Teasing Your Way to a Tight Tummy

Volleyball Olympian Kerri Walsh has an athlete's abdomen. Here's how she gets it:

In addition to practicing on the volleyball court, three hours a day, Walsh also practices pilates three days a week. She feels that it has given her greater flexibility, strength and stability.

Her favorite pilates move is called The Teaser.

See a demonstration of the advanced Teaser.

I am not fit/advanced enough to do a Teaser in its full form. I have done--with great difficulty!--the beginner version shown in this video's second part.(The one with the bent knees, ball between knees, and using the roll-down/push-through bar.)

Quote taken from a blog entry over at Diets in Review

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Princess Training (aka Exercise) Whoa! My Muscles Are in Shock!

Part of that Fall Freedom Challenge is, yes, exercise. Because I've been sedentary for so long, I get to start slow and easy. Target Heart Rate for minimum of 10 minutes and increase at a reasonable rate.

Those 10 + 2 minutes had me huffing like mad.

But, hey, I got through it with the help of Santa Esmeralda's "Please, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" --to which I danced like a madwoman when I was seventeen, complete with Flamenco moves--and some other lovely classic Disco music. (What can I say? I am a gal who went through the teen years in the '70's. I used to be able to dance for hours at a time--IN HEELS! Now, I can't even walk in heels, much less dance.

This does put a lovely goal ahead of me--a bit of a motivator, let's say? To be able to dance with abandon for AN HOUR. Minimum.

It comes in handy at a Latino party to be able to salsa and merengue and rumba and cha-cha-cha and cumbia for extended periods. :)

I kept to my calorie goal Tuesday (This is still kinda my Tuesday, although it's really Wednesday morning, cause I am a nite owl. I woke up at 3 pm yesterday, so I'll be heading for bed soon.)

So far, so good. The first week of my New Start is almost done. I began last Thursday. Tomorrow, the second week starts. That means I've lost my water weight this week (ergo the consecutive days of loss), and now we get to the meat of it.

I've got Celia Cruz's riotous "Quimbara" and Gloria Estefan's "Mi Tierra" and "Rhythm is Gonna Get You," among other great dance tunes for tomorrow's session.

To all on the journey, God bless you today and help you and me out big time.

Exercise Excerpt: Slow's Not A Go?

"Although moderate-intensity physical activity does provide numerous health benefits, such as reducing blood pressure and risks for systemic inflammation and type 2 diabetes, you better increase the intensity of your activity to lose weight unless you exercise more than an hour almost every day," said Dong-Chul Seo, lead author of the article and an assistant professor in Indiana University
Bloomington's Department of Applied Health Science.

...

Seo cautioned that making an active lifestyle a habit, regardless of the intensity of the exercise, is more important than exercising vigorously. "Many obese or older adults would benefit more through moderate-intensity physical activity. Research indicates that obese or elderly people tend to adhere more to moderate activity than to vigorous activity."
--from "Slow Walking Not Helpful In Losing Weight"

Bottom line: Any consistent exercise program does you good, in all sorts of ways, but if your focus is exercise for weight loss, you gotta ramp it up and do it longer. Moreweat and more time. (Ugh.)

Six Beginning Steps To Get You A Weight Loss Happily-Ever-After Ending

Since the stated goal for Princess Dieter and all those who are on a similar journey is to achieve the happy-ever-after of a healthy weight and good fitness, let's see what Kathryn Martyn, NLP expert, weight loss coach, says are the necessary 6 steps for a successful outcome (ie. H.E.A.):

1) State what you want (not what you do not want). "I want to weigh 135
pounds."

2) Determine whether you can achieve it (do you believe it is
possible?).

3) What resources do you have and what do you need (time, money, gear,
clothes, equipment, coaching, whatever).

4) Check whether anyone else is involved and any potential obstacles that
may come up regarding others. Think of everyone involved in your day-to-day
life.

