Spring is nearly here, which means that soon we will be discarding heavy jackets and coats in favor of short sleeve t-shirts and shorts.   If your New Year’s Resolutions have fallen flat, you still have time to drop some weight and get in shape before the summer season.  However, doing so doesn’t have to cost a bundle.  There are plenty of ways to save money when trying to lose weight.

What Weight Loss Plan to Choose

Generally, you will spend the most money if you choose a weight loss plan that requires you to buy their food.  You will have to pay for all of their prepackaged food plus enrollment and/or meeting fees.  Instead, choose a weight loss plan that teaches you how to eat right using food that you choose and prepare.

Also, depending on your personality, you may want to consider an online weight loss plan.  For instance, Weight Watchers offers members the option of coming to a meeting weekly or of following the plan online.  However, the online plan is nearly 50% cheaper than the meeting option.  If you don’t need the supportive environment of a weekly meeting, you could save quite a bit of money following the plan on your own at home.

What Food to Buy

Despite what marketing executives would like us to believe, you don’t have to buy any expensive food or special weight loss foods.  In fact, the foods that are best for your body are often some of the cheapest.  Buying basic produce such as carrots, celery, apples, pears, and bananas, you could pay less than $2 per pound, especially if you buy them in bulk.  In addition, healthy carbs such as oatmeal and barley are also low cost.

How to Save on Exercise

A key component of any weight loss plan is to also include exercise.   However, you don’t have to join a gym and pay a monthly fee.  There are several low cost fitness options:

-Follow an exercise DVD.  You can buy these at a steep discount on a site such as eBay.

-Play outside with the kids.  On nice spring days, take your kids out for a walk.  Challenge them to a race or play a game of tag.  You’ll feel like a kid again, and you will also be burning calories.  If it is a rainy day and you are stuck inside, put on some music and dance around with your kids.  They will appreciate your silliness, and the whole family will get some much needed exercise.

-Buy a piece of exercise equipment you love.  If you like walking on a treadmill or using an elliptical, for instance, ask around to see if anyone you know is looking to get rid of one.  Chances are you could get it at an excellent price this way.  Another alternative is to check Craigslist.  Don’t be afraid to haggle with sellers.

Losing weight will improve your health and make you feel better about yourself, especially in the summer months when there is not a sweater or jacket to hide behind.  Losing weight doesn’t have to be expensive.  Stick to low cost options, and you can drop the pounds without hurting your wallet.

In these tough economic times people are always looking for ways to get by on less. The need to save money on everyday items–even necessities–leads some people to take shortcuts, skimping on important things that are vital to well being. This sort of frugality is not always a good idea. Even if you save money, there is a good chance that the extra will have to be spent on health care.

Living Well for Less

Living frugally can become an essential part of your lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean your health has to suffer. Maintaining your health on a budget could mean something as simple as collecting coupons or watching for sales. Most grocery stores run specials on a regular basis, offering healthy items like fruit, vegetables, and other whole foods at a discount. You could also carry the coupon strategy one step further into the realm of exercise equipment. Many manufacturers and retailers offer discounts and rebates on treadmills, ellipticals, steppers, and other home gym equipment.

Buy in Bulk

Food is something that no one can ignore. That may sound like a foolish statement, but regular consumption of food is what keeps us alive. Fortunately, there are ways to have a healthy diet while maintaining an adequate bank account. One way is to buy in bulk, but only if you have a sure way of storing it correctly. Purchasing a half a beef because it’s cheaper than buying hamburger one pound at a time does no good if most of it spoils before you can use it. However, storing that beef in a freezer where it can be accessed as it is needed will save money over the long haul. Enclose it in sealed wrappers to make sure it stays fresh, and store it in meal-sized containers so you won’t thaw too much food at any one time.

Waste Not, Want Not

Don’t buy more than you can use. Another simple statement that has far reaching implications.  If you’ve every paid attention to how much food you throw away in a year, you’re probably ashamed of yourself. The simple solution is to not overbuy. Just because something is on sale doesn’t mean you should rush out and buy more than you need. Saving a few bucks on an item only to throw half of it away because it sits in your refrigerator or cupboard too long defeats the purpose. Instead, consider how much you will actually use before buying that extra bunch of bananas.

Eat at Home

While it’s true that restaurants offer a legitimate service and are a vital part of our suffering economy, it’s also true that eating out costs more than preparing a healthy meal at home. Depending on where you live, the cost of eating at a decent restaurant could run four or five times what eating at home would cost. When you cook at home, you save money and have the added assurance that what you cook is fresh, healthy, and up to your own personal standards. An added advantage to eating at home most of the time is that eating out once in a while becomes a very special treat.

Work Out at Home

Diet is important in maintaining your health, but so is exercise. While having a membership at a gym is nice, it isn’t really necessary. Jogging or walking is great exercise. And it’s free. If you enjoy lifting weights, there are still alternatives to a fancy gym–your own living room, for example. You don’t even need actual weights…try doing simple exercises while holding a jug of laundry detergent or canned food in each hand. You could also buy your own free weights for a relatively low price. If you are into fun exercises, try an interactive game like the Wii. Another alternative is to tune into a fitness program, such as Zumba or Jazzercise. Those are workouts you can take part in while in the comfort of your own home, and are proven to take off calories and improve your health.

Guest post from Bailey Harris. Bailey writes about health insurance quotes and related topics for www.healthinsurancequotes.org.

If you’re looking for a painless way to sneak a few extra servings of fruits and vegetables into your diet then you should pick up some V8 V-Fusion juice.  Each 8 ounce glass has 1/2 cup of fruit and 1/2 cup of vegetables.   Plus it’s delicious!

My kids love it too which is great because it is 100% juice with no added sugar (I’m trying to break my own soda habit and set a good example so they don’t go for sweetened drinks all the time).

If you want to try it out for yourself you can get a printable coupon for V8 V-Fusion juice at TryV8.com.  You do have to provide an email address but the coupon prints automatically so you can use a throwaway email.

The coupon is for $1 off any 6-pack of slim cans or 46 oz bottle.

Click here to download your V8 printable coupon.

A few weeks back I read Frugal Dad’s post about his quest to start walking 10,000 steps a day.  He had purchased a pedometer and started tracking how many steps he was taking and worked out an exercise walking plan to reach his goal.

That post inspired me to pick up a $5 pedometer at Target and start tracking my own steps each day. Well after using it for about 2 weeks (less really since I keep forgetting to put it on in the morning) I’m only averaging about 4,000 steps each day.

I gotta say I’m shocked how low that number is. Even though I spend much of my day sitting at a desk I still assumed I was walking double that or 8,000 steps a day. But I may be thinking back to when I was working part time in a retail store and I was on my feet non-stop for 5 hours a night…walking from one end of the store to another, stocking shelves, climbing ladders, etc. I used to go through sneakers like crazy.

But since I quit the part time job I’m moving a lot less and it shows. I’ve put on a couple pounds since quitting and now I see why. I need to start moving more and getting regular exercise walking certainly helps.

So now that I have a baseline to go by I’m going to start following Frugal Dad’s tips for adding extra steps into my day.   I already follow some of them…I’ve never been one to drive around parking lots trying to find a closer spot, and pacing around while trying to get the baby to fall asleep could add a few hundred steps with ease.

I’ll report back in a couple of weeks to let you know how my exercise walking program is  going.  Hopefully by then I’ll be breaking the 10,000 step barrier!