Keeping Young and Beautiful if you wanna ...dance

[lizajuk]

So I am fed up of the middle aged spread and no, I know there is no miracle diet and yes I love my food so any advice, ladies.
As a young woman ,dieting was sooooo easy, I shed stones and pounds like nobodies' business now I am hung about with a spare tyre despite the 5 hours or so dancing and the walking habit.
I want to shift that middle and I know I have to cut down BUT I do not want to have a scrawny neck and folds of loose skin.

I am not concerned with dress size, if I remain size 16 so what!!!
And I do have a shape being 40"(true)- 34-43 luckily I am not a Mrs Blobby!I quite like being bigger and it seems to be no bar to being chatted up. Met a friend the other night and as our men were getting drinks and, two very nice gents moved in, not seeing them...
Only that bl**dy tyre is all flobby

Any ideas on the kinds of food to avoid and to chose..by the way I am a veggie.
Oh and If anyone mentions a gym , I shall have to go and lie down!!!!

Have I a personal trainer out there??????????????????

[ssipes]

Record every bite you eat for 2 weeks (fitday.com) and see how many calories you are eating, and also where those calories are coming from. Whatever you are eating now you will have to eat less (providing you are not already eating very low (~1200) cals -- if the latter is so see your Doc.

Cut the carbs overall, eliminate bad carbs (sugar, potatoes, white bread) -- eat more protein and good fats and fiber.

In terms of exercise, dancing and walking are NOT going to get rid of the middle aged spread. I wish it did. You need some intervals of intensive exercise, and some serious strength training.

Sedonia

[gotraqs]

Lizajuk, I know this is probably soundig overly-obvious, but can you just try to eat things that you know are good for your body, limit your junk food, and wear some of the beautiful dresses I see on so many sites? I am a believer in enjoying life, and enjoying food, because food can provide so much pleasure. If you are at a healthy weight, and active, I say find costuming that you can feel good in, and go with it. Maybe if you wore a dress (not sure if you can or not-most people wear bras and belts for shows here), you could wear a tummy slimmer under it, and just disguise your problem area.

[Lauren_]

It's a double edged sword, isn't it? Dancing can make us feel so much better about our bodies, but at the same time it can be so unforgiving.

Standing around in clothes with other women my own age (the moms at the college) I look FANTASTIC!!

But in a bedlah standing next to the other bellydancers? UGGGH!!

So in a way, if I didn't dance I'd probably be pretty happy with myself. And my measurements are almost identical to yours, so I have to guess you'd feel the same way?

But you know you can't have it both ways. Love your yummy food & have a liedown at the thought of the gymn OR battle the spread. Not AND. OR.

Right now, I'm fighting (exactly as Sedonia describes above). Love yummy food? Sure, I have many happy memories of it! I figure I might still have five years or so of earning money as a dancer IF I can take those pounds off.

In a few years, I'm going to relax a bit, *just* teach, and give myself over to the beledi gown completely.

[lizajuk]

hereby is my problem:
Food I love :veggies and fruit (and potatoes I fear.)
I love to eat wholemeal bread, rice and pasta

Food I hate: anything creamy and fatty or too sweet, meat, processed and junk. I'm not a pudding woman prefer fruit with one exception see below

Failings: cheese,curry and alcohol and I can limit them. I can even limit chocolate and I drink my coffee black!Sticky toffee pudding and custard. Satan made it just for me!

So I think you are right about strength training but I really hate gyms so what "instrument of torture" or exercise is best to do at home for that middle.
Sit-ups yes I can just about!!!!!

I also hate public humiliation for slimmers aka Weightwatchers..I would just get irritated.
So anyone recommend a good book? I once tried the F(art) plan..it worked but mmmmm you get very unpopular.

Thanks for the calorie check idea ..sounds good for me 'cos in my heart I know what is good for me!

