Has anyone been successful without becoming a Gym Bunny?

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  • 20shan08
    20shan08 Posts: 219 Member
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    I've lost 76 pounds in the past year without stepping fit in a gym... I work out at home, I started with just 5 minutes on my elliptical every day, slowly went up to 30 mins. But I hate the elliptical, I found I dreaded doing it. So I did a round of Jillian michaels 30 day shred, then ripped in 30, and 6 week 6 pack. Now I just pick one work out video/level 5 days a week to maintain. I only have a couple pounds left to lose.

    My big thing was that I wanted to do something I could keep up with. I know I'm by the type of person to spend two hours a day at the gym every day so I didn't bother trying. I do 20-30 minutes of exercise a day, that's all :)
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
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    I'm with most of the others when I say that the gym just isn't for me. I spent years and years on the dreadmill and horrible eliptical and lifting weights in front of the meatheads and I'm alllllllllll set. I still pay for my gym membership because I have a contract and they won't let me cancel and I haven't been in 5 months. I have everything I need at home (lots of DVDs, a great running neighborhood, a bicycle, weights, and resistance bands) and along with eating healthier, I lost 18 lbs since May and am more fit than I've been in my whole life.

    I think a part of it is that I can work my hardest (grunting, sweat flying all over the place, sometimes a few tears haha) without being embarrassed or judged by anyone. Plus when you're working out at home, there are NO excuses to skip a workout.
  • MissAnjy
    MissAnjy Posts: 2,480 Member
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    I've never seen the inside of a gym, and have never hired a personal trainer. I do Turbofire, Chalean Extreme and next is P90x.
    Being a part of a gym doesn't make sense for me when I work full-time and am a single mother to 2 4 year old twin boys. I concocted a home gym, and I work out that way. I've been very successful.
  • tmos512
    tmos512 Posts: 119 Member
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    My dad lost ~50 lbs. just counting calories and doing about 30 minutes on his elliptical every day. :happy:
  • sgthaggard
    sgthaggard Posts: 581 Member
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    Gym Bunny to me is a person who goes to the gym at least 3 times a week, usually 5/6. I would even go so far to say someone who does not go to a gym but exercises more than 3 times a week.
    Of course you can lose weight without any exercise at all. The real question is, once the weight is off, how happy are you going to be with your body?
  • gemmalouise85
    gemmalouise85 Posts: 157 Member
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    ive lost 31lb so far without anymore exercise than walking get children from school and cleaning - i have just brought a cross trainer because i wanna up the exercise and tone more but thats my choice dont NEED to - also im JUST calori counting im not eating vg and salads everyday i still eat chips and every sat i have a takeaway etc.

    those 31lb ive lost in 3 months too x
  • kristen6022
    kristen6022 Posts: 1,926 Member
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    Lost 45 pounds without ever walking in to a gym. In fact, I rarely exercised. If it was nice out, I'd walk for a hr. If it wasn't, I'd do a workout video 2-3 nights a week. I also bought 8 & 10 pound dumbbells and would use them and do AB work once in while. But I was "ANAL" about my calories and the quality of the food that went in my mouth.

    I've been on maintenance since May - might do exercise now once a week - I know people, it's not "healthy", but I don't understand why people insist on killing themselves in the gym 6-7 days a week just to lose weight. You can do it with diet alone and just being active. Instead of sitting on the couch all night, go take a walk. Or get on the floor and do push-ups and sit ups. I rarely even counted the exercise I did when I was losing - it was just bonus.

    Edit: PS...I'm very happy with my body. It's the best I've looked naked in years - I look better now than I did in college and I'm almost 34!
  • BaileyP3
    BaileyP3 Posts: 151 Member
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    In Jan 2009 I weighed in at 192 and was miserable, stressed, fat! Funny thing is that my job was stressing me and when my company relocated to another state I decided to get healthy. By summer 2009 I was walking (sauntering actually ;-)) 2.5 miles a day and slowly but surely the weight fell off. I've never been a fast food/processed food fan so I added more produce, lightened the white carbs and by Summer 2012 I was 157...and I was walking 5 miles a day.

