Now it’s the time when many people are looking to lose weight so that they can look their best on their summer holiday and that includes me! I’ve been actually working really hard to lose all the weight that I gained in winter so that I look good in my summer clothes. I’ve already lost some weight a few months ago but now I am having another push to lose some more.
My approach is to be more aware of what I eat, paying more attention to calories I eat every day. I also keep active to boost my metabolism and speed up the weight loss.
I started calorie counting in March this year and it worked really well for me. But I only tried it for 3 weeks and then left it. Now I am back to it as I want to lose more weight and calorie counting does work for me. Apart from calorie counting I also aim to be more active so I don’t only do outdoor activities such as hiking and cycling (normally weekends) but I also do home workouts.
Home workouts are great for busy people as you don’t have to go to the gym and you basically save time like that. I’ve been doing home workouts for quite some time now (mostly using the 7-Minute App) so I know what’s like and what it takes to get into the routine and keep going. Here I thought to share my top tips to help you start working out at home and stick with it:
Schedule your workouts
This is my number one tip as it’s really easy to say you will try and work out at home but then you don’t follow it through.
Getting into the routine is not easy so you will find some resistance in the beginning. But this can be easily dealt with.
First, think about the best time to exercise, something that works for you well. Is it in the morning, before going to work? Or lunchtime? Or after work? Whatever it is, pick the best timing for you and then schedule it into your daily plan. Write it down and set a reminder. In this way you have a clear intention, you know when you are doing it and you will be less tempted to avoid it.
Have a designated exercise area
Not everybody will have enough space in their home for exercising and in this case, the best is to clear one area to make enough space. Maybe you arrange your furniture differently to make more space or you can just temporary move light furniture for the duration of the workout. I tend to move the coffee table out of the way and then I have enough space in the living room to do my workouts.
It’s even better, of course, if you have one room only for exercise – you can put all the exercise stuff there (mats, towels, etc.) and you can even make it into a small gym if you like.
Get yourself prepared in advance
If you prepare yourself in advance you will less likely skip the planned exercise. So decide on what to wear, get your mat out and lay everything out, just to get reminded of your intention to exercise. You can do this the day before or in the morning of the day you are planning to work out.
If all is prepared for you and you just have to go and do the exercise, how likely are you going to avoid it? If anything, this just pushes you to do it because you’ve already prepared everything.
Wear comfortable clothes
When exercising it’s important to wear something comfortable. Anything too tight and you won’t enjoy the exercise.
If you gained weight and all your clothes are too tight, it may be a good idea to get yourself something more comfortable, just for workouts. This makes exercise more enjoyable and you will feel less body-conscious when you do that. Because the last thing you want to focus on when you exercise is your tummy rolls, emphasized by a tight-fitting top, or your muffin top which looks worse when wearing really tight trousers. So always wear comfortable clothes for your workouts and something you feel good in.
Exercise with another person
Exercise can be much more fun when you are working out with other people. See whether you can include your partner or a friend to make it more fun. Invite them over and schedule your session in. You can do this on the weekends when everybody has more time.
Arranging to exercise with others can give you a motivation boost and you can encourage each other or even compete with each other to see which one does better. Of course, this doesn’t have to be all indoors, you can also take it outdoors if you like.
Vary your routine
If you keep doing the same type of exercises you will quickly get bored and won’t be as motivated to exercise. Not to mention that your body won’t be as challenged and the results may not come as quickly.
For me, 7-minute workouts work very well – they are quick and effective and when I do them regularly I can definitely see an improvement on my body. But I do get bored doing them all the time so recently I started looking at alternatives.
I realised that actually, there are so many workout videos online that it’s difficult to choose! The best is to start with YouTube and see what you can find there. I recommend checking the following YouTube channels:
- POPSUGAR Fitness
- Kayla Itsines
- FitnessBlender
- The Body Coach TV
Then, there are paid programmes online which you can join for a monthly fee. These are great as you don’t only get access to various workouts, but you also get nutritional advice and lots of support when trying to lose weight.
Recently I’ve discovered Beach Body On Demand and started doing their free trial. Totally love this stuff! With Beach Body on Demand, you will have access to hundreds of various programmes and videos that you can access on your computer or via your smartphone. They keep adding new workouts so you never get bored. And it’s not only about workouts, you also get loads of PDFs to help you plan your workouts and meals and to record your progress. So yeah, this is great stuff and I love it.
Alternatively, if you need a little bit more guidance on your weight loss journey, you could go for a personalised programme which includes exercise videos to keep you motivated and focused, a personal coaching plan, recipe videos and even a recipe book. It’s basically like having your own personal trainer online, isn’t that cool? And you don’t even have to go to the gym, everything can be done at home, for a fraction of a cost.
Get yourself some equipment
There are many online workouts you could follow that require no equipment but if you get yourself some exercise accessories and equipment, it just means you can spice things up a little bit.
Owing some exercise accessories and equipment means that you can try different types of workouts but this also allows you to make your exercise more interesting and varied. So you will less likely to get bored, not to mention that you will be able to follow more workout videos online.
The equipment and accessories that can come really handy at home are things like dumbbells, kettlebell, medicine ball and resistance bands. You could also go for something more advanced and challenging such as an abs roller or TRX Suspension trainer.
What to buy really depends on your current fitness levels and how much you want to spend. Resistance bands, for example, are great for all fitness levels and they are really affordable. An abs roller is quite affordable as well but it’s more suitable for advanced users.
Wrap up
So there you have it, my top tips for exercising at home. What do you think of these tips? Do you have anything to add? Do you exercise at home or are you planning to? I would love to hear your comments!
