Lose Weight Now

About a month ago, I posted about my new workout DVDs called 10 Minute Trainer. You may have seen them on infomercials from BeachBody. The instructor on the videos is Tony Horton, who also makes the famous P90x series. Since I purchased this series, I really haven’t done them that much. I like the more fun exercises like Turbo Jam and Hip Hop Abs, rather do actual calisthenics and things that I find boring.

 Well, I was watching television this past weekend and I saw the infomercial for 10 Minute Trainer again and it kind of  got me re-motivated to use the workouts on a consistent basis. The testimonies on the infomercial were outstanding. People going from wearing a size 14 to a size 6. I want to be the size 6 person! So, I have decided to re-visit the workouts. My goal is to do the 10 Minute Trainer videos at least 5 times a week. They are only 10 minutes (14 if you count the warm-up and cool-down) so I am attempting to try to fit them in along with the Turbo Jam and Hip Hop Abs. Right now I have a renewed motivation to get back down to were I want to be. Hopefully this motivation last for awhile!

I have been bad lately. I have been procrastinating about exercising every day for the past week of so. I keep saying that I will do it when my husband gets home from work, or after dinner, or when the kids fall asleep… guess what? Before I know it, it’s 10:00 at night and I then really don’t feel like exercising.

I think it’s just the actual starting up of the exercise that just makes me not want to do it lately. Because once I get going, I have no problem continuing and exercising. I actually enjoy exercising once I start. So, what is my problem?

I think that I just have so much to do, as I am still pursuing freelance writing and have been getting more and more clients, which means more work and less time to exercise. But it also means more money and less stress in my life. I think that I just have to establish a balance, between writing, exercising, taking care of the kids and house, and finding time to sleep and relax. I’m working on it but  it just seems like there is never enough hours in the day.

Lately I have been so busy with my writing and taking care of the kids that I have not watched any television. Well , this morning I turned on the television and what do I see? A new infomercial for a new workout series. It’s called ChaLean Extreme and its actually done by Chalene Johnson who does Turbo Jam. This is another workout series that is produced by BeachBody.

The workouts are comprised of 3 different levels, but mostly include weight training with cardio mixed it. The point it to build lean muscle so that you burn more fat.

 I was so tempted to whip my credit card out and order this workout, but I resisted and just continued to watch the infomercial. If I can reach my goal of losing all the pregnancy weight by 6 months then I will allow this new program to be my reward. Yes,  I am rewarding myself with more exercise. I love Chalene and the videos look great and not boring like normal weight training.

 So, has anyone out there tried this ChaLean Extreme yet? Let me know if you like and if it is worth the money!

At the moment with my part time freelance writing jobs and taking care of a newborn and a toddler, I don’t have the hour of extra time to do resistance training on top of my 1/2 - 1 hour of cardio. So, I figure why not incorporate some resistance training into my daily life. For one thing, my toddler weighs 30 pounds and loves to be picked up and thrown about. I know this may sound silly, but throwing him up in the arm is probably one of the best workouts for my arms.

Other ways that I try to get some resistance training in is at little spurt of 5-10 minutes I will stop and just strart doing squats or lunges. Sometimes I will even do them while holding my baby who is now over 12 pounds. I guess I figure that every little bit helps Right?

Also, almost every night I have a 10 minute routine that involves different strangth-training and resistance training exercises. I do squats (again, my favorite exercise), bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, standing ab contractions, lunges with knee lifts, overhead press, and different forms of punching (cross, jab, undercut). Even if it is just my ten minutes 6 times a week, I know that it is still building muscle and muscle means burning more fat and calories!

Photo Credit:GlenPeb@www.sxc.hu

 Last night on the episode of The Biggest Loser” only to teams were given access to the gym. The rest of the teams had to workout in other places and without the gym equipment. It was interesting as to what the trainers Bob and Jillian came up with to workout the contestants. From aerobics class-like workout to lifting lawn furniture, the contestants did it all and without a gym.

This just proved that it is possible to workout and lose weight without joining a gym. The funny thing was that the couple that fell below the yellow line as one of the teams that had the access to the gym. Utilizing the things that you have at home or are free to you is a great way to get your exercise in.

Here are some ideas on how to workout without a gym that don’t cost any money.

*Take some soup cans or water jugs and do your circuit training or weight lifting with them.

*Take a brisk walk or run depending on your physical ability.

*Go to the park and play a sport such as basketball, tennis or even extreme Frisbee

*Lift the lawn furniture like they did on The Biggest Loser

*Visit a track at your local high school or community college and do different sets of calisthenic such as lunges around the track, running backwards and skipping.  The different moves will work different parts of your body rather than just walking or running.

*Run up and down stairs at a stadium or park near your home.

*Dance to your radio and let yourself go!

Not joining a gym is no reason to not exercise and lose weight!

Research has shown that exercise can be a mood booster. Not only will exercise help you to lose weight but it will make you feel better about yourself. When you exercise your body releases endorphins, which are proven to help improve a person’s mood. Endorphins basically make your body excited. Endorphins are the chemicals in your body that make you feel good. It is almost like a natural high.

When you get your heart rate up during exercise, the body releases these endorphins due to the “fight or flight” instinct that everybody has. When we are faced with an obstacle, which includes a raised heart rate, our body makes more endorphins to either fight or flight.

