21 Day Fix Extreme and Shakeology

Over the last few years, I've started to learn a lot about Beachbody.  You've heard of it as they are the company behind P90x and Tony Horton.  That's all I knew at first.  But then I started to hear about Shakeology.

I don't remember why, but I decided to try it back in 2013.  Possibly from reading reviews?  Maybe wanting my P90x results to be better?  Anyways, I bought a month's supply of the Vegan Strawberry.  It was the most disgusting thing I ever tasted.  It was like drinking amoxicillin.  I choked down every last spoonful of that bag because it was so expensive (over $100 for the shakes!).  I seriously drank it over the sink each day in case I puked.

With the rise of social media on Facebook, I started to hear about Beachbody's 21 Day Fix and "new and improved!" tastes of Shakeology.  Not only updated flavors, but also, in addition to the vitamins and minerals in Shakeology, they added probiotics and digestive track cleanser (yup, makes you poop!).

It seemed Beachbody coaches came out of the woodwork.  People at work, people at church, friends of friends.  I'd get random messages in my Facebook account of people asking if I'd like to try Shakeology.  I tried quite a few (vegan chocolate, regular chocolate, vanilla) and they were SO much better than before.  Not the most tasty of choices, but not bad.

In the past year, I joined a couple of summer weight loss Facebook groups, which, at the time, I did not realize where being run by Beachbody coaches.  I grew tired of hearing them tell us how great Shakeology was.  How it curbed their cravings and how they felt amazing.  But the groups were very helpful with giving ideas for exercise or meal plans, so I stayed in them, bypassing the propaganda.

Finally, I got to the point that I heard so much about the 21 Day Fix program that I had to check it out.  People I knew were losing (and keeping off) 15 lbs in 21 days.  Last month, they were doing a promotion that I could get the 21 Day Fix program (workouts, pamphlets, recipe books) for $19.99 with the purchase of Shakeology.  It seemed like a good deal.

I'm a huge Jillian Michaels fan and just completed her 8 week program called Body Shred.  It took me 12 weeks to complete (yes, life happens) and I did not follow her meal plan, and I lost 9 lbs and several inches.  It gave me biceps and calf muscles!  I would highly recommend it.
But I digress, the 21 Day Fix program didn't seem like enough for me.  If I could get my butt kicked for 8 weeks by Jillian, I could do any workout video. That's when I saw the 21 day fix extreme. I watched those videos and I knew I could do them because all of the moves I had seen before in Jillian's workouts.  I knew this was the right one for me.

I splurged and ordered it.
Side note: I was very disappointed with their checkout process (had to submit my order twice to get it to go through and countless times I had to try to submit it) and wrongfully sent "Your items have shipped!" e-mails (three days after that, I got another e-mail saying "Your items will ship soon."  whaaa?!).

The 21 Day Fix Extreme consists of two parts: Shakeology, clean eating diet and the workouts.

Shakeology
I started the Shakeology right away because I was excited to see what it would do.  I should not have taken it a few hours before volleyball, because my stomach was making some WIERD noises while we were playing!  The next day, I got a headache and started to feel funny (like my head was fuzzy, I got a rash on my face (!) and I was tired).  I kept up with it for a few days and I didn't seem to be getting any better.  I wasn't sure if it was the shake mix or if I was getting sick.  I took the Shakeology roughly 7 times over a week and a half, but decided to go three days without and see if I felt better.  I do think I ended up with a cold (runny nose, scratchy throat) so they were possibly related.  Tomorrow, I'm going to try to add Shakeology again (a friend just recommended to me to try half a scoop).

The Workouts
As I mentioned above, I've been working out with the 'tv's toughest trainer' (aka Jillian Michaels) so the first couple of Autumn Calabrese's videos weren't too bad.  She gives you breaks for water!  And tells you it's ok to march in place for just a few seconds!  This was awesome!  Don't get me wrong.  This is no joke, but she is realistic.  I laughed my way through the Extreme Yoga workout (my kids were constantly saying "Mom, you're doing it wrong."  "Mom, you aren't doing anything like they are."). Yoga is not for me.

