Body Revolution!

Wow. So I just finished the rest of today's workouts, which means Body Revolution workout one AND bonus cardio and hot damn! I was pouring sweat. POURING. SWEAT. I guess I asked for it, huh? But also it was really fun! Really. It's possible that just means that I've switched over to completely insane and am just enjoying torturing myself, but if so I'm totally cool with that.

And Giant brought me my hand weights home earlier than I had expected so I didn't even have to modify my first run through at all. I got to just go for it. Actually, I even did a couple of the advanced moves just to see if I could. I kinda could, but not totally. That's okay, each workout gets alternated for two weeks so that'll be something to work up to. I'll have a lot of work up time anyway because I'll barely be in phase two when we run off on holiday and I have to start all over again after that.

All in all, it was a good first day and it feels great to be working alongside a program again!

I'm actually really looking forward to doing it all over again tomorrow!

Day one: Ripped in 30!

Okay, so I think it's pretty fair to say that I've let the blog slide lately. Luckily it's been just the blog and not so much my daily workouts but I still wanted to get back into it! I was thinking about it and I think part of it is the lack of a daily regimented workout. I had meant to go directly from The 30 Day Shred into another program but somehow that didn't happen and then I got slammed with work for a week and wha wha-I dropped the ball.

Now, in the interim, I was sorta happy with my daily routine. I've been doing an hour of ab work and an hour on the elliptical. Somehow though, that hour of ab work just wasn't making me sweat as much as I feel like it should. I'm really not sure why. I feel like I'm focusing on proper form and really pushing myself but the sweat just isn't pouring like it does with some of the workout videos I've followed along to in my life. The elliptical, that always work! I won't say that the ab work felt entirely inconsequential, it just wasn't what I would like it to be.

I was going to just do my own thing until after we're back from holiday next month because we're leaving 3 weeks from today (YAY!) and I won't be able to get all the way through any of the workout programs I've been looking at, but oh well. I figure I'll do a mini push through the beginning of two up until we leave and then start over at day one on both once I'm back. I'm sure I'll have lots of good Greek food to work off by the time we're home again anyway.

So starting today, I'll be working through not only Ripped in 30 but also Jillian Michaels Body Revolution! Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm on a major Jillian Michael kick! But The 30 Day Shred was such a good starting point for me and Yoga Meltdown was such a fun aerobic yoga routine that I just figured I'd keep on going. And at 16 pounds down, I'm itching to get back to dropping the weight fast like I was instead of this slower tick through I'm on right now.

So far, I've only completed the Ripped in 30 portion and holy hell, I found the sweat I'd been missing! AND it was fun! I can honestly say that I really enjoyed it! Fingers crossed I can say the same thing about Body Revolution when I get into that here in a little bit! It's so satisfying to see all that sweat, especially since I've been missing it this last week! I had to modify a bit because I won't have the weights to do it properly until tomorrow, but I hated to put it off even another day so I figured I'd go for it anyway. After all, this is just a starting run anyhow. The real go will happen once we're back from holiday. 

The 30 minutes I took to do Ripped was about all the alone time Faversham (my adorable new kitten) could handle at the moment so I'm giving myself a breather and waiting for my Giant to come home before I get into Body Revolution. I'm super excited though! Faversham isn't old enough to be trusted to hangout in the room with me while I'm hopping around. He was in here with me while I was doing yoga the other day and he was less than helpful to say the least. He turns into a little devil and I can just see him thinking "Oh, are you balancing your entire body weight on that one arm? Maybe I'll just attack that arm and see how good your concentration is!"

This is not how Faversham reacts to yoga:

And back to work.

Okay. So I missed a few days of exercising and even a few more than that of blogging. This is what happens when they finally start sending me more work though I guess. I've been working the last few days straight-no joke. If I was awake, I was working. And that's okay, in fact, it was great. It's been so long since I've been working full tilt. It does make it a lot harder to work in the workouts though.

I think there was only one day that I did my full hour of Yoga Meltdown and an hour on the elliptical but at least there were several days of the hour of Yoga on it's own. That's way better than nothing...although there were definitely a couple days of nothing as well.

I just finished today's hour of Yoga Meltdown and I'm hoping to get in a bit more before the day is done. Plus I should definitely be able to get it in tomorrow as well since they almost never send me work on Sundays. Unless saying that means they'll send me stuff anyway...

I do seem to still be losing weight though, so that's great! It's obviously slowed down a little with the dip down in workout consistency, but a loss is a loss and that's what it's all about, right? I'm inching closer to 20 pounds down and that's a goal I'm really looking forward to. I would absolutely love to reach that by the end of the week so I'm going to try extra hard to get all my workouts in if at all possible! I think I can do it if I'm working out like I was.

Our holiday plans totally changed again with all the back and forth Giant had to go through to get the time off from work. We're going to Greece now and we're going really soon! The only downside to leaving on holiday sooner is that I basically won't have time to reach my goal weight before we head out. I plan on making as much progress as possible (who doesn't want to look good in their holiday pics?) But there's just not time to be all the way down. That's alright though. I'm sure I'll even put some back one while I'm there-especially being Greece. I adore Greek food and there's no way I'm staying dairy free when there's feta all over everything. It's just not possible. But that's okay too. That's what this lifestyle plan is about anyway. Being healthy enough to indulge a little when abroad.

No rest!

Okay, so I haven't decided what program I want to be following just now so instead I'm doing a bit of a mash up and I'll see what sticks. I did level one of Yoga Meltdown with the intention of doing level two directly after it, but my knee is giving me trouble and I don't want to end up with an injury that grounds me altogether so after level one I took a bit of a breather. After several hours I gave Six Week 6-Pack  a go and holy hell, am I sweaty mess right now! I read that the intention is to end up doing level one and two back to back on this one as well, so I went ahead and did that even though this was my first go at it! I figure with all the ab work I've been doing already, it couldn't hurt. Well, it does hurt but not in a negative way :) I did have to do some alternate cardio moves during all the lunge sequences though. I wish I could afford some time with a personal trainer to talk about more appropriate alternate moves when my knees are messing up but I guess for now, I'll just have to do whatever comes to me. I figure it's more important to just keep moving than to be doing the exact moves she's doing anyway. It's all calorie burning and I try not to exchange them with too easy of moves.

Here in a little bit, I'm going to jump on the elliptical for an hour or so as well for good measure. I love the elliptical. It seems like people either love it or they hate it. It seems every time I go to the gym with a buddy, they tell me I annoy them on the elliptical! Ha! I just love it though. I'm able to absolutely zone out and just hit it. Plus it's got an amazing calorie burning payout and, uh, I might have gotten in a fight with my brother and eaten Cadbury Creme Eggs whilst pouting about it. Yeah, see. I'm far, far, far from perfect.

Day Thirty: Shredded!

That's me done with my very first round of the 30 Day Shred! YAY! I'm feeling so awesome today! It was hard and there were many days I totally wanted to give up, but I kept on trucking and now here I am at the end! Eff yeah!

