Exercising on a budget, help

terra_ferma

Elastic bands are a cheap and versatile piece of equipment. I have both the tubes with handles, ankle straps etc, but I love the theramed type of elastic band. It cost a few pounds (I think £3) from ebay and it's great, takes up no room and you can use it for all sorts of exercises, for legs and arms. Best purchase ever.

[Deleted User]

Running is free.

If you've not done it before, this is a good place to start:

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/couch-to-5k.aspx

Horace

Get a piece of washing line and use it as a skipping rope. Walking and running are free. Digging the garden is free - it is a good work out.

If you live in Birmingham we have something called Active Parks running in various parks which is free and you can participate in Zumba, Tai Chi, athleFIT and a whole load of other free exercise and community stuff.

pinnipeds

Cycrow wrote: »

What is it you want the exercise for ?
are you looking to loss weight, tone up, build strength, just to stay healthy?

Thanks for all the advice!

I am 25 years old, I weight about 195lb. The main reason why I want to lose weight is because I'm getting married next year in July and I really want to look beautiful in a wedding dress. And it is better for my health. We don't have lots of money, I am looking for a job and my bf is working as a construction.

I try to walk about 30-45 mins every day as a start, but it is hard to find the motivation for it and to keep the habit of taking walks. Have you experienced lack of motivation? How did you do to handle it/ make it easier?

thx again

trolleyrun

The "doorstep mile" is the toughest challenge, ie just getting out the door. Have you got an iPod or similar? Find some upbeat music and try to walk in beat with the music. That's what I did before I got my dog. I ended up doing more miles than if I was just bumbling along, seemingly without purpose.
Is it sunny today where you are? If it's a nice day, grab the opportunity and go for it. It's always nice walking in nice weather

Melonade

pinnipeds wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice!

I am 25 years old, I weight about 195lb. The main reason why I want to lose weight is because I'm getting married next year in July and I really want to look beautiful in a wedding dress. And it is better for my health. We don't have lots of money, I am looking for a job and my bf is working as a construction.

I try to walk about 30-45 mins every day as a start, but it is hard to find the motivation for it and to keep the habit of taking walks. Have you experienced lack of motivation? How did you do to handle it/ make it easier?

thx again

I motivated myself this week by trying on a pair of Jeans that I could wear last year. I can still zip them up but they are quite tight round my thighs

Maybe you could pin some wedding dress pics up somewhere so when you feel like not exercising you can have a little look at them? Try thinking about your wedding and imagining how beautiful you'll look wearing your dress.

Another thing I'd do is work out just how much weight you want to lose and break it down into months or weeks. That way you can give yourself a realistic and healthy target. So say you wanted to get down to 150lb (that's just an example btw) you can lose 1lb a week and still be at your ideal weight way before you wedding.

NigeWick

pinnipeds wrote: »

TThe main reason why I want to lose weight is

Exercise will probably not lose you weight, changing what you eat will. If you do a lot of exercise, you will get more hungry and likely eat more. It takes a lot of exercise to burn calories and it is much more efficient to just eat the right foods. Strength training using body weight is good for us but what we eat is the vast majority of how our bodies look. Short burst of intense work have as good or better results than long drawn out sessions.

terra_ferma

pinnipeds wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice!
I really want to look beautiful in a wedding dress.

I'm sure you'll look beautiful in your wedding dress no matter what your size is, and I doubt your husband to be would be marrying you if he thought you wouldn't
It's good to exercise and wanted to be healthier, but don't give yourself more stress than you will already have with planning the wedding etc, and you'll be more likely to reach your goals. . The success of your wedding day, and even more importantly of your relationship won't depend on how many pounds you'll have lost, but on the kind of person you are inside.
Good luck with your exercise regime, don't give up

AMMFitness.co.uk

Youtube has a lot of videos showing ways to do exercises at home this will be the the cheapest way.

Also there are resistance bands which are cheap to buy that can help with home work outs

Soph60

Do you have instagram? I follow fitness people on there, they usually post loads of fitness videos using everyday equipment that you can find lying around the house. They tend only to be 30 seconds long and show the basic move then they suggest how many reps to do of each exercise!

Far cheaper alternative to a gym membership and at least you can watch and learn how to do the exercises properly