[Dona Quixote 2013]

Carbie, sorry you're in such a hard spot. If there is a local freecycle group in your area (check Yahoo groups) you may be able to get some more exercise equipment for free. You may have to work it out with a friend to go pick up for you.

As for your food expenses, this may be something you already know, but for what it is worth, the less processed and packaged your food is, the cheaper it (generally) is. And if you can eat them, beans with a grain make a complete protein, and beans, particularly dried, are cheap and good for you. Beans and rice (brown rice is better) with different seasonings is pretty good. Freecycle in the summer can also be good for finding fresh produce, but I know that is a bit of a way off.

Hang in there!

[nelie]

Honestly, $200/month for 1 person is very doable!

I'd recommend looking in our shoestring meals area:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/shoestring-meals-235/

My budget for myself and my husband is between $250-$350/month and that includes a lot of organics. I cook almost all our meals though and I rely heavily on beans and whole grains as we don't eat meat. Hopefully the nutritionist can help you. I have a friend who is a dietician and part of their program required them to work out low budget meals. She said she was given $30/week to create a nutritionally sound diet and she found out that she actually only used $15/week. Beans were a staple of her weekly diet plans but there are so many ways to use them.

Also, don't beat yourself up for where you are but trust me, as you start walking, getting more exercise in, you will be surprised at your progress.

[HungryHungryHippo]

Carbie--call this tough love--or more to the point, just practical love, but until and unless your head is in the game, I think you should stop beating yourself up, and just settle in, and enjoy the benefits of being overweight. (You don't have to push yourself; you can eat whatever you want.) Your post reads full of excuses, why it's everyone's fault but yours. Losing weight is hard. You have to take personal responsibility.