24 March 2010

Update on the battle of the bulge

About three months after I posted this, four other friends and I formed a biggest loser support group to motivate each other to get moving and lose weight.

Now, seven months later, I will say this has been quite the experience. For me, it has been a very educational, eye-opening journey of health and exercise and what it takes to really stay healthy and feeling well for a lifetime.

It's a little embarrassing, but much of what I learned over these months has come from Jillian Michaels, who has become a personal trainer of sorts in my living room. She's a little over the top sometimes, but I tell you, she knows her stuff, shares it freely, and gets results.

Every one of the women in our group who started doing her workouts on a regular basis lost weight and toned up. No joke. By the end of December, we had been meeting together for weigh-ins and motivation on a weekly basis and between the five of us, we had lost 90+ pounds. It was hard work, but so much fun to do it together.

Here are a few things that helped me along in this journey:
  • You will get better, faster results working out as hard as you can, with a combination of strength training and cardio for 20-30 minutes a day. I heard it for years but never really understood how to do it effectively.
  • Eating a large salad (for me, at lunch) full of cruciferous veggies--broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower--and other items--tomatoes, spinach, cottage cheese, beans, raisins, avocado-- is a great way to get all these metabolism-boosting, important foods into your body all at once every single day.
  • Focusing on eating whole grains whenever I can and try to avoid buying items that contain "partially-hydrogenated" and "enriched" ingredients. When I eat whole foods, I feel better. period.
There are several other things I am trying to do in my family, being the one in charge of buying the groceries and preparing most of the meals, I feel like I really have a responsibility to make good choices and teach my kids also how to make good food choices. I don't want to cram it down their throats, pardon the pun, instead I would just rather my boys develop a taste for certain foods by cooking and offering them regularly and then allowing them to try it when they're ready.

It can seem a little overwhelming, but I'm finding that taking baby steps is helping me along.

Best money I ever spent was on these three workout dvds:



Okay, enough about Jillian Michaels, already.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you for the advice as I will be fighting that battle in about 3-4 months!

David and Jana said...

Way to go lady! I need some of your motivation.

Aimee & Brennen Fuller said...

I liked your helpful tips. Is it hard working out 'really hard' in your own home? I always struggle working out in the home. I guess I need to get a little Tim Gunn in me and 'make it work'. Ha ha ha. I just bought the last chance workout dvd and have yet to try it. Looks like it's money well spent.

Jen I said...

Aaahh, I think you always had more work out energy than I did. Having watched the Biggest Loser show for years I think I'm honestly scared to do any workout by Jillian. But I guess 20-30 minutes isn't so intimidating. I love video suggestions though cause I've bought lots of dumb work out videos before. I'm still not sure I'm a work-as-hard-as-you-can kind of girl though. :) So way to go!

It's a good reminder to hear you say you feel better when you eat well. I really like candy and chocolate so much that sometimes I just eat those for a meal, figuring it's my caloric intake for the day. :) But I keep thinking I need to really give it a try eating better foods to see if I really feel better and have more energy cause heaven knows I need it.

Belle said...

Can you give more details about your workout schedule? Do you just do the Jillian Michaels dvds? How many times per week? Do you just rotate between the three dvds? I have the 30 day shred, but I always feel like I need to supplement it with a regular gym workout because it's only twenty minutes.

Thanks! And good job on all your hard work.

Friend Family said...

Some of these DVDs are available at Netflix. Based on your recommendation I have added one to my queue and it will be the next DVD I get from Netflix. If I like the DVD enough that I will use it again and again I will go ahead and buy it.

Lima Bean said...

Belle, thanks for visiting and for your comment!

I actually do mostly rotate between the three dvds. The 30-day shred I do when I don't have much time, and because the other two are a bit longer (last chance workout is 30 mins, banish fat is 40 mins) i do those when i have more time and want a longer workout. The banish fat one is a killer workout but doesn't have any strength training--all cardio, and the last chance workout has a lot of weight training. I actually feel like I sweat so much even when I just do the 20 mins of the shred that I've burned enough calories for that day. But I have a couple of friends who will do a couple of levels one after another.

I try to workout 5 days a week, but usually end up doing 4. If it is nice on Saturday when the husband is home I will go out and run for 30 or 40 mins--I like to do that at least once a week, but because I can't always do that, I'm glad to have found workout videos that really make me sweat and burn calories.

I hope that was helpful!

Susan @ Second Chances by Susan said...

Kristine, I've been meaning to tell you at church for the longest time now that I think you look great! Your workouts and healthy eating are really showing...you look very slim and trim. Maury and I do a Jillian DVD also, although we're taking a hiatus and just walking in the mornings until Maury gets the green light from her physical therapist to start up again. They are killers! I like the idea of a 20 minute all out workout. I might have to get the shred DVD.