How do you stay fit/lose weight/keep healthy on the "cheap" or for free? - Page 2

[sunnysandiegan]

Oh, I didn't even think about our Wii! We have several physically active "games". It is a fun way to move your body.

Along these lines, I also didn't consider all the dancing to music and gardening and other moving I do. I do some yoga every day (learned from several diverse instructors in local classes from when we had a Y membership; I don't have a video anymore) and mix it up based on what my body tells me. I am also learning qigong and incorporating that into my daily life. I take a free class in this once a week and I own two DVDs.

[Knittin' in the Shade]

I use a calorie tracker thingy on my phone for a food log, and have a memebrship at Planet Fitness ($10 month)  I've only recently been able to join and use this gym though, because it doesn't offer childcare so before my youngest started preschool in the mornings, it wasn't an option.

[mommyjoy]

I agree with some of the pp about walking/jogging/running. Spend some money on a good pair of shoes, which would still be less than a personal trainer of gym membership.

I bought some good shoes last year and started walking, then worked my way up to jogging, I have not lost a lot of pounds, but my body looks completely different. I've lost inches.

We use the stroller, go on family walks, etc.

I also put my running shoes on when I am housecleaning. Somehow it just seems to make me move faster!

[mattemma04]

Dvds from the library. You can find them cheap at the resale stores too. FAT BURN by jillian micheals is a good one.

Cheap or free exercise stuff on craigs.

[Stayseeliz]

Investing in good workout DVD's are a cheap way to get fit. I love the stuff from beachbody.com They will get you moving and you can use them for a long time!

[Siennaflower]

Calorie counting and walking.  A good stroller is pretty much all I need.  If it's too hot or cold out I go to the mall and do a few laps, but usually I walk around the lake right by my house or down to the library.

[madskye]

I'll third Sparkpeople.com--I use their calorie tracker, I like to blog about food and working out, and it's a nice network.  Calorie counting is free and it's really changed my life.  Now that I know the "value" of most foods and portions it just really informs the way I eat.

I also do workout videos on my On Demand cable.  They have lots of great free videos, including the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred.  DD, 5, and I did a 10 minute "hip hop abs" dance video the other day and it was so funny, and an easy way to get us both moving.

[Austin'smom]

Originally Posted by EmsMom 

I started using the free Sparkpeople website a little while ago.  It has a reasonable diet, much like the old weight watchers (before points).  I have lost 5 pounds but also about 4 inches off of my waist.  It makes it easy to track what I have eaten and add extra food.  Yesterday I had to add a piece of pumpkin pie...   It also has some decent exercise videos on the site and tracks exercise and various nutrients of your own choosing.  Lots of advertising, but it is free and quite a reasonable, healthy diet (although I find that I double the vegetables it calls for). 

For exercise I recently discovered that I can get some good exercise videos from Netflix on my computer.  But mostly I prefer walking outside.  I go to a section of town that is essentially a small mountain and walk there.  Hard right now because there is alot of ice around, hence the videos. 

I also have a membership at a Planet Fitness which is about $10 a month and, while it is not my favorite gym, it is close by and has decent equipment so I do use it for the treadmill and the weight machines.

Technically, I could use the gym at my school for "free" since I am a student, but it isn't as convenient as the other.

I've used sparkpeople.com also and thought it was a good resource. Netflix has a lot of videos that you can stream or you can get the disk in the mail, easy and stops me from getting bored.

[Coconut Chronicles]

I use Fit Day to track what I'm eating and how many calories I'm burning. I also invested in a few workout DVD's (P90X, Insanity and Bryan Kest Yoga).

[KatWrangler]

I use our Wii, online weightloss sites/blogs and some equipment I already have.  I have a fitball, hand weights, stretchy band, DVDs.  With our tax refund I would like to get a good pair of running shoes since I want to take up running.

As of this moning I am down 68 pounds.  But I have about 40 plus pounds to go.

[frugalmum]

Eating very little is cheap... say a strict 1200 calorie/ day diet is almost nothing in terms of cost.  Most americans eat 2 or 3 times that much.

Walking is my favorite form of exercise!  Walk 30-60 minutes a day.

I also borrowed a yoga book from the library.  Youtube has great yoga vids as well.

[CameronsMama]

We have two large dogs, so they really need a good walk at least once a day, and we usually try to get them out twice each day, sometimes more if the weather is nice. We walk everywhere we can (library, parks, etc) and we go for nature walks or hikes a lot (even in poor weather). I got some yoga dvds from the library and pieced together a routine that works well for me, so I do yoga every morning now, and we have a couple of fitness games for the Wii that I do sometimes, not very often though, to be honest, we do those more for fun or to use up restless energy on days when the weather is to bad to enjoy being outside.

I find that it takes a lot less healthy whole food to fill us up, so we buy less food than we used to, and our grocery bill has gone down significantly. We do our best to cook healthy meals at home and avoid going out to eat, that's been the most successful change we've made :)

[HeatherAtHome]

Originally Posted by KatWrangler 

I use our Wii, online weightloss sites/blogs and some equipment I already have.  I have a fitball, hand weights, stretchy band, DVDs.  With our tax refund I would like to get a good pair of running shoes since I want to take up running.

As of this moning I am down 68 pounds.  But I have about 40 plus pounds to go.

Congrats!!!

I'm using Sparkpeople and walking. Down 4lbs in just less than 2 weeks. 
 

[sunnysandiegan]

Originally Posted by KatWrangler 

I use our Wii, online weightloss sites/blogs and some equipment I already have.  I have a fitball, hand weights, stretchy band, DVDs.  With our tax refund I would like to get a good pair of running shoes since I want to take up running.

As of this moning I am down 68 pounds.  But I have about 40 plus pounds to go.

Congrats!!!

My DD loves your kitty picture!!!

I am down 16 pounds as of this morning (since the Monday before Halloween). How long has it taken you to lose the 68 pounds? I have at least 50 to lose total, but would like to lose 66 total....50 left. That is kinda depressing. I like saying I've lost 16 pounds much better! LOL At least you are over the halfway point.