[ssipes]

The problem with even wholegrain bread, pasta, rice is this:

a serving size of pasta or rice is 1/2 cup (if you are diabetic, borderline diabetic, or hypoglycemic, a serving is 1/3 cup)
a serving size of bread is 1 regular slice

Eaten in these serving sizes with lots of vegetables and protein, these are perfectly good foods. But I don't know about you, when I eat rice I want at least a cup, maybe more and pasta??? Please, 2 cups at least. Even whole grain, this is a *huge* glycemic load on your body. Thus, much insulin is produced. Among its other duties like regulating blood sugar, insulin directs your body to turn carbs into fat and cholesterol. In general the way our body handles carbs and uses insulin gets more and more suboptimal the older we get.

There is hardly anything good to say about a white potato at all. For a tiny bit of protein and fiber, you get a huge load of starch that hits your bloodstream as fast as sugar. depending upon how much amylase (enzyme that starts breaking down starch into glucose) is in your saliva, a potato might raise your blood sugar even faster than an equivalent weight of pure sugar.

[tahiradancer]

I hate to do this to you , but....

Limit the breads, pastas and rice.

Also buy a 20 min pilates DVD adn add that to your routine a couple of times a week.

{{{HUGS}}}

[Nisima]

You know, I feel the same way when I'm with non-dancing friends my chronological *age* I feel great and I'm soooo much more flexible because I'm still dancing so much. But, it's a constant 'battle of the tummy' bulge and it is all about strength training for core muscles. I hate gyms too so instead do an 8min ab routine and it tightens up the middle noticeably. I know that doesn't sound appealing, but you don't even need special equipment - 50 ab crunches a day, if they are good ones will absolutely make a difference. And wait until you see how much stronger you feel with stronger abs - absolutely takes strain off entire back and you will be striding around. Walking and dancing will not do this by themselves, it's the core. There are any number of core belly dance videos out there; the only reason I don't have one is because our troupe director is herself a certified aerobics instructor and she gave us her 8 min. ab routine which is fun, varied and works, works, works. Oh and by the way, I've had two kids and although I'm not going for six-pack, more toned tummy is perfectly acceptable cosmetic result!

You probably will like the next thing I'm going to say, which is - loosing a LOT of weight (20 lbs and over) actually doesn't work alll that well, because it leaves loose skin; there are so many examples of women who lost weight and got into smaller dress sizes but are sooooo unhappy with the way their middle looks and I don't blame them. So yes, watch what you are eating but make that weight loss VERY slow and meanwhile, figure out some ab crunches - and start out slow (because you will feel it, I promise). Even if you only do them every other day - you will notice a difference. By the way, I'm in my fifties, size 16 and measurements are 43, 36, 48 - I'm not likely to get several dress sizes down and not interested in that becuase then all my bedlahs will be too big. I'm happy being 1x because I'm curvey! When I was in my late 20's and dancing, I was so thin it was heck to try and find costumes that flattered.
So, don't give up on diet, just go slower and even more important than writing things down is to MAKE A SHOPPING LIST every week BEFORE going to grocery store! Buy the nicest, freshest veggies you can and store them attractively in fridge; same with fruit and plan on having two protein rich meals a day to ward off the dreaded "snack attacks".

[Souzan]

I hear you! A few weeks ago I visited my doctor with a list of my weekly exercise schedule and food intake for the same period. According to all the charts I should be loosing wait like crazy. But I am not.

And my doctor pronounced the words that 5 years ago physicians called a myth--insulin resistance. He put me on metformin, a medication for diabetics and prediabetics to help control blood sugar. I promptly lost 5 pounds. My cravings for sweets has reduced during the waking hours, but at night I have been dreaming about cake with thick buttercream icing. No joke! I know this has to do with my blood sugar. Its lower so I want more, more, more when my weak dreamself is in control. But thankfully the wide-awake self has more control.

Ditching the white stuff has always resulted in weight loss. The secret for me is having the good stuff around to eat so that I can eat something appropriate when I am hungry. And strength training.

