My Review of Kathy Smith's Secrets of a Great Body Upper Body Workout

I need to clarify that while Kathy has been around for decades, I am offering a review from the view of a 44-year-old Fat woman today.

I Find that many workout videos are overly-challenging for the bigger amongst us in that they aren't taking into consideration our bellies and the state of our endurance or strength.  Either that, or I'm just a wimp, but the thing is, if there were more encouraging workouts out there for Fat Folks, Fewer of us would throw in that towel, so to speak.

Having explained where I'm coming from, and having dug out my old VHS collection of Fitness tapes (Thank God I still have a working VHS player! Knock-knock.), I revisited Kathy and this particular workout today.

I have to rate this a 9 out of 10, with 10 being the highest.

Very minimal "equipment" was required, save a few household items, as shown below.  The towel is for a stretch, the cushion to lie upon for a Few moves, and the chair to sit upon and lean upon.  The hand weights are all you would need to buy if you don't have any.

It was easy for me to do all of the exercises she shares in this video.  (I only had to modify the crunch section due to my lower back.)

I could do all of the reps for all exercises except for the push ups.  I made it through all 12 of the first set of push ups, but only 3 of the second set.  You can see improvement in the number you can do with each subsequent run through as your strength increases.

She very clearly explains each and every exercise stressing you to Focus on the muscle group being targeted.

Great pace and around half an hour long.

YOU get to choose how much weight you wish to use and therefore get to determine that awful level of soreness that stops many in their tracks.  I like to build up strength slowly with a small burn when first starting any routine versus going all out and being unable to move for days.

I used 2- and 3-pound hand weights and still felt a burn.  Heck, my arms burned after her arm warm-up with the weight of my own arms.  lol

There were only two exercises I Found myself wishing she had explained a modification for.  They were both exercises that required you to sit as shown in the image below--with your chest in your lap.  The problem for us Fat Folks is that our bellies don't allow for that.  I just bent as much as I could with my legs not together as they do in the video (spread 'em) and tried to maintain my Focus on the muscles being worked.  That being a complaint, I still did it with this big ol' belly, and I bet you can too.

No offense meant to Kathy by asking earlier "Do you remember Kathy?" because she is still apparently active in the industry, and it's my bad that I didn't know that.

If you are interested in this workout, here you go via this link for a 26% off sale at $9.49 for a 3-DVD set (I paid way more than that for each VHS tape I have back in the '90s!).

I'll do and review the lower body workout tomorrow, but I know nothing about the third DVD they offer in this set shown at the link provided above.

I am in no way affiliated with Kathy Smith or the company link I provided for the cheapest price I could find.  I'm just offering an honest opinion of my personal experience from the perspective of a Fat girl in her Forties! ;)

Fierce Friday DIY Facial Review - 1/31/14

Wellll......I tried this skin-tightening egg white, mashed avocado, and honey recipe for a DIY facial tonight.  It sort of burned my skin, but I left it on for 20 minutes anyway.

Firstly, I don't think the mixture was quite right.  Maybe because I had extra-large eggs, but I didn't have any "liquid" to drain off.  It mixed rather well, but was very runny and not mask-like.  I decided to throw it into my Magic Bullet blender because that tends to add a lot of air and sort of whips what you mix with it.  It did blend it wonderfully and whip it wonderfully, but it was thin and not still not very mask-like.  Next time I try it I will add only one egg white and try it to see if it gets more paste-like.

The burn made me panic a tad, and I had to get into the shower to wash it off.  When I wet it with warm water to rinse it, it just slimed around.  Yes, my skin DOES actually FEEL tighter, but I'm not sure if it's a drying effect yet or not.

I put a tweet out to a Hollywood makeup artist, to see if they had any Feedback on the ingredients.  I'll keep ya posted on this one.  (so far, no extra input)

Update:  2/1/14 (the next day)

I came back to tell ya that while I can't see that my skin appears tighter, my pores are smaller!  Not sure if that's what "tightening" meant or not, but I like the way my skin looks today.  My makeup looks particularly smooth, so I'm voting this a must do again! 

(I couldn't tell much of anything last night after my hot shower, as my mirrors were steamed up! lol)

Flavorful Find - 4 Weight Watcher Points for Half the Package

I Found this in the grocery store on sale and decided to give it a try.  I like lentils and this was pretty good.  It's loaded with protein and dietary fiber at 10 grams and 7 grams per serving respectively for only 4 Weight Watcher Points per serving (2 servings per package).

The package says you can use it as a taco topping, in stuffed bell peppers, party dips, meatloaf, serve with flatbreads, toss with noodles, swirl into soup, serve as a side dish, jazz up salads, sprice up rice dishes.

I'm thinking I'll be trying it in some tacos or a taco salad tomorrow.  To heat, you just pop it into the microwave (with the edge torn open) for 90 seconds.