Fitness Fridays

As discovered last week I love to move and groove and shake my tail feather! These You Gals have some serious aerobic dance steps in us. Since dancing was such a success last week I decided this week’s Fitness Friday would be along the same lines - dancing!

Recently I purchased “Just Dance” for Wii. It’s an interactive game that contains 32 tracks that range from the disco 70’s to the grooving 80’s and up through the 90’s. Your job is to get a remote and mimic the dance moves the on screen silhouette demonstrates. The more moves you successfully mimic the more points you rack up.

Some of the dances you are required to do are the mashed potato, the whop, M.C. Hammer, and other classic steps. It cracks me up just to attempt some of these dance moves – I could only imagine what I look like. Here I am working up a sweat and panting attempting to rack up all my points and my kids are on the couch in pure hysterics.

The real fun comes in when there is a little friendly competition. Normally my daughter and I have a “dance off” she is just so determined to beat me and there is no way I can let her put me to shame. She would never let me live it down. So here I am panting away on the verge of passing out and I look over and she is not even getting ready to break a sweat. I think to myself, “my goodness this is track #3 and she is showing no signs of exhaustion!!!” I dig deep, grab some water and get to moving and grooving. Then my moment comes the next song is up – it’s my jam!!!! I look at my pedometer and realized in these past 40 minutes I racked up 4000 steps!!! Amazing! I feel re-energized and ready to get down with my song. It’s like a Zumba dance and is right up my alley. So the aching in my feet and sheer muscle fatigue can’t hold me back. I am pumping, dipping low, wailing my arms, shaking what my mama gave me, throwing in some Samba moves and getting into this dance. Oh my, the scores are off the charts my poor daughter does not have a chance and she realizes it but just like her mama she can’t give up. It’s a race to the finish. Songs over and the winner is ….. YOU Gal Stacy!!!!

The moral of my story is exercising should be fun. Have fun with it! Dance your heart away and enjoy every moment.

Oh and total steps for 50 minutes of fun was 6500!!! Whew not too bad!!!

Stay tuned to next week’s fitness adventure.

Before and After Pics - You Gal Stacy

You Gal Stacy started her weight loss journey September 15, 2009 when she appeared as a guest on the nationally televised Dr. Oz show. As she said on the first show "my big girl numbers are plastered all over the television" so she decided that she needed to make a change and she started down the road of waist loss following the principals in the book YOU: On a Diet, acquiring 10,000 steps daily and most importantly support from her family and friends.

As she lost the weight folk told her how great she looked but since she sees herself every day it was hard for her to notice the changes. YOU Gal Toni was complimenting Stacy on her success and how far she had come but she still didn't quite see it so we decided to have her take a picture so that we could compare her progress. So while Stacy is still on her journey her progress is definitely noticable.

Let's applaude her for her success of 36 lbs lost and 10 inches from her waist! YOU go Stacy!!!!

Fitness Friday's

So YOU Gal Stacy and I decided that we would try and find new and exciting workouts that would generate steps and report out on it. Well our first venture was at Victory Lady Fitness at their West End location in Richmond, Virginia where we meet 3 new friends all named Brenda. We settled on this location based on the particular class that was being offered. We had just participated in the CBS 6 Healthy Lifestyles Expo and while there I heard someone on the mic sounding like a deejay and it intrigued me so that I walked over. They were moving and grooving and I liked what I saw. Well later that day the instructor came over to our booth and I introduced us and what were doing and inquired about his class and where he taught so he gave me the skinny on where we could find him and alerted me of his next class at Victory Lady Fitness. I got on the horn made the arrangements and notified YOU Gal Stacy and she was game!

So we show up take the tour and take our position in the class. This class filled up quick! There were lines and lines of women ready to get down. So while I’ve been telling folk that I was going to Hip Hop Aerobics the class is actually called Live, Love, Dance with Kemel. We started off just marching in place to the beat and in my mind I’m thinking I could do this at home although I was stepping a bit high because these women weren’t going to show me up. At the end of the song my hips were burning, but that’s a good thing. We move to the next song and boy does it have some choreography. We were moving, grooving and having a good time. During this class we did the electric slide, cupid shuffle and the bus stop just to name a few of the line dances that we did. I was sweating, smiling and having a good time. When the class was over I must admit I was whipped! I started the class with 4243 steps and I ended with 10442 that’s a total of 6199 step in one hour! Whew! Whoever thought that all that dancing would rack up so many steps and that’s with me trying to catch on.

When Toni told me about this class I was so excited. I often say these dance type aerobic classes are as close to partying/ clubbing that we can get to. This class had me working up a sweat, moving, shaking what my momma gave me and having fun. Having fun? That's right Kemel made this class seem like we were at a party! The atmosphere he managed to create was able to take my mind off the fact that my thighs were on fire and legs left felt like 200 pounds each.

