She’s either hooping on her thighs/knees (I’ve yet to learn this) or she’s about to drop the hoop
Photo courtesy of: Historiful

You might remember a few posts back, I wanted a hula-hoop for my birthday. I started hooping again because I want to lose weight. I used to jog a lot but the weather has become unpredictable and I always get rained on. So I need a new workout, and I want something I can do without leaving the house. Because I’m kinda crazy, I chose hooping. NGL, I was a bit ashamed about this choice since hooping is considered child’s play/retro “nagpapasexy” craze. But meh, I don’t care anymore. As soon as I learn some tricks, I don’t care if you ask me to hoop at Freedom Park. I’d even bring a boom box and blast some V6 eurobeat mix.

I learned how to hoop last year. Because I’m a klutz with very very poor motor skills (I’m worse than you, I can guarantee), it took me almost two months to learn the most basic hooping. Now that I’m hooping again after a year, it felt like I was starting over. But soon I got used to it faster than it took me to learn, except that I can’t hoop clockwise as well as I could before. (I should work on that) So far, I think I work out harder when I hoop than when I jog. To be able to keep the hoop up, you need to keep moving consistently. You can’t slow down all of a sudden, and you certainly can’t stop. You’re forced to keep the intensity high, unlike jogging where you can slow down when you’re tired.

According to the Mayo Clinic, you’ll need to hoop at least 10 minutes per day to be able to feel the benefits. Right now I hoop for 15-20minutes, twice or thrice a day. I hoop to V6 music because I’m a fangirl like that. Kamisen is awesome /fangirldigress. Anyway, some forum posters say that hooping burns 100 calories for every 10 minutes! Since my hoop isn’t weighted (wasn’t able to find a weighted one), I think I burn less than that. A weighted hoop would provided resistance and work your abs/core harder too. DAMN WHY IS A WEIGHTED HULA HOOP SO ELUSIVE HERE???

Other benefits of hooping is that they say it’s good for digestion and lower back.

Aside from hooping, I’m also watching what I eat. Based on my research, someone my height and frame should consume 1500 calories per day in order to lose weight. I’m not big on calorie counting, because I believe health is about eating good quality food in moderation. But since I’m desperate trying for 1300kcal every day. So far it’s not so bad. My pitfalls are munching on cashews and eating yogurt for dessert. I found out a handful of cashews has 120 calories OMG and I eat so much of it!

I’ve been hooping consistently for 2 weeks now, and I’ve been on the 1300kcal diet since this week. I’ve lost  3cm on my waist already (my weight fluctuates for some reason though. Can’t say whether I’ve gained or lost any weight). Still so far from my goal size, but at least I see a bit of result. Will keep at it until I lose weight/get bored. And hopefully, I could get one of those real weighted hula hoops, so that I can get results faster.