The best advice I got was from a bridal magazine. Take the stares, walk don't ride, and grab some exercise ideas from places like Self.com and Women's Health Magazine and leave them on the coffee table. You will be more apt to do the little things during your evening.

I use sites like Woman's Health and Self every week.

You can check out smallstep.gov to find a bunch of little ways to incorporate exercise into your day. Or go to coolrunning.com and download the Couch to 5K plan and start running.

Find a friend who is also interested in toning up and partner to walk/jog/bike/blade.

Also, look into jazzercise or other smaller clubs which will sometimes offer free classes if you agree to work in the child-minding room during a different class time. Or will allow free classes if you are willingto lead one.

Or, if you are a really recent college grad, check with your uni to see if you have a grace period to continue using the facilities.

There's an article here (http://fitlist.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/05/08/185729.aspx)
called "Your Home the Gymnasium" that has a really great workout that uses things you already have in your home as tools. For example, laundry detergent bottles become weights, and your stairs turns into a stairmaster.

I have a treadmill that was given to me by a family member. If you ask around, maybe you can find someone with an piece of equipment they'd be willing to give you. Yard Sales are also really great places to find unwanted exercise equipment for a decent price. Also, there are lots of free exercises you can do in your own home--jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups, etc.

You definitely don't need a gym to get in shape. Try these free and low-cost ideas:

Free Cardio: walk, jog, bike, tennis (or other active sports), climbing stairs, swim (if a beach/lake is nearby for free), fitness DVDs or videos from the library.

Low-cost Cardio: Fitness videos- look for used ones on ebay or amazon to save a ton of $

Free Strength Training: Body weight exercises can tone your whole body: pushups, crunches, chair dips, squats, lunges, close-arm pushups, Pilates exercises, pullups, etc.

Low-cost Strength Training: resistance bands ($15), one set of dumbbells ($20), stability ball ($20), etc. Again you can buy these used for way cheaper either online or at secondhand sports equipment stores. Also look for fitness videos, as mentioned above.

I work out at home, and I'm a fan of jumping rope, running around the block, body resistance exercises, etc. I also do some kick-boxing and pilates.. I don't think you need an instructor leading you.

Another cheap option is exercise videos (try renting them to see if you like them). I also have a Gazelle, which fits nicely under my bed, costs under $100, and is a nice low-impact workout.

All of the above! Also, if you can't afford to go and buy the cheap dumbells from walmart(under $10 for a set of the ugly metal ones) you can use gallon water jugs, or large canned goods. you can use a couple of thick books like a stair stepper.

Oh, and you can rent exercise videos on netflix! so, if you already have netflix, instead of 2 or 3 movies do two movies and a video.

Jogging/walking around your neigborhood and/or park will cost you nothing - all you need is a GOOD pair of running shoes. If you're around any stairs, you can make a whole workout from that. Household chores also helps burn calories. Investing in a exercise dvd (usually $10-25) can help mix up your routine as well. Check with a friend and see if they have any exercise dvd's - you can trade with each other so that neither of you get bored with the same workout. I think just being creative with what you have and using what's around you will definitely help you get back into shape while sticking on a budget. Hope that helps!

i agree with everything stated above. running around your neighborhood or local park is free! but also, you can get exercise dvds on ebay or amazon.com's used section. i got one on amazon for two cents! haha. good luck with you workouts!

Easy - you don't need a gym. Walk every day for 30-60 minutes in your neighborhood. Then spend $20 and buy some small weights and do some strength training at home. I did it and it works.

Check local schools too. The school in my town has a fully-equipped fitness center that is free for all district residents to use.

maybe find an apartment community that has a gym?

I've found that Fitness magazine has some great workouts that require little to no equipment. The most I need is some 5 or 8lb weights and a core ball. There are at least 2 workouts in each magazine and you can switch them up for variety.

PUSH UPS!!!! Seriosuly, I've been doing pushups everyday for a few weeks now and along with Slightly better eating habits (no crazy diet) I've lost 6lbs. I do them on my knees still, but I do as many as I can in the morning, during lunch and at night. Generally it's only like 50 a day, but I feel great. Also I have one of those blow up bouncy balls, that i put against a wall and do squats.
Being healhty shouldn't cost a fortune! Walk more, eat better and tone up! Good luck!