Am I shredded? Do I have a six pack? Am I twenty pounds down from where I started? Well, not quite. I probably do have a six pack, but it's still hiding behind a pretty decent layer of fat. Still, it does feel rock hard under there, so as soon as my weight loss catches up, I've got a pretty amazing head start. And I can't even imagine what I'd look like with a six pack! I've never been anywhere close to having one! I'm also not twenty pounds down from my start weight but there is a few things to be said for that. First of all, I AM 13 pounds down as of today! YAY! I probably would actually be the twenty pounds down if I hadn't had the whole vacation backslide in the middle of things. But, that being said, the 30 Day Shred hasn't been my only exercise I've been doing daily either. Here's how it breaks down:

For all of level one I wasn't doing any other exercise and honestly I didn't see much shifting of weight that first week. What I did see was my muscle tone start to pick up a bit and harden up. I'm sure the weight loss was coming, but once I into the swing of this commitment to work out every day, I started adding other stuff in. For all of level two, I also did both levels of her Yoga Meltdown every day along with the Shred. Now, this is where the weight really started flying off. No joke. It was around then that I counted up what I'd lost in the time I had lost it and realised that, if I work my ass off, I can be at my goal weight by the time we hit Portugal. It will take a whole lot of focus on my part, but if I don't give up, I can wear my bikini to the beach. It's been many years since I've been comfortable wearing my bikini out. I hardly even know why I have it. So, for level three I really hit things hard. Since I'm not working much at the moment and I have ended up with a bunch of free time, I put myself to work. The Shred became the shortest thing I did. I have an elliptical machine at home so what I started doing is 10 minutes running on the elliptical, 10 minutes of abs (crunches, leg lowers, ect) and repeat. FOR TWO HOURS. This hurts, but it's also sort of amazing. By the end of it, I've gotten in an hour on the elliptical and an hour of ab work. I drop an amazing amount of weight and I feel so much better. I've been sleeping better at night and had a ton more energy during the day. Plus, just so it doesn't get boring, I've been watching shows on youtube that have been cut into 10 minute increments and use that to time myself.

So I guess you couldn't use me as a barometer for how well the shred works on it's own as far as it being a singular weight loss tool BUT it is what kicked me off and got my motivation up. I would absolutely recommend the Shred to anyone who is looking for somewhere to get started!

Day Twentynine: One more day.

I just continue to be blown away by how near the end I am. Not that all that much will change after tomorrow, but just making it through the 30 Day Shred has been super awesome. Level three goes so fast! Even the first day of level three seemed like it just flew by! I'm so excited for tomorrow when it will officially be the end of my very first 30 Day Shred!

Not only that, but I've also been dropping weight really quickly this week. It's like it's just falling off every day. I know my period is coming up in a few days, so hopefully that doesn't completely ground me like it has been known to. At least now, with the new pain killers I have for it, I'm pretty sure I'll still be able to get my cardio in at very least. We'll see how much I'll be able to do ab work when I'm fighting menstrual cramps. I am glad that I'll be done with the Shred before it hits though.

My work continues to be coming in super slow, which is driving me mad, but I suppose it is a good opportunity to just really ramp up on the workout times. It's times like these where I really, really miss the 24 Hour Fitness in Tempe, AZ. Man, I really loved that place. I loved the layout and the machines and I loved the drive home with my windows down and the warm desert air blowing in on me. Working out in the desert was awesome to me. Working out here is good too. But here I use it as my fake sunshine and "sweat so I can pretend that it's warm here". In the desert I always good a double dose.

But in any event, this is how exercise becomes addictive and you have to appreciate that!

Day Twentyeight: End in Sight!

I swear today's 30 Day Shred workout flew by. I was barely getting into the swing and BAM! It was over! This is way better than level two, which was SO HARD for me to get into to. I've only got a couple days left now and I can barely believe it. This is the first time that I've done a workout program all the way through. I've always stopped after a week or so. There's a great sense of accomplishment involved.

It also helps that I can see a difference in myself as well. My wrists and hands for example are getting back down to normal for me and all my clothes fit better for sure. It's so nice.

I guess I don't have anything else to say for today. I'm just happy and feeling great!

Day Twentyseven: Seeing results.

Okay, so basically I've lost half of what they say you can lose doing this workout but I'm absolutely not unhappy with the results I'm seeing. For one, I would have lost a lot more if I hadn't taken that break down in the boarders. I gained back a bunch in just a couple days and it took me about a week to get back to where I had been. Now, I've put a lot of thought into that and you can look at it in one or two ways.

You could look at that and say "Well, if you gained it back just by taking a break in the middle, you won't keep it off when the program is over." And, sure, that's probably true if you think you're just going to do a program like this and then go back to all your old bad habits that you were stuck in before you decided to make a change. But isn't that true of anything? I mean, no matter what exercise program you're working through, if you hit your goal with it and then stop and eat a full fry up for breakfast every morning after that, of course you're going to gain back all the weight you worked so hard to knock off.

So the other option is that you can look at that and say "This is just the first step in a whole new way of life." You have to change your life and how you think about food and fitness if you're going to make a change and keep it. I mean, of course I don't want to be super militant with foods my whole life, but I don't even really think that's necessary anyway. As long as I keep a fair head with it and stop thinking everything results in me "deserving" to eat something horrible for me, I'm halfway there. If I can get myself to the point where I'm really enjoying my workouts and looking forward to them each day then I'm definitely winning the race. And I think that's exactly where I am. I've found super healthy alternatives that I really, really enjoy when it comes to food. I mean, kale burritos are actually really good! Who knew?! And while I may start to get tired of certain workouts after awhile, if I just keep switching it up (which is one of the great things about the 30 Day Shred) then I still absolutely love getting them done each day. EVEN WHEN IT'S HARD.

I'm basically learning that the more I do, the happier I am. So I've been adding a ton of cardio and ab work along with my daily Jillian video. Combined, it seems to be really effective. I don't always do the same stuff, but just making that effort seems to be what it's all about.

Day Twentysix: Nearly there!

Tonight was definitely a late workout, but I've gotten to the point now where I don't feel like my day is complete if I haven't gotten it in. YAY! This is definitely what I was going for with my workout routines. Even today where I didn't get it in earlier because we spent a few hours walking, which isn't a bad exercise all on it's own, I couldn't let the day go without it and feel right. Although, a few seconds after completing the cardio in the last circuit (all jump training) I realised that my downstairs neighbours probably didn't quite appreciate that bit :/ Oops. Hopefully no one was trying to sleep right below me!

I know I won't be "ripped" or have six pack abs magically appear in the four days I've got left, but I'm still so glad that I followed this workout to kick everything off. It's been awesome making it through all the level switches and the dropping weight. I've still got a lot left to lose, but this is a great way to start losing and I'm glad I found it!

Only four more days now!

Day Twentyfive: Going strong!

I forgot to post earlier but I didn't forget to do the workout! I've actually added a TON of ab stuff to my daily routine before my daily 30 day shred and OH. MY. SCIENCE. My abs have been so sore! My lower back too, because I've thrown in a bunch of reps of bridge pose to boot. But in any event, I've been feeling great and am really happy to have my elliptical machine working again (thanks, Giant!)

I definitely feel like every day I'm keeping my routine is a day that I'm happier and feeling better. Plus I'm dropping weight pretty quickly and that in itself is self perpetuating.

