Jillian Michaels: Maximise Your Life

Slashing all the tyres. An analogy that has really struck me.

Recently myself and my fiancé attended a motivational talk. The talk was given by American personal trainer Jillian Michaels.

Yes, the Jillian Michaels who is behind the 30 Day Shred, the workout DVD I have obsessed over, over the years! (She even jokes herself in the UK she’s known as ‘the Shred lady’).

Admittedly I’ve never really been to a coaching session like this before and I really enjoyed it. As cheesy and cliché you may imagine it to be, it was actually pretty useful and inspiring.

On her Maximise Your Life tour, the no-mess trainer covers diet, exercise and general approaches to life.

I love her no nonsense way of talking. She admits herself she can’t share a miracle cure to lose weight and that all the information and fitness basics you’ve heard before are all she can share too.

When people ask questions and make excuses she stops them in their tracks and makes them take responsibility.

I guess this is what’s behind her success.

But back to those tyres.

One of the things Jillian referred to are the air soufflé and dust dieters. This is typically me. These people are super strict and don’t eat much at all during the week and are tough on themselves. Then on the weekend they blow out on a ton of junk.

She then uses the analogy of slashing the tyres. How people take the view that when they are having a ‘bad’ day and have eaten something not so good for them or haven’t exercised that they should just go full throttle and then eat unhealthily the whole of that day as a result.

This is so me. ‘Oh well I’m eating out tonight, or I’ve had a chocolate bar I might as well pig out now and go mad’.

Jillian says this is like your car getting a flat tyre and you jumping out and slashing the other three.

How true is this for a lot of us ladies on diets I imagine?

The good thing is that now being aware of this and the useful analogy sticking in my head I’m more careful of taking this approach.

Case in point, yesterday, I knew I was having a ‘cheat’ meal for dinner. Normally I would have written off the entire day and eaten badly and had a ‘day off’ from exercise. Instead I ate healthily all day and went for a workout to help compensate for all the additional calories I’d be consuming.

Now, don’t get me wrong I’m sure this won’t always be the case, but I feel even if that’s all I take away from the session then it was worth it!

Time to get back on the fitness wagon

A new year and I thought it was about time I get back on this blog. I know I know, I always say that and don’t worry I’m not going to start claiming my new year resolution is to blog more.

I am, however, going to be extremely stereotypical and announce how the Christmas break is over (well it is for me as I was back at work today) and that I am now aiming to get in shape. Bore. Yawn. I know I know could I be more cliché ‘new year, new me’ and all that…

However, after the vast amounts of food and drink consumed this past fortnight, something needed to be done. Well, I say past 2 weeks, what I really mean is since we moved into our house – takeaways galore and very little exercise for 3 months…

I reached that well known point we all get to after the festive indulgence, I was actually craving healthy food.

As a brand new year started yesterday I jumped on the scales when I eventually got up (after a rather late and drunken New Year’s Eve party) to survey the damage. I have to admit it wasn’t good, but it was definitely a lot better than anticipated.

Just over 7lbs put on in 3 months, bearing in mind I’ve eaten healthily for a few days out of that and only went to the gym once I’m relieved it wasn’t a lot more. I certainly feel like I’ve gained about 2 stone!!

I’m bridesmaid to one of my oldest and best friends this year too and we’re going to a wedding show at the end of the month so I really need to try and shift some of this excess fat before then – right now I don’t think any form of dress would suit me!

I have to admit (it is in all likelihood simply post-Christmas effect only and will be short-lived) I felt great yesterday. Although I was a tad hungover (mostly tired), I had healthy food and was only just over my suggested calorie allowance.

Fish, vegetables and sweet potato for dinner with a glass of water really did feel great! No fat, no booze, no junk. Lovely!

I’ve also stocked up on some more fruit and veg and low fat goodies so I plan to try and stick to this for as long as I can now.

