Thanks for your help -- sorry it's been a while since I last posted. I began the diet this week. I've made it through 1 up day and 1 down day. So far so good. I even excercised an hour on my down day and didn't feel bad. I got hungry in the evening but I had tea and it filled my belly so I could sleep. I'm excited to see where this goes.



Thanks again!

I've been following this thread--it looks very interesting. I am considering doing this. I've been exercising regularly but my eating has been dismal.



One thing I'm worried about is if I only consume 500 calories (which is what the website recommends) on my down day and work out I may have a total wipe out. I try to work out an hour a day 6 days a week. Do you guys work out? How are your down days? Are you able to perform? How do you feel? Or do you just take down days off from exercise?



Thanks! Keep up the great work.

Yeah, it's hard. When it's cold out, it's just so hard to leave the house. My only solution right now is no excuses. But of course, I'm human and will come up with them. I'm fortunate that I can go do my work out anytime of the day. So, if it is just too hard, I'll wait until mid-morning or afternoon.

I agree Sherri. I aim to drink 8 pints of water a day. It helps flush too much salt from your diet and keep your tummy feeling full.

Yeah! 60 minutes on the treadmill.

About 3 years ago I did a couch to running 30 minutes straight program I found on runnersworld.com. I lost quite a bit of weight but then quit running...so here I am again.



My advice:



1. Start small; break it into bite sized chunks.

The program I did had me run 2 minutes and walk 4, 5 times to total 30 minutes 4 days the first week. The next week they increased it to 3 minutes and 3 minutes. By doing it this way I felt it was accomplishable. I couldn't even fathom running for 15 minutes straight when I started. At the end of 10 weeks I ran for 30 minutes--I felt like an athlete for the first time in my life.



2. Keep visible track of your progress.

Use this site or I like to use gold stars or smiley faces on my calendar. What can I say I'm easy to amuse.



3. Don't forget to drink a lot of water.

Obvious but it really helps keep you from feeling totally fatigued.



4. Read up on good form.

I got terrible shin splits when I started it turned out I was running on the balls of my feet instead of my whole foot. Read runner's world or something and make corrections to your form based on any unusual pains you get.



Good luck!

Hey Frank. Thanks--looks like traneo is a pretty neat tool.

I've only been dancing for about 8 months. I usually only dance during class but I'm trying to work on more outside on my own drills. I have a rhythm dvd that has some shimmy drills that are killer. Jill your routine looks great I may try something based on your drills.