Baker’s Dozen Guide to Losing Weight For Free or Cheap

by J. Green

Need to lose weight but don’t have a lot of cash to spare? While it’s true that availing yourself of Beachbody exercise programs and Equinox gym memberships can cost quite a bit of dough, you don’t need a ton of money to reach your weight loss goals. There are ways to lose weight and get healthy without permanently putting a hole in your wallet. 

But if we’re talking about losing weight in this article, why is it called “The Baker’s Dozen Guide”? Shouldn’t you stay out of bakeries if you’re trying to lose weight? A “baker’s dozen” is a set of 13 treats. When you’re treating yourself, don’t you want just a little bit extra? Think of the title as my way of giving you a little extra when it comes to providing you tips to lose that excess weight for free. 

Use YouTube

Why? It’s 100% free! YouTube actually has a wide variety of exercise videos for all types of people, abilities, and fitness preferences. Whether you’re into hip-hop dance, yoga, pilates, or lifting extremely heavy weights, YouTube has creators making fitness content for you every single day. 

The following is a partial list of popular YouTube creators in the fitness space:

• Blogilates
• Fitness Blender
• Yoga With Adriene
• Mike Thurston (Bodybuilding)
• Sean Vigue Fitness (Yoga, pilates, and cardio for men and women)

Eat Less, Eat More

In other words, eat less of the processed Frankenfoods on the grocery store shelves. Eat more of whole foods like proteins, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds, and some grains.

We all learned the difference between “sometimes” foods and “always” foods. If it comes in a package, it’s a “sometimes” food. If the food item can be found around the perimeter of your grocery store (and doesn’t come in a package), it’s ok for liftoff. 

Move (A Lot) More

One study showed that only 20% of American adults exercise regularly. How scary is that statistic? It doesn’t take a ton of effort to move more. Nor does it take any money.

Take more walks around the neighborhood. Do a couple of yoga stretches before bed. Take a spin on the stationary bike at your office’s gym.

Even taking the stairs instead of the elevator can help you with your weight loss goals. 

Try Your Local Discount Gym Franchise

Every community has the Y. But even cheaper gym options exist in most communities. One popular discount gym franchise is Planet Fitness. They run enrollment specials where you can pay a $1 signup fee and then pay $10 a month. If you want to join a gym, it’s really tough to beat that.

But if you don’t have a Planet Fitness in your area, there are plenty of other discount gym franchises in the United States and abroad.

Walk Outside

You can walk anywhere for free. Turns out you can burn some calories in the process. An 180-pound person can burn up to 100 calories per mile.

So walk around the block during your lunch break. Take a walk around the neighborhood after dinner with your family.

Catch up with a friend as the two of you power walk. You can incorporate walking into your fitness routine in plenty of ways. 

Work Out With a Healthy Friend

Healthy friends can help you figure out a lot of ways for you to lose weight without expensive gym memberships. They might ask you to join them on their morning run. The two of you could hold your own fitness bootcamp in the park on a nice day.

Or you could bring some mats and do some yoga there. One of the great reasons for enlisting your healthy friends in your weight loss goals is that you have a ready and willing accountability partner.

So go make some phone calls today!

Try HIIT Workouts

High-intensity interval training, or HIIT, combines short periods of moderate physical activity with shorter bursts of intense exercise.

These types of workouts are great for people who are new to exercise. You can find plenty of HIIT exercise routines on YouTube. A Google search will help you turn up even more. 

Have Running Shoes? Run!

Running doesn’t have to be this expensive activity. You don’t need the fitness watch, the heart rate monitor, or the fancy running shorts you saw an Instagram influencer wearing.

All you need are running shoes and some clothes in which you feel comfortable jogging. If you want all that fancy stuff later, buy it if it floats your boat.

But if you’re trying to lose weight on a budget, stick to the essentials. 

Get Books on Health and Fitness for Free

In the 21st century, libraries may seem like an antiquated idea. You can go to a building, pick out a book or five, present a card, and then you can take them home for a couple of weeks? Whaaaat? While a two-minute visit to Amazon will get you the health book that you want, Amazon is not free. (Hate to break it to you)

So if you’re trying to lose weight while getting your thrift on, get familiar with your local library. You’ll often be surprised at the selection of health and fitness books they have. If your branch doesn’t have the book you want, your library often has arrangements with other library systems in the area that let you borrow books from other branches for free. How cool is that?

Play!

Have kids? Play with them sometimes. Know people with kids? Play with them. You might have forgotten how hard kids can go when they’re in the midst of their kiddie adventures.

So engage in a game of hide-and-seek with your nephews. Don’t forget to break a sweat!

Dance!

Are you not the type of person that would get mistaken for a backup dancer for Beyonce? That’s okay.

Shake what you got anyway. Not only is dancing fun, but you can burn some calories as well. Up to 500 calories an hour, to be exact.

So dance like no one’s watching. No one has to know. At least, until you start losing some excess pounds. 

Intermittent Fasting

What better way to lose weight than to not eat? You’re not going to stop eating forever with intermittent fasting. But you will refrain from eating for a set period of time each day or week. How long will depend on the model of intermittent fasting you follow. There are many intermittent fasting methods from which you can choose. Here is a partial list:

• 16/8 Method: Fast for 16 hours, eat for 8.
• 5/2 Diet: Eat for 5 days, fast for 2.
• Eat/Stop/Eat: Fasting for a 24-hour period, once or twice a week
• Fasting alternate days of the week
• The “Spontaneous” Method: Skipping meals when eating is inconvenient

Eat At Home

While it’s possible to have healthy meals when you go out, it’s much easier to control what goes in your food when you cook it at home. If you don’t know how to cook, make it a point to learn. Just learning how to prepare one or two new healthy dishes can take all the hassle out of figuring out what to eat each day. Plus, did I mention that not going out to restaurants every week can save you some serious cash? Ka-ching!

No, you don’t have to pay for some fitness app, buy a Beachbody program, or join the local luxury gym franchise to lose weight. As long as you’re motivated and creative, finding ways to lose weight for free or cheap could be a fun process if you let it. You’re not getting your wisdom teeth pulled. You’re working your way to a fitter, better you. It’s okay to have a bit of fun while you do that. You won’t get to your weight loss goals if you don’t enjoy the journey. So put on some of your favorite music and squat your way to fit!

(J. Green loves to write about health and wellness in a way that includes people of all backgrounds. In addition to writing, J. is currently studying to be a software engineer. When she’s not writing code, she loves to unwind by watching baking shows on the Food Network.)

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