Where's the beef? Oh! There it is! Me in my graduation picture!

Graduation is just around the corner and it got me thinking about my ol’ college days.  Those days when I put on a lovely 30 pounds.  Yip, I was one of the statistics.  I didn’t realise how much I weighed until I saw a picture of me in my gown, holding my “I-can’t-believe-I-made-it” college diploma, with my mom and dad on either side.  I looked like a big pumpkin in a black gown.  I sat staring at the picture in horror thinking, “Man! I look gross!”

I wasn’t sure how to get that much weight off. I’d never been that overweight in my life.  So, I did a bit of shopping around and found Denise Austin’s “21 Jump Start” book.  I liked that it had success stories in it, but more importantly there were daily readings of Denise sharing her own story.  And perhaps even better than that - there were loads of recipes, some of which I’ve used for the past 15 years!

I peeled off a little over 30 pounds using the “21 Jump Start” book.  So!  Thinking about May - graduation month or June if you’re on a weird schedule, I thought I’d give you the heads up on the Denise Austin work out book that really does produce the results you want.

Here’s the layout:

1.  Success story.
2.  Daily reading
3.  Positive thought for the day (very very helpful!)
4.  Days menu that also includes eating tips of the day & page numbers to the recipes.
5.  You’re activity plan for the day, along with fitness tips of the day.

Workouts are broken into days of the week.  You alternate between aerobics and strength training.  Each exercise for a particular strength training day is illustrated with pictures and the details on how each is to be performed.

At the end of 21 days, if you’ve honestly applied yourself - you’ve got your confidence back, are thinking more positive and accomplishing things you’ve been putting off or taken steps toward doing things you thought you could ever do.  It’s a brilliant book.

One last thing, keeping in mind that Denise is not only a wife, but a mother and career woman.  She basically burns the candle at both ends, so your workouts are 30 minutes at best.  She has an entire chapter called, “In-a-Hurry Exercises” - exercises you can do while getting ready in the bathroom, kitchen, at your desk at work, in the car, and in line at the grocery store, etc.  

Another chapter focuses on balancing family, work and exercise.  There’s tips on eating out, how to build a fitness plan, tips on dealing with each body part from head to toe, and more.   
 If you're looking to drop some weight and have fun doing it, you definitely want to pick up this book.