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.
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.
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….
It is Friday, which means it is time for me to update for “Fat Friday.”
The good news? I am down 49 pounds, which is about 43 percent of the excess weight I am trying to lose. In other words, I will be at goal in 66 pounds. It seems so much more doable now than it did just a few months ago.
I am just over 11 weeks since my surgery, which means I’ve lost about 4.5 pounds a week on average. I’m pretty happy with that.
I am in a size 16 jeans, and some of those are very baggy. I still wear some of my 18s, but I use a belt (have to). I am also in size L shirts and coats.
At 206 pounds, I am just 7 pounds away from Onderland. I can’t wait until I get there!
I just joined a Christmas challenge for weight loss. I want to lose at least 20 pounds by Christmas, which will put me at 184 pounds.
I hope to lose all of my excess weight by February 2012.
To help with that, and to help get my body more toned, I have been working out. I lift weights several times a week while sitting on my stability ball. I am also doing at least 30 minutes of walking 5 days a week. This means I am using the treadmill. I am finding it easy to get my work outs in. I do a lot of the weight-lifting in the evening when watching TV with my family.
Yesterday while I was on the treadmill, I noticed that I have actual muscles in my biceps. I am so excited about this. They are little muscles, but they are there. It makes all of the weight lifting so worth it.
I am only using 5 pound hand weights, but it is really showing results. I do a number of exercises that target my triceps and biceps. I do two sets of 15 reps including kickbacks, tricep press, shoulder press, side arms and front arm raises.
In addition, I’ve been doing a lot of other types of exercising including dancing.
And now that I am at almost 50 pounds lost, people are commenting on my weight loss. When this first happened, I immediately gave credit to the weight loss surgery, but I realize that was wrong. I am working out and exercising, and this is also why I am losing. I need to remember to give myself credit as well as the surgery.
Today, I logged into Wii Fit, and the Wii Fit board figured my Wii Fit age as 33, which is pretty darn good. I can’t wait until that little board quits saying “That’s obese” after I weigh in, and it won’t be long before that happens! It should happen right about 190 pounds, which is just 16 pounds away.
I am well on my way to passing the roller coaster. As you can see from my ticker, I have left the red car completely behind me and am pushing past the orange car.
What am I going to look forward to once I move past the roller coaster completely?
It was just 12 days ago that I first mentioned my weight-loss ticker and the significance of its design. It was also when I mentioned my stall. As I reported Friday, the stall is now broken.
I am enjoying moving my way across the ticker.
Here are a few of my short-term goals:
What are your goals?
Homeward Bound
Yesterday, I met with a personal trainer. I was concerned about whether I should join a gym or if I could get the workout I needed at home. It turns out that right now, I am going to continue working out at home. I can get the results I need that way, and I have the guidance that I need.
I have committed to exercising every day in some way. I am going to do some cardiovascular workouts about 5 times a week and some strength training about 3 times a week. The cardiovascular training is going to include my treadmill.
Yes, I have a treadmill. It even has the elevation options on it, something I never used before but will now.
I felt good about meeting with the trainer. It turns out that I am on the right track. She helped me make sure I was doing certain things right. For instance, when doing a crunch, I need to make sure my belly is going in and not out. I never did that before.
I also found out that I am going to need to up my hand weights to about 5 pounds. I currently have been using 3 pound weights. It’s a start, but I will look into getting 5 pound weights soon. And someday I might even consider 8 pound weights.
Overall, I was pleased. I left with a bunch of resources and ideas to continue my training at home including some more stability ball and theraband exercises. I really like my stability ball. The trainer was able to confirm that I had selected the right size. So overall, I’m pleased and have a workout plan in place. Now comes the work.
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