Battle of the Bulge on a Budget: Part 2

As I promised 2 weeks ago, I would like to talk more about how to be fit and lose weight on a budget. For better or for worse, I am talking to myself as well! Some of the things I have done this past couple of weeks include: trying green smoothies and reading a great book: Love to Eat, Hate to Eat. I've also started incorporating regular exercise back into my routine, thanks to the fact that my wonderful husband, Daniel is staying at home with our daughter (for the next 2 months until we go to Papua New Guinea).

I won't talk too much more about the Green Smoothies right now because I had to take a week off from them due to our trip to Arizona. Breakfasts were provided for us in our trailer and lunch/dinner were with missionary families. We pretty much ate what they served us (and we had lots of good food!;)

I do want to talk about the great book I checked out from our church library, Love to Eat, Hate to Eat (by Elyse Fitzpatrick). It is an excellent book that talks about the scriptural reasons we don' t eat as we should. It also discusses Biblical solutions for our sinful eating habits. Having sinful eating habits is not something most of us like to think about. That makes me uncomfortable, but in a positive way. I not only do not eat with a thankful heart, but I hold food up as an idol of sorts. This occurs when I eat more than I should or for the wrong reasons. Check out this book!

The last area I want to touch on is exercise. I have an advantage in that I actually like to exercise. I even have enjoyed running on occasion in the past. Running hasn't been a common occurence for over a year now though due to pregnancy and a C-section recovery, but I fully intend to start again soon. The thing I love about running (or jogging) is that it gives you so much "bang for your buck". You get a good workout in a short amount of time and all for the cost of a pair of good running shoes. No special equipment required. Seriously, its addicting! I hated it until I took a class on jogging in college. We had to jog every day for a grade. At first, it was torturous. After a while, I began to look forward to it. Now I love the feeling a good workout provides. Try it!

My husband has agreed to wait on taking our daughter out on a walk until I get home from work everyday so I can benefit from the exercise too. So far it has been a great way to spend time as a family and get that much needed exercise. I think exercise can be such a tough thing for new moms in particular to get a handle on since we have a little one tagging along. Exercise videos are a great option that MomAdvice.com talked about yesterday.

All that said, how is my personal "battle of the buldge" going? Although I don't have any tangible results yet, I feel like its going well. I have incorporated more veggies/fruits into my diet with the green smoothie inspiration and have increased my exercise. Some setbacks have been the week with little control over what I ate and starting back to work full-time and the stress that goes with that. But overall, things are moving in the right direction;)

How do you maintain health or "battle the buldge" on a budget?