My Loss, My Gain

Free Lose it! iPhone Application

After years of working on health and fitness websites, I knew the basic rules: eat lots of fruits and vegetables; more protein, less carbs; and nothing fried. I had already started cooking more, but I needed more help than that. I decided to use the extremely popular and free application, Lose It!, which I could download onto my iPhone as a guide. The Lose It! application simply enables you to track your calories eaten and expended through exercise. You enter your weight, how much you want to lose over a specific time period, and it gives you your daily calorie allowance.

Keeping track of your calories is very eye-opening! I always figured olive oil was healthy so I would generously use it for cooking and salads. One tablespoon of olive oil has 126 calories. I started to measure it out, and realized I really didn’t need more than one tablespoon. I began making trade-offs. I ordered egg-white breakfast burritos at my local café, got ridiculed for it, but later was able to have a chocolate chip cookie guilt-free. I still went out and went over my daily calorie allowance often, but going all out sometimes made the other days of the week that much easier. I exercised more, but then was able to eat more, too. And now, a couple of months later, it’s all unbelievably become habit and my new wardrobe is complete.

Frugal Fitness: Ditching the Gym

Squats at Gantry Plaza

This past January, when most people were making resolutions to join the gym, I did the opposite. I quit it.

I had just returned from a month on a small island in the Caribbean where I shared in my friend’s good fortune – she traded one of her paintings for time in a vacation condo there. (We like to take working vacations to foreign places together. I write and take photos; she draws and paints. And then we spend our non-working hours exploring the new locale.) Unfortunately, when I returned to NYC all blissed out from December on the beach and ready to plunge back into my freelance work, there was no work, and I was forced to make some adjustments. The gym renewal was one of the first things to go.

There are many ways to stay fit without going to the gym. I know this because I’ve written what probably amounts to hundreds of articles on the subject. And while the gym does have certain advantages – it’s a warm, cozy place to work out in January, for example. And with all the equipment, machines, and classes, there’s a lot of variety. It’s also EXPENSIVE! Read the rest of this entry »

On the Frugal (and Other) Pleasures of Doing Errands by Bike

Laura's bike

One of the deal-sweeteners of our recent move from the city to the suburbs, in my husband’s view, was getting our car back, which had been on loan to family. And, although my partiality to car-free living has been lifelong–when I was 8, I told a friend I would never trade my bike for a car (she responded, “The air you breathe will be my exhaust!”)–I have to admit, having a car makes some things much, much easier. Weekend trips are no longer tainted by auto rental hassles, and our days of lugging heavy items through the subway are behind us.

That said, I find that most of my everyday errands can be more pleasurably conducted on two wheels rather than four. When we became suburbanites, I invested in a pair of saddlebags
(and, importantly, a comfortable seat) for my bike. The saddlebags are roomy enough to hold two big canvas sacks of foodstuffs, plus my purse, bike lock, and whatever else I’m carrying–letters for the post office, or books to drop off at the library, for example. With a little forethought, I can plan a smooth multi-errand trip. (Grocery shopping usually comes last; I don’t like leaving my groceries, and full saddlebags make locking up more cumbersome.)

Every time I swing a leg up onto my bike and get rolling, I’m reminded of the long list of benefits of this let-your-hair-down mode of travel. It makes the world feel more real–no surprise, given that in swapping car for bike, you’ve stripped a ton of steel and glass separating you from the road down to about thirty svelte pounds. The air, the birds–and yes, that gnarly pothole–are all on offer for you to experience in their full glory. Plus, it’s mood-enhancing, wiping the fog off your brain and waking you up; even the bumps are enlivening. Add a maneuver around an obstacle and a greeting to a pedestrian, and you’re feeling positively competent and neighborly. It’s good exercise, but not especially strenuous (and any work you do pumping up hills is always rewarded with effortless speed on the other side). And, it’s free, or almost. Magically, its costs are also benefits: stronger muscles and a kindled appetite to fill with something delicious. To me, it seems a frugal no-brainer.