What holds you back from exercise? Maybe you have a legitimate doctor’s note: you’re recovering from surgery, you had a baby last week, etc, etc. But apart from real reasons.. what’s your excuse? Don’t have time? Don’t have a place? Don’t have equipment? Don’t know where to start? Oh, believe me, I’m not pointing fingers.. I’m listing all of MY excuses! But they are excuses really. How does the saying go? If something is important you’ll find a way, if it’s not you’ll make excuses – something like that.

After being sick with a head cold that totally sapped my energy (legitimate reason) I have to get back on that exercise train as my energy returns. No more excuses. And I really don’t have money or time to join a gym.. but there’s no reason I can’t exercise at home. So, back to work I go!

3 Websites to Exercise Online for Free

1.) Exercise TV on Hulu – Free workout videos for a variety of fitness levels and video lengths.

2.) Do Yoga With Me – Free Yoga & Pilates videos, searchable by difficulty level, style and run time.

3.) Spark People – Exercise videos on SparkPeople.com

BONUS:

This one does NOT look safe for beginners. 😉 Warning, some of these how to videos may make your chin drop to the floor. 😉

4.) Fitness Magazine online – Many how to’s and other exercise videos.

Other tips: 

~ You may be able to find videos to rent at your local library.
~ You may be able to borrow and trade videos with friends.
~ If you don’t have weights, use canned food.
~ If you don’t have an exercise mat, use a couple of beach towels.
~ You can always go for a walk or a bike ride. 😉
~ Not free, but cheap – shop yard sales for used workout dvds and equipment.
~ Not free, but a good investment. If you have a Wii, you can buy WiiFit (or Nick Fit & do it with your kids – it doesn’t need the balance board.)

So, pretty much, there’s no excuse for not starting at home right now – right? =)

My Healthy Habits Update

Well, nothing throws off good habits and routines like being sick – right? Actually, several of them are still pretty well in place – starting my morning with quiet time, avoiding added sugar, using MyFitnessPal… these things are going very well.

Getting up on time, exercising, getting the kids in bed on time and going to bed with a tidy house? These things are not going much of anywhere right now. Time for a reset!

Even so, I did lose a little more weight during the week last week! Starting weight, 190. Current weight, 186! I’m going to try to get back on track with my other habits and I’m adding a new one in, too.

Here are my habits I’m currently working on:

1.) Go to bed and get up on time. – In bed around 11, up at 6:30 a.m.
2.) Start my day with time with the Lord. – About 30 minutes, reading straight through the bible.
3.) Use my food/activity diary with MyFitnessPal.com with my iPod app.  – If you want to join me, my username is “mrsamberoliver.” Come find me!)
4.) Drink enough water. – 8 glasses a day or more.
5.) Weigh and measure myself at the beginning of the week. – The goal is to keep an eye on it, not to obsess over it.
6.) Make healthy eating choices. – Choosing healthy foods over less healthy ones, leave the unhealthy things alone.
7.) Be diligent with the kids’ bed routine, story time, prayer time, in bed on time – so that they get enough sleep to be healthy, too!
8.) Go to bed with a tidy house. – This helps the next day get off to a great start!
9.) Add exercise time to the morning. – Working up to 20 minutes every day or almost every day.
10.) No added sugar!– Continuing with this until I leave for the Real Refreshment Retreat in Baltimore!
** NEW 11.) Practice good posture — I find this improves with exercise, too. 😉

 Healthy Habits Link-Up

It’s your turn! For accountability & encouragement, join Healthy Habits each Tuesday and share your post across all four blogs: Teachers of Good Things, For the Season, The Vicki Arnold Blog & Classic Housewife. Remember: We *like* to like, tweet, pin and share posts linked up with direct urls and linking back to Healthy Habits!

• Link your blog post with the direct url for your (related) post. 
• Link back to Healthy Habits with the Healthy Habits button or a text link. (You can find image code in my sidebar.)
  

Regular participants could be considered for co-hosting Healthy Habits in the future – if you’re interested, contact Dollie at Teachers of Good Things! In addition to our regular weekly Tuesday linkups, join Healthy Habits on our Facebook pages every other Monday and on Twitter with the hashtag #healthyhabs.

Image Credit Source: Backbend by Petr K.