Zumba is a great way to lose weight because it’s fun! Many forms of exercise can be boring or hard work but dancing is enjoyable and Zumba is especially fun because you are listening and dancing to happy Latin music
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Sign up for a class or buy DVDs to try it at home
Some people enjoy going to classes, and others like doing it at home. Going to a class can be more sociable but if you are more shy and don’t want other people to see you dance then just get a DVD. You’ll also save yourself some money and travel time getting to the class.
Get yourself some proper Zumba shoes
It’s important to get some proper shoes for Zumba because ordinary sneakers can damage your knees. This is because they often have a very good grip on them which is exactly what you don’t need for Zumba. A good grip means that your feet stick to the floor and you can’t easily move them from side to side. If your feet are stuck in one position and your legs are heading in another direction your knees are not going to like it and are likely to get damaged.
Set goals
Before achieving something you need to decide what you want to achieve. It may be either
- Having fun
- Aiming to a certain amount of weight.
Measure your stats
To see how you’re doing you obviously need to see where you’re starting from so
- Weigh yourself
- Take your waist measurement
- Take some photos of how you look
Decide on a reward
When you achieve what you’ve been aiming for give yourself a reward of some kind. But make sure this isn’t a food reward! There’s not much point losing lots of weight and then putting it all back on again with the reward you give yourself. Some new clothes might be a better idea.
Decide when you are going to do Zumba
If you are going to a class then obviously the schedule will be fixed for you. But even if you are doing it at home it’s best to choose a particular time to do the class. It’s more difficult to have this discipline at home but if you put it in your calendar you can do it. You can do a few classes or sessions every week if you like.
Healthy eating
Doing Zumba will help you lose weight but equally important is what you eat. There’s not much point doing lots of exercise and losing weight if you then put it all by eating far more. So try and eat healthily by cutting done on fast foods and unhealthy foods and eating plenty of fruit, vegetables and meat.
Make your plan visible
Print out your Zumba plan and print it out so that you can see it all the time. Give yourself a sticker or tick for whenever you complete a workout. You can thus see that you are making progress and it will help keep you motivated.
- Evaluate your progress every month
- Check your weight and waist size
- Take more photos
Evaluate
If you aren’t losing enough weight look at what you can do to change that. You could either do more Zumba or you could try and eat less.
- Set new targets
- Decide how much weight you want to try and lose in the following month