The Joys of Miracle Dieting

I've noticed recently that I've been getting a lot of followers on Twitter that I guess you could say fit into the "spam" category - when you look on their profile, all their tweets are just marketing links to some miracle diet or weight loss tool, where they claim you can lose 10+ lbs a week.....my reaction? Yeah right!

Let's be honest, if a person suddenly started losing that amount of weight in a week without extreme conditions (ie. an athlete in intensive-training mode) to explain it, they'd be making an appointment to see their GP wouldn't they?  Because extreme weight loss is generally an indication that there could be something seriously wrong.

So why on earth do these companies/individuals market products that actively promote extreme weight loss? It's certainly not healthy, but it preys on those who are feeling self-conscious about their image and maybe actively trying to lose weight.  I got all these followers after tweeting about how I'd lost a few pounds recently through doing Zumba...but guess what, marketers/spammers - you picked the wrong person, because I don't believe in miracle pills or magic fad diets, I know they don't work, and I will go out of my way to make sure everyone else knows it!

Just when you think you're getting there...

...you find yourself struggling again.  I've been doing Zumba regularly (2 times a week) for a month now, and some classes I find easier than others.  I've even started building in a swimming session, to try and up my fitness levels, but lately I feel like I've been hitting the wall a lot.

Maybe it's a combination of things - my sleeping pattern has been out of whack recently (which I partly blame on having a lack of routine - I only work 5 shifts a month and uni broke up a couple of months ago for the summer, so most days I don't actually have much to do) and it's been so annoyingly humid that I just can't seem to get any air.  The lack of routine thing I mentioned is also playing havoc on my eating habits, so at the moment I'm finding that I'm either going to classes on an empty stomach and surviving off an energy drink for the hour-long sessions, or I've not quite timed my cooking right and haven't allowed long enough for my food to digest before working out.  So that means I either lack the energy to push through an hour of Zumba, or else my stomach feels so full and heavy that I have to take it down a level or 2 to avoid those awful cramps or nausea waves.  Neither is a good option, let me tell you!

Zumba!

Ok, so I know I've already mentioned zumba in a previous post, but tonight I went to my second-ever zumba class and it's definitely a sure thing.

The crowd tonight was different - for starters, there was about 30 more women there tonight compared to the Monday morning class I tried - and I was worried about "fitting in" cos these women all looked like regular gym-goers... but as soon as the music started I quickly realised that it didn't matter, cos nobody had perfected the moves and there were still a few newcomers.  And I was glad to see I wasn't the only one getting all hot and sweaty - loads of women around me were exactly the same.

The start of a new leaf!

I go through phases of wanting to get fit & healthy - so naturally I start going to the gym, changing my diet (I don't believe in diets per se - any changes I make are done with the intention of a longer-lasting effect, rather than some fad diet) but my attention span is so short that I lose interest too quickly and fall back into old habits!

This time around, I want to make it stick - mainly because now I'm in my thirties I've noticed I can't just eat what I like and do what I like without having to face the consequences!  I'm lucky enough to still remember what it was like in my late teens/early twenties - no matter what I ate (and I've always had a good appetite) I could literally walk it off, and never had to take part in planned physical activities to stay in shape.