Archive for the Category » Exercise «

Slip Sliding Away

I wore my calorie burn watch today so I could get accurate readings about how many calories I burn as I hike across campus to class and climb the four-plus flights of stairs to the department office.

I don’t think my readings are going to be very accurate though. The sidewalks are slick, and I am unable to maintain a “very brisk” pace and still manage to keep from falling and breaking something.

In just the short walk from my car to the building my office is in, I slipped twice and fell once. When I fell, it was on a glare of ice and included grazing my knuckles, so I now look like I punched something.

I’m a bit disappointed in the condition of the sidewalks. I work on a campus where a lot of students walk from their dorms to their classrooms, so you would think the sidewalks would be taken better care of. I know that we’ve had nasty weather with lots of rain, snow and warming up and cooling down, but I thought conditions would be better Monday morning. It doesn’t look like much was done over the weekend at all.

It seems the sidewalks are in their worse condition close to buildings. You can tell where the “entrance” care stops. This is where the several feet of glare ice usually begins.

The weird weather we have been having can’t make keeping the sidewalks clear an easy job, but something has to improve especially for the early morning walks to the 8 and 9 a.m. classes.

Silly Scale

Today, I stepped on the scale to get my weight. It wasn’t an official weigh in because it was later in the day, and I had already had food. I normally weigh in before eating anything.

As I stepped on the scale, my husband put his foot on the back of it.

I pushed him away and jumped off the scale just as it finally decided to show me a weight.

It read (drumroll please) 184.5.

184.

But I knew it was wrong. There was no way I’d lost more than 5 pounds. It must have been because I jumped off just as it was reporting the weight.

I took it again, and the  scale was back over 190. I knew the 184 was wrong, but it was a great glimpse of things to come.

In other news, I haven’t been doing very good exercising this weekend. It seems everyone in my house is battling a cold, and I am no exception. My nose is running, and I am walking around with tissues in my hands and pockets. That’s my excuse. I shouldn’t have excuses. I should at least do some weight lifting. We’ll see. Maybe when hubby watches football.

60 (and still counting down)

I am happy to announce that I have now officially lost 60 pounds.

I am announcing it today although I actually succeeded in reaching this milestone yesterday.

I am still planning on losing more. I have noticed that the weight loss goes much better when I am exercising regularly.

I am also back to work, so I am doing a better job of making sure I eat my protein and take my vitamins.

 

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lincolnian/2314316645/,  Creative Commons.

Zumba

In search of a fun workout, I attended my first Zumba class.

It was an hour-long workout with fast Latin-music. I talked my 16-year-old daughter into going with me.

The timing was perfect. My youngest daughter had basketball practice, and I would have had to hang out in Houghton Lake for an hour waiting for her anyway. Instead of sitting in my car, I went to Zumba.

It was in a gym at a Catholic school. There were more people than I expected, and they were all shapes and sizes. I didn’t feel out of place, and the people were excited to be there. It looks like a great group.

I was pretty happy with my performance. I was worried I would be hopelessly lost trying to do the moves, but I was able to keep up pretty well. I had a bit of trouble when there were complicated arm/leg combos. Still, out of the hour-long workout, I was only lost twice. And even when lost, I was able to do at least the arms or at least the legs although both went a bit beyond me. I know that if I continue going, I won’t have a problem catching on to the complicated moves.

I was worried that I was not going to be able to keep up, but I didn’t need a break at all. I did take a sip of water a couple of times in between songs, but I was ready to go when the next dance started.

It is a lot of hip-shaking.

Overall, I felt very happy with how well I kept up. I felt like I did even better than I did back in the 80s when I tried Aerobics.

I plan on going back to Zumba. I might also try a couple of other instructors in different areas.

I won’t be able to go next week since there aren’t classes because of Thanksgiving. After that, I plan to go at least once a week. This particular class is offered twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays). I may go twice a week, but it will depend on what my kids’ after school schedule is like as well.

If you haven’t tried Zumba, I recommend it.

Bariatric Success Story — Cool Inspiration

Last night, one of my local TV stations reported on a bariatric success story. It was about a gorgeous woman who is now a Zumba instructor. Several years ago, the woman had bariatric surgery.

Today, she is a Zumba instructor.

The video is amazing. She is so full of energy and looks fabulous.

I wish the story shared more about her including what kind of surgery she had. Still, as an inspiration, she is fabulous.

I have seriously considered going to Zumba classes because I think they would be fun. I have looked up where classes are offered.

My only hesitation is that I don’ t know the moves, and I worry it will be too fast paced for me to pick up on them. To battle this, I have the Zumba Kinect game, and I have been learning the moves. I think the Kinect version may actually be harder since I am trying to learn how to use Kinect as well. It is much harder when my children aren’t here to do it for me. :) It is not as simple as waving the hand. I should just give up on the game and go for the real thing.

It is also posts like this one from Mrs. FatAss that makes me want to Zumba as well….

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