Okay, so, I haven't updated my blog about my weight loss every Tuesday night like I planned. But I am proud to report that not only have I continued to go to the gym at least thrice a week, I even convinced N to join it with me!
The exercise thing is going a lot better. Today I even looked at myself in the mirror while I was zumba-ing! I don't think that I will ever be the kind of person who loves, loves, loves going to the gym, it does feel kind of good, kind of virtuous to get all sweaty and be able to tweet, "I am at the gym doing zumba!"
For those of you who don't know, Zumba is the new fitness craze. I guess if you were to totally simplify things you would call it a type of aerobic class, but it is really so non-aerobic-y. There is not a lot of pumping, or jumping. It is 100% dancing. A little bit of salsa, a little bit of hip-hop, and tonight, even a little bit of ballet. It gets the heart rate waaaay up, and I always end up drenched in sweat, and best of all, it makes you feel sexy. There is something inherently feminine about shaking your hips, even if you totally suck at it and have no rhythm. That is the brilliant thing about Latin dancing. If you can't quite do the moves, or don't quite have the rhythm, just shake, shake, shake, as fast as you can! This is one of the few exercises where you don't have to do the moves perfectly to get something out of it. Of course, doing the moves perfectly allows you get the maximum out of it. But somehow I can't convince my left side of that. And my hands and feet have trouble moving at the same time. But I am getting there.
For those of you who are still mystified, getting curious, or just like watching videos, here is a small sample of what a Zumba class may be like. Also, I got the Zumba game for the xbox kinect. I haven't used it much yet, but there will be full review when I have more to say.
Did you know that you can buy an entire chicken at the grocery story for less than $6? Well, you can. And if you are willing to put up with a little home butchering, it can make enough food to last you almost a week. I bought a chicken last weekend for our Sunday meal, and used the last of it just yesterday. This is a huge help when you are trying to mitigate the expensive cost of meat in your grocery budget. First, it needs a little work. I roasted the chicken for our weekend dinner, and I always butterfly it because it cooks faster that way. I'm not going to sugarcoat it--butterflying a chicken is kind of gross. Really gross, actually. But if you can overcome your squeamishness, it cooks great. There are a lot of great tutorials for doing this on YouTube, but here is how I did it. Step 1: Remove the giblets (the heart, neck, and gizzard). This is disgusting because you must reach into a dead animal and pull out its organs. But once they are out, you can throw them away, ...
I could never get my feet and arms to move together like the instructor was doing! It was embarrassing, but totally fun. I'm glad you're enjoying it!
ReplyDeleteThere's a Zumba game for the Kinect?! Ooohh, I might have to have that...
ReplyDeleteThere's no way I could do Zumba in front of people. Or in front of myself. The End. Also, is it pronounced like Z-oom-ba or Z-um-ba?
ReplyDeletepronounced Z-oom-ba. and you totally could do it! anyone can do it. that is the beautiful thing.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about running as you do about Zumba. Don't like beginning but love having done it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would be completely awful and an embarrassment to look at, but I think it'd be fun to try. Too bad I'm too cheap to pay for a gym membership.