grocery prices..where a person shops, matters

That's a pretty good assumption there but prices have gone up quite a bit at Walmart in the last several years as well.

 

My breakfast some mornings if I am going into the office is a large coffee and a soft pretzel from a local Wawa

It was around 2.70 pre pandemic
Now 3.94

That is an average of a 10% increase per year

 

Smart financial management will mike life better for you years from now. Obviously you know that. Good work.

 

Of course. Prices have risen substantially everywhere. We are comparing to the prices at Walmart's competition.

 

I was fat and went on a reduced portion diet a couple of years ago on the recommendation of my doctor. I am now what most would consider of normal weight for my age and height. The weight loss was 85 lbs. My waist measurement reduced by 12 inches. I eat ice cream. Everything I eat is what I want to eat. I just eat less of it. If I want ice cream I serve 1 scoop. Hamburger? Eat half and save the other half for a future meal or, like I do, size your hamburgers to fit on an English muffin. Pizza? Apple pie? Sure but in moderation. I cook from scratch to avoid processed ingredients and that helps too.

I think the diets that involve calorie counting, special foods or, worse, chemicals don't work in the long run because people don't want to eat that way. They hit some goal and go back to their prior diet. My breakfast this morning was a half avocado filled with an egg, cooked in the air fryer and topped with grated cheddar cheese and a little home made ranch dressing. Along with that I had one strip of bacon and one piece of buttered french bread toast. It was a tasty and satisfying meal and moderate enough to prevent any weight gain. I stopped being hungry after the first couple of months. My metabolism adjusted to the smaller portions. Don't starve yourself. Your metabolism will slow down to compensate and make weight loss even harder. Just eat with moderation. Lose the weight slowly and steadily. It takes time. No better way.

Now I can walk further without pain because my worn out hips don't have to move so much weight. I used to have to recover from climbing a flight of stairs. Now I can scamper up them. My dry eye problem went away. All sorts of pains and discomfort moved to the past. I wish I had done this decades ago.

 

What's done is done. Focus on the fact that you DID do it and are no reaping the benefits from it. Kudos for doing it and for realizing moderation is a key factor.

 

I agree about diets. Effects are temporary. You're doing it right.

 

The prices in those stores are 30% - 40% higher than they were!

 

Walmart and similar are cheaper because they're trying to drive the competition out of business. They won't stay cheaper once they succeed and can dictate prices. Better in the long term to shop local. Prices are higher, but more of the money you spend goes back into your own community instead of the portfolios of international stockholders, and competition will keep future prices from skyrocketing.

 

People have been saying that about Walmart for 40 years. Hasn't happened yet.

 

Its been happening.

Walmart Closes Stores, Leaving Small Towns with No Groceries | Money

The only problem is Amazon started doing to Walmart what Walmart did to local stores across the US. But since Amazon doesnt (much) deal in groceries, it led to a lot of the 'food deserts' people complain about in more rural areas where Walmart killed the local grocers before being killed by Amazon and suddenly there was nowhere to buy groceries, ...and no one with the capital to build grocery stores because they'd been working for minimum wage at Walmart.

 

the mom and pop retailers have mostly closed down..

small town America is littered with dollar generals and other such discount stores

during the winter I live with walking distance of 3 markets in a large city on the east coast

2 are russian owned..english is not spoken in either store ..only russian. they have great vegetables and meats
the sausage there are great,...expensive, but it is made in poland ..nothing is better than real polish sausage
due to the lack of English speakers and the demeanor of the russians,I rarely shop there
Russians are not friendly and seldom make eye contact.seldom to they say hellpmor hive a nog hello
the items in both stores are VERY expensive...prices are much higher than the publix a mile away

the other store is latin,,,some english is spoken...vegetables are ok and the meat only so-so
but also higher prices than the publix ..
but the latin/spanish people always make eye contact and are friendly and attempt to speak English

during the summer I am on the west coast and most local markets are Asian owned.
I enjoy asian food immensely..but no way could I prepare it myself..

 

Ya, shop where u can.

I've lived in my small town for 15 years, and all those 15 years we've had a local market within reasonable walking distance of all 1500 of our residents. Its run by a Korean guy who barely speaks english. But he owns it, lives here, his family is part of the community, and if you ask (no one does...), he'll try to get something that he doesnt currently carry. A few years ago Dollar General moved in. Its a little bit out of town closer to the freeway and about twice as far of a walk on average as the local market, but it has a bigger selection and slightly lower prices. I'm continually surprised at the amount of people who drive past the local market they couyldve walked to, to go to the dollar general to buy things the local market probably has. Apparently they don't understand that the dollar general will raise their prices and neglect their inventory once they run our local market out of business.

 

Try harder. Your source speculates that would or could happen simply because Walmart made an announcement a week earlier it was closing stores.

 

Walmart prices are lower because they buy well and have an expense structure that provides a profit at lower prices than others can manage. Being less expensive than other stores has been the business model for Walmart since its foundation and will continue into the future. Personally I only shop in stores for food and small hardware items. I use the internet for most of my shopping including Walmart.com. I compete against Walmart on line and have no problems because I have an even lower expense structure. Shop where you like. Let others do the same.

 

I'm doing it the way the doctor recommended. The idea isn't to lose weight as quickly as possible and then congratulate yourself for hitting a goal weight. The idea is to change the total approach to eating. Reduced portion diet is difficult at first because of the hunger. That goes away in time as the body adjusts to the smaller portions. After that it is normal. You just need the discipline to get through the first couple of months and then you need to stick to your guns. It doesn't cost anything and you can eat what you like instead of what some weight loss program thinks you should eat.

If you are in a hurry or unwilling to commit to lifelong changes in your eating behavior I believe you will fail. It took me a year and a half to lose the 85 lbs. It takes a while. Moderate the amount of everything you eat and stick to your guns. The results are definitely worth any inconvenience.

While diet is the main route to weight loss, exercise also helps and it healthy for you. In addition to operating a small business I am also a full time care giver for my wife who suffered a serious stroke. I'm busy. So busy I have to wedge sleep time into my schedule whenever I can. It is actually pretty good exercise for me. I do what I did, what my wife did and also take care of her full time. Busy.