Dancing the Day Away

Dancing has always been something I've always wanted to do, but no one seemed to believe I could do. (Hahaha. I'm not kidding! I used to always get the "Yeeeaaaah. Suuuureeee." look whenever I'd tell them this story.) I used to do it as a kid; summer vacations in Villamor were all about dancing and performing. Three summers worth of ballroom dancing did it for me, I was bitten by the dancing bug.

But then I gained lots of weight. Yada, yada yada. You know the story. It was one of those things I stopped doing because one, I couldn't physically do it anymore, and two, I got conscious all of a sudden. Blame it on puberty, I guess. Puberty coupled with weight gain.. Yeah. I stopped.

So when my friend Viva asked me if I wanted to try out Pole Dancing, of course I said yes. :)

But that's not what happened.

We couldn't really find the right schedule for a Pole Dancing class, so we ended up spending the day at Movement Dance Studios, in Ortigas. For Php 600, you can spend the day there and join all the classes they had for the day. We tried out Zumba, Diva Hiphop and Vegas Striptease... all in three hours. Yes, three dance classes with no rest in between. Hahaha. We're crazy.

With Russel, an old officemate who turned out to be our Diva Hiphop instructor

After our marathon dance classes, with Kate and Viva

I had previously tried out Zumba with the 30 minute circuit training at Curves Serendra. That was Zumba with a circuit, so I didn't really get to feel what Zumba was really about. The class felt very reminiscent of the Body Jam classes I do at Fitness First, but with a Latin twist.

Diva Hiphop was more to my liking, and that's not just because the instructor turned out to be one of my friends. Hahaha. It wasn't your typical hiphop class -- it was more of a Beyonce, Kesha and Nicki Minaj inspired dance class, with a lot of hairography and flirty steps.

Vegas Striptease was definitely a guilty pleasure. Where else can you dance to "Careless Whisper" with a straight face? Yeah. I think you get what I mean. The steps were definitely racy and sexy, with lots of hip movements that got my hips aching now. Whereas the two other dance classes were more of cardio, Vegas Striptease was more for toning. Lots of lunges, squats and sucking in of the abs for the core.

They also have ballet, hiphop, belly dancing and sexy jazz classes, which I want to try out next. Sexy jazz is supposed to be just like the dances they do in the movie "Burlesque." Of course, Pole Dancing is still something I'd like to try. :)


Movement Dance Studios
28F Unionbank Plaza, Meralco Ave., Ortigas Center, Pasig
http://movementdancestudios.com

On Getting Back on Track

It's been around 5 months since the show the changed my life ended, and I must say it was not an easy road from there. Fitness in general is something that I've always struggled with, as I'm sure most people experience as well. I can't even begin to describe how tempting the real world is again, when it comes to food, and most especially lifestyle. It's very easy to get sidetracked, and sad to say, it sort of happened to me in the past 5 months, especially with the things I had to go through emotionally.

That being said, well, I'm happy to say that I'm back on track. Yay! I've started with a new diet, keeping in mind the things I've learned inside the Biggest Loser Camp with the help of our resident nutritionist, Ms. Nadine Tengco. My goal now is to normalize my diet, and to always choose the healthier option. Lately I've been cooking my own food at home, and really trying to avoid the really bad stuff. :)

In terms of workout, now that things have gone back to normal, it has been more of a steady thing for me. I go to Fitness First almost daily, and I do crossfit with WOD Nation. I also try out new workouts which I promise to write about in succeeding entries. :) Running is also something that I do with my BL friends whenever I can.

Now that the show's over, I guess the biggest challenge is really how to bring the new me into the old lifestyle. How do I continue to diet when I start working? How would I find time to workout when I start being busy again? These are the things that I've been trying to transition to now.

I've always said that I never wanted to be skinny. That's really just not me. I just want to be a healthier person, someone will never say no to a challenge, and someone strong enough to do the things I never used to be able to do at 235 lbs. :)