The Great Calorie Crunch - Save £400 and Lose A Stone!

By Rachael Anne Hill (R.P.H.Nutr)

If January finds you lighter in the pocket and heavier on the scales you are not alone.   According to the experts, all that Christmas shopping and eating leaves most people £400 worse off in the bank and up to 5 pounds worse off on the waistline so here are six ingenious little ways to put your finances back in the black and your figure back on track . . .

1. Curry Favour With the Scales!

An average Indian takeaway meal with rice, naan and poppadoms contains approximately 1500 calories and costs approximately £10 per person.  Switching to this home cooked version instead which costs less than £1.50 per person is far kinder to your wallet and your waistline.

	Price	Calories
Average Indian Takeaway Meal	£10.00	1,500 kcal
Home Cooked Indian Meal	£1.50	505 kcal
Saved per Week	£8.50	995 kcal
Saved Over 8 Weeks	£68*	7,960 cal
Weight Loss Over 8 Weeks		2.3 pounds!*

*Based on swapping 1 takeaway a week for a home cooked version.

2. Lose the Latte – Instantly!

Since coffee houses have sprung up on almost every high street, lattes have become one of the nations favourite hot drinks but at up to 289 Cals and £3.10 per cup they make a high calorie, expensive alternative to a good, old fashioned cup of instant which, even with milk costs approximately 5p per cup and contains just 20 Cals.

	Price	Calories
Average Latte	£3.10	289 kcal
SWAP FOR: Instant Coffee with Milk	£0.05	20 kcal
Saved per Day	£3.05	269 kcal
Saved per Week	£15.25	1,345 kcal
Saved Over 8 Weeks	£122*	10,760 cal
Weight Loss Over 8 Weeks		3 pounds!*

*Based on swapping 5 lattes per week for 5 cups of instant with milk instead.

3. Make a Souper Saving

According to the British Sandwich Association we buy approximately 1.8 billion sandwiches every year.  The average sandwich costs  £1.66 and contains approximately 400 calories.   

However, a recent report by the National Consumer Council has found that many leading chains are selling sandwiches that contain more calories, salt and fat than a Big Mac with some, such as Marks and Spencers Oakham Chicken and Pancetta Caesar Sandwich containing well over 700 calories per pack.

Eaten every working day for a week, both the cost and the calories can mount up.  Instead, why not make your own hot, healthy and heart warming vegetable broth such as this Broccoli Soup or this Parsnip and Apple Soup. 

Eating veggie soup on a regular basis is a great way to reach your 5-a-day target and at only 138 calories per bowl and an average cost of just 50p per serving you’ll be better off all round!

	Price	Calories
Average Shop Bought Sandwich	£1.66	400 kcal
SWAP FOR: Bowl Homemade Soup	£0.50	138 kcal
Saved per Day	£1.06	262 kcal
Saved per Week	£5.30	1,310 kcal
Saved Over 8 Weeks	£42.40*	10,480 cal
Weight Loss Over 8 Weeks		3 pounds!*

*Based on swapping 5 shop bought sandwiches per week for 5 bowls homemade soup instead.

4. Ditch the Weekday Wine

A glass of wine or two at the end of the day may seem harmless enough but apart from the extra calories (approximately 140 Cals per glass) and the health dangers associated with regular drinking, alcohol causes blood sugars to plummet and your appetite to grow.  

The financial cost of relying on a glass of wine to wind down can soon mount up too.  Even a relatively cheap wine consumed at home amounts to approximately £1.50 per glass.  A glass of wine bought in a bar will cost between £3 and £5. 

	Price	Calories
Average Glass Wine at Home	£1.50	140 kcal
CUT BACK: 1 Glass of Wine per Midweek Night	-	-
Saved per Day	£1.50	140 kcal
Saved per Week	£7.50	700 kcal
Saved Over 8 Weeks	£60.00*	5,600 cal
Weight Loss Over 8 Weeks		Over 1½ pounds!*

*Based on cutting back on 1 glass of wine per midweek night drunk at home.

5. Exercise Outdoors

Swap your usual lunchtime fitness class for a 45 minute run instead.  You’ll save at least £5 per workout, burn up to twice as many calories and get plenty of fresh air (maybe even a little sunshine!) into the bargain. 

	Price	Calories Burned
45 Minute Aerobic Class	£5.00	291 kcal
SWAP FOR: 45 Minute Run	-	500 kcal
Per Day	£5.00 saved	209 kcal extra burned
Per Week	£10.00 saved	418 kcal extra burned
Over 8 Weeks	£80.00 saved*	3,344 kcal extra burned
Weight Loss Over 8 Weeks		1 pound!*

*Based on a 10 stone woman swapping a 45 minute aerobic class (approximately 291 calories burned per 45 minute) for a 45 min run at  6 mph (approximately 500 Cals) twice a week

6. Swap a Meal Out for a Girlie Night In

According to the Office of National Statisics, not only do we spend an average £14 per week dining out we also consume up to 50% more calories when eating in restaurants than at home  - sometimes consuming more calories in one meal than we should have in an whole day!  This is partly due to the all those extra nibbles: the plates of appetizers, the baskets of warm bread with pots of butter and the pre-dinner drinks but also due to the fact that restaurants tend to use more oils and fats, sugar, and salt in their food to make it taste good. 

To make matters worse, accurately estimating the calories that restaurant food contains is notoriously difficult to do.  So difficult in fact that even trained dietitians taking part in a research project for New York University underestimated the calorie content of five restaurant meals by an average of 37% and the fat content by a whopping 49%. 

Far better to save money not too mention the average 1500 calories a restaurant meal contains by inviting a few of your favourite pals to your place to focus on facials and foot massages by the fire rather than food!

	Price	Calories
Average Restaurant Meal	£14.00	1,500 kcal
CUT BACK: 1 Restaurant Meal per Month	-	-
Saved per Month	£14.00	1,500 kcal
Saved Over 8 Weeks	£28.00*	3,000 cal
Weight Loss Over 8 Weeks		Just under 1 pound!*

*Based on swapping 1 restaurant meal out with the girls for a girlie night in once a month.

Total Savings over 8 Weeks

	£s Saved	Calories Saved
SWAP: Average Indian Takeaway Meal for Home Cooked Indian Meal	£68.00	7,960 kcal
SWAP: Average Latte for Instant Coffee with Milk	£122.00	10,760 cal
SWAP: Average Shop Bought Sandwich for Bowl Homemade Soup	£42.40	10,480 cal
CUT BACK: 1 Glass of Wine per Midweek Night	£60.00	5,600 cal
SWAP: 45 Minute Aerobic Class for 45 Minute Run	£80.00	3,344 kcal extra burned
CUT BACK: 1 Restaurant Meal per Month	£28.00	3,000 cal
Saved Over 8 Weeks	£484.40*	A whopping 43,156 cal
Weight Loss Over 8 Weeks		Over 12 pounds of pure body fat!*

*1 pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories