Vanessa
By now, most of our New Year’s resolutions are history, so why not start some new ones? Most resolutions center around spending less or getting healthier, so why not cut the fat from both areas of your life?
If you are ready to lose weight around your waist and gain weight in your pockets, then check out these 4 ways cut the fat.
Eat out less
When you go out to eat, you don’t know the quality of food you are consuming, how it was prepared, and what additives it contains. You also don’t know the appropriate serving size or the detailed nutrition facts. All of these factors negatively affect your health.
In addition, eating out is hard on your wallet. There are hidden costs when you go out to eat. Not only are you paying for ingredients in the meal, but also the preparation, atmosphere, and wait staff, making most meals cost 5 times or more compared to making it yourself. By cutting back on eating out, you can do both your body and your wallet a favor.
Give up your gym membership
The internet is a new kind of gym membership for smart and savvy folks. You no longer have to pay for a gym membership, because great workouts are available for free on sites like YouTube and Pinterest. In a world full of fitness entrepreneurs, great resources are available for free in a click of a mouse. Even when some at-home workouts cost money, they are usually much less than a gym membership.
If you find yourself missing a particular machine at the gym, search online and buy one for yourself. The lifetime benefit of having the machine in your home far outweighs the costs of paying for a gym membership.
Give up cable
You know you should go on a walk after dinner, but that is when your favorite tv show is on, so you never make it outside. The solution is to get rid of cable.
Most TV shows are available online for a fraction of the cost of cable. This also allows you to watch your shows at any time with less commercials.
Getting rid of cable saves a lot of money each year, thousands of hours of commercials, and might even motivate you to exercise instead.
If you start watching tv online, you can wait until after your post-dinner walk to catch up on your shows. You might be surprised how much less television you will watch. Less tv means more time to make healthy dinners and spend time with your family playing yard games, gardening, or biking. Find a fun activity that will get everyone’s heart rate up and will postpone tv time until later
Another option is to do exercises while you watch tv. It’s easier to do those tedious exercises when you’re distracted watching what you love. Regardless, you don’t need cable. Choose to burn calories instead of dollars by cancelling cable and watching online instead.
Drink more water.
Everyone knows water is essential for life and is great for you. I don’t have to convince you of the benefits of water.
Regardless, most people find it difficult to choose a beverage that is flavorless when there are so many great alternatives like alcohol, coffee, soda, and smoothies.
The idea of replacing your favorite drink with water is difficult for most people, but can lead to shedding pounds around your waistline and adding pounds to your wallet.
While water is mostly free or inexpensive both out and at home, alcohol, coffee, soda, and smoothies can be costly.
While I’d recommend limiting the amount of soda you consume, I’d also recommend purchasing alcohol, coffee, and smoothies at grocery stores or online and only consuming them at home. This saves a tremendous amount of money annually, as well as giving you control over what goes into your beverages.
First, buying alcohol out should be very minimal. The markup on one beer or glass of wine is outrageous. You can buy a whole bottle of wine or six pack of beer for the price some restaurants and bars charge for just one glass.
Also, making a cup of coffee at home is easy and takes less than 5 minutes. Not only will you save, you will also eliminate calories and chemicals.
Finally, we are conditioned to believe that smoothies are ultra healthy. However, smoothies from shops contain high amounts of sugar. Some of the sugar is natural sugar from fruit, which can also contain nutrients, but some smoothie shops add sugar to smoothies to make them taste better. In addition, buying smoothies out can be costly. Instead, invest in a high powered blender and make your smoothies at home for a fraction of the cost and triple the health benefits.
When it comes to buying drinks out, choose water instead. Then, when you get home you can enjoy your beverage of choice with the peace of mind that it is healthier for your body and your finances to do so.
Do you think you will cut the fat from any of these 4 areas of your life? If so, which one will be the easiest? Which one will be the hardest?
