I have a bone to pick with our CheapToday free food...I mean, free deals editor Renee LaVoie. She is making me gain weight. This is not helpful, especially during swimsuit season.
Now, I was already fighting a losing battle with my waistline anyway so it's not like she ruined a skinny girl, but still, I did once have a waist.
Now, thanks to Renee's free Romano's Macaroni Grill appetizer, free spaghetti at Fazoli's, free appetizer at Texas Roadhouse, BOGO free entrees at T.G.I. Fridays, and, oh, I don't know, fifty free donut/ ice cream/ pizza deals...I'm completely done in. I've added another chin, s'more love handles and a spare tire fit for an 18 wheeler.
So I'm exercising. I'm not doing any aerobics because...well...I hate aerobics. Instead, I'm using exercise bands, doing yoga and sit ups. I'm not buying any equipment or getting a new exercise wardrobe--in fact, I haven't spent a single cent on my new exercise routine.
When it comes to fitness equipment, it's important to know what you will or won't use before you go out and spend a ton of money because remember, it's not the buying of the equipment that makes you lose weight, it's the using of it.
So here are some tips I use to make working out cheap:
- Netflix: Don't buy a bunch of workout DVDs, instead use Netflix's Watch Instantly category to find exercise videos that you can stream on your laptop. This is not just a cheap solution to weight loss, it's also a space saver since you don't have to buy all the different DVDs. You can do Pilates one day and yoga the next--all for the same low price and during whatever hours fit your schedule.
- Resistance bands: With resistance bands, you get the toning benefit of strength training without the cost of weights. Oh, and talk about saving space--weight benches, dumbbells, weights, there is so much equipment to lug around and store when you have weights. Resistance bands can fold up and go in your sock drawer. They offer a variety of resistance levels and exercise options--and they are cheap!
- Buy used: Hubby found a $600 Bowflex on sale at a thrift store for only $300. Used is the way to go. Whether you find used equipment at thrift stores, yard sales, classifieds or Craig's List, you're being environmentally friendly, budget-conscious, and body wonderful when buying equipment used.
Yolander
Photo of something I will never do by twenty_questions