Afraid a healthier lifestyle won’t fit in your budget? Good news: there are

many strategies for making nutrition and fitness more affordable. Many

of these strategies boil down to having a plan, doing your research, and

making small lifestyle changes that can have a big impact down the line.

At The Simple Dollar, we believe healthy living doesn’t have to be at odds

with living within your means. Keeping a long-term view is the key to

making smart financial decisions — and healthy decisions, too!

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget (2017) How to eat right and stay fit without paying a fortune

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Why Prioritizing Your Health Makes Financial Sense

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Getting fit can actually help you save money.

There are plenty of situations in which the healthier choice and the frugal

choice are one and the same. It’s true that junk foods tend to be slightly cheap-

er than whole foods at the grocery store (about $1.50/day less than healthier

options, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health). But

what if you made up that negligible cost by eating out less often? That’s a rele-

vant question for the average American, because in 2015, spending at restau-

rants exceeded grocery spending in the U.S. for the first time ever. How much

might you save by skipping the drive-through once a week — and what healthy

foods could you buy instead?

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Why Prioritizing Your Health Makes Financial Sense

Eating at home is a lot less expensive than eating at a restaurant, especially if

you prep meals in bulk. Plus, when you cook at home, you can control what

goes into your meal. You can make healthy substitutions or reduce the salt or

oil. You can control portion size. In this case, cooking for yourself is both the

healthiest and the thriftiest option.

Additionally, there are many direct and indirect costs associated with poor

health. Being significantly overweight can increase your risk of developing di-

abetes and heart disease, among many other conditions. Poor nutrition can

cause anemia, and lack of exercise is associated with higher risk for certain can-

cers. Long-term, staying healthy will keep healthcare costs low — and quality of

life high.

Why Prioritizing Your Health Makes Financial Sense

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Fitness is an investment in your future.

What’s the point of being frugal? Broadly, financial independence: the freedom

and financial means to live life on your terms. For most people, retiring well —

and even early! — is a major piece of the FI puzzle. But even if your nest egg

makes retirement a breeze financially, poor health could put a damper on your

Golden Years.

Everything you do today to stay healthy is an investment in your future, just like

a 401K or Roth IRA. Eating well and exercising can keep many health concerns

at bay, protecting your mobility and independence so you can fully enjoy your

retirement.

We believe a healthy lifestyle is possible on any budget.

In this guide, we’ll cover tips, tricks, and resources that can make healthy

living more affordable. Armed with this information, you’ll be able to make a

personalized action plan that includes:

• Smart nutrition strategies

• Ways to keep fitness affordable

• Weight-loss resources for everyone

We’ll begin with simple strategies for eating well on a budget, then move on to

staying fit on a budget.

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Why Prioritizing Your Health Makes Financial Sense

Ready to get started? Let’s go!

Affordable nutrition Eat better on the cheap with these 7 simple strategies.

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

1. Plan your meals in advance.

Never grocery shop without a grocery list! There are many health and financial

benefits to creating your meal plan — and corresponding grocery list — before

you hit the supermarket.

Having a meal plan:

• Reduces likelihood of impulse buys.

If you limit yourself to buying the ingredients for your planned meals,

your wallet and your waistline will thank you. (Resolving to buy only

the ingredients your menu calls for — including pre-planned, healthy

snacks — can help you resist tempting junk food.)

• Ensures you’ll have a healthy option ready on busy days.

Decision fatigue is a real thing — especially when it comes to

choosing what’s for dinner. If you have healthy groceries waiting to

be cooked at home, you’ll be less tempted to swing through the drive

through or head to a restaurant when life gets busy.

Affordable Nutrition

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

• Prevents waste.

If you know the quantity of perishable items like eggs, produce, or

dairy you’ll need for this week’s meals, you won’t buy too much. This

will help you avoid excess groceries spoiling before you have the

chance to use them.

• Gives you control over what you’re eating.

