Day #4: My review on Mrs. Sansone

Hello friends!

1st of all- thank you all so much for your kind words of encouragement yesterday w/the weigh in- I know not every week will be that great but it sure was nice to have you celebrate with me!

As you can see one of my January goals is to walk 5x's a week- well being that it is like 18 degrees and snowing outside- this AZ girl ain't goin outside for nuttin! So I had to find a way to still walk a few miles every day without turning into a popsicle- hence...Leslie Sansone's "Walk Away the Pounds." When I first picked this dvd up from Target I was honestly a bit embarrased! I guess I have always had the idea that most workout dvd's are cheesy and Richard Simons'esqe and that they really aren't effective at anything other than making you look really stupid. So needless to say the first time I popped this into the DVD player for a workout I highly doubted if I would even break a sweat. And I was wrong.

I really am enjoying this workout and here's why:

• Diane is definitely...perky but I definitely didn't find her annoyingly cheesy. She doesn't talk too much but she talks enough that it is easy to listen to what she is saying and not count down the minutes until the workout is over.


• She keeps it simple. The workout is only comprised of maybe 4 different steps besides regular walking and although they are by no means difficult, when combined with an increased walking pace as the music beat increases and hand weights- it was enough to make me sweat. It was also nice not to have to try and figure out what in the heck crazy move she was trying to do and just be able to concentrate on putting my best effort into each move. My goal isn't and will never be to turn into a fitness guru- it is to lose weight (which will obviously require knowledge about fitness) but I'm just fine sticking with whatever is going to shed these pounds and not feel like I have to learn 10 new kinds of crunches every week. Is that not a good attitude to have?


• I like that there are a variety of people that are demonstrating the moves and that you can actually see them sweating too! I don't know about you but I don't find it all that encouraging when you are sweating and struggeling your butt off in front of the tv and they have 125lbers up their making it look like they could do these moves in their sleep!


• I walk much quicker with the DVD than I do on my own because the pace is being set for me! Although I don't do this intentionally, many times when I'm out walking on my own I end up walking wayyy slower than I should just because I have no point of reference. With the DVD I walk 2 miles in 30 minutes as where if on my own I would probably do it 35-40 minutes. PLUS- the time goes by way quicker because I'm watching and listening to follow the moves and not just putting one foot in front of the other.


• Although I believe the one downside to walking inside is that there is obviously no incline to increase the level of difficulty, it is great that these DVD's do have you using your arms and doing squat-like moves- which are obviously something you would not do on a regular walk- at least not if you don't want people thinking you're crazy. :)


• Finally, some obvious reasons to like this workout is that: your workouts aren't restricted by weather and you are in the privacy of your own home.

Now I fully realize that this DVD is not going to take me all the way to losing 100lbs this year but it is going to take me through the month of January! I'm starting off slow but hey- walking 2-3 miles every day is definitely a HUGE step for me!

And I believe that this is just the first step to reaching a rather BIG goal that I have set for myself this year...but sorry! You are going to have to wait until tomorrow for me to tell you what it is! :)

I would love to hear any thoughts on indoor walking and if you have had any past experiences with Ms. Sansone!

Peace out girl scouts!