How to workout at home and lose weight
The good news- it is possible! The ‘eh’ news - it has the same requirement as working out at the gym: Consistency.
Consistency is one of the single most important things when it comes to trying to make any changes to your body. You didn’t gain weight without consistency. You didn’t get to where you become winded without consistency.
Sound a little confusing? Let me explain.
To lose weight, you have to consistently exercise so your body burns calories and keeps you in a calorie deficit. Consistently.
To gain weight, you have to consistently eat above your maintenance calories. You don’t gain weight by eating at or below your maintenance calories.
To improve your cardio, you have to consistently walk or run at a slightly challenging pace so your lungs and heart are challenged enough to improve.
To become winded doing things like playing with your kids or taking the stairs, you have to consistently NOT challenge your heart and lungs.
And to gain weight, it takes months. It doesn’t happen overnight. Which means to lose weight…
You guessed it. It takes months. It doesn’t happen overnight.
Hopefully, that kind of motivates you.
“How? You just said it’ll take months to lose weight!”
I did, but I also said you don’t gain weight overnight. Remember that.
Now: How do you workout at home and lose weight?
You now know about the importance of consistency.
Next, let’s break down exactly what you need to do.
Workout 3-5 days a week
Ensure your workouts are 30-60 minutes long
Pick something you can have fun with
Add in healthier snacks and foods where you can
Workout 3-5 a week
Honestly, working out every other day might be the best way to get started. That’ll get you 3-4 days weekly, ensure you’re getting enough recovery time, and help keep you from feeling overwhelmed. The reason we don’t do 6-7 days is because your body needs time to recover. The more intense the exercise, the more time your body will need.
Ensure your workouts are 30-60 minutes long
Good news- exercise compounds! What does that mean? It means you can set four alarms to do 15-minute segments and you’re good! Or you can do 30 minutes all at once, then if you find you have some free time you can do another 15 minutes instead of scrolling through social media. You just need it to be long enough to be effective and the best way to start is with 30 minutes.
Pick something you can have fun with
If you don’t enjoy HIIT, please don’t do HIIT. It’s simple. If you enjoy it then you’re more likely to stick with it. Some more good news - it’s very likely that you can find something you enjoy on YouTube. SIW is still in its early stages, so we don’t quite have the resources for you that we’d like but soon we will be posting follow-along workouts to help our users!
Add in healthier snacks and foods where you can
Notice I didn’t say “Swap foods” or “Eat healthier” or “Quit eating junk”. Everything in moderation. The idea is that because you decided to have a banana for a snack you’re less likely to crave a cookie. Or you decided to have some grapes and baby carrots and now you’re feeling more full and don’t care to have a double serving of lunch. The ‘all or nothing’ mentality will lead to failure. We don’t want that. We want small changes that can grow over time and lead to healthier lifestyles.
Did you notice
that nowhere did I say anything about “you need these dumbbells” or “you have to buy this fitness gear”.
It’s because you don’t. You can do effective workouts and all you need is your body.
We will be writing more blogs now that the website is live. Upcoming topics will include things like what equipment would be good to have (but again, not required), how to make up your own circuit, what IS a circuit anyways?, and much much more.
PLEASE
feel free to reach out and tell me what you’d like to learn about!
Shoot me an email at ahnnaleisha@womanhoodstrength.com by clicking the email or copying it into your preferred emailing app.