Just Sweat Dream Team Update #JDDreamTeam

I can hardly believe it has been a whole month since our last little video update!  We have been dancing away and loving {almost} every minute.  We've been averaging 45 minutes a day, 5 days a week.  That's more than either of us has worked out in a really long time.  Don't be fooled.  The first couple of weeks we were barely making it through 6 songs -- a little less than 30 minutes if you subtract the time we spent choosing songs in between dances.  We have both noticed a significant improvement in our stamina over the past few weeks!  Here's our latest video diary:

We discovered the Speed Shuffle option on Just Dance 3 and that has become our favorite way to workout.  The game chooses your songs for you so you never really stop moving, which is nice.  Also, you don't have to do the whole dance for any song -- just a part of each one.  That's great because Brent and I each have dances we love and dances we hate, so when a non-fave pops up in the shuffle we can just grin and bear it for a minute or two.

A few of things we are LOVING about using Just Dance for our work outs:

1. It's a really good workout.  We sweat.  A lot!!  
2. We actually look forward to doing it most days.  It's really fun!  Brent and I ham it up together and laugh.  A lot.  In my mind I look all awesome and professional doing all the dances.  Like, I don't think I can dance, I KNOW it.  But if I look anything like Brent does in action, and I'm sure I probably do, it's ridiculous.  Good thing that doesn't bother us. . .
3. Our kids enjoy it, too.  Most days Brent and I will dance together in the evening and the kids will join us for a song here or there. That's a good time, but even when they don't participate they find our dancing quite entertaining. One morning I was working out on my own and the kids were sitting around reading or playing on the computer, mostly ignoring me.  I was gettin' my groove on when I heard Dylan say, "Hey guys, you've got to look at this.  This is hilarious!"  Thinking he's talking about a YouTube video or something, I turned around to see what was soooooo hilarious.  Turns out he was talking about me.  He wanted the other kids to stop and take note of how HILARIOUS I looked dancing.  Whatever!  Haters gonna' hate.

A few things WE could work on:

1. Sweating.  I hate to sweat.  A lot!!
2. So many of the dances are "too girly".  This is obviously Brent's complaint, not mine.  He would love for there to be more men featured in the dances.  I actuall think it's pretty evenly divided between men and women dancers in the game and that his real issue is his discomfort with dancing in general.  He should get over it.  The kids and I get a kick out of watching him shake what his mama gave him.
3. I need some variety!!!  I'm a little bored with the song choices we have.  That is easily solved by picking up any of the other versions of the game on the market or by getting our wi-fi working so we could download some new songs.  I'm going to get right on that one.

And a QUESTION: 

Is there a Speed Shuffle option on any of the games other than Just Dance 3?!  That's why we're so tired of the songs -- because that's really the only one we use.  I would love to see Speed Shuffle on other versions of Just Dance. It may well be there and I'm just not finding it.  If that's the case, help a girl out, OK?

As far as weight loss goes, we're each down about 5 pounds.  That's not exactly where we wanted to be at this point, but we are encouraged by our increased stamina.  We both also feel better in general.  I'm not so tired all the time, which is worth as much as any weight loss in my book!  It feels really good to have re-established the habit of working out regularly.  That was a major obstacle for us to overcome.   

In the next few weeks, we plan to make some changes in the way we eat to try to ramp up the weight loss.  I'm going to bite the bullet and give up my beloved Coke.  We're also going to cut out the fast food and the after-dinner snacking.  Hopefully that will get us on the right track to a healthier future.  

I just feel a need to do everything in moderation.  Baby steps here.  We're trying to make a long-term lifestyle change, not just crash diet for significant {but unsustainable} short-term weight loss.  I'm no expert on this subject, obviously, so I'd love to hear what you think!  Is is better to give up everything cold-turkey, or to ease our way into the change that we'd like to see?  What has worked for you?

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading about our health goals!  Check out all the other Just Sweat Dream Team Members on our group Pinterest board.