Ballet Beautiful: Total Body Workout DVD - Full-Length Ballet-Inspired Fitness Routine for Strength & Grace | Perfect for Home Exercise, Dance Enthusiasts & Weight Loss

UPDATE 8/23/2015: Well girls, it's been around 4 or 5 months, and my body looks AMAZING. I have not only lost weight that everybody around me has noticed, but I have gained long, elegant, and feminine lines from my arms, to my spine, over the hips, legs, you name it, they have all changed for the better. My fiance told me that I look absolutely gorgeous, retaining my curves with no nasty bulk and keeping the flubber away. My waist has been dramatically shrunken, exaggerating my curves beautifully. I just love looking at myself in the mirror, knowing all my hard work has been paid off. I want to try her streaming online videos next, especially her 15-minute ab workout that you can only access through her website- although the DVDs have done an awesome job for my mid-section, I am still prone to feeling a certain softness on my belly, and I want to REALLY flatten it before my wedding. My advice for everyone is this: Keep the rotations random and fun, don't just stay stuck doing the same DVDs over and over again, switch them around and 'shock' your metabolism by doing different workouts, as well as trying her other videos on her website. I even found YouTube videos of her doing very short workouts that lasts only a few minutes, and there were like around 6 videos in total (Channel is called NET-A-PORTER), resulting in a total of 25 minutes of workouts for days where I just cannot do her longer workouts. Even her super short videos BURN my muscles, so please check them out! :-)Remember to eat well. Lean proteins, dark chocolates, complex carbohydrates, tons of water, healthy fats, cooking and packing your own snacks and meals before going to work or school, fruits, vegetables, fish... you know the drill. Eat as many organic stuff as you possibly can and try to severely cut down (or even permanently cut out) processed meals! If you do this, and her workouts, honey, you are on your way to becoming a beautiful ballerina yourself!Oh, and before I forget... you will NOT believe me, but after months of doing her workouts, I am finding myself doing very ballerina-like activities, such as being able to kick my leg very high in the air, going on my tippy-toes without any problems, and practicing foot work whenever I'm bored. I could sign up for real ballerina classes if I want to! Heck, why not?ORIGINAL REVIEW: So, I'm a slightly overweight girl, right? Have been a bit soft around the edges ever since I graduated from high school, when suddenly my "skinny girl" genes went haywire and I suffered the college 15 and piled on the pounds as life went on. I have tried the Beachbody's P90x, found that way too hardcore for me, then moved on to a more forgiving Slim In 6. I still found it way too hard to keep going. I also found their programs, along with the gym culture in general, is hypermasculine, with people screaming in your face and wanting to be muscular even if you are a woman. I can't even go to the local gym anymore without some amazon woman with huge guns smirking at me, as if saying, "You need start lifting, honey. Be strong like the boys!"Now don't get me wrong, it is awesome that there are female bodybuilders out there who work out very hard for their muscles. It's just.... not for me. I'm a really feminine woman, deep down. I like romantic movies. I cry when people are rude to me. I like dresses and skirts more so than pants and jeans. Packing on the muscles and bulk would just look strange, for someone as sensitive as I. Gosh, I hope I don't sound offensive, but it's true! So, I helplessly searched around, for ways to lose weight, firm up, and slim down, without the awkward bulk I got from P90x and other crazy workouts. Along came Mary Helen Bowers, and the rest was history!This is the classic one hour workout. It has the bridge series, abs series, inner thigh series, outer thigh series, arm series, and a light cardio standing series. I love doing this workout at least a few times a week for serious sculpting and toning. It burns my muscles like you would not believe, and the crazy part is that I've been using this product for close to three months before reviewing this... and it still burns! It's a very challenging but motivational workout. To be frank, this is definitely more of a strength/resistance training, in that you may not see the scale go down in your favor (in fact, your weight may go up, because you are building some muscle weight) but it will seriously tone you up, make you firm, make you smaller and thinner everywhere, from your legs, arms, mid-section, and so on. So don't be afraid of the weight thing; ignore the scale if you must, at least for the first few weeks.I love how Mary Helen Bowers talks to me in a soothing voice, rather than the typical gymrat screaming and being hyperactive. Mary is poised, elegant, feminine, and kind. To a romantic such as myself, she is a refreshing change. Maybe I don't have what it takes to become a bodybuilder, but I do have what it takes to sculpt a beautiful dancer body. She has helped me create a better posture and make me proud to be a woman... and really, what is wrong with femininity? Nothing, that's what, and with this program, she will help you embrace your curve while taking away the chunky blubber, the cellulite, and any awkward bulges. I have an hourglass figure, so I appreciate the shape, I just don't appreciate the extra fluff. I wanna be a tight, lithe hourglass, you know?Thank you, Mary!