Mama's got her groove back!

I posted this picture on Facebook last night. It is two pictures of me holding my heart rate monitor after two different workouts.

The left side is after a metabolic circuit training workout. High intensity, little rest, about 30 minutes. Then 30 minutes of a brisk walk at an incline on the treadmill. Together with warm up and cool down, I burned 457.

On the right is my calorie burn after a Dance Fit class. I was stunned! 469 calories! And it wasn't even tracking me a full hour! I think we had started a bit late so we didn't get in an entire hour. Just 51 minutes. That's insane! I say that because it just doesn't feel like a workout. I shouldn't say that - it DOES feel like a workout because I'm always literally dripping with sweat afterwards. Sweat rolls down my nose and in my eyes when I'm dancing, it's very physical! But it doesn't feel like a workout in the sense that sometimes people tend to associate exercise with pain, and boredom, and torture, etc. This, however, is an absolute blast. I always look forward to this part of my day. In fact, I have started to move around our dinner schedule during the week to accommodate me making it to class! The times vary, depending on the day. And I can get in 5 classes each week. If I didn't have to work in the mornings, I would probably hit the morning classes too! Love, love, love it! Love all the instructors too.

Now, that doesn't mean that I have forgotten about my first love: weight training. Because I still do that too. Lately, it has been in the form of circuit training. I like these metabolic types of workouts because you have a chance to get your heart rate really high for short periods of time. A lot of dynamic and even explosive movements. I usually do 30 seconds of some weighted compound movement followed by 30 seconds of a cardio burst, repeat that circuit 3 times before moving on to the next one. I do six different circuits (each, 3 times) so I am actually doing a total of 18 circuits. It's intense, but I can usually finish up in less than 30 minutes. This type of exercise is the BOMB when it comes to firing up your metabolism and getting the right hormonal response for fat loss and muscle growth. I would never just do Dance Fit as my only workout, because that's mostly just cardio. I also take walks on the treadmill at an incline.

So I'm burning anywhere from 450 to over 900 calories a day, depending on if it's a dance day or not. Now, I've just started Dance Fit, maybe two weeks ago. And I've also been eating a TON of crap food - pizza, chocolate, etc. So I haven't seen any improvements to my physique. I know, stupid, right? My girls have asked me why I care about how many calories I've burned when I don't need to be burning anything. Well, I think that's sweet of them to say, but everyone needs to be burning a little something. And that is what I told them. As we age, our metabolisms slow and we lose muscle, unless we workout properly. I track my calories because it's interesting to see what type of workout burns the greatest amount of calories. And for me, lucky enough, the workout that burns the most also happens to be the most enjoyable!! Also, I want to burn a lot of calories so that I CAN enjoy chocolate and pizza when I want to. Although I really do want to only allow myself to eat it as a treat maybe once a week. I hate getting into a pattern of consistently eating junk. Mainly because it makes me feel shitty.

Salads are quickly becoming a favorite food. For me, eating a salad was my least favorite thing. But I've started making my own healthy dressings which aren't loaded with sugar and fat. And I'm finding I really look forward to eating them every day. All kinds of things surprising me lately! I feel great, my mood is better, my energy is better, everything is just SO MUCH BETTER when you take care of yourself! Mama's got her groove back!