Making Your Fitness Goals Match Your Budget
Happy January everyone! It is a new month and a new year! Let’s be honest. . . each one of us has set a new goal we want to accomplish in 2018. Most of those goals are likely going to be health and fitness related. I want to start by congratulating you. Taking control of your health is extremely important, and simply making the decision to do so, is the first step. Now comes the difficult part, making your new fitness goals fit your current budget. It is no secret that gym memberships, personal training, and trips to your favorite health food store can be quite costly. The great news is you don’t have to work a ton of overtime to make your fitness aspirations match your budget. With a few simple lifestyle changes, you can be well on your way to affording those personal training sessions without breaking the bank.
If you review your budget and you happen to have extra money at the end of each month, you can set that aside for your gym membership, personal training costs, and or healthy eating plan. However, if you are trying to make room in your budget, it is critical to decipher where you can cut your spending. You can create a spreadsheet to see where exactly all your extra money might be going. Many of you might discover you’ve been spending excessively on eating out or daily coffee trips. If that is the case, start limiting the amount of meals you eat out each month. Instead, start cooking your meals at home. This alone will put you one step closer to your health and fitness goals, as it is easier to eat healthy when you’re cooking at home. Not to mention, it will clear up space for those monthly gym costs. Reducing the amount of times, you stop for coffee each week will also free up a tremendous amount of space in terms of spending money. You will save money making coffee at home . . . plus, who doesn’t love the smell of freshly brewed coffee when they wake up in the morning?
Another place many people will find they can cut spending is shopping and entertainment. It will be important to establish what items and activities are needs and which ones are wants. A couple places to cut spending in this category are clothes shopping and movies. Now, I know what you’re thinking. . . this sounds like a lot more sacrifice than you signed up for. However, the whole idea here is to create a lifestyle shift. It will take time, effort and dedication to complete your fitness goals and it will take similar efforts to create room in your budget to achieve those goals. I assure you though, both your health and fitness routine and your new budget routine will quickly become more of a habit and less of a chore. In addition, you may find you won’t even miss your weekly restaurant trips or daily coffee indulgences. That is because those daily time slots will be filled with great new workouts, cooking healthy meals, and of course quality time with your new favorite personal trainer.
Again, I congratulate you on making the decision to take control of your health and fitness. There is no time like the present to start taking care of your body. I wish you the best of luck as you embark on your new journey. Remember, your new wellness goals don’t have to send you into an overtime frenzy or send you out looking for a second job. With a few lifestyle tweaks your gym costs, personal training costs, and new health food costs will be right within reach. It won’t take long to be on the path to achieving your fitness goals and honing in on the details of your monthly budget.