My 30-Day Shred Journal

[saremca]

I'm starting this to keep track of my progress with Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred program. We'll be back at Disney 30 days from today, and today also happens to be my 39th birthday. No time like the present, right?

I exercise pretty regularly and have for the last 15 years or so, but I always freak out a little bit just before it's time to leave. I tried on my swim suits yesterday, so no surprise I'm motivated to kick it up a little now that we're in the home stretch. As you'll see from my measurements, my hips and thighs are my problem zone. I have a big butt.

I don't weigh myself. I don't even own a scale. I get weighed once a year at my annual exam at my OB/GYN's office and that's about it. I will post my measurements, and I did take a couple of before pictures, but I think I'm going to wait until the end of the 30 days and then post before and afters side by side.

Today was my first 30-Day Shred and Level 1 was pretty intense. I'm kind of scared to see what Level 2 brings, but I'm trying not to think about that.

Okay, on to my starting measurements...

Chest - 36 inches
Arms - 13 inches
Waist - 28.5 inches
Hips - 38.5 inches
Thighs - 22.5 inches
Calves - 14.5 inches

I plan to measure once a week on Sundays to track my progress (or lack thereof).

As far as diet goes, I suck at that. I get very rebellious when I try to cut stuff out, so I'm just going to try to be very conscious of what I'm eating and why I'm eating. I tend to snack when I want to avoid doing something I don't like or don't want to do. I'm also a freak for candy, so I need to keep that in check and eat my jelly beans and Sour Patch Kids in moderation. I don't believe in deprivation, so that's not going to happen.

The irony in all of this is that I have a BS in Nutrition and worked as a registered dietitian before I decided to work from home. I know exactly what to do, it's doing it that's the hard part. That and the candy obsession.

Anyway...one workout down, 29 to go!

 

[saremca]

My calves are freaking killing me. It's the oddest soreness I've ever had after doing a DVD for the first time. My glutes hurt a little too, but it's mainly my calves. I was thinking I might be too sore to do the workout again today, but I'm not. I have some work to finish up first.

I'm usually terrible at sticking with rotatoins, but this workout is fun and even though I'm supposed to do the same workout for 10 days I don't see myself getting bored that quickly. I'm still going to do my daily yoga, and I'll add in some kettlebell swings just because I love kettlebells so much.

The candy situation? Yesterday I ate 3 Lindt truffles and half a bag of Sour Patch Kids. What can I say? PMS is a b****, but life goes on.

 

[saremca]

My calves are still killing me today. I think I need a day away from impact type exercise, so I did 300 KB swings/combos. I love kettlebells. Back to the 30-Day Shred tomorrow.

 

[zigzagzerr]

Hi! This should be an interesting journey!

I've been doing the 30 day shred for awhile now -- currently doing level 2. But I agree with you that it may not be the best idea to do it 30 days straight -- when I started it, I had the same issue with the hurting calves. And I kept doing the workout, and kept doing it......and eventually pulled a calf muscle. The thing with Jillian Michaels is that much of her shred is very high impact, which is okay if your knees can take it. I now do her dvd about twice a week and do other workouts on the off days.

Best of luck -- I'm looking forward to seeing how everything turns out.

 

[C_leen]

Best of luck to you on the 30 day shred! Even if you need to modify a bit - you are still on target! Can you explain kettleballs?

 

[saremca]

zigzagger, hi! How is Level 2? I'm kind of scared of it now. I'm thinking every other day with Jillian is going to be the key to remaining injury free. My calves finally feel normal again. So you had calf soreness too! I'm glad I'm not the only one. I thought I had either injured myself or I had freakishly weak calf muscles. I've never had a workout do that to me before. But I think you're right, it's all of the impact. I usually stick to much lower impact workouts.

Colleen, kettlebells are so much fun. I never thought I would enjoy them, but I am hooked. Here's one of my kettlebells:

This video on YouTube explains the basic swing and proper form.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0jalJ-3e7U

Kettlebells are really fun to swing around. They give you a surprisingly good cardiovascular workout, and if you want a nice butt I believe kettlebells are the fastest way to get one.

I am back on the 30-Day Shred wagon today. I love that the entire workout, start to finish, is only around 30 minutes. I hate long workouts, so this one is the perfect length to keep me motivated.

