At-Home Workouts and WW Update

Most of you 'followers' live within 200 miles of me in the Mid-South area and I know you must be as tired of this weather as I am. TIRED. OF. IT. I tell you!!!!

It was been doom and gloom weather in North Mississippi for what seems like weeks! It makes it sooooooo hard to get out of bed in the morning.

Even if I'm going to the gym and will be out of the gloomy cold weather, just the thought of driving the two-and-a-half long minutes to our gym is enough to make a girl want to snuggle deeper down in the covers.

HOWEVER I am thrilled to see that the days are getting longer, and it's not getting dark at 4:30pm. That's a good thing, at least.

But until Daylight Savings Time, by the time I get off work it's simply too dark to run outside so a few nights I have resorted to working out indoors, at home.

Many people think it is impossible to get a good workout via a DVD in your living room, but if you put your mind to it, concentrate on form, and keep up with the instructor, it can really be a great workout.

Some of the indoor workouts I have liked are:
Sidenote: All of the items listed below except the DVD can be bought on the cheap at places like Marshall's and T.J. Maxx.

Resistance Bands

Resistance bands are great for a number of reasons. If you travel a lot, they take up practically no room in your bag, and they weigh next to nothing, too! Most resistance band kits come with a little booklet of suggested exercises as well. Or if you know how to use Google, you can find plenty on the good ole internet. When I was living in a tiny house in Nashville with not much room for working out in front of the TV, I used these bands often.

Dumbbells and Stability Ball

Also, the strength workout I mentioned a few posts back can be done at home. All you need is a set of dumbells, the weight of your choice. I recommend 2.5-10 pounds for these exercises, depending on your strength level. I use 8 pounders. I also use a stability ball because I *love* the stability ball, but it's not necessary for these exercises.

And last but not least.....the ultimate at-home workout....

JILLIAN

Raise your hand if you'd like your abs to look like that.

Seriously. Jillian is a freak of nature and I have resigned myself to the fact that I will most likely never have her abs, but a girl can try, right? As yall know, I am big fan of The Biggest Loser. NBC Tuesdays at 8pm/7pm Central. DVR it. TiVo it. Do what you have to do to watch it because it's awesome. It is a great motivator for me.

After falling in love with Biggest Loser, I thought, what better than to have Jillian in my home as my very own trainer?

Enter The 30-Day Shred

I am in love with this workout DVD. Wait, I take that back. We have a love/hate relationship. I hate it when I'm doing it but I love the way it makes me feel afterwards.

A few things about it:

• All you need for this DVD is a pair of dumbbells and flat smooth surface on which to do the ab exercises.
• The cover says, "Lose up to 20 pounds in 30 days!" Don't kid yourself, ladies. Unless you are morbidly overweight you are not going to lose 20 pounds in 30 days by doing a daily 20-minute workout. Not gonna happen.
• You will, however, increase endurance, burn calories, tone muscles, increase your heart-health, sweat a lot, be sore, sleep better, make your husband laugh at you as he watches from the kitchen (when Tom does this I usually yell out, "You won't be laughing when I'm hotter than YOU!"), and maybe lose 7 pounds.
• There are three levels, with three circuits per level. The circuits of Strength, Cardio, and Abs really pump up your level of intensity and burn calories quickly.
• A good idea might be to try Level 1 for ten days, Level 2 for ten days, and Level 3 for ten days. You don't have to do your 30 days consecutively, maybe just committ to doing it 4 or 5 days a week.
• I did Jillian the other night for the first time since last summer. My fitness level has increased, so I was able to to Level 1 and Level 2 back-to-back. Oh. My. Gosh. I was so wonderfully sweaty by the end of it. And my legs and abs are still sore (in a good way)!
• Do a Google search of "30 Day Shred DVD" to find the cheapest way to buy it on the internet. I got mine for $7.90 on Tower.com.

Good luck to you with your at-home or on-the-road workouts! Come On Spring!!!! We are ready for you!!!

Weight Watchers Update: Well, I can't complain today because I did lose 1/2 pound. Current weight is 161. I know yall are probably thinking, "Why are we following this girl? This is supposed to be a blog about fitness and her weight loss and she doesn't even lose any weight!"

I know, I know, I know. I am as annoyed as you are. With the 1/2 pound gain last week, and now to have lost it again, it puts me where I was two weeks ago. Two weeks of working out, counting points, making sacrifices, and here I am. Just hangin out at 161.

Oh, 150 pounds, why do you elude me so? I know we would be friends and I would keep you around for a long time I promise!!!!

I have identified the problem, though. It's the weekends. Since weekends are sabotaging my weight loss goals I will not participate in them anymore (on that note, I also can't be besties with Erin anymore because she force fed me Shrimp Corn Chowder, The Best Spinach Dip on Planet Earth, and King Cake last night. Oh, and champagne too. Erin, why must you be such a good cook, and live only 100 feet from me?).

Just Kidding.

I will still 'participate' in weekends, but need to work harder on making good choices EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK, and not just Monday-Friday (okay who am I kidding I treat Thursday night like it's the weekend, too).

Fingers crossed we'll see some more exciting changes on the scale next week. Sorry to disappoint, people.