We all want to get into that outfit that inspires us and makes us feel festive.
I have a way I think will help you look better in whatever you wear and will probably make you FEEL far better than any crash diet. It's not always about the pounds. Sometimes it's about the fit. So how can you get a better fit without a crash diet??
Well for starters - be realistic. If you're a size 14 you're not going to be an 8 by Christmas Eve. But if you're pants are bulging in places you'd rather they wouldn't and your muffin top is overflowing you can try this. Like I've said before, "What've you got to lose?"
If you paid any attention in school you may recall that someone somewhere told you that a muscle is designed to do work. Think about it. If you put your arm in a cast from your wrist to your elbow for six weeks what do the muscles look like when you take off the cast? Eeeewwww they're flaccid and wasted looking and your arm is weak and all shrunken right? [No off color comments here but you're free to think what you please!] That is because for the six weeks they were in the cast they weren't doing any work. Well your body is full of muscles and you're not currently using several of them that you could be. Just go work out suddenly in a way you haven't for awhile and I promise you pain the next day, right? So the key is to engage those muscles because they lay underneath your skin and your subcutaneous tissue and if you tone them up as they pull tighter they'll pull some of your body areas into shape that you haven't been seeing lately and voila! A better fit in your clothing.
Now I'm the first one to tell you that I abhor exercise, am basically lazy and therefore I will not lead you to a land of spandex and torture intentionally. But if I can make myself do this you can too. First of all if you're still young you can do this on the floor. I used to but I'm old now and the floor is too hard - plus we have a dog and there is just way too much dirt and dog hair on that floor for me to lie down on it, sorry. And yes, we do vacuum and have the carpets shampooed periodically but still. So no lie, I do this in my bed and it still works! This is a stretching and toning routine and if you do this between now and Christmas Eve I think your clothes will fit better even if you don't lose weight. If you decide on your free zone weekends to go way, way over the edge well maybe not but it's kind of like tanned fat. Tanned fat looks better than white fat, right? Toned fat looks better than non-toned fat so let's get busy.
DAILY ROUTINE
1) Push the covers off and clear. Lie on your back - you can keep you pillow for now - and lift your left leg straight up in the air to the ceiling and then lower it. Point your toe. Did it kill you? If not do it again. Try to do it 3 times. Now do it with your right leg. 3 times.
2) Turn on your right side. Take your left leg and lift it toward the ceiling away from your right leg as close to perpendicular to your body as you can. Still alive? Do it again. Try to do it 3 times. Turn over onto your left side and do it with your right leg.
3) Get rid of you pillow and lie on your back. Bend your knees so your feet are flat against the bed as close to your rump as possible but not uncomfortable. Lift your hands up past your knees and bring your torso off the bed as you do this. Yes, these are abdominal crunches. Do them anyway. Try 10. If you can't do that do 5. You'll work up to 10. Think how nice your turkey neck will look if you do this regularly because guess what it's working that muscle group as well as your abs.
4) Lie flat again. Rest if you have to. Sit straight up in the air and hold your arms out until you touch your toes or get as close to that as you can. I grab my toes and slowly and carefully stretch my lower back muscles by looking left and then right as far as I can while I hold this position. If you can't grab your toes just stretch toward them as far as you can and turn your neck slowly left and right.
5) Lie back down and come up and touch your toes and lie back down 5 times. Yes, you just did 5 sit ups. It did not kill you. You may curse freely while you do this if you like. If you have small children in the room you may have to do it silently.
6) At the end of the last sit up while you're still in that position with your arms extended toward your toes and sitting on your rump, lock your hands and roll left and right on you rear and the backs of your thighs keeping your arms straight out in front of you as much as possible. You are doing roly polys from Richard Simmons dating back to the 1980's but guess what - they work - they will make your butt and your thighs much flatter and more toned so do them. Try 10 of these - they're cake! Try more. When you finish these like back and prepare to die.
7) You have to do one of these. It will hurt. Be very careful NOT to lift your legs with the muscles
in your low back - it can be done but shouldn't be. I want you to put your feet together, keep your legs straight and raise them together straight up to the ceiling until they are perpendicular to your back which is lying on the floor/bed. Then lower your legs as slowly as you can back to the bed. Use the large muscles of your thighs and more importantly your lower abdominals to do this. One is enough. If you can do one be very proud. Most women I know who've had kids or abdominal surgery of any kind have very little strength in their lower abdominals and this is hard. You can work up to 5 slowly. If it's no problem do five - you win - you're my new hero!
8) Take your arms and put your hands on the insides of each arm 1/2 way between your elbow and your shoulder and push out against your arm. You'll feel your pectoral muscles and yes, your boobs move. Do 20 of these. They're easy. You're almost done.
9) Do the leg lifts you did at the beginning again now that your muscles are warm. Do five of each type, single leg, up to ceiling back down to the floor. Try to control the downward motion smoothly and slowly - use those long muscles in the leg - they burn a ton of calories when they work.
10) While you're lying there rotate your ankles in circles and stretch your toes toward the floor and bring them back all the up to the ceiling without lifting them (dorsiflex your ankles and rotate them as close to 360 degrees as you can ). Your ankles may pop but stretch them out. You're DONE!!!!! You DID it !! Great. If it took you more than 10 minutes I'm shocked. It probably took less than 5.
When you get up if you want to you can try touching your toes while standing up or do some arm circles - you know the ones - your arms out to the side parallel to the floor and you make forward and backward circle motions. You can also roll your head around if you like that. I don't do all that but you can if you like. This is a stretching and toning routine. We'll talk about doing some modifications as we go but if you can do this you will feel better and in two weeks you will begin to see some changes and by Christmas Even you may really feel it in your clothes. Advance as you feel you can. I try to keep the number of reps the same every day in all the groups as much as possible or I forget how many I'm doing. I watch TV while I do this. I do it before I get out of bed, before coffee or consciousness is fully engaged so my mind doesn't know what I'm doing or otherwise it would rebel. If you're really ambitious you can do it at night too but I'm too exhausted by then so I don't.
So that's a really basic routine and when I do it regularly it really helps my clothes hang better and makes me feel better too. Between that and walking I usually feel pretty good. Try it and let me know what you think. You could be a little sore if you haven't been doing anything but I can usually start this from nothing and do it without any really noticeable soreness.
Drink your water! Walk somewhere. You know you want to. Don't diet tomorrow. Just eat normally. Enjoy your food, savor it. 'Til next time...
HV13
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