Curvy Girl Workout

I am a girl with curves. I love my curves, but I hate flab. Therefore I have a problem: flabby curves, not tone curves. Fortunately there is a way to fix this! Its called motivation, dedication and consistency. I am not a person who likes hard workouts for more than a week or two, so all of these things are fairly simple and can be done in a few reps and spread out throughout the day IF NEEDED.

My main problem areas tend to be my upper arms and my thighs. My stomach has been flat, but I got lazy so it's not as flat anymore. I have a large chest and a large rear... but I do need to workout because it's easy for me to gain weight. My choice workouts for each area are listed below. If you have questions please leave comments and I would love to help you!
Oh, and the absolute best way to get in shape is to walk!!! I can definitely say that, even though it is slow in showing progress, you will get good firm muscles if you start keeping a regular walking routine.
If you like aerobics then I suggest the Jane Fonda workout video which can be found at this link. I have used it for years, on and off, and I really like the way it works your legs and gives you good cardio. So far I haven't found it on DVD. Sorry.

Arm Workout
~BICEP CURLS. I use 5lb. weights and repeat 30 times per arm.
~FORWARD ARM LIFT. Hold your weight at your side. Lift forward without turning your arm in any direction. 30 for each arm.
~BACK ARM LIFT. This is reverse of the forward arm lift. 30 per arm.
~SIDE ARM LIFT. Lift the weight out from your side and back down again. 30 per arm.
~PUNCH. Weights in your hand, bring your arms up like you would punch someone. One at a time punch the right arm out while the left arm is at your chest. When your right hand comes back to your chest, punch your left arm out. 30 each arm.
~LEVEL. Bring your elbows up to be even with your shoulders. Place your hands, holding weights, fist to fist. Take your right arm and swing it out away from your body, keeping your elbow level with your shoulder. When your hand comes back, repeat with the left arm. 30 per arm.
~ABOVE ARM LIFT. Bring your arm above your head to where your hand touches your shoulder. Lift the weight up so your arm is almost fully extended. Repeat 30 times per arm.

Ab Workout
~PLANK. Check out this video to see how I do it. Make sure to suck your stomach in towards your spine for a better workout. I usually do anywhere from 1-5 of these depending on how much I have been working out. You have to build up your strength for these.
~AIRPLANE TOE TOUCH. Silly, but it works. Stand with your arms straight out to your sides and level with your shoulders. Spread your feet about shoulder width. Take your right arm down and touch your left foot/floor area. Bend back up and then touch your left arm to your right foot/floor area. 30 per arm.
~SUPERMAN. Lay on your stomach. Lift your head, arms and legs off the floor and hold 30 seconds. I usually try to do 5 a day.

Leg/Bum Workout
~LUNGES. If you don't already do these then start with 30 per leg. Place one leg in front, one leg behind you and squat down. Do this every day.
~STANDING LEG LIFTS. These are another great way to tone your legs. Stand near a door frame in case you need to balance yourself. Lift one leg (left or right) 30 times in each of the following directions: forward, behind you, and out to your side. Do this for both legs each day.
~SQUATS. Yes they're a killer, but really worth it! 30 of these a day.
~HEEL LIFTS. Basically, stand next to something you can hold onto (a back of a chair) and lift your heels off the ground. Hold for 5 seconds then lower to the floor. Repeat 30 times.
~BUM LIFT. Lay on your back with your knees up and your arms down by your sides for support. Lift your bum off the ground and hold for 10 seconds. Do 30 of these.
~OPPOSITE ARM/LEG LIFT. Basically you will be on the floor supported by your knees and hands. You will lift your right arm/left leg at the same time, hold for 10 seconds then switch to the other side. Repeat 30 times per arm/leg.

Pumpkin Cupin Recipe

This is a Pinterest inspired recipe. I was in the mood for something pumpkin but didn't have everything some of the cupcake recipes required so I decided to make my own with what I had. This recipe will come out very moist and will have a tendency to fall apart, but the flavors and texture are worth it. Now, you are probably wondering about the word "cupin" but it is very simple. This is a combination of cupcake and muffin recipes so therefore my sister combined the words and made this and I thought it was appropriate. These are not so sweet that they can't be called muffins, but they are also fancy enough to be called a cupcake.

This recipe makes 36 muffins

 

Cupin Ingredients

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups of sugar

2 cups vegetable oil

1 29oz. can of Libby's Pumpkin

4 cups of whole wheat flour (this is what I used)

1 tbs. baking powder

1 tbs. baking soda

1 tbs. nutmeg

2 tbs. cinnamon (heaping spoonfuls!)

 

Cupin Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl combine eggs, sugar, and vegetable oil. Mix until everything is blended well then add the pumpkin and mix again.

3. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

4. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture and stir well.

5. In a greased muffin tin place 1/4 cup of the mixture in each cup. Top with 1 teaspoon of crumb topping.

6. Bake in oven for 20 minutes. If they are still not cooked all the way after 20 minutes add another 6-7 minutes.

7. Once the cupins have cooled a few minutes drizzle them and then serve.

Crumb Topping

1 stick of butter

4 tbs. sugar

6 shakes of cinnamon

1 cup of flour

 

Crumb Directions

Microwave butter in a microwave safe bowl until it is completely melted. Add the sugar, cinnamon and flour and stir with a fork. It should form a crumb like texture.

Drizzle

2/3 cup of powdered sugar

1 tbs. milk

 

Drizzle Directions

In a small bowl mix both ingredients until there are no lumps in it. Set aside until cupins are out of the oven and ready to be drizzled.

Links

The main recipe I used for this creation was the one at Breakfast at Banjos.

Busy June Challenge

For the month of June I am going to aim to do one of the following: craft project, sewing project, baking/cooking project, or something in one of these categories, each day of the month and then make a blog post. I hope that this experience goes well and that I will be able to keep up!

June 4th: DIY Shorter Denim Skirt with Ruffle.
June 5th: Amazing Banana Pudding.

Banana Pudding

This is one of the best banana pudding recipes I have ever had in my life! I love banana pudding, but this is definitely the new favorite recipe. I hope you enjoy this as much as my siblings and I did! The original recipe was found via Pinterest and came from Pearls, Handcuffs, & Happy Hour.

Ingredients

1 box Nilla Wafers

4 bananas

3 cups milk

2 small boxes instant French Vanilla pudding

1 8oz. pkg cream cheese

1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 12oz. container Cool Whip

Directions

1. In a 9x13 pan line the bottom with whole Nilla Wafers. Mine used 40 cookies exactly.

2. Slice bananas and place on top of cookies in the pan.

3. In a medium bowl place milk and both instant pudding mixes. Mix for 3 minutes until thickened. Set aside.

4. In another medium bowl place cream cheese and condensed milk. Mix until most of the lumps are gone from the cream cheese. Add cool whip and continue to mix until smooth.

5. Pour the cream cheese mixture into the pudding mixture and mix until well blended.

6. Pour over the bananas and cookies in the pan. Smooth the top.

7. The remaining cookies in the bag need to be gently crushed using your hand. Make sure there are no whole cookies then sprinkle on top of the pudding mix.

8. Place in freezer for 30 minutes to serve quickly. Or in the fridge for 1 hour if you have more time.

DIY Knee Length Denim Skirt with Ruffle

This skirt was the inspiration of a photo I found on Pinterest. I just got home from a month long vacation with no sewing machine and desperately wanted to sew. I decided this would be my first project of June. Luckily it only took me about three and a half hours to complete, start to finish.

This project is fairly easy. You will need a pair of jeans/Capri's that fit you well. You will need similar fabric to that of the jeans for the middle insert in the front and back and for the ruffle around the bottom. Follow the directions as they are written below to make your new summer skirt!

