Missed the Valentine's day challenge? Stuck in a stall? Lost the motivation to execise? This challenge may be the one for you.

My personal challenge: I'm a belly dancing aficiondo and performer. Got a show coming up on the 29th and I want to dance bare belly (without a nude body stocking under costume) so I'm saying good bye to daily iced breve lattes (2 a week instead of 7), low carb candy, and pledge to 3 cardio workouts per week and 3 days of weight training per week, drink ALL my daily water, and write down everything that does in my mouth.

OK. What's yours.

Rain

So far so good. I've been particularly good about writing everything down, and I do mean everything. I've been much better with my water and even though I've not gone to the gym this week yet (working too late) I have worked out at home and danced to the music I'm using in my performance. I'll wait til next week to try the costume on

Rain

Went to a birthday party today and had a tiny bit of pad thai. I actually had planned to cheat more but it just wasn't tasty enough to justify it. I'm going shopping for dance skirts next Sunday so I will definately need to try my costumes on then. I did try on one of the belts that I plan to wear and it's too loose now so I'll need to remove some of the beading to make it smaller. How exciting!

Rain

Rain, great news on your weight loss. I am sure you will look great in your bare belly costume. Keep up the good work.

At my gym, they're offering belly dancing classes. It seems interesting. I just got certified to teach TurboKick and am a "cardio nut." I love group exercise that is high intensity and fast. I am addicted to the workout rush!!! So I wasn't sure if belly dancing would be for me, although I think it would be such a nice balance and change. What are your opinions?

Kelli
176/155.5/130
"Today is a new day to make tomorrow better."

Hi CrazeeKat,
Congratulations on your weightloss and certification . As far as the belly dance class, I'd say try it. Some moves are slow and curvey but they're also lots of fast, percussive moves. What I've heard from other dancers who have taken the exercise belly dance classes is that they are much higher impact than the regular dance classes. But then again, it depends on the instructor. My regular dance teacher is very high energy and her classes are a workout. I've taken from others where I never broke a sweat. There's a great dancer out here named Rania who is also a certified aerobics intructor/trainer and has her own set of exercise vidoes. You might want to check her out. I can't recall her webbie but do a search for Rania belly dance and it should pop up.

Rain

Rain,
Thanks for the info. I will look into it. If I sign up the the lessons, I will let you know.

Kelli
176/155.5/130
"Today is a new day to make tomorrow better."

ok good news and bad news. I've lost more weight but from hips as opposed to my waist/tummy. I took in costume belt but it's still a little too roomy . I've always been pear shaped and to tell the truth, I generally don't mind the weight on hips but in the last couple of years, I noticed I got thicker in the middle and now as I lose the weight, instead of it coming off the middle first it's coming off my hips. So I'm having a hard time adjusting to the new body shape because I always saw myself as hippy with a relatively small waist and now my waist (while smaller in inches) is so much thicker in proportion to my hips.

Rain