Losing Weight The Frugal Way Update 1

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It’s been 1 week and 2 days since I started my frugal weight loss diet, but since half the battle of such programs is the start, it’s time for a quick update!  I’ve been able to keep my meal expenses under $10 easily enough, so this part of my weight loss plan is working quite well.  I’ve also started cooking dinner for my family once a week, but I’m only partially successful with this new plan.

Diet Start

I’ve decided to go with a low-carb diet and since protein is more expensive that other food sources, having a $10 daily limit for the total cost for food has worked out well.  I still spend less than previously because I take advantage of my employer’s company resources such as their free coffee and filtered water.  While the diet isn’t a paradise for your taste buds, it’s a highly effective diet for the first 2 weeks to 1 month.  After 1 month, I plan on shifting to more of a south beach kind of diet.  I will be on the more healthy south beach diet for 6 months or longer.  After the south beach diet I plan on starting to adopt a new life style kind of diet mixed in with exercise and healthy eating.  For now though I’m just going to focus on the weight and putting one proverbial foot in front of the other.

So how much weight have I lost?

Eight pounds so far!  Low carb diets are highly effective, and that’s why I decided to use this diet for the initial start.  I do plan on shifting the diet from well know diets to more of a personal lifestyle diet that fits me better, but for now this is good.

 

Cooking Start

In a previous article, I mentions that I plan on cooking dinner for my family once a week.  Instead of jumping in and start by cooking something too complex, I decided to start just by grilling some hamburger patties.  I’ve cooked similar patties and this would be a good refresher for cooking on the grill since this will be my first time this year.  My downfall in this process was that I didn’t prepare any side dishes such as beans or another vegetable, so I grabbed some potato chips, and some “chips and salsa” for my family.  While the side dishes weren’t horrible, I should have microwaved some broccoli, corn or beans.

I’m going to cook steak (rib eye) for my next cooking experiment.  I’ve never cooked steak before so it will be interesting.  For the side dishes, I’m going to use the tried and true broccoli veggie!

 

Assessment of My Start

While I had a few issues with the cooking start, overall I’ve very please with the results.  The eight pounds that I lost so far on the diet is great, I feel smaller and lighter all ready.

Cheers,

MR

 

21 thoughts on “Losing Weight The Frugal Way Update 1”

    • Thanks, I hope to lose another 6 by the start of next week! That will get me down to a more athletic weight. I’ll probably start lifting weights and walking again.

      • My girlfriend and I both only eat vegetables, protein and some fruit. We lift and we incorporate cardio into our exercise regime. She has had to maintain her diet for health reasons–but she lost 20 Ibs in a month. I am a body builder and I can attest that if you lift 20-30 minutes before you do cardio will burn more calories. Eating 5-6 small meals a day is always essential to keeping your metabolism high and active. Keep up the great work — our body doesn’t need those simple carbs!

        Also, this may encourage you: my girlfriend has been doing her diet for over 8 months and she has found that healthy natural foods taste better to her. She has tons more energy! Additionally, she has also found ways to be creative with her seasonings. It is amazing what you try when you’re options are limited!

  2. Eight pounds in nine days is amazing.

    Have you thought of using a steamer for your veggies? I love mine. Just shuck corn on the cob, break it in half and set the timer for twenty minutes. Broccoli is perfectly done in eleven minutes. I use it for all my vegetables.

    By the way I am talking about a stand alone unit that plugs in, not a steamer basket.

    Congrats on your success MR!

    • Hmm, no I haven’t tried a steamer yet. I’ll have to looking that (I not very fond of nuking my food via the microwave)…

      Thanks 🙂

  3. Congrats on your weight loss and in cooking dinner with your family!

    For making dishes more appealing, don’t forget about your spice cabinet. Salt and oil may be restricted but I can’t think of any diets that do so for spices. If you can make your healthy meals tasty you’ll be much happier and will be more likely to stick with the changes long-term.

    Also, the longer you stick with healthy food alone the more your taste buds adapt to the lower levels of salt and fat so things will taste better and food out will taste like manna from heaven so be very careful.

  4. Good luck with the diet. Keeping the motivation will be tough but it is possible. I have been counting calories which involves eating a little more fresh veggies and salad as well as only eating 2 pieces of pizza instead of 4. I didn’t want to cut out any foods per se so I would still be able to get a taste of pizza or ice cream and wouldn’t feel deprived. I am down 15 lbs since mid-February

  5. How can you argue with results! Congratulations. Keep it up. Eventually you need to find a lifestyle that will work for you other wise you will gain it back. I say that because I lost 35 lbs over 30 years ago and never gained it back.

    • that’s exactly what I’m hoping, I think if I gradually switch over from the diet to meal plan that I can live with and make incorporate it into my life style, life would be great.

  6. I never nuke veggies. I always use the steamer. They are so much tastier and it only takes a few minutes. My son says he won’t eat the broccoli at school but loves the stuff at home.

    9 pounds is a lot. I just don’t know how the math would work. Isn’t that like over 30,000 calories worth? You’d have to run 54 hours to burn that off.

    Impressive nonetheless.

    • Why you’re on a low carb diet, some of the weight loss is water weight. But once you in a state of ketosis, it really does burn fat as fuel.

  8. Wow, that’s awesome! 8 lbs in just over a week. It’ll slow down though so don’t get discourage. 😉
    I haven’t been able to work out since I took time off, but I’m heading back to the full time job soon. I haven’t gain much weight though.

  9. Best of luck on the lifestyle change. Moving away from excessive sugars and HFCS is probably the most effective thing you can do, and a complete low-carb diet is a good way to start. What was your starting weight?

    I’ve just come back from a 10-day business trip abroad, and had to watch my intake carefully. Very small breakfast and lunches, but full steam ahead on the business dinners. I think I gained a couple pounds or so.

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