It’s day 22 of our October Challenge and we are focused on how we can save some money while losing the weight at the same time. Today’s Weight Loss on a Budget Tip: #22 – Skip Diet Foods and Pre-packed “Healthy” Snacks.
That’s right! I’m talking about snack packs, frozen diet meals and powdered diet drinks. You just don’t need them to lose weight. Focus on eating REAL, unprocessed foods and drinking lots of water.
Diet Snack Packs – You save money by buying in larger quantities and breaking the food down. You can repackage your own snacks that you buy in bulk. Weight or divide out the food in small, low calorie portions and put it in sandwich bags. It’s all about portion control. You ALSO should not be fooled into thinking that just because you ate 3 100 calorie packages that it wasn’t as bad, because they are diet portions. 🙂 Most people don’t just have one portion of diet products, they have 2 or 3.
Diet Drinks – When it comes to diet drinks, sometimes the extreme sweetness just continues to keep your sweet tooth alive, super charging it. You never divorce yourself from the sugar rush with these drinks, thus your cravings continue to rage on. Drink more water and save your money. Drink tea with a little natural sweetener like honey or agave when your willpower is low.
Frozen Diet Meals – Do you research and really consider how much money you’re spending on frozen diet meals. Could you avoid things like sodium and preservatives by not eating those foods? How much money would you save if you made your own meals and ate leftovers as well? Are the foods too high in calories, hidden sugars or fats?
Other Diet Foods – If the diet products are being sold at a premium, avoid them. There are cheaper options. You don’t have to buy something because it’s labelled low-fat or diet. Buy the most health food you can afford. That should be your goal. Don’t let the marketing tactics suck you in.
Akilah says
Great tips!