How to Get Fit on Budget

You’ve undoubtedly heard the phrase: you are what you eat.

This, of course, is reference to those individuals who eat healthy and thus look and feel a certain way. Their bodies are tone, energy is high, and food choice smart.

The same can be said for how they exercise, too.

They’re packing that gym bag the night before, and hitting the weights or treadmill hard five or six days a week, making it part of a routine.

So if you are what you eat (and how you exercise), what happens if you don’t do either of those things well or at all?

Chances are you’re part of the masses who have staked their claim to want to work out and live a healthier lifestyle in 2018 (and beyond, at least that’s the hope).

But doing so often is met with restrictions and hurdles. The former would suggest that you have to regimen your food intake, be smarter with your food choices and make exercise a priority. Naturally, all of those could be lumped into the latter category as well, but exercise takes patience and dedication, too.

The truth is everyone knows how they’re supposed to eat, and in turn realizes the importance of exercise frequency and consistency, but one of those aforementioned hurdles tends to be more of a roadblock than you’d think.

Money.

In addition to time being first or second on the list of reasons you can’t exercise or eat right (hence, the drive thru being so convenient, of course), money plays a role in fitness and exercise more than you’d believe.

Getting fit and maintaining a budget almost seem like they’re be outstanding sparing partners: they battle each other tooth and nail for the utmost amount of your attention.

Based on how little the average person exercises, you can easily see how exercise and dieting should be at the top of your to do list.

A staggering 80 percent of the total population doesn’t exercise as much as it should, leaving only 20 percent who get ample exercise.^[1]

Given that exercising and eating right are linked to longevity, how can this not be a priority even if price may be a problem?

The fact remains that fitness and finances don’t have to butt heads consistently, because getting fit on a budget isn’t impossible. Rather, you need to look for ways to shift around your resources or find better exercise solutions that aren’t overly expensive, even if they’re not the top notch, gold standard so to speak of how you should be exercising or eating.

Exercising and dieting aren’t supposed to be quit fixes or fads, so even if you’re opting to engage in a fitness regimen, you have to be realistic with the results you expect.

On average, you lose about 1 to 2 pounds per week, and one pound equates to 3,500 calories needing trimmed off your diet.^[2]

Wouldn’t it stand to reason that you don’t have to spend a fortune just to eliminate, rather than add, to your caloric intake?

Losing weight and getting fit can be done, even if you don’t have an open checkbook, and here’s how to get healthy, well and in shape on a budget:

Cost Prohibitive: Joining Gym no Longer Huge Investment

You don’t have to do back too far to find a time when gym and health club memberships were expensive, almost feeling like a financial investment of epic proportions.

In 2010, the average cost of a gym membership was around $40 or $50 per month, roughly $800 per year when you add in the extra fees associated with joining.^[3]

That was only eight years ago, but a lot has changed in the fitness landscape that truthfully benefits the consumer thanks to a price war between competitors.

National chains have pushed out the local gyms and health clubs that would typically charge more due to higher overhead, such more staff to speak of or a lack of a marketplace that nearly a decade ago maybe only had 1 or 2 gyms to pick from in a 20 to 30 mile radius.

The addition of Planet Fitness and LA Fitness in terms of growth and lower cost club memberships has driven the price of a membership down significantly.

Planet Fitness is $10 a month, and the franchise is quick to use that price point to their advantage, but truthfully the chips are in your favor if you’re trying to get fit on a budget.

A $10 per month membership is a far cry from “throwing away” $50 or $60 a month years prior. Not only is it affordable, but Planet offers a quiet, demure environment devoid of intimidation and a simple approach to fitness: lots of cardio that everyone knows how to do and group fitness you can follow along with others at your fitness level.

Still not believing that a membership is in your favor, consider this: In 2016, 37 percent of gym goers paid between $21 and $50 per month for a membership, with more toward the lower end. A close second was 23 percent who paid between $1 and $20.^[4]

That’s why using money as an excuse for not joining a gym should fall on deaf ears, and isn’t viable in 2018.

Home Cheap-o: Why Online Videos Get You Fit for Next to Nothing

As much as the internet has afforded us with a plethora of nonsense, misinformation and those intent on their 15 (and longer, sadly) of fame, you can gain quite a bit fitness and financially speaking from the world wide web.

If you’re someone who wants to avoid paying for a membership (despite some clear cut points on how inexpensive it is), and like the idea of exercising in the comfort of your own home, why not go down the road of an old favorite.

The exercise video.

Studies show that people prefer working out at home, so why not double down and add a low or no-cost approach to that, and find a workout online. Roughly 77 percent of individuals polled between the ages of 24 and 44 prefer working out alone.^[5]

Granted, these aren’t the days of Jane Fonda or Sweating to the Oldies, when you’d pop in a VHS tape and load up on terry cloth head and wristbands.