On the food side of things, I've been pretty annoyed with the lack of decent salsas available here and since my mother in law was nice enough to buy us a fancy new blender on a whim last weekend, I decided to try my hand at it. I didn't look up a recipe and I only used the limited ingredients available at Morrison's, but I'm actually quite proud of my first go with it! Plus, it's really pretty good for you too as there's nothing bad in it at all.

Earlier this week I ran across this thing about making gluten free wraps by wrapping it all up in collard greens instead of tortillas! Genius! So tomorrow I'm going to give my new salsa a go in a collard green wrap. I'm oddly excited about this whole prospect.

Day Twentfour: Ramping up.

Here I am, nearly halfway through level three! I think the closer I get to the end, the more I want to add to my exercise routine. This is definitely the way to go. I know the more I'm able to add in, the faster I'll get my results. And, with all the extra time I have right now, it's a great time to be getting it all in. I know if I can build the habits now, I'll be more likely to keep them going when I've got a lot more work coming in and time isn't as free as it is just now. Honestly though, last time I was at my goal weight and feeling the best, I was actually doing five hours of yoga a day AND I WAS WORKING OVERTIME EVERY DAY TO BOOT! So it's possible. Totally possible. Although, just now I'm doing a lot more high intensity stuff and it probably wouldn't be good to be doing THAT much aerobic-style workouts. Still, it's amazing to look back on. Especially since, at the time, I wasn't even trying to lose weight-I was just trying to be happy. It definitely worked for that as well.

I continue to go back and forth about what program I want to follow when this one is over. Ripped in 30 is still what I keep coming back to. I was thinking of switching over to Bob Harper's Weight Loss Yoga when I switch over to the new program from Yoga Meltdown but I haven't totally decided on that one either. Indecision, indecision.

Today I did an hour on my elliptical AND an hour or sit ups, crunches, and leg lowers on top of the usual! Yep. I was totally motivated today and feel all the better for it.

Day Twentythree: Don't cave.

So, I missed yesterday. I don't have any valid excuses, I just missed. Actually, yesterday I wasn't so much the me that I want to be. I woke up to bad news and I let it beat me. I pouted and felt sorry for myself all day long. How embarrassing is that? I knew I should have gotten up and worked out anyway, but I just didn't. I'm positive that I spent more time thinking about how I didn't want to work out than I would have spent just getting up and getting it done. But yesterday I let it beat me and I didn't do anything about it.

Today I got back on the circuit. It may have taken me several hours to psych myself up for it, but in the end I did it. Now I'm sweaty and just really glad that I did it. I feel so much better when I just do it.

I am kind of bummed that my weekend visiting the in laws and just eating what I was offered set me so far back. I gained a lot of the weight I had lost back in just those two days. Now I'm still a pound over what I had been when I left and that's mostly leaving me a bit aggravated that I basically lost a week in two days. In any event, I think I've figured out how to do that better next time. I really think that the dietary stuff isn't the biggest part of it-although that could stand to be tweaked a little as well. Just things like skipping the roll and the black pudding at breakfast and the obvious portion size part of things. But mostly I think I just need to get some exercise in while we're there. There's always a big chunk of the day after we go see his granny that we end up just bumming around for. Recently I ran across some walking routes that are set up around Melrose that are pretty decent. I think the smaller of the two is 4 miles. Next time we go, I'm going to give that a go and I expect it will make a pretty big difference.

So I guess my theme today is "don't cave". It's easy to do, but it's so not worth it and in the end it's how we respond to set backs that really matter and not so much the set backs themselves. That's my theory anyway...

Day Twentytwo: I heart Level Three!

It's funny because I had been all geared up to hate level three after someone in my 30 Day Shred Facebook group posted about how much she had enjoyed the first two levels and then totally hated the last one. I'm glad it wasn't that way for me though! Far from dreading it, I absolutely love it! The hardest one for me in this series was definitely level two, but even there, I wouldn't say that I hated it. It was just so much harder for me!

It's almost weird being this close to the end of my first 30 day shred! I am so glad I started this blog to keep me going-I know there have been many days this blog gave me the extra motivation I needed to get up and do it.

I should give my cross trainer another go tonight. It sits there and taunts me because I absolutely LOVE my cross trainer at my old gym but this one is squeaky and positioned differently, and I just can't seem to find my groove on it. I guess you can't have it all when it's free, huh? :)

Day Twenty & Twenty One: A bit of a mashup.

So here I am back from our weekend away and back on track. I did try and do my last round of Level Two last night after we got back, but it just wasn't happening. I started it twice, but my curry (the last non-diet food of the weekend) just wasn't sitting right and I got really sick and had to stop. I really, really wanted to finish out yesterday, but I also really, really didn't want to throw up. So the compromise was to leave it till today but to finish Level Two in the morning and then ramp up to Level Three in the afternoon! That worked great! AND didn't make me feel like I'd fallen quite as behind.

I love Level Three. Seriously. Level Three is definitely just as hard as the others, but something about it is just a lot more fun for me personally. It might be the yogaish parts and the jumptraining, but  whatever the case, I can already tell that this part is going to fly by! I've already even started considering doing it twice a day just because.

I think in a way it was good to be out of town this weekend, just so I could see how much I miss being away from my routine when I can't get it in. It's definitely my goal to make these circuits a natural part of my daily routine and I'm starting to feel like that's happened! Awesome!

It was also pretty interesting to see how my body reacted to eating all the foods that I've given up since January. I think it's pretty safe to say that I feel a lot better when I stick to my new diet! I was almost immediately more tired and just kinda gross when I ate all that stuff. That being said, I had really missed the full Scottish breakfast, so I was more than happy to have one even though it didn't sit as nicely as my fruit does. Every once and awhile, that sort of thing is just kind of necessary I think.

In any event, I'm really glad to be back and moving through the 30 Day Shred again! I'm leaning back towards doing the Ripped in 30 when I'm done with this program. I'd still love to do some kettlebell work, but I think I'd much rather do that with a trainer at first till I'm comfortable with it and that'll have to wait.

Day Nineteen: Making the most.

Today I had to basically pop out of bed and get moving with my workout to get it in before we have to go. I'm really looking forward to this trip out of town, but I'm still kinda bummed that I won't be doing my last Level Two work out tomorrow! Oh well, Sunday night will have to be it.

There's something to be said for absolutely knowing that you have to get your workout in first thing in the morning or losing the opportunity for the day altogether. I wish I had the motivation to do it right after waking up like that everyday!

Level Two continues to be hard for me, but not at all like it was that first day! I'm so curious as to what Level Three will bring!

Well, I don't have time for more of a post than that, so I'll talk to you guys Sunday night after I'm back in Glasgow and DONE WITH LEVEL TWO!

Have a great weekend, guys!  

Day Eighteen: Goals in sight.

I weighed in today and I'm now down eight pounds from where I started! I'm so happy with that. Even more so considering that I didn't really start calorie counting till this last week. I mean, I wasn't eating a ton different before that, but I was just going by the "It's all healthy stuff, so why bother counting the calories" method. Eating a basically vegan diet, without even the benefit of legumes, gluten, or grains, is naturally low in calorie for me BUT the loss really started happening when I started counting and added the yoga back in. Since then, I've been losing right around a pound every couple of days and I feel awesome!

