Weightloss on a budget of Zero!
Five months after I moved to Sweden to be with my future husband,
I found a job specifically geared towards an English speaker. As luck would have it this was also three weeks into my Swedish course which I could no longer attend. Nearly two years later I found myself out of work, the company bankrupt, and unable to speak Swedish fluently enough to find work in Sweden.
Now, two years later, my husband and I find ourselves living on a very limited budget, and I find myself fat, depressed, unemployable and poor. This puts me in the unique category of semi-computer literate and semi-poor. Its in this situation I decided to do two things. Lose weight and write about losing weight .. on budget. I began this blog with that precise intention. During the umpteenth debate with my husband regarding politics or religion or fashion, TV shows, etc etc , I realized I had too much to say to limit myself to just weight. But I will start with that particular discussion
I’m a fat girl. Not chubby or big, just plain fat. Being fat has made me depressed. Depressed and fat made me want to stay indoors. Staying indoors made me get fatter and thereby more depressed. Round and round we go until it came to the point that I left my house maybe three – four times in 9 months.
So here I was fat, depressed and basically home-bound, when my husband and I decide to have a baby. I quit smoking, so I wouldn’t be crazy when I was pregnant, and I proceeded to gain 40 pounds and we proceeded to try.. and try.. and try to get pregnant. Failure caused more depression and another 20 pounds. Now, at 38 years old, I figured my age was a factor and wanted to see how my fertility was doing. I contacted the fertility doctors. The first thing they tell me is that they will not even consider me for invitro or any other kind of reproductive assistance because, while my age is a small factor, the fact that I out-weighed Orca was probably the reason we weren’t getting pregnant.
So now I’m fat, depressed, not-smoking, unemployed, freezing (its Sweden after all), poor, sterile and to top it all off I’m diagnosed with a spinal problem which makes any exercise almost impossible.
While most weight loss sites will tell you that losing weight will not magically make everything else fall into place, I, fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your view), am not subscribing to that theory. Apparently, according to doctors, when I lose weight I will be fertile, backproblem-less (I reserve the right to make up words in my blog) and happier. More importantly, I believe I will be able buy cheaper clothes, fit into that size 4 Anne Klein blazer in my closet, and thus be less poor. It is simple deduction really. If I am able to buy cheaper clothes and fit into my smaller clothes, hanging useless in my closet, that equals more money in budget! Please note, men, this is how a woman’s mind works.
Stick around and I promise you a happy ending! Not that kind, you dirty boys!
Losing weight is metaphorically like starting a long marathon race when you have never ran a day in your life. Getting to the race is the 1st part of the battle. Moving past the start line is the 2nd and staying in the race to the finish is the last.
For me getting to the race was essentially, pun intended, like getting a beached whale back into the ocean. Now I’m in the ocean and I am fighting to stay off the shore, screw getting to the marathon.
Now everyone is asking themselves “What the hell does this have to do with being poor?”. Well lets stick with my beached whale metaphor. So I’m the whale and here is who is trying to unbeach me (remember the made up words clause earlier) : husband, family, friends etc etc.. Now while all of them are quite helpful, you ain’t gonna move a whale back into the ocean without some significant cost and major help.
Here is the happy ending I promised.
My major organizational help was http://www.sparkpeople.com. “Here we go”, you’re thinking this is a sales pitch. Yeah, I am making a sales pitch. For a completely free site! Yup its free. This was the major help pushing me in the water. Supplying the crane, metaphorically speaking, for free. Like the Greenpeace of Fat people!
This is my first recommendation to starting weight loss for the budget challenged (geez can I just say poor, like me?). Go to your local library if you don’t have internet or a computer. But once a day log in and stay there until you’re motivated to DO something about your weight. They have all kinds of motivational stories and articles.
On that site you’ll find tips on every single weight loss issue. You won’t need to buy drugs, equipment, advice, personal trainers. Everything you need is there. You can, of course, find information on equipment and personal trainers. They even have free fitness videos you can use at your computer area. For free you get:
* Personalized diet & fitness plan – check
* Calorie counter & exercise tracker – check
* Fitness demonstrations & videos – check
* Over 100,000 articles, recipes, & tips -check
* Blogs – check
* personal pages – check
* teams – check
* free- check
So if you want to lose weight and have a fitness plan just click on the link and get to the starting line. Believe me once you’re on the site, the starting pistol will go off and you’ll be on your way to the finish line, with a cheering squad besides you every step of the way.
Http://www.sparkpeople.com
I’ve lost 10 pounds so far in 3 weeks . And before my back injury I had lost 34 pounds in 4 months.. No magic pills, no gym membership, no costly foods. Free! Free! Free! Cool!