Rom, I keep my fingers crossed for you!
I own many of the WDNY dvds, but am working with 2 so far only (not an issue of shape, but downright dance skill level :))

Me too I have decided to make myself a better dancer and do the 2 dvds I am so far working on twice a week (the rest is my usual fitness/strength program - I have knee issues from a previous sports injury and therefore have to take care my muscles remain strong taking weight off the knee while dancing, and I cannot be too "enthusiastic" with dancing either, but rather have to take it slowly - and persistently).

I am working with Amira s 101 for a month and a half now, and 2 weks ago I started WDNY s Jenna Basics and Beyond and Chakra Dance Flow.
next will be Neon s Instant Bellydancer, which I own already, and I intend to soon purchase Luscious Bellydance Workout.
Blanca s Sensual Bellydance to come early November I d say.

I love my dance program!!!!

I m confident we re both going to achieve our goals with the wonderful WDNY dvds!!!!!
"Bon courage" for you!!

Yep, I've been working with WDNY dvds also. I have a wide range to choose from but I have been concentrating on Luscious right now which is my favorite thus far. It's like they all build on each other which I love. Anyhoo, I am working with them for fitness. And feeling like a pretty bellydancer while doing it doesn't hurt either. ;)

Hi Rom, it's wonderful that you are feeling better, and good luck! I am honored that you chose to rely in this important healing project on our work! I am a strong believer in dance as a fitness tool - We all know why it works for us, but to sum it up, I think dance is so helpful in getting in better shape because it nourishes our minds and satisfies our desire to learn, which allows us to work harder, or for longer stretches of time, and be at peace with the sacrifices we have to make to self-improve. If you are focusing on the pure physical effort, you will achieve excellent results, but for most of us it's hard to invest ourselves fully in an activity that offers no perspective beyond gradual physical improvement.
Regarding weight loss, I have recently discovered that, in addition to daily activity, I must have a very clear picture of how much I consume via my diet: I am not a fan of structured diets that prescribe exactly how much and what can be eaten, but in recent couple years I went through unwelcome weight fluctuations and realized that an approximate, blurry picture of how much I should eat to maintain my weight w/o gaining more, simply doesn't work for me. So I turned to the "exact science" - calorie counting, and so far it worked for me: I stopped fluctuating and feel more in control of my weight/shape than before. There are various calorie-counting tools online, most of them are free. I used the "health tracker" at Prevention.com. It requires some focus, bec. you need to enter information about what you eat and how much you exercise, and what weight you are on a daily basis. But it was worth it, the results were eye-opening. The software calculates your suggested calorie intake from the information about your weight, age, lifestyle, how much you sleep (sleep is an "activity" that slows down calorie burn, so it counts), how much you exercise, etc. After using these tools for a while, you learn a lot about the energy potential of various foods you typically eat, and start having a sense of what kind of metabolism you have. It was a useful experience for me - I definitely recommend trying this approach in addition to staying active every day.

Rom, I'm sorry to hear you were sick!

I've had a bad health year myself, and it really does take a toll. My problems weren't life-threatening or anything, but they rendered me unable to dance or to do any kind of exercise for a while, and of course, that does nothing either for fitness or stress levels. It's awful!

I've been getting back into movement slowly since the spring. Lots of gentle yoga, and yes, there has been a WDNY component as well. Doing the Luscious program this spring, after so many months of impaired movement, and feeling that I was dancing again... well, it nearly brought me to tears.

I also worked a bit with the Ariellah DVD again since I took her workshop in September and I really needed to review. I love the drills section of that DVD! I'm not so crazy about the yoga warmup (I wound up using the warmup from the Aziza DVD), but I find the drills in Ariellah to be just such good, solid basic training. Especially for the arms and shoulders!