Welcome back to another week of Fit-Trish! Every week I will post a new topic on how to stay fit and lead a healthy lifestyle on a budget. This is my third week and so far I have covered  the most valuable free thing you can do to help enhance your weight loss goal. You can take a peak at week 1 here-->(Valuable for weight loss) Last week I discussed some healthy on the go snacks. You can check that post out here-->(Healthy on the go snacks) This week I want to talk about some good old fashion fitness: Take a hike! Or take a walk. Whichever you prefer :)


The weather is getting nicer and nicer by the day. (Okay if you live in central NY it is a gamble, but I'd like to believe it is getting nicer everyday). The warmer weather gives us an opportunity to be outdoors more which leads to more free exercise! Taking walks or hikes is a great cardio option. It is recommended that you get at least 30 minutes of cardio a day to help with weight loss.

 If you are a beginner you can start off by walking around your neighborhood on flat land. This will help you get used to being on your feet for long distances. Once you feel comfortable walking around your neighborhood you can take it to the trails!

Depending on where you live, you can probably find a park or trail where you can walk on different landscapes. I like to go to my local state parks where the trails are listed and rated by difficulty. This helps you decide what level works best for you. I like to pick moderate to difficult hikes to really get my heart pounding and the sweat pouring. I normally try to take a half hour to an hour hike or walk 3 times a week.

Like any other fitness plan, you want to make sure you are in good health before taking these hikes. This is why it is a good idea to start off easy until you get the feel of it. Always make sure to stretch before going for long hikes. You don't want to pull a muscle while out in the middle of nowhere on a trail. Carry a bottle of water with you. If it is warm out you need to rehydrate to keep yourself from feeling sick. Make sure you have comfy sneakers. You don't want your feet screaming at you 10 minutes in. That's no fun!

So what do you think? Are you ready to challenge yourself and get out there on the trails? Hiking is very rewarding and you get to see some pretty sites along the way. So what are you waiting for? Dust off those sneakers, wash your comfy workout clothes, grab a buddy and get out there!

Happy Fitness Friday!

It's that time again! I am going to feature a blog post from my previous blog as a #tbt. Last week I featured a blog writing inspiration post, which you can recap here. This week I want to feature a post about why I attend events. They are so much fun, especially if they are free. This one happened to be free and had a lot of fun goodies!

For anyone who reads my blog regularly, you know I recently started a journey to living a healthier lifestyle. Along with a healthier lifestyle comes my least favorite thing in the world: working out. Ugh, do I HAVE to? In order for me to be motivated to actually work out, I joined a gym. This is my second full week of going and man have things changed since last time I was at a gym. (It's been 3 years). Although these things may not have changed, but maybe it has to do me going from a small privately owned gym to a chain. I am going to Planet Fitness because well its cheap, and I'm broke. Here are the the things that I have noticed since joining my new gym:



1. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE is wearing ear buds. It is apparently not proper gym ettiquete to physically speak to others at the gym. You put in those ear buds and off you go.

2. Now that you have your ear buds in, you must also never make the mistake of making eye contact with any other individual around you. This may lead to socialization and unnecessary talking.

3. There is apparently a guys section and a girls section at the gym. And what I mean by this is, ladies you stay on the treadmill! Do NOT, I repeat, Do NOT get off and use a machine. Those are only for the guys in the house. You must live your life doing cardio only!

4. If you are like me, and venture into the machines, you will have every dude staring at you. I am still not sure if this is a death stare or an impressed stare. I will get back to you on this.

5. The ladies travel in packs and the men are solo. I saw the occasional couple, and they stayed in the cardio area together. I risked it and went alone. I did not have my posse with me, but I also realized its not a bad thing! I enjoyed my me time at the gym.

You see I thought the gym used to be a social place. Now it seems like you are there to do your thing and leave, unless you brought your posse, then you speak to them. I almost felt uncomfortable with all the awkwardness around me. I mean sure, I was there to get my fitness on, but come on people! We can smile, and make small talk from time to time. We can un-glue ourselves form our phones and interact with society for a little while. No one is there to piss in your cheerios. We can all use the machines, and not segregate ourselves to one area or another.

Okay this turned into a little rant, which was not intentional, which is also why I love blogging. The point I am making is why must every activity we do in life consist of us being on our phones and avoiding other people? I don't know about you, but once I leave the office these days, I am so done with electronics. I want to workout, listen to the music around me and interact with people from time to time.

What do you all think? Is this pretty common at your gym as well? Do you prefer to be left alone and get the work done, or do you enjoy a friendly chat with what could be a new friend or workout buddy? Lemme know!

Camp site

Fire!

Smores!

Welcome back to the second week of Fit-Trish where I share with you tips on leading a healthy lifestyle on a budget! If you missed last weeks premiere post, you can find it here. Just to recap, last week I offered you the best thing you can do for free to help you live that active healthy life. This week I am talking about snacks! Just because they are snacks, doesn't mean they are bad for you. Remember that. We all need that little something to hold us over in between meals. I have put together a few of my favorite on the go snacks for you to check out.



 I am very fond of anything gummy. I found these Fiber One gummies at Walmart. They are fruit snacks for adults! They are packing the fiber so you can feed your sweet tooth while filling up. A pack of 10 at Walmart is $2.00. I think that is pretty darn cheap considering the kids snacks can cost up to $4.00 a box!


Almonds have always been a favorite of mine. They can be quite pricey so this isn't a snack I purchase all of the time, but when I am looking to treat myself I will splurge. They help you cut cravings down in between meals and they have healthy fats. I recently got a Vox Box from Influenster (See the button on sidebar) and this lovely little bag of blueberry almonds by Blue Diamond was included. They are really yummy and really hit the spot. If you are craving almonds you can always go for the store brand which tends to be cheaper and tastes just as good!

 Speaking of fruits and veggies, they are probably the best thing you can do for snacks. What I normally do here to keep the cost down is buy only what is on sale that week. This way you are keeping costs down and you get to switch it up every week. Sometimes you can also get cheap fruits and veggies from a local farmers market. I also like to buy cheese when its on sale to cut into cubes and take as an on the go snack.

Don't be afraid to experiment with your snacks. Switch it up weekly to keep interest. You don't want to deprive yourself to the point you dive into a bag of chips or devour a whole pack of oreo's in one sitting. I find switching up the fruits and veggies along with my gummies seems to keep me pretty satisfied. These items aren't breaking the bank and I am starting to feel better about my choices. 

What do you think of my favorite snacks? Do you have favorites? Please share you ideas! 

Thank you for stopping by! Hope to see you back next week for more tips to a healthy lifestyle on a budget!