Fitness Friday – Zaggora HotPants

Hello beauties! Remember hot pants? When I was wearing hot pants in the 70’s I was a teenager and looked good in them–of course I weighed about 110 lbs. Now, I want to tell you about a different kind of hot pants.  P.S.- I had a hat like that too.

HotPants by Zaggora are latest in technology-enhanced clothing. They are fitness wear embedded with Celu-Lite technology, which increases perspiration and calorie burn during exercise.

I was given Flares to try, they are the full length version of HotPants. They look like leggings but are much thicker and the fabric is part neoprene so they do really feel like a wet suit but look like your wearing fitness gear. A woman must have designed Flares because the shape is not straight up and down, but they are made with curves to fit a woman’s body. The pair that I tried also has a very high waist allowing you to sweat that tummy off.

How Do They Work?

Celu-Lite technology uses the heat your body generates to promote the deeper warming of tissue and breakdown of fat cells. It literally puts the ‘hot’ in HotPants. HotPants are also purported to increase energy expenditure by 7% during exercise and 26% in the hour after exercise so you achieve better results.

Can You See Results?

Hells Yeah!  I wore my HotPants the first time to a Zumba class and I sweated by butt off. Not literally—I wish! After the hour workout, walking out to my car the sweat was dripping from the bottom of my pants into my shoes! I wore them for an hour after exercising and when I took them off, I had to wring out my underwear! What amazes me is that when I was working out; my body temperature didn’t feel any hotter than a normal workout. I’ve lost 3 lbs. in two weeks. My friend has been going to the gym with me, doing the same exact classes and hasn’t had the same results. That’s enough to keep me wanting to keep it up. I haven’t changed my diet much (still working on that) so I attribute most of it to the Flares. You can even put the Flares on when doing housework to get a little extra calorie burn.

My History

I am reacquainting myself with exercise after approximately a 10 year hiatus. Ever since I hit menopause, got divorced and moved to a sedentary job, I have steadily gained weight. Only 5-10 lbs. a year but now I find myself a good 30 lbs. overweight. I realize that might not seem like a lot to some people, but I have been thin my entire life and now I’m not. It’s a reality I have a hard time accepting.

I’ve tried Slim Fast (got too hungry), HGCG (ended up fainting from lack of calories) and Weight Watchers (got sick of counting points). The most weight I lost was 6 lbs. I know the reason I wasn’t successful. I dieted but never got up and MOVED!

I have really, really struggled with getting motivated. A few weeks ago I went to visit my daughter. Pictures were taken. What a slap in the head!! My arm looked like a side of beef and my stomach looked like I was 4 months pregnant. That coupled with a super great deal on a local gym gave me the motivation I needed.

My Plan

I’m not on a diet per se, but I am trying to have a good breakfast with protein, a healthy lunch and a salad for dinner. I’ve cut waaaaay back on drinking pop (there were times I was drinking 4 a day) and have been drinking a lot more water. I’ve also cut back on portions and have limited my sugar. I am NOT denying myself—I allow myself to have a treat once every few days, I just make sure it’s a small one.

The biggest and most difficult change for me is getting active. For the past two weeks I have been hitting the gym four times a week. On Mondays and Wednesdays I go to a Water Conditioning class. It’s harder that it sounds—we even use weights in the water but I love it! It’s so much easier on my joints and my arthritic knees. Did you know you can actually sweat in a pool? On Tuesdays I’ve been going to Zumba—another fun class. On Thursdays I’ve been going to a step/interval class but I’m not sure if I will continue with that one—it’s really makes my knees ache.

How I Got Over Myself

When I started taking classes I was self conscious—some of these girls are my daughter’s age and have butts the size of cantaloupes. You know what though? I don’t care! I have three goals I want to accomplish:

• Get healthy
• Improve my flexibility
• Lose weight

My mother ended up in a wheelchair because of her advanced arthritis and I don’t want that to happen to me. I’m not going to allow my lack of motivation to keep me from being active in another 10 years.

Help

Beauties, I’m embarking on this venture myself and I could really use your help. Have a recipe you’d like to share? Got a great exercise that works for you? Does my plan suck? How do you keep motivated? Any advice, tips or motivation you can give will be much appreciated.

I will continue to let you know how the Flares are working for me. In the meantime, take the HotPants challenge at facebook.com/Zaggora.