Fat ol' fatty: day 2

I'm of the opinion that everybody, even if you don't need to lose weight or are at a place where you don't care about your weight, should be doing pilates.

My reasoning behind this is this : after doing just one 20 minute dvd yesterday, the tightness in my lower back went away and I was able to stand up straighter for the rest of the day.


The back pain issue could be endorsement enough, but also consider the following: body fat looks less sloppy when it's resting on top of a more toned muscle. Better posture changes the way body fat is carried as well, and will, again, make body fat look less sloppy.

I'm using a $20(can.) kit made by Bally Total Fitness and sold at Walmart. It comes with a balance ball, stretch band and instructional dvd. You'll probably also want a yoga mat. you need to do this in a room with enough floorspace for you to lie down and spead eagle.

The DVD is grainy and apppears to have been made on an extremely low budget. The instructor is Jaimie Grassi, who is not TV-pretty, but who seems to have designed the workout. Jaimie seems to have been given only one take for each segment, at one point she tries to casually correct herself without drawing notice. The lighting is odd and it seems like flash photography is going on during the filming. Whoever put the segments together has made it cut directly from Jaime saying "and now you can relax" from up on the ball to her in a completely different position down on the floor and seconds away from starting a new exercise.

Production quality aside, it's an accessable dvd, and the workout isn't bad.

In short : I'm a big fat ol' fatty

I'm going to start this out by saying that I've never been skinny, and I never will be. The lowest I've ever weighed in at was 147 pounds when I was 19. I'm 5'5. Most of my adult life I've been between 160 and 170 pounds. However, during the year before I got pregnant I had, through regular light physical activity and improved eating habits gotten my weight down to 150, and had stabilized there.
During my pregnancy 4 things happened :

1. A friend told me I needed to stop exercising, because his wife was told not to exercise while pregnant. It turns out though that his wife had only been told this because she was having a high risk pregnancy.

2. Even though I only had morning sickness 3-4 times, I had terrible heartburn that TUMS did nothing to aid. What did help: Cheetos. For Breakfast. Every day.

3. I slipped and twisted my ankle. twice.

4. in my third trimester I was so tired and lazy that I gave in and let my husband make hotdogs for dinner every night.

The result of these factors is that I gained 50 pounds during my pregnancy.
Lest you think I'm currently 200 pounds, and as a reassurance for any expecting moms, you lose about 15 pounds right off the bat. If youre breastfeeding, or pumping, like I was, another 10 is gone in a matter of weeks.

Thats where I paused. I've been at 175 for MONTHS now. My fault though, expecting moms, I haven't been exercising, and I've totally been eating icecream every night.

So now, and with no numeric goal, Here is my plan:

1. Begin Pilates again : Pilates is NOT Cardio, but it does help with back pain, and it does build muscle, which makes cardio more efficient.
2. Eat more fruits and vegetables: The rule ... if youve eaten 7 servings of fruit or vegetables, you can eat whatever you want
3. only eat if/when hungry
4. introduce cardio in a few weeks

So I'll update on this next week