The workouts are still HARD though! I feel like I'm sweating even more by the end of Level Two than I was when I first started it! The combined pendulum lunges and hammer curls (?) are continuing to mess with my left knee though. I can do it fine on one side but not the other. Again, my left side is weaker. So I've basically booted those and opt to do cardio while they're finishing the side I can't do on the video instead. I'm just not willing to risk injury at all there.

I'm glad we're heading down to Giant's folks this weekend, but I'm SO BUMMED this means I'm not going to finish Level Two on Saturday but now on Sunday. I'm really looking forward to moving onto the final level.

There was a bunch of positive talk on one of my Facebook groups today about kettlebells. Anyone out there have any experience with them? I had pretty much decided to go onto Ripped in 30 after this, but now I'm thinking about working with kettlebells instead. Some of the calorie burning people were throwing out there sounded pretty amazing! Coupling that with how strong people felt core wise, it's pretty tempting. Guess I've got some Googling to do!

Day Seventeen: Closer

Wow. I'm still here, still moving! I did realise I am going to have to miss a day though. I've been trying to figure out a way to get it in on this coming Saturday (especially as it would have been the last day for level 2!) But I don't see how I'll be able to. We're going down to visit my Giant's mum and dad over the weekend and there just isn't even the space to do it in down there. We are generally pretty active when we go down to Selkirk though, so that part's good. I figure I can get it in Friday before we leave and again on Sunday when we get back, but Saturday is going to have to be a skip day. Actually, it'll be a skip day in more ways than one because I already decided back in January when I started my modification of the MS recovery diet that when we were down visiting, I would just eat what was on offer. John's mum is an absolute sweetheart and she would go out of her way to buy all the stuff for my diet, but she's got so much going that I just don't want to bother her with it. So I guess Saturday will just have to be a free for all.

But, today I'm on track in double time-eating right and working out hard. I was a ball of sweat today, but it was actually really fun! And, after my little gain the other day, I'm back down to where I was before plus a pound. Still moving and it's getting closer!

Day Sixteen: A little bit easier.

Today was another one of those days where it seemed like it was taking me forever to get up and going, but once I started everything was a bit easier. I know I keep saying this, but I am SO GLAD I added the Yoga Meltdown in before my daily shred. It has helped so much. My sore muscle in my calf isn't bothering me nearly so much now and I think it even helps with my endurance. Plus, it's all adding up as far as calorie burning goes seeing as I'm already sweating pretty good before the shred even starts! I did get a little twinge in my left knee towards the end of the shred today during the pendulum lunges and something or other. Hmmm. Can't remember the name, but the one where you lunge forward and press and then lunge backwards and press. It was only on my left side though, so I just did some leg kicks throughout the rest of that one and it didn't bother me again. Hopefully that was just a passing thing.

I have started reading through some options for what program to go into once this one is done. (YAY for being over halfway done with my first 30 Day Shred!) So far, I think I'm probably going to go through Ripped in 30. It looks like it's a ramp up in difficulty, but it also doesn't repeat exercises during each level. Plus, there's something to be said for changing routines every week as opposed to ten days. I think that would help keep me motivated to get started every day just because I get more into it the nearer I get to the end of a particular level.

So that's me today. What's everyone else doing?

Day Fifteen: A steady pace gets me through.

Day fifteen. That means I'm now not only halfway through level two of the 30 Day Shred, but I'm also halfway through the program in general. This level is creeping by-getting a little easier and then seemingly harder again, but I am still going. I am also still going on the yoga so, by the time I'm done with the shred, I've been working at it for an hour and a half. When I finish an hour and a half of solid exercise it doesn't even matter how easy or how hard it was-I feel so accomplished.

I'm starting to think a little bit on what I'll do when this practice is done. I'm really thinking of staying with Jillian Michaels just because her stuff has been working really well so far. I don't know though. I guess I'll have to think about it over the next 15 days. Any suggestions?

I also got back into my account with myfitnesspal.com I should have never let it slip, it's such an amazing resource. Anything that makes you aware and accountable of what's going in is a good thing I guess. Plus I hate putting bad numbers in there, so just knowing that I'm going to have to log it all does a bit to help me out, I think.

Until tomorrow!

Day Fourteen: Some days you just don't wanna (but you have to).

I have honestly never wanted to turn off the video more than I did today. Today it was HARD. I must have thought about switching it off and just laying around a million times. On every part of every circuit. Absolute. Insanity. Which is weird, because the yoga was okay.

I did the full hour of Yoga Meltdown before today's level two of the 30 day shred. Doing the yoga first has been way better, getting me super stretched up before going into the really hard stuff. Plus, that one muscle is still bothering me, but it seems to be a lot less of a hassle when the yoga comes first.

But honestly, today I hated the shred. I am so proud of myself for doing it anyway. That's the crux right there.

On the food side of things, I've been realising lately that I've just stopped using salt in the last week or so. Have I mentioned this already? I was just talking to my dad about it earlier, so I can't remember if I'm repeating myself or if it just feels that way from telling him. I can't remember. It's just interesting because when I first started this diet shift at the beginning of January, I think I was using more salt and overall seasonings. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I just didn't feel like it needed it any more. It's like all of the sudden I can taste the food perfectly fine without it. I feel like maybe a healthy diet is self perpetuating.

Anyway, I'm off for tonight, but please-send me high-motivation thoughts tomorrow. I'm really hoping it'll be easier to make it through the shred tomorrow!

Day Thirteen: Sunshine in Glasgow.

Health and fitness wise, today was an extremely good day. This is handy because I worked out some pretty extreme goals for myself on the exercise front. I just feel like I've been so sedentary for so long, I need to push it as far as I can to remind myself why I enjoy this stuff in the first place.

I also got inspiration in an unexpected place for me, television. Now, I know I'm really weird about TV. I haven't had a television hooked up since 1998. Well, technically we have one in this flat, but it's in John's domain and I basically never go in there. I'm also probably one of the only people who works on TV shows that never even sees the finished version of the shows I work on. This doesn't mean that I don't watch television at all, because I watch my fair share on my computer, but it does mean that I don't happen across stuff. If I'm watching it, it's because I've been seeking it out (and it's probably super nerdy). So this is the first time I've ever watched The Biggest Loser. I'm watching the Australian version just because that's the choice YouTube gave me first. Let me tell you, it's pretty hard to let myself off with one 20-minute workout a day watching those people and what they're going through. It also serves to remind myself that my goal really isn't all that far away. I just have to be paying more attention. But it still has to be fun.

Today the sun came out in Glasgow. Briefly. And since I've been hiding inside for so long that I'm about to go absolutely bonkers, we ran off into it before it got a chance to start raining again. So we walked hit one of the museums, the necropolis, and ended with the oldest house in Glasgow. All this was really good in a number of ways:

1. These were all firsts for me that I hadn't seen out this way. I had been to the other necropolis, but I'm a sucker for old cemeteries (I blame my grandfather for founding one in my hometown) so that was fine.

