DH and I have had issues with our weight for a while now, though it's hard to understand how being poor allows you to overeat. We buy a lot of convenience foods: chips, cookies, taco bell, etc. These foods can be cheap, but eating healthy can be cheap too. I need to prove that to myself. I'm going to start a challenge for myself to improve my health. My clothes that fit are very limited. A month or so ago, I actually split my favorite pair of jeans when I bent over. I feel guilty buying bigger sizes because 1. they cost more, and 2. I'm throwing away the money I spent on the jeans that fit for maybe a month and haven't fit since. I will give myself a little bit of a break because I have hypothyroidism, but I am on medication for that. Here's how my challenge will go:

For every meal I eat healthy, I will add $0.25 to the pot.
For every snack I eat healthy (my worst vice), I will add $0.25 to the pot.
For every 15 minutes I exercise, I will add $0.25 to the pot.

I'm not rewarding myself for pounds lost, because that isn't always a sure thing. I am rewarding myself for making healthy choices, and hopefully will turn them into regular habits. At the end of each month, whatever my total is will be my limit for buying a new pair of jeans, shirt, underwear, whatever. If I am doing really well, I should be able to fit into smaller sizes and need new clothes as I'm doing this anyway. If I don't lose anything at the end of the month, I probably haven't been doing very well and won't have much to spend anyway. I currently have exactly 1 pair of jeans that fits well, and one pair that is about to not fit anymore. I have several shirts, that I hate, that were given as gifts years ago but were always too big, that now fit, but wearing them reminds me of that, and makes me feel mad at myself.

One big thing that motivated this was last weekend, I saw a shirt that I walked past everyday (I work in retail) that I wanted really badly. I loved the color, style, everything. However, it was $7, which seemed too high. I told DH about it and he said I was being stupid and I should just buy the shirt if I wanted it that bad. Well, I decided to try it on first.

I got the biggest size they had, an XL, went in the dressing room, and... it looked disgusting on me. It was way too small, I had to double check the label to make sure it wasn't a size small or medium. It was an XL and made me realize just how much weight I've gained. At my healthiest, I was 120 lbs. (when I started college), and now 5 years later I'm in the 170's. I'd like to lose 50 pounds. Anyway, I realize I've been rambling for a while, so I'm gonna get going so I can catch the bus in a few minutes anyway.