Five ways to lose weight on the cheap

Healthy food is not out of anyone’s reach, but it’s a handy excuse to hide behind. If you really want to shape up, you can do it without breaking the bank.

“I want eat better but healthy food is too expensive!”

Along with ‘glands’ and ‘no time’, it’s up there in the most popular, but rubbish, excuses for staying porky. There are plenty of ways to eat well without wasting money, you could even save a bob or two.

1. Buy fresh

The truth is, fresh vegetables and fruit, wholemeal pasta, rice, baked potatoes, eggs… they’re all cheaper than ready meals, far less salty and far better for you.

Buying fresh produce from your local market, if you have one, or even from your supermarket will save you cash, and you will control what you’re eating rather than trusting that your value-brand lasagne ready meal isn’t full of salt (it is) and ominous bits of face and foot meat (ditto).

2. Walk

Firstly, it’s free. Walking is one of the most efficient forms of transport in urban areas, where buses, taxis and especially your car crawl along and cost a bomb. Even a cash fare on a bus every day adds up to several hundred over the year.

All you need for walking is comfy shoes, ideally supportive trainers. That’s it. You have to wear shoes anyway, you’ll almost certainly have some trainers in your house: put ‘em on.

Every mile walked burns about 100 calories, put on a pedometer and aim for 10,000 steps a day.

3. Swap fizzy drink for water

Fizzy cans of gut rot will do nothing for your teeth, tummy, weight or ability to get a good night’s sleep (many are crammed with caffeine), not to mention your pocket

Water is free, and if you use a water filter, it can taste as clean and refreshing as bottled water. It’s much better for you, helps flush out your system and keep your concentration levels up.

4. Eat breakfast

Whether you grab two slices of wholemeal toast before you leave the house or keep a box of Special K at work, you’ll still be saving cash on a takeaway brekker or all the junk you’ll eat because skipping breakfast has left you weak and snappy.

5. Eat complex carbs with every meal

Complex carbohydrates (like pearly barley, oats, beans, bananas, wholegrain pasta) keep you full up for longer, release energy slower and are very hard to over-indulge in. Include a portion with every meal and you’re less likely to spend money on snack foods between meals.

Tell us your tips for thrifty weight loss below, cheapos!