What also impressed me about this class beyond the fact that it was not your normal Jane Fonda workout was that the instructor walked around. He was not on stage shouting out movements. Instead he mingles as we grooved, he stood right next to you when you had the steps all wrong (he was by me a few times!!!) and showed you what you needed to do and where you were going wrong. Once you got the moves down off he went to the next person. He certainly left no woman behind and allowed everyone to groove at their own pace.

I highly recommend this class to everyone. I have a bad knee which usually causes discomfort during these type of classes however, I am glad to say it was not an issue. The pain I felt was sadness when the class was over - ok I was a little excited that it was over also.

For those of you in the area looking for a good workout while having a good time check out Live, Love, Dance with Kemel it was a great time.

I’m hoping to get back to Victory Lady Fitness to check out that Walk It Off with Scott.

Until next time! Get to stepping!

CBS 6 Healthy Lifestyle Expo

YOU Gals was so honored to be invited to participate in the CBS 6 Healthy Lifestyle Expo with our fellow Housewife Brooke Page of A Healthier YOU. We were able to meet many new friends many of which already knew our names, faces, stories and voices. Enjoy the pics of our time there!

Join the Healthy Housewives of Oz at the CBS 6 Healthy Lifestyle Expo

Join YOU Gals, Toni & Stacy as we partner with our fellow Houswife Brooke Page of A Healthier YOU, Saturday, February 13th, 2010 from 10am - 4PM at the Richmond Convention Center where the special guest will be Chef Nathan Lyon.

The CBS 6 Healthy Lifestyle Expo provides a one-stop health care learning experience for metro Richmond. Promoting healthy living and total wellness, the expo features fitness and cooking demonstrations as well as health screenings, product demonstrations and and access to a multitude of health and wellness experts. Almost 5,000 central Virginians attended the 2009 show and the 2010 show promises to be the best yet!

We can't wait to see you there!

Toni & Stacy

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Variety Is the Spice of Life

Ever wonder what that really means? This saying expresses the idea that it’s a good thing to try and do different things in life. Variety makes life more interesting and meaningful. The same is true for a food dish. Bland chicken and rice just won’t do, but add some herbs and seasonings and you’ve created heaven on a plate.

If we take so much effort in creating a wonderful meal to satisfy the senses, shouldn’t we put the same amount of effort into our workout routines? Variety in your workouts will help you to stay interested and motivated. How often have you been bored with doing the same thing over and over again? If you are anything like me, you get bored very easily. I need excitement to keep me interested.

How do you add variety to your workouts? For me, that entails enlisting the help of my friends and trainer. My fellow Healthy Housewife of Oz, Toni Winston is known as the walking guru. We walk almost every day on our lunch breaks. We try out different trails on the campus, while we laugh and talk along the way. Having her there keeps things interesting and fun. We have also become addicted to Zumba. It’s a high impact aerobic class that introduces various Latin dance moves. Talk about having fun while you exercise!

When I need to step it up a notch, it’s time to see “No Mercy Mike.” He’s the best trainer I have ever worked with. What I really like about him is the variety he brings to the workouts. I never really know what awaits me when it’s time to meet. Sometimes he may have me doing rounds of boxing. Other times I may be like Rocky Balboa— running up a million flights of stairs. Sometimes I am greeted with a deck of cards and am at the mercy of the draw, and other times it’s traditional weights. These different techniques have helped me to continue to lose weight. I have not hit a plateau yet, and enjoy the intense training.

My challenge to you is to go out and find different work out routines. If you opt for walking then invite a friend or 2 to join along, perhaps you can visit a beautiful park, or maybe add a weight vest or ankle weights. If you have access to a gym, try the different classes they offer. If you are working with a trainer, ask them if you could incorporate interval training into your routine. The options are endless, you can be as creative as you want— the key is to keep moving and have fun while doing it.

Tell me about your experience! Feel free to drop me a line at stacyryoudocs@gmail.com

Added to Wellness Warrior, Fitness, Weight Loss on Fri 02/05/2010

YOU Gals First 90 Day Challenge

Monday, February 1, 2010 marks the YOU Gals first 90 Day Challenge. We are taking 20 people that want to take control of their future by focusing on waist management and put them on challenge similar to the one that we undertook as two of the members of the Healthy Housewives of Oz.

We so excited about this journey that we are embarking on over these next 90 days. Words simply cannot express how it feels to be able to share the same success with others and assist them in living longer.

Here are the details of our challenge:

We will be following the same principles as laid out in, "YOU On A Diet" by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz. In this challenge we are encouraging everyone to change their eating habits by eating whole grains, leans, meats, fruits and veggies. Another important aspect to this challenge is to keep it moving! The goal is 10,000 steps a day.

No person will be left behind in this challenge! Each member of this challenge has YOU Gals as their coach with the assistance of Dr. Michael F. Roizen. We are here every step of the way to encourage, motivate, share best practices and see everyone succeed.

Please follow us along on this journey of achieving overall health and wellness.

Remember, although this challenge is already under way it's never too late to start on your own challenge. Grab some friends, "YOU On A Diet" the book, some pedometers and challenge yourself to get fit and healthy as well.

-YOU Gals