Fit and Healthy on a Budget

         For most of my life, I've been at the very least in decent shape, if not outstanding physical condition. I was a Marine for 10 years, and even after I got out, I kept in good shape, sometimes more than others, usually trusting my activity level to account for the fact that my Diet wasn't' exactly the healthiest in the world. 

        I  do love a good cold dark beer, a nice bacon cheeseburger, and anything fried, but hey, I was blessed with a great metabolism, right? 

         Yeah, well then I hit 40, and middle age disabused me of the notion that my genetic makeup would do anything for me if I wasn't doing anything for myself. Then there was LAZINESS. 40, I was pretty healthy in my habits...41, 42, 43..yeah not so much...and the weight was piling on. 

          I left the Marine Corps at a WAY too skinny for my frame 165, and at 39, I was a very nicely built and toned 195 and was feeling great about myself. so as the weight piled on in my early 40's I was able to justify that hey it still looked good on my frame. Yeah... Hey, if I try REALLY hard I can still flex that gut into some semblance of a 6-pack. Yeah...

         There comes a point where we just have to face the fact that we've gotten fat. I mean FAT. My watershed moment came when I went to a 2 day conference, and packed one pair of black slacks figuring it would be fine, and oops, I packed an old pair of 34's and had to squeeze into them for 2 days straight. NOT fun. I was at a point where I was kidding myself still buying 36's .

         So the time came to do something about it. This was a problem I hadn't' really faced before. In truth, in the past, when I was looking at my fitness, I was usually looking at certain activity goals or the way I looked. I was usually  thinking about gaining a few pounds, not the other way around.  So I was having to look at things in a new light. That's when I decided to try to do it on a budget and see what happened. 

         Now losing on a budget doesn't mean you spend nothing. But it does mean that you take cost into consideration on anything you invest in where your fitness is concerned, and if there are two ways of doing things, and one costs money and the other doesn't, if both are similarly effective, you choose the one that doesn't. But it also means you DO invest in things that will effectively help your cause, and save money in the long run. 

    

That's what this blog is about. In the process of losing 45 Pounds in a little more than 2 months, and on my path to losing 50, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle afterwards,  I  paid attention to what worked and what didn't', I made very specific decisions NOT to invest in things like a personal trainer, gym membership, meal plans, medical assistance of any kind, but definitely TO invest in things that would make it so that those things were unnecessary.  

My apologies to anyone who makes money helping people lose weight or get in shape, but the message of this blog

Is very clearly:

• Diet and exercise WORK when combined with a healthy dose of discipline. 
• You don't' have to spend ANY money to lose weight and get in shape, but some things make sense to invest in.
• Just because everyone's talking about it, just because it's the latest thing, doesn't make it right. 
• Healthy lifestyle begins with habits you can sustain long term. So if a diet calls for completely cutting ANYTHING out, think twice. What happens when you finish and go back to eating Carbs? Or Fat? or Whatever it is the latest Guru said you had to cut completely?

Thanks for reading, and I hope my experiences help a few people accomplish what I have this year...Lose Weight? Sure, but not really that's a means to an end. Save money? No, that's just a side benefit. Feel Better? There's the ticket.