Dance away the heartache - dance away the pounds!
I stuck to my diet and I gained weight! So what did I do? I danced it back off.
What d’you do when you gain weight despite sticking to your diet? Why does it happen? We know it does. I reckon every dieter has faced the misery of the scales going up when food intake has gone down. So why?
Let’s get rid of one explanation often offered - muscle weighs heavier than fat. Yes it does. But you don’t develop the kind of muscles that make much difference from walking 10,000 steps a day. You’d need to be at the gym for several hours a day every day to develop muscles that makes you weigh more. So it’s not that. If I were still menstruating I could blame pre-menstrual tension but I passed that point a long time ago so I know that wasn’t the reason. However if you are still menstruating then you will almost definitely gain weight just before your period and lose it right after. It can make a difference of as much as three to four pounds.
I know I have some male readers so what could it be if they gain weight while dieting, as I know some do? There are a number of reasons but I think the one that probably applies to most of us is fluid retention. Or constipation or a combination of the two. Our bodies hang onto what we let them have because we aren’t giving them as much as they want. That’s my totally unscientific opinion but it does fit my experience and that of many dieters I know.
So it happens. We may not be sure why but the thing is, what’s to be done? For me it was dance. I remain convinced exercise doesn’t make that much difference on a diet but it does make some. And if your unexplained weight gain is caused by constipation there’s nothing to beat a blast of aerobic exercise to get things moving again! Runners tell me constipation is almost unheard of among their fellow pavement pounders.
We haven’t been blessed with such good weather in February. It’s rained a lot so far. This meant I couldn’t get out and blast round the block doing my steps. So I danced instead. Dancing has many benefits besides exercise. It makes you feel good. It makes you happy. And it exercises your body far more fully than walking or running. It boosts your strength, stamina and suppleness.
Years of attending aerobic and dance classes in the 1980s means I still know the exercises. However it doesn’t matter if you don’t know all the moves. There are plenty YouTube videos you can follow. Or just dance as you would at a disco or a party. Dancing means you move your arms and wiggle your waist. Wiggle that weight away! Whittle that waist down.
Anyway it worked. I moved a lot more and I moved the pounds back off. I’d rather dance than starve. You have to lose all sense of self consciousness to dance alone in your home but since lockdown many people have been doing some kind of exercise at home so perhaps those inhibitions have been shed? Of course you can also go to a dance or aerobic class or the gym. Or maybe see if you can get an invite to Ten Downing Street where they are party party animals who dance the night away!
If you fancy giving it a go at home why not put together a playlist of songs you love, push the furniture back, don supporting shoe wear and light clothing and get get get on down I said get get get on down!
More next week.