Stories of
Walk Stars!

While I had always been relatively fit before (around 140 pounds, 5'5", 29 years old), I really let myself go with my first pregnancy (2009). I was tired, listless, and overwhelmingly hungry...the works! I didn't feel like working out nor doing anything constructive. Before I knew it, I had gained 70 pounds and was tipping the scales at 215! Oops!
It was definitely fun to have a new baby in the home, but not quite so much fun carrying around all that extra weight and I was STILL wearing maternity pants after three months. In October 2009, I decided I had to do something. On a whim, I rented a WAH video from Netflix - a Mile Each Morning.

I'd never heard of Leslie Sansone before, but walking at home sounded like a neato ticket. What better way to get exercise while my infant was sleeping? I love to walk anyway! It's easy, quick, and efficient!

I popped in the DVD for the first time and during the initial warmup, I thought, "Uh oh...this looks like something my grandma would do." But I stuck with it. After the first mile, I was huffing and puffing and cursing, "I am too old for this!" It was amazing! Moves so easy and fun, it doesn't feel like working out at all, and yet you're covered in just as much sweat as you would in any of those "other" videos that make you do acrobatics! Immediately, I was hooked.

I immediately returned my Netflix copy, bought my own, and bought a few more just for the fun of it.

I made a routine out of it. When it was my daughter's naptime, that was time for me to walkout. I'd get in a few miles as she slept, and sometimes she was just happy to sit in her rocker or carrier and just watch.

As soon as one DVD got "old," I'd buy another, and another. Daughter in tow every time!

After about a year of consistently walking at home, my daughter started to talk - that's when things started to get interesting. My little one had given up naps by this point and I had to be a little more creative in when I got in my walks with Leslie. Usually I'd plop my daughter in the corner of the living room with a bunch of toys and get going. That's another great thing about WAH...not only are the walkouts fun, easy, doable and efficient, but you can also babysit at the same time! Who says you gotta look at the TV the whole time? Just use your ears! Let me tell ya, I know from experience that you can leave the room, prepare a bottle, grab some toys, practically do everything except change a diaper while STILL staying in-step! What other workout allows you to do THAT, huh? (Incidentally I once cleaned her entire room while doing a 3-mile video. I can't think of ANY other video series or workout in the world that allows you to be able to do chores at the same time! Just stay in step, that's all it takes!)

When my daughter was about a year old, only saying things like, "Mama" and "Dada," I put in a DVD as usual and as soon as she saw Leslie's face on the screen, my daughter said, "Walk, walk, walk!!!" Oh my! I'd been walking-out in front of my daughter so much, Leslie had actually taught her how to say, "walk!"

On particularly sunny or pleasant days, I'd take my daughter for a walk around town in her stroller. Sometimes you just need that change of pace. More often than not, we're at home doing WAH videos and my daughter still tags along to the store to check out any new releases (or older ones I just haven't bought yet!)

My daughter is three years old now, and I've lost ALL of the pregnancy weight. What's even better is that she's really aware of what is going on now and WAH is just another fun thing we do together. She tells me all the time, "Mama, let's do a 'step movie!'" (that's what she calls them!) She follows along the best she can, mostly marching in place or doing side-steps. She loves doing it as much as I do!

If not WAH, she requests, "Let's go walk around town," or "let's go walk at the mall!" Walking has been a major recreation to her - something we do together and have done together nearly since she was born. She even knows how to use stretchie bands and hand weights!

It took me the first two years to lose the weight, but that's okay. Slow and steady is the best! You don't feel deprived or like you're killing yourself exercising! The weight just comes off naturally, its so easy to stay consistent with it!

And as my daughter grows up, she's there to walkout with me almost every step of the way. I always have a partner to walk with! Surely she doesn't have any weight to lose, but I am so happy to know she's growing up knowing exactly how important (and fun!) fitness really is. I'm truly humbled that I have been the role model for her.

The attached picture is a before/after. Before was Halloween '09, just as I'd begun walking with Leslie. The after is October '11 (she 2, me 31), 70 pounds lighter. I've maintained the loss for a year now, still consistently walking and eating right. I regularly see the scale go up from time to time, but a good series of walks always gets me back on track!

Any time someone asks me what my "secret" is, I always tell them WAH! The secret's out!

Lots of love! And thank you so much! Walk, walk, walk!

- Laura and Valerie Buchanan