Dance yourself skinny

Recently, my sister came to visit me here in Beijing. Her vacation became my vacation, and on vacations, I always eat whatever I want. I always promise myself that after the week or two of shameless french-fry consumption, I’ll jump right back on the healthy horse. Only thing is that my sister was here for almost 3 weeks, and after forgetting about the rules for so long, I’ve found it really hard to get back into my old routine.

Even though we didn’t obey many diet rules, we did manage to get some exercise in. I swear, I’ve never walked as much in my life as I did in those weeks. But we also climbed the Great Wall (my legs were numb afterwards) and we went to a dance class to learn the Charleston. I didn’t think it would be so physically demanding, but I really worked up a sweat doing those kicks and dips. And the best part was that it wasn’t as hard as doing regular exercise because it was so much fun.

Here are a few ideas for exercise when you don’t feel like exercising:

1. Go dancing – From ballet to hip-hop, dancing works every muscle in your body while you have fun.

2. Play a sport – We “play” sports because they are so much fun. Dust off your tennis racket and hit the court!

3. Go shopping – Visit a fitness store for some new tennis, and try them out afterwards. And there’s no harm in picking up a pair of heels while you’re at it.

4. Play Wii sports games – I don’t own a Wii, but I’ve tried it. Before you even know it, you’ll spend an hour boxing, playing tennis, or doing one of the other myriad sports you can play with Wii.

5. Hula-hoop – You can tone your abs and raise your heart rate by hula-hooping.

6. Think outside of the box – There are so many other things that you can do that will work you out in a fun way. Walking your dog, riding a bike, going canoeing, playing laser tag – all of these are considered exercise. So before you write off a day as being exercise-free, take a look at what you can do to make your routine interesting.

Live beautiful everyone!