Souzan

[bul_bul_ksa]

Funny that Souzan posted that...I was going to recommend using a diabetic cookbook simply because you KNOW that you are eating really well if you follow a diabetic diet.

Watch portions...we've all gotten incredibly skewed ideas of what a portion actually is thanks to the 'upsizing' of everything from restaurant portions to larger dishes/cups etc.

If you don't want to go to the gym (fair enough) then really try to do some form of weights...the heavier the better of course but to start off just do ones using your own body weight - pushups, 'hovers', lunges and squats. As an added bonus you'll help your body's bones (although some 'bouncing' type exercise is ideal, but perhaps if you do some khaleeji each week that could be considered the 'bouncing' portion of your exercise).

[bul_bul_ksa]

Buy a pedometer and make sure you take 10,000 steps per day.

The pedometer is always a tool these makeover / keep fit type shows use regularly. Pedometers have a way of 'keeping you honest' - 10,000 is either on the screen or not.

Can you tell I watched two episodes of, 'who will age better' on telly today?

[damiena]

I prefer calorie-count.com to fitday for keeping track of what you eat. You can keep track of your activity level, weight loss goals, etc. It also gives you a grade on your day's intake of food! I love the site! Hubby and I are both keeping track of what we eat, as well, as (please forgive me) going to the gym. Strength training helps to boost the metabolism.

My two cents though, eat six smaller meals a day instead of the traditional big three, drink lots of water, do crunches and other ab work.

Best of luck!

[lizajuk]

Hey I am inspired and I know it's early days yet but I already feel as if the tum is receeding.
The plate is smaller, the portions of naughty pasta smaller, I'm OK with rice..cannot eat huge amounts anyway.
T'dancer I will dig out the pilates vid from somewhere or I may even get down to the YMCA (if I can shut my eyes as I go in as the gym is on view and then I will be lying on a nearby roadside bench with the vagrants)
Ah poor potato, you may have to be a treat.
I don't wannna be zero, I just to ditch the tyre and yes,Nisima, I am happy to be curvey>
Thanks y'all again.

[rakgirl]

They are right. Leave all those starches and carbs alone. That means hardly any bread, rice, potatoes, etc. Those things bulk up the middle. other than that. love ur curves. doesn't it look great when you shimmy? Embrace it.

[Michelle75]

Hi Lizajuk,

I say your diet is fine. Try adding a 2-3 mile walk everyday along with your dance. It sounds like your body has already adjusted to the "dance" exercise so introduce a new easy exercise. It's good for the heart and nothing melts away pounds correctly like walking at a nice pace but PLEASE don't do the really fast arm thing when you walk, unless you want to.

[Lauren_]

Originally Posted by ssipes

In general the way our body handles carbs and uses insulin gets more and more suboptimal the older we get.

Boy, that rings true with my experience. 10 years ago, I ate whatever I wanted, had no weight problem & no eating issues. Today -- ptooey. And definitely starches/high glycemic foods are a BIG part of the problem. (I hate to say 'carbs' because that includes my beloved veggies, which don't seem to make me fat).

[Monica]

Originally Posted by ssipes

(snip)
There is hardly anything good to say about a white potato at all.

Hey Sedonia,

To the best of my knowledge sweet potatoes and yams are not quite as devastating/blood sugar aggravating; would you agree?

(Fingers crossed!)

M.

[ssipes]

That is what I have read, and personally I think my body handles them better. Plus they have alot more fiber and vitamin A. I love sweet potatoes.

Sedonia

Originally Posted by Monica

Hey Sedonia,

To the best of my knowledge sweet potatoes and yams are not quite as devastating/blood sugar aggravating; would you agree?

(Fingers crossed!)

M.

[dunyah]

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

"Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou

There's a lot of magic in just feeling good about who you are, no matter what your size. I once did a performance piece with live music. I recited this poem and also danced or did appropriate gestures between phrases. I finished with a rousing dance and danced offstage with my male musicians following me. Hehe. That was fun!

I would still like to lose some weight, though.