Monday, March 28, 2011

Thoughts on Jillian Michaels 30-day shred - Day 16, LEVEL 2.

I still don't look like this:



















I missed one day of doing the shred last week... I forget what day it was, but my knee was just hurting too badly to be dealing with all the squatting and bending. However, I did do other things that weren't quite as aggravating to me. I started off with jumping jacks. I thought I'd do about 25, but I just kept going and next thing I knew I had done 70 of them. Then I did ab work... lots and lots of ab work. By the time I was totally done for the night, I am sure I had done well over 200 ab excercises. Bicycle crunches! Oh, how I used to hate them, but now I just love, love, love them!


Friday, I PLANNED to shred after getting home from my sister-in-laws bday dinner, but the white wine sangria and margarita I had consumed told me "NO". To make up for it, I decided to do back to back shredding on Saturday. I started with level one, and I didn't even break a sweat until the third circuit. I knew that it was time to move on to level two, so I did that next. It kicked my butt in a really good way. I swear I felt high from the endorphins... life had never been more glorious. I was all sweaty and stinky and disheveled and blathering on about it to Josh. Ab moves with weights! Plank stuff! Crawl-out pushups! Give it to me, Jillian!

Oh, heck. Level 2, here I go!

And then there was yesterday.... I put on my gear, started level two and could not finish it. I felt like a deflated balloon... I just didn't have the energy to get through it. What happened to me? Where did endorphin girl go? However, today is another day and I am armed with:

Anytime you want to start working, that would be fantastic.

I am also shaking up my diet this week. A little over a year ago, Josh and I attempted healthier eating for a while, and he just started dropping pounds like crazy. He actually got way too skinny. For dinner every night we had either fish or chicken and vegetables. Last night we recreated one of those meals and figured up the total calories - 115. That's it. No wonder he was wasting away! He's been working out like mad but still has some stuff going on in his love handle areas that he wants to be rid of, and I just want the scale to frigging MOVE. So we're doing a drastic calorie cut this week and seeing what happens... I'm taking vitamins and eating plenty of good food - just lower calories. We'll see what happens.

I am pretty sure my knee/leg issues are IT band related. I have been trying everything I can think of - ice, friction massage, ibuprofen, stretches... what am I missing? I can't deal with it anymore, it is seriously getting in the way of being active and it's driving me nuts. PT only aggravated it further, and steroid shots only helped for a little while. It went away on it's own for a bit, but now it's back with a vengeance. If anyone has been through this and has any advice, I'd love to hear it. I just started with the glucosamine and chondroitin, I know I won't see instant results but I am hoping it will do something.

Happy Monday!!!!

4 comments:

  1. You are doing so good! I really need to get my ass back in gear... especially after our vacation! I think I will start doing the shred in a couple weeks. I really don't wanna though, ha!

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  2. Girl, I don't know how good I am doing. Jillian is messing up my brain! I keep thinking, maybe I always need to do level 1 first to get through level 2!

    There goes my evenings if I am doing two every night!!!

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  3. Bloon, I bet it's really tough on your joints to do two of the workouts in a row! Maybe just do level two (those exercises where you hold a position instead of popping in and out of it are easier on my knees and ankles for sure!). I know you can do it! Make sure you eat something with some carbs and protein (I usually do little bit of granola and some almonds) 30-60 minutes before you do level 2. It really helps me power through the workout!

    Good luck and good job!

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  4. Ryan - good point!!! You just saved me from doing both levels tonight.

    I just can't help but keep thinking that level one got me all loosey-goosey enough to power through two like it was nothing. We'll see what today brings!

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