Category: Sexy After 40

Evening hot baths, morning coffee, listening to your body wrt fitness and more

Morning,

Well! It’s just after 5am and amazingly, I have NOT yet done my morning workouts!

My gosh why, I hear you ask?

Simple! On Monday, I did massive DDR with the kids, Tuesday was P90x Core plus Cardio GoGo plus two hours of advanced karate including 10 minutes of boot camp plus one hour of Kendo and let me tell you, boys and girls, I’m feeling it this morning.

Yes, it’s true – apparently the body at 43 ain’t the same thing as the body at 23! My gosh, how I wish I had valued this fact back then. :) Ah well.

So! It’s time for (drumroll please) modifications. I’ll still do my workouts, of course, but modify them to suit whatever my body says I should do. Today’s P90x workout is Kenpo, and I’ll make certain to use my Goju-ryu moves during the majority of it. Hey, might as well improve the form! Pivots will be lessened and I’m going to focus instead on balance today.

And that brings me to the important topic of the day. MODIFY WHEN NECESSARY! You never have to damage yourself when working out – go to the level of which you are capable and make it work THERE, not some idiotic level that will end up causing massive amounts of hurt to your body.

Let me explain the title of this post. Last night, I made myself a hot bath after returning from karate/kendo, and ended up relaxing for 15 minutes (without any kids bashing thru the door saying,
“Mom, I sensed you were relaxing so here I am!” Amazing, that). Upon staggering out, I slathered Tiger Balm on my ankles/thighs/lower back, and made my way whimpering to the bed where I collapsed. After 5 minutes, one of my kids came in and said, ‘Mom, are you okay? I heard you making weird noises!’ Apparently I was mewling to myself as I tried to get comfortable, and didn’t even realize that! Talk about hearing sensitivity. :)

This morning upon waking up, my body tactfully told me, coffee. Massive amounts of coffee. Bless thy system and imbibe the drink of the angels and that favors life. So here I am with my morning coffee, feeling energy starting to flow back into my zombie-like self.

So many people over 40 challenge themselves to surpass their own expectations. I’m highly in favor of that; heck, I’ve done it again and again. But there does come a point where your body says, woah! Slow down and modify and when you’re recovered, pounce at full force once again….and THAT is a good thing to which to listen.

You can take that to the bank.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – if you enjoy hot baths like I do, consider:

Lingerie shopping – it never fails

Morning,

You know, it seems America is getting fatter and fatter. Back when I was 170+ pounds, there was a plethora of clothing in stores from which to choose – Large, XLarge, XXLarge, etc.etc.etc.

Then I started going down from a size 18 in pants to 14 to 12 to 8….and all of a sudden, it seems like there’s more Plus size clothing in stores than small sized clothing in stores. Tons of choices there, but clothing in my size? Hah!

But that’s not the worst of it – losing weight has trimmed my figure from a 42DD to a 36C. That’s the good news. The bad news is….yet again, all the lingerie sizes seem focused towards big and hefty wenches again!! There’s bras for 38D and 40D and 42DD and …. but get to the nice genteel 36C, and the choices go out the window. :-(

Ah well, these things happen. At least I’m getting the ‘perkier’ benefit of weight loss! :-)

Have you encountered these issues? If so, the forum, Looking Good, Feeling Great, has some useful discussions on where to buy clothing once you’ve lost the weight.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – If only my local stores carried:

DDR Dance Dance Revolution – oh what great fun and a calorie burner!

Afternoon everyone,

Oh I’m smooshed!

After several hours of patience marketing online, I challenged my kids to Dance Dance Revolution. Now, we used to do this all the time during the summer at Camp Ling, so it’s been quite awhile since I last put my feet on those mats.

My gosh, talk about, ahem, uncoordinated! My skills apparently have melted away during the months I’ve not tried it. I see the arrows on the screen and say to my feet, okay feet, move to the correct arrow…and it just doesn’t happen. :) But still, it’s great fun! We were at it for about an hour.

And for us parents/moms/dads/etc., DDR is a terrific calorie burner! There’s a practice and test mode as well, so you can train your feet to move to the correct arrows during specific beats. And don’t forget about

That’s where smart parents like us gather to share tips on doing well! And don’t knock Dance Dance Revolution as an extreme exercise – many people have lost dozens of pounds doing it. DDR Weight Loss Stories are most interesting to read.

Here are some more great DDR resources:

If you’re looking for something to do at home that really gets the blood pumping and your heart rate up, do yourself a favor and check it out; age is no factor! You’ll be happy you did.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – Here are some nice DDR pads:

Reflections – P90x Review XStretch – Week 3, Day 7, Total Days – 21

Morning!

Got up late yet again! 5am, the horrors, the horrors! Still, though, everyone was still sleeping, so I did the StretchX DVD.