 

[zigzagzerr]

zigzagger, hi! How is Level 2? I'm kind of scared of it now. I'm thinking every other day with Jillian is going to be the key to remaining injury free.

I am back on the 30-Day Shred wagon today. I love that the entire workout, start to finish, is only around 30 minutes. I hate long workouts, so this one is the perfect length to keep me motivated.

Level 2 is okay - I'm starting to get used to it. There is one cardio move in it that I don't do, for the sake of my knees. You start in a plank and are supposed to jump your feet in and then back out to plank. That one I modify.

The fact that it's only 30 minutes is a major plus -- I love that I work so hard and it's over so fast!!!

The kettlebells also look really interesting!

Great job and keep going!

 

[momof2minnies]

I was doing Jillian's dvd very consistantly. This past January I trained for and ran the full marathon at WDW- my knees never bothered me through all that.The impact of this dvd has my knees making all kinds of disturbing sounds.

I too think 30 days straight of this type is rough, I will just start to incorporate it into other workouts too.

Linda

 

[saremca]

Yeah, it's definitely too high impact for me to do on consecutive days. I can just see me hurting my knee right before vacation. Not a good idea.

Today is a kettlebell day. I think that rotating Jillian and kettlebells is going to work well. They seem to compliment one another other nicely, especially since kettlebells are essentially no-impact and Jillian has a lot of high-impact in the 30-Day Shred. Three days of Jillian and three days of kettlebells.

My eating has been good as far as eating when I'm hungry and stopping when I'm satisfied. I realized the other day that I don't stop when I'm full because I don't like feeling full. It's uncomfortable. I stop eating whatever it is I'm eating when I've had enough, or when it starts to not taste as good as the first few bites. I really have to be conscious of what I'm eating when I do that, but eating consciously is a good thing.

What did I eat yesterday anyway? I ate a few pita chips (maybe 3-4 chips) with hummus, half of an Ezekiel cinnamon raisin English Muffin with peanut butter, a handful of Sour Patch Kids...two Newman's pretzel sticks with more peanut butter, a slice of the bread that I baked with butter, and a bit of the carnitas (maybe 3 bites?) I made for dinner with some guacamole. I think that was it. I wasn't very hungry yesterday, so it was a few bites here and a few bites there. No real meal, no fruit, and no veg. Maybe today will be better, maybe not.

 

[zigzagzerr]

Thought of you during my "date" with Miss Jillian yesterday. I made my husband do it, too. He called her a bad name.

Good job on the conscious eating!

 

[C_leen]

Hi there! Thanks for the link to the tutorial and explanation of kettlebells. I've never come across them before. I think your idea to switch between the two is perfect! Best of luck & may your motivation never waiver while you shred for 30 days!

 

[saremca]

Thought of you during my "date" with Miss Jillian yesterday. I made my husband do it, too. He called her a bad name.

I can't say I blame him!

I forgot to post yesterday. I did the DVD again and it was a little easier this time. At least my calves aren't killing me today. I'm glad about that. Today is kettlebells. I've been doing sets of 100 for a total of 300 swings. If that doesn't get my legs and hips into shape, nothing will.

I am off to Target and Kohls today to finish up clothes shopping for the kids for Florida. I found Sarah a swim suit at Top Shop. She's very picky about suits and I've been looking forever for one that she likes. Caleb needs shorts in a big way, but he's so hard to fit. He's only 10 years old, but he's 5'5" and 130 pounds so he doesn't fit in little boys sizes anymore, and men's sizes are always waaaay too long for him. I hate to pay to have stuff tailored at this age, but I might have to bite the bullet and do it. Hopefully I can find something for him today that won't require tailoring. My kids are all so tall (well except for Sarah, who is also 5'5, and mad that she's the shorty of the family) it's hard to find age appropriate clothes for them.

Okay, enough complaining. I'm going shopping.

 

[saremca]

It's Sunday. Time to measure. My clothes feel like they fit me the same as before, but I wasn't expecting anything big in only one week anyway.

Starting Measurements:

Chest - 36 inches
Arms - 13 inches
Waist - 28.5 inches
Hips - 38.5 inches
Thighs - 22.5 inches
Calves - 14.5 inches


End of Week 1:

Chest - 35.5 inches
Arms - 12.5 inches
Waist - 28 inches
Hips - 38.5 inches
Thighs - 22 inches
Calves - 14 inches

Nothing spectacular, but it's progress. I lost half an inch in my chest, arms, waist, thighs and calves. Of course my hips didn't budge. They're always the last to go (if they go at all). I would really like to get my hips to 37 inches. We'll see.

