How to have a cheap and healthy diet?

[Akhilleus]

I've been trying to change my eating habits for over two years now, but I'm still struggling to find the right foods. I'm 19 years old, 5'5-5'6 and weight 202lbs. I'm healthy in every other way besides my weight, and I want to fix that. I'm a Criminal Justice major and my ultimate goal once I graduate from school is to join the police academy. But I can't do it unless I get in shape.

I'm getting an exercise routine down, but another huge part is my diet.

I need ideas for Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks throughout the day. One of my biggest problems is my metabolism, I usually only eat one big meal a day at dinner time. I'm taking Hydroxycut Hardcore Elite for that, but I'd also like to get more into a routine. My eating schedule isn't as bad during the school year when I'm on campus and I eat at the right times of the day, but during the summer time I struggle.

I'm looking for something cheap that requires little preparation, and is healthy for all three big meals of the day. Specifically breakfast and lunch, and snacks throughout the day.

Can anybody help me out?

 

[Reflection]

Morning- different types grams, pulses and lentils soaked overnight. Fry it up a bit with seasoning of your choice. One glass of milk/one cup of coffee, not more than four slices of bread, preferably brown, one vitamin tablet.

Lunch- something wheat-based. Rice is also an option, but wheat should be easy and cheaper since America is probably the largest producer of wheat. Cooked vegetables, salad, meat, eggs or fish every other day.

At work- no Pepsi or Coke, unless you want to look like Mike Killam. Just a veg burger and water if you are so hungry.

Evening- nothing oily, salty, greasy deep-fried, or sweet. No beer. Cornflakes and oats sound good.

Now finish whatever office tasks you have and then work out for at least 30 minutes. Visit www.dumbbellexercises.com to get yourself started.

Night- similar to lunch. The vegetables and protein should ideally compose of the majority of the meal, instead of the wheat/bread or rice. Nothing cooked in excess oil, no ketchup, butter, or anything calorie-laden to make your food tasty.

The next part is generic but important:
1. Try to ensure that the calories you eat are not much higher than the calories you burn.
2. Don't skip exercise; little is better than nothing.
3. Early to bed, early to rise.
4. Once you make a diet plan, stick to the rules. Don't reward yourself even on weekends. I personally don't even remember the last time I tasted sugar or something deep-fried.

Hope things work out for you and you get the job. Cheers!

 

[Akhilleus]

Thank you for your response.

I'm currently focusing on phasing sugar completely out of my diet. Specifically sugary drinks. I've already nearly eliminated soda from my diet, especially regularly. But now I'm going to phase out drinks like powerade that I thought at the time were better alternatives to soda but really aren't by much. I'm going to drink water, milk, and orange juice. And then Apple juice when I'm low on the other products.

I actually compiled a list of different foods to buy at the store last night since at the time nobody responded to this thread.

I came up with:

Bananas
Greek Yogurt
Frozen Greek Yogurt
Protein Bars
Peanut Butter
Low fat swiss cheese
Eggs
Canned light tuna
Canned navy beans
Milk 1% (I'm debating between that and slim, because I've read slim has less protein)
Orange Juice
Apple Juice

Those seem to be the best for protein and cost. I'm still working on it so if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

The hardest thing for me is going to be eliminating the greasy and fried foods permanently from my diet. Being a college student with no car living at home, sometimes I don't always get a say in what I have for dinner. Which is fine, I mean it's a free meal. But I've been vocal in avoiding fast food as a dinner option unless it's Subway. Any suggestions though on what to get from a place like McDonald's if my option is that or no dinner at all? Would very much prefer not eating a salad, that is one thing I'm very much against bringing into my new diet.


Again thanks for the help. I missed my run yesterday because of the 4th of July, the fact that I'm upset about it is a good sign for me. There was a point a couple years ago when I was running five days a week and got addicted to it, and I'm hoping to get that addiction back. I'm going to do a doubler to make up for missing out yesterday sometime this week. Also going to buy a pedometer watch sort of thing that will help me keep track of my time and distance since I run outside.

 

[Reflection]

No problem, I had a bulky tummy myself, and it's a great feeling to see your waist go down week by week. So always happy to help others

A good way to get towards your aim of a healthy body is to divide your tasks in various stages. Otherwise, you will feel like you are sacrificing too much and start losing the urge to keep up, after a few weeks. For instance, Stage 1 should be avoiding all unhealthy food. Once that task has been conquered, Stage 2 should be exercising- running/jogging/walking, along with dumbbell/barbell or bodyweight exercises. When you get that going, you can bring in Stage 3, which is reducing the amount of sugar, salt, carbohydrates and fat, and increasing the protein, water and fibrous content in your meals. That way, it's much easier, and the curve is not too steep.

Orange juice or any other type of juice is good only if you prepare it yourself from real oranges and fruits... The normal ones sold in the market with lots of sugar, will only do you harm. Oh, and try using artificial sweetener (zero calorie) instead of sugar for your tea/coffee/juices. It will taste bad as first, but gradually will feel like sugar itself.
The rest of the list looks good. I've seen it recommended on some places to go for skimmed milk, but I consume the normal one anyway. It won't make much of a difference, after all we're not going for six packs or 6% body fat. You don't have to go too strict on your diet, just avoid the ones that screams "Unhealthy!" at your face The strictness and rules should only go as much as you know you can sustain. Once you shed the fat, then you can set newer rules (with the motivation from your body) and take Stage 3 a bit further.