No, the internet has afforded us You Tube and Google, so you can quickly and easily search out exercise videos that almost always are free of charge if you have the patience to find one that matches your budget: in this case, $0.

YouTube is a gold mine in this respect, with a massive amount of exercise channels that also include meal and diet plans delivered right into your living room or whichever room in the house you decide to use.

HASfit, for example, offers up 1,000 workout videos that you could describe as “full length,” and also incorporates 30 and 90 day meal plans.^[6]

Considering that a personal trainer or dietician would be a costly endeavor, you’d be hard pressed to find something comparable price wise.

The downside to at home exercise is that it’s often hard to stay motivated surrounded by distractions. When you’re at the gym, you’re there and can’t be pulled away from what you’re doing by homework from the kids, the laundry needing folded or dinner going upstairs.

Finding that motivation is key and mitigating distractions.

And if you’re considering home equipment, such as treadmills, ellipticals, etc., think again.

They’re expensive, and you’ll quit using them despite high hopes and early success. Studies show that 73 percent of individuals who have home equipment use it, but 12 percent end up quitting by the end of the year.^[7]

Stick to the videos online; they’re free and the variety is hard to beat.

Apps Galore: Fitness Apps Make Big Difference with Cost, Motivation

Fitness can be derailed by finances, clearly but time also is off the essence, too. One of the more common fitness objections is individuals suggesting they don’t have the time to workout; they’re simply too busy to exercise.

Whether it’s work, school, kids, grocery shopping or a second job, exercise isn’t made a priority. The inception of online videos allow us to work out at home, and in most cases free, but let’s also not discount or overlook our smart phones and tablets for apps that often times are equally as convenient, cost effective and provide you with workouts on the go that are quick, easy and beneficial.

Do you have approximately 150 minutes to spare per week? If not, you’re not meeting the guidelines set forth to live a healthy lifestyle. The average person needs 2 hours and 30 minutes of exercise per week.^[8]

Given that you have 168 hours in a given week, less 56 of those for sleep, you’d think you could spare that little.

But amazingly enough the average person only exercises about 17 minutes per day.^[9]

That number is a far cry from where you need to be, but apps like the 500 Bodyweight Challenge, 30 Day Squats Challenge, Great Yoga Anywhere and Runtastic Results are tailored to the on-the-go person who might be able to sneak in a workout or two even if you’re in the midst of a work week that has you taxed.

The aspect of the app that plays into your financial concerns is that most are free or cost very little. The average cost of an app is around $1.^[10]

Some of the more highly regarded apps rate well, usually four or four-and-a-half stars and are free, with one (Carrot Fit) costing $3 to download as a one time free.^[11]

Using a fitness app also eliminates concern of not only time but having to pack up, drive to the gym, find a place to park, battle the weather, crowds and anything else you might find en route to the gym.

In addition, apps are more about convenience but they simplify workouts more than ever. Something like an app that shows or stresses a “Daily Workout” often condenses the exercise into a shorter amount of time and adds variety as the name would suggest.

Two of the more common reasons people quit exercising is due to a lack time, but interest in the same, old routine day in and day out (you can only walk on a treadmill so many times, so many days).

The apps are affordable and offer a streamline, diverse approach to fitness that fits in to any budget.

Exercising is what you make of it, and doesn’t have to be an expensive, taxing endeavor as far as pulling on those wallet strings.

Gyms are available nationwide that are less than 30 cents per day, and the cost of an apple or head of lettuce, the last time anyone checked, wasn’t the proverbial arm and leg.

Walking is still free, too.

Excuses about why you can’t exercise are more about your own fears and personal objections and realizing the road ahead of dropping pounds is a lot harder than you think.

Doesn’t seem easier to just say how healthy food is expensive and joining a gym isn’t cost efficient and just walking away versus actually bearing down and reaching for your New Year’s Resolution of getting fit?

The answers again is a resounding “yes,” so for as much as people know what they should be doing, they toss in money as a means to say “no,” instead.

Getting creative with how you lose weight and make food choices doesn’t have to include a high end price tag or sticker shock. For every personal training studio that charges $1,000 for 12 sessions, you have a gym that costs $10 a month. Granted, you might not get the attention of a one on one trainer with the former, but isn’t the latter better than doing nothing at all?

Your budget can stay in line with saving, and you still can add fitness to the list of things you want to spend money on, and turn your New Year’s Resolution isn’t more fact than fiction, minus the friction of your financial worries leaving you to stumble and stall along the way.

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