Some of you may remember that in June I proclaimed that July would be health and fitness month. That clearly never came to fruition. Part of that is laziness and busyness, but the majority of the reason was financial. This summer is so jam packed with plans (and unexpected car repairs) that our finances are a little strained to cover everything.
I really want to have a healthy lifestyle and eat real, healthy, food. But eating the best quality food possible is an investment. An investment I think is totally worth making, but at the moment I'm resorting to buying the cheap non perishables to stock my kitchen because there just isn't money to invest.
So I guess this is a request to anyone reading: What suggestions do you have for getting fit in ways that fit into a busy, tight-budgeted, lifestyle?
In reality I know what sorts of things to eat for health and weight loss and I have a fitness center a short walk from my apartment which is free. The knowledge of how to be healthy is in my head thanks to parents who've always been "health nuts," but I just can't seem to get a routine going. I need some practical advice from other experiences about how you got over the "hump" of being out of shape, tired, busy, and broke. I'm so exhausted all the time, and I know this is due to my lack of activity and eating habits, but it makes it kind of hard to get motivated to exercise or do a lot of planning/prep for meals. I feel like I need to trick my body into exercising by doing things outside or playing a sport but I also probably need something I can do on my own as well.
So help me out.
What are some easy inexpensive quick meals and snacks that are healthy and will be easy to fit into the busyness of our summer?
What are ways to get active or motivated for exercise that have worked for you?
Salad, techno music, and tracking progress visually on a piece of paper.
ReplyDeleteDo you and JP cook? I bought 2 low fat vegetarian cookbooks that are awesome, 'cause I can pretty much choose anything in them and it'll be pretty healthy. Plus, I've realized that not eating meat (or just eating it less frequently, in Kit's case) is WAY cheaper- and most of the time healthier too. We've figured out that if we look over our schedules and set a menu at the beginning of the week, we can plan meals that have some same ingredients (buying in bulk=cheaper), make sure we have the right # of meals (leftovers=cheap), and that also motivates us to cook because we've planned the meals and we look forward to cooking them together... That helps with the "I'm tired let's just go out" disease too. Hope this helps!
ReplyDeleteCheck out Leanne Ely... www.savingdinner.com
ReplyDeleteShe does weekly menus/planners (try some out for free, and I actually have some I'll email to you if you email me and ask!) which are healthy (she's a nutritionist, and I'm a doctor and agree with most everything she posts) and use everyday types of ingredients.
I think planning, planning, planning is key, as is having a teammate to help keep you on track!
Plan meals, plan to shop when there are sales (bulk shop and freeze in portion sizes!), plan your workouts so there's no excuse...if I can do it, anyone can! I was the EPITOME of broke, tired, emotionally and physically drained, and this is exactly how I got out of it. That, and a fabulous teammate (my bf)...we keep each other on track.
Our go-to meal is chicken and rice, with a salad...chicken breasts are always $1.88/pound at Walmart (which is the devil, but the cheapest), and we buy the brown rice Success rice in a pouch at 4 for $2, and romaine hearts at Costco at 6 for $4 I think, and simply put some bacon bits (the real kind from Costco--it's a splurge) and shredded cheese on the salad, with homemade vinaigrette (3 parts olive oil to 1 part balsamic vinegar, little garlic salt and pepper thrown in, mix and voila!). Easy, and no thought required! Of course, one night might be BBQ chicken, another white wine sauce, garlic, herbed, etc. So many variations!
Sorry so long of a comment, but I've made some major diet, body, health changes over the past several months that I'm really excited about!