I will admit, I really really really like this DVD. 3 months ago, you could never have sold me on how important stretching is, and how much more flexible your body can become – what I’ve lost out on over the years! Besides doing this DVD, I also try to stretch at least once a day in various positions during various History Channel presentations, and I can truly pinpoint the differences in my physical abilities.

21 days! I’ve completed 21 days! Yippee! And weirdly enough, I’ve lost inches on my waist/thighs and hips, but…gained a pound this week. I look slimmer but weigh more! I figure it must either be muscle gain, water retention, what have you….but as I freed myself from the tyranny of the scale, I’m not angsting over it what so ever.

So you know what Day 21 means, right? It means that this week, week 4, is the recovery week (if you can call it that – Yoga Death debuts not once but twice). And then I get to take Day 30 pictures! I’m looking forward to seeing the changes (and I finally have a reason to get a bikini too! :) ).

So…what have I learned about myself. Gosh, where to start. One, you can live your entire childhood/young adulthood/etc. with a pre-conceived notion of what you are capable of achieving (with my lousy bone-structure, let me tell you…it wasn’t much) and then in your 30s or 40s or 50s or what have you…you can give yourself permission to expand your boundaries and blast past every single one of your delusional barriers. Now, this is not just my P90x experience talking – it’s also my karate experience, my fighting-past-fear-even-when-I-was-petrified experience, my super-fast recovery from surgery experience, etc.

When you’re overweight and fat, you tend to gloss over your physical appearance and focus on your other traits and characteristics. That’s an excellent thing to do, after all – if you cannot appreciate yourself with regards to the way you look, feeling good about yourself for other purposes is simply a healthy thing to do.

But when you’ve lost the weight and realize, omigosh, I’m fit, I’m sexy, I’m in the best shape of my life, it really adds a profound confidence in the way you view yourself. Back in my college days, I never wore tank tops, I never went dancing, I never learned to ‘move and groove’ etc….and now? Now, I realize I can look phenomenal for my husband…and equally as important, for myself. I’m unbeatable!

If only I could have realized and internalized this in my college days!

Ah well, these things happen. But having gone thru this journey myself, I have made a promise that my kids will always know how to appreciate their own magnificence, be it their brains, creativity, common sense, beauty, etc. They’ll never feel less than others because of insecurity; they’ll know they’re the best.

To gain that lesson, I’d go thru my hell of a school life again and again. The most agonizing of your life’s experiences often deliver the best gifts of your life…if you give yourself permission to learn from them.

And that’s Day 21,

Barbara

ps – More Tony Horton goodies!

Sexy after 40 – Carmen Electra Vegas Strip Cardio

Howdy everyone,

Well, as you probably know if you’ve been reading my blog now for the past year, I’ve lost 45+ pounds and have started to really get into shape. I used for my workouts great resources like:

and I also started doing Karate with my kids.

Recently, I’ve realized something ‘way ‘way cool for me – I’m sexy. I can look at myself in the mirror and say, gosh, I look really good!

This is pretty amazing for me for several reasons. One, because of my lousy bone structure, I never could look at my body without focusing on the negatives. You know how 20-somethings can ‘strut their stuff’ in walking, dance, etc.? I never learned how to do that back in college. ‘Matter of fact, I always kinda sorta mentally hid myself from letting people admire my physical features. If I wasn’t okay to me, I certainly wouldn’t be okay to the rest of the world.

Shallow? Perhaps. That’s okay, one goes thru various periods of focusing or not on unimportant things in life.

Zoom now to a few weeks ago. I was in Kmart and checking out their DVD videos, and saw the Carmen Electra Vegas Strip Cardio workout. Vegas? Strip? Shake thy booty? After a snort or two, I re-thought to myself, hey, why not – if I’ve been able now to accept I’ve improved dramatically, why NOT give myself permission to check out the sexy moves I never learned back in college?

That DVD has been sitting on my shelf now for 2 weeks…and yesterday, I actually tried it out. Wowsa! I have hips! They can move! They can shake! And get this…it’s actually fun!

I can’t believe I never learned hip shimmies/moves/etc. back when I was in college. Wow, what I missed out! Not only will my husband benefit :) , but it also has the advantage of giving me a very confident attitude and walk.

Stay with me here, this is important. When you’re fat and overweight, quite often you never really examine the physical you, as it’s just too darned depressing. And when you lose the weight, you might still find yourself shackled by prior beliefs – why should I try to look good, I never did before?

You should do so because it makes YOU feel great. It really does! I really couldn’t care less about who is looking at me when outside or at karate or at the gym or …. you get the idea….but I know (I really know!) that all those months of hard work and exercise has paid off and by gosh, I’m one sexy woman!

Who said that only the 20 or 30 somethings should have the monopoly on not only looking good, but feeling great? Age is but a number – it’s the lightness of your spirit that counts.

You can choose how to feel, and you can choose how to be. To hell with what society says – be true to yourself and let yourself shine. You’ll be astounded at how good you really feel.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – Here are some other Carmen Electra workout DVDs: