When your income barely allows you to pay your bills to live and you little left to eat with. Your diet is extremely bad. I am very overweight and depressed and don't have any extra money for better meals or exercise places. I need help at no cost to me to show me or tell me how to lose this weight. I also have bad knees and a bad back.

You don't need a subscription to a gym to lose weight. Get started by walking, get a used bike somewhere, use water bottles to lift weight etc.
To get more ideas, just Google "exercise at no cost" or similar.

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Originally Posted by kbrittich

when your income barely allows you to pay your bills to live and you little left to eat with. your diet is extremely bad. i am very overweight and depressed and don't have any extra money for better meals or exercise places. i need help at no cost to me to show me or tell me how to lose this weight. i also have bad knees and a bad back.

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Well, you apparently have internet access. Cancelling that always frees up money.

There are thousands of on line exercise/diet plan sites. You don't need to join a health club.

If you are treating for bad back and knees your Physician should have some ideas, also.

Right now a lot of vegetables are in season - and they are inexpensive!

For the Exercise: WALK around your neighborhood. Or around a track at a local school.
Walking is extremely effective and you will feel better about yourself when you do.

For (possible?) Depression: Seek help from your county's MHMR or Mental Health, they can provide doctors, medications, or just counseling at no cost to you. IT'S FREE!

For your diet: Yes, it's cheaper to eat fast food but it's horrible for your body, Try some
Cheap healthy options, like homemade salads, sandwiches, wraps, or tuna. The best way to eat healthy is to only buy groceries from around the perimeter of the grocery store (deli, produce, meat, and grains. Not frozen foods or packaged meals) Also, check into your local food banks, they often give away healthy foods to low income people/families.

Also, of your income/career is not what you would like to be, perhaps you could go back
To college for some type of degree or certificate program. Federal Pell Grants offer up to
$5500 per year for low income people, and if you attend a local college that will be more than
Enough to cover your classes. You can apply for pell grants at
Home - FAFSA on the Web-Federal Student Aid it is FREE to apply.

Anyone can pull themselves up out of a bad situation, you just have to commit to it.

Your diet isn't bad because of poverty. Poverty meant that you didn't learn ways to eat cheaply yet healthily. There are millions (literally) of people in the world who really do have bad diets because of poverty, and not one of them is overweight. So take responsibility for that fact - you eat tons of junk instead of a few good foods. I keep very good track of what I spend each month, in a book, for each type of expense (food, utilities, car, clothes, entertainment, pets, drugstore, etc) and I would love to know what people here including you spend on food each month! I spend almost zero on entertainment so food and pets are mine.
This is not saying I'm thin - I'm overweight, but I buy plenty of good foods in addition to too much ice cream.
So in addition to the advice about walking, I would start a food budget. Tell us what your food nemesis is. Mine is ice cream.

First you should stop viewing yourself as total mess.
Stop and think, you are still more blessed than a lot of people on this planet!!
You have a place to stay, have a job (even though it may not pay very much), start using all of that to your advantage.

I understand that a dollar can only be stretched so far.

No sure if you drink any pop, but that used to be the very thing that kept my weight up. I stopped with that and the pounds came off like crazy.

So if you have to buy fast food, don't add insult to injury by drinking coke, drink water, that will help.

Start walking or doing small exercises at home, gym is not always the solution.

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Originally Posted by BethVader

For your diet: Yes, it's cheaper to eat fast food but it's horrible for your body, Try some
cheap healthy options, like homemade salads, sandwiches, wraps, or tuna. The best way to eat healthy is to only buy groceries from around the perimeter of the grocery store (deli, produce, meat, and grains. Not frozen foods or packaged meals) Also, check into your local food banks, they often give away healthy foods to low income people/families..

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Love your post but you've got this backwards - fast food is more expensive usually - not always, but usually.

The perimeter is where the store places the impulse items.

I know. My husband owned a Pharmacy. "End cap" items went like the wind, and the same product on an aisle shelf? Not so much.

Start walking. Your knee and back problems are probably exacerbated by your weight. When you feel like eating snacks,or junk, just go walk. Physical exercise curbs appetite. Do not drink soda and drink JUST water. That alone can drop pounds. Make a commitment to get off sugar completely. If you can eat only 6 small meals a day, make sure the protein and carbs in them are balanced. No portions larger than your fist. If you do this 6 days a week, you can give yourself a free day one day a week. In the beginning when you are struggling with food cravings the just knowing you will have the one free day helps to keep you going.
Also, the suggestion someone stated about school. Go back and seek a degree. Staying busy will also keep you active and stop unwanted snacking. Even if you can only take 1 class a semester it is better than nothing and is a move in a positive direction.
For now... put on your tennis shoes right now and just go WALK. Once you see a little success I think you will be able to find ways on your own to keep it going. Also, a gym is not as expensive as you think. My gym is $24 a month, it is a large chain, but there are smaller less expensive gyms. Cutting back in the area of food could pay for a gym membership.
YOU CAN DO THIS!!

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

Love your post but you've got this backwards - fast food is more expensive usually - not always, but usually.

The perimeter is where the store places the impulse items.

I know. My husband owned a Pharmacy. "End cap" items went like the wind, and the same product on an aisle shelf? Not so much.

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Actually, the perimeter does not include "end caps" those are part of the aisles, which is what we are trying to avoid. The perimeter means the deli, grocery, breads, and produces. Fresh meats and vegetables instead of packaged dinners and canned products containing more chemicals. Pharmacy and grocery store are not the same thing.

