best way to tone up for SB!!
 

Ok Spring Break is in 3 weeks!! ahh I have to get ready now!! lol so if anyone knows any really good exercises that would make me lose a few inches please let me know!! its been forever since I wore a swimsuit and well let me tell ya I need to tone up a bit ;) **oh yeah has anyone ever tried that Hollywood Miricle Diet?? if so was it good?? does it work??*

Nichole

OH, you'll lose weight on the Hollywood Miracle Diet--- WATER WEIGHT-- so the minute you start eating again, you'll gain it right back. It's such a hoax.

Try to do some Tae Bo or some light weight reps.

i am toning up for my formal that is the 22 ( i am taking the Ex so I have to look hot) so what I have been doing is my own diet, it is a combo of the Special K/Slim Fast diet. I work out 2 times a day with light weights and do Denise Austin's Hit the Spot Thighs, I also do some ab work, 200 crunches forward, to the side and the do a version of a straight leg crunch, then do so me light arm work. The diet is a bowl of Special K for breakfast with a cup of coffee, drink like a ton of water ( i do about 100-110oz) which is a little hard but what ever, then I drink a slim fast for a lunch, and have a slim fast snack bar with water, then for dinner a regular healthy dinner, some times i sub in a cob salad rather than a shake, thus far I have lost about 6 pounds... pm if you need more advice best of luck and keep us posted :)

WOW, thats a lot of water.... which isnt bad for you, but WOW!!!
I cant even drink 64oz like you are supposed to! :(

i NEED to start working out! My mom and i used to go walking a couple of nights during the week but since its been so cold all we want to do is stay indoor.

We have tae-bo but its just not my thing, and i dont get excited about it either. I went looking in wal-mart :mad: this weekend for the NYC ballet workout and they didnt have it!! :( Oh and i put that mad face because i hate going to wal-mart, most of the time things are everywhere and its just a tad too crowded for me! I think im going to Target this afternoon and looking!

Anyway, what i wanted to ask you was.... HOW do you drink so much water?? I can barely drink a full bottled water! :rolleyes:

drinking the water was hard at first, and trust me your bladder will want to kick your butt for it, but then you start to feel better, your skin looks better, you are fuller, eating less, so it begins to balence out. The way I do it is I have a FULL AQUINA water bottle before I work out, then after, I drink one with my coffee, lunch and dinner that is about 80. I also drink a bottle of water instead of snacking, so before you know it you have fufilled your daily requirement and many times have gone above and beyond the call of duty...
also each bottle is an 8 oz serving and there is 2.5 serving in each one... if that makes sense

Be careful that you do not overtrain Greeklettergirl.

Our body actually forms muscle after our workouts, not during them. When you work out before your body is fully recovered you can sabotage it's muscle-building and basically make it that much harder for yourself to get fit.

If you want to lose weight, my trainer has suggested to me that cardio approximately 4-5 times per week is what you need to do. Muscle training depends on how you do it. You should never train the same body part two days in a row, always allow 48 hours for rest. Some trainers say that the abdominal muscles are different and can be trained every day but now many are giving conflicting that info so I don't know.

Wow that is a ton of water!! If I was drinking that much, I don't know how I would sit through a class. I've head that it's the best if you offset weight days with cardio, then you can work out more. Does anyone know if this is true?

I've found the best way to drink a lot of water is to get large bottles. I have some 24oz bottles. 3 of those a day fulfill the requirement of eight 8oz glasses.

I find that if I bring one bottle with me to class and work, I go through it no problem.

Its so much easeir to think of drinking 3 servings as opposed to 8 to 10 glasses.

Right now, I'm making a pledge to hit the gym 4-5 times this week. I've been slacking and because I have the world's slowest metabolism, a pound or two has slowly crept onto my midsection :angry:

BTW, if you're trying to lose weight, DON'T DRINK ALCOHOL. Its calorie laden in itself, and then all the mixers are usually high in calories too.

Check half.com -- I believe they have a few for sale. They are cheap but you'll have to wait a few days to get it but I think it's worth it ;)

Also my friend had brought the tape for me at the Discovery Channel Store for pretty cheap so if you have that store in your area try them. Also Discountdance.com sells the tape as well as Barnes and Nobles.\
Hope that helps:D
DGP~Honey~

wow- i admire you! i would be wearing an aquarium to spring break if i drank that much water!

3 weeks... you're cutting it a little close... you can't safely drop more than a few pounds in that time frame.

Some ideas that may help.....

1. WATER WATER WATER. 8 8-oz glasses per day to start. Add more if you're overweight, if you're exercising (because you lose water through sweat), and if you drink caffeine and/or alcohol (because they dehydrate).

2. EXERCISE. If you're trying to slim down, do cardio, and/or do a weight workout with low weight and lots of reps. This will help with weight loss and muscle toning.

3. Find a diet that works for you... low-carb, low-fat, low-calorie, weight watchers, whatever. Find what's right for you and stick to it, not just for 3 weeks but for the long term.

4. DO NOT go on those liquid diets or "miracle diets" - you will lose weight in the short term, but it's only because you are starving your body of the nutrients you need to survive. As soon as you start eating normal food again, the pounds will come back with a vengeance. Find a meal plan that includes normal food, and you'll be able to stick to it, lose weight, and look great.

Lots of luck. :)

Okay, for those of you who have the ballet workout.... is that going to help me lose weight? I mean, so far, all i have heard is that its a bunch of stretching, which i love to do, but does that make you lose weight? :confused:

From what I've read about it, it doesn't seem like a cardio workout which is a core element to lose weight. I think this a longer term sort of thing where you will see results in terms of getting toned and flexable.

I checked out some reviews on epinions:
http://www.epinions.com/mvie_mu-1103300

and amazon
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...257557-6317457
(amazon will somehow forward you to their main page, but just hit the back button if this happens)

Guys tend to want to gain wait and of course gaining weight will never be pure muscle but also fat. A lot of the people that I know spend the month before spring break and the month before summer break on a low carb diet with cardio 5 times a week. I've done it too so I know it works since I lost a lot of weight in two weeks. However, all I could think about was cake...all sorts of cakes (not just bread mind you). Aside from my love for cake when I couldn't eat anything but meat, I had horrible breath. But in the end, the pounds were off and I ate my cake too.

-Rudey

try this!!
 

My suggestion? try doing the Atkins diet, together with cardio. Granted the diet is quite extreme, but it does indeed work quickly & safely (supported by many doctors, including mine). If done correctly, you could conceivably lose 10 plus lbs in about 14 days! There is a paperback book & some great websites about this ... I think www.lowcarbeating.com is one!

As for the cardio, try doing running on one day, perhaps swimming or biking or rollerblading the next. The key to keeping it up is to make it fun & to try not get bored.

Just my thoughts ... this worked for me before our spring break a couple of weeks ago - I lost about 14 pounds!!

- Jen :D

The reason why the Atkins diet works is because when you eliminate bread, pasta or other carbs, you're basicly limiting your calorie intake. Alot of people over eat carbs.

Don't buy into the BS of the aspect of the diet where you can eat tons of fattening foods as long as you eat no carbs. This is so unhealthy.

AlphaGam1019 - I partially agree with you, but only partially.

Dr. Atkins advocates cutting out all simple sugars. I'm all for that - I've never heard of a diet that *allows* simple sugars in any great quantity, if at all.

After that, things get confusing. Atkins advocates low-carb / high-fat. Other doctors advocate low-fat, or low-calorie.

I myself follow a low-carb, relatively low-fat plan. (Can't take eating all that fat... yuck!) I drink lots of water (which keeps you from retaining water) and I work out.

I can only give you my own personal experience - which is that my plan works for me. I'm losing weight gradually, which is the safest and most permanent way. You have to figure out what works for you - everyone is different.

Re: try this!!
 

If you lost ten pounds in fourteen days the VAST majority of it would be in water and muscle. The problem with a lot of extreme diets is that they cause muscle loss, so that as soon as you go off the siet you gain the weight back and more because by decreasing muscle you have decreased the amount of calories your body burns on a daily basis.

A healthy and more potentially permanent weight loss is at a rate of 1-2 pounds/week.

I have the tape and used it for quite awhile, if you do the movements correctly, you'll feel the different muscles working and if your not a dancer, you'llfeel it more,because it's different muscles your not used to using.
It also targets specific areas, it has a lot of ab work, arm work, and calf and all over leg work. But when you start that tape you have to watch the movements a bit, just so yoir doing the right ones and feeling it in the right places.
Hope that helps.
DGP~Honey~

About a month ago, my goal was to get my butt, stomach, and legs in top shape so I looked good in a bathing suit. I hit the gym and not a day has gone by that my muscles have not ached. :) But, I started doing ballet again and I think it has worked so well. I use to do ballet when I was younger and I have stopped for a couple of years. It works your muscles so well though. I noticed within 3 weeks that my leg muscles were much more toned.

I just ordered the NY ballet workout along with Denise Austin's pilate workout. It wont ship until 2-3 days, so ill let you guys know how it is when i get it!!!

I have to say that I am a HUGE fan of the FIRM workouts (well a lot smaller fan since I started doing the workouts), which incorporate both weights and aerobics in an hour. They promise results in 10 workouts, assuming you do the workouts about 4 times a week, and they are NOT kidding. You won't be super-muscular overnight, of course that takes time, but you will definitely be looking and feeling better. Their website, if you want to check it out, is FIRM Direct.

Drink lots of water, eat your fruits and veggies (advice I need to take!), and you'll be looking and more importantly feeling great...'cause if you aren't in good health and you don't have lots of energy, how are you going to be able to stay up all night dancing?

I went to that website, discountdance, and requested a catalog from them which i got today. They have so many cute things i want to get and makes me want to get in to dance lessons again.

Are you involved in dance classes right now? I am interested in it but it would be weird being in an "adult" class and im wondering if it would be more competitive or more relaxed because its been a while since ive practiced any dance techniques.

dance oriented exercisers
 

I went to a class at Cruch this weekend and had the most AWESOME teacher. She taught something called Masala Banghra, and it was basically an Indian Dance workout. Not only did it have me sweating like a little piggy (yes you wanted that image, you know you did) but it was SO MUCH FUN. Her energy was amazing and the workout was the best time I have had at the gym in weeks (I go to a couple of the dance classes regularly but they are oddly cliquish, something I am always at a loss to deal with).

The workout itself does not require any hardcore dance training. It seems to be for all levels. People who like more hip-hop/funk/club dancing will DEFINITELY get a kick out of the music. She has two tapes out now, they have been featured in Shape, Fitness, etc. and I am SO BUYING THEM. Anyone interested in the tapes can go to:

http://www.masaladance.com

FYI: I do NOT hype things unless I strongly beleive in them and I have no interest in this myself outside of encouraging people to try something new and different and fun. The only reason I have all this info is cause she passes out flyers after the workout.