Posts by millyo33

I've been doing Hip Hop Abs religiously for about a year and LOVE IT! I have pretty much a six pack now from doing that about 2x a week & combining it with cardio & pilates. It depends though, on how you like to workout. Sean T is a little... well he is very very talkative and can get annoying but he has great energy to get you pumped if you're looking for that sort of motivation. (He's also quite entertaining too!). As for the workouts, the 30 min cardio burn is not bad but very "dance-y". If you're pretty fit already, you may not find it much of a challenge. The total body burn is my favourite because it does target a lot of areas & incorporates a bit of cardio, but is not hard to follow. It also feels like it goes by really fast even though its 40min, in comparison to Turbo Jam's cardio party which is the same amount of time but feels like it takes forever. :P

In answer to your question specifically, I don't think its for the very young. It does incorporate more dance-type moves but they're simple enough so that anyone can do them. Hope that helps you in your decision!

Hey, I totally blew it too... had about 8 slices of cake in 3 days & went out to dinner & dim sum on top of that... I'm feeling mighty depressed but I think there are a few things we can do to make up for it. My plan is to:

1. Increase my water intake - to minimize bloat (boy, am I bloated!)

2. Stay away from processed sugar, refined carbs (i.e. cookies, cakes, bagels & white bread, etc.)

3. Eat more fibre-rich foods (whole grain breads, cereal, fruit & veggies)

4. Go back to eating my normal calorie amount rather than restricting it to compensate for the weekend (so I don't shock my body even more)

5 . Increase my workouts by an additional 100-150cal burned per session

This is just a start but I hope it helps! Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

OMG, its crazy you posted this! Moxies is my FAVOURITE restaurant & I've been trying to figure out the calorie count for their foods for awhile. But having no luck, I've been logically breaking down their menu items in terms of components to try to get the closest calorie estimate.

For instance, I always have the Grilled Salmon on Naan Bread with fries. I figure the naan bread alone is about 350cal & the salmon is about 3oz so approx 100cal. I get the sauce on the side to avoid excess so I figure that is about 100cal. So the sandwich in total is ~550cal. Then there's the fries, which we all know is high is cal so I figure thats about 350-400cal. Unbelievable, huh? Almost 1000cal in one meal!

Not to mention, i ALWAYS get the white chocolate brownie (its my favourite!!!!) and eat one WHOLE one myself - not the Bite of Brownie, but the WHOLE version. I estimate that to be about 900cal itself... so yeah whenever I go to Moxies I'm consuming almost 2000cal in a sitting!!! But you know what, I love it so much I really have stopped worrying about it. I do it actually once a week and have had no weight gain (as long as I'm good the rest of the week) and am one happy camper!

Thanks, its just that I was a little worried about whether 16% was very unhealthy and if so, how I should change my eating and/or exercises to bring it to a healthy range...

I think you're all right about my situation - I just didn't want to truly admit it was a problem. It has affected all aspects of my life because I'm consistently trying to plan when I can work out. Even when I'm supposed to go out and enjoy time with friends at a dinner or something, I end up tuning everyone out to mentally calculate how long I should work out later to make myself feel better. 

I'm glad I could share my feelings here - I don't think any of my family, friends or boyfriend are aware about this. They all know that I exercise a lot but are not aware to the extent that I obsess. I want to say something but am too scared - I don't want anyone thinking I am crazy or that I'm totally self-absorbed & need to be perfect...

But also I kind of feel like my family had a part in this - I know its horrible but I do feel that way. I used to be overweight as a kid and well into junior high. My family used to tease me all the time and called me things like Whale or Fat Girl. Because of this I struggled a bit with anorexia. I lost most of the weight in high school but then in university, I found that I was gaining a bit due to studying all the time and not being active. To counteract my eating, I would throw up -  not all the time, but every so often when I felt I'd overeaten. I realized it was screwing up my body so I stopped and started exercising like crazy. It worked and now I'm at the weight I want but I think my mind has become so hard-wired towards exercising, thinking its the only way I can keep off the weight (because I really really love food, especially desert).

Now, everyone says I'm so thin & skinny and although it feels good, believe it or not, I feel like that adds even more pressure to stay this way. My parents are always telling people how fit I am, how dedicated I am to staying active, etc. My boyfriend is always telling me how he loves my body because its so toned or that he loves that I'll eat anything I want but not gain weight - I  tell him that I WOULD gain if I didn't work out but he doesn't seem to get it. And I know he loves me for me, and not really how my body looks, but even so, I'm scared that if I gained weight & was chubbier, he wouldn't find me as attractive.... Plus, I work in the fashion industry and am bombarded by images of beautiful thin girls everywhere that I can't help but compare myself to them... 

Ok, I'm sorry for writing a novel about my feelings but thanks for everyone's advice - I really appreciate it. :)

Ive just perused the net a bit to see if the frequent meals thing IS a myth, and there seems to be conflicting evidence... One site said that the reason you should eat more meals frequently is to keep your blood sugar stabilized, which makes sense, but still doesn't explain why I would be hungry all the time.

Bekkie, you might be right about needing more food, but I guess it was just confusing because I never had a problem when I was eating 3 square meals a day. I'm not sure if I should stick to this and eat more, or go back to eating how I was?!