Guest post by Zoe Price
Contrary to what the big gyms and fitness centres might be telling you, you do not necessarily need to spend money on expensive gym memberships to lose weight and get back into shape. This is not to say that they do not work, because they most certainly do, provided that the programme is efficient enough. What they do not tell us, however, is the fact that we can lose weight without necessarily having to spend all our money on expensive diets, plans and programmes.
Losing weight on a budget is not just possible, but it can also be surprisingly easy as well. Of course, that easy part only applies to those who actually know how to go about it. By the time you are done reading the set of tips we have for you, rest assured that you too will have a decent idea regarding how to lose weight on a strict budget.
Why Do People Believe that Losing Weight is Expensive?
Thanks to massive marketing efforts by various different types of companies associated with the fitness industry, it has been embedded in our minds that fitness is an expensive hobby to maintain by default. This is not true of course, although there are a few exceptions. For example, if you are trying to pursue bodybuilding, it is going to be expensive and there’s no way around it. However, if you are looking to lose weight and stay in shape, such objectives can be achieved with surprising affordability. In fact, you could also put on a few pounds of lean muscle as well, without having to spend excessive amounts of money on maintaining your diet and gym routine.
Isn’t Healthy Food More Expensive?
The fact that healthy food is more expensive than junk food happens to be a myth that most of us believe in. The confusion stems from the fact that healthy food is indeed more expensive at restaurants, diners and hotels that serve them, as opposed to junk food stations. On the other hand, if you buy your food from the market and cook it yourself at home, it’s always going to be a lot more cost-efficient and a lot healthier than outside food.
The bottom line is, if you wish to maintain a healthy diet, you really need to learn how to cook. No expertise necessary – just learn about the basics of healthy cooking and you should be able to save money and your health simultaneously. It’s also a good excuse to pick up on one of the most essential life skills.
Why Losing Weight on a Budget is Easier than People Believe
If we let go of our preconceived notions regarding weight loss diets and programmes, only to think about it from a scientific angle, it is not difficult to understand why losing weight on a budget is not only possible, but quite intuitive as well. Quite simply put, in order to stop gaining weight and lose the excess weight that’s already there, two processes must be initiated one after the other, and preferably, at the same time later on:
- The consumption of calories must be sustainably reduced in comparison to the individual’s previous rate of calorie consumption per day
- The number of calories burned every day must be more than the number of calories consumed per day
Financially, it should actually end up costing you less money to lose weight, since your calorie consumption rate will be a lot lower than before. You will be saving money and losing weight at the same time by avoiding junk food and binge drinking.
Should You Go Hungry Then?
There is a process of rapid and healthy weight loss called intermittent fasting, but it works only as long as you do not confuse fasting with starving. The idea of intermittent fasting works on a few key disciplines, and one of them is the 16/8 method. The 16/8 method is fairly simple and can be explained follows:
- Eat 2-4 meals within a period of 8-10 hours
- Fast for 14-16 hours of the remaining day
- Include 7-8 hours of sleep time within the fasting period to make it easier and more productive
- It should last for 7 days at least
Note that there are various other versions of intermittent fasting programmes as well, but the 16/8 rule is the simplest and arguably the most effective one. Irrespective of the programme though, going without eating for long stretches of time can feel like starving and can have negative impacts on your mental and physical health. Your goal is to lose weight, not weaken your body by starving it, so that’s exactly where weight loss shakes prove to be so crucial.
The Crucial Role of Weight Loss Shakes
A good weight loss shake works on the principle of keeping the individual full for longer periods of time, which ensures that they are less likely to break their diet and eat junk food in between to satiate their hunger pangs. In other words, weight loss shakes take away the very reason why we are often unable to lose weight by staying true to a weight loss programme.
For example, if you consider weight loss shakes from the range at Shake That Weight, every glass can supply your body with between 130-200 calories of casein, whey protein isolate, essential amino acids, vitamins, calcium and various other essential nutrients. These will keep your hunger at bay for multiple hours at a stretch, given that each glass takes roughly 4 hours to be digested. The slow digestion process makes intermittent fasting so much easier, and keeps you full for longer in general, whether you are fasting intermittently or not.
Working Out without an Expensive Gym Membership
Our bodies do not care where we workout, so you can skip expensive gym memberships and still lose weight. In fact, avoiding crowded gyms might be the safer option in light of everything that’s going on around us in the world. Instead, consider these few cheaper, safer and highly effective ideas for weight loss at home:
- Find an online programme to help you – these cost a fraction of what a real personal trainer would charge
- Combine weight training with at-home HIIT training for maximum weight loss
- Run in the park or a natural trail near your home – you don’t necessarily need to buy a treadmill
- Invest in adjustable, high quality weights and rods, instead of buying fixed weight dumbbells and barbells for maximum value
- Use your weight loss shakes intelligently to keep the calorie consumption count lower than the number of burned calories
- Invest in a good fitness band to keep track of your own exercise data and share it with your online trainer
As promised in the intro, readers should have a fairly decent idea regarding how to lose weight without breaking the bank by now. The best part is, there really is a lot more information out there that you can find and follow quite easily, thanks to YouTube, fitness forums and the internet in general. Just get started with a programme and stay on it for three months to see significant results. Ensure that it’s a proven programme while choosing, but don’t be hesitant about changing things up in case the results at the end of those three months are not what you expected.
