If you're looking to lose weight or build muscle, a gym membership can be a helpful tool. But with membership costs on the rise, it can also be a pricey investment. A recent CNET survey found that 25% of adults surveyed have had to cancel a subscription or membership due to rising costs and budgetary constraints. If you're not looking to add on another monthly membership fee, you may want to skip the gym and work on your fitness goals right at home.
If your primary fitness goal is to reduce body fat, you don't have to pay for a gym membership to get results. In fact, there are simple habits you can do at home to burn body fat. Just remember to avoid spot training since research shows that focusing on a single area with targeted exercises won't result in fat loss in just that spot. Instead, when you exercise, your body breaks down fat stores from various areas, not just where you're focusing your efforts.
To achieve your desired fat loss, you'll want to focus your efforts on moving your body regularly and maintaining a balanced diet. We've detailed seven easy habits you can adopt to progress toward your goal.
1. Get your steps in
Walking is an ideal workout outside the gym. It can be done around the neighborhood or at a park. On good weather days, you can also get some much-needed fresh air. Plus, it's free, and you can take your dog with you (if you have one).
Walking is also a body fat buster. One study found that healthy postmenopausal women lost 3.9% of body fat after 30 weeks of walking and 1.8% after 15 weeks of walking. While we can't target specific areas, walking can help lose belly fat.
According to a December 2024 meta-analysis, 30 minutes of aerobic exercise (like walking) per week may help adults with obesity or those who are overweight slightly reduce waist circumference, body weight and measures of fat. However, the greatest improvement was seen with 150 minutes per week.
2. Try intermittent fasting
One diet trend that has risen in popularity over the years is intermittent fasting. As the name suggests, this is where people fast for a certain time, and then eat at other scheduled times. One study review found that subjects who fasted intermittently had weight loss ranging from 0.8% to 13%. The idea is to force the body to use up its immediately accessible sugar stores and start burning fat.
A perk of intermittent fasting is that you can customize it to your preference and ability to abstain from food. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, fasting can last for a certain number of hours every day or even just eating one meal per day for two days out of the week. For instance, you might only eat during an 8-hour period each day and fast the rest of the day.
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