Clean Eating Diet
I started this a few days before the exercises (with the cold, I wasn't up for exercising quite yet).  It took me about 4 hours to come up with 3 days of recipes!!  My husband joked that it would take me 21 days to finally get the recipes.  It was tough.  Thanks goodness for the internet!  I started a Pinterest page with recipes and good 21 Day Fix websites. There is so much out there!
I was coming off a 3 week sugar bender.  I had many days in that 3 weeks of over 3,000 calorie days. I was seriously out of control.  I didn't know what to do and this seemed like the best fix.

Day 1: August 31st (following 21 Day Fix diet to a T; no workout; Shakeology)
Day 2: September 1st (following 21 Day Fix diet...more leeway; played volleyball instead of workout; Shakeology) Down 3.4 lbs after 1 day.  Crazy!!  This should have made me want to keep sticking to the plan 100%, but instead made me think it was ok for that glass of wine and potato skins...at a restaurant...and it was two glasses of wine.  21 Day Extreme Turkey Chili is DELICIOUS!
Day 3: September 2nd (following 21 Day Fix diet...much more leeway; no workout, Shakeology) Down 1.4 from yesterday.  Holy cow!!  This was amazing!  Ended up eating a hot fudge sundae...but followed the rest of the eating plan 100%
Day 4: September 3rd (following 95% 21 Day Fix diet; Lower Body Extreme workout; Shakeology) Down 1 lb.  I count a reese's peanut butter cup as the reason I'm down 5%.
Day 5: September 4th (following 95% 21 Day Fix diet; Cardio Fix Extreme and 2 mile jog; no Shakeology)   At this point, it's been 4 (complete) days and I'm down 7.4 lbs!  AMAZING!  It's an eye opener of what all the processed stuff causes your body to hang on to.  All of this 7.4 lbs is salt and toxins that got cleared away in just 5 days!  Stupid peanut butter cups.
Day 6: September 5th (following 40% 21 Day Fix diet; ran 4 miles; no Shakeology) Weight was maintained.  I was wondering when it was going to stop dropping so drastically.  Problem today is that I have a pool party to go to and there are lots of desserts.  I resisted for a WHOLE hour before digging in.   What a calorie binge that evening was....
Day 7: September 6th (followed 21 Day Fix diet for breakfast and dinner; no workout; no Shakeology) Gained 2.2 lbs back...tomorrow is going to be worse because I ate movie theater popcorn and a Coke tonight.

That's where I am now.  Shakeology has really cleaned out my digestive track (tmi??), which has helped the weight loss, but I'm not convinced it's doing much else.  When I wasn't on the 21 Day Fix diet and doing Shakeology, it did not curb any cravings nor gave me energy.  I still wanted to sleep at 3pm and 7pm.  It seems, this first week, Shakeology combined with the 21 Day Fix diet is what  works wonders. I have more energy at the end of these 7 days when eating real food.

One week review:
Very tough to find the time to get this up and running. It's a lot of research.  I barely use the containers they sent because I've gotten recipes from he web or the book that comes with it.  One of the coaches I know told me that the best thing she learned through the program is portion control.  That's what I want to take away.

So why am I blogging about this?  Because, in a month, two months, next year, whenever, I want to remind myself that our bodies were made for clean, unprocessed foods.   That I can go a whole day without wanting to take a nap.

#21dfx

Goodbye Jillian

Dear Jillian,
This is not what I expected, but I've drawn it out long enough.  You win.  I got 26 days of your 30 day shred over the course of 3 months.  I will now let go of the thred and let you fly free.  You were weighing me down, as I would beat myself up for not following up with you every day.  I have too much on my plate right now to have you knocking on my door every night, and I know you know I'm hiding when I don't open it.
BUT don't think you've got the final victory!  I will come back, stronger than ever and crush the 30 days in 30 days!!  Maybe after my marathon.

