When I told my husband the news, he did make me feel better when he told me that when he had his hand on my waist yesterday it felt tighter. He says it has to be because I am turning this extra weight into muscle. I really hope that is the case. I haven't taken any measurements yet, so I am going to do that this weekend to have some other numbers to go by.
Yesterday I worked out to GET UP AND DANCE BY PAULA ABDUL (DVD) from 1994. Wow did we have some fantastic hair and clothing back then. :) It was actually a pretty tough dance to learn... it's fast. But it keeps you going the whole time and there is lots of repetition... so when I play the video again, I know I'll be able to do it better and better. I sweated my butt off (I wish that was a literal statement). Once the dance part was over, there was a cheesy section of dancing to YMCA with some weird football dudes. It's kind of fun, but totally cheese-tastic. After that, you cool down with lots of stretching and sit ups. I enjoyed that because I haven't had anything else that incorporates the sit-ups; I do want to start incorporating more sit-ups and push-ups. I don't think I have ever been able to do one push up in my life. I listened to Jillian Michaels on the radio the other day and she gave some suggestions on how to start building up to doing a regular push up. I will start by doing some on the back of the couch. Once I feel good with that, I will move to doing push ups from a chair seat. Then a low stair and finally down to the floor. It will be quite the accomplishment if a single floor push up ever happens! :)
Tonight after work, I am planning on busting out my weighted hula hoop and hoop dance DVDs. I used to hoop all the time and I haven't done it in quite a while. It's great for your mid-section and a lot of fun. After I got used to the 4 lb. hoop, I find it hard to go back to my 1.7 lb hoop. There's not enough resistance. When you first start out with a hoop like the one pictured, especially with the inner "waves" on the hoop, you will probably feel bruised around your waist. But that won't last long... your body will get used to it and you won't feel that anymore. If you are looking for some variety in your workouts... definitely get into hooping. It might take practice to be able to do it, but once you get it - it's like riding a bike. Another great thing about hooping is that you can do it with a DVD if you want to learn to do some hoop dances - but you can also just turn on a TV show and hoop while you watch TV. The time flies by! I've heard you can burn as much as 100 calories every 10 minutes. But there are a lot of variables to consider to get a more accurate number.
