Want to hear something amazing?!
I lost all 40 pounds without doing cardio!
Are you like me? Do you dislike cardio? I HATE it. I hate running on the treadmill, I hate the elliptical, I hate everything about cardio. Not entirely sure why, I just do.
Don’t get me wrong, I totally get that some people enjoy running and don’t feel the same way I do about cardio… *cough psychopaths cough*… nah, I’m just kidding. To each their own! I wish I enjoyed it! But I had to find an alternative so that I could actually enjoy working out.
The truth is, if you’re miserable going to the gym and it feels like a chore to you, you will NOT stick with it in the long run.
Just like eating is a lifestyle, so is exercising. You need to find a medium of movement that you actually enjoy. If you have a negative connotation about the type of exercise you’re currently doing, you should think about finding something else to replace/supplement it!
I was lucky enough to stumble upon the form of exercise that I fell in love with: barre classes. Specifically, Pure Barre.
Barre is the only source of exercise I have been doing since I started trying to lose weight!
This is what surprises most people about my weight loss story. They assume I hit the gym for hours most days during the week and that I run on the treadmill/do other forms of cardio.
I found that the perfect recipe for me to lose weight and keep it off was:
Intermittent Fasting + Pure Barre
So you may be thinking, “what is barre?”, “is it only for dancers?”, “I’m not flexible/strong, I could never do it!” The best thing about barre is that anyone of any age and strength CAN do it!
I explain barre more in depth here, check it out if you’re interested!
But for now, let me tell you about how often I exercise.
I used to have a gym membership – I went about 3 times/week for about an hour. When I went, I would jog on the treadmill and I absolutely dreaded every second of it. It would be so hard to motivate myself to get in my car and go to the gym. I would count down the seconds until my workout was over. I knew I had to cancel the gym membership and start looking for alternative ways to get moving. I had to decide what I liked and what I didn’t like about exercising.
The first step in finding out the best type of exercise for you is to determine which setting you prefer: exercising alone or in a group setting.
I realized that I push myself harder when there are other people in the room working out with me and there’s an instructor watching me. The energy of the other people in the room is contagious! I also love the social aspect of it – finding friends through exercise is much more fun than I ever anticipated (especially since I’m an introvert)! Suddenly, exercising didn’t feel like a chore, but more of a social aspect of my life which also benefits my health and keeps me working towards my weight goal.
After realizing how much I loved going to barre class, I started to go almost every single day. I never wanted to skip a day! It was crazy. I actually looked forward to going and working out. So that leads me to how much I work out currently – I go to Pure Barre 5-6 times a week. But I don’t want those numbers to scare you. When I first started, I went about 4 times a week for a year. If you can’t commit that many days a week to exercising, not to worry! Most people who go to my studio attend 3-4 classes per week and still see outstanding results in their body!
If you can allocate a few days a week to an exercise that you actually like, I promise that you will view exercising/losing weight as a positive experience rather than a dreadful chore that just has to be done. All it takes is experimenting with different forms of exercise and movement. Go try a beginner ballet class, yoga, cycling, barre, Zumba – the possibilities are ENDLESS! Get out there and get moving!