Here is a small history and current events:
When I graduated from high school in 2007 I had 7 years of football under belt. I dropped to a good 235lb weight range which for a guy who is 6ft3 and with a broad chest and shoulder build was really nice. I was wearing medium-large shirts and a size 36 waist jeans.
Fast forward to now.
I am close to 270 and I have no job as I am collecting unemployment benefits so I have a fixed income with $450 to be able to use for gas and groceries. I wear XLs and some Ls now, and recently had to buy a size 40 waist jeans with a 38-44 inch belt. major requires me to spend a lot of time inside of class for lab hours and I'm already in class from 8am-3:30pm m-th. I am recently single so I am trying to get back into shape. I was in a 4year relationship with someone and we both got lazy so I put on a few pounds. We all know how that goes.
What I need is help with a kind of grocery list hence why I posted the money I have left over after rent. diet right now pretty much consists of the following:
Breakfast:
$1.42 box of fruit-flavored otameal from walmart, 12 packs per box. Eat 2 packs for breakfast. Going for cheap.
On mornings I'm on the go or on the weekends I tend to sometimes get Bojangles for breakfast and its a biscuit filled with egg cheese and sausage. Not good for me.
Lunch:
If I'm at school I tend to get 2 tacos from tacobell and spend about $2, or
I'll spend $8-9 at Subway or Jersey Mikes.
If I'm at home it's usually a pack of Ramen Noodles or a ham/turkey sandwich on white bread. Again, cheap.
Supper/Dinner:
Ramen Noodles, or
frozen chicken usually with a canned veggie and/or rice
Turkey hamburger meat. I have not bought beef hamburger in close to a year now. I love turkey. I'll use it as a meatloaf or in pasta.
Sometimes I'll be lazy and go to Bojangles or Cookout for more fattyness and spend more money.
For drinks I usually drink hot tea, milk, water, or coffee. I have not bought soda in close to 2 years and never ask for it at a restaurant. I'll never drink soda unless it is handed to me. I do have some weigh protein powder and a BeachBody multivitamin which I got when I bought P90x...which ex has.
apartment has a gym attached to it but it's all machines. Everything from leg lifts, leg press, hand-held dumbbells, exercise bikes, treadmills, you name it. I just have a hard time motivating myself to get in there to do anything. I also have a mountain bike which a few months back was riding a 3 mile trail front-and-back (6miles/day) at least 3 days a week. I've stopped now because of the urgency of getting to the end of the semester in class.
SO..given what I could what I really want to ask is for a shopping list that is cheap but still good for me, and a basic workout routine that is designed for slimming, not bulking up. I have a broad build as it is so I'm not interested in bulking it. I just want to feel comfortable in t-shirts again and not feel forced to wear a hoody or long-sleeved shirt.
Weight Loss- College Student Needs Help!
Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
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DLForehand
- STARTING OUT
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2011 11:48 am
Re: Weight Loss- College Student Needs Help!
Cheap foods.
Large boxes of biscuit cereal. Helps you keep track of what you eat better than small biscuits or flakes.
Eggs.
Bread.
Low Salt peanuts might be relatively inexpensive, especially as you can buy Peanuts in large sacks as opposed to small packets. Great for Protein, Carbs and Fats. If yo're concerned about mould and aflatoxins, buy western grown, not eastern grown, otherwise buy what you like.
2 for 1 deals.
3 for 2 deals.
Percentage deals I.E. 50% off, 20% off.
Managers specials.
Bargain bin.
Stuff being sold on the sell or use by date, as that can sometimes be priced down to clear.
If you use things like Mushrooms, Bread, Large Tomatos and Low Fat Cheese, you can make 2 slices of pretend Pizza and probably have enough ingredients for 6-8 slices a week.
Try getting food from places like Farmers markets, or maybe some kind of food fairs of some kind, where things might be reasonably priced.
You could try getting meat from a local butcher or farmer as they might price more favourably, because you're not dealing with the middle man I.E. the supermarkets.
This approach could work for other things too like Fruit, Veg, Legumes and Cheese
Shop around for deals. Don't shop in the same place. If you can save a few cents by walking to another place a few hundred yards away, for a few items all the better. check out price ocmparison sites if you have them, because even if you get a few savings online, chances are one companies cheaper prices on some things, will be reflected in the retail outlets too. This gives you some exercise as well.
Try buying cans of foods in 4, 6 and 8 packs, because whatever the biggest sizes of one type of product are, they may workout slightly cheaper than buying 4,6 or 8 loose cans and sometimes you might get an 8 pack or a 6 pack with 1 or 2 free cans in it as well.
