I know all of you have been waiting with baited breath to see if my frugal battle with weight loss and overall better health is actually working. After numerous slipups and re-tries, I am finally in a patterrn of overall healthy living (with wiggle room of course). The bathroom scale is finally making its move (slowly) too!
It seems that taking a frugal approach to losing weight (ie not using more budget money$$ to do so) can sometimes make the process slow, but as I have been told numerous times, "slow and steady wins the race". Weight lost and changes made quickly are much less likely to stick in the long run. Here are is what has helped the most so far:
1)Incorporating intentional fitness into the day (and early). Swimming and running have started to be a part of my new routine, but I can only work up the motivation if I do it first thing in the morning. Working out in the morning just seems to work out better for most people, including myself.
2) Cutting out desserts/sweets slowly. I talked earlier about dark chocolate and how it helps to moderate the amount of dessert I eat. Still works for me. I am slowly finding I do not have to eat a dessert after every meal. Part of this is taking the time to actually think before I go get something sweet. Last night I was heading for the kitchen to get hot chocolate and realized that I just needed a change in activity, not food. What a revelation for me!
3) Adding a green smoothie for an occasional mid-afternoon snack. I don't have one every day, but several times this week I have been amazed at how full and how much these slightly off-putting drinks reduce my cravings. Plus I never worry about hitting enough fruits veggies when I have one of these babies.
4)Using health/fitness related rewards for motivation. I love the idea of rewarding myself for "good behavior" in relation to my health/fitness/weightloss journey, but I have never found it to be very effective unless its tied to furthering those goals. The splurge approach doesn't work for me. Keeping things non-rigid makes for less need for scheduled rewards (like going out for icecream...which I love of course!). An example for me was getting a new swimsuit from Costco this week. This depends largely on a person's budget and what kinds of things they buy normally and would find motivating.
That is just a partial list, but Cheap Healthy Good has an article regarding a measured approach to lifestyle changes that I found interesting here.
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1 comment:
I did a post too on frugality and weight lost, come check it out. Good luck with your goals!
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