Ciao,
Not shredded Allison

30 day shred, day 23 & 24

Time: 10:30am

Weight: +3 lbs

Level: 3 & 2

My husband doesn't have any New Years resolutions, so he says.  But yet, he's eating salad like crazy and has starting running again.  Maybe it's something I call a resolution, but something he calls a "stress relief."  It's nice to come home from work and see that motivation.  My husband, in my opinion, doesn't need to lose weight because he is tall and lean, but I think running (as it is for me) is a great stress reliever and just makes you feel good about yourself.

It's hard, when I'm down, to see him motivate.  He makes a list, sticks to it, and I just think about things that I want to do, but can barely get off the couch, or am too busy to do anything.  

I decided yesterday that it was my New Years Day, a time to start over.  I plodded slowly on the treadmill and then, with my husband, did Level 3 of Jillian Michaels (he did not think it was easy, so that made me feel better!).  I was one step farther yesterday than I was the day before.  Today, I didn't run, but I did Jillian's workout (with a lot of dancing with the kids).  This is my personal goal now, as I have no creditability to have any followers (except mom, she'll always be there cheering me on :) because it was by no means 30 days in a row like I had planned!  

6 more days to go and I can stop feeling guilty about dissing Jillian!

Tomorrow I'm up for a 6 mile run (my first long one in my marathon training), but have decided not to do Jillian these long run days.  Too much for me to handle right now.

30 day shred, day 22

Time: 10:30am

Weight: +1.4 lbs

Level: 3

I came home from my 5 mile run, thinking I was just going to get into the shower and start my day of binging on delicious food, but when I walked in the door my son grabbed his 2 lb weights that I had given them for Christmas (we celebrated yesterday) and told me he wanted to do the weight exercises with me.  Doh!  

We turned on Jillian with Level 3, and him and my youngest son both grabbed their weights.  They made it about 80% through!  After that, my middle son decided to do exercises that he learned in school (table tops, he said he counted up to 900, maybe we need to work on counting) and my youngest sat down on the couch and told me I was doing good.

I can feel soreness in my body, but I'm not sure if it's from Level 3 in the past or from the workouts that I've done this week at Optimal Performance Specialists (along with the strength exercises, we took a few minutes to work on my running form.  Boy have I had it wrong!).  Either way, I'm excited because I'm down .3 lbs (from my 1.7 lb increase, so it's still increase, but just not so much).  

I didn't do the work out yesterday because, as I mentioned earlier, we celebrated our family Christmas and I didn't feel like it :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

30 day shred, day 21

Time: 10:30am

Calories burned:  160 (155 was what I burned at Level 2)

Weight: +1.7 lbs

Level: 3

Level 3 certainly kicks my butt.  I can't do all of the advanced moves, but I can do a lot more than I could when I first tried Level 3 (I guess this is only my 3rd time, so I've come along way!).  Before I started the workout, I would have said my abs might have been a little sore, but when I started to do the ab moves, I could definitely tell!  My shoulders are sore too, but I think that was from yesterday's strength training at Optimal Performance Specialists.  We did a lot of jumping, lunges, and squats yesterday.  

I like the moves in Level 3.  They are usually 2 part moves, so the exercises goes pretty quickly.  For example, instead of doing pushups, you do walking pushups.  You move your hands to the side, do a push up, walk your hands to the other side, do another pushup and repeat.  It makes the time go by much faster.  One of the last strength exercises you are in plank position with the weights under your hands.  You lift your leg straight up, lower it, and then you pick up a weight (while still in plank position) for a back exercise (I think it's a form of a 'row').  I feel pretty cool doing it (even though I can't do them all).  I need to remember to start counting the exercises, because I'd really like to see how far I've come.

