A few weeks ago I ran with a whim to complete the Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred workout video.
It’s circuit training and it’s tough! There are three different levels and you’re supposed to do 10 days at each level, moving up to the next level when you feel ready. Level 1 I thought was pretty challenging but definitely saw improvement in my ability to do the moves by the time I was done with my ten days.
Now I’m on Level 2 and there is planking and it makes me sad. Or rather, it makes my shoulders sad. I couldn’t even barely do the planking moves on Day 2 (I kind of stood there and watched and LOLed), my shoulders were so sore from the first day. Now though, not only can I plank but I can do the advanced moves. Plank twists are still really hard though.
I actually like Jillian Michaels, I like her no-nonsense approach to working out. When I finish the Shred, I’ve got her Ripped in 30 video waiting, and when I’m done with that, I’ll do the Shred again, possibly with heavier weights, depending on how RI30 goes. That should take me into the end of the year, and we’ll see how my body changes, which is actually (finally?) of interest to me. I may ask for her Body Revolution video series for Christmas as it’s kind of expensive.
At the beginning of September, I signed up for My Fitness Pal (MFP) which is an app/website that helps you track your calories and exercise. I’m finding it interesting. They have you log your starting weight and how much you want to lose per week (I picked 1 lb per week) and calculate what your daily calorie allotment should be in order to lose that weight. You get additional calories for however much exercise you do, which for me has ranged from 110-350 extra. I know that that can be an overestimation so I probably won’t eat back all those. But I shoot for eating around half or so.
I didn’t know that you were supposed to eat back the calories you burned from exercising, but it makes sense. So I’m starting to think that I probably wasn’t eating enough. Which seems sort of counter productive but I’m going to roll with it. I’ve been tracking my food and exercise since Labor Day and have lost four pounds so far! I think I also reached the point of the Shred where I had built up muscle and finally am losing weight, also it was helping to know how much I should be eating.
I find it much more sensible than Weight Watchers, though it’s pretty much the same thing. I just never really got into the groove with Points Plus, but I feel like I could stick with MFP. It’s really easy, which I appreciate. With Points Plus I just had a hell of a time making the right sorts of food decisions because you got hardly any points. Just frustrating. I like with MFP it tracks all your nutrition and you can track yourself. I don’t know why this is working for me, but it is, so I’m happy.
Anyway, so that’s what I’ve been up to lately: smoothies, Jillian Michaels, MFP.
I’m pretty much having an identity crisis, lol. My friend said to me today how different I’ve been lately, since I’m not so scheduled with everything I do and I’m much more adventurous / spontaneous, etc. For someone who has seen me every day for the last five years, I bet it does seem like I’m making a lot of changes, and I think I have been all this year, starting with the stepping. I’m just now upping my game and it’s happening all at once, kind of. First it was the smoothies at the beginning of August, then it was the Shred, and now it’s tracking my food.
I’m really serious about this now, you guys. So I don’t think I’ll be much fun to go out to restaurants with for the next few months. Because I’m not going to do it. I have a couple of fun places to look forward to (my LA vacation will definitely have some eating out) but for the most part, I’m in it to win it.
I set MFP to help me lose 75 pounds. Only 71 to go. :O