 

[saremca]

I felt like kettlebells today, so I attempted the workout that Skwigg linked to her blog from Josh Hillis that I posted on Saturday:

Get Ups x 5 left + 5 right
Kettlebell Swings x 50

Get Ups x 4 left + 4 right
Kettlebell Swings x 40

Get Ups x 3 left + 3 right
Kettlebell Swings x 30

Get Ups x 2 left + 2 right
Kettlebell Swings x 20

Get Ups x 1 left + 1 right
Kettlebell Swings x 10

I only used an 18lb KB, and I think I might actually keel over and die.

 

[saremca]

Sorry, I fell off of the posting wagon for a minute. Here's my before picture that I said I would post and never did. Sorry about the glare. I really, really want to shrink my butt at least a little. *please, please, please*

Now I'll catch you all up with my workouts.

 

[saremca]

04/15/2009

I didn't work out yesterday. Brent was off, it was a rainy dreary day, I didn't have a lot of work, and what I did have was done by 8:00 am, so we stayed in bed until 1:00. I should probably be disappointed in myself or something, but if I'm honest I really couldn't care less.

I did that same KB workout again this morning. I still wanted to die at the end.

I made my favorite curry salad dressing and roasted some chicken so I'll be eating cabbage salad with curry dressing and some chicken for lunch. It's still rainy and gross here, and I really would like to see the sun at some point this month. Thank goodness for vitamin D3.

I'll be in Florida in 21 days. I'm looking forward to that like you would not believe. I just want some sun and warm weather.

 

[saremca]

Okay, here's where I catch up with myself.

I didn't feel like 30-Day Shredding today, so I did Callanetics 10 in 10 and 100 KB swings and some TGUs. Those things are killer and I'm still only using the 18 pounder. I feel like a weakling.

I've eaten so much junk food today it's unreal. Sour cream & onion chips, ice cream, chocolate, homemade bread, vegetable soup (not junk, I know). Some days I eat really well and some days I eat really crappy, some days I'm not hungry and barely eat at all. I'm consistently inconsistent.

 

[saremca]

And I forgot to add that THE SUN IS OUT!!! I've been outside most of the afternoon. I can't believe it. The temperature actually made it up to 67 degrees.

 

[saremca]

I am enjoying reading everyone else's journals/journeys. It's cool to see so many great women taking control of their health and their diets. The reason I don't post about food/what I eat and the reason I don't weigh myself is because I am recovered from a eating disorder. It was a 10 year battle and it was hard. I had treatment/counseling and I'm good now, unless I'm stressed. Then the feelings of wanting to restrict food come creeping in, but I have a pretty good handle on them now. I feel okay enough to say that here, I think. I don't usually talk about it since very few people actually know what I went through. Anyway, that's why I don't really post much about food and why I absolutely do not diet. It's way too much of a trigger for me. I can slip into controlling/starving mode like the flipping of a switch.

Callanetics 10 in 10 today, along with biceps and lower body from Jillians No More Trouble Zones DVD. I am really trying to make myself do cardio and weights every day. I will get my 30DS cardio done after I post this. I hate it, but I love it. I know I need it right now. Blah. I swear, once this is over I am SO never doing cardio again. Okay, I probably will at some point, but I just really hate it.

After my ravenousness the past few days I am totally not hungry today. It's one of those days where the thought of food makes me want to barf. I see lots of coffee in my future.

Okay, I'm off for some cardio and then to work.

 

[zigzagzerr]

Thanks for sharing your struggles with us -- I think it really helps to know what other folks are going through, and it also lends perspective.

I don't count calories or log food either. I purposefully make my goals more vague like "eat healthier", because I know my own compulsive self well. I have often gotten so obsessed with counting everything that I find myself not enjoying my food. Not worth it to live my life that way.

I, too, ate quite a lot of crappy food this week. And I think the last time I saw Jillian was a week ago last Wednesday. (I did do other exercise, just couldn't deal with her).

Anyway, enough of that. Hope you're having a great day and that your weekend is sunny!