Is It Easy to Eat Healthy and Stay Fit on a Budget?

Is it easy to eat healthy and stay fit on a budget?  Yes and no.  If you have been keeping up with my Facebook page and Instagram, then you will notice the foods I have been eating lately.  Yeah, they’re not too healthy but they are cheap.

You see, I work a full-time job right now and have little money leftover for food and gas.  I’m just like everybody else. So, I am limited as to what I eat.  Therefore, I look for things that are cheap or can be frozen.  I like to plan my meals as best as possible.  It helps me stay in my budget.  I also pick meals with cheap ingredients.

If I had it my way, I would grow all of my fruits and veggies and have fresh eggs every day.  That’s just not possible right now.  I love how people talk about eating healthy like it’s so easy. No, it isn’t easy and it sure as hell isn’t cheap either.  Have you ever been to Whole Foods?  You will lose your entire paycheck in there! I have found that Trader Joe’s is more affordable.

So here are some examples of what I have eaten throughout the week:

This breakfast consists of eggs, bacon and a biscuit with grape jelly.  It cost me $3.64.  I don’t always eat this with bacon but I really needed a piece of meat or protein.  The eggs are my main protein for the morning but I needed an extra umf to my day.

This breakfast is just the eggs and biscuit with grape jelly.  It cost me $2.06.  This is what I usually eat during the week at work. We have a cafeteria, so it’s very convenient.

Now, this right here! This is my weekend breakfast if I don’t have any eggs to cook up at home. This is a very cheap sausage and biscuit from McDonald’s for $1.00! You can’t beat that!

Now, let’s talk about my lunch for the week.  For most of the week, I eat sandwiches.  Sometimes they will be ham sandwiches, leftovers or something I made over the weekend to freeze.

As you can see, this is a slice of pepperoni and bacon pizza.  I needed something with flavor and it was cheap. I got this one slice of pizza for only $1.65.  I’ll take that any day of the week!

So, you can see that I am very cheap and not very healthy with my food options.  That doesn’t mean I don’t like eating healthy. I do try.  Really, I do! If I can include it in my budget, I will buy cucumbers and carrots. Salad is great but the lettuce goes bad so quickly that I can’t justify wasting my precious dollars on it.

Most of the foods I do cook to freeze are healthy. I will post the recipe soon of my Taco Soup.  I make a fresh salsa with fresh veggies and add it to my soup instead of using a can of Rotel. There are other recipes I use on a budget and are healthy. I will post them.  I promise!

Now, I don’t want to be a Debby Downer.  I want you to know that yes I am eating unhealthy to a degree but I do it in moderation.  If I were to count calories, my total caloric intake would be around 1500. I try to balance everything out as best as possible and you can, too!

If you are trying to lose weight, you can still do it.  God knows I still have about 20 pounds more to lose. And guess what? I have lost 3 inches on my waist eating the way I have! As long as you are consistent with your workout, you will lose weight.

Now that we have discussed the food portion of the program, let’s discuss the fitness portion.  I go to the park to do my HIIT workout. It’s free! You don’t have to pay a monthly membership and you get fresh air and natural vitamin D. You can’t get that at a gym.

When I am not doing my HIIT workout, I am doing my strength training.  Guess what?  I do that at home! And, it’s free! Well, the dumbbells aren’t free.  You do need to buy those but you’re not buying a monthly membership.

Budgeting is the key here. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t budget myself.  Eating healthy on a budget is extremely hard, so don’t be hard on yourself if you can’t do it. My recommendation is to exercise to make up for all of your cheap food options. At least that’s what I do.