Tightening your belt after the Christmas season!
This time of year everyone is recovering from Christmas, the overindulgence in both food and spending means that there is fresh determination to not only loose a bit of weight but to tighten our belts metaphorically as well as literally. We all start off with great intentions but often they can end up costing us more than we intended.
Most people will rush out in January, join the gym, buy a new pair of trainers and loads of healthy food with the intent to start as we mean to go on, the trouble is the house is still full of tubs of sweets, bottles of the Christmas tipples and other treats from Christmas, so that makes it that bit harder to be good. I always make sure that Christmas in its entirety is over before I start the New Year regime, a bit like waiting until the 12 day to get rid of the tree.
Rushing out and joining the gym is great, if you’re actually going to use it, a lot of gyms offer 1-month trials at this time of year, either for a 1 off payment or for free in some cases. It’s probably best to do one of these, so not only can you try a few classes but if you get back into the routine of everyday life and find by mid to late January that all that good intention is now wearing thin you haven’t locked yourself into a yearlong contract costing roughly £30 a year.
This time last year fitness DVDs flew off the shelf as many of us prefer those to the gym and see it as a quicker and cheaper alternative. These are a great way of allowing us to be helped along with our exercise while not eating into our time or wallet too much, though if you know that you need the motivation of others around you or enjoy the social aspect of the gym then they might not be for you.
So next healthy eating, many people are investing in various gadgets like the Nutri Bullet or something similar to get us to eat healthier, while this is great as actually eating something for breakfast is good for you and fruit can be quite cheap especially if you freeze portions and use it as needed. It does mean that people are heading for the latest fad, be it chai seeds, blueberry’s or goji berries, the celebrities love to give us a trend that’s guaranteed to anti something us after the Christmas indulgences, and while some of these can be great as part of a balanced diet, a few of them are nothing more than expensive hype, it’s worth doing a bit of checking before you go out and spend £14 on wheatgrass powder and find out what it actually does (besides taste horrible).
A lot of people will be turning to the pre-constructed meals that are delivered or weighed out for them beforehand, or the powdered sort that are substitutes a meal for a shake. These can cost a fortune, and the problem with them is if you stop using them a lot of the time the weight will pile back on and your back where you started. If you need a kick up the bum to get started or are looking to shed weight for a special occasion then they can work wonders, but with sites like Herbalife not even revealing their prices until you sign up and those that do ranging from £31 for 7 days up to in excess of £150 you might lose a few pounds, unfortunately it won’t be off your waist line.
So you have started your exercise routine, maybe even with the family or a friend for extra motivation, all the chocolate has been eaten to be replaced with healthy, sensible food and you have given up or cut down on that vice, be it the vino, cigarettes or take outs, remember don’t try and change everything all at once, cutting down instead of going cold turkey is proven to be much more successful as we don’t get the cravings , and we know we can have a little bit of what we fancy without feeling guilty, and remember even if by march all the good intentions have gone out the window and the take always and glasses of wine are back, at least we tried.. Oh well, there is always next year.
By The Coupon Detective.