Here are a few good and free custom meal as well as workout planners that I feel will help you out:

Spoiler

http://scoobysworkshop.com/nutrition/
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
http://scoobysworkshop.com/cutting-meal-planner/
http://custommealplanner.com/
http://scoobysworkshop.com/custom-workout-plans/

When you enter your body details and habits, it tells you what kind of food you should eat (in breakfast, lunch, dinner etc.) along with alternatives, as well as the kind of results you can expect. The above links should compensate for the lack or replies in this thread.

Yeah, this is where knowing how to cook (and having time for it) comes in handy. Try to avoid fast food: McDonalds, KFC etc. if you can, but don't skip a meal, because the next time you eat, the body will save up even more food as fat. It's actually better to eat a number of times in small amounts than skip a meal and make a long gap between meals. Salad is not a must; there are many other alternatives that you can go for.

See if you can include some weight training on alternate days or time of the day of cardio. The muscles and strength would help in the selection. Good luck, but don't end up over-training.

 

[Akhilleus]

Thanks again. I'm probably not going to work weights into my workout until I go back to campus in late August. We have a pretty good gym there for that sort of thing. I don't have any good free weights or machinery like that at home.

Even the ones at my campus, it's too much free weight stuff I'm pretty sure. I'd prefer a machinery circuit. But it's a nice all around gym, they have treadmills and everything too. But I prefer outside running.

Are you an outside runner or a treadmill runner?

 

[Reflection]

I used to run outside, but now I do all my workouts at home, including cardio. I cannot afford a treadmill, and the people here stare at you like you are naked when you run. I need to have no one looking at me, in order to focus, so I prefer to train alone. We have a relatively empty 20x15 sq.ft. room in our house, where I do my jogging, skipping, push-ups, crunches, dips... Around 70% of my workouts comprise of free-weight training, but it's different for different people.

However, if you live in a country with lots of free space- grounds, footpath, crater-less roads, cool weather, people that mind their own business etc. then running outside is the most convenient option, in terms of losing weight. When you see others running- young and old, you'll feel motivated to run some more. Remember to keep mixing things up- increasing and decreasing your speed, doing some skipping, some sideways jogging etc. so that your brain doesn't get used to one type of activity.

But again, most importantly, the change has to come in your diet. If that doesn't improve, then you won't lose weight even if you run 2 hours a day. Getting a good body is a combination of "eating a bit less and exercising a bit more"

 

[Aeon Mathix]

Cheap and time effecient nutrition and workouts are my specialty. Right now my diet consists of (and has for the last 6 weeks):

Breakfast: Oatmeal, fruit and protein shake. Put 1/2 cup into a blender bottle with a scoop or 2 of whey and shake it up. Not the best tasting thing but it's fast and you get what you need for the day out of it. Grab a big bag of oranges or something at the store. So you can get about 2 weeks worth of oatmeal for a dollar, a months supply of protein online for about 40 maybe less and a bag of fruit is around 3 bucks. If whey protein isn't an option, you can grab one of those 5 dozen egg boxes for like 7-11 bucks and have 3 with your oatmeal in the morning

Lunch: Tuna and Rice. Tuna is like 80 cents a can and you can get big bags of Jasmine rice for cheap. Prepare enough on sunday for the week and put into containers and you are good to go.

Snack: Usually almonds. These are the most expensive, but you think if you can get a big bag and have 1 serving a day which is about 25, they can go a LONG time. I bought a bag 2 months ago and am not even close to being done.

Dinner: Might shock some people but mine is Spaghetti and a salad. Pasta is a dollar usually and canned sauce is even cheaper. Theres the whole no carbs at night thing, but honestly unless you are sitting on your ass all day carbs don't really matter.

I also get another scoop of protein in after workout. I am ALWAYS on the move and don't have time to make some extravagent chicken cordon bleu or some shit so this diet works well for me. If you are doubting the pasta at night, I would say a chicken breast or 2 would be a great sub for it. I find the pasta helps my workouts the next day tremendously though. Everyone is different though.

I lost an inch and a half on my waist after a week and a half of doing this and im down 20 lbs since 6 weeks ago.

My workout consists of:
DDP Yoga monday through friday. Best workout i've ever done and im someone in the military and used to powerlift and wrestle. You can aquire it for less than cheap if you catch my drift but up to you. It's a money saver for a gym and all you need is some space and a mat. Cannot recommend it enough.

I do cardio too which consists of:

Monday: 4 mile run
Tuesday: 45-60 minutes on the bike or eliptical
Wednesday: same as monday
Thursday: same as tuesday
Friday: same as monday and wednsday. Trying to get up to 5 miles without my life flashing before my eyes.

