Fake It ‘Til You Make It

Woo! It’s been a while since I’ve visited.  I’ve been busy, though, what with one thing and another.

I thought of another July Cheapchievment that I forgot to mention.  When I got my new bookshelves, I got a new office chair at Staples, too.  It’s a nice chair, and comfy, so I bought it even though it wasn’t on sale or anything.  When I got home I looked it up at staples.com.  I’m not sure why I did that, but I’m glad I did.  It was $75.00 less online, and with free shipping! Yikes!  I printed out the page, and next day I went back to my local Staples and showed it to the Nice Young Man standing behind the Customer Service Counter (along with my receipt).  He is a Nice Young Man because he took a look, and gave me back $75.00 with no problem.  Yay!

The Fake It ‘Til You Make It part is inspired by Valerie Bertinelli and my own dieting efforts.  V.B. looks absolutely fabulous since sticking to Jenny Craig and losing 40 lbs.  (By the way, I read her book Losing It, and I really liked it.  Because I am nosy.  Hee hee, she’s a little rascal alright).   Anyway, it seems like Jenny Craig is a pretty good diet to try if you have trouble sticking to anything.  It can be a good way to stay on top of not eating too many calories in a day, but the problem is - it’s expensive!

So I thought this might be a good, semi-frugal, alternative: using coupons and scouring sale fliers, re-create this type of diet with frozen entrees.  I checked at the grocery store, and the “diet” offerings seem to range from about $1.22 (Michelina’s) to $2.88 (Lean Cuisine).  This was at Walmart, and the Lean Cuisines were on sale that day.  But there are also Smart One’s (Weight Watcher’s) and Healthy Choice.  One of those is always on sale.

They come in all kinds of things, and in breakfast, lunch and dinner (and dessert).  Since I’m not a dietician, I don’t know how healthy this is (so if you want to do this, PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.  I’M JUST A HOUSEWIFE FROM TEXAS!), but calorie-wise it seems like it would work (and no counting the little buggers, either).  Anyway, Healthy Choice must be pretty healthy, right?  Or how could they call it that?

It’s just an idea.  If I really got desperate and wanted to take the Jenny Craig plunge, this might be worth a try first.  Of course, eating what you already have in the house (bought on sale) in smaller portions, and counting your calories and weighing your food is the Frugallest.  But sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.  And I really sympathize with all who struggle with their weight because I have been there (actually, I am there), my friends.

Things seem to be going pretty well on the Wedding Diet front, so I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.  But it’s always good to have a Plan B.