Fast food is cheaper in most cases. Cost of a unhealthy hamburger and fries at Jack in the Box $3. Cost of homemade pasta & salad $5-15 depending on ingredients.

**Don't think I haven't noticed your attempts to discredit things I post on more than one
Occasion, JudyKay.

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Originally Posted by BethVader

Actually, the perimeter does not include "end caps" those are part of the aisles, which is what we are trying to avoid. The perimeter means the deli, grocery, breads, and produces. Fresh meats and vegetables instead of packaged dinners and canned products containing more chemicals. Pharmacy and grocery store are not the same thing.

Fast food is cheaper in most cases. Cost of a unhealthy hamburger and fries at Jack in the Box $3. Cost of homemade pasta & salad $5-15 depending on ingredients.

**Don't think I haven't noticed your attempts to discredit things I post on more than one
occasion, JudyKay.

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I'm sorry but in my area the perimeter is NOT the deli, etc. The "perimeter" is the "special items" which are not so special after all.

I am not "attempting" to descredit you. We are posting on the same threads and have very different opinons on everything from foot fetishes to seducing men to grocery stores. I notice I am not alone in disagreeing with some of what you have posted. This is particularly humorous because at least on this thread I posted first and then you posted.

Did I mention that my husband owned stores?

It costs much more to each processed foods than fresh foods, so if you are real low income have you looked into food stamps ( if in the US) do you use local food pantry to help with foods.

But you eat more fresh veggies and a better balanced meal. Get rid of processed foods. Instead of hamburger helper, use bags of pasta with a few spices.
Instead of hamburger use ground turkey. Things like frozen waffles or pancakes, make your own from flour. The list goes on and on. I feed my family of 3 on about 120 dollars a month and believe me I eat well.

Then after talking to your doctor, get a exercise program, when you start losing weight the knee and back issues often get better

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

It costs much more to each processed foods than fresh foods, so if you are real low income have you looked into food stamps ( if in the US) do you use local food pantry to help with foods.

But you eat more fresh veggies and a better balanced meal. get rid of processed foods. instead of hamburger helper, use bags of pasta with a few spices.
Instead of hamburger use ground turkey. Things like frozen waffles or pancakes, make your own from flour. The list goes on and on. I feed my family of 3 on about 120 dollars a month and believe me I eat well.

Then after talking to your doctor, get a exercise program, when you start losing weight the knee and back issues often get better

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All good ideas - in my "student and not much money" days I made almost a game of seeing how little I could spend on food and how well I could eat.

It has to be a whole different mindset - cost instead of convenience - but I found any number of stores which had MUCH lower prices than others.

Making food from scratch and eating fruits and vegetables in season and also locally produced food products works for us. When we were dirt poor in our early marriage, I learned how many different entrées can be made with a pound of ground beef.

College days, had friends bring me ketchup and taco sauce, salt, pepper packs, never bought any.
But even now ( and I can afford steak if I wanted it) we do pasta two or three nights a week, normally no meat, chicken or ground turkey or tuna. Bake our own bread,

There are tricks to making your laundry soap last much longer using borax and more.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

College days, had friends bring me ketchup and taco sauce, salt, pepper packs, never bought any.
But even now ( and I can afford steak if I wanted it) we do pasta two or three nights a week, normally no meat, chicken or ground turkey or tuna. Bake our own bread,

There are tricks to making your laundry soap last much longer using borax and more.

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I was vegetarian for years, but tomato sandwiches were also cheap. Anyone else eat tomato sandwiches?

I also remember buying a jar of "meat" spaghetti sauce, a pound of pasta - and that was dinner until it ran out.

Oh, gosh - I have no idea why I don't have rickets.

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

I'm sorry but in my area the perimeter is NOT the deli, etc. The "perimeter" is the "special items" which are not so special after all.

I am not "attempting" to descredit you. We are posting on the same threads and have very different opinons on everything from foot fetishes to seducing men to grocery stores. I notice I am not alone in disagreeing with some of what you have posted. This is particularly humorous because at least on this thread I posted first and then you posted.

Did I mention that my husband owned stores?

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Guess I will agree, the perimeter of the three stores I shop at, is first all the higher priced "sale" items, then the deli foods and the pre cooked foods. Meat dept in rear. Veggies are off to a corner out of the normal loop, so you have to walk into it. And then proccessed cheese, milk on the other far said, then drug items

The other is pre cooked pies, bakery items. Meet and then dairy.

If you want the deals you will have to go into the aisles and pick out sale items, often on end caps but often sort of hidden in the aisles, hoping you take the higher priced items.

And often things like buy one / get one free are the higher priced name brands and you can still get store brand cheaper. Or shop at discount stores like Aldi
www.aldi.us

I guess stores vary but for me, the deals are buried around though the store

I agree about the perimeter featuring the expensive food items. At our two big grocery chains, the less expensive items are buried in strange places in the middle of the store. You have to pretend you are a detective in order to find them.

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

I agree about the perimeter featuring the expensive food items. At our two big grocery chains, the less expensive items are buried in strange places in the middle of the store. You have to pretend you are a detective in order to find them.

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- If you are a Detective it's easier.

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

- If you are a Detective it's easier.

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And it pays to be short, since the low-priced items are often on the bottom shelves.

And it helps to know and be able to chat with the department managers.

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

And it pays to be short, since the low-priced items are often on the bottom shelves.

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- Laughing!