2. I have photographic evidence of blue skies in Glasgow in February. My Arizona friends seemed to pick today to drive down to Sedona and post pictures of it's desert beauty. I think they do this on purpose sometimes. Oh well. My pictures are pretty too!

3. If any of you have ever spent any amount of time walking around with a man who is 6'8" you know exactly how fast they walk. (See, I'm not kidding when I call him my giant) At 5'2" I feel like I am always running around behind him. So this was a good calorie burning kick-start to the day :) 

From there I was able to do a full hour of aerobic yoga and still finish up with level 2 of my 30 day shred kicking my ass all over again! It is getting easier, but I'm not sure it'll ever add up to "easy" by the time I'm ready to hit level 3!

All in all? Today was a good day! How was it for you guys? Any chance of sun out there?

Day Twelve: Moving right along.

So, was day two of level two any easier? A little, but even a little was pretty noticeable. I'm getting there and one thing I will say about level two-every day I get through it I'm pretty proud of myself. But I am sore all over again! I'm not sure how much of that is being in level two and how much of it is adding the yoga back in (which I also managed to do again today) but I imagine it's a bit of both.

 I had to soak in the bath again before yoga today as my left calf was killing me after today's shred. I am starting to wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that my left side is my weak side or if it's mainly coincidence. I may have just stepped wrong on one of the movements and pulled it a bit. It probably doesn't matter, but I am always curious with things like this because I always want to know if it's my MS making itself known. My main MS symptom since the very beginning has been that if I'm really stressed out or upset or under any kind of extreme strain (mentally or physically) really, I lose my left side. That whole side just goes numb and loses strength causing me to limp significantly. Now, for the most part, this hardly ever happens. Well, actually it happens at least a little every month because my cramps are, in fact THAT BAD. But hopefully that's about to be sorted out between all these doctor visits and the new pain pills they gave me for the interim. Outside of that though, it maybe happens once or twice a year. Still, I feel like maybe my left side is just a little bit weaker all the way around. Hopefully all this training will start making a difference with that though.

Coincidently, I probably need to be looking up better stretches to incorporate on my own before I get into the shred every day. So far, the bath has been good enough, but I might as well take all the precautions I can get. I don't want to end up really hurt and having to wait for it to heal.

What are everyone's favorite stretches? Do you always stretch on your own before working along a video and if so, for how long? I'll be asking Google as well, but I'd love to hear what your routines are!

Short Shot - Yoga!

I'm not all talk when it comes to yoga! I can add it back in! After a little breather and some time in the bath to try and calm down my problematic calf muscle I decided to just go for it with the aerobic yoga. I figure that I'm really looking for a good burn just now and that's the fastest way to get there. Not only that, but once I really got going, I tore right through both level one and two of Yoga Meltdown!

Maybe sometimes it takes a small disappointment to realign your resolve. I'm out till tomorrow but I wanted to see it in print first ;) I finally got my yoga back on and I freaking love it!

Namaste, people!

Day Eleven: No matter what.

Wow. So I guess today just isn't going to be easy.

First up, I weighed in and was really disappointed to see that the number on the scales has gone back up a bit. I had been down to 156 but today saw me back at 160. I started at 162. WTF. I totally wasn't ready for that! You think that when you're working out every day no matter what that the weight will only go down. So I started delivering myself all these little internal justifications. You know: Weight fluctuates a little every day. I'm in the middle of my period so I'm probably retaining extra water. And an oldie but a goody-muscle weighs more than fat. But the truth is, none of that matters. It doesn't matter because the scales are only useful as a motivator. It does me no good if I beat myself up about it. Honestly there's only one thing that I know for sure won't help me get fit and make me happy and that's giving up. Anything else, as long as I'm really working for it, will get me where I'm going. It may get me there quickly and it may get me there slowly, but it will get me there. So fuck the scale. I walked away from it and started level two.

Level two is hard. No kidding. Level two totally kicked my ass. All that strength and grace I'd built up in level one isn't necessarily going to be an automatic carry over. Bummer. My legs were shaking like mad and I started falling over. Oh yeah. Level two is hard. I was reaching for mantras and trying not to watch the clock. I'm telling myself over and over to just get through it. If you can just get through it today, it'll be easier tomorrow. Just get through it. I was trying to remember how some days in level one were huge leaps forward from the day before and some were small steps. So that means you just have to get through the small steps in order to be ready to take the leap, right? And I started thinking about that phenomenon that's always running through my yoga practice. It's almost always the postures that I dread the most that end up being my very favourites. You just have to master it and to master it you just have to keep going. Honestly. This was my internal dialogue the entire time. And eventually I made it through. I was shaking and sweaty, but I did it. Tomorrow will be easier. Tomorrow will be easier. Tomorrow will be easier.

And what did I do when I was done with my first day in level two? I tried to run through the Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown level one! Apparently making it through level two gave me that push to try and get back into yoga. This is where it really kicked me though, because halfway through that routine, I pulled a muscle. D'oh! It's a muscle in my left calf that's been giving me a bit of trouble for a few days now. Not really to the point where I had to stop obviously, but it's been making itself known. Part way through yoga though, it just called it quits. So I've been thinking about it and I realised I have a few options here. I can use it as an excuse. I can take a little breather, soak it in the bath in a bit, and try Yoga Meltdown again. Or I can do a non-aerobic yoga routine after a little break. So what am I going to do? Well, my resolve today can't wrap my brain around using it as an excuse. Excuses got me to where I can't stand seeing a video clip of myself without cringing. Nope. No way. So it's Jillian Michaels yoga or Jason Crandell yoga. I think I'm going to make that call after my break. There are definite merits to both.

Day Ten: The end of level one!!!

That's me done with level one! I'm totally excited to be done with it-and with no days left off in between! I can't wait to see what level two has in store for me. I keep wanting to peek, but I'm not gonna.

I'm so proud of myself for being a third of the way through and still going strong. Especially with Giant having had a four day weekend this week. It's always so easy to pass off on my exercise routines when he's home (he's just so comfortable to lay around with!) but I didn't let it sway me. I guess I'm getting better at this whole will power thing.

Willpower is such a funny thing. It used to be a laughable notion for me. I had zero healthy habits and I'm not even kidding. Back in school and then all the way through to my mid 20s I was lazy as hell, ate anything that looked good in the moment, smoked like a train, and basically never moved a muscle. What a turn around to see me now. Now I strive to better myself every single day (even when it's the last thing I feel like doing). I eat an amazing amount of fresh fruit and veg every day and have traded the last of my bad sweets for dates! Now my stomach turns when I even smell cigarette smoke and I'm successfully working out every day-even when no one's looking ;)

I saw this post this morning of a woman who has reached her goal weight. Instead of posting the regular before and after pictures showing side, front, and back she just had two pictures of her face and it told the whole story. What a huge, beautiful grin she had on in the second photo. And I was thinking, if I can back to my goal weight, maybe I'll post the video John took of me that made me realise I wanted to absolutely get out of this body I trapped myself in and feel good again next to a video of me once I'm done. It's still a ways off, of course but I think it makes sense.