Try looking for cans of things sometimes that say X% more free, as that's always a bonus, as you should be able to keep the remains of the can in your fridge for 2-3 days, maybe more and you could also cover the open can with clingfilm / plastic wrap, to keep any remaining content good for a while.
As for a workout, why not just stick to a basic total body one, that would look something like this.
Squats, 2 sets, 8-10 reps
Lunges, 2 sets, 8-10 reps
Dumbell Good Mornings, 2 sets, 8-10 reps
Peck Deck, 2 sets, 8-10 reps
Dumbell Bent Over Rows.
Shoulder Presses, 2 sets, 8-10 reps
Planks 1 minute.
Do this 3 times a week mixed in with Cardio, so your schedule could look something like this.
Day 1. Weights
Day 2. Cardio
Day 3. Weights
Day 4. Day off
Day 5. Cardio
Day 6. Weights
Day 7. Day off
Use the smallest dumbbells and machine weight amounts on small muscles and the next amounts up on bigger muscles, thne work from there. You will need to do this for around 4-6 weeks to adjust as it looks like you haven't done this for some time now and your body probably won't appreicate you kickstarting with rep maxes straight off.
Large boxes of biscuit cereal. Helps you keep track of what you eat better than small biscuits or flakes.
Eggs.
Bread.
Low Salt peanuts might be relatively inexpensive, especially as you can buy Peanuts in large sacks as opposed to small packets. Great for Protein, Carbs and Fats. If yo're concerned about mould and aflatoxins, buy western grown, not eastern grown, otherwise buy what you like.
2 for 1 deals.
3 for 2 deals.
Percentage deals I.E. 50% off, 20% off.
Managers specials.
Bargain bin.
Stuff being sold on the sell or use by date, as that can sometimes be priced down to clear.
If you use things like Mushrooms, Bread, Large Tomatos and Low Fat Cheese, you can make 2 slices of pretend Pizza and probably have enough ingredients for 6-8 slices a week.
Try getting food from places like Farmers markets, or maybe some kind of food fairs of some kind, where things might be reasonably priced.
You could try getting meat from a local butcher or farmer as they might price more favourably, because you're not dealing with the middle man I.E. the supermarkets.
This approach could work for other things too like Fruit, Veg, Legumes and Cheese
Shop around for deals. Don't shop in the same place. If you can save a few cents by walking to another place a few hundred yards away, for a few items all the better. check out price ocmparison sites if you have them, because even if you get a few savings online, chances are one companies cheaper prices on some things, will be reflected in the retail outlets too. This gives you some exercise as well.
Try buying cans of foods in 4, 6 and 8 packs, because whatever the biggest sizes of one type of product are, they may workout slightly cheaper than buying 4,6 or 8 loose cans and sometimes you might get an 8 pack or a 6 pack with 1 or 2 free cans in it as well.
Try looking for cans of things sometimes that say X% more free, as that's always a bonus, as you should be able to keep the remains of the can in your fridge for 2-3 days, maybe more and you could also cover the open can with clingfilm / plastic wrap, to keep any remaining content good for a while.
As for a workout, why not just stick to a basic total body one, that would look something like this.
Squats, 2 sets, 8-10 reps
Lunges, 2 sets, 8-10 reps
Dumbell Good Mornings, 2 sets, 8-10 reps
Peck Deck, 2 sets, 8-10 reps
Dumbell Bent Over Rows.
Shoulder Presses, 2 sets, 8-10 reps
Planks 1 minute.
Do this 3 times a week mixed in with Cardio, so your schedule could look something like this.
Day 1. Weights
Day 2. Cardio
Day 3. Weights
Day 4. Day off
Day 5. Cardio
Day 6. Weights
Day 7. Day off
Use the smallest dumbbells and machine weight amounts on small muscles and the next amounts up on bigger muscles, thne work from there. You will need to do this for around 4-6 weeks to adjust as it looks like you haven't done this for some time now and your body probably won't appreicate you kickstarting with rep maxes straight off.
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musculArgirl2
- VETERAN
- Posts: 1919
- Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:27 am
Re: Weight Loss- College Student Needs Help!
I've read that green vegetables tend to be cheaper. If you look at something like green peppers versus red or yellow they are cheaper unless there is a sale. This weekend red peppers were on sale and almost the same price as green so i bought red. Buying frozen veggies helps too so they won't go bad on you.