[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
can’t I just sell my body instead?[/quote]
YES, send me a PM.
How much does that 200-500cal surplus really cost you?
Alter your macros ratios perhaps? Shift towards getting more calories from fat sources like EVOO (can still be organic and what not) and reduce expensive protein sources?
Reduce daily activities to lower absolute cal. levels needed to be in a surplus?[/quote]
I tend to need a lot of food to put on weight.
I already get most of my calories from fat and stocked up on EVOO when it was on sale not long ago. I tend to keep carbs on the lower side, will probably bump that and lower protein a bit since my protein intake is quite high for my BW.
Yeah, I’ve been doing 2x wk of HIIT (putting on a little more fat than I want), will probably cut that to 1x wk.
[quote]Nards wrote:
I keep thinking he’ll look like that poster we used to have from Utah…went to Brigham Young, I can’t rememebr his name now.[/quote]
BYU kid, or that other one who looked like a Hitler youth, and couldn’t pick up women but didn’t understand why?
[quote]Nards wrote:
I keep thinking he’ll look like that poster we used to have from Utah…went to Brigham Young, I can’t rememebr his name now.[/quote]
BYU kid, or that other one who looked like a Hitler youth, and couldn’t pick up women but didn’t understand why?
[/quote]
Its not BYU kid, he is married now and talk to him on other sites.
[quote]yolo84 wrote:
Maybe write out all of the food and supplements you generally buy during the week and people can give you suggestions on how to make things cheaper, cheaper shops, what can be non organic etc.
Also, what does your wife do, how likely is she to find employment in the short term. How high was her salary in terms of the overall household income?
Sell the car.[/quote]
She’s a writer/editor/communications type of person, beyond that I don’t know much specifics. She accounted for 50-55% of total income. Though her student loans account for about 85% of our monthly student loan debt (damn University of MD).
As far as groceries.
Since bulking, we’ve been spending out $200/wk on food. All but nuts tend to be organic/pastured. I’ve always thought I’d place more importance on organic produce, but this week I found myself willing to buy some non-organic produce over non-pastured meats. It’s not just health reasons for the meat, but knowing so much about how conventional animals are raised, makes me sick thinking about having to buy conventional meats.
Supplements, we’ve cut back already there previously b/c of the higher grocery bill, though I’m cutting back some more.
right now daily supplements are:
Multi, protein, creatine, ALA (dropping), PWO protein, Vit D, fish oil (stocked up for the year when was on sale)
[/quote]
I feel bad when I hear about an unemployed writer. I’m not going to suggest that your wife join the Army, but I had student loans too…
$200/week is absurd, I agree with giving up the expensive pasture food. I say eat carbs! I don’t see people getting big without moderate carb intake. Potatoes and rice are super cheap and are great sources of carbs. Also to save money I would really cut back on the meat, I used to get much of my protein from a high quality whey/casein/egg blend that you can get for < $10 a pound easily. Homeade greek yogurt is great as well, $3 for a gallon can’t be beat.
[quote]browndisaster wrote:
good luck and I hope the wife gets a new job soon
$200/week is absurd, I agree with giving up the expensive pasture food. I say eat carbs! I don’t see people getting big without moderate carb intake. Potatoes and rice are super cheap and are great sources of carbs. Also to save money I would really cut back on the meat, I used to get much of my protein from a high quality whey/casein/egg blend that you can get for < $10 a pound easily. Homeade greek yogurt is great as well, $3 for a gallon can’t be beat.[/quote]
Please post how to and recipe for homemade Greek Yogurt!
How much damage could you possibly do to yourself by eating non-organic/grassfed food for a few months until your wife gets back on to your feet? How’s your health right now? Have you gotten a blood test recently? What were your numbers like? Maybe it’s best to let that type of food slide a bit until things get more stable.
[quote]browndisaster wrote:
good luck and I hope the wife gets a new job soon
$200/week is absurd, I agree with giving up the expensive pasture food. I say eat carbs! I don’t see people getting big without moderate carb intake. Potatoes and rice are super cheap and are great sources of carbs. Also to save money I would really cut back on the meat, I used to get much of my protein from a high quality whey/casein/egg blend that you can get for < $10 a pound easily. Homeade greek yogurt is great as well, $3 for a gallon can’t be beat.[/quote]
Please post how to and recipe for homemade Greek Yogurt![/quote]
$3/gallon is darn cheap.
Right now I’m cutting out my 3rd solid meal, but keeping 3 of my shakes (that accounts for the majority of my protein, so I don’t really want to increase protein powder anymore.