Prepackaged meals aren’t just more expensive than the raw

ingredients for a similar meal would be. They also tend to be loaded

with bad stuff like sodium and preservatives. Similarly, when you

order a meal at a restaurant, you don’t know exactly what you’re

getting. Preparing meals yourself gives you the freedom to make

healthy substitutions that can help you meet your fitness goals.

You’ll be more likely to stick to your plan if it’s convenient. So take steps today

to make things easy for future you! Start by creating several weekly meal plans

to keep in your rotation (including breakfasts, lunches, dinner, and snacks). That

way, you can pull a ready-made menu when it’s time to make your grocery list.

Get The Simple Dollar’s Meal & Grocery Planner

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Affordable Nutrition

Meal plans and menus from The Simple Dollar:

$150-a-Week Grocery Budget and Meal Plan in Real Life

26 Favorite Cheap-and-Easy Meals

Related:

A Walkthrough of Our Weekly Meal Planning Routine

Meal Planning Ideas for Busy Families

How to Plan Ahead for Next Week’s Meals and Save Money

How to Turn a Cupboard Cleaning Into a Great Meal Plan

11 Tactics For Meal Planning That Will Save Money

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Affordable Nutrition

2. Buy (and prep) in bulk.

Bulk meal prep is one of the simplest ways to balance your budget with

nutritional goals. Overall, groceries purchased in bulk usually cost less per unit

— up to 89% less than smaller-portion packages.

Shopping and cooking in bulk is a little different than preparing smaller

portions, but it’s not as complicated as you might think. With a few adjustments

to your routine, you can make the jump this week.

Meal prep strategies

Join (and strategically shop) a wholesale club.

Wholesale clubs (AKA warehouse clubs) offer members-only bulk pricing on

items ranging from grocery to paper products and home goods. Creating a

monthly meal plan will allow you to buy nonperishable/freezable ingredients

in bulk (and reduce the number of visits you’ll have to make the club monthly).

But even if you don’t plan a month’s worth of meals in advance, it makes sense

to buy pantry staples like rice, flour, oats, and certain meats in bulk.

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Affordable Nutrition

When planning your bulk shopping list, The Simple Dollar’s founder Trent

Hamm recommends asking yourself: Am I going to be able to use all of this

before it goes bad? If an item has limited shelf life and can’t be frozen, you

could end up wasting some of it, which negates the per-unit savings. To avoid

waste, think critically before purchasing perishable items in bulk. If you can

freeze extra portions or need a lot of it in the near future — say, prepping for

a family barbeque — buy it at the club. If not, it might make more sense to buy

that particular item at the grocery store.

Want to try a wholesale club but afraid to commit to an annual membership

fee? Take a trial membership for a spin! Watch for promotions in mailers, in the

newspaper, or on deal sites like Groupon. If you don’t find a trial advertised,

it’s worth calling your local club. In addition to trial memberships, many offer

special “open house” days when you can shop without a membership card or

single-day passes.

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Affordable Nutrition

Related:

The Ultimate Guide to Buying in Bulk

Maximize Your Savings at a Warehouse Club

Waste Not, Want Not: Strategies for Warehouse Club Shopping

Six Strategies for Maximizing the Value of a Warehouse Club

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Affordable Nutrition

Get friendly with freezer meals.

The freezer meal phenomenon deserves all the positive press it gets! The idea is

simple: designate one day per week or per month to prep multiple meals, then

freeze them to enjoy later. By opting to prepare homemade freezer meals, you

can save money and time.

When you’re preparing multiple meals at once, you can buy groceries in bulk

to save per serving. Plus, having meals on standby will help you avoid the

temptation of fast food on hectic days. Once prepped, freezer meals are the

ultimate convenience food. Consolidating meal prep for the week or even for

the month means minimal time in the kitchen outside your prep day — and who

doesn’t want that? It’s efficient, too; you’ll only have to clean the kitchen once.

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Affordable Nutrition

Strategies that go hand-in-hand with freezer meal prep

• Slow cooking

If you don’t have a slow cooker, you should! Slow cooker freezer meals

are incredibly low maintenance, and they require very little cooking

know-how to get right. Simply pull the prepared meal from your

freezer, drop it in/turn the cooker on, and go about your day. A hot,

home cooked meal will be waiting for you when you get home — no

babysitting a skillet or preheating an oven required.

• Meal swapping

Making extra-large batches of meals is efficient and cost-effective.

But eating the same meals on a regular basis can get old. Solution:

organize a meal swap to vary your freezer meal selection and share

your favorite frugal recipes with friends and family.

• Disposable pans

Try freezing casseroles and other baked items directly in disposable

foil pans (if you have the space in your freezer, that is). When you’re

finished, simply rinse and recycle the pan. That way, you can enjoy a

homecooked meal without prepping or scrubbing a pan the night of!

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Affordable Nutrition

Related:

Our Family’s Seven Favorite Make-Ahead Meals

Preparing Your Own Skillet Meals In Advance

The Ultimate Guide to Making Meals in Advance

How Making Meals in Advance Saves Time and Money: Make-Ahead Lasagna

Can Once-a-Month Cooking Really Work?

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Affordable Nutrition

3. Shop smarter.

Highly processed foods are convenient, but often, they’re neither the most

frugal nor the healthiest option. Impulse buying snack foods and pre-prepared

meals can run up your grocery bill and set you up to consume lots of empty

calories. But impulse buys aren’t inevitable. To minimize temptation:

• Stick to the perimeter.

Think about the layout of your favorite grocery store. Most nutrient-

dense foods, from produce to dairy and fresh meats, are arranged

in refrigerated cases along the outer edge of the store. By primarily

“shopping the perimeter,” you can avoid the processed foods in the

center of the store.

• Eat before you shop.

When you’re hungry, you’re more likely to choose high-calorie foods,

according to a 2013 Cornell University study. Set yourself up to make

good choices by eating a healthy, filling snack before you head to the

grocery store.

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Affordable Nutrition

4. Make healthy substitutions.

The ability to tweak recipes for healthfulness is a major advantage of home

cooked meals, so take advantage! Here’s a list of common substitutions to get

you started. Note: results may vary, depending on the recipe — but don’t be

afraid to experiment!

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Trade This For That Good to know

All-purpose flour

Corn Syrup

Mayonnaise

Milk

Pasta

Potatoes

Sugar

Vegetable Oil

Whole wheat flour

Maple syrup, agave, honey, or cane syrup

Plain yogurt, sour cream, or mashed avocado

Almond Milk

Spaghetti Squash

Sweet Potatoes

Stevia

Olive Oil

Whole wheat flour can affect taste, texture, and baking time, especially for more delicate items like pastries. Try substituting 25% of your all-purpose flour with wheat flour to start. If you like the results, you can up the percentage of wheat flour next time you make it! (Whole wheat flour absorbs liquid more readily than all-purpose, so you may need to add a little more liquid to compensate in some recipes.)

Different substitutions work best for different purposes. Agave may be a good place to start, since it has the mildest flavor of the substitutes we’ve listed. Note: you’ll want to stick with corn syrup when making candy or caramel to prevent graininess.

Different substitutions work best for different purposes. Avocado works well as a sandwich spread or in tuna/chicken salad. Plain yogurt is a fine replacement in most recipes, especially dressings and rich dips. Sour cream will work in a pinch, but it has the most noticeable flavor; it may add a tangier taste to your recipe.

Use plain, unsweetened almond milk to minimize differences in taste.

Baked spaghetti squash has a pasta-like texture. Learn more about how to prepare at TheKitchn.

While white potatoes and sweet potatoes both have a place in a healthy diet, sweet potatoes have a lower glycemic index. They’re a great substitution in mashed potatoes or as an accompaniment baked/roasted dishes.

Stevia is plant-based and has zero calories. It’s available in liquid concentrate, powdered extract, and dried leaf form. Because Stevia tastes sweeter than refined sugar, substitution ratios are drastically less than 1:1 and may vary by type.