Pilates is my answer for everything. I downloaded a pilates video and it's done amazing for me. I've lost 14 pounds in one month!!

www.yogatoday.com

I've also found that early in the mornings (7:00AM and such) there are a number of fitness programs on TV. If they're not at a convenient hour u can tape them.

You dont need complicated equipment to get a good workout, some people have mentioned that soup cans or water bottles make good weights (I filled some water bottles with sand) If you don't have a jumprope you can do jumping jacks, etc.

SPARKPEOPLE.COM has tons of workouts to strength train and hay running outside is free. i lost 20 pounds and never went to the gym once.

Skipping rope!
Skipping rope!
Skipping rope!
Skipping rope!
Skipping rope!
Skipping rope!

Skipping rope!
Skipping rope!
Skipping rope!
Skipping rope!
Skipping rope!
Skipping rope!

If you "need" a gym, see if one of your friends has a gym in their apartment complex. I go to mine everyday, no gym membership required!

I always work out at home. I have a set of dumbells ($15), a mini-step machine ($35), and a yogamat. you should also check out the exercise videos on fitsugar, I've added them into my routine and they are great!

I can completely sympathize with wanting to get fit and not having any money with which to reach your goal. My advice is to go to Wal-Mart and buy some 5 or 10 pound handweights (very cheap) and do the Abs Diet workout at home along with jogging around your neighborhood. You can find the Abs Diet workout at www.menshealth.com (don't worry it's not just for men!). Also if you have a small community college where you live you might check their gym membership rates. I get a full year membership at my local college gym for only $150. That's only $12.50/month.

i create good music playlists on my ipod and DANCE! i try and do this 3 times a week, about 45 minutes each time. you may feel dorky at first, especially if you haven't danced in a while, but it is really fun and liberating. i find myself checking out videos to get new moves!

If you have a PS2 you can get (I'm sure used somewhere too, but it's only like $35 anyhow) a game called Eye Toy:Kinetic. It's got a 12 week personal trainer which takes you through 4 disciplines - cardio, toning, combat, & mind and body. You can also do a make your own routine and pick up to 8 of the activities to do. I use it 4-6 times a week, sometimes twice a day. You can choose from a male or female trainer to guide you along, as well as easy, medium, and hard levels. I swear by it, because I don't like going out in public and working out. You feel a little goofy at first, but it gets much better. The only drawback is you need a bit of space - about 5-6 feet away from the TV, and about 8 feet width for movement.
http://www.eyetoykinetic.com/

oh boy, this sounds bad but you have internet... so u could download anything thats says workout or u could see the videos that fitsugar have!

my brother in law brought me fit to strip series 2 , from carmen electra and is good!!!

I'm on a tight budget too! I've toned up and lost alot of weight in the past year just by walking and doing the Billy Blanks Tae Bo DVD. I also use his bootcamp work out and get a great all over boody work out. Hope this helps. Good Luck!!

i am in the exact same boat! at college it was so easy using the free gym, but now that im home for summer i dont have the money to afford a gym membership. I just go on runs 3-4 days a week through my neighborhood and do workouts from the tv channel FIT (i live with my parents still, and luckily they have Direct TV). A bunch of my friends do have gym memberships and bring me on days they want a guest (they have so many guest passes per month). I'd also check out a local college/community college because they have really good rates for gym memberships as well.

I run at the local high school track and do hill repeats there. It's free, safe and somewhat social because there are usually other people out there, either playing tennis, walking/running on the track or playing soccer and softball.

I run at the local high school track and do hill repeats there. It's free, safe and somewhat social because there are usually other people out there, either playing tennis, walking/running on the track or playing soccer and softball.

As a public servant, I feel your financial pain.

Skip the gym and get some high-quality exercise videos. They work really well and are much tougher workouts than one would think. I particularly enjoy workouts by Cathe Friedrich, The Firm, Tracie Long Training, and Karen Voight, though there are lots of good ones. Figure that a gym membership would run you about $600 a year...do you know how many workout videos you can get for that? You will have to invest in free weights and maybe a step, but those are easy to store and you only have to buy them once.

In addition to my videos (both cardio and weights) I run at a local park or just around the neighborhood. DH is also teaching me to play tennis!