Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First off, Amazon...I purchased this on Friday June 22 and it was on my front porch by the 25th! Crazy fast delivery. Anyways. I was asked by a longtime friend to be a Bridesmaid in her wedding next Summer. My chunkiness prevented me from being a dress person so I figured now was as good a time as any to start getting into a shape other than oddly oblongish. I liked going for walks and would try to go out a few times a week to maintain my weight but with summer, the elements were against me and the heat and bugs were a major deterrent in my walking regimen. I wanted to tone and slim down, to actually lose weight...not just stay the same weight I had always been. So I looked around at gym memberships...way too expensive for my tastes and the thought of my thunder thighs being on display for all to see was definitely not appealing. Plus, you never use it as much as you say you will so that's money down the drain. Motorized treadmills are in the thousands! I'm made of fat, but not money! Nope, nope, nope. So here I am. I looked at a bunch of different options and found out these manual treadmills. At first I wasn't sure how exactly this would work, I thought it would be akin to Sisyphus pushing a giant boulder up a hill or Fred Flintstone taking his family out for Bronto Burgers in the Flintmobile. With rheumatoid arthritis and bad knees at 27, I need exercise but it has to be low impact. I got this thing within 3 days of ordering it. I'm the type of girl who likes putting things together, so setup was a breeze! Here a screw, there a screw, and it was up and running in no time...pun intended! The belt was a lot smoother than I thought it would be. It didn't take very long before I found my stride and got used to the rhythm of the movement. As a 5'7" female this is the perfect size for me and the incline is easy on the knees. It has a nice little digital display on it that counts the calories, miles, time, and speed...easily interchanged with the push of one central button or you can put it on scan mode where it flashes between time/distance/calories simultaneously. I used to have it in my living room but have since moved it into my bedroom and it fits in right between my bed and entertainment unit. My room is pretty small but this thing really doesn't take up much space even when it's not folded up. Storing it when I need more room is as simple as removing the two big side screws, folding the tread up and securing it in place with the pre-attached pin. It slides into a small corner, but honestly I don't have it stored for very long. It has been about 6 weeks now and I have used it religiously, every day since I bought it. I started off slow until I got into a good routine. Now I am doing over 300 minutes per week, burning at least 300 calories a day on a lower calorie diet, over 2000 calories per week, running over 15 miles per week. I have already lost over 11 pounds! Plus on days where it hits over 100 degrees outside, I can work up a sweat inside the privacy of my 70 degree air conditioned house whenever the motivation hits me to run off some steam. Sometimes I just jump on for a bit while watching a movie or TV show or I put on my special workout music and get so into it I don't even realize how quickly I've already reached my goal. The console has a place for storing the included matching water bottle and an MP3 player or remote control on the other side within easy reach. I love this thing. Seeing my progress being charted on the readout screen daily or weekly motivates me to keep at it, I also made up my own chart on the computer where I chart my weight, calories, time, and distance each week. I'm hoping to hit 20 pounds lost by my Birthday mid September and at this rate, it looks like my goal is within reach. Everyone is commenting on how much trimmer and slimmer I look already and my jeans are actually getting too loose to wear, so I may have to invest in a few new wardrobe pieces. I'd say the $138 I paid for this piece of equipment had definitely paid off!