Year after year, millions of people make a New Year’s resolution to get fit and healthy. Lucky for our pocketbooks (and the other popular resolution: save more money) there are abundant free resources available to help you meet your goals and live a healthy, active life.
1. Lose It! Offers a free and easy way to set daily calorie goals and track your progress. You can enter your data online via the Lose It! website or download the free app to your Android or iPhone smart-phone. Calorie counts for thousands of commonly eaten foods (including restaurant meals and commercially prepared foods) are available to make it simple to calculate your daily caloric intake. You can also easily see how many calories you’ve burned by doing one of the hundreds of different exercises that Lose It! has data for.
If you are looking for support, Lose It has a social feature where you can share progress and goals via social media or with friends who are also members. The website also features a forum where active and motivated members share tips, tricks, advice and encouragement.
2. My Fitness Pal is very similar to Lose It! with the added benefit of having over 1 million food items in their calorie database. My Fitness Pal also offers a very easy to use recipe calculator that makes it easy to find out how many calories are lurking in your family favorites.
3. Spark People is another free website that helps members keep track of calories and exercise while offering encouragement and motivation. Spark people offers more lifestyle and health articles and resources than the two sites above and also has an extensive library of exercise demonstrations to help make working out at home easier.
4. Fitocracy is free but invite only at this point (you can request an invitation on the site and/or ask all of your friends and acquaintances via social media). It is more focused on weight training than weight loss and is a wonderful resource for those who want to increase their strength, flexibility and stamina this New Year.
5. Google Recipe Search is a free and easy way to search for new, healthy recipes based on the ingredients you have at hand and desired calorie count per serving. You can save time and money by using up the food in your fridge and pantry instead of running to the store with a list every time you want to cook. It’s also a good way to learn how to incorporate unfamiliar frugal and nutritious foods into your repertoire.
6. Quit Net provides instant motivation to quit smoking with the money and lifetime saved calculator located prominently on the home page. You can find free advice, support and encouragement that will help you quit smoking for good this time.
7. Many churches and community centers offer free or extremely low cost gym facilities. Often, you do not even have to be a member to join, although in many cases you will have to fill out a short registration form and possibly pay a nominal fee before being allowed to use the facilities. Along with various exercise equipment, many of these facilities also offer free or low cost exercise classes (some also include child care), sports leagues and open court times for basketball or racquetball. Many of these programs are not advertised, so ask around to find what resources are available in your community.
And remember to check out the 24 hour fitness coupon codes too if you want to join a gym without paying full price for the membership.
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