Candice's Plan To Be Skinny

In keeping with my New Years Resolution to lose the pounds that hurt my feelings I have put together a plan. It's very new for me, I have NEVER been one to restrict my diet. Unless you count staying away from soft cheese and lunch meat while I'm pregnant. However my scale said I needed to reevaluate my weight loss regime. So here it is, Candice's Plan To Be Skinny:

Low Carb Diet
Following my awesome brother's lead I'm cutting back on my carbs. It's been about a week now and the only thing that's really that hard for me is cereal. MAN I LOVE my cereal, but I'm still going strong. I do allow myself a bowl of Special K Red Berries now and then.


Water Aerobics
My awesome mom and I have started our own personal Water Aerobics Workout. She has the good fortune to live in a community with an indoor pool so we've taken advantage of it. We spent some time online and made a list of exercises we could do and just went for it. In case you're looking for some Water Aerobics Exercises here are a few that are on our list:

Wall Torso Twist

In shallow water, stand next to the wall of the pool with your back resting against it. Extend your arms out to your side and rest them on the ledge. Support your body weight with your arms and slowly lift your feet off the floor to extend your legs out in front of your hips. Press your lower back into the wall by engaging your core and position your legs side by side. Keep your legs parallel to the floor as you twist your torso to the right, allowing your legs to follow. Pause and return to the starting position before continuing on to your left side.

Knee Tucks

Stand in chest-height water. Squat down to bring your shoulders to the water line. Extend your arms out to the side at shoulder height. Tighten your abdominals by contracting your core muscles. Keep your knees bent and pressed together as you powerfully draw your knees up toward your chest. Quickly lower your feet back down with control, making sure not to let your feet slam into the floor.

Wave Maker

Targets: Back, abs, butt, and legs

• Facing pool wall in chest-deep water, hold on to edge of pool deck with left hand and place right palm, fingers pointing down, against wall just below water line for stability.
• Extend legs behind you at water level with both feet and knees together, then kick like a dolphin: Initiate the motion with abs and hips and transfer it through thighs to knees and finally to feet. Kick as hard and as fast as you can for 30 seconds, trying to make the biggest waves possible.

Pike Scull

Targets: Abs, hips, and arms

• Standing in shallow end of pool, simultaneously sit back into water, treading with hands by sides, and lift both legs together so that you fold at the hips (like a jackknife) and your body forms a wide V, with head and toes just above surface.
• Maintaining V position, move cupped hands in small circles by hips to tread water and propel yourself forward (sculling) down length of pool for 30 seconds.

MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal is a great resource for anyone who is looking for some help in the struggle against laziness and deliciously fattening food. They have a great database full of almost every food/meal you can think of, complete with all the stats on calories, protein, sugar and everything else. You put in what your current weight is, what you hope your weight will turn into, and your height and it gives you an estimation of what your daily calorie intake should be.
There's also an exercise section (complete with another awesome database of exercises and how many calories they burn) that keeps track of your daily or weekly efforts. It also factors into your food diary by subtracting the calories your worked off! There are a lot of other great features like message boards and healthy recipes, and the best part is that it's all free! So give it a try!

I'd love some tips on what more I could be doing, or what I could be doing better!