Losing weight is never easy. But it should not have to be expensive! You could pay for support groups, menu ideas, “point tracking” systems and costly flavorless “healthfood” concoctions (that are still filled with manufactured ingredients, not real food). OR, you could use the Frugal Weight Loss system 
What I mean is, there are plenty of ways to watch what you eat and lose weight on your own. Let me give you a basic frugal “plan”. Most of these things you keep close track of for only a time. It increases your awareness of what you are consuming, so that you have a better idea of what to eat for life, and simply continue good eating habits. In times of weight loss need, you return to these simple staples!
Measure the Serving Size- Almost any boxed or bagged item you consume has a serving size. This “serving size” pretty much means nothing to me, other than a great way to know exactly how many nutrients and calories are in an item. So if a serving size of carrots is 3 carrots and the calorie amount is 60, that is just information. You could totally eat 9 carrots. But for the purposes of loosing weight, its a good idea to track how many “servings” you are having, so you know how many calories you are consuming.
Counting Calories- This is the most simplistic way to lose weight and take control of your diet. Since you are watching how many serving sizes you are consuming, you can just jot down on a piece of paper (or on your computer, or in a weight loss database online, or on your phone ) how many calories you consume for each meal or snack. Sounds labor intensive, but you’ll get good at it quite fast. Especially if you eat the same cereal for breakfast most days, or keep the same kind of cheese in the house, etc. If you (hopefully) eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables that obviously do not have their calorie information included, there are many websites and books out there to help you find a close estimate of calorie content.
There are 3500 calories in a pound. If you consume 3500 calories more than you burn one week, you will gain one pound that week. If you consume 3500 less than you burn one week, you’ll lose a pound. I would suggest you track how many calories you consume for one week. Weigh yourself at the beginning of the week and at the end of the week. If you gained weight or stayed the same, you will want to have a lower calorie goal for the next week. Probably several 100 below what you had eaten (ideally, with 3500 less over the course of a week, or 500 less average per day). If you lost a pound, you could perhaps do another week keeping that calorie amount as a goal. The typical calorie needs of a woman range from 1700-2200, and for a man 1900-2500, all of this depending on height, body structure and activity level. Women should never consume less than 1200 calories a day- if you feel you cannot decrease your eating, please dont! Increase the quality of what you are eating, and pick up the “slack” with exercise. Keep in mind that the weight does not take into account water weight, so make sure you#1 don’t weigh yourself everyday, and #2 keep yourself hydrated so it will not fluctuate much.
You may see on this practice week that you are eating WAY above the amount you should be, or maybe you’re right about the right range. Who knows! But once you know, you can begin to take control of what you are eating.
Eating the Right Foods- You may find surprising amounts of calories in some of the foods you are eating. That does not automatically make that food bad! A bad food might be a Swiss Cake Roll. A good food that may seem bad is an avocado- High in fat, but those are GOOD fats. Perhaps only use avocado to garnish a salad, instead of make an entire salad out of it. Or skip some fatty meat and replace it with avocado. If you begin to see high calorie ingredients that are not the best for you, replace them with lower calorie options. For example, butter is very high in fat. Perhaps use extra virgin olive oil in place of it, or use them 50/50 for some things. Many times you can replace a high calorie food with one that is still good for you (or maybe even better for you!) with less calories.
Eating Enough- Another part of this game is your metabolism. Your body needs to feel fed in order for it to “let go” of the stores it holds on to. In order to do this, eat several small meals a day. For example:
Breakfast: one serving of cereal, one serving of soy milk
Snack: one banana and one serving of granola
Lunch: whole wheat bread/tomato/cheese sandwich and one glass of orange juice
Snack: one serving of Kashi TLC crackers, grapes, and one small plain yogurt with one TBS honey
Dinner: one Baked chicken breast (the size of a deck of cards) with one serving rice and broccoli with one glass of red wine
Snack: one serving air popped popcorn with one TBS smart balance 50/50 butter
AND: water all day long- 8-10 glasses total!
Each “meal” may not seem like much, and you may very well feel a bit hungry after each one. I know for me part of the hunger is almost fear that I won’t be eating again soon. But if I “budget” my time, I can have a yummy snack just an hour or two later. After a few days of doing this, your body relaxes a little, since it does get well fed.
Exercise- You thought you would get away with losing weight without this, didn’t you? Sorry! This is a HUGE part of weight loss! In order to burn more calories than you consume, you have to be active. I know for me working out for 30 minutes 3 times a week seems to work great. I use those times to strengthen muscles that don’t always get used regularly or appropriately, like my back and abdominals (especially important after having a baby or just when you’re always leaning over to pick up after little ones). When I am not exercising, I try to keep active. Playing with my son on the floor, doing housework, taking a short walk, cooking, etc all burn calories. There are a few extra tips here too, on how to burn more calories. First, keep good posture. This helps you keep your abs and back strong, it uses muscles (hence burning calories), and protects you from injury. Second, see if you can post a mental note to tighten your abdominals throughout the day. Even if you must sit for an extended time, keep the good posture and tighten your abs. This not only helps burn calories, it also tones your body and will instantly make you look more trim (as well as more confident).
Extra Helps:
Websites- I do recommend two online sites that I find helpful for keeping track of calories, eating habits and exercise. The first is myfitnesspal.com. The second is fitbaby.com. Fitbaby is a spin off of myfitness pal, intended specifically for pregnant women and nursing mothers. I personally use fitbaby.com. These websites are free, and any options they offer that do have a price, I do not use.
Ingredients to avoid: MSG, hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. MSG is an addictive substance, that actually causes you to become hungry sooner after a meal. It has lots of other negative attributes, but for weight loss that is the one worth mentioning here. Hydrogenated oils are recognized in the body as normal fats, but are not. Part of their ’strand’ is normal, so the body uses it as such but the other part is abnormal. This has negative effects in many tissues, including your heart. These fats are much higher in calories than vegetable oil equivalents (ironic since they are usually made from heart healthy[er] oils). Plus, many fatty unhealthy foods are made with this ingredient, so avoiding it will simply be a good dieting “rule”. High fructose corn syrup is similar, that it is generally used in high calorie foods, although it is calorically very similar to sugar. On a personal note, I recommend using less refined sugars like maple syrup, natural cane sugar, demera sugar and honey over plain white sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
Ingredients to decrease- Dairy, especially if you use a lot of it now. It IS a good source of protein and calcium, but can also be high in fats. Try replacing whole milk with skim or alternative milks (soy, almond, rice), flavored yogurts with plain (and adding your own sweeteners), and high fat cheeses/cheese foods with lower fat/real cheeses. I really like butter myself, but find that the Smart Balance 50/50 blend sticks are a good compromise in flavor and calories.
Ingredients to incorporate- Whole grains, natural fibers, nuts, beans, lean meats and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables!
Please leave any questions in the comment feed!
Here’s to living- Happier, Healthier, more FRUGAL lives!
~FrugalMegan~
. Here are this week’s tips!
There are several sites that I find very helpful for keeping me up to date on the latest frugal finds. One of my favorites is a blog called 
used to use butter to grease her pans. But then butter was found to be “unhealthy” and margarine was en vogue. But it was awful for greasing a pan! It left residue that wouldn’t come off with months of scrubbing. Not to mention spreading something over a pan was WAY too time consuming. Enter the invention of the non-stick spray. Which is just oh-so-healthy for you (not). And SUPER cheap (um, not!). Geesh….