I've also been reading about isometrics today. For the most part, they seem to be yoga postures held for various amounts of time, but just with a more scientific-sounding name. Any experience with that out there? I'd love to hear people's thoughts on it...

Day Nine: Almost through.

Here's my little catch up post that, had time permitted, would have gone along with yesterday's work out. I am so glad to be able to accept work again, but it did get away from me a bit yesterday. In any event, here are my thoughts from day nine:

Yesterday was another day that almost didn't happen. I spent the first half of the day completely incapacitated with cramps. They've gotten so bad, I nearly pass out from the pain these days (and, yes, I am working with my doctors to get it all sorted out) and the last round of pain medication the GP gave me wasn't even touching the pain! They ended up getting me in for an emergency appointment and with that I left with a medication that knocked it back quite a bit. I had all but given up on the notion of working out when my cramps levelled out to a dull roar and I realised that exercise might just be what I needed to push through and feel a bit better. I'm so glad I did, because that's exactly what happened! I'm so excited that I seem to have hit on this frame of mind that pushes me to move forward against pretty much everything! It's an amazing feeling!

I can't believe I'm already nearly done with level one! I had a really defined boost in strength and endurance during this ninth workout that I feel really confident that I'm headed in the right direction. I'm super curious about what level two involves, but I haven't peeked ahead. I guess I'll let it be a surprise. I realised today that for the first time, when she says "this is easy for you!" towards the end of the work out that it was *nearly* true! I mean, I'm still a sweaty mess by the time I complete a tape, but it is SO MUCH EASIER than day one it barely compares!

I was also thinking about Jillian Michaels herself yesterday while I was working out. It occurs to me that, with the exception of yoga (which I still haven't managed to add back in! Arg!) she is the first fitness instructor who has stayed motivating for me. I can't really put my finger on why that is, and maybe it's just because I'm coming to it in the right frame of mind just now, but listening to her walk me through the work out has actually been really nice. I think I'll definitely stick with her work outs after this initial 30 day shred; although I'm not sure which one I'll do next. (Anyone have any experience with her other work outs?)

I was also thinking about what I wear when I work out and, as silly as this probably is, I think my workout outfit helps push me a little. See, I have these yoga pants made out of that material that won't hold water. It's really easy to feel good in them, because they're stretchy enough that they're not restrictive, but firm enough that they hold me in just right at the same time. With that, I often wear one of my swimsuit tops, that's sort of this tank thing of similar attributes. There's this odd mixture of a slimming workout outfit AND one that I can see starting to fit better each day that I work with it that is super satisfying. I used to feel that way walking into the gym with all the mirrors on the way to the elliptical machine. It's like if you can wear something that you can see slimming in your minds eye, it's just a little bit of a boost and, for me, I can take all of the little boosts I can get!

Anyway, I'm off to respond to comments and then finish out level one! YAY!

Asleep on my feet.

Okay, so I *did* work out today and I had a bunch of things in mind to write about but now I've worked so late I can't even believe I'm still standing! It'll have to wait till tomorrow-which will be my last day of level one! YAY!

Until then, I can literally hear my bed calling...

Day Eight: Still here

Today has been pretty uneventful. My motivation is not yet a straight line and more along the lines of peaks and valleys. I just keep not letting myself off the hook and it gets me through it one day at a time. Once in, my strength is continuing to build on itself. I have a much greater range of movements throughout the level 1 exercises than I did in the beginning.

I have a definite sense of accomplishment the closer I get to level 2 and the shorter time frames on each level was one of the reasons I chose the 30 day shred to start with. Short goals mean so much to me just now. With my long-term goal still pretty far off, it's so much more helpful to think of everything in bite-sized chunks. Two more days of level 1. Six pounds lost. Each day a little easier to get through.

I'm actually trying to put the weight-loss portion at the back of my mind just now. It just feels to big and, at least for the time being, can safely sit behind eating right and getting the work outs in every day. I know it'll come if everything else is in place and dwelling on it seems like a trap. I'm just too easily discouraged with those thoughts in mind.

What do you guys use as your short-term goals and how often do you check in on your long-term goals?

Day Seven: The best start to a full day.

Okay, so I'm blogging late, but I managed to get my workout done first thing again. Sundays are an easy slack day for me, because it's the day that I set aside every week to connect with my family back in the States. And I mean, full on Skype hangout sessions where it's me, my dad, sometimes my giant, my dad's dogs, and great conversations all day long. To add to it, my brother wanted to Skype before he heads off to LA to enjoy copious amounts of vitamin D *grumblegrumble* Plus, just as I was all ready to blog, I got a file from work to have in by morning. So, yes, it's after midnight, but I didn't miss a day!

Actually, I've felt great all day long. I think that morning work outs really do set the tone for the day and keep the mood lighter. I think I needed it after the roller coaster I was on yesterday.

On the food side of things, I discovered that I like dates. I don't think I'd ever had one before yesterday. I don't know if that's just because they look so unappetising or what. I usually don't let that stop me and I tend to try everything at least once, but somehow I'd missed dates entirely. Turns out, I actually really like them. Not only that, I realised that they're sweet enough to replace chocolate when I feel a sweet attack coming on, which got me thinking. I'm not huge on sweets, but I do have some pretty strong habits where sugar is involved. There's my monthly chocolate craving, my dose of sugar in my coffee (which I've been actively cutting down), and the honey in my ice cream. So I Googled around and found out how easy it is to make a date syrup to use as sweetener. I think I'll give that a go this week.

Do you guys do anything like that for sweeteners or have you just cut them out entirely?

Day Six: Even on days like today.

Now, bear with me because this really will all work itself out in the end. But here's where it starts: 

I've been done with today ever since I opened my eyes this morning. You know those days where it's nothing and everything all at once? Now, I am for the most part an incredibly logical person. I'm also someone who absolutely hates to complain. I absolutely loath the sound of my own voice when I am complaining. But today all bets were off. From the minute I woke up, everything was too much. I woke up cold. I woke up to disappointing news. I woke up to the realisation that I'm over scheduled on Friday and probably won't get any sleep. I woke up remembering that I hadn't made it to Morrison's last night to pick up breakfast for today. I had to walk to the store with my Giant where the white Scottish sky seemed even a little more oppressive than usual. I'll completely admit that I came straight home and cried. It's embarrassing, but it's true. I cried. And cried and cried and cried. I cried until I was completely exhausted, fell asleep, only to wake up and cry a bit more. Usually I try and get all the tears out without calling my Giant in, but it looked like there was no end in sight so I called him in from the sitting room.

Since he's amazing, he came in and told me jokes. He hugged me and explained that eventually the sun will come back and even if it doesn't, we can at least go visit it in Portugal soon. He told me all about the Russian spy novel he's reading and asked me what I would like our next flat to be like. He even re-enacted the time he rolled off the bed with a shocked whoop. By the time he had to leave (his band is playing down town tonight), I felt better but still not great.

I flipped through Facebook. I watched an old episode of the X Files. I discovered that the jar of what my Giant referred to as "guacamole" probably doesn't contain anything resembling an avocado. Basically I did everything but my work out. I told myself I didn't have to. I did fancy false math that would justify the short walk to the store and countless tears as "most likely burning the same amount of calories". I even did the thing where I considered just not eating again till tomorrow to make up for the skipped exercise.

