Day 6

I did day 6 of the Shred today, but barely got through it. I made the mistake of trying to do the workout a little earlier today, meaning I didn’t bother eating breakfast first… just had some coffee!

Big mistake. I could tell as soon as I started I just didn’t have the energy like the other mornings, and so the effort I put in to it was pathetic :(

Still, you live and learn. Tomorrow I will be back to it ‘in full force’, breakfast first, then dvd at 9am.

Day 5

Sunday, 11am – I just finished day 5, and I actually think its getting a little easier :-) Not easy by all means, but easier. I managed to do some of the jumping jacks today, so I can see some improvement when it comes to the cardio. I also moved up to the 3lb weights. These felt a lot heavier so some of the movements were a bit modified. I like this weight though for the chest/butterfly press that she does on the floor.

The last 1 minute of crunches is a killer! But I’m so proud of myself for doing it, AND for sticking with it over the weekend. Tomorrow I might up it to level 2 but still do the ‘easy’ version of that.  Gotta get back to better eating and drinking more water too.

Day 4

Well, if nothing else it’s just good to have it over with! I did day 4 at 10am this morning :-) Now I can get on and enjoy my day. I can’t say ‘weekend’ because I will have day 5 to do tomorrow!

For the most part I’m feeling good, legs still ache like crazy, still can’t do the jumpin jacks, but I can tell I am getting better at cardio – just a tad! It’s only day 4 and I can feel an improvement, so I can only imagine how good I’ll feel at day 14.

I must get better at the food intake though. I did eat Tilapia this week and had a few salads, but I can do even better and cut out some of the junk food I’m still nibbling on. Still trying to drink more water too – it’s a process for sure!

Day 3

I did day 3 of the Shred yesterday, I just didn’t get around to posting an entry. It’s Saturday morning now (8.30am) and there’ll be no rest from a work out. Jillian says you do 30 days straight!

Yesterday was ok, it’s the cardio still that gets me, I just can’t keep up and really modify it, to the point that I’m just marching in place at some places!  But at least I’m still moving!

Still aching too, but not as bad as the first day. I will stick with level 1 until next Wednesday, that will be my first week over, after that I think I will try out level 2 just to change it up a bit. That’s the only down side, you do the same routing every day, you know what’s coming . . . and it can get a little boring.

I haven’t been cutting back on the calories as much as I wanted, had a piece of pizza last night and some wine! But I keep trying. I’ll weigh in on Monday and see if there’s any change there.

Day 2

I just finished day two of the workout.... I'm so out of breath I can hardly type!!! Phew, this is gonna be HARD. What I find the worse is the cardio, I get out of breath really easy (even just walking up the stairs), it could be because of my asthma and sinus issues, or it could be just that I am totally out of shape. I'm hoping I get better with time. But the cardio - I really had to modify it today, those jumping jacks kill me!

The other thing I find hard is transitioning from the floor for the ab work to standing up again with the weights, if I move too fast I can feel rather dizzy! I'm just taking that part slow so I'm usually a couple of reps behind Jillian and her girls. Still, I'm doing it, that's what counts and I'm feeling it. I was really aching this morning, but proud of myself for putting the dvd on again.

I'm off to shower now ;-)

It starts today. . . .

As you can tell from my sporadic posts, I kinda fell off the wagon when it comes to good eating and exercising. I let myself indulge over the whole summer, ate whatever I wanted, drank when I wanted (and I’m not talking water!), and didn’t get out walking or do any other form of exercise. As a result of all that, I managed to gain the 10lb I lost and as of today I weigh in at 127.8lb!!!

THAT is way too much for me to feel comfortable. SO, today I am starting this -

I’m motivated by the fact that many other girls are doing this too. Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam has started it. She’s asked anyone that wants to, to join in with her, keep us updated on her progress at her blog AND her Facebook page.

So, today, bad eating stops (again) and exercise STARTS!  I hope to post on here EVERY DAY for the next 30 days to confirm that I have done the 20 minute routine that Jillian puts you through each day. I will miss only two days in the next 30 because we have a weekend away planned with our neighbors. I know I won’t work out on that Saturday and Sunday. I will workout on the Friday before we leave, and actually depending on the time we come home on Sunday I may actually be able to pop the dvd in later that day – we’ll see.

Any other day  . . . .  THERE WILL BE NO EXCUSES!!!!!

I did the workout today, and it is HARD!  But I felt good afterwards. The test will come tomorrow when I know I will be sore and I have to do it all over again. Today I’m cutting out the bad eating habits too. I don’t want to totally deprive myself of the things I like, but I must not eat them so often. I WILL have a glass of wine when I want and I WILL have Margaritas on the front porch with the neighbors at the weekend. I will NOT deprive myself but I will NOT overindulge either.  I took some ‘before’ pictures this morning, I may (or may not) share them here at the end of the 30 day challenge.  I took some measurements too, which I will post here :

Bust – 36”

Waist – 31”

Hips – 37”

under bust – 31”

Top of thigh – 20 3/4

Top of arm – 11’

I know to some of you I am not over weight. Everything is relative, just because I don’t ‘look’ overweight’ doesn’t mean I don’t feel overweight. When you’re used to being about 117-120lb then an extra 10lb (sitting mostly around your middle) makes a big difference. I feel sluggish, no energy and my pants are all tight! And one thing I can definitely vouch for – I am NOT fit. I get out of breath just walking up the stairs, I’m so out of shape. 

These posts are mainly for my own motivation, but if you’re here reading it, I appreciate the time you took to do that, and I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment if you would like to, it would surely help keep me motivated if I thought you were out there checking up on me;-)

I fell off. . . .

I'm talking about my 'healthy eating plan'... I fell off the wagon so to speak :-( It was probably obvious by the lack of posts in here. Since I last posted I haven't eaten good at all, I got totally off track once summer really kicked in, got lazy I guess . . . the walking stopped because it got too hot outside, that and the fact I didn't have to get up early every morning to take Kristen to school.

I hate to say this but I have gained ALL of the weight I lost in just these past 3 months. As of today I am back to 125lb. I was 126lb last summer and after Christmas I decided I wanted to lose about 10lb. I know 125 isn't big, but I've said it before and I'll say it again, none of my pants fit at this weight and my belly just feels bloated all of the time. It's not surprising at all, I've been eating what I call 'all the wrong things' - white pasta for starters, chips, chips and more chips, glasses of wine every night, peanuts, more pasta, white 'instant' potatoes.... basically everything I used to eat that got me 10lb overweight the last time! Why do we do it?!!!

Anyway, I'm blogging here because I'm ready to get back on track and blogging about it always keeps me motivated. When I look back at these posts and see what yummy food I was eating and still losing weight, it helps me focus on what I need to do to lose a little weight again, and start exercising too.

School starts back on Monday, so I will hopefully start walking every morning and eating less during the day. Dinner time will be slightly different than before, I am on a budget with grocery shopping (I have been blogging about it at my daily diary) so I am trying to use things we already have in storage (unfortunately a lot of that is pasta and potatoes!). I will just have to make a concerted effort to have a smaller portion and fill up on salad or veggies with each meal.

My goal is to get back to 117lbs which was where I was at in May. We have the holidays fast approaching and I don't want to gain another 10lb by January!!!

So, that's where I'm at today. . . . . ready to start again on Monday!