Friday, January 18, 2013

Zumba weight gain


I was thinking about zumba yesterday.  I started zumba-ing myself almost three years ago (I think February or March will be the exact 3 year mark).  I was roughly 210 when I started attending zumba.  I was in great shape.  I was jogging upwards toward 30 minutes without stopping.  I was riding my bike religiously miles upon miles each week.  I started with one zumba a week and quickly progressed to 3 zumba sessions and even some double sessions (back to back classes when I could handle it) I was extremely fit.  In the last three years of zumba, I somehow allowed myself to go from 210 pounds to 252.8 (that was my highest and my new years day weight for this year).  Other than a few exceptions I did zumba religiously. (exceptions.....when I pulled my lower back out in 2011......the chest pains of late 2010....etc etc etc).  I rarely skipped.  It has been a constant in my life.  Yet I found myself gaining.  How could that be?  I ate badly.  I had weeks where I was totally on track with my eating, but I had weeks where I ate candy and desserts....because 'one piece of candy doesn't really hurt too much does it'?   Of course one piece turned into two, followed by some potato chips and then topped off with a piece of cake. I was not in control of my eating.  And that is the crux of the matter.  You can lose weight without exercise.  The food we are putting into our mouths really is the key to it all.  (well, unless you are exercising 5 hours a day or something ridiculous).  The good thing?   If something keeps us from exercising???   We can still lose based solely on diet.  It's not a two way street.