So, when you are having a bad day or your feel down and depressed, those are the days that you should make it a point to exercise. That is when you need it the most. Regular daily exercise can actually make you a happier person all around. It helps to fight stress, boredom, depression, and anxiety. So, when you exercise you aren’t just helping your weight loss you are helping your mind and your whole body.

So, what are you waiting for? Go and exercise!

Anybody that knows me, knows that  I am a Dirty Dancing fanatic. I could watch the movie over and over and not get tired of it. In fact, I have probably seen the movie at least 75 times all the way through. Well on a recent grocery shopping trip, I walked past the exercise DVDs since they were having a sale on some of them. (Not like I needed anymore!) Right there in front of me was the Dirty Dancing Official Workout From the Movie. I could not believe my eyes. I could dance like Johnny and Baby now. The DVD was only $10 on sales so how could I pass it up.

 Now, the other thing about me is that I can’t dance at all. I have no rhythm and even though I may be following what the instructor does, it doesn’t look normal! So, I got home and I couldn’t wait to try out my new DVD. I mean I could listen to some of my favorite songs and dance along, what better workout could I have?

 The Dirty Dancing DVD consists of a syllabus were they teach you the basic dance moves that will be in the dances and then they have 4 routines that you learn to the songs of “Love Man,” “Yes,” “Johnny’s Mambo,” and “Do You Love Me.” Each routine is approximately 10-15 minutes long and the syllabus is is about 10 minutes long. They even have a special section called Saturday Night Dance Challenge at the end, which is no talking and just dancing your heart out.

The first part of each chapter (each song) you learn the moves of the routine. Then you can play the actual routine with the music and instructor talking you through the dance still. Then, the third option is just the music and you dance along with the other dancers on the DVD. It’s actually really nice this way because you can always go back through the instructions before attempting the whole routine to the music.

 So, I have been doing this workout DVD on and off for about 3 weeks now and I have only gotten down the first 2 routines, and again I don’t look human doing them, but I am doing them! It’s fun to learn and you don’t even realize how much you are working out. With all the hips swaying and moving and ab pumping, you are getting a pretty good workout. So, my goal is to learn all the dance routines and have them down and memorized.

If you like dancing or you are just in love with Dirty Dancing like I am, you will enjoy this workout DVD.

While working out to my Hip Hop Abs video this morning, it dawned on me that I have an addiction and I am a junkie. I am an infomercial worout junkie. Since I have first started really working out at home about 7 years ago, I have bought numerous infomercial workouts. It all started with the original Tae-Bo series that I bought and still have on VHS tapes. I also have the second set of Tae-Bo on VHS tapes. Then, I have bootcamp Tae-Bo which is on DVDs (by that time I had up-graded to DVDs).

Then, I think I became BeachBody’s most valuable customer. I have the original Turbo Jam package. I then have the advanced Turbo Jam package along with Turbo Jam Live (which was a special set I signed up to get). Then, like I mentioned above I have Hip Hop Abs. And I just bought the Tony Horton’s 10 Minute Trainer. Now, these aren’t the only workout DVDs I have, but they do compromise most of my workout library. I think that BeachBody should just hire me to promote their videos!!

The thing about these workout infomercials is that I still do all of them. I love that I have a huge variety of workouts that I actually like to do and can pick from on any day. Research also says that you shouldn’t do the same workout all the time as your body will get bored and accustomed to the workout and you will plateau. The only workout that I don’t do is the Tae-Bo tapes because we no longer have a VCR in the house. 

This may sound like I spent a lot of money on these workouts, but they were spread out along the 7 or so years and if I do one everyday, I am getting my money from them. The key to exercise and sticking to it, is to find things that you actually like to do, and these videos are workouts that I like to do and feel comfortable with. This is how I am justifying all these infomercial workouts that I have!

I went to the store yesterday and I bought a cheap $5 pedometer. When the weather starts getting warmer (if it ever does) I plan on taking the two kids on stroller walks almost every day. I needed a way to tell how far I was walking and this cheap pedometer will measure steps and miles, so I couldn’t pass it up. Even if it doesn’t work well, it was only $5 and I don’t need anything that has to be 100% accurate, just a rough estimate will do.

So, I decided to put it on today, just to see how many steps I took on an average day. I am a stay at home mom, who is basically stuck in the house all day long. Could I really get my 10,000 steps in a day in? It’ currently 3:15pm and my pedometer reads 2864. (I took it off for 30 minutes when I worked out)Will I make it to 10,000 by the time I go to bed tonight? I don’t know, but if I didn’t take it off during my exercise I am sure I would be close already. ( I didn’t want to break the thing jumping around)

So, tune in tomorrow to see if I reach 10,000 from everyday, stay at home mom duties.

I know that many people may not like them, but squats are my favorite exercise to do. They aren’t very hard to do, as you can control how far you go down and work your muscles, and you can do them just about anytime or anywhere. No special equipment is needed to do squats either.

Squats are one of the best exercises to work your legs and your but and hips. They help to slim and tighten and tone your backside along with slimming your thighs. Which many woman know these two areas are problem spots for many woman.

Also, squats are great for beginners as you don’t have to go that low in a squat to get a workout. You can control how much you work your body when you do squats. There are also variations that you can with the position of your legs to work specific spots, such as plie squats help to focus in on your inner thighs.

It may sound strange but squats can be done just about anywhere. Heck you can even do a couple every time you go to the bathroom and fit some in them just to remind to fit them in. They can be done holding a baby or a child for even more resistance. You can do them while waiting for your dinner to cook or while watching television.

Keep doing those squats and you will see results.