I want that bod!
16 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in Diet, Fitness, General, Health, Life
Like most people, I had put on a bit of weight during the last Christmas period but I haven’t really got rid of it. In between stressing and then quitting my job, doing a TEFL course, making music, writing, baking and teaching – I’ve not really been focused on fighting the flab recently!
Today, I was fed up with looking at my offensive body fat in front of my mirror. I’ve always been overweight since I can remember. I was probably a fat baby, especially since I was the heaviest in my ward at 9lbs something! I was destined to grow up ‘big’ in some shape of form. Being brought up on fish and chips from my parents place didn’t exactly help, and exercise came in the form of putting thumb and finger to a SNES gamepad. When I finished uni, I tried getting healthy by eating better and being more active. I had replaced Super Mario Bros with Davina McCall and fish ‘n’ chips with plenty of vegetables and whole-grains. Yes, I did lose a lot of weight (I was a size 16-18 back in 2003 and now I’m a size 12-14) and perhaps some of you who know me, consider me to be a healthy average weight now. In reality, I am actually clinically overweight as my ideal waist should be about 27-28 inches and not 30-31 inches, which is probably the same for most of my male friends out there. So yes gentlemen, you can slip into my jeans if you ever feel the need to do so!
I decided to step up my casual exercise routine with some intense circuit and interval training to compliment my occasional running and yoga practice. I exercise about twice a week at the most these days. In contrast, I used to have a set routine, running for 45 minutes five times a week! So as you can imagine, my fitness had dropped and I got bigger and perhaps even ate more.
I’m hoping to spend the British winters abroad in some exotic country and no doubt, I will be sporting a swimsuit. If I can, I’d like to wear a bikini and stand under a little waterfall, washing my hair like an excitable woman in an Herbal Essences advert – remind you of anyone? ;o) Myleene Klass! You yummy mummy! She’s classically curvaceous and H.O.T! OK, so her personality is a little dry but she’s gorgeous and seems nice enough aye! I want her bod! Real Bad!
Empowered by visions of looking like Myleene, I flicked open my laptop and googled ‘intense workouts DVD’ and whilst doing this, I was aware how desperately-housewife it sounded. Also, it was likely to bring up wannabe fitness millionaires claiming they could give me the perfect body for $100 or something.
In general, Americans are usually much more hardcore than us Brits when it comes to fitness. The trashy fitness DVD’s that occupy the UK charts, feature celebrities from soaps such as Corrie or Eastenders, or annoying TV presenters and models. Their idea of a good workout is doing a bit of toe-tapping and perhaps jerk some arms and legs in the air now and then. I remember watching an awful but mildly entertaining workout DVD by Jordan which was as tough as eating a big slice of chocolate cake. Her boobs were waaaaaahey too big that during the workout, she struggled to do any of the jumps properly. I spent most of the DVD fascinated how she managed to not topple over. Then at the end of the DVD, her recommendation for the diet was to basically have a smoothie for breakfast and lunch, then eat a small low-fat dinner. Uhhh…what?! I think you’d lose weight from that alone surely! Ahhhhhaaaaa! OK, so the workout is probably useless!
Anyway, enough with these lame workouts! I went onto the american Amazon website and searched for workout videos that boasted reviews of how painful the workouts were. I’m looking for workouts that basically make me feel like I’m going to die – I’m no whimp! Bring it on b*tches! Huuuuuah! *ping!
My research paid off as I had successfully discovered 3 seemingly good DVD’s. The first one is from an instructor with whom I’m already familiar with; Jillian Micheals. I love her workouts, especially ’30 day shred’. I obtained her latest DVD ‘Get ripped in 30′ as well as Shaun T’s ’Insanity Workout’ and Jari Love’s ‘Get ripped 1000′.
Firstly, just want to say that I don’t want to get ripped. I’m not a weedy man living on protein shakes, looking to get massive biceps. I’m actually already quite muscular for a woman. Any more muscle would just make me look like Madonna in her uninspiring video ’4 minutes’ featuring Justin Timbeeeeeerrrlake! However, I’ve found that the best way for me to lose weight is not spending hours doing just cardiovascular exercises, but to combine weights or strength with it too. So, circuits or interval training is ideal for a person with my body type. Everybody’s different!
I’ve only tried out the first two DVD’s so far and OMG! I was sweating like a nun in a field of cucumbers and panting in agony! So much so that after an hour, I was mopping up sweat from my floor and having to wipe sweat off my body so I wouldn’t slip all over the place! My hair-band was damp from the sweat as well as my hair feeling like I’d just come out of Bournemouth sea! Yeah, pretty gross huh! Basically, I loved it and am pleased with the intensity I was working at. I’m generally quite a fit person; the type who would always walk up the escalators and not afraid to leg it down the road for the bus. I’m going to keep it up for a month and keep you updated with my progress.
My diet is generally pretty healthy, my only downfall is sugar. I bake vegan cakes and eat an awful lot of fruit. I also have a mostly carbohydrate based diet so I’d need to replace some of the fruit and grains with vegetables if I’m going to see any results soon! I don’t want to change my eating habits too much but would like to keep fit to keep my heart healthy. I very rarely get ill so I’m pretty sure I’m getting all the nutrients I need to keep my body in tip top.
It’d be interesting to hear what everyone else is doing to get that beach body! Have you been successful? Or have you lost the weight but to only pile it back on later?
