Budget Guide to Losing Weight
I spent most of the first 30 years of my life fighting and losing the battle of the bulge, but now I’ve taken control of my health, dropped a few pant sizes and am well on my way to achieving my optimum weight and body mass index. And I’ve done it all without spending a dime. Here’s what my budget guide to losing weight looks like:
When it comes to meat we choose lean cuts of beef and pork, and we take the skin off of chicken if skinless isn’t available. There’s usually a sale on some type of meat so we’ll often stock up on whatever is available, freezing what we can’t use right away. As a general rule we try to obey the “red meat once a week” rule, choosing chicken, fish and even vegetarian meals as often as we can, which tend to be cheaper to prepare.
In addition to fruits and vegetables and meat we also save money by limiting the amount of snack foods we keep in the house – a couple of bags of rice cakes and low-fat tortilla chips with salsa provide us with more than enough “junk food” to satisfy our cravings.
Since we live in the country we also have access to the best and cheapest source of food of all – our garden. We grow everything from potatoes to cucumbers to watermelons, all pesticide-free and fresher than anything that can be found at the grocery store. Anyone looking to lose weight should consider growing at least some of their own food, even if it’s just in pots on an apartment balcony.
Walking is the ultimate in free exercise. It does not cost a thing. Yes, new shoes might have been nice, but I walked in everything from work boots with holes in them to worn out sneakers to a pair of $50 dress shoes and my feet and ankles survived just fine. Excuses like “I don’t have proper walking shoes” and “It’s snowing like crazy out there” weren’t allowed to see the light of day.
I don’t walk any more, but I’m still losing weight, because my daily walk has now been replaced with other physical activities around our property (like tending to the aforementioned garden). It’s not what you do to get active it’s that you make the effort to get active in the first place that really counts.
Grocery shopping
Healthy eating starts with regular grocery shopping. We go once a week. At the store we look for sales, coupons and other discounts, so that when a healthy alternative like brown rice or whole wheat pasta goes on sale we can stock up on it. Fruits and vegetables are always the first things we get, and we make sure that we’ve always got a variety of fresh veggies and produce in the house (though we also have frozen fruits and vegetables on hand as well).When it comes to meat we choose lean cuts of beef and pork, and we take the skin off of chicken if skinless isn’t available. There’s usually a sale on some type of meat so we’ll often stock up on whatever is available, freezing what we can’t use right away. As a general rule we try to obey the “red meat once a week” rule, choosing chicken, fish and even vegetarian meals as often as we can, which tend to be cheaper to prepare.
In addition to fruits and vegetables and meat we also save money by limiting the amount of snack foods we keep in the house – a couple of bags of rice cakes and low-fat tortilla chips with salsa provide us with more than enough “junk food” to satisfy our cravings.
Since we live in the country we also have access to the best and cheapest source of food of all – our garden. We grow everything from potatoes to cucumbers to watermelons, all pesticide-free and fresher than anything that can be found at the grocery store. Anyone looking to lose weight should consider growing at least some of their own food, even if it’s just in pots on an apartment balcony.
Staying active
Soon after my wife and I moved into our new home I began going for a walk every day. Not too far, not too fast, but every day I went a little further, until I was able to go a respectable distance down our road and back. Once I had established my route I worked on completing it in less and less time, and I went out every day, no matter how cold or unforgiving the weather.Walking is the ultimate in free exercise. It does not cost a thing. Yes, new shoes might have been nice, but I walked in everything from work boots with holes in them to worn out sneakers to a pair of $50 dress shoes and my feet and ankles survived just fine. Excuses like “I don’t have proper walking shoes” and “It’s snowing like crazy out there” weren’t allowed to see the light of day.
I don’t walk any more, but I’m still losing weight, because my daily walk has now been replaced with other physical activities around our property (like tending to the aforementioned garden). It’s not what you do to get active it’s that you make the effort to get active in the first place that really counts.
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