What I've Learned so Far about My Body

Most of my friends and family know that I've been on LA Weight Loss for the past seven months. I have averaged 1.5 pounds of loss a week, which is slightly slower than most people on the program due to being a vegetarian. I've lost a total of 34.6 pounds so far, and my goal is only 6 pounds away! I'm amazed at how much I've learned about weight loss and taking care of myself. Here is what I've learned so far about my OWN body... maybe it will work for you!




1. I react poorly to any salt. This is salt in pizza dough, on saltines and Wheat Thins, and definitely added salt on eggs or vegetables. I have only used Lite Salt by the 1/4 teaspoon in large recipes as they call for it, and I never add salt to my food. Any time I have something with salt on it, say, 10 small tortilla chips on New Year's, my body gains over a pound in water weight to try and cleanse itself of the salt. I now buy reduced fat Triscuits instead of Wheat Thins and canned goods that are salt-free because they have less sodium.


2. I react poorly to things with fat in them. If the only unusual thing I've eaten is regular fat sour cream instead of reduced fat or fat free sour cream, my body will gain at least half a pound from it. I only eat reduced fat sour cream, butter, peanut butter, milk, yogurt, and soup. (If I ever eat soup, it's almost always so high in sodium!)


3. My body craves activity. I have such a high energy level each and every day, that when I take a day off (one day a week, usually Thursdays) I tend to feel like I'm waiting to work out again. I ask myself, "Are you ok? Don't you need to take a nap? Or maybe eat dinner with your family for once?" I do zumba three days a week and do workout videos three days a week. I ran on Monday for the first time but now that the snow came back I plan on holding off on running again. And to be honest, even though the run felt relatively rewarding, my muscles still ache three days later...


4. I dislike drinking straight, plain water, but yet I crave water! I drink at least four bottles of water a day and most days I drink five. Much of that is tea, but I drink at least two bottles of plain water when I work out. I've stayed away from soda, coffee, and juice. If I have anything with aspartame in it (flavored diet teas or flavored water) I will drink an extra water that day to help clear out my system since it actually makes me retain water! Two things I drink every day are Yogi Tea brand Fasting Tea, which tastes like black licorice, and hot lemon water, which aids in digestion.


5. I need zumba. If there was a zumba class every day, I would go. Scratch that. If I could take zumba with my favorite teachers every day, I would. :)





Most people ask me, "WHAT is ZUMBA?" The easiest answer is that zumba is an aerobic dance class based on several different, usually latin, dances, founded by Beto Perez in 1999. It incorporates salsa, merengue, cumbia, reggaeton, cha-cha, mambo, flamenco, and belly dancing in a fast-paced workout, and most classes run for an hour. It is said that the average person can burn 700 calories in an hour of zumba. Most songs run five minutes long, you GO GO GO and have a blast for those five minutes, and you get a brief break between songs to get a drink of water.




To me, zumba is an outer expression of inner energy and spirit. It is sensual, even sexy at times, but that interpretation is never forced on the people in the room. You are given the framework, the choreography, of the dance and you run with it. A person can add spins, stomps, kicks, twists, more or less hip movements and it is all "zumba". This is unlike an aerobics class where you stick out like a sore thumb if you do something incorrectly. I think zumba is one of the few classes you can take at the gym where nothing is "wrong" with you if you make a mistake. And isn't that something we try and teach our kids, our friends, and our students? It's ok to make mistakes!



I am attaching three videos of my zumba class. These videos were taken last week on Tuesday, February 10, 2009. My teacher is Jill Budde (a goddess) and my full intent is to share the class and share what I am passionate about with my friends and family who read this blog. I have absolutely no complaints in any way, except that the shutter on the lens won't entirely open and the third video got cut short so I can't share all of my samba with you! (So, clearly, no complaints about the class, my teacher, or the Princeton Club. Disclaimer officially over!)



