And now on to exercise!

Gah, the advice about exercise!  Here is what all the advisers say in common: you should exercise.

How long, how often, what kind, oi, try and figure it out.  Again, a couple of the high profile trainers/gurus/whatever you want to call them, Richard Simmons, Susan Powter, the Biggest Loser trainers all say one should move around every day.  Susan tells us to modify to your ability and make sure you don't hurt yourself.  Richard has tailored his routines for bigger people, but they're so corny I can't even do them, maybe on mute I could stand it. 

Susan highly recommends walking every day, doesn't matter how fast, just as long as you walk around and move more than you are right now, at least 30 minutes a day.

Richard likes an hour, with some stretching to improve your range of motion.  He's big into low impact movement, because it's more difficult for larger people to lift their limbs and they can hurt themselves doing high impact.  When a person is bigger it's hard on the knees, very big people will develop a bend in their legs with their knees moving closer together and feet moving farther apart to support their weight. 

Jillian, of the Biggest Loser, tells one to suck it up and just do it goddammit!  Bob, also of BL, tells us to modify on his DVDs and work into the workouts as your fitness level improves.  I've done workouts by both of these trainers and I'm sore afterwards, more so with Jillian's routines than Bob's because hers are harder, more intense.

I did a couple of Jillian's today, short ones that focused on abs, arms and legs and I think I strained my back trying to hold the ab crunch position while I rotated from the waist. Again, Jiilian never says anything about modification she tells you to just do the friggin' exercise. 

But even smaller persons need to start slowly so they don't hurt themselves.  Cameron Diaz speaks of starting martial arts training for the Charlie's Angels film and not being able to touch her toes.  There are lots of people who are naturally thin but not in shape and bigger people who are very fit. 

Anyway,  I've been advised to move around gently three to four times a week, really push myself into high cardio every day, do power yoga daily, do running and calisthenics boot camp style every day among other things. 


I can't figure it all out so I've been doing the treadmill, Wii Fit (I really like the boxing games), various exercise DVDs or workouts on Netflix instant streaming five to six days a week.  I also walk the dogs at night after the kids go to bed.  Our walks last anywhere from 15 minutes to almost an hour depending on how energetic I'm feeling. 

I get to weigh myself next week, so I'm going to see if any of this is paying off.  I'm going to be pissed if I don't see any changes. 

Amanda's beauty tip of the day:  Black women swear by petroleum jelly as eye cream.