5 Ways to Becoming or Staying Fit on a Budget

Before I was pregnant with my son, I didn't move. I tried to make sure my weight didn't go out of control by watching not what I ate but how much of it, but I didn't exercise at all. After I gave birth, I changed my eating habits a bit due to breast feeding, but it wasn't until after I stopped, that I really cut out the crap.

You see, I was left with an out of proportion body. And I had two options. Plastic surgery, or moving my ass and reshaping by exercising. Well three. I could have left it as is and "accept it". Not sure I'd ever really would have learned to truly love me that way. Maybe. There's no way of telling now.


But now loving myself fully includes loving my body which absolutely includes, no demands, taking very good care of it. It just so happened that I approached the subject from the opposite angle. By exercising and moving I reconnected with my body, starting to love it and then keeping going was just a matter of honoring that love. Of course, sitting in front of the mirror and telling myself "That's it, enough of that crap, things are going to change now" and then moving on it is in itself an act of self love. Does that make sense?

Anyway, here are five simple things you can do to get into shape/healthier:


1. Body Weight Exercises

You literally need nothing but yourself to do these. Push-ups, Squats, Lunges, Planks, Crunches. There's like a gazillion options out there, tons of sites and videos and even full workout plans for a huge range of available time frames and difficulty.

I do some of these once or twice a week as supplemental training to my karate practice, as better muscles mean better performance, hence it helps my art.

Some Exercises can be found here: Round Up - If anyone knows of other good sources for body weight exercises or full workout, please share. I have some also on this pinterest board.


2. Running or Walking

Again, you need nothing but yourself. This is something I personally have no experience with because I admit, I dislike it. And from that perspective I must say again that it really is important to find a work out you like. For sticking with it, for battling that inner procrastinator and inner light-fader that wants to keep you small by telling you all kind of weird things about yourself. By the way: "You don't suck." Anyways, running or walking (the very dynamic sports kind of walking) is a cheap work out provided you don't need those fancy new running shoes.


3. Use stairs and walk

Whenever and wherever you have the opportunity, use the stairs instead of elevators and escalators. Don't use your car for short distances. Unless the weather is really shitty, I walk my son to school. That's 800m one way. Makes 3.2 km of extra movement on a normal day, twice when he has to go back in the afternoon. Walk here, walk there, it all adds up. And at the same time it helps the planet.

If you already have a bike, start using it more. Otherwise it might not be falling under "budget friendly"


4. Join a club/group

Look up a local association or group of like minded individuals. Not sure how things are where you live, but here every town has those non profit associations / clubs that offer sports practice once or twice a week. Most team sports are organized this way, but there are also those that offer for example athletics or gymnastics and they usually don't have very high fees.

Likewise, maybe there are groups that do walking, hiking, etc.


5. Eliminate Junk Food

I'm sure you've heard that one before as well. Cutting out (or very seriously reducing) junk and processed food will do heaps for your weight and overall health. When I started my "get in shape" mission, I stopped eating any packaged "brioches" & "merendine" you can buy here (they are little packaged snacks, mostly baked goods, the things you shouldn't put in your kids lunch boxes too often either) as well as pre-made meals including for example pasta sauce/gravy. And not only did it help me with the weight, it also helped me with some skin issues, fatigue, etc.



Wanting it

Haha. Of course. Only the burning desire to not be stuck with that post pregnancy body, only the burning desire for change is what got me where I am today. Somehow, I managed to hit on that magical combination that helped me combat resistance in all its forms. Resistance is evil. It'll sweatly whisper in your ear that you'll just start tomorrow. That skipping one time ain't no problem. Don't listen to it.

Not going to lie. The first six months of getting my behind moving where horrible. My whole body hurt. Resistance was constantly whining. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Every now and then I implemented another small change. I've talked here about how I prefer to take it one step a time. Now my life looks nothing like it did 5 years ago. So whatever you want to change, whatever direction you want to head in. Just start. Today. And keep going.


Have a wonderful day!

P.S. The pic is what happens in hotel rooms when I'm alone and bored and having too much energy. Yes I know, I have the best pics ever. They are raw, they are real... j/k