I worked through the first 3 hip/rear exercises last night, then did them this morning. The first 2 are variations on the attitude from ballet, and I don't seem to feel any stretching or strain in my butt area - should I? The only thing I feel is a pull through my outer thigh....

And the third one is the belly dance motion - I like that! My stomach immediately felt it (though again, I don't see where it's going to help with the butt????) - my husband says that he really likes (to watch ) that one too.....

I am still working on the stomach ones, I tend to use my back with the crunch-type motion, need to eliminate that - I'm getting better, I think. My neck still gets sore but it's further along in the exercises now....

TwinMama--another easy lower stomach/abdominal exercise is if you lay flat on your back (I put a cushion underneath the small of my back for comfort). Keeping your legs together, raise off the floor at a 45 degree angle. Lower legs, keeping them about 5 inches off the floor. Do three sets of 20. If you want to add obliques and upper abs in, lift upper body from the floor when you raise your legs. For obliques, raise upper body, but raise to the right and left sides.

I've seen tons of personal improvement on myself with this exercise. In fact, I'm starting to see where my abs will be (those little lines) once they finally decide to emerge after enough cardio! I'm getting excited!

This vine has soooo much information! I'm inspired to get out there and do something...back to the gym for me!

Gail

Bonnie ... just keep at it and you will see fast results! No, I never feel any thing in the but area but it works... that is all I can say. And I see why your husband likes to watch LOL ... I never let my hubby see me do the callanetics or I would never finish my hour workout! LOL JJ

Bonnie ...I wish you would visit my Journal and tell me a little more about how you got to your goal and how long it took you... I just now looked at your before and after pictures you look so good. Please write in my journal and tell me about yourself would love to hear how you got where you are and maybe you could tell me about the hoodia and the part that it played in your weight loss.... JJ

CONGRADULATION HOW LONG DID IT TAKE? HOW LONG WAS YOU ON INDUCTION?

Hey PcosGirl ... glad that you are getting the bug to exercise you go girl!JJ

Try even an abreviated Pilates routine for abs. You won't believe what it can do.

Inkslinger...I have never tried Pilates ... but I think it is a lot like callanetics my niece talked to me about Pilates and that is what I thought. So I never tried it because I was happy with the callanetics. JJ

Bonnie... Thank you so much for coming over to my journal... I so enjoyed reading about your weight loss and all that you went thru... I would like to check into the hoodia ... do you take any medications right now I do not take any now... but I was wondering about high blood pressure? JJ

Wow! This thread is amazing and as usual Amory is sharing so much great info! I'm so glad that I took the time to read through this... I am actually going to add the "step-up" into my leg routine (thanks Amory). Another exercise that is absolutely amazing cardio and great for legs/abs/butt is the walking lunge. Instead of a regular lunge, you just rotate (right, left) lunging across your gym or driveway. It's painful and you will be incredibly sore, but the results are amazing. If you are already in good shape, hold onto a 5lb. weight in each hand to add some resistance.
Jenna

I <3 walking lunges! I've worked my way up to 10lb. dumb bells in each hand. When it's nice outside, I skip lunging across the gym and lunge AROUND THE BLOCK. I get some stares and horn toots, but WHAT A WORKOUT.

JJ: I take no medications, but I do take some supplements (standard vitamins/minerals, plus a daily probiotic).

My bp is low, always has been. After menopause it actually started to get in the low-normal range! Recently it has been anywhere from 80/40 (my husband took it before I got out of bed a few days ago) all the way up to 113/67 (last night - after eating a heavy load of carbs/fats - a couple of my kids took me to dim sum, and I had a "planned" cheat). I doubt very much that bp will ever be a problem for me....

The last time I really got in shape, I couldn't quite lose all of my belly pooch. I sure hope it works this time. I guess it really is the last thing to do. Just hang in there!

I think exercise is great it makes you feel good but it increases appetite.

Pilates is the only thing that shaped my abs and thinned my waist. After I lost weight I felt good and did much more exercise than now. Calethenics etc
30 minutes to an hour a day ( I also did weights). It did make me feel good but I did not lose more weight (in fact I gained) and did not change my waist measurement (I am 5'8"+ and around 140 pounds). I started Pilates 3-6 days per week 20-40 minute work outs and withing 6 weeks I'd lost 1.5" off my waist. I think this is fairly common.

I still do the Pilates at least 3 days a week, stair stepper 20 minutes 3 times a week, walk and do some weights.

There is a lady who comes to my gym she exercises far longer than I (stepper machine for an hour! and weights) but her body looks bad. She says she has been doing this for 2 years. I think exercise is really healthy but what you eat counts for losing weight. Many short exercise periods are better for weight loss (huge Scandanavian study) because your metabolism stays up for the same period after exercising whether you kept your heart rate up an hour or 9 minutes.