In the Immortal Words of James Brown...Get Up Offa That Thang...

OK, nearly an hour of Zumba, whew that was a workout, I think parts of me are still shaking. It's fun and if you like to dance you should try it. I walked around all day yesterday singing the music from the DVD (not out loud, I can't carry a tune in a bucket) over and over in my head. I would suggest that before you buy it, you try it though, find a friend who's willing to loan it to you for a couple of days because I don't think it's for everyone.

The first video is great because they take the major steps and break them down nice and slow for you and if you're not up to top Zumba speed it's also a way to modify the exercises to your fitness (and skill) level. (I keep teasing my husband about doing the workout with me but he has no rhythm so it would be more for my entertainment than anything.)

The second workout is the 20 minute express which is a nice way to get your feet wet, you know, put all the moves together in a sequence and see how you hold up to the pace.

The third workout is my favorite so far, it's 50 minutes of full speed Zumba. Don't fret over that too much because they still show you how to modify the moves to keep you from hurting yourself and I have to admit that there were times when I had to make modifications just to catch my breath.

So today I took a rest day and tomorrow I am thinking about hitting the Zumba again. Friday will be swimming and Saturday morning I'm back on the pavement, walking at first and I plan to walk at least a 5K (maybe a 10K if I'm pain free for the first 3 miles, I feel like I need to see where I am in my training for the 10K in October).

I started out pretty good with the food thing this morning (I am intentionally not calling this a diet because I think the word has morphed into some kind of Juggernaut and we've given it way too much power.) I had my usual cereal with 1% milk and for a morning snack I had 1 serving of reduced fat Cheez-Its, dietitian approved, which comes out to 20 crackers. Then I had to go 3 rounds on the phone with United Healthcare and apparently decided that I would need a brownie from Chick-fil-a to get me through the rest of the day.

Now I mean no offense if you work for an insurance company or for a call center (I have worked in 2 call centers. Most recently for GE's customer service center for electrical distribution and prior to that I spent over 7 years in a 911 center answering the phone, dispatching police, fire, EMS and so on.) but I had to deal with some true incompetence today. I think I get frustrated because I have just enough inside knowledge to be dangerous and I never seem to get anyone on the phone who works like I do or like would expect them to. Nevertheless, that's no excuse to punish myself by eating a brownie, I think I need to try meditation or something, I don't know.

So there you have, the scoop on Zumba and my rationale for deviating from my meal plan, just as I promised and as honest as I can give it to you.

Go eat something healthy, it doesn't have to be salad, get moving, stay tuned and...

Don't Pity the Fat Girl.

Yes I'm Still Alive...

Sorry for the intermission folks but my brain has been on vacation. I've had a full schedule, it's been back in the 100's, I've been tired...is that enough excuses yet? Anyway, I am still plugging along much as I had been prior to my absence and this is what I have been up to.

Biking - still doing a 5K on weekdays averaging about 11 mph. I biked a 10K one weekend and I'm planning to make that a regular event.

Swimming - still swimming on Fridays and sometimes on Saturday or Sunday too. This past week I had a few days off so I swam Thursday, Friday and Saturday for 2-3 hours each day. I'll admit that the larger portion of that time is spent bobbing but I'm swimming some strokes and treading some water.

Wii Fit - did this a couple of times for 30 minutes. I haven't gotten into the yoga though as I had planned. I'll work on that. I mostly do the aerobic games, they're fun but will still make you work up a sweat. Try to take it easy if you do get on the Wii Fit though, don't throw out your shoulder or hip or anything.

Zumba - my friend was kind enough to loan me her Zumba DVD's to see if I liked them and would use them...LOVE IT! I like to dance and have never felt like it was exercise so it's been a good fit for me. I've been doing the 20 minute workout to get used to the steps but I'm going to take it up to the 50 minute workout tomorrow and see how I feel after that.

Well, that's it for the exercise so on to the food part. I have been making slight changes to my daily diet, trying to reduce the intake of bad foods all together while adding healthier options. I'm a work in progress, what else can I say?

That's that. I'll keep you in the loop and in the meantime...

Don't Pity the Fat Girl.