I'm extremely self-concious and have a horrible fear of working out in public. Not only does this bar me from using a gym, but I'm even afraid to walk around town. I live in a college town, and it's humiliating to be the fat girl walking by the skinny sorority girls.

So I'm looking for exercises to do at home until I've lost enough weight to venture out in public. I can't afford to buy a treadmill and there's no space for it in my apartment anyway. I was thinking about getting the game "Walk it Out" for the Nintendo Wii (my boyfriend has one, so it'll only cost about $30 for the game). Or maybe a portable peddler?

I only work out at home as well. For me, it's not so much the idea of people seeing me, as it is being motivated to actually go somewhere to exercise. I converted my basement to a nice little work out area so there are no excuses. I can workout in my PJ's if I choose to do so I use workout videos as my main source of exercise. My videos of choice are walk at home videos by Leslie Sansone. It combines power walking with simple kicks and leg lifts. You get a great workout and you don't have to be overly coordinated. She is very inspirational and positive, I just love her. You really don't need a lot of space do do most of the moves either. If it interests you, you can check out some video clips on you tube. There are quite a few on there. I also have a gym style elliptical trainer that I picked up second hand for a good deal. It is a great machine to get the heart rate going You don't have to have any equipment at all but any little extra thing you can do will be beneficial. Keep an eye out on classifieds sites like kijiji.com. That is where I found my elliptical.

The Wii sounds like a good idea to get you up and moving. I wouldn't rely on it as your only source of exercise but is a great start for sure! I am getting a wii fit for my birthday this week. It looks like fun!

I use YouTube to find my workout videos. Just search for the specific area of your body you want to work that day and you can find tons of videos to follow. Diet.com is the best subscription I have found, so far. If you have space around your computer it makes it a lot easier.

Hope this helps!
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Mini Goal 1: 199 - 9lbs to go
Mini Goal 2: 185 - 23lbs to go - Memorial Day Challenge
Mini Goal 3: 175 - 33lbs to go
Mini Goal 4: 160 - 48lbs to go
Unrealistic Goal?? 155 - 63lbs to go

How about looking on ebay for exercise videos. I know it sounds silly, but I actually like Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies ones. I'm not fit enough to do them very well, but they aren't all that difficult and easy to start with. I'm not sure what other kinds of ones there are, but I'd say that anything where you can kind of go at your own pace is great. Anything that gets you moving a little at a time is good.

I wish I could help you to feel better enogh to walk around town. It's such a great way to start an exercise plan. I guess being 48 instead of young is an advantage for me. I wouldn't care what the sorority girls think, but I can sure understand how you feel. Even if you just put some music on and walk in place until you can raise your knees and march in place and then jog in -lace...that would be a big help.

I won't go to the gym. It's just so NOT my idea of a good time that I will do anything and everything to find other ways to exercise! If you find something active...with active meaning more active than you are now, not training for a marathon...that you enjoy doing, it's easier to want to do it on a regular basis.

Good luck to you! You know we are all in the fat ol' boat together, we getit, and we will do what we can to support your efforts!


Barb

I have some of the turbo jam series dvds... they're not bad cardio exercises to start. If you're interested in this kind of thing... I like the windsor pilates series as well... but they're hard!

For Wii - the EA Sportsactive is pretty good but I use my own pilates band as the one supplied doesn't actually seem to have much resistance. There's a couple of other games... my fitness coach, some boxing ones, the biggest loser one, jillian michael's 30 day shred which some people swear by but I haven't tried them. For cardio... dance dance revolution is fun and difficult/expert mode definitely makes me sweat.

I was 405 pounds when I began working out. Making the trip to the gym is a great way of creating a daily goal to conquer. You can measure your progress, track your calories, get better form, get out of the house, see improvement!!! I have people on oxygen machines and 70 year olds working out. I rarely saw anyone say hey old man quit working out your gonna have a stroke or hey fatty eat a salad. Times have changed we are the most obese society in history so I had plenty of company when I started. I love seeing overweight people at the gym. I hate not seeing them after a month.

I agree with 'tryhardforlife' about the gym. I guarantee you will not be the only overweight person there. And no matter how self-conscious you feel, people will not be staring at you. They will be too busy looking at themselves in mirrors, checking their form, or they'll be too engrossed in their own workouts, or singing along to their iPods.

As for walking outside, could you go with a friend? Or go in the evening, when it's a little darker out?

The thing I don't always like about working out at home is that it's so easy not to do it. There are five million other things I can be doing when I'm at home. When I go to the gym, once I'm there, I know I'm going to do my workout and then go home. And usually when you join a gym, you get a free session with a trainer to get you sorted out with a program, which is always a good idea for someone relatively new to an exercise regime.

Having said all that, there are lots of ways to workout in your home. YouTube videos, yoga videos online, bodyweight exercises like squats and lunges and pushups (there are several varieties of push-ups, you don't have to start with the full blown ones) and even walking up and down a flight of stairs in your house repeatedly, are all great. The important thing, as you know, is just to get active. Hopefully you'll start to feel a little more comfortable with yourself and branch out to doing stuff outside your home if you want. Finding something that you like doing, that you will do, is key.

I use resistance bands for working out at home, and I do a Pilates routine too (I jog outside as well). I started out with EA Sports Active for the Wii and it was an awesome full-body workout--that game is the only thing that motivated me to workout regularly for the first time in my life. I like More Workouts a little better than Personal Trainer, but both are awesome and effective. I have Wii Fit and Your Shape too, and didn't really care for either of them.

I agree with tryhardforlife as well. Gym is a great place. I will admit that when I signed up (even though it was not my first gym membership, I had two before, years ago, but of course I never kept it up) I had to "talk myself into going" for the first few times, and then I became completely comfortable with going and now, 2 years later, I cannot imagine my life without the gym. I do a lot of exercise at home these days but I would have never made it to this level without the gym.

Believe me, nobody will be looking at you (if that's what you worry about). There are people of all shapes and of every age. My gym, too, has one quite elderly gentleman who looks fragile and walks with difficulties yet I often see him there pedalling on a recumbent bike.

Perhaps you would enjoy a Zumba class? It's very popular with the ladies and a lot of ladies (who were obviously in their initial stages of weight loss) are going regularly. Everybody is too busy trying to keep with the steps and too sweaty to care what you are doing.
Good luck!

Check out the wide world of Video Fitness!! There are thousands of videos to choose from in just about any form of workout you think you might like.

I don't know if I can post the links here, but Google the Video Fitness Forum for loads of help and ideas (including lots of Wii users), also Collage Video which sells them and has clips of all the workouts so you can see what they're like.

I have a whole little area devoted to working out where I have all my videos (around 100), yoga mat, free weights, mini-tramp and all the luxuries like fresh towels, a place to keep my workout clothes and a calendar to track my progress.

You can get a LOT of excellent videos for around $10-$15 dollars, but you can also find some real bargains at stores like TJ Maxx, Goodwell, Savers, and rummage sales. PLUS your local library probably has quite a few you can try for free.