Know what I've realized this past week? I am ridiculously... like absolutely absurdly out of shape. I got winded doing a small walk-in-place for less than a minute. That's BAD, soooo bad. It's made me realize how much I need to get myself moving. And this recent photo of me that Baby Bee took didn't help. I honestly feel like I look like Bigfoot in it and I've just been discovered by the human kind. And I don't mean that to disrespect myself or put myself down, it just honestly looks that way to me. And it doesn't make me feel good.
Fortunately for me, though that photo was pretty recent, I did lose a few pounds over the summer. It was about 8 lbs. Hopefully you can tell. And I aim to lose more. The goal is to go into the school as little as possible and lose weight all year long (hopefully about a pound and a half per week), then show up towards the end of the year and see how many people walk past without noticing me :) It will be a fun experiment if I'm successful with the execution of it.
One of my tools in implementing that weight loss will be my new ProBody Pilates Mini Exercise Ball. It's a small inflatable ball, much like a playground ball. It's lightweight, and perfectly sized to be graspable by one hand or two. And as I was looking up exercise videos, I noticed that it was being held by one hand. I thought, 'There's no way, my hands would be way too small'. But then I got it...
The first thing that I noticed when I took it out to blow it up is that the material it is made of is grippy. It's almost tacky. So it really doesn't matter much if your hands are on the small side, you'll be fine. It's technically a soft PVC material, one that's free of DEHP, DBP, BBP, DINP, DIDP, and DNOP. It's made to be burst resistant and has a money back + new ball guarantee if it bursts within the first 90 days.
I chose the silver color, which I like quite well. It's been bouncing around the house (no pun intended) for a week or so now and seems to be as clean as the day that I got it, so despite being "tacky" it doesn't collect hair or dust very much. Blue is also an option. It's meant to be used for Pilates, and for those interested in using it for that, I will leave a link below to a great exercise video. I will be using it for that once I actually have some core strength to draw from. Until then, I'm using the ball for this cardio workout below. See! It's versatile!
I found it a pretty useful tool. I only managed to get through about 2 minutes of the workout the first time through it, but it definitely helped me to keep the proper form and follow through on the movements. I was left exhausted in the legs and feeling kind of like this:
The one drawback I thought was blowing the ball up. They do warn that it won't be fun. And it wasn't. I actually had to have my daughter do it and even then, as you can see, it's slack. It's a pain because when you get it filled, the air comes out so quickly and by the time you get the plug in, it's not full anymore. Maybe some day I will get it full. Regardless, I would definitely recommend this ball because of the anti-burst guarantee, the grippy texture, and the awesome size. I'm happy to have it and plan to use it a lot! Do you exercise often? Why or why not? To learn more, visit ProBody Pilates on Facebook, and on their website.
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