Frugal Weight Loss Update 215

Since my last update on my weight loss update on June 29th, I’m down another 5 pounds to 215.

I wanted to be down more, but summer got in the way a bit and I’ve been relaxing on the diet restrictions (but just a little).

By the end of this month, I’m going through a quickening process where I’m in a desperate attempt to lose and additional 5 pounds, which would bring my weight to 210! I think once I get into the range of 205 to 210, I’m going to start lifting weight to tone my muscles all while still sticking to my frugal weight loss plan!

So I’m down 35 pounds, while that’s nice, technically I’m still considered obese. I think if you would meet me person to person, I don’t think you’d think I was obese. Shoot this past weekend, I was doing both front and back flips off of a low diving board that doesn’t have a lot of spring to it. I doubt that a person who is really obese could do such a feat (especially the back flips). But an average is an average, so my goal is to get into the plain old “fat” range. My hope is once I get into the fat range, I’ll looks as thin in the waistline as someone who hasn’t worked out with weights in the past.

What I especially like about this diet is that even though I’m eating more expensive foods, I’m eating less of them and they are much healthier.

Once I get to either 210 or 200 pounds, I’m going to do an analysis of my diet and reexamine my weight loss plans from that point on. Most likely I’m make adjustments to my frugal weight loss plan, but in a health oriented beneficial way. I might even create a website so that other can follow such a plan. This is definitely a life plan for me from this point out.

Bests,

Don

Getting Paid To Lose Weight?

by Money Reasons

I’m out of shape and I need to lose weight!

Traditional Paths To Lose Weight

I’m out of shape, there, I said it with only a tear in the corner of my eye. In the past, I would go searching for a gym membership at some fitness club. The pricing for the fitness clubs that I could afford would range from $40 to over $90 a month. The of course you could always hire a personal fitness trainer (but this is definitely something that I couldn’t afford). Finally at the uber-high end of paying for fitness you could buy membership to a country club. I would faint if I told you the pricing for this luxury (some are over $20,000 per year)!

Now to be fair, there are perks in joining fitness clubs and country clubs that go beyond the goal of losing weight and becoming more healthy. Socialization is one such goal, Prestige (or bragging rights) is another. For someone at my level of income, I can’t afford such luxuries.

Cheap Ways to Lose Weight

Over time, I learned that there are cheaper, although not as exciting way to lose weight. Below is a quick list of some of the easy ways to be healthy both physically without spending a ton of cash:

Purchase a weight bench and weights or some other piece of proven fitness equipment (and use it!).
Exercising to morning fitness programs on TV.
Take strolls around the neighborhood at night (of course you need to live in a safe area and go with a buddy).
Calisthenics – pushups, situps, leg squats combined with a sensible diet works wonders really!.
Mowing the lawn.
Taking the dog on walks (good for the dog and you, of course you need to have a dog…)

The methods above are things I’ll be doing in addition to the next topic below!

Getting Paid To Lose Weight

I’m not talking about getting huge, then going on some diet losing half your body weight (blob to babe) kind of deal…

My idea is to find ways to get paid while losing weight, it’s that simple! So let’s say that you have a buddy that has a law mowing business. You should talk to him and see if he has work for a few hours to five hours per week that you could get paid for. Of course you would have to be reliable and stick to it for at least a year. This approach could be a win-win for both you and your buddy.

Another approach would be to make videos about it and post them on youtube. Of course you would have to be entertaining… Perhaps while doing your video you can dress up as something silly (like Fred, nuff said!). This approach is a long shot, but it could be a lot of fun to do in the process!

Oh, one finally point on getting paid to lose weight, if you do find a way to make money while losing weight, use the money for something that rewards you for doing so (I’m not talking about buying ice cream either)! I mean something like a small vacation after a few months of losing weight work, or maybe a small shopping trip to the store, or paying down extra on your debt… Make the money gained by losing weight targeted to something fun or rewarding!

Thinking to Lose Weight

The point of this article is that you don’t have to let the past define the technique you use! You can think outside of the box on this and come up with entirely new ways to make fitness work for you! You might even come up with a system that is so much fun that you can market your idea and become rich (Zumba comes to mind)!

So today, I’m officially back on the weight lose wagon and I want to make a little money (or at least do it cheaply) while doing so!

Losing Weight the Frugal Way

by Money Reasons

To lose weight the frugal way is to simple eat less and consume food that are cheaper but still hold nutritional value.

I’m tired of yo-yo diets, and intense workouts that I eventually get tired of and quit. I knew this at the beginning of the year, but I haven’t found an acceptable substitute until now.

So what is my new magic bullet for losing weight? Adopting a more frugal lifestyle. I’m going to set a money limit for how much I can spend a day for food, and stick to that number!

For a month, I’m going to use 2 dollars for breakfast, 3 dollars for lunch, and 5 dollars for dinner, so I’m not going to spend more than $10 a day. The idea is to come in below $10, not to meet that number everyday! In fact, I’m really hoping that I can get away with only $6.00 a day.

I plan in creating a journal (as I have in the past), but this time instead of just recording what I ate, I’m going to record the cost of what I ate and do a tally at the end of the day (or the next day) to determine if I met my less than $10 goal or not.

You might be wondering why just a month?

There have been studies that concluded that if you do a task/job or whatever for 21 days in a row, it become habit-forming. So after those 21 days, the task become part of your routine.

What will I do with the money saved from this new weight loss approach?

I’m going to channel the extra money into my “Dividend Stocks, Free Lunch Experiment #10“. The experiment has been repurposed to really provide a meal that I will cook for my family once a week on Thursdays. Previously, I was saving $40 a week to fund the experiment, but now I think I’ll jump the number up to $50 or $60 a week (depending on how well I do with my calculations above).

What is different this time?

Previously, I had no really big motivator do lose weight, but now that I have a more concrete purpose to back the goal up, it become more rewarding! It’s also nice to start losing weight at the beginning of the month instead of on an off day. While not a huge reason, it does make the journal seem more legit. Another nice aspect is this process is now a win-win. I win because I will be losing weight and I win again because I will be saving money.