Hi Mscindyj!
Take it one day at a time. Step by step. And if you get off track one day, rather than give up over it, drink a lot of water then next day to help flush it out of your system, eat wisely and give yourself a pep talk to get back on track.
To start:
First three weeks
1) Do three to four cardio workouts per week for 20 to 30 minutes for three weeks to set a foundation for your mind a body. You can do your favorite cardio workouts of mine but also try to do one week of brisk walking for 30 straight minutes and stretch for 5 minutes after the walk.
2) Do two total body strength workouts per week (best to do on a non-cardio day). Try my Power Hour and Muscle Endurance
3) Do one or two stretch workouts per week (you can add these workouts on after your cardio workouts) I have short stretch workouts that are perfect add ons for this. Try Total Body Stretching (offers three different 10 minute stretches) or Stretch Max (offers three different 20 minute stretches.
For the next three weeks lengthen your cardio sessions to 30 to 40 minutes and add in more variety (ie: step, kickboxing, low impact, interval walking). You can keep your strength training program the same.
For the next three weeks after that, you will increase your cardio to 45 to 50 minute sessions and do more variety and begin to add
short amounts of impact here and there to help strengthen your bones (ie: walk 5 minutes run 45 seconds to a minute, etc. or do 4 jumping jacks for ever 12 modifed ones, or put some "lifts" in your step workouts). You can keep your strength training the same but try a new workout to add more weight and a new variety of exercises. Try my Muscle Max DVD.
After that you will have a great foundation to build upon and be ready to handle impact and add variety to your program as you feel comfortable. For example, you can increase your cardio days, lift weights doing split routines vs total body routines, add one high intensity workout per week, etc.
As far as eating....
Eat 5 to 6 small meals per day, eat a healthy variety of foods in their natural, unprocessed state. For example eat an apple instead of apple sauce or apple pie. Eat a mushroom instead of having cream of mushroom soup. Eat a chicken breast vs a chicken salad sandwich or eat 99% lean turkey burger instead of eating fatty ground beef.
Try to select healthy protein sources such as fish, turkey, one egg yolk along with three egg whites, whey protein powder, high protein greek yogurt, tofu, etc.
Eat lots and lots of dark green leafy veggies or broccoli in addition to other veggies, have brown rice instead of white rice, a yam instead of a white potatoe, dense whole grain bread instead of white bread, etc.
Drink about 10 cups of water, enjoy some green tea, limit your fruit juice to 4 ounces a day, and try to limit coffee or diet soda products to one cup or can a day.
Try not to eat withing three hours of going to bed.
I hope this helps you. Good Luck!
Hi cathe
First of all I think that your workout are awesome. I have a few that are my favorites. But I need help I am going to be 52 years old. I work full time and have a hectic schedule. On top of that I'm 200 plus pounds over weight. My stomach is huge. But I really believe that I can do this. My question is how do I get started and stay motivated. Should I eat a special diet? Whatever advise you can offer will be very much appriecated
C
