Before & After Pics

Here are some pics of myself to share...

The one to the left is from spring or summer last year.

The one below is from March.


This is why I love Weight Watchers! I'm just about 30 pounds down.

Little Bit of Mambo in My Life

I've been wanting to get in more exercise, so I decided to pick up an exercise DVD. I really wanted to get Zumba after hearing so much praise for the workout on the Weight Watchers boards, but I couldn't find it in any local stores. I didn't want to wait for it to come via Amazon, so I got the "Dancing With the Stars: Latin Cardio Dance" disc.

Me likey. Not only do you get to work out, but you get to learn steps for the merengue, cha cha, mambo and samba. (If you're going to Carnival in the future, though, be forewarned that the samba taught on the DVD is a ballroom samba style and not what's poppin in the streets, according to commenters on YouTube.) PLUS, it comes with a 15-minute toning workout that dancers use. Not bad for 11 bucks!

I was able to make my way through the whole 45-minute routine on the first try, something I was never able to do with my last exercise video foray, TaeBo. I was sweating and my heart was pumping in high gear. Keep in mind I'm an exercise newbie, though; I've read comments on Amazon that more experienced exercisers might not feel the burn.

Though I didn't collapse after 45 minutes, I didn't get all the moves straight. I think it will come with practice, though. Also, I think I'll put shoes on next time! I was on my rug in my bare feet. Not helpful for twirling quickly.

Before I got this DVD, I was dancing on my own for some activity. As someone who enjoys dancing, I found "Latin Cardio Dance" to be fun.

I haven't done the toning workout yet; will report back in the future on that.

All in all, to speak Siskel & Ebert (or Ebert & Roeper, if you're younger) in exercise terms, 2 barbells up!

Spring Cleaning

I'm going to switch gears with this post a bit and talk about clothes. Our weather here in southeast Pennsylvania finally has settled nicely into spring, so I thought it was a good time for me to get my closet ready for spring and summer.

It was about time, because for a few weeks, we had yo-yoing temperatures, where several days would be in the 60s and 70s, and then things would go crashing back to the 40s. Due to the schizophrenic weather patterns, I needed to pull out my warm-weather clothes ahead of time, without putting anything else away. My closet was overflowing with all of my clothes.

I had already gone through my spring/summer clothes a few weeks back, when the need for them first came up. These are the criteria I used to determine whether clothes should stay or go:

• Which clothes fit? Thankfully, after losing more than 25 pounds on Weight Watchers, my problem was clothes that fit too big, but if you find clothes that feel too small, of course you would get rid of them as well.
• Which clothes have problems? Assess whether these clothes can be saved or not. You may be able to take clothes with busted zippers or loose or missing buttons to a tailor (or fix them yourself), but a shirt that has a hole in a prominent place after losing a battle with a bra hook in the washing machine will probably need to be scrapped.
• Which clothes best reflect me now? Consider your likes and dislikes when it comes to fashion, and think about whether those preferences have changed since last year. Don't be afraid to donate any clothes that you can't see yourself wearing anymore. Properly-fitting clothes that you find stylish are indispensable to positive body image as someone losing weight, in my opinion.
  

I would do the same thing for my shoes and clothes. After going through my warm-weather clothes and hanging them up, I also edited my winter clothes in the same manner, so there will be less work when the temperatures start to dip at the end of the year.

What do you do with the clothes you no longer want? I like to take them to my local thrift shop, but you could also donate professional clothes to organizations like Dress for Success (for women) and Career Gear (for men). I was lucky enough to have worked for the past 2 years at a place where I could wear jeans every day, so I don't really have business gear to give away.