If you follow the Money Saving Mom® Facebook Page, you know that I recently started the P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program.
I’ve been feeling like I really need to intensify my workout routine and, after some research, my husband and I felt like P90X would be a good program for me to do. And everyone I spoke to gave it rave reviews. So, with my husband’s encouragement, I decided to go for it.
How We’re Doing P90X on a Budget
When I’ve told people that I’m starting this program, often the first question I get is: Isn’t that going to cost an arm and a leg? Well, it could, but I don’t think it necessarily has to.
The program is a little on the pricey side, but I was able to save up my Swagbucks and purchase it with Amazon gift cards I’ve earned. (I’ve heard you can snag copies on Craigslist or even from your library, if you’re looking to get a copy inexpensively.) So far, I’ve been thoroughly impressed with it.
My biggest challenge, aside from figuring out when I was going to fit a longer workout routine into my day (!), was determining how to pull off the nutritional program without breaking the bank. I really want to give this program 100% — which means I need to eat the P90X diet — but I also didn’t want to triple our grocery budget to do so!
After reading through all the nutritional material and doing further research online, I came up with a menu plan for the first thirty days (Phase 1) which follows the nutritional plan to a tee, but which I believe we can pull off without spending any more than $60 per week at the grocery store. Continuing our usual shopping of loss leaders, using coupons, getting most of our household and hygiene products for pennies on the dollar and shopping at Aldi will help to facilitate this.
Download the Menu Plan
If you’re interested in seeing the menu plan I came up with, you can download it here. The children are eating a similar diet, but I’m throwing in extra fruits and veggies and carbs for them. And since the exercise plan is only six days per week, I planned the menu accordingly. I’m taking Sundays off and will eat similar to the plan, but give myself a little breathing room and not adhere to it so strictly.
The menu plan is very quick and easy — and I’m sure some of you might find it way too simple and boring. 🙂 But I knew that if I planned meals which required hours of work, though and effort, I’d be setting myself up for failure. My goal is to do all food prep for the entire day in less than one hour.
I also incorporated our weekly dinner out into the plan as well as a once-a-week treat of a Vivanno smoothie from Starbucks. If you wanted to follow a similar menu but reduce the costs, you could substitute these items for homemade foods.
We’re buying the protein powder and protein bars from Amazon using Swagbucks, so we’d probably have to tack on another $15 to $20 per week for those if we didn’t have the option of using Swagbucks. The protein powder and protein bars we’re using are comparable to the ones offered from P90X, but they are significantly less expensive. I’m drinking chocolate milk for the recovery drink right now, as that is also less expensive and is a good recovery drink, from the research I’ve done.
So, that’s the plan right now. I’m planning to sticking with this menu for the first thirty days and then will redo the menu when I move into Phase 2. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!
And stay tuned on Saturday for a full report of my grocery shopping this week and how much we ended up spending.
If you’ve done P90X before, I’d love to hear about your experiences and any tips or suggestions you have for me!