[quote]yvanehtnioj wrote:
How much damage could you possibly do to yourself by eating non-organic/grassfed food for a few months until your wife gets back on to your feet? How’s your health right now? Have you gotten a blood test recently? What were your numbers like? Maybe it’s best to let that type of food slide a bit until things get more stable.[/quote]
My health is great, and my blood work was phenomenal. That said, buying non-organic produce I can somewhat justify short-term, even bought some berries over the weekend and seeing as how they’re among the most sprayed.
As for the meat, it’s not all about how healthy it is for me, but it kind of sickens me to largely support CAFO’s… Granted, if I go out to a restaurant I’ll usually get a burger, but as far as buying beef, eggs and bacon at home I really don’t want to sacrifice quality for quantity.
Why are you making plans around your wife not having a job? Is she not getting another one? Maybe a temporary job in another field? If her previous job was the type that requires any sort of qualifications, it won’t be hard for her to find a part time job to get by until she can get back into her desired field. Sorry if that sounds harsh, I don’t mean it to be. That’s just my first instinct.
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
Why are you making plans around your wife not having a job? Is she not getting another one? Maybe a temporary job in another field? If her previous job was the type that requires any sort of qualifications, it won’t be hard for her to find a part time job to get by until she can get back into her desired field. Sorry if that sounds harsh, I don’t mean it to be. That’s just my first instinct.[/quote]
Fair point. I’ve never been in this situation before though, and finances are my #1 stressor even before, let alone now. Just kind of scary, since we just bought a house 1.5 yrs ago, were just about to pay off our last credit card from some chemo/vet bills.
Seeing as how a PT or even FT job would most likely be a lot less pay, still want to be prepared.
Having been in the “lost my job” situation a couple times in my life, I highly suggest setting up a good 6+ month emergency fund when you can, based around your ACTUAL monthly spending. That will definitely make a situation like this go smoother in the future. Obviously now is too late, so I won’t talk any more about that. Just, when you can, make it top priority.
As far as foods, eggs and rice are pretty much your cheapest options, and you can get healthier versions of both. Especially since you’re already taking a good multivitamin, you can pretty much live off those two. Dairy is an ok, but significantly more expensive option.
For a cheap cooking fat, you can always render beef suet into tallow. It’s pretty much flavorless, and definitely cheaper than most other options; and assuming you get suet from good beef, it’s pretty healthy. I’ve never cooked eggs in it, but for cooking other stuff it’s been fine.
[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
What I’m wondering is if anyone has run into financial hardship while trying to gain size and what did you do?[/quote]
Powdered milk. Mix it over-strong. I think it’s $16 for 8lbs.
Bagged tuna (like tuna in a can, but a plastic bag).
Buy whole chickens and eat the things. Or raise and kill them yourself, like I did growing up. Conversation piece to have chickens in the back yard, anyway.
[quote]LoRez wrote:
Having been in the “lost my job” situation a couple times in my life, I highly suggest setting up a good 6+ month emergency fund when you can, based around your ACTUAL monthly spending. That will definitely make a situation like this go smoother in the future. Obviously now is too late, so I won’t talk any more about that. Just, when you can, make it top priority.
As far as foods, eggs and rice are pretty much your cheapest options, and you can get healthier versions of both. Especially since you’re already taking a good multivitamin, you can pretty much live off those two. Dairy is an ok, but significantly more expensive option.
For a cheap cooking fat, you can always render beef suet into tallow. It’s pretty much flavorless, and definitely cheaper than most other options; and assuming you get suet from good beef, it’s pretty healthy. I’ve never cooked eggs in it, but for cooking other stuff it’s been fine.[/quote]
Saving 6-months expenses is super tough, not saying it can’t be done, but I can’t imagine how long it would take to sock away that much money. That said, in the past year we’ve been busy paying off some debt from vet bills, so that’s hurt our savings quite a bit. Plus our student loan debt is crazy, @65% of our mortgage. If it wasn’t for that shit.
[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
What I’m wondering is if anyone has run into financial hardship while trying to gain size and what did you do?[/quote]
Powdered milk. Mix it over-strong. I think it’s $16 for 8lbs.
Bagged tuna (like tuna in a can, but a plastic bag).
Buy whole chickens and eat the things. Or raise and kill them yourself, like I did growing up. Conversation piece to have chickens in the back yard, anyway.[/quote]
We’ve bought whole chickens, and for what we get out of it, I don’t see it being that big of a savings. We’ve been doing thighs lately anyways prior to this situation and that seems rather economical.
What does normal chicken cost these days?
Pastured thighs are $5.29/lb here and a whole (small) one is about $4/lb
About 15 minutes of walking into my mom’s chicken coop, grabbing a chicken, stapping its neck, letting it run around for a bit, then hanging up and pulling out the feathers.