Losing Your Bum on a Budget

A while ago, I read Kristi’s post about saving money by working out at home.  I had wanted to post about exercising as well since I am a self-proclaimed exercise enthusiast, but didn’t think I had much more to add.  Well I feel that since I am in college and lost the fifteen-twenty pounds I gained my freshman year in my tiny room my sophomore year, I am well-equipped to share my thoughts and work out philosophy, all on a teeny tiny budget.

When I was in high school, I was on the dance team.  I’m in the front center in both photos.

It became a huge passion of mine and I ended up advancing very quickly at it due to being a perfectionist and hard work ethic.  I made varsity after one year of being on junior varsity and by my senior year and second year of varsity I was one of three captains.  We won conference and made it to state that year, which is one my proudest accomplishments and one of the best days of my life.  I was pretty small while in dance, weighing about 110-115 pounds.  We practiced all the time, however, and I could barely eat enough to maintain my weight.  This did not help me at all when dance was no longer in session because my appetite was still huge when I was no longer working out.  I was the kind of person who swore they would never be able to motivate themself to workout on their own.

Once I got to college, this philosophy followed me.  Since dance was no longer a part of my life and I was still eating like it was, I ended up gaining about twenty pounds.  For me, it was all time low for my self-esteem, which I have battled with my whole life.  My second semester into college, I took a required physical education course where I fell in love with step aerobics.  I did not lose very much weight, but it showed me that there are types of exercise that I actually enjoy.  It was the first step to working out on my own.

By the end of my freshman year, I had purchased a couple of workout videos to tide me over for the summer.  I didn’t work out that hard, but by the time my sophomore year rolled around, I was incredibly motivated to get in shape.  By the end of my sophomore year I lost about fifteen pounds.  Because my classes were later my second semester that year, I would wake up early and work out to Jillian Michaels’ Maximize Complete DVDs every morning (which was available free through my plan on Netflix at the time – not anymore unfortunately) as well as using Body by Glamour’s personalized strength routines.  Working out in the morning not only gave me energy, but confidence.  I had never felt better about myself.

Ever since then, I’ve tried my best to work out three to five times a week.  Here are the various things I do while at school.  These are all things I am able to do in a very small amount of space (think maybe five feet by five feet) in an apartment without making all my neighbors complain about noise.  It is possible to get in shape on a budget with little space, I promise!

• Step aerobics
• I use an aerobic step I got at a garage sale or this step from Amazon
• Cathe: Total Cardio STEP
• Pilates (for my easier days)
• 10 Minute Solutions Rapid Results Pilates
• Pick Your Level Weight Loss Pilates
• General Aerobics/Strength
• Tae Bo Ultimate Abs/Butt
• Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred
• 10 Minute Solutions Carb Burner
• The Firm – Cardio Dance Fusion
• Body by Glamour Workout

Then, at my parent’s house, I’ve been running on the elliptical more, as well as outside on our long driveway, and sometimes I even just go to the basement and dance in our workout room in front of mirrors after being inspired by So You Think You Can Dance.  Doing my old dance routines almost kills me now even though I am in shape.

Most of these videos I asked for for my birthday or Christmas, so they were little money out of my own pocket.  They are usually only about ten dollars anyway, so they do not break the bank.  I also got some dumbbells for free off of Free Cycle.  People go in and out of exercise phases all the time, so you can almost always snatch up some good standard workout equipment for next to nothing.  My advice is to stick with the basics.  The fancier a machine is, the more time it will take to learn, and the higher likelihood that you will give up easier.  I like my workouts to be fast, efficient, fun, and easy (as in easy to learn not necessarily easy to do).

Making exercise a priority, not a once-in-a-while kind of thing, has made me so much healthier.  I now weigh what I did when I was in dance but work out much less.  I really only workout for about half an hour to forty minutes the few times a week I work out.  I stick to doing what I can handle, that way I don’t dread it the next time.  It’s hard to get started, but once you do it will be hard to stop.  After maintaining an exercise program and reaching your ideal weight, it isn’t as hard to maintain the weight because your metabolism is a lot faster and you should want to keep exercising a few times a week because it bring so many health benefits, both physical as well as psychological.

Do you exercise?  Do you have any videos, tips, or tricks you would like to share about exercising on a budget?