I've never been a very exercise-conscious person and could use some help getting in shape for my wedding -- growing up, most of my experience with being active involved classmates and gym teachers picking on me, so I've never been very active and it's hard for me to get into exercising. I'm getting married next July but I'll be buying my dress very soon (I have no flexibility on buying timeframe because it involves out-of-state relatives), so I know I can't procrastinate on this any more.
Currently I'm 5'4 and weigh about 147. I'd love to be 135 but I'm aiming for 140 because I'm not sure I can maintain 135 through July, at least at this point in my life. I gained about 20 pounds during my 2 years in grad school, and I'm still working on trying to reverse that. I successfully got down to 140 last year mostly by counting calories, but as soon as the high-stress period kicked in in April (I work with college students, and when they start finals I pretty much go into sleepless finals mode with them) I fell off the bandwagon (mostly with Starbucks...really need to avoid those drinks). So food is definitely on my radar and I'm back to using LoseIt and counting calories. But I know I need to exercise too.
Here's the problem: a lot of the advice I see is about actively walking or running. I try to move around during the day, park further from the building, etc. when I can. However, I can't afford to join a gym or a class right now, and I don't feel safe walking or running in my neighborhood -- I don't have a roommate or any buddies in my immediate area that I could go with (fiance lives 2 hours away), and there's been an increase in crime around here lately. Lunch breaks are a no-go because I can't always leave my desk and when I do, I need to put something in my stomach or I'm sick for the rest of the day. Can anyone suggest any weight-loss regimens (not necessarily toning, although I need that too) that I could do mostly in the bounds of my own apartment?