Dieting on a Budget

I don't usually plug specific products in my blog, but this week I'm going to be doing a whole bunch of it. I don't have any relationship with any of the companies that produce the products I'm plugging. I just thing they are great--and can save you money. I just wanted to let you know before I started this blog for real.

I am on a diet. It's really hard to diet on a budget, no more $.99 packages of hot dogs for me! Before I left New Orleans and moved to Orlando I lost 30 pounds on Weight Watchers.  Since then, I have put 9 of those pounds back on. Right now I feel like I've put all 30 back on. I decided the slide had to stop and I started looking at going back to Weight Watchers.  I very quickly discovered that the plan that includes face to face meetings that got me through that first 30 pounds was out of my price range. That plan costs $43 a month. So I looked at the online plan. The sign up fee is $29.95 plus a monthly fee of $18.95. Well I know eating well costs more than eating hot dogs, so that's also out of the price range because I would have had to take the money out of my food budget, which I knew was about to go up!

I did a little research online and in the App Store. I found an App that tracks just like the Weight Watchers App. It's called Pro Tracker and it cost me $1.99. It does exactly the same thing the WW App does. It takes my points for the day and subtracts from them as I tell it what I've had to eat.

If you aren't familiar with the Weight Watchers plan, this might not be for you. However, if you already know how the plan works, it's perfect. Here's how my day goes. I start the beginning of the week with 26 points a day and 49 flex points to use through the week. At breakfast I log in what I ate and the App subtracts the points from my daily total. The same thing for snacks, lunch and dinner. I also log in my exercise and it gives me additional points to use during the week.

I'm going to be very honest with all of you. I don't ever use my flex points or log my exercise points. I use them for my wine consumption and I don't count them. I stick to 26 points a day and 26 points is plenty!

I'm also going to give you some tips! Fruits and veggies all have a zero point balance, but not all fruits and veggies are created equal. When you start out you can eat as many fruits and veggies as you want, all of them! However, if you find yourself sliding or your scale is stuck, you might need to consider which fruits and veggies you are eating. Try to eat fruits that have lots of fiber: berries, papaya, citrus. Try to avoid fruits that have a high sugar content . . . things like watermelon. The same goes for veggies. Go for a high fiber content like raw greens or a high water content like cucumbers. Avoid veggies that have a high sugar content like carrots and corn! Remember that things like potatoes count as starch not veggies!

Good luck and I'll let you know how it goes!