But you know what? In the end I realised I was wasting way more time trying to justify it to myself than I would if I just got off my ass and did it. I realised that the more I sat around feeling badly and NOT MOVING the more horrible I felt. So I just got up and did it. I pushed play even though it was after 8pm. I pushed play even though I could have probably laid down and cried again. I pushed play and gave it everything I had-which was a lot more than I thought it was going to be and now I feel...better. I honestly feel 20 times better than I did before I worked out.

So yeah. I'm usually not one to share my tears, but I think it's worth it this time because now they're more like proof that it's a decision. Even on days like today.

Day Five: Halfway through level one!

Today I felt like I really reached my first good foothold. Not only am I officially halfway through level one, but I was able to get out of bed and into my workout within 10 minutes! It's a great way to wake up and I felt great doing it. My strength and endurance had a noticeable increase today as well-even over yesterday, which was a step up all on its own. Sitting here now, I can really feel the muscles in my abs, although they're not really sore per say. It's all forward momentum!

Today is the type of day I need to hold onto on the days I really just want to lay down and veg out.

It's funny how exercise really builds on itself. On the days you feel an increase in strength and endurance, it really makes you want to keep adding to the workout. I think this means today is the day to add some of the yoga back in. I'm tempted to go over the Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown tape as opposed to my regular slower stuff with Jason Crandell just because I know the calorie burn is so much higher with the aerobic version and I feel strong enough to really enjoy it just now.

In any event, I'm still going strong! Thanks so much for helping me keep going! This helps me more than you know!

  

Coconut Milk Ice Cream Recipe

One of the firs things I did when I went about changing my entire diet from top to bottom was make sure that I had a couple of sweet things to whip up when I really, really needed them. I still try to make sure I'm only eating them in moderation, but I figured if I didn't have some back up, it was only a matter of time (like till my next monthly cycle) till I fell off the wagon big time.

This ice cream recipe is perfect because you can easily change the ingredients around a bit depending on what you like your ice cream to be flavoured with. For this one, I'll give a chocolate cherry flavoured ice cream that I have a lot. Feel free to substitute the chocolate and cherries for any kind of flavouring you and your family desires though!

Ingredients 
One can coconut milk (or two of the cardboard cartons)
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons chopped dark chocolate
2 tablespoons chopped dried cherries

1. Combine all ingredients into small pot and heat, but don't let mixture come to a boil, stirring often. All chocolate should be melted and the bits of cherry just beginning to plump.

2. Let mixture cool to close to room temperature and then run through your ice cream maker as per your model's instructions. I've read that if you don't have an ice cream maker, you can place mixture in bowl and put it in the freezer, stirring every 30 minutes until it reaches the desired consistency. I've never done it that way, so can't comment on how many 30 minute cycles that would take, but I'd imagine it'd be around 3 hours worth.

*This recipe makes about about a pint.


I've found that I like coconut milk based ice cream better than the old fashioned dairy kind, far and away. Actually, even my husband does and that's really saying something as he's a pretty 'traditional Scottish diet' sort of man. Not only with conventional flavours, but don't be afraid to get creative with it! One of my very favourite coconut milk ice cream flavours is Rosemary and Apricot! It doesn't sound like the rosemary would be good, but it really, really is!

Let me know what you think!

Day Four: Getting stronger.

Well, I'll admit, the gumption to get up and do this in the morning is still really lacking. I am so relying on this blog to get me past it and push play. What is it they say about how long it takes to create a habit? It seems like it's something like 30 days of repetition-possibly longer. Ha. By that standard, it will be habit right when I finish this program. Oh well. The upside is, I plan to move onto another one when this one is done anyway, so I guess that's okay.

As far as current progress goes, I am getting stronger. My muscles are much less sore today and I can go a bit deeper into a lot of the moves. I feel like my form is probably improving too. I always have a problem with the moves where they say "don't let the knee go over the toe". I have this problem in yoga too. For some reason, I don't seem to have a good internal indicator of when to stop-or how far to go-and I know it looks like it's going over the toe from my perspective before it actually is. A few years back I lived in a house that had a mirror wall in the room I did yoga in. (It also had a nice big kitchen and, not only a washing machine, but a tumble dryer! Two things I miss so much living in this particular flat in Glasgow!) Anyway, exercising in front of the mirror was the only time I felt like I was getting those lunge-type moves just right. But most of the moves feel like they're getting better and deeper anyway. I wonder if I'll feel like I've 'mastered' level one by the time the first 10 days are up and it's time to move onto level two.

I started moving my breakfast until after the morning workout though, and I do think I like that part better. Before I was eating first, letting it settle a bit, and then going into it. Not only does this feel a bit more natural-possibly a hold over from the yoga days-but I'm hoping it will help with the motivation as well. No bowl of fruit until after your morning date with Jillian, Self!

Any motivation tips would be much appreciated. I so don't want to slip up this time!  

Day Three: Still moving.

So first off, despite what everyone says about only weighing in once a week, I jumped on the scale this morning and discovered I am already 5 pounds down! YAY! Now, I know there's normal weight fluctuation and all that but I was so stupidly happy to see that! I think I really needed to see it because I've been totally bummed out that this massive change in diet I made at the beginning of the year hasn't resulted in melting the weight off the way I'd sorta hoped it would. More on that in a minute.

It's still a push to get from waking up to hitting play on this work out. Apparently I'm a lazy, lazy creature because I can honestly say that if I hadn't promised myself that I would log everything in this blog EVERY SINGLE DAY, there's next to zero chance I would have done it today. I was way too busy doing nothing on the internet. The stupid thing is, once I get started, it's really easy to push through it. Well, maybe easy is the wrong term-it's definitely a sweaty, all-of-my-muscles-are-screaming kind of easy. It's just that once I start it, I don't even contemplate ditching out halfway through.

I don't know why so much of health and fitness is that way for me. Take yoga. I love yoga. LOVE IT. Honestly. There was a time I was seriously considering going through teachers training just because. I had little to no intention of actually teaching it, but I craved it so much it seemed logical to go through the training anyway. During that go, I was actually doing somewhere around 5 hours of yoga a day. That's how much I love yoga. But I still find myself randomly stopping my practice. I have no excuse for this. Every time I do it, I actively miss it and still refer to myself as someone who does yoga...even when I'm not. I don't get it. Now I'm lucky if I even do my short shots with Mr Crandell. By the end of this week, I should be adding yoga back into my daily routine. It's just too silly not to.

Anyway, I keep mentioning food and not really talking about it, so here goes:

I changed my diet at the start of the year pretty dramatically and, although weight loss was something that was in the back of my mind, it was not the main thought. See, I have MS. It's not quite so bad as it sounds, I don't have all that many symptoms and for the most part you wouldn't even know that I have it if I didn't tell you. I was diagnosed back in 2008 and, with the exception of one hospitalisation, it's not something I've had to spend too much time thinking about since my initial diagnosis. It didn't stop me from spending a full day meteor hunting in the Arizona desert and dragging huge ass rocks across science knows how far back to the car, for example. I am not what one would call terribly fragile. But it is something to think about, and it is something I would like to keep as background as possible.

