I’ve done many different workouts. I’ve trained for a half-marathon (didn’t actually get to the race, but that’s another story). I have spent countless hours at the gym doing various forms of cardio, weights, Zumba, Yoga, swimming – pretty much anything available. My weight loss has been steady for the past few years. At one point, I’d lost a total of 70 pounds. However, since the Cabbage Soup Diet – I have been completely off track. My weight has started creeping back on. Right now, I’ve put back on 20 of the pounds I worked so hard to lose. I haven’t been to the gym regularly in about a month. And I’ve completely stopped caring what I shove down my throat for fuel. So, two days ago I decided to try something a little crazy. I decided to do Jillian’s 30 Day Shred.
Some of you might be thinking I’m nuts for deciding to do something like this during the holiday season. I figure even if I only do the workouts – and my food still stays lousy – at least I’ll stem the tide of the rising needle on my scale. I might not lose a bunch of weight, but perhaps I can keep from gaining the normal 10 pounds from Thanksgiving to Christmas. At any rate, I figured I needed to do SOMETHING. Or I was rapidly going to put back on enough weight that I’d need new “fat” clothes – what a rotten shopping trip that would be. Also, hard workouts motivate me to eat better. Having a daily reminder of the pain and suffering it takes to lose weight makes it harder to eat a bag of M&Ms or an entire brick of cheese.
I’m posting this today because, right now I can hardly make it up my stairs. Yesterday’s workout was rough, but not so difficultI thought I wouldn’t make it through it. Then I decided to run home from my small group (4 miles) – on top of it and when I did my first squat of today’s workout I thought my legs were going to spontaneously combust. Somehow I made it through the circuits today, but the absolute LAST thing I want to do tomorrow is “shred”. Actually, I considered just deciding to let myself go completely, forget about the difficulty keeping the weight off. Thus the blog. Bakerlady has helped me consistently stick to goals I set – mostly because I thrive with accountability. If I tell you people I’m going to do something, I really follow thru.
So, every day for the next month, you’ll get my take on the 30 Day Shred. Right now I’m doing level 1. Yesterday I thought maybe I’d skip ahead to level 2 today…yeah, that did NOT happen. And, I’m amazed at how badly my abs hurt, since the circuits in the program only include 1 minute of ab work. Three circuits means that from 3 measly minutes of ab exercises, I’m more sore than I’ve ever been after 5 sets on the crunch machines at the gym. Crazy. I feel totally out of shape, but am trying to give myself some credit for completing level 1 the first two days using 5 pound weights. I just read today that it’s suggested you start with 3 pound weights – so I guess that’s something. Well done Jill. I still love you – except my thighs. They pretty much hate you right now.
Bakerlady 