Even though I'm on the plus side of the weight, I do not plan on doing any running today.  Today is dedicated to getting caught up at work!

30 day shred, day 20

Apparently I skipped out on this yesterday.  I didn't notice until just now.  Have no idea what I did last night after the 5 mile run...  Oh yea.  I had to finish up some work for this morning!  Oops, I remember now.  I didn't plan that day very good.  Should have done it earlier in the day.  Will try harder!

I've got another wrench to throw in the mix.  I've decided to go, twice a week, to Optimal Performance Specialists (they work with Orthopedic Rehab here in town) to get my knee exercises in.  I went there last week for an evaluation on my knee and they figured out exactly what was going on.  Wish I could speak their language, but I translate it to the fact that one muscle is taking over in my leg when it shouldn't.  I got a set of exercises that I need to do twice a week to get my knee to behave correctly (oddly enough it's squats and lunges, the things that I was avoiding!).  I have to pay special attention when I'm doing them so that I'm doing them correctly and allowing the right muscle to do it's work.  In 12 weeks time, I should be as good as new!  Ok, maybe not that good, but not having my knees hurt or feel sore would be a start.  When I was doing the squats correctly, sometimes my knees wouldn't even crack and make crackling sounds! 

Why do I bring that up?  Because, also with the knee exercises, I get strength exercises and tons of cool stuff in these sessions.  I'm pretty certain that all equals to a lot of soreness.  The two days a week that I'll go there, I won't be doing Jillian, because that's way too much.  If Jillian can't make me shredded, maybe training for another marathon (YES, you heard that correctly!  Memorial Day weekend three friends and I will be running a delightful 26.2 miles along Traverse City bay) and getting in some kick butt strength training will do the trick!  

Today, I did Level 3 (9:30pm, way too late), and did part hard exercises, and part easy.  I know that in 10 days, I'll be able to do all of the hard moves and I'm excited.  I'm ready!!

30 day shred, day 19, LEVEL 3

After a great 3 mile run, I decided I better get my Jillian workout in before the day gets away from me.  Level 3, here I come!


I followed Anita (the 'easy' one) and I didn't think it was too bad, but I noticed that there is quite a bit of difference between 'easy' and what Jillian's expecting.  She kind of makes you feel like a cheater by following Anita but I told myself it was ok because I was just getting my feelers out for it.  You definitely use Level 1's and Level 2's workouts to build up to this.  It's no longer black and white, strength and cardio.  Everything is mixed together.  


Jillian also talks about her diet plan, which did NOT come with this DVD.  She doesn't mention this until Level 3 and then says "With this 30 day shred DVD and my diet plan, you'll be shredded in no time."  Well, I had expected to be shredded with just the exercises.  The diet plan should have been mentioned before this.  I wouldn't have followed it anyways, but it would have given me more realistic goals.


Tomorrow I'll get more organized and get the list of exercises going.  11 more days! 

30 day shred, day 17 & 18

I did Level 2 last night around 9pm, and then got up early to do it this morning (5:50am) because today and tonight will be busy.  But I think I'm ready for Level 3!

Last night I did most of the strength exercises, so this morning I did a lot of them without weights.  I'm ready to shake things up, so tomorrow or this weekend I'll try Level 3.  I'm kind of nervous.

 

I looked at myself in the mirror while getting ready this morning, and I'm definitley not shredded.  My husband kind of laughed when I told him I expected more.  "You can't expect to be shredded in 30 days honey."  Well, Jillian said I would!  He then said "You did say you lost 1/2 a pound!"  I didn't have the heart to tell him I had gained it back.

 

I do see more definition in my arms, perhaps a little in my abs, but that's about it.  I'm able to do 20 girl pushups, without a problem, so I know I've got more muscle, I just can't see it.  And the rest of my body looks the same.  Kind of disappointing.  I know you are all thinking "But muscle weighs more than fat, so you lost fat and gained muscle!  I'm sure you look a ton better!"  Really, I don't.  I still had to jump into the jeans I wore yesterday (seriously, I was in my bedroom jumping to get them pulled up).  They certainly weren't loose and they almost became shredded!

