Hi all,
I was wondering if being frugal helps or hurts when it comes to dieting.
My main problems with it, money-wise, are 1. cheap carbs and 2. not wanting to waste food.
I just don't understand why I have such problems keeping off the weight; I've lost weight many times in my life, 60 pounds 3 years ago, but it's come creeping back (well, half of the weight). Well, I have some idea what I'm eating that I shouldn't - this week I had pizza, ice cream, cupcakes (no frosting), samosas, turkey sandwich in addition to my omelets salads chicken fruit and 2 hours/day cardio. All the additional food was given to me free at work. 3 years ago I was doing 3 hours/day cardio, and then 6 months ago I decided that was too much.
I remind myself about hedonic adaptation and that the body will stop sending me hunger pangs after a week after a calorie drop, but it's still hard.
Are there other frugal concepts that help with dieting?
Unhealthy food given to you at work is not saving you money....it is COSTING you in terms of future (and probably current) health problems and reduced quality of life, and there isn't anything more expensive than that. Every piece of junk you put in your mouth is a deduction to the most important bank account you have.
This whole "oh well I don't want to waste money" is just BS justification, which I suspect you do a lot of. Exhibit A: "this week I had pizza, ice cream, cupcakes (no frosting)". You blow up your entire week's diet but then congratulate yourself that you didn't have any frosting on your cupcake. That's like me spending my entire paycheck on a fur coat and then congratulating myself for turning the lights out as I leave a room.
And this 2 hours cardio every day? I call BS on that. What are you doing for two hours a day? I know incredibly fit dudes who don't train nearly that long every day. I suspect you are walking and gardening and other low level activity and calling it cardio because it makes you feel better about yourself.
@swashbucklinstache hit the nail on the head explaining that you can diet your way around a lack of exercise, but you can't exercise your way around a lack of good diet, and at least half of that two hours of "cardio" would be far better spent sorting out your diet.
People love to lie to themselves about diet all the time. "Oh I eat several smaller meals through the day so I don't overeat" is the way people lie to themselves when they are snacking on granola bars and other shit any time their brain decides it wants a dopamine hit, rather than planning out their food intake based on their actual nutritional needs and then eating 3 or 4 proper meals and ignoring all those "hunger pangs" (that really aren't hunger, it's just your brain wanting its drug) for the week or two it takes for your addiction to go away. One of the fittest dudes I know eats one meal a day. 2,500 calories in one sitting. Several small meals is BS that the snack food companies have sold us. Once you stop snacking and break your dopamine addiction, and ensure you're enough good fats in your diet, you'll see that you aren't actually as "hungry" as you thought you were.
I recommend applying a binary rating system to the food you eat - either eating that piece of food will help you achieve your fitness goals (1), or it won't (0). You are allowed to eat 1's, and never allowed to eat 0's, even if they are "free". There, you just made a single decision that then removes a thousand smaller decisions and you don't have to play the "well I can just have this since I...blah blah blah" justification games that we are all so good at. And cheat days? Nope, not until you are at your goal weight. No one ever
needs a donut. Alcoholics don't get cheat days, so neither do sugar addicts.
The other thing is, unless you are actually tracking your diet, then you have no idea what you are eating. Zero. It's like never looking at a bank statement and trying to figure out what you spend - your estimates will be off by at least 40%, and not in the way that helps you. There are tons of planners out there, myfitnesspal works great. Track every single piece of food that goes in your mouth and you'll be aghast at how much sugar and carbs your standard day is. You seem to like tracking things, so track that.
This is entirely in your control. Good luck.