Again this diet and regime has worked wonders for me and still is, but you are and I aren't the same so don't exactly copy and paste this, but those are some guidelines for "fast" food and the workout regime that helps me. Hope this info did some good for ya.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Cheap and time effecient nutrition and workouts are my specialty. Right now my diet consists of (and has for the last 6 weeks):

Breakfast: Oatmeal, fruit and protein shake. Put 1/2 cup into a blender bottle with a scoop or 2 of whey and shake it up. Not the best tasting thing but it's fast and you get what you need for the day out of it. Grab a big bag of oranges or something at the store. So you can get about 2 weeks worth of oatmeal for a dollar, a months supply of protein online for about 40 maybe less and a bag of fruit is around 3 bucks. If whey protein isn't an option, you can grab one of those 5 dozen egg boxes for like 7-11 bucks and have 3 with your oatmeal in the morning

Lunch: Tuna and Rice. Tuna is like 80 cents a can and you can get big bags of Jasmine rice for cheap. Prepare enough on sunday for the week and put into containers and you are good to go.

Snack: Usually almonds. These are the most expensive, but you think if you can get a big bag and have 1 serving a day which is about 25, they can go a LONG time. I bought a bag 2 months ago and am not even close to being done.

Dinner: Might shock some people but mine is Spaghetti and a salad. Pasta is a dollar usually and canned sauce is even cheaper. Theres the whole no carbs at night thing, but honestly unless you are sitting on your ass all day carbs don't really matter.

I also get another scoop of protein in after workout. I am ALWAYS on the move and don't have time to make some extravagent chicken cordon bleu or some shit so this diet works well for me. If you are doubting the pasta at night, I would say a chicken breast or 2 would be a great sub for it. I find the pasta helps my workouts the next day tremendously though. Everyone is different though.

I lost an inch and a half on my waist after a week and a half of doing this and im down 20 lbs since 6 weeks ago.

My workout consists of:
DDP Yoga monday through friday. Best workout i've ever done and im someone in the military and used to powerlift and wrestle. You can aquire it for less than cheap if you catch my drift but up to you. It's a money saver for a gym and all you need is some space and a mat. Cannot recommend it enough.

I do cardio too which consists of:

Monday: 4 mile run
Tuesday: 45-60 minutes on the bike or eliptical
Wednesday: same as monday
Thursday: same as tuesday
Friday: same as monday and wednsday. Trying to get up to 5 miles without my life flashing before my eyes.

Again this diet and regime has worked wonders for me and still is, but you are and I aren't the same so don't exactly copy and paste this, but those are some guidelines for "fast" food and the workout regime that helps me. Hope this info did some good for ya.

Holy shit. Things have changed a bit since I gave you my WO routines eh? lol

 

[Aeon Mathix]

Holy shit. Things have changed a bit since I gave you my WO routines eh? lol

I got injured about 4 weeks into the intermediate program man. Herniated a disc in my back so was out of action now I am getting back into it with this routine.

Sorry I never got back to you LOL.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

I got injured about 4 weeks into the intermediate program man. Herniated a disc in my back so was out of action now I am getting back into it with this routine.

Sorry I never got back to you LOL.

In a twisted way, thay promotes the intensity of my program lol

The switch to DDP yoga makes 100% sense now. Hope you get better brotha!

 

[Aeon Mathix]

In a twisted way, thay promotes the intensity of my program lol

The switch to DDP yoga makes 100% sense now. Hope you get better brotha!

It actually happened in the line of duty unfortunately so I escaped your gates of hell. They were closing in on me though lol.

I know it might not be your thing, but if you have any nagging injuries or just some general stiffness I highly recommend giving DDP Yoga a go if you haven't yet man. I couldn't even bend over and my left leg would go numb at times but almost 3 months later and I have virtually no pain at all anymore and as you can see am running like a mad man again.

 

[Akhilleus]

Thanks again for the tips guys.

I think I'm only going to be able to run 4 days a week for the rest of the Summer. At least until I get my sleeping schedule back in order. I work evenings (When I usually run), but the thing is I work a job that keeps me on a feet. I work in a youth sports program, setting up fields and coaching kids. So I'm always standing, moving, and running around.

I'm not getting as much of a workout as I would be running 3+ miles every day like I have been, but people have been telling me not to overwork myself anyway especially since I'm just starting and getting into shape.

Once I get my Whey powder and I am back on a normal scheduled waking up in the morning and not the late afternoon, I'll be able to run during the days I work.

So for now though I'm going to just run Fridays through Mondays, and focus on keeping a healthy diet.

Questions about Gatorade. Some say it's the next healthiest thing after water, and that juices as an alternative to things like powerade and gatorade aren't really that much of an alternative because they're packed with just as much if not more sugar. Is this true? I was going to eliminate Gatorade from my diet entirely along with other sugary drinks, but I though about keeping it just for post workouts like it's main purpose is really for. But even for a casual drink when I'm not working out, is it still better than something like apple juice?

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Yes. but it still sucks, because it has a shit pile of sugar.

Go with Propel water (the electrolytes and vitamins of Gatorade, none of the sugar)

 

[Akhilleus]

Added it to my list. Thank you