30 day shred, day 16

Cheater cheater brownie eater!  I can hear you chanting that, because some how you KNOW!  You KNOW that I skipped yesterday.  What'd I do?  Had a little pity party for myself, which didn't end until 9pm tonight.  Kept on eating all day, but pulled myself out of the slump after 2ish brownies and a big sugar cookie.  But after eating that, I decided I needed to jump back on the wagon.
My sugar filled, bloated belly could only handle level 1 today, and I did feel like puking a few times, but I got through it (not real puking MOM, just being funny).  


I'm hoping to get a run in tomorrow, to run further from this slump!

30 day shred, day 15

HALF WAY THERE!!!  WHoot Whoot!!!

Level: 2

Date: December 11, 2011

Time of exercise: 5:15pm

Qty (each strength is done twice):

walking pushups:  5, 4  

squat and row:  14, 14*
medium grip row w/

static lunge:    23, 16
pendulum lunges w/ 

hammer curl**:  31, 28

military press w/

leg extension:  15 ,7*

chair squat w/

v fly lift  :     23, 15

weight: -.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  I'm half way there!  In 15 days I'm going to have abs!!  :)

My husband must have known it was my halfway point because he had sugar cookies waiting when I got home from my 4 mile run.  I ate one before these exercises, which wasn't probably the best idea, but it sure was good!  

It's a bit early to be thinking about this, but I think for my maintenance (after these next 15 days), I'll do these exercises on my days I don't run.  I've signed up for a marathon in May, so it would be hard to be doing this after or before a 20 mile training run!

30 day shred, day 14

Level: 2

Date: December 10, 2011

Time of exercise: 6:45am

Qty (each strength is done twice):

walking pushups:  5, 4  

squat and row:  14, 14* - only 2 more on this second set to finish
medium grip row w/

static lunge:    23, 16
pendulum lunges w/ 

hammer curl**:  31, 28

military press w/

leg extension:  15 ,13* - only 3 left on this second set to finish

chair squat w/

v fly lift  :     23, 15*

weight: -.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  I burned 155 calories today doing this 25 minute exercise DVD.  Not bad!  I wasn't too far off with what I thought.  My kids were up all throughout the night, and I finally gave up lying in bed at 6am, so I managed to get in 3.1 miles of running before this.  It seemed tiring to do these exercises, but I also did them last night around 9pm, so it was less than 12 hours ago!  I need to be more consistent when I do these so I'm not doing them so close together.
Lots to do today (we're cutting down our Christmas tree!), so I'm signing off.

Allison

30 day shred, day 11, 12 & 13!

I'm back!!
I took a little over a week off (because even after 7 days, I could still feel a little twinge in my ab muscle, so I played it safe).  I felt in great shape to start this up again (2 days at Level 1 to ease into it, and then today at Level 2).  Apparently ALL my exercises comes in waves because I only ran once during my 10 day Jillian Michaels hiatus.
The good news is that I lost a half pound during that time! No idea how because that covered Thanksgiving and eating out for three days straight while I was in Cali.

I couldn't start blogging 2 days ago when I started this up because my internet was down and just came up today.  I never realized how much we used the internet.  Way too much really, but it's hard to finish up Christmas shopping without it (last year I probably did 85% of my Christmas shopping online, this year I'm closer to 60%).