I’d suggested a Dry January again like I did previously, however the social calendar is already against me – a team drinks thing next Wednesday and ballet (and no doubt a meal and drinks) on the Thursday! Therefore, my plan is instead to not drink alcohol unless it’s for a social occasion, I think that’s fair enough and a tad more realistic.

I’m also hoping to go to my first spinning class of 2015 tomorrow morning too to get myself back into it. I’ve already looked up the studio timetable for my gym so I can start planning visits too. I will shed this weight and more if it kills me.

A friend of mine has been dieting and exercising for a good few months now and she’s done so well she’s really inspired me. I can’t wait to be rid of this tired and bloated feeling – and also start enjoying looking good in clothes again and not wearing what’s comfortable or what I don’t look too fat in!

One, nearly two days down, and many more to go…

Weight loss worries

This morning I've woken up and I'm feeling a little disheartened if I'm honest. This is a theme that's been present most of this week so I've been trying to tell myself to 'stop moping and just get on with it'.

As I do each week I woke up this morning to weigh myself for my weekly weigh in. Most Saturdays, plans permitting, I also get ready to go to a spin class at my local gym.

Today I've woken up super achey from last nights cardio workout. Great, I thought, I must've worked hard if I'm feeling like this. Admittedly that also made me hopeful for something positive on the scales.

I already was a bit disappointed as I really am too achey to go spinning and I've been reminded by people before to let my body rest and recovery is important too.

Anyway off I hop onto the scales. What do I see? I've put on. Yes super minimal 0.4 of a pound, but as I typically round my weight up when logging on the likes of MyFitnessPal it effectively says I've put on 1lb. 

There are two schools of thought here, some people say 1lb is nothing and not to worry if you put it on. Others show images of just how much a pound of fat is to illustrate just how much fat you've lost when you lose 1lb. So who is right?

If I don't weigh myself weekly, something others have suggested, I lose the feeling of accountability and tend to find I get lax and don't feel a sense of achievement or progress.

I've felt the last few weeks my body feels heavy and bloated and normally when I've exercised I do feel lighter. I'm not feeling that lately (and in fact have been worrying now I'm in my 30s that maybe I'm experiencing that as-you-grow-older problem people talk about where your body just clings to fat). Who knows.

So I'd purposely started to mix it up this week. In fact, including last Thursday I've made seven gym visits. That's seven times over ten days. That to me is pretty good. 

Of those seven, three have been spinning, 45/50 minute classes. The other four have been cardio. 

Each of those cardio I've tried to mix up, different machines, sometimes using weights, trying different modules on machines, different orders of using machines and times/levels. I've been feeling it each time and aching the next day most times and sweating non stop during the sessions.

Typically my fitness 'week' starts on a Saturday so if you look at it that way I've exercised five days out of seven. Two rest days. 

The only 'cheat' day I've had was on Wednesday for my Mum's birthday when we ate and drank out. 

And so after actively watching what I eat (bar one day) and made a conscious effort to push myself in exercise, I just don't understand why my weight loss is not showing an impact. 

My fiancé feels I'm stressed out and worked up about certain things (primarily our house buying/flat selling fiasco that feels like it's pretty much taken up our year and has been ongoing since March). He thinks maybe our bodies are just exhausted from it all and not working as optimally as they would typically. 

When I went through a really stressful time last year - and didn't resort to my typical comfort eating approach - I really dropped in weight (and in turn reached my lowest). I therefore don't understand why this tricky time my body is reacting differently? 

I thought why not post on social media and blog about it, in a bid to see if anyone out there has tips and can advise. 

I'm not at my ideal weight or at my lowest, I'm currently 10lbs heavier than the lowest I've preciously managed to achieve. 

As you can probably tell I truly am baffled and a tad fed up. So it's over to you. 

Please comment away and tell me what you think or what you've found works for you. I'm at a total loss and unfortunately it's not weight loss! 

My 'progress' over the last 6 months (the yