300+ Club - Losing weight on a budget!

I've been reading the forums, haven't posted in a while, but beware I'm back for good! lol. Anyway, I was wondering what some of you do outside the gym to get a great workout? I personally can't afford a gym membership right now, that seems to go hand in hand with weightloss and it's frowned upon not to have one, but I still want to work out! Any thoughts or suggestions?

No gym membership here. Never have had one.

Fortunately I am a person that can push myself hard in the house. I look online and gather ideas usually around variations on squats, push-ups, sit-ups and dumb bell work. It works really well for me.

Walking, about as cheap as you can get and an effective exercise.

I swear by Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred video, which you can pick up for about $9.00. I've been doing it for months now, and it has done wonders for my body!
:strong:

Zumba is a great workout. If you have netflix you can find great workout videos that give results. squats are a great workout I have come to love them and as always walking will help you loose pounds well alteast for me it does. I just ain't been walking in awhile i just hate walking in the city. can't wait till I can move back out to the country :)

I second the Jillian Michaels recommendation! I have a few of her dvds... I've only been doing them for a couple of weeks now but I already notice a difference in my body! I get bored with workouts quickly, so each week I do No More Trouble Zones, 30 Day Shred, and Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism.

Are home workouts, without equipment, as effective as an in-gym experience? I've lost a lot of weight through pushing myself at the gym, but if i cant afford it, or step out, all my weight comes back. I'm really looking for something that I can keep better with on my own.

There is another poster here that has done amazingly GREAT with her weightloss. It is Lori 259. In fact, she and her two kids all have lost a great deal of weight and on a tight budget to boot. I would contact her!

Check out the links I posted here: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/exercise/242991-articles-workout-without-equipment.html

I've gone from a 24W to a 14/16W since the spring and I exercise at home(almost 14W in about 7 months) . As a true "plus" sized woman, I couldn't do a lot of jumping around. Walk Away the Pounds (by Leslie Sansone) has worked wonders for me and didn't make me feel like I was killing myself everyday. I still have a ways to go but the DVDs are cheap (try e-bay or Wal-Mart). I've also found them at a good thrift store.

Walk Away the Pounds works for me because most DVDs give you the option of doing 1 mile, 2 miles or 3 miles (some even have 4-5 miles). They always work up a good sweat!

theluckster : I believe its all about how much effort you put in. If you don't "Phone it in" (to use a Jillian phrase) and give it your all and are consistent working out at home is great. Record your exercise, record what you do, intensity, # of reps etc so you can look at it and increase and challenge yourself. So you walk a little further and faster each week or do extra reps of strength excercises. etc. Its the sticking with its that is important not whether its done at the gym or at home :)

DVDs are pretty cheap and you can rent some from Netflix (even on instant), but also if you have cable which carries FitTV, try recording some of those shows to see if you like them. Our local PBS station has a few exercise shows too, so you might want to check your local station to see if they carry anything.

The key for me is to record my times and be accountable to myself and others. I could get that at a gym, but I also get it from online support so I don't really need a gym for that aspect of it.

I have a gym membership, but I can't always get in. There's always walking, which has the bonus of being nice and free, but the drawback of being a little hard in, say, Illinois during January. You could always go to the mall and do it, though.

Personally, I like hand weights. You can do so many things with them; just look online, and make sure you keep it simple.

Thanks for all the tips! There seems to be nothing like a walk to remind you how out of shape you really are, but I like a challenge! I'm thinking of buying myself a kinect for my xbox and getting in on these crazy dance games/zumba at home, even though zumba in a group seems like it would be easier. I should probably look into that.

I'm a poor college student and haven't had a gym membership either. I have some old 80s-90s aerobic videos that are really fun. :) You could probably find videos on Youtube. Other than that, I simply walk around the neighborhood. I take a bottle of water with me and go 3-4 miles in about an hour. Getting fresh air is great too!

When I am losing at my best I do dvd and also use a minitramp. I just jog on it. I started out jogging just 5 min. They run less than 50 bucks and some even have a bar to help you keep your balance. My minitramp melts the inches off me when I use it...the key is USING IT!!

I started with a $4 "step-counting" pedometer from Walmart or Target. I clipped it to my shoe, and every night recorded the number of steps on my calendar (or at least that was the goal - I sometimes forgot). I would zero it every morning and would try to beat the step count of the day before - even if only by a few steps. Most days I got to succeed.

A fitness log is really helpful, because you can look back and see progress you may not actually feel.

I am older and wiser. I have tried the gym memberships in the past with all good intentions. Your mind has got to be in tune and committed to losing the weight by actually go to the gym. I was all committed for about a month or two with gym attendance, then lost interest and commitment and the weight started creeping back on.

It is a life style change. Do an activity you enjoy and make it a habit, you want some sort of activity you will be able to do daily in order to be part of your every day routine.

You can do it!

I wish i could be a gym nut, but I simply am not! I'm going to join Zumba, its not super expensive here, but that's a huge thing for me being as im twice the size of everyone in class, but that just means I'll burn more! :P

I know there are lots of ways you can work out without having a gym membership. Don't get me wrong-- I do love my gym membership and to me it's totally worth it because I use it! But... my gym is close to work, which is a good ways from my house. On the weekends I don't make the drive, so I do things at home to get exercise. Walking is one of my favorite ways! When I first started my weight loss journey, I would walk at the mall. What a great way to combine one of my favorite things (shopping) with one of my least favorite things at the time (exercise)! I've grown to love exercise since then, so that's a good thing!