It seems like there's been more and more in the news-especially here in the UK where there are so many MS patients-about diet and MS. So I set out reading. I found out that there are several MS trigger foods that should be cut out completely (some can be systematically added back in later to see if your personal body chemistry can handle them) These are dairy, eggs, gluten, yeast, and legumes. I will say that the only one of these things that totally bummed me out were the legumes. No legumes means no hummus and I LOVE HUMMUS.

So what do I eat? I eat fish most days. I also eat a ton of fruit and vegetables. I eat so many fruits and vegetables that I don't even have a chance to feel restricted really, because I really quickly got to a point where I just crave the stuff.

For the most part, I follow the diet Terry Wahls came up with. If you want the super involved details, you can get them all here: http://www.terrywahls.com/  But I don't eat all the organ meat. Or the red meat in general. I pretty much stick to fish. I've been poking around and it's pretty clear that all the places where they really just don't have MS are places where they don't eat dairy and consume a ton of fish. A lot of them are also warm, sunny places but you can't win them all when you're married to a Scotsman, right?

I started this dietary shift thinking I would feel really restricted, but I honestly don't. I do have to think things through a little bit more and, if I were smarter, I'd be preparing something ahead of time before I go out to the pub with my giant so I don't decide that tray of chips on the way home is a good idea. Oh well, for the time being the pub is out anyway. And, as I said before, I also started it out thinking that my weight issues would take care of themselves since I would be eating so much good stuff. I'm sure it does for a lot of people, but not for me. It's okay. It actually makes sense when I really break it down. I just wasn't moving enough. I work from home, so there's no walking to work-or even part way to work. It's cold and wet and miserable outside, which I have a really hard time with, so I'm not wandering around the neighborhood taking pictures and discovering things like I would be doing if it were nicer out. As a result, I spend nearly all day sitting on my ass. Even eating right won't help me. That's just the way it is.

~ Brooke

PS. If you wanna check out one of my very favorite yogi's give Jason Crandell a shot. He's not woo-woo at all and that always wins my vote.

Day Two: Screaming muscles.

I can't say it was easy to wake up this morning. Not only had I gone all out on the 30 day shred, but I also had night work to do. I could feel my muscles getting sore before I even went to sleep last night and that's always a bad sign. I absolutely woke up to heavily complaining muscles but, on the up side, my joints were feeling fine.

Actually, if anything, my knees felt better today than they did yesterday; although I'm really not sure why-maybe it was just the heat of moving yesterday. I definitely have little old lady knees that predict rain (so that's most days here in Scotland). That was the one thing that had given me pause when wading through the reviews for this particular program. I meant to go into that yesterday, but now that I think of it, I don't think I did. Ooops! There were some mentions in a few of the reviews about possible knee problems in this workout and I was kind of wondering if that wouldn't rule me out entirely. When it came right down to it though, I noticed that most of those mentions were coming from people who didn't have knee problems speculating that people that did have them might have issues. Now, I'm not saying that's not true, but luckily it wasn't for me. Again I'm going to guess that my knees feeling better can mostly be attributed to the heat I was generating because the higher the temperature, the better my joints feel. That's always been the case for me. This is also why Arizona was my favorite place that I ever lived. I swear, if I could live on the surface of the sun, I'd probably go for it, but I digress. 

So, did I jump out of bed totally pumped for today's workout? No, not really. But I did do it within an hour of waking up and I really would say that this blog went a long way with that. Even though this is the very beginning and I'm still sorta talking to myself here, just knowing that this commitment is here helped me out a ton. What do you guys think? What motivates you to keep pushing through a routine?

Another plus to this particular workout-and one of the reasons I chose it to begin with-is that it goes by so fast! Just about the time you think you're really invested in an exhausting way, it's winding down and over. For me, that's a perfect way to feel accomplished and see goals being met.

Well, that's me for this post. I've got a post in mind all about food, which I will hopefully get a chance to write later on today. For now though, I've got to get to work.

Brooke

Day One: With a little help from Jillian Michaels

Starting weight: 162 lbs - This isn't a pretty number and to me it's a devastating one. At only 5'2" that's a horrendous amount of bulk to carry around on this frame. So here's what I did about it today...

 After pouring through countless reviews and blog posts, I decided my first exercise commitment was going to be Jillian Michaels 30 day shred (I'll link it at the bottom for you guys).

Review after review I read up on this came to the same point: Even if the touted weight loss number didn't always hit it's mark, the dress sizes were dramatically dropping. I read up on it and watched a ton of youtube videos on it and, even though there were some bad reviews out there, they were pretty overwhelmingly on the upside and, at 30 days and £5.00 I really don't have much to lose. 


The basic idea of this routine is that you're working out for a short time (right around 20 minutes) but during that time there is NO RESTING. It comes with three levels, which you work through 10 days at a time and obviously totalling out at 30 days. 


So what did I think after day one?


I actually felt great for my first go! It was totally exhausting after myriad days sitting around doing nothing-but when she says that you can push through and do it without a break, SHE'S RIGHT. If you're going to forgo hours at the gym, then you need to trust her when she says NO BREAKS. Not even for water, so start out hydrated so you're not too thirsty to move halfway through. Once you start, you've got to stay committed. I know my form wasn't the best ever today and that's okay. I just focused on getting it to where it needs to be and kept moving. 

I already feel the burn from this workout. 


I've promised myself that when I wake up super sore and at a loss for motivation tomorrow, I'm going to do it anyway. Actually, that's where you all come in. I figure if I'm committed to blogging about this EVERY DAY then I have to do the work EVERY DAY, right? That's my promise to me and it's my promise to you. 

And here's the stuff I used today (links for UK and US) 

Who am I and what am I doing here?

About a month ago, I was confronted with the horrible truth of seeing myself on video. I was stunned by my own size. I don't know how it is that weight gain is such a sneaky, sneaky thing but, for me, it really is. And this isn't even the first time. I've been here before-but more on that later.

A little over a year ago, I was at my ideal weight. I was sitting right between 115 and 120 pounds, which makes sense since I'm a shorty at 5'2". That's the weight I'm healthy at, the weight I feel good in, and the weight that gets me into all my cutest dresses. Then, just like it is for so many others, life started happening in a super stressful way. So I started eating. And then all of the sudden none of my pants fit. Most of my major stressors have subsided now and I'm left with this body I gave myself by losing focus. Awesome.

I've also found myself living in a new country (Scotland!) which is both amazing and hard to acclimatise to. Now, I'm not complaining, but I moved here from Arizona and if that isn't a shock to the system, I'm not sure what is. Some days I've totally let myself get a little broken by the cold despite clinging to my mantra of "It's the cold that makes it so pretty. It's the cold that makes it so pretty. It's the cold that makes it so pretty." And that is certainly true. But it's also devastated my fitness routine-it's hard to get out there and jog and walk and discover when it's FREEZING!

But none of these are excuses because excuses won't do anyone any good. I'm done being fat. Now I'm going to shrink into strength.

Now, onto day one.
~Brooke