But I have really exciting news!  Exciting for me anyways.  While in California, some parts of Michigan got a great big covering of snow.  My cell is on the phone list, so I got a call at 3am telling me that my kids didn't have school.  Doh!  I tried to get back to bed, but I couldn't.  I started surfing the internet and I came across the product from BodyMedia.  It's a band that you put on your left arm (I'm sure you can use your right) and you wear it 23 hours of the day.  It measures how many calories you burn a day, how many steps you've taken, how much moderate and vigorous activity you've done, and how many hours you've slept (and how many hours you laid down).  You can also use it to input your calories for the day.  I bought the LINK, which has Bluetooth technology built into it so I can press a button and it will update an app on my phone.  (BodyMedia Link: BodyMedia page , I bought mine online from Costco: Costco's BodyMedia Link  (I'm not a Costco member, so I had to pay an additional $9, but that was a steal compared to what other places were selling it.  I got mine for $179 (plus $9) and it included a year of the website subscription.  My sister-in-law is a member at Costco, but I didn't think she would have enjoyed a phone call that early.)).  Apparently these things are just expensive paper weights if you don't get the subscription to see your activity.  The subscription runs $6.95/month (if you pay for a year) or $12.95 if you pay monthly.

Above is an example of what I see on my iPhone.  The 6 minutes of vigorous activity was the 6 minutes of cardio in Jillian's workout.  Not surprised with how much sleep I get (the website will show when you lay down and when you are sleeping and when you are just laying in bed), but I was surprised with how many steps I took in a day and what they consider Moderate Activity (must be the walking).  I thought I burned roughly 2,000 calories a day, so I was pretty close to that.  Now I just need to eat less!

So that's it for today!  I'll be back to my regular template style tomorrow.  Happy Holidays!!

Allison

P.S.  If I remember tomorrow, I'd be interested in seeing how many calories I burn while doing the Jillian Micheals workout.  I estimated 120 calories for the 25 minutes.

30 day shred, day 10

Level: 2

Date: November 24, 2011 (turkey day!)

Time of exercise: 9:30am

Qty (each strength is done twice):

walking pushups:    

squat and row: 
dumbbell row w/

static lunge:      
pendulum lunges w/ 

hammer curl**:  

military press w/

leg extension: 

chair squat w/

v fly lift  :     

weight: +2.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  There was no counting exercises today!  I did my workout with my 3 kids, a niece and a nephew.  There was barely enough room to do anything, but we made it through it!  Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

30 day shred, day 9

Level: 2

Date: November 23, 2011

Time of exercise: 5:00pm

Qty (each strength is done twice):

walking pushups:     5, 4

squat and row:   17*, 15*

dumbbell row w/

static lunge:        23, 16

pendulum lunges w/ 

hammer curl**:   31, 28

military press w/

leg extension:  16, 10*

chair squat w/

v fly lift  :      23, 5*

weight: +1.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  Just a real quick note today because I'm ready to start my Thanksgiving vacation!   Even though I only did about 1/2 of the plank exercises yesterday, my abs were still sore today! Hopefully I'll be able to see some abs soon.

Even though I've got crummy knees, I'm thankful for my body and all that it can do.  I ran 2 miles before this at a 8:19 per mile pace!  I felt great.

Happy Turkey Day!

30 day shred, day 8 and level 2!

Level: 2  Oh wow....

Date: November 22, 2011

Time of exercise: 6:05am

Qty (each strength is done twice):

walking pushups:     5, 4

squat and row:   27, 19

dumbbell row w/

static lunge:

pendulum lunges w/ 

hammer curl**:

chair squat w/

v fly lift  :

weight: +1.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  You might notice that, after the first two exercises, I don't have any quantities filled in above.  I did do them, but I was flabbergasted on how much harder this level was, that I forgot to count!  If levels were named by how hard they were, this would be level 250!  This is not a step up from level 1, it's a run, a hop, a skip, a spider man swing, and a superman jump over a building away from level 1.  Wow, is all I can say.

