Walk Away Those Pounds

Years ago, when my children were still young, I needed to drop some weight. If you're a mom (or even if you're not), there always comes a time when you know you need to lose some weight. It's usually around the time you've traded in your sexy jeans for stretch pants and fitted t-shirts for over-sized tops. I had tried gyms, but frankly with two small children going to a gym was not an option. At the time, I was reading Susan Powter's book, "Stop the Insanity". Remeber Susan with her ultra-short bleached hair and out-of-control engery from her tv commercials? Well, she may have been a little crazy, but she was the one who turned me on to walking as a form of exercise. She herself had two little boys when she began walking and her genuine, self-deprecating personality made me want to strap on my walking shoes and walk away my pounds. Walking has become a staple of my exercise regime, although now I also do strength training because more muscle burns more calories. Eventually, my husband bought me a treadmill so I could walk indoors in bad weather. The treadmill is great, but can be boring although I always keep my MP3 player loaded with my favorite disco music to keep me inspired. I was looking for a program that would incorporate walking with some diversity and I finally found it with Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds series (www.walkawaythepounds.com). I love these DVDs and they are a small investment for a big return in terms of exercise. They are easy to follow (no tricky dance moves) and the program clearly marks when you have reached one, two, three and four miles. She even does this on her strength-training DVDs. If you want to try her DVDs, but don't want to pay full price for them, you can always go to www.ebay.com or www.half.com and see if you can get them there. Again, before you start any exercise program, you need to speak with your doctor, but most if not all doctors agree that walking is the best exercise program around. Since I know a lot of women read my blog, I will tell you that my favorite walking shoe is made by Ryka. This shoe company makes athletic shoes specifically for women. These light-weight shoes are a great buy and can be found at www.QVC.com or in most stores that sell athletic equipment and/or department stores. Good luck with whatever program you choose and just know that when you are walking, I'm probably doing it too so you're not alone!