LOOKING FOR A LONGER SKIRT? I have a tutorial for a floor length skirt as well! Check it out here!

Length:
Using a lose measuring tape measure from your waist to the length you want your skirt to hit when it is finished. I wanted mine about 24-25 inches long. I cut mine at 24 inches, leaving space for the ruffle. When you measure the jeans you want to lay them out flat on a table or floor. Start the measuring on the front of the pants where it zips up not from the back. This leaves you plenty of space for you skirt to cover your rear and hang even with the front. Cut the first leg of the jeans off then fold the material over and cut the second leg off. Open the jeans, rip out the seams. In the front rip to the bottom of the zipper. In the back rip half way out the rear or just past the bottom of the pockets.

Front Insert:
For the front insert you want to cut your fabric a little longer than the skirt is so you have plenty to work with. This would be about 1-2 inches. Next lay your skirt on the table. You will want it to right side out as if you would put it on and wear it. Overlap and pin the flap just below the zipper. Next lay the material under the two front edges. Straighten and smooth the edges of the skirt and start pinning. Pin all the way up to where both pieces meet. Now it is time to sew! Sew the immediate edge first. When this is done for the whole front part go back and sew a second line. Use the presser foot on the edge of the first line as a guide to make a fairly straight second line.

Inside out the skirt. Cut excess fabric out and then turn the skirt back to normal again.

Back Insert:
The back is a little trickier and you will need a little more fabric here than you used in the front. Start by overlapping the area near the pockets and pin. You will want to pull the fabric a little snug, but not enough to create a funky bubble. Place the fabric insert under the legs of the back of the skirt. Straighten the material and the edges of the legs. Begin pinning the fabric together. Sew the first line then the second like you did for the front insert. Inside out and cut excess fabric then turn the skirt back to normal again.

Bottom Ruffle:
Scrunch the fabric through the sewing machine, making sure not to make the ruffle too ruffly. In order to do this you will want to push the fabric under the presser foot in a way that it will overlap and be sewn funky. This makes the ruffle. The part you sewed is the top of the ruffle. I used three pieces of fabric about 2 inches wide (not measured, just guessed) to make my ruffle. On the bottom of the ruffle which will be showing, do a zigzag edge to cover the strings and keep the material from unraveling. Then use scissors to cut off any strings which did not end up in the zigzag so that the edge is smooth.

Next use an iron to iron the zigzag back towards the top of the ruffle. Then fold the new edge one last time and iron until there is no zigzag showing.

Take to the sewing machine and sew with a straight stitch. (I didn't have to pin the edge since the it was so small and the iron helped it stay in place.) Once you have finished the bottom edge of the ruffle take scissors and cut all the strings off the top edge of the ruffle so they do not get caught in the sewing machine. These strings are mainly from the fabric unraveling.

Attaching the Ruffle:
On the skirt you will want to cut the insert pieces from both the front and back to be even with the legs they are attached to on either side. Make sure to not cut a straight line, but more a curved line so it has a more natural look.

Next take the ruffle and pin it around the edge of the skirt. When the two ends of the ruffle get close to meeting leave space for it to be sew together. Cut the fabric and then sew the edges together. Finish pinning the ruffle to the skirt. Sew the ruffle onto the skirt.

Zigzag the inside raw edge from where you sewed the ruffle on to keep it from unraveling. Finally, iron the ruffle down so that it lays right when you wear the skirt.

September 27, 2012 Addition: I just found this old photo of me in these jeans before I stopped wearing pants/jeans! This was probably taken in the summer of 2010.



BEFORE

View Different Skirts from Other Blogs

This is a short lits of skirts I've found so far which are also knee length and are denim based. Enjoy!

Keeping It Simple: Jean Skirt.

 

Katie's Secret Blog: Instant Skirt.
(Knee Length)

Katie's Secret Blog: Pant Skirt: Danielle Style.
(Knee Length)

Related Posts

• DIY Long Denim Skirt
• DIY Knee-Length Denim Maternity Skirt