5) Picture yourself "as if" you've obtained what you say you want and see
if that picture fits. Do you like what you see?

6) Put together a plan of action for the achievement of your
outcome.

Okay, so, how far along have we gotten here. Let's do the checklist:

Regarding #1: CHECK. I stated in the previous post that I was aiming for 160. So, "I want to weight 160 pounds."

On to #2: As the footer philosophy and the first entries make clear, yes. I choose to have a positive attitude. I choose to believe I can do this. Why? Others have trod the same path. They are role models that say it can be done by a human being. Princess Dieter, being human, can do it, too. I may have more (or fewer) obstacles than other morbidly obese royalty who've gone before and succeeded, but it's still achievable. They showed it could be done. So, "Yes, I believe I can make it happen!"

Next--#3: What resources do I have? I previously owned or recently bought the following:

1. new exercise clothes--simple, basic, comfortable
2. two new pair of walking shoes, one white and light blue and one all-black.
3. a set of Bowflex weights
4. a resistance band
5. a stability ball
6. an exercise mat
7. On Demand cable channels with exercise classes
8. a treadmill
9. several books on dieting, including YOU: THE DIET and VOLUMETRICS

I have the time. I can't fall back on that excuse. It's the inclination I have to muster. AND I WILL!!!

I also plan to reassess the family budget and see if I can hire, even if short-term, a personal coach to give me guidance on how to exercise without hurting myself. At 289 pounds, it's very hard to move. Just walking is an undertaking. Going up stairs is killer on the knees--and going down is only marginally easier. So, expert advice would be beneficial.

Gliding to #4: Meal planning gets tough cause my hubby only likes a few veggies and fruits, and he won't eat beans or oatmeal or some stuff. But breakfast and lunch are pretty much clear sailing (M through F) and not such a hurdle on weekends. Dinner is the thing. We get take-out all the time cause I'm a horrible, horrible cook. Princesses should have someone else cook!!! This step will require coordination, and I"m working on it. I have to collect about 20 really easy recipes that include stuff hubby will eat and that works for my calorie/points needs. It's doable, but it's gonna be a difficult thing for kitchen-a-phobic and cooking-impaired Princess Dieter.


And now #5: YES!!!

Finally, #6: Still working on this one. Today, I"m going to the farmer's market and supermarket and getting lots of produce, whole grain pasta and bread, lean meats, and low-fat dairy products. First, I need to figure out what we're gonna be having for dinners this week. Hubby needs soft foods due to oral surgery and I need stuff that's gonna keep me full and veggiefied. I'll put in about 2 hours in making a list (I have the books and magazines scattered about). Then, spend money on edibles time! (BTW, I put up a link to the Cooking Light site over on my sidebar. Lots of recipes there. Mmm.)

I also want to schedule a 20 minute exercise time for 5 to 6 times a week. I don't even know if I'll last for twenty given the radix lecti level of fitness at which I am. IF I only make it to 10 mins, then I'll have to break it up into two 10 minute periods. But can I do it? YES!

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Once Upon A Time...

...there lived a not-so-young, not-so-fair, and not-so-royal, not-actually-a-maiden sort of gal who, after many years of frustration and failed attempts at transformation, really and truly and mightily got fed up with being bigger than a castle.

And so, one day, as she puttered among, well, maybe not ashes, but perhaps among the dust bunnies, she made a hopeful wish to be more along the size of a graceful garden shed rather than a humongous queenly residence.

No fairy godmother appeared. No pumpkins changed shape. No mice grew into liveried servants.

So, the castle-sized gal--not young, not fair, not royal, not maidenly--got off her rump and said, "I guess I better make my own wishes come true."

And so, with an eye toward a happily-healthy-after, the gal approached the tomes of wellness and the wisdom of the fitness sages, and choosing one particular star to guide her path--a very shiny star full of joy and hope and light--the maiden embarked on an adventure.

So, the story of Once Upon a Diet begins...

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