Hi, I'm Molly! {Waves}

[mollyann]

Hi, I'm Molly! Nice to meet you. I'm a 29-year old homemaker from Missouri with two, very small children. I'm trying to lose weight: (1) Because my family has a history of serious health-related illness which I have, of course, inherited and (2) yes, for vanity reasons as well. I would like to achieve my pre-pregnancy weight. So far, I've been using my own diet-method which I realize is risky since doctors/dieticians/weight counselors can advise me on how to diet properly without neglecting nutrients and vitamins, however my husband and I are on an extremely tight budget... okay, a no-budget... and so this what I've been doing on my own...

exercise on a exer-cycle twice per day (30 minutes each),
eating 5 small meals per day (260 calories each which amounts to 1300 per day, and made-up of only a little meat, fruits, and vegetables),
cut out the bread, salt, and sugar from my diet.

This has been okay so far but I was hoping for suggestions on a more legitimate weight-loss method on a very tight budget. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[mollyann]

Uh, hello?

[dex]

I think you're going to find that the gym log area isn't frequented very often by people passing through and randomly reading threads. Most of that sort of traffic happens in the journals. I like peeking at people's workouts, so I spend a fair amount of time in the gym logs. Also, I keep my own gym log which I treat as a journal. :)

You're probably also going to get a lot of urging to research some written plans (the most popular here is Atkins) and choose one to follow. There are some here who follow a "general low carb" way of eating (I was one when I started), but for the most part people find it easier to provide advice when they know you're on a specific plan.

I completely identify with your budget conciousness, though. When I started low carbing earlier this year I had to become fairly adept at finding the best deals on groceries. What I'm doing now isn't really low carb per se, but as most of my friends observe about me, I now eat like a freak (case in point, I scarfed down just over three thousand calories today) so I still have to shop for the best deals. This often means hitting several different stores....and I've found wholesale grocers to be a boon for good prices on produce and dairy products.

On the workout front, you might want to consider adding some resistance/strength training, as it yields the greatest actual body changes of any form of exercise. If you don't have access to weights or weight machines, you can substitute jars or bottles filled with sand, dried beans, water, bb's, etc...even cans of food for use with some basic exercises (arm curls, side raises, etc.). Also some body weight exercises like calf raises, squats, lunges, push-ups, and dips are possible with no more equipment than a chair or sturdy coffee table for support. Consider checking out your local library for books illustrating basic exercises...or even one of the many Pilates or Yoga books.

Good luck! :)