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...