OUCH!!!

Like many people, I'm sure, I made a goal to do some serious bad-habit fixing this year. Most importantly, I want to fix some bad eating habits and get back to exercising regularly. It's a little bit about my confidence, a little bit about my looks, but it's most importantly about fixing my bad habits before I pass them onto Tucker. I would love for her to learn nothing but good habits so that she doesn't spend her whole life battling food and weight. Soooo..... the first thing I did was set a short-term goal, and I'm going to put it here, out in the universe, actually written down (or typed out) as added encouragement for reaching it. I set the goal of losing 10 pounds before the weekend I go to the parents' for Blast from the Past (February 27th). That was 10 pounds in 2 months, which is a TOUGH goal, but not so daunting that it's impossible. I'm trying to be realistic, but also TOUGH.

I've started by subbing in some of my favorite healthy things for some of my favorite not-so-healthy things, which has been good, but I have learned many times over that for ME, diet is not enough. I can maintain with diet, but I can't LOSE unless I exercise regularly. So I began reading about and hearing about (from friends) a workout video called "The 30 day Shred". From everything I read (and I read a great deal) and everything I heard, it is INTENSE. It's only 26 min including warm-up and cool-down, which means it's relatively easy to fit into the day (which is always my biggest problem). There are 3 different levels - start with 1 and work your way up. You're supposed to do it for 30 days and see BIG results. (The package says, "Lose up to 20 pounds in 30 days," but those kind of comments always strike me as hilarious because "up to 20 pounds" just means you won't lose more than that. Zero pounds lost is included in "up to 20 pounds", just FYI. haha). One of my friends said she lost 6 pounds in the first week, though, so I figured it's worth a shot.

It's done by Jillian Michaels (from "The Biggest Loser"), and I have to admit, I'm NOT a fan. Her trainer style is a large part of the reason I don't watch that show. I'm not a fan of being belittled and put down as a motivation tool, nor am I a fan of cocky people, and all of that basically sums her up, so I was a little weary of that part of the video (and though she's not mean in the video, she definitely shows that cocky side). However, I found that even with that, I like the video.

Wondering where it gets the name "The Shred"? My guess is it's called that because it literally SHREDS your muscles into pieces in the first 10 minutes of the video. :D haha! It kicked my big ol' batookus!!! (There's actually even an exercise she calls "butt kickers", which is basically running in place, but you pick your feet up enough to kick your own butt.) It is HARD, but the good thing is it's done in cycles (which I like). You do 3 minutes of strength training, switching between one move that targets one muscle (arms, pecks, back usually) and then one doing arms and legs together for 3 minutes. Then you do 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs. And there are three cycles of that 3, 2, 1 pattern. So, even though your muscles are exhausted at the end of each section, you're only doing it for 3 minutes at the MOST, so you figure, "I CAN do this for 3 minutes no matter now hard it is."

So there's the goal and the process so far. I've done it 2 days in a row (One of those days I couldn't sleep the night before and still did it. The second day, T woke up at 5am and wouldn't go back to sleep, so I was sleep-deprived both times and still did it. ) I am COMMITTED to not missing any days for this 30 day program. We'll see how it goes. I'll put updates occassionally as I go. :)

Love, Shipoopies, and EXHAUSTION,
Leslie :)