When baking, you can also try swapping oil for applesauce. (This may make baked goods more moist, so you may need to add additional flour to compensate.)

5. Keep a food journal.

Keeping a food journal can help you lose weight and keep your food spending

in check. A 2008 study found that adults who kept a food journal 6 days per

week lost 2X as much weight as those who journaled 0-1 days per week.

Why do food journals work so well? First, they encourage self-monitoring, which

fosters awareness of both healthy and unhealthy eating patterns and helps to

target areas for improvement. Second, they emphasize awareness of portion

sizes. In America, average portion sizes have increased by somewhere in the

neighborhood of 138% since 1970. But many people underestimate how many

calories they’re consuming in these supersized portions. Keeping a food journal

puts the spotlight not just on what you’re eating, but also how much. (As a

fringe benefit, reducing the amount of food you consume can help lower your

monthly food bill, too.)

It doesn’t matter whether you journal on paper or in an app. Whichever method

you use, focus on recording the basics like food type, portion, and context of

the meal to identify where your challenges lie — and how best to tackle them.

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Affordable Nutrition

6. Get professional help.

Struggling to meet your fitness goals? Seeing an expert may be more affordable

than you think. Visits to a dietician or nutritionist may be covered under

your health insurance policy under the umbrella of “nutrition counseling” or

“nutrition therapy”. Compile a list of questions to ask your insurance provider to

find out what type of expenses are covered (and which would be out-of-pocket).

Dietician vs. nutritionist: what’s the difference?

Both dieticians and nutritionists can offer nutritional help, but qualifications

differ between the two professions. Learn more about the differences between

the two roles, then ask your doctor which type of nutritional counseling is right

for you. Depending on your insurance provider, a referral from your doctor may

be required for coverage.

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Affordable Nutrition

Role Qualifications Scope of work

Registered dietitian nutritionist (R.D.N.)

Nutritionist

Bachelor’s degree in dietetics, public health nutrition, or a related field

Completion of Dietetic Internship (D.I.), which equals 1,200 hours of experience

National licensure exam

75 continuing education credits every 5 years to maintain RDN credential

Title is not protected by law in all states. In states where title is not protected, nutritionists can perform nutrition counseling without a license. (Learn more at the Center for Nutrition Advocacy.)

Nutritionists may study nutritional science and may also have professional certifications like Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS).

General nutrition education

Creating personalized nutrition plan

Diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders

General nutrition education

Creating personalized nutrition plan

7. Go meatless.

If you’re an omnivore (read: not vegan or vegetarian), consider preparing

meatless meals at least once per week. Meat products are typically the most

expensive items on most omnivores’ grocery lists — and excessive consumption

of red meat is correlated with increased risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes,

and more. Going meatless even once a week could reduce your grocery bill and

improve your health long-term!

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Affordable Nutrition

Our favorite nutrition apps

Paprika Recipe Manager

This handy app ensures your meal plan and your grocery list are always on

hand. Use Paprika to clip recipes from the web, add recipes to your meal plan,

and — the best part — pull ingredients from your meal plan to your grocery list

with just a few clicks. Ingredients in your grocery list are automatically sorted

by department, and items that appear in multiple recipes are added up for you

so you know the total amount needed. If you need to adjust the number of

servings for freezer meal prep, the app will multiply ingredients for you. And it’s

available for pretty much any device. (Check out our tips for meal planning with

Paprika.)

Download for: iOS | Android | Windows | Mac

Flipp

It’s a weekly circular. It’s a coupon manager. It’s awesome! Flipp compiles

circulars from your local stores (800 retailers at time of writing) in an attractive,

easy-to-navigate package. It also allows you to search and “clip” digital coupons,

which you simply present through the app at checkout. If you choose to use

its shopping list feature, Flipp will search deals at local stores to automate the

couponing process. And it’s completely free.

Download for: iOS | Android

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Affordable Nutrition

Ibotta

Ibotta brings cash back to grocery purchases — and online shopping, clothing stores,

and more! It works like this: first, add rebates for the products you’re planning to buy.

