Hi Kay, I'm so glad you "came over."
As for the "diet", I just posted a really long post about how I eat under the "weight loss check-in week of 9/16" post so if you visit our weight loss check-in you can read it there. And feel free to join it as well, I can't tell you how many times knowing I have to check-in with those guys has helped me through a week of potentially bad eating! They are great motivators, and when you don't lose, they pick you right up, dust you off and get you ready to face another week.
Now, on to spending your money
My first Cathe as I said at VF was her MIS (Maximum Intensity Strength) video which is a weight training workout. I don't know if you've already got the eqipment you'd need for it (barbell, various dumbbells, step) but if so, it is a great into to Cathe's form of weight training and you can make the workout as heavy or light as you need to by using either lighter or heavier weight.
Another way to intoduce yourself to Cathe would be her BodyMax video, which is 90 min in length(30 min cardio, followed by 60 min of weight work). An excellent bargain for the $.
If do-able, the CrossTrain Xpress Series is awesome! You get a package of 6 videos, 5 of the videos have 30 min of cardio followed by weight training for a specific body part, and the 6th video is a lower body/ab workout. They were my intro to Cathe's cardio style, and at my weight then, 30 minutes of "Cathe style" was probably all I could take anyway!
But each workout is 60 minutes or less and you get both cardio and weights.
If you want cardio only, then I'd suggest starting with her earlier cardio workouts as I've heard from many here on the forum that it gives you a chance to really learn Cathe's choreography and terminology. The earlier step workouts are listed on her homepage, but they'd be the ones like "Step Heat," "Step Jam," etc. And a cardio MUST is Cathe's Imax (Interval Max)!
The key to Cathe is modification! She'll tell you so herself! She is very do-able for everyone, just don't beat yourself up, and take it slowly and modify wherever you need to.
I couldn't even DO jumping jacks until I got down to 200lbs, before that, it was heel jacks. And I have many an "ugly version" of a Cathe move I created in order to keep moving and keep pace. There are Cathe moves I am "just" getting after months of owning the video and doing the video!
And I just remind myself of my father's advice to me growing up, "never mind slow progress, it's results that count!"
So read over some video descriptions, and before buying you can post questions about the videos you're interested in and others here can give you feedback on them. But I'm telling you, not only am I "choreography challenged", but if my "never exercised a day before in my life," 38 year old, 300+lbs self could do Cathe, ANYBODY can do Cathe!
Just modify and make it work for you until one day you're doing the video like Cathe and the crew! And the weight WILL come off. I tell you, I think I scared about 50lbs off just from previewing her tapes alone!
Happy reading, and know now that Cathe videos are like potato chips, you can't have just 1!
Donna
p.s. and don't forget to check out our weight loss check-in.
