday I spend around $9.50 on lunch and snacks at work for a total of $47.50.
So on Sunday I went grocery shopping and planned my lunch and office snacks for this week. Lunch will be my favorite frozen entrees. They cost $1.78 x 5 = $8.90. Since those darn things never keep me full until dinner, I have a variety of snacks: chocolate animal crackers (they are great with tea, and satisfies my craving to have the chocolate taste in my mouth), fresh cherries, fruit cups and yogurt-covered raisins. Overall I spent less than $20 for this week’s planned lunch and snacks, and they are much-healthier alternatives than the vending machine and fast food selections.
The evidence is already clear: if I stick with my plan this week and not be tempted to go out and get sushi, my savings this week is at least $27.50. 50 weeks of that comes to $1,375! Wow, that’s more than my monthly mortgage payment!
I am eagerly awaiting the other half of the desired results: losing weight.
What about you, what are you doing different this year?
filed under Food · Food For Thought · Personal · Saving Money | 4 comments | tags: Saving Money, weight loss
Saved $26.50 and Lost 2 Lbs | Broke In America said:
Jan 11, 09 at 6:38 pm[...] my post A Quick Way to Save Money and Lose Weight I mentioned that I wanted to save money and lose weight at the same time. That post also [...]
acai burn detox said:
Aug 28, 09 at 6:26 pmWonderful posting. I really enjoyed it.
S.Thangada said:
Dec 07, 09 at 11:52 pmI bought this book about a year ago after my nutritionist suggested that I do the Master Cleanse. I wanted to get more information about it, and boy was I glad I bought this book!
I do the Master Cleanse every few months now and always refer back to this book. I seem to experience a different type of detox sympton every time I do the cleanse and it’s great to read about other people’s experiences in the book so I know that I’m not alone. To the reviewer that only tried the cleanse for one day….that was a waste of time. You can’t expect the cleanse (or anything for that matter) to work for you in one day. I can’t even feel any detox symptoms until the third day of the cleanse. This cleanse it not a hoax or a “scam”. It works and our bodies need a good house cleaning every so often. This book is a great tool to use with the cleanse as it talks about other people’s questions and answers, and it’s great knowing that I’m not going through the cleanse alone. I have let a few of my friends borrow this book, and all of them have been very thankful that I gave this to them while they were on the cleanse…it greatly helped them through it.
Mark D.Miller said:
Dec 08, 09 at 4:27 amPam Grout’s book “Jumpstart Your Metabolism” has been instrumental in helping me quit smoking, and for that reason alone, I consider it a lifesaver. I had been thinking of quitting forever, of course, but I let the old standby concerns get in my way — most notably, “what if I gain weight?” Following the program in Ms. Grout’s book, I didn’t just maintain my weight, I lost some. But the best, and almost miraculous thing of all is that I gained an energy I don’t believe I’ve ever had before….not even as a kid! I highly recommend this book and the program outlined in it. An added bonus is Ms. Grout’s writing style, which is both accessible and humorous. A pleasure to read.