Below is an exerpt (a reply) from an email I recently wrote to a friend asking for weighloss advise. I have been receiving personal emails from a number of people - asking what and how I've been doing, so I thought instead of emailing everyone individually, I'd just post this in here. I'll have to take out personal references but I'm sure you'll get the idea. (Please excuse the grammar, spelling errors (if any) and punctuation... I wrote this email out in a hurry as I just really wanted to send a reply to a friend.)
=============
It's a lifestyle change dear. I used to not go to the gym at all; but I know I had to do something. I still ate the same... no changes to my diet whatsoever. I didn't eat a whole lot anyway to begin with. The only diet change I did make - during the day, I ate every THREE HOURS. Little meals every three hours keep you full (and people say keep your metabolism up). I stuck to that. I even had an alarm on my computer to remind me that it's time to eat. (Check out Timeleft.com - if you want to get reminders on your computer in case you sit in an office all day like I do.) For a while too, I watched my calorie intake. I used the free site, fatsecret.com to keep track of what I ate, and my daily exercise. It's funny, sometimes I would eat about 2000 calories - and then my exercises and all other activities for the day - would burn 2500 calories... so means there is a deficit of 500 calories almost daily. I think that's why I lost weight so fast.
Now most important - my exercise. I found something I loved!!! Zumba with my instructor is GREAT! I tried other Zumba classes all over (San Mateo, Millbrae, San Francisco, San Leandro), and most were between boring to just ok. Eduardo's Zumba classes though - we started calling it Zumba Extreme. The workout is so good that sometimes, there would be droplets of sweat under us while exercising. He also made it a lot of fun, super challenging, but very sexy. :) (http://www.bodybyeduardo.com/)
I made sure I stopped by the gym every day after work BEFORE I GO HOME. I'm sure you can understand why... if I go home, I don't want to go out anymore. I'd just have dinner, watch TV, and be lazy. At the gym, I usually would attend one cardio class... and then do some weights and ab work immediately after. I didn't do much work on my legs anymore because I was getting all that from Zumba. It's nutty, I know... all of a sudden, I found myself hanging out at the gym 2-3 hours daily... but I was having so much fun. I made friends who shared the same goals as I did. We worked out together sometimes, and absolutely pushed each other.
Anyway, I found that starting the workout is hardest. Keep at it for a couple of weeks, and you'll find things will just fall into place. You'll get used to the workout, the routine, and then start having fun.
Oh, and don't weigh yourself every day. During my first 2 months of working out, I didn't lose any weight at all, and I mean "0" weightloss... and then all of a sudden, I lost 7 lbs, then 12, then 15, then 20... it's crazy. I felt like I was melting. :)
Little steps... you have to start somewhere. Doing something is better than not doing anything at all. When you see the inches come off, and your dress sizes go down... you'll be so excited you'll find yourself pushing yourself even more.
Hope that helps! Good luck. Let me know how it works out for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment