Cheap ways to lose weight
If you plan to appoint a meeting with a private nutritionist, spend money on expensive gym sessions, or whatever else, you should reconsider. In this article, we’ll show the best tips on how to lose weight without blowing your budget.
If you can’t afford salmon every day, as well as expensive milkshakes or protein-rich foods, don’t worry since you can eat healthily and lose weight on a budget, too. You don’t even need to go to the gym and pay personal coaches to help you train.
Keep a food diary
A food journal is a significant first step to losing weight. Not only will it show you what you eat, but it can also help you understand how you eat, which is really important when it comes to long-term weight management.
For example, you may find that every afternoon, after a meeting, you attack the vending machine in your office, which may show that you eat in response to stress.
Just grab a spiral notebook and record everything you eat and drink for at least a week. The most crucial factor in keeping a compelling food diary is honesty.
You should record your ‘likes’ as well as any unexpected indulgences (for example, a free donut at this morning’s conference). Many of us eat and drink without really being aware of it. Keeping a food diary is the only way to get an accurate picture of what your body is eating.
Learn to read nutritional labels
The next step to get fit on a budget is educating yourself on how to read nutritional labels.
These labels on packaged foods appear under the heading ‘Nutritional Information’ on a rectangular box. They include information on the amount per serving of fat and calories and saturated fat, cholesterol, dietary fiber, and other important nutritional information.
Some of the critical areas of a nutrition label are ‘serving size’ and ‘servings per container,’ or similar. If you decide to start tracking your daily calorie intake, you should take this information into account. Only by serving size can you accurately assess the number of calories you consume from food or drink.
For example, the label on the bag of potato chips says they have 160 calories per serving. Unless you take note of the fact that 14 potatoes constitute a serving, you cannot assume the number of potatoes that can fit in a pack.
When you know it, you will know that a bowl has much more than 14 potatoes, and therefore the calories are much more than 160. The idea is not that you go crazy counting calories, but that you use this information to your advantage. So you can eat everything, even in small portions.
Measure your servings
To lose weight on budget, portion control is also important. From now on, take a moment to look at the serving size on the nutritional label. Tomorrow morning at breakfast, pour your usual bowl of cereal without any measurement.
Next, check the nutritional label for the serving size and measure the amount with a measuring cup. Pour this part into another bowl. Compare the two servings. You will be surprised how much larger the portion you are used to eating is.
It may seem daunting at first to measure your food, but this is really the only way to get an idea of recommended servings. In addition, over time, you will have adapted to the standard portions and will be able to measure them by eye, without the scale.
By using smaller portions, everything you buy will last you longer. That box of cereal that used to last you 4 days is now going to last you a whole week. Therefore, portion control can save you a fair amount of cash in the long run.
Reduce the liquid calories in your diet
Cutting liquid calories from your diet is perhaps one of the easiest and ‘pain-free’ ways to lose weight without blowing your budget.
Once you start keeping a food diary, measuring portions, and tracking your calorie intake, you may be surprised by the number of calories you consume in the form of drinks. The good news is you won’t have to cut calories from many foods once you figure out how many liquid calories you can avoid.
And since your intention is to lose weight without spending money, consider this: buying fewer drinks can save you a lot of money in the long run (especially if these drinks contain alcohol).
Walk more
Don’t complain that you need to go to the gym to exercise. Walk to the office or the supermarket is also training. Not only are you doing an excellent cardiovascular exercise, but you will also be saving gas. Alternatively, you can take your old bike or skates out and use them.
The bottom line
These tips on how to lose weight without blowing your budget are just the beginning. In reality, the journey is much more challenging, and you should keep yourself motivated all the way towards your goal. Eat healthy foods, walk more, count calories, and you will lose weight without spending a fortune.
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