Back to the Grind!

So we've covered alot about food! But what about exercise??

Remember: Exercise is just as important as eating right! Sure eating healthy foods will give the proper nutrients your body needs, but we also need to be active-whether it is walking, swimming, taking fitness classes, Tai Chi, Yoga, Pilates...ANYTHING that gets your body up and working your cardiovascular system is a good thing : )


When I made the choice to lose my weight, I jumped online and started researching gyms in my area. I came across a community center nearby that offered so many options, I couldn't turn it down. So the membership was established! I began looking at the classes they offered, and one in particular instantly peaked my interest: ZUMBA! I have always loved to dance, and there is nothing more contagious than a Latin beat!


When the following Monday rolled around, instead of sleeping in with the kitty when my husband went off to work, I got out of bed. Monday of all days to begin a workout program...yikes! But I was energized and ready to go...I took the 15 min commute to the community center and signed up for the 8am class. The class was not very big, I think about 3 students and 1 instructor, so if I looked goofy doing Zumba, there would only be 3 witnesses!

The music played and I instantly fell in love! The moves were simple and basic. The instructor explained to me later that she took out a lot of the actual "Zumba moves" because it drew too much attention from onlookers...lol. The moves she chose were a little hokey, not gonna lie, but it did get me up and moving and I did return to that class every week! The class stayed small while it was in existence at this location. So my Mondays were filled with 60 mins of Zumba and then I would go out to the lifting area and re-familiarized myself with weight training equiptment. Lifting brought back memories of training for high school and especially college athletics, and I quickly found my groove again. On the other days I didn't have Zumba, I would do 30 mins on the elliptical (low resistance, high speed) and weight trained (low weight, high reps).

I was really into this Zumba thing and absolutely loved the instructor who taught it, she was fun and filled with high energy! I remember one time she was absent and someone attempted to sub for her, she had a cute Zumba shirt on, but yet brought in a dvd and tv to instruct the class. The dvd wasn't even Zumba, the class was a flop! I was deeply offended that this woman tried to pass that class off as Zumba lol. It turns out, sure this woman's specialty was not Zumba, but man she could kick your butt in other ways!


One day I decided that I wanted to add something else into my routine, so I checked out the community center's class list again and found Yoga. I thought maybe some of my weight gain was due to the current stresses of my life and I have heard that Yoga could relax and reenergize you. Hrmm...let's just say Yoga is not my thing lol. Sure I could hold the positions, but relaxing? ARE YOU SERIOUS??? Being contorted into different lovely pretzel shapes is not my idea of relaxing. I know there are some people that Yoga really works wonders for (and kudos to you!), but it was and still is soooo not my thing! Taking the one Yoga class did reenergize and motivate me....to find something else to try! : )


When taking the tour of the facility, we were shown "the spinning room". Inside were these interesting little bikes you had to put together and adjust to your body. Spinning...it sounded like I could get into it, just never had the guts or confidence to try it out. I looked at the class schedule because they offered numerous types of Spinning Classes. I decided to take it light the first time 30 mins Spin 30 mins Abs. Guess who the instructor was?? Yup the pseudo Zumba lady lol. Oh man, I was in trouble! She was a drill instructor in that Spinning Class, pushing me to limits I had stored away in the "I was severly abused during my high school basketball season by running for two hours straight" memory bank. As we like to say, "It hurt so good". In Spinning there is interval training where you go from Heavy Resistance, Slow Speed (Hills), Light Resistance, High Speed (Downhill), to things called Jumps. Her encouraging phrase was always, "You can do anything for 30 seconds"...and she was absolutely right. I survived the Spinning portion of the morning...and then it was time for abs. Ok...while walking to the ab portion a woman asked me if I had ever done abs with this particular instructor yet...I said "Nope"...the woman looked at me, smiled, and said "Let me just say this, she used to be a health specialist for the Army" HA!!!! What did I get myself into? This instructor worked us!! I had never done abs like that before, but I never gave up and put everything I had into it! I mean we didn't get a break until the class was over...our resting state was doing Regular Crunch Postions abs for 1 min.

So the cycle began...Zumba, Elliptical, Spinning, Weight Training, and Eating Right...I was determined to lose my weight!

I had taken the Zumba class into December, but when January came around, it was a very sad month....the community center decided to cancel their Zumba program due to lack of interest! I was devastated...this program is what got my booty up and moving again and now it was going to be taken away! At the time I was not aware of the Zumba Network and how I could have researched for more classes in our area, so I had to move on. From October-January I went from 190lbs down to about 140lbs. I had reached the weight I was in high school and was back into a size 8 jean size! However, I was not confident whatsoever in my "new" body. Whenever I looked in the mirror I still saw the size 16 woman : / I still didn't feel comfortable being around a bunch of people, because I still saw those over weight pictures in my mind, and thought people looked down upon me or made fun of me. So I did not let my weight loss stop there...my goal was 125lbs before my birthday in April of that year.

Up Next: "Yea, we used to sit there and make fun of your thighs."