Losing Weight Doing the Cupid Shuffle

Loosing ten to fifteen pounds of a winter coat seems to be standard for me annually. This year I was determined to get into a bikini and look fabulous. I joined a few websites and started working out at the gym in my apartment complex. It became too difficult to workout for an hour out of my house, when I have four kids in my house. So I was on the search to find something simple that I could do for a few minutes at a time at home.

The Cupid Shuffle

I have to say that the first time I was dragged onto the dance floor to to this dance, I was a little confused because I couldn't hear the music well, but I picked it up. Then at my daughter's birthday party the DJ played it several times and I watched the teenagers participate. I decided to learn how to do it one day because frankly I was bored. It took me a few minutes and that was it. I was dancing and looked good doing it. The line dance was so fun my kids would jump in here and there.

The Plan

My intentions were not to loose weight dancing but it was something I loved and it was fun! Once I could do the Cupid Shuffle several times in a row, I decided to make it a little more difficult. I got leg weights and hand weights for jogging to build a little muscle while I danced. It was harder. I also crossed my legs more and lifted them higher when the music told me to "kick." I did this for an hour a day combined and also stuck with a customized healthy diet on sparkpeople.com.

The Results

Surprisingly, I was able to see results in just a week. I've never been big on scales, so I decided to measure my body parts to see progress. I lost 3 inches off of my waist, 3 inches from my hips, 1 inch from each arm and 1 from each thigh in just 3 weeks. My goal was half way met in half the time I thought it would take. I looked up line dancing and noticed that it burned twice as many calories that working out on the treadmill and other ellipticals at the gym. I guess that explains the major improvement.

The Downside

I got really tired of my family members rolling their eyes that the song was playing over and over. This is the only downside. There are other line dances that I tried to learn but none of them were as easy or made all of my muscles work in sync. So now I try to do it with the music low and/or when they are asleep.