This level has a ton of planks in it.  I hate planks.  I've done yoga and pilates a time or two, but have never stuck with it.  Mainly because it is filled with planks.  I am unable to do them!  I blame it on my three kids and the toll they took on my abs (I guess the real reason is that I've never really worked on my abs so I have no foundation).  I'm looking forward to next week when I will think these are easier!  For the walking pushups, I watched twice and I think I went down about 2 inches into the pushup.  Maybe I can make it 3 inches in a few days :)

In addition to all of the moves involving planking, this also has a lot of strength and cardio that may hurt my knees.  I'm going to take it easy the first few times to see if my knees can do it, otherwise I'll start modifying more than just removing the lunges.  The cardio from level 1 I thought was pretty easy.  I thought it was because, cardio wise, I was in shape.  What a slap in the face it was that I had to rest during cardio this level!

The only thing that made me giggle and pay attention was that Natalie (the person you watch if you want harder exercises) cheated a couple times and it made me laugh.  Jillian caught her one time.

I got up early this morning to do the exercises and I like that.  I didn't have to worry about it later in the day.  Except for I didn't carve enough time out for blogging about this and I forgot to do it last night!  Hence the 5:30am bog this morning.  Stay tuned for my level 2 trek this afternoon!

30 day shred, day 7!

Holy cow!  It's been a week!

Level: 1

Date: November 21, 2011

Time of exercise: 10:00am

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     18, 14

squat and press:  15*, 7*

dumbbell row:    15  , 15

static lunge w/ 

bicep curl:           26 , 25

chest Y's:            completed all (didn't count these because I knew I could finish them)

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        22, 16

weight: +1.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  I got up with the kids this morning (I usually lay in bed until they start yelling for me on Mondays :) and weighed myself.  I was up 1.5 pounds.  Pretty discouraging!  I decided, instead of throwing the Wii remote at the tv (I weigh myself using the Wii Fit scale), I'd just try harder this week.  When I looked at the overall calories burnt last week, I was a few hundred calories below my goal (I try to burn 2,000 calories a week).  I felt like I was exercising a lot, but I guess it wasn't enough.  So I started off the week with Zumba!  What a fun activity to do with friends.  I made up some moves of my own.  I didn't do any of the lunges (my tiny way of saving my knees).  My arms were tired from Zumba, so I really had to focus on getting the reps in this morning.

I enjoy getting these exercises done in the morning because I feel like I've accomplished something and I don't have to think about it later in the day.

Before shredding today, I did Zumba.

30 day shred, day 6

Level: 1

Date: November 20, 2011

Time of exercise: 8:30pm

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     18, 14

squat and press:  14*, 10*

dumbbell row:    15  , 15

static lunge w/ 

bicep curl:           26 , 25

chest Y's:            completed all (didn't count these because I knew I could finish them)

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        23, 18* 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  Are you noticing my '*'s going down?  I am!!  (The * represent the strength exercises that I wasn't able to do the whole time.)  I wish I could say that I feel stronger and more energized, but I really don't notice much of a difference.  I struggled to do pushups for the whole time, but I knew I was only one away last time, so that pushed me through today.  I was wondering if I could do all of the strengths exercises today, but my form started to go bad in my presses, and I don't want to count those.
Tomorrow will be 7 days of Jillian Michaels, so I'll weigh myself and see if I've shredded anything!  I think I'll do a day or two more of Level 1, but I think I'm ready for something new in Level 2.

I plan on doing this every day (I was only home for 5 hours yesterday, with 3 of those hours sleeping, so I didn't have a minute to put towards this), unless I have another day away, or something comes up. I have training next week in California and I plan on bringing the DVDs and weights (I don't think they weight carry ons).  That's dedication :)

Before shredding today, I got in my long run of 6 miles (59 minutes).  That was at 2:30, so I did wait a long time to do these exercises.  I didn't stretch after the run today, so it was nice to get a second chance to do that.
   

