Fun and Productive Workout

Yesterday I woke up unhappy because my Wii was out of commission.  I love the Wii -- it entertains "The Littles" so well while I exercise.  So I logged into my favorite weight loss site asked for help for creative ideas to burn the 800 calories I needed to make up for what I didn't finish the day before!

I got 10 or 11 responses and  I decided to use almost all the suggestions. I figured out how long I had to do each to burn about 100 calories at that particular activity.  This was by far the most fun I have EVER had working out!  I think I will re-run it tomorrow!  My Chanelle (age 12) took the pics for me.  I think she thought I'd lost my mind.   We can't show you "The Little's" faces because of foster-care privacy, but we found some creative ways to include them since they were part of the whole workout. 



My first exercise was Hula-Hooping.  I have never hooped more than 5 minutes before, so 10 was a big stretch.  The thing I love about it is that it is IMPOSSIBLE not to smile.  It's just plain fun.  

Next up, stairs - even though we only have 4 steps!  I let the two least sick kids play in the front yard while I did this (the front yard is a rare treat) and it was great.  By the end, they were running the steps too!  Well, running is a bit of an exaggeration since one of them still has to crawl up the steps and the other needs the railing!

There was a  great idea to jog through the house and lift up "The Littles."  This was hilarious fun and WAY harder than it sounds.  They totally loved it and I think I will get 100 calories knocked out this way every day.   For a while the baby chased me around -- that was pretty funny too.  He thought I was chasing him but it was definitely the other way round! 

Next up:  Jillian Michael's Deck of Cards.  I drew a lot of lunges, which are hard for me and I was definitely sweating at the end of the 13 minutes it took me for 100+ burn!  I liked the intrigue and may riff off it with my own little circuit of some sort tomorrow. 

The big girls were outside, so I went with a suggestion for dance.  I put my iPod on "shuffle" and just did whatever came up next.  It was interpretive dancing I guess.  I'm sure I looked ridiculous but I had so much fun.

Then I moved to exercise TV.  My 12 year old is into hip-hop so I entertained her by doing some hip-hop with her.  Pretty embarrassing but she looked good.  Isn't she beautiful? Except for this one, she took all the photos.  You can see I am getting tired by this point!

More Fit TV.  The Littles were up by then so I did Family Walk Strong -- it was fun and awesome.  Two of the babies came in and out of it -- I will definitely do it again!  Here I am with my 9th grader (well her legs anyway!)

Another round of  "Dance."  This time I did a crazy dance thing on Exercise on Demand.  I had to laugh at my lack of skill!  Yikes. 

This was absolutely the most fun and with the exception of Jillian's cards, they were all high burn rate too.  Next time you are looking to mix it up, take orders from your friends -- it was the most I have smiled working out in ages.

Here's my recap:
Hula-hoop, 10 minutes, 100 cals
Run stairs, 8 minutes, 101 cals,
Jog and lift, 11 minutes, 104 cals
Jillian's cards, 13 minutes, 101 cals
iPod dance, 10 minutes, 101 cals
ABCs of HipHop, 11 minutes, 101 cals
Family Walk Strong, 21 minutes,, 101 cals
Jive Dance - 11 minutes, 101 cals

Grand total 817.  Try it yourself!