Who says you have to go to the gym to burn calories and lose weight? If you have the motivation and the knowledge for crafting a complete home workout plan, you can achieve results that are just as good right in your living room. The key is putting together all necessary fitness elements and sticking with your plan, even when it gets tough.
Equipment
The simplest home exercise programs don't require any equipment aside from a sturdy, supportive pair of athletic shoes. However, picking up a few additional supplies can bring great diversity to your routine without increasing costs too much. Inexpensive, compact workout tools include dumbbells, resistance bands, jump ropes, stability balls and medicine balls. Most are used for core and strength training, which can also be accomplished with your own body weight. Holding light dumbbells while you complete cardio or calisthenic movements can also help you burn more calories, accelerating the pace of weight loss.
Exercise
You should build a three-part program for weight loss that includes flexibility, aerobics and strength training. The flexibility component can be accomplished with short warm-ups and cool-downs as well as slowly paced exercises like yoga. For aerobics, try exercise DVDs, jogging in and around your neighborhood, going on brisk walks and doing classic calisthenic moves, such as jump rope and jumping jacks. Do core exercises for strength training if you don't have any equipment; otherwise, you can lift weights or use band and weighted balls to isolate and strengthen specific muscle groups.
Schedule
Take at least one day off between strength training sessions to allow your muscles time to recover, especially if you're weightlifting. However, you can do aerobic activities every day if they fit into your schedule. For weight loss, ACE recommends completing 45-minute or longer exercise sessions on five or six days per week. You'll burn the most calories with vigorous activities and interval training, which alternates periods of moderate activity with bursts of intense exercise.
Diet
Although it doesn't have to cost much more to eat healthfully than it does to buy convenience foods, you'll need to follow a nutritious, low-calorie diet to achieve and maintain your weight loss. Base your diet on MyPyramid's recommendations of whole grains, nonfat dairy, fruits, lean proteins and vegetables, and limit processed foods, restaurant meals, saturated fat, sodium, cholesterol and added sugar. To save money on groceries, clip coupons, buy from farmers' markets, choose seasonal produce, make meals that will produce leftovers and consider purchasing a share with a community supported agriculture.
Considerations
A home-based weight loss plan is definitely more affordable than paying for a gym membership, fitness classes or prepared diet meals. However, you need to be independently motivated to stick with your plan, since you won't have a personal trainer or dietitian around to urge you to make the right choices. To increase your chances of success, talk with your doctor before you begin your plan and ask for suggestions on how you might customize its details.
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