I ordered the O! set (intro DVDs, book, and commuter CD). My husband is not too happy about it, but he's not trying to stop me either (I believe his exact words were something like, "It's a bunch of crap, but if you really want to...") It seems one of my best motivators is either to be able to say "I told you so" or to keep someone from being able to say it to me, so hopefully that will keep me going.
When it does come, I only have one real goal, but it's not set in stone (at leastt 6 O!'s a week). I can't really even come up with a goal weight. The last time I was what I would call thin was in eighth grade. I was between 175-180, which most charts would say is too much for my height (5'10 at the time, 6' now), but if you looked at the pictures, you would see what I mean. Making things more complicated is that at the time, I was rather flat-chested, and that's definitely not the case now. How can I come up with a realistic goal weight?

I'm glad you decided to order the program, Tesca. I hope you will soon be able to say "I told you so!".

I wouldn't worry about trying to set a goal weight at this point. It's better to start out with small goals to start with. For example, you might want to try and lose 5 pounds in the first month or 6 weeks. Or maybe you want to try taking things a week at a time in changing your eating habits...such as cutting out sodas or drinking more water.

It's important not to overwhelm yourself by setting big goals at the beginning. Take "baby steps" so that you don't set yourself up for failure.

Just my two cents!

Tesca I would like to encourage you with this system of breathing and moving..it is wonderful! Don't worry about what your husband says right now, when he sees how much better you feel and how happy you are he will know better. If for no other reason, and there are plenty of good reasons, I do Oxycise! to feel my best. These breaths are as normal to me as breathing now!

As far as a goal weight I would like you to consider learning the Oxycise! system and eliminating white flour and sugar from your diet. That is enough for now. Too many changes overwhelm us so pick what you can handle and just work on that. A goal 'number' is fine but right now what is important is one day at a time not the end result.

Join us daily on the Daily Accountability board , Determined to Lose (D2L) and we will keep you company as we all do our Oxycise! and plan for better stronger futures!

(Your husband will come around just give him time, mine has)

Ciao ciao and welcome!

Nancy

Hi Tesca,
I'm Julie, and I work with Jill Johnson. Congratulations for beginning Oxycise!

Your husband may be interested in reading some emails we have received from athletes who have benefited from Oxycise! (And they were already in great shape before they began)

See http://www.oxycise.com/FAQ/athletes.htm

We also have some great testimonials from male customers at http://www.oxycise.com/FAQ/menonly.htm

Ideal body weight will be different for everyone, even people of the same height. This is largely due to differences in body composition -- how much muscle you have on your body and the size and mass of your skeletal frame. An individual with greater muscle mass (a body builder, for example) will naturally weigh more than someone the same height with less muscle.

Jill Johnson encourages people to find out their body fat percentage before beginning Oxycise! and then re-test at 6-8 weeks. Most gyms and health clubs have calipers or professional electronic gauges used to measure body fat percentage. If you can get a body fat percentage test done it will give you a much better idea of "where you stand" weight-wise, than the scale alone. Jill's book "Chart Your Success" gives desirable ranges for women of different ages. She also has Height and Weight Charts with ranges allowing for small/medium and large skeletal frame size, based on wrist and elbow measurements.

If you can find your body fat percentage and send me your age, I will be happy to tell you what category you are in -- Poor, Fair, Good or Excellent. (email julie@oxycise.com)

Some women are surprised to find that as they grow older their body fat percentage has increased--even though their weight has stayed the same! This is normal, since we begin losing muscle mass about age 35. (About 1/2 pound per year, on average). So our bodies will automatically tend to get fatter and less muscled as we age. Exercise and strength training can help combat this, because the more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns up, even as you rest or sleep. The opposite is also true: If you lose muscle mass through "starvation" dieting or simply aging, you will GAIN excess fat by eating the same number of calories you used to eat.

So working and strengthening muscles is one of the main goals in acheiving permanent weight loss.

Keep us posted on your Oxycise! results.

Best Wishes,
Julie
Oxycise! Staff

Oh, I'm not too worried about my husband...he's extremely skeptical about a lot of things. All the same, I'll wait till I have some personal changes until I spring the testimonials on him. We both try not to put too much stock in pure testimonials (too hard to judge..."feeling better" and "looking better" can mean a lot of things), but numbers are more convincing. Therefore, if I have some results and records kept that I can show him, he's more likely to believe that. And if I don't...well, I don't.
(Also, he's quite a bit bigger and much stronger than me, and he likes to pick me up for no reason...if I somehow become easier to swing around, he'll probably notice.)