Next Step -- Exercise Fit for a Couch Potato

I've been losing weight all this time, but the loss has started slowing to 1 pound a week. So as much as I dread it, I know that I will have to add some exercise to my routine, if I want to reach my first goal of at least 30 pounds lost by September 18th. Although I've lost 14 pounds so far, I don't have enough weeks between now and September 18th to lose 16 more pounds. I only have 8 weeks, and at my slowdown to 1 pound a week, I'll be missing my goal by at least 8 pounds.

I'm concerned that my metabolism has slowed down some, since the 3 day diets are only about 1,200 calories a day. To me at my current weight, that's almost a crash diet -- like less than 1,000 calories a day to a more normal person. So what's a girl to do?

The dreaded (to a confirmed couch potato like me) word exercise.

Now I know that exercise is good for me. And when I was younger and of normal weight, I enjoyed it, did it all the time. Walking, biking, dancing, skating, horseback riding -- even karate.

But since I've gained all this weight, I've grown more and more of a couch potato. And it's getting to the point where grocery shopping leaves me winded. Gotta do something. Anything.

It's so hot and humid here that I don't want to exercise outside. And the temperature/humidity won't be going down into an acceptable range until November. Don't want to wait that long -- my weight loss might have stopped by then. Or worse yet, I may start gaining it back.

OK, that leaves exercising in a gym or in my home.

Gym is out of the question. Not only are there none near me, but I've gone that route in the past and it's not for me. Not to mention that I would be way too self-conscious at the moment to even set foot in one.

That leaves in my home. OK, can do that. But what? So I browsed my collection of exercise tapes and dvds.

Some I bought close to 14 years ago -- dance aerobics. Couldn't do them then, sure can't do them now. Put them back on the shelf.

Pilates? I'm sure it's excellent for toning one's core, but I have 2 dvds that I've watched, 1 that I have actually tried. They went back on the shelf, for further consideration after I have lost at least 50 pounds.

Fitness ball? A possibility for core work, and pretty much do-able except for the lunges. Set that aside for now, for more consideration.

Light weight training? Another possibility except for the lower-body work. I can do 1 or 2 reps of some one them, none of more of them. Will consider that again after 30 pounds gone.

Resistance bands? Like the light weight training, a possibility, except for the lower body work. Set that aside for additional consideration.

OK, in all that, no aerobics. 2 dvds that I can consider for upper body work and core. Having done them, they are fine for the occasional workout, but not on a daily basis -- I would get way too bored way too fast with just these two. And like I said, neither are aerobic.

What now?

Well, I did start something this morning. The workout only lasted 15 minutes and left me in a sweat, got my heart rate up. But it was rather enjoyable. And while I can't see doing the one dvd more than a couple times a week before I would get bored, I found additional dvds in the series that were also do-able, and would help break up the monotony.

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