In the footage you will see Jill, the tiny gorgeous blond in the front. You'll see Joe, her husband, all in black with a bandana and a flair all his own that I love. You'll see on Joe's left a guy named Connor, a friend of a friend and now a friend of mine, who is so much fun to dance next to. The girl in the front with the short haircut is a girl from Russia, whose name I have yet to learn, but I watch her throughout class because she is always smiling! I will have to learn her name, she makes me feel so good! Then the pretty girl in the teal shirt and black shorts behind me is Julie, and she has grown so much in the past few months herself--she expresses herself a whole lot more than she used to. Her boyfriend usually comes and he is also a great dancer. She feeds off of me, I feed off of her, Joe and Connor and the other girl in front. We made a triangle originally and now we make an "X" most Tuesdays. Actually, we don't really have a shape... we move around a lot... but we are definitely a powerhouse together! The footage is of some of my favorite zumba songs currently in the line up, and hopefully next Tuesday I'll take footage of my all-time favorite dance, which samples a song by The Jackson Five... Enjoy!

Top: merengue, Middle: reggaeton, Bottom: samba hiphop

Zumba Mama

Yesterday I decided to take up Therese on a babysitting offer and head to the west side Princeton Club for a different zumba class. I've been heading to zumba on Tuesday mornings at 8:45, Wednesday nights at 6:30, and Thursday mornings at 8am when I can. There is also a Sunday class at both the east and west side, and usually I can't make that one because of Nadia's napping and eating schedule. I try to work out five days a week, and since I hadn't done anything on Thursday or Friday, this was my way of making up a day of laziness. :)

I decided that the 4pm class on the west side would be great, since Therese could watch Nadia while I was working out, and then we could all have dinner when I was done. Perfect. I drive to the Princeton Club (which was a fete in itself) and swipe my card. I realize that the changing rooms are around the far back corner on the bottom level, below where I signed in. I then figure out that the giant dance room exactly opposite the entrance is most likely the zumba room. In other words, you have to travel a lot if you want to take a class at the west side Princeton Club. I change my clothes in front of a lot of women that look "with it," almost certainly my competition in zumba class. By the time I reach the doors, it's ten minutes 'til the class starts, and I'm already the 20th person in the room. Even the busiest class on the east side has 30 people. Tops.

Little by little, women were surrounding me. I even had two women stand directly in front of me, and of course I thought I was at the front of the room. By the time class started, we had 50 people in one room. Shortly after class started, I saw that the room seemed more full and in turn, I figured at least another ten people had joined us as the music started. There were literally five dozen women (and a handful of men, one including a young black man with clearly "trained" moves) all in the same workout room for a one hour, fast moving cardio/dance class!

This was insane. I was hit twice by the woman on my left who kept glaring at me because I didn't know all the crazy moves. I was confused by the woman on my right who had her own personal set of Two Left Elephant Feet. I was wonderfully challenged by all the new choreography that this new teacher had to offer, but not enough room to experiment on my own or to make mistakes. For those of my family and friends who haven't taken a workout class in a while, picture this: there are 60 people in one room. All of them are trained for several weeks in the same choreography to the same songs in a room filled with mirrors. People are dancing 10 people wide and 6 people deep from door to window, and can only see the actions of those in front of them and not necessarily themselves or their teacher. Here comes me, a creative soul and not necessarily used to conforming, even in zumba class, looking like a leaping frog amongst an army of ants.

I rock in zumba class. I pick up choreography quickly and if I don't, it's no skin off my back. I just keep trying until I get it, and then when I have it, I do it with conviction. I know I don't look like a trained dancer, and I really don't even look like the latest thing at the club, but I'm definitely having fun and setting a fearless example for those around me. I smile a lot. I add little shimmies and turns. When it comes to the "Low" song ("Apple Bottom jeans, boots with the fur...) I rock it probably more than I should. But none of my strengths were welcome in this mass zumba class on the west side. I'm going to attempt the 8pm class on Tuesday night and see if it's any better. I'm more comfortable with the bouncy, aerobics and latin-influenced teachers on the east side. But if I can zumba almost every day of the week, it's worth a shot! Wish me luck!