For many people, the New Year means a new resolution to get fit and healthy. I know I personally have a goal to eat less fast food this year and utilize my new Wii Fit that I got for Christmas to tone up a bit.
Losing weight and getting healthy need not entail spending a lot of money though! Check out these great tips submitted by Cheryl at Swap Savers.
Cook your own meals – The only way to truly know the calorie content of what you eat is to prepare the meals yourself. By cooking your own meals you can substitute for less fattening or lower calorie choices when necessary. Most recipes list calories, fat grams and other useful information to help you keep track of your daily intake. When you eat at restaurants or fast food places you eat more calories and fat grams since the portions are typically larger then what you would have at home. Furthermore, it is difficult to keep track of calories or fat gram intake. Cooking at home is significantly less expensive then eating at restaurants or fast food places.
Drink Water – Tap water is free and free of calories. If you were to only drink water for a week you could probably save at least $20 or more depending on your current drinking choices. Most drinks contain 200 calories or more, whereas drinking water has zero calories. Water has numerous health benefits. By drinking water you eat less since people tend to think they are hungry when they really need water. Water helps your body to break down fat which increases fat loss.
Turn off the TV – If you eat meals while watching TV, you are often unaware of how much you eat. Research by Eliot Blass found, people eat between 31 and 74 percent more calories while watching TV. Most people watching TV are motionless which burns few calories. In terms of energy consumption, watching TV will cost you about $100 per year in your electric bill and your cable bill about $600 per year.
Workout with a friend – Working out with a friend will help you stay motivated and provides extra support or new ideas to keep your workouts interesting. You can carpool with your friend to the gym to save on gas.
Swap Savers is a social network for frugal folks who love freebies, coupons & rewards. Check it out!
Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and/or get fit? How do you plan on going about it without spending a lot of money to do so?
jsprik
great tips!! so true to about serving sizes and also fat and calories!! you’d think they are trying to make us fat!! ;) great blog you’ve got here!! stop by and visit me sometime!! take care!!
jsprik´s last blog post..Menu Planning Monday!!
Victoria
The Wii Fit is wonderful! A word of caution: Don’t be fooled by how fun & easy the workout seems (the beauty of this program). You will be sore later. My husband underestimated his workout & pulled his back after two: one hour-long sessions on the Wii. ;)
Bonnie
I used thedailyplate.com last July and August to track calories while I tried to lose some weight and it helped a lot. For it being a free website to use, it has a ton of information. It will track your daily calories and tell you how many to strive for based on your current stats and goals. It seems painstaking to enter everything that you eat in a day, but it helps you realize what you are eating and after awhile you don’t even have to enter it all in, you will learn the calories in the foods that you eat most and start to do it mentally every time you eat. I lost 20 lbs in 7 weeks and kept it off until the holidays but even then I only gained 6 back. I will be working on those six in the coming weeks!!!
Libby
AMEN! I’ve thought this very often. We have a pretty healthy lifestyle as we dno’t eat out much, don’t drink soda, and barely ever watch TV. It is amazing that getting one thing in your life in order helps us get the other things in order too!
Libby´s last blog post..Remember when?
Maya Andrews
I have been doing a workout video (biggest Loser) with a friend M,W,F each week. I try to do it on my own the days she doen’t come. Did today :( cause I was cleaning for company.
Maya Andrews
oopps I did NOT do it today! My computer is running odd and not entering all I type!
Mary
I am watching my portions and counting calories. I don’t have a wi but I walk most mornings.
Alexis
I’ve started walking with a group of friends and we don’t count on everyone every night…just who ever show up. We laugh and we walk and we aren’t meeting at a restaurant where we’ll spend money and eat junk!
Alexis´s last blog post..Using My Voice
Timothy Sternberg
The Wii Fit is wonderful!
Jenn
I plan to get the girls outside in the stroller as soon as the weather gets a little warmer, but for now we’ll continue to visit the mall. If it weren’t for our unwieldy double stroller I’d probably go into more stores, though, so that actually helps us save money I guess!
Jenn´s last blog post..Free Bottle of Suave Shampoo
YAboo
I started last year, eating as much fresh fruits and vegetables as possible. This year my resolution is to try a new fruit or veg, each month. For Jan, we tried the spagetti squash… really didn’t have a flavor, but did add a crunch. I tried it as spagetti the first night, used left overs in taco salad the next night, and in a chef salad the third night. I find I want more of it now… but I need to find a new item for feb. now…
This does save money in a way, and it is expanding my knowledge of food items I may never have tried before.
Being out of work though, I notice I am just eating all day long and am gaining weight not loosing it… going to have to step up my exercise I guess. I do 30 min yoga, 1 mile on gazelle, 20 sit ups on ball.
dubturbo
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