Next, go shopping as you normally would. After your shopping trip, take a photo of your

receipt as proof of purchase. Then wait for your cash back to roll in! Ibotta rebates are

actual money, not points, so in addition to redeeming for gift cards, you can transfer

them to PayPal or Venmo to cash out.

Download for: iOS | Android

Fooducate

Ever wondered how healthy your morning granola bar really is? The answer may surprise

you. Fooducate is a website/app that helps you find healthier alternatives to your favorite

packaged foods. It makes eating well simpler by assigning foods a letter grade, explaining

the why behind the score — and suggesting better alternatives for you to try. If you

download the app, you’ll also get a food/exercise tracker.

Download for: iOS | Android

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Affordable Nutrition

MyFitnessPal

Last but not least, MyFitnessPal is a longstanding favorite among food

journal apps. Its user-supported search functionality is the real headline, with

nutritional info for dishes at popular restaurants, packaged foods, whole foods,

and everything between. (The database includes 5,000,000 food items so far!)

Just enter the type of food and the serving size to log calories and more. You

can use it to log exercise too — and any exercise you log will be subtracted from

your calories consumed for a complete picture of your day.

Download for: iOS | Android

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Affordable Nutrition

Affordable fitness Try the following tips and tricks to spice up your fitness routine

without breaking your budget.

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a BudgetThe Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

How to score an affordable gym membership

Becoming a member of a gym can be a good investment in your fitness — as

long as you’re willing to go often enough to justify the membership fees. If

that’s you, and you’re wondering how to make a gym membership fit in your

budget, it’s worth doing your homework to get the best deal possible. Here’s

where to start.

Know when to join.

Most people focus on fitness in the first few weeks of January. (New Year’s

resolutions, anyone?) But at many gyms, the best deals may be found in the

summertime. When the weather is nice, lots of people prefer to exercise

outdoors. That means fewer signups for gyms and potential savings for you.

If you don’t see an advertised sale, ask if your local gym will waive your signup

fees or give you a two-for-one deal if you sign up with a friend.

Other times to consider joining: the end of the month or in December, when

gyms may cut membership costs to meet monthly or yearly quotas.

Affordable Fitness

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a BudgetThe Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Shop bargain class passes.

Discount sites like Groupon and LivingSocial regularly offer sets of fitness

classes at a discounted rate for new customers. Shop discounted class passes

to sample new types of classes or to take multiple local gyms for a trial run

before you sign a contract.

Look for freebies.

Leverage free or reduced cost gym visits to choose a gym you’ll enjoy for the

long term and/or score a sweet welcome gift when you’re ready to commit.

Common types of gym freebies include:

• Trial memberships

• Guest/day passes (Go to a friend’s gym!)

• Sign up and get _______ (pool access, personal training session,

massage, etc.)

• Complimentary or reduced-cost membership tier upgrade

If you don’t see what you’re looking for advertised, call and ask! Local gyms may

offer freebies to earn your business if you express interest.

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Affordable Fitness

Check with your employer and insurance provider.

You’ve done your research, you have a list of possible gyms — but you’re looking

to lower the costs of membership even further. When you’re looking for ways to

trim your fitness budget, don’t overlook your employer and insurance provider.

If you work for a midsize-to-large company, local gyms could offer a “preferred

employer” discount you could take advantage of, so it’s worth dropping HR a line

to find out. Additionally, many insurance providers have negotiated discounts

with national gym chains. Call the customer service number on your insurance

card to find out if you’re covered.

Visit the Y.

If there’s a YMCA in your area, check their rates. Some local branches set your

monthly membership fees based on annual income. Additionally, financial

assistance may be available to help you cover the cost of membership. Call or

visit your local YMCA online to learn more about programs available in your city.

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Affordable Fitness

Related:

Exercise Your Right to Negotiate at the Gym

Investing in Yourself: Exercise

Five Inexpensive Gym Alternatives for Exercise

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a BudgetThe Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Affordable Fitness

Making personal training fit within your budget

There are many benefits to working with a personal trainer, from help

developing a customized workout regimen to learning proper form that can

prevent injury or strain. If you’d like to give it a try but aren’t sure your budget

has the room to spare, try these tips before you dismiss the idea. You might be

surprised how affordable personal training can be!