30 day shred, day 5

Level: 1

Date: November 18, 2011

Time of exercise: 2:30pm

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     18*, 14

squat and press:  14, 5*

dumbbell row:    15  , 15

static lunge w/ 

bicep curl:           26 , 25

chest Y's:            completed all (didn't count these because I knew I could finish them)

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        18*, 14* 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  Maybe you've noticed (but probably not), but I completed a full set of pushups!  The first set (I did 18), I didn't realize if I did one more I would have done pushups for the time allotted. But the second set I did pushups the whole time!  I'm pretty proud of myself.  Even just after 5 days, they feel easier.
One thing I forgot to note yesterday, was that the presses (squat and press, minus the squat) without the weights were hard.  I thought that was weird.  I wonder if I'll ever be able to both sets if it's hard without weights?

I enjoy working out earlier in the day, because my evenings can now be filled with wine and good company (hi mom and Rachelle!).  I may be on my 3rd....or 4th glass, so I better cut this short now!

One last thing.  I am leaving for Chicago for all day tomorrow.  I won't be back until after 11pm, so I know I'm not going to get a workout in (Meredith, please don't cry!).  I don't plan on having day 6 without exercise, so my day 6 will be on Sunday.  Stay tuned until then (and thanks for reading :)

30 day shred, day 4

1. I'm so tired
2. I ate McDonalds and now I feel sluggish
3. I think I'm getting a headache
4. I can barely keep my eyes open
5. I started my period
6. Just a quick nap first
7. I'm already in my pjs
8. I'm still a little sore
9. The kids are still up

Level:  1

Weights: none today

Date: November 17, 2011

Time of exercise: 8:30pm 

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     15*, 10*

squat and press:  -, -

dumbbell row:    -,-

static lunge w/ 

bicep curl**:       -, -

chest Y's:            -

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        -, - 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't be doing the lunges

Notes:  Above are all of the excuses that went through my head after dinner.  So what did I do?  I went upstairs and reluctantly put on my sports bra (tho I was still wearing my pajamas, "You're shredding in your pajamas?" asked my husband).  I can rest later. (though this decision looks easy here, it was a hard one to come by!  I didn't want to become a failure on day 4)

I don't think I have ever worked out 4 days in a row, so I shouldn't have been surprised when my mind was like "What?!?!"  But now that it's done, I'm glad I did it.  Guess what I would have been doing instead of exercising?  Sitting on the couch with the rest of my children's halloween candy I'm sure.  There may be more silver lining in this daily exercise than I thought!

Like I mentioned yesterday, I decided not to use weights today.  I'm not nearly as sore today as I had been, so a nice, lightweight workout was what I needed.

30 day shred, day 3

OUCH!!  It's been a long time since I've been sore.

Level:  1

Weights: 4 lbs

Date: November 16, 2011 (Happy Birthday Eli!)

Time of exercise: 7:50pm 

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     10*, 9*

squat and press:  8*, 5*

dumbbell row:    15  , 15

static lung w/ 

bicep curl**:       26 , 25

chest Y's:            completed all (didn't count these because I knew I could finish them)

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        15*, 5* 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't be doing the lunges

Notes:  First of all, working out last night at 9:30 was not a good idea.  I looked at the clock the last time at 12:19am.  So, of course, 6:20 came too early this morning.  I could also feel my chest being sore while lying in bed.  There will definitely be an early bed time tonight!

Picture a tube top with cap sleeves on it.  That is where I'm sore.  I barely made it past the warm up today!  Jillian says "If you feel like you are doing to die, follow Anita."  I followed Anita the whole session.  I think tomorrow I may do it without any weights to give my muscles a little rest.  I love feeling my abs sore though!  I'm kind of considering taking a before and after picture of my mid section to see if I can tell a difference.  I'm scared I'll be disappointed if I don't see any results though. 

Unfortunately, I could feel more pain in my knees, so I took out all the lunges.  I need to find a way to work my butt now.  Any suggestions?

Before shredding today, I had to get in a weekly run (I usually try for 3 times a week to run).  I ran 4 miles in 36:34, ate dinner, helped put the kids to bed, and then started the shred. 

Thank you all for following me!  I wouldn't have done this workout today if it wasn't for you! So THANK YOU!