    I've always been a morning exerciser and here in NY it's dark at 6:30 am this time of year and of course soon enough the weather will be less than accomodating so....October 1 I joined the local gym :-)) It seems like the next logical step. I'm in the suburbs so a 6:30 -8:15 workout means that the place is virtually empty and I can become familiar with the machines at my own pace.
    I've tried to create a strength training program at home but it wasn't giving me the results I wanted so I'm committing to at least 6 months at the gym to see how I enjoy it.

    So currently my stats are

    Female
    48 yrs old
    6'

    HW 226
    CW 157.4 (24.5% Body Fat)
    GW 144
  • barky586
    barky586 Posts: 43
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    Me. I'm a gym bunny. In my 18th month now. Lost 185 pounds so far.
  • Victoria2448
    Victoria2448 Posts: 559 Member
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    No gym for me EVER!

    I do everything in my own home...I got amazing results with some cheap adjustable weights and a pull-up bar.

    Clean, easy, convenient and fun...
  • Siannah
    Siannah Posts: 456 Member
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    I never ever go to the gym. But, I do exercise at home most days (dvd's, youtube, fitnessblender, blogilates). Usually about 30 minutes, sometimes longer.
  • rachelerwin
    rachelerwin Posts: 140 Member
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    I guess I would be a gym bunny then as I am there 7 days a week. I am one of those people who need the extra motivation though. So far so good.
  • allisonrozsa
    allisonrozsa Posts: 178 Member
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    Yes. I've already lost 50 lbs and that only started after I quit the gym. I found ways of exercising that I enjoyed that didn't involve paying for a gym.
  • zeebruhgirl
    zeebruhgirl Posts: 493 Member
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    14 pounds so far and haven't been to a gym.
    I don't even work out yet. But I plan on starting once its not 100 degrees anymore.
  • Slimat30
    Slimat30 Posts: 142
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    I've got to goal with mfp and running 3 x a week :)
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
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    I don't think I would have lost weight if I didn't spend 4-5 days a week with some kind of exercise. For me, it was the gym and kickboxing. If your motivation to exercise is elsewhere, that's just fine. Just find something you like to do that gets your heart rate up and you can commit to on a regular basis.
  • CrimsonDiva7
    CrimsonDiva7 Posts: 171 Member
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    17 pounds so far calories cycling and walking 4x a week and kickboxing 2x a week.
  • finchase
    finchase Posts: 174
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    Going to the gym has definitely been one of the keys to my success. However, I started out well without it by maintaining a strict diet and walking every day. But I knew that hot summer weather (I live in Texas and even in May last year I could tell it was going to be a really bad summer) would make it difficult to keep up the walking, so I joined a local gym at that point. I gained access to a large number of fitness machines and weights, and I started working with a personal trainer.

    For me, the discipline of making myself get up and actually go to the gym every day has been very important. But it's not for everyone. You have to do what works for you.
  • thektturner
    thektturner Posts: 228 Member
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    I hurt my back while exercising and was completely out of commission for about 5 weeks (was seeing a chiropractor 3x a week). During this time, I didn't want to stop losing weight, so I started zig-zagging calories. This is essentially changing the number of calories you eat day to day. Any more than 3 days in a row and your body gets used to the calorie level at which you eat. As the body's goal is always to maintain current weight, it will try to maintain on what you are eating. If you zi-zag calories (there are other names for this theory as well, that elude me at the moment) you eat, for example 1200 calories a day for 3 days, then bump it up to 1700 or so for 3 days and go back and forth. Your body doesn't understand what's happening.

    I don't know that this would necessarily work super-long term (have not read articles about using it as a permanent eatin strategy) but I know it sure kept my weight loss going when I was not able to exercise.

    Make sure you eat enough protein though, so your body does not use your current muscle as fuel.
  • scorpio516
    scorpio516 Posts: 955 Member
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    No gym. Have lost a total of 70 lbs, then gained 5 back in the last couple months.

    No equipment at home. Just biking, running, portion control. In the last 12 months, I've podiumed my age group at all but 1 5K I've ran (that one had a 10 year AG, and I was 7th overall, but 4 of the people in front of me were in my AG... Would have been 2nd in a normal 5 year AG).

    If you want to see how much I actually exercise outside a gym, here's my profile on Strava: http://app.strava.com/athletes/754407

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