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Affordable Fitness

Sign up with a friend (or group of friends).

According to Thumbtack, the 2017 average cost of personal training falls

around $40/hour. (Enter your zip code in the calculator to get an average for

your area.) If that’s higher than you’re comfortable with, many personal trainers

offer discounted hourly rates when you share a session with other people. Use

a directory like IDEA or FitnessTrainer to find trainers in your area, then contact

them to ask about group rates.

Try a free or low-cost boot camp.

Boot camps are a great way to get to know experts within your local fitness

community — many personal trainers lead community boot camps to meet

potential customers and demonstrate their expertise. To find out about boot

camps coming up in your area, search Eventbrite, discount sites like Groupon,

and your city’s event calendar.

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Affordable Fitness

Practice on your own.

Maybe you can swing one or two sessions per week, but three would be too

much for your monthly budget to absorb. That’s okay! Once you find a personal

trainer you’re comfortable with, work with them to design a personalized

workout you can do yourself on the days you don’t meet.

Check with your gym.

If you have a gym membership or are in the market for one, inquire about

the gym’s personal training services. It’s common for gyms to offer free initial

sessions or reduced-cost sessions for gym members — so don’t be afraid to

ask!

Reduce unhealthy spending (and put that money toward personal training).

Want to do something good for your wallet and your health? Search your

budget for opportunities to trim spending on unhealthy activities or habits.

Maybe it’s your morning fast food or latte run, your weekend bar tab, or high

spending on cigarettes. Try reducing that area of your budget by 1 /3 or ½ and

putting that money toward personal training instead. You’ll free up room in

your budget, and kicking unhealthy habits could help you meet your fitness

goals even sooner.

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Affordable Fitness

Get plugged into your local fitness community.

Working out alongside other people promotes accountability and can help

you stick with your fitness routine when you might otherwise get discouraged.

Community-based fitness works — and it’s more fun than working out alone.

Get to know people in your city who enjoy the types of activity you do, make

friends, and enjoy working toward your goals together! Here’s how to get

started.

• Join some Meetup groups.

Ever heard of Meetup? It’s a directory of local communities in every

category you can imagine, from entrepreneurship to book circles and

board game groups. Use the free app or website to search for biking,

running, hiking, and other fitness groups in your city. Whatever your

workout of choice, there’s probably a Meetup group near you built

around it!

Affordable Fitness

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

• Find an accountability partner you trust.

When you start to get tired, an accountability partner will keep you

honest. When you feel tempted to skip a workout, your accountability

partner can encourage you — and you can do the same for him or

her. Whether it’s guilt or a sense of competition that motivates you,

you’ll be more likely to stick with a routine if flaking means standing

someone else up. Having trouble finding a friend or family member

who’s willing to step in? Use a service like WellSquad to find your

accountability partner.

• Watch for community events.

Check your town’s event calendar and keep an eye out for

advertisements — your city may offer free or low-cost clinics, classes,

and more! (Eventbrite is also a good resource for this.) In the past

year, my city has offered yoga and Zumba classes, Saturday boot

camps, and athletic conditioning sessions. If you don’t see what you’re

looking for, check in surrounding cities, too.

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Affordable Fitness

Our favorite fitness resources

Gym memberships and personal trainers offer a host of benefits you won’t get

when working out alone. But if you’re looking to mix up your fitness routine at

home, there’s a huge variety of free and almost-free resources online.

Strava

Looking for an online fitness community with a stellar app? Check out Strava.

It’s part social network, part fitness tracking, and completely awesome. Strava

is compatible with just about any fitness device you can think of. Use it to track

your workouts, measure performance across metrics like heart rate and mile

breakdown, and join groups. Strava can help you find new running and biking

routes by highlighting popular routes nearby. It can even help keep you safe

when exercising alone; its popular Beacon feature (available with Premium)

allows you to share your location in real time.

Download for: iOS | Android

SparkPeople

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Affordable Fitness

If your goals include weight loss, look into SparkPeople. It’s an online

community, calorie counter, and personalized fitness program all in one —

essentially the Swiss Army Knife of fitness tools. You can use it to explore

healthy recipes, keep a food journal, or research diet tips from nutritionists.

Joining is free, as is downloading the mobile app.

Download for: iOS | Android

7 Minute Workout

Even on your busiest day, you can probably carve out seven minutes for a

workout! The free 7 Minute Workout app walks you through a variety of quick-

hit circuits that include short sets of exercises meant to tone, build endurance,

and promote weight loss. The programs you’ll find in the app are based on HICT

(high-intensity circuit training) for a quick, effective workout. Voice prompts

between sets guide you through the circuit, and videos of each move help you

learn proper form to reduce the chance of injury. On days you can’t make it to

the gym or meet with your trainer, the 7 Minute Workout is a great way to get

your heartrate up with minimal equipment or fuss.

Download for: iOS | Android

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WellSquad

An accountability partner can do wonders for your motivation. If you’re having

trouble finding someone IRL, try WellSquad. Much like an online dating site, it’ll

use a questionnaire and “exclusive algorithm” to match you with a compatible

workout partner. WellSquad integrates with multiple fitness devices so you

can share your progress with your team. You can also message with fitness

partners or connect with “Squad Leaders” (certified fitness trainers and

registered dieticians) in your community to kickstart your fitness journey. It’s

free to join and find a fitness partner in your area, though there’s a monthly fee

for access to Squad Leaders.

Visit online: WellSquad.com

Endomondo

Advertised as a “personal trainer in your pocket,” Endomondo is a low-cost way

to get coaching and encouragement during your workout. This free app helps

you choose a workout plan (via a quick Fitness Test), set goals, and train to

meet them. You’ll get real-time audio feedback while you run, bike, or do 40+

other activities, so you’ll know when you’re on track and when to push harder.

Metrics tracked include calories burned, miles logged, and rate of improvement

over time. The optional Premium version includes personalized training plans

for even faster results.

Download for: iOS | Android

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Affordable Fitness

StrongLifts

Want to add weight lifting to your fitness routine? StrongLifts will help you train

smart. Based on the StrongLifts 5x5 program, the free app offers guidance on

when to add or subtract weight, what to do when you hit a plateau, and how

long you should rest between sets. And with single-tap logging, you can focus

on your exercise rather than running a timer.

Download for: iOS | Android

Couch to 5K

Aspiring runners, this one’s for you. The popular Couch to 5K program

helps you train from zero running ability to a 5K (that’s about 30 minutes

of continuous running) in just 8 weeks. It’s broken down into 3-per-week 30

minute sessions that gradually increase your running-to-walking ratio to get

you running your local road race in no time. There are many C25K apps out

there; we like Zen Labs’ version. It’s free for both iOS and Android.

Download for: iOS | Android

Calm

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a BudgetThe Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Affordable Fitness

Consider adding meditation to your fitness routine to foster a healthy body

and mind. The Calm app offers guided meditations of various lengths, so

you can get a mindfulness boost even on busy days. The flexibility to choose

the accompanying music from a list of soothing options helps to tune out

background noise — a useful feature for the times when it’s difficult to find a

quiet place to practice, especially for beginners. You’ll get access to a variety

of meditations with the free app download, but you can also upgrade to enjoy

premium features like the Daily Calm (a new, themed meditation each day) and

meditations for commuting, walking, calming anxiety, and more.

Download for: iOS | Android

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a BudgetThe Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget

Affordable Fitness

Making a plan

We hope this guide has empowered you to make a plan you can stick with. Feel

free to use the resources we’ve covered to design a plan that both fits within

your budget — and helps you achieve your nutrition and fitness goals. Good

luck!

The Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a BudgetThe Simple Guide to Healthy Living on a Budget