Feb 10th-- WEEK 1

Welcome to my first week of THE CHALLENGE!!

I'm really pumped to be starting this! Really, I think this is the best time of year to make a life change-- there are no major holidays to interfere with efforts to change my eating style! Maybe that's why "Get In Shape" is such a popular New Years Resolution. :) The only sucky part about it, is it's still winter here in Canada--and I think I'm allergic to the cold. Going outside is just yucky and awful. So walking and biking are out of the question for now! Oh well, do what you can! Which is why I'm starting off with ZUMBA!! I have always loved dancing, and I'm not too bad at shaking my booty, if I do say so myself.

Once a week, I will be going to Wanda Roy's ZUMBA class!

I will also be doing 60 mins of hardcore dancing every other day (Mon, Wed, Fri) and 30 mins on the other days (Tues, Thurs, Sat)

And now, for the first pictures of myself....

Now, that would be a super cute belly if there was a baby in there! But there isn't. So stop asking. :)

**A Word About Belly Fat**

From what I have read about belly fat, the main cause of it is STRESS.  Of course diet, exercise and water retention is in there as well. However, stress seems to like to manifest itself as belly fat! It's almost as if your body is shouting to the world, "HELP! I'm going crazy here! Someone give me a back massage!"

Clearly, I have a lot of stress. 

And need a lot of back rubs. :)

And for my starting measurements:

Bust: 42 inches

Waist: 41 1/2 inches

Hips: 41 inches

You have no idea how TEMPTED I was to fudge those numbers... But, how would that help me? I'm trying to come to terms with where I've gotten myself to, so I can get to where I really want to be!

BTW, with those measurement, I'm at risk for a lot of of health issues... like, some kind of heart diseases...

So, according to Dr. Oz, the ideal waist size for women is 32 1/2 inches (35 for men)

He also says that belly fat is the most dangerous fat, since it's all up in your vital organs' faces. And you get rid of belly fat by diet--exercise isn't enough.  The Flat Belly Diet book says that monounsaturated fats (MUFAS) will eat away at all the bad belly fat... apparently that claim is not completely backed up but science, but they do say that a MUFAS diet is super good for you... so I'll still be trying the book plan out. It's also considered to be a Mediterranean diet. 

Some MUFAS are:

Avocados (yummmm!)

Sun flower seeds

Pumpkin seeds

Olive, Canola, sunflower, sesame and pumpkin oil


So it's been over a week since my first post, and I've been sticking to my plan! I think my body is going into withdrawal... I've been having a lot of headaches and some mood swings. :) I experienced these same sort of symptoms when I was doing a cleansing diet when I was about 18-19 years old, trying to figure out what was wrong with my ankles and knees--I was diagnosed with arthritis, but was able to get rid of the pain and the symptoms by removing gluten from my diet! Just goes to show you--- Doc's don't always know what they're talking about! Especially when all they do to diagnose you it poke your toes, see how flexible you are and then say "You have rhumatoid arthritis negative. It'll be $4000 a year to treat, and you may never be able to walk or have children."  In your face, SPECIALIST!

But, I digress... :)

Go ahead and check out my WEEKLY MEAL PLAN!