One year of nearly daily home mat pilates and results

[Anonymous]

52 yo in meno. Always been a long term walker brisk , (over 10 yrs) of 30 min a day, about 6 days a week. Good clean diet for 25 years of whole foods, minimal ultraprocessed foods. I eat balanced nearly everything but minimoze fried foods, white foods (minimal added sugars, minimal white flour). Just a couple snacks a week,.mainly Fri night. I eat balance of veg, protein, carbs, fruit, fats, huge proponent of plain whole milk yogurt, eaten daily. I cook.basic simple foods, heavy emphasis on beans but seafood once a week and beef or poultry once a week. I am lean eith a bmi of 19.5. I eat out or do take out twice a month. With the exception of vanity holiday weight and pregnancies my weight has been stable for past 30 yrs. No.oral.hrt yet but topical estrogen for moisture and to minimize utis. I do work full time and up until a few months ago was in person four days a week with a 30 min commute.

12 months ago I started daily home routine of mat pilates, 25 to 30 minutes a day, about 6 days a week. Weight loss wasn't a goal. I wanted strength and flexibility and more tone. I only did yt,, specifically move with nicole. After 12 months here are my results:

Weight is essentially the same (no problem there).

Increased flexibility, ab core and arm definition, ability to get up off floor etc without hands, much better core and upper body strength. My legs and thighs have always been lean and strong but i attribute that to walking but i do think my legs and backside may look a little improved, not sure. Resting heart rate has dropped five points. I used to have resting hr in the mid 50s. Now I'm high 40s or low 50s. Doctor said resting hr is healthy and fine. I'm not sure why my resting hr went down so much. I am on zero meds but indo take vit D.

The biggest difference is my inches measurements. I only tracked 3 measurements bc I'm simple.

Bust waist and hips 12 months ago was
B 33.25
W 27
H 33.25

Today:
B 32
W 25.75
H 32.25

So down 3.5 inches which for me is quite significant. Just want to recommend. I love home pilates and it goes to show you don't need a gym membership to be fit. Just thought this would be an interesting read for those who are looking to improve overall health.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing! Do you recommend any pilates videos?

[Anonymous]

Amazing! What program did you do?

[Anonymous]

So you’re naturally thin, eat completely healthy and have for decades, walk 30 mins a day and have for decades, added 30 mins of exercise a day, and are even healthier?

[Anonymous]

What program specifically for beginners?

[Anonymous]

OP here. I wouldn't say I'm naturally thin bc in college I quickly gained the standard freshman 15 lbs and was more apple shaped as a young college student.. thanks mainly to the standard college diet of pizza, soda, drinks, junk food. But at the age of 22 upon graduation the weight slowly melted off over a period of a year or so. Like a lot of people starting out I was "poor" after college for a while and didn't eat out much or drink much bc of cost. I always brought a boring lunch to work. I started cooking at home a lot. Not bc I so much wanted to but bc I couldn't afford so much takeout. But I started to feel much healthier as i had cut down on salt sugars and added fats. So by the time I was 24 say, I was a lot healthier in terms of diet, and then years and healthy journey just continued from there. It's a misnomer to think that those who are slender are there bc it is natural. Of course with a couple pregnancies I gained the standard weight and lost that over a period of three months or so.

I Still do bring home lunch when I went into office. I do drink coffee with half and half but I never order those fancy coffee drinks with flavourings and sugars. I don't drink alcohol. I used to drink a little wine on weekends with dh but stopped completely in my mid 40s bc itngave me a headache and affected my sleep. I do like dessert esp at a nice restaurant but eat it only maybe 3 or so times a year. I can't day no to creme Brulee if I'm at Clyde's. Although it is so rich I usually split it with dh, but not always.

I'd recommend Move with Nicole on YouTube. She has multiple Playlists. I started with the beginner Playlist and went from there. Some of her videos are 35 plus minutes but I always stop at 30. Most of her videos are 30 min or less. At first when I started mat pilates I was very uncoordinated and it was very difficult. I've slowly gotten better with form. Although the wonderful thing about pilates is that it is always challenging. Nicole has different levels of pilates.

[Anonymous]

Nice, thanks for sharing! Did you monitor your blood pressure this year for any changes?

[Anonymous]

OP here, blood pressure has always been slightly low. The heart rate at rest is the biggest difference. But I'd imagine that with lower rhr that blood pressure would go down with someone who was perhaps elevated to begin with. Also fasting glucose at my annual blood work is always low, around low 80s. But it's always been in 80s at fast.i monitor resting heart rate more often bc my dh has an arrythmia and tends to measure his heart rate. So whenever he checks his I check mine. That's how I first saw the pattern. Plus when I go to doc etc and they comment on it.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for sharing.

[Anonymous]

I'm happy for you OP!

[Anonymous]

cool

[Anonymous]

Thank you! I love Pilates! When I was starting out, once a week was plenty, but I’m now craving it several times a week and unfortunately my studio is too expensive for me to go that often. I’m going to check out the Move w Nicole YT channel!

Also, I know there are lots of great threads already on this subject, but OP I would love to know your personal favorite go-to weeknight dinner!

[Anonymous]

Thanks OP, pilates with the machines was abysmal for me. Thanks for recommending mat at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you’re naturally thin, eat completely healthy and have for decades, walk 30 mins a day and have for decades, added 30 mins of exercise a day, and are even healthier?

yes, pretty simple huh? No need to make a big deal of it anyone can do this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you! I love Pilates! When I was starting out, once a week was plenty, but I’m now craving it several times a week and unfortunately my studio is too expensive for me to go that often. I’m going to check out the Move w Nicole YT channel!

Also, I know there are lots of great threads already on this subject, but OP I would love to know your personal favorite go-to weeknight dinner!

I use a lot of recipes from this cookbook. Amazon link. I also prepare a lot on weekends with a homemade dressing, a grain (bulgur, farro, etc) and a protein (hardboiled eggs, white beans dressed in olive oil lemon etc). And I make grain bowls for dinner for the week. Scoop of each, grain, salad, roasted veg, lettuce, protein (eggs, chickpeas or white beans, grilled chicken sliced) yoghurt, spices, something briney like olives, crumbled feta, onions, dressing. Sometimes I go extra and marinate olives on weekend in olive oil, red pepper flakes, lemon peel, garlic. Served with crusty brown bread. Nice thing is a lot of these ingredients can be prepped separately on weekend. So these are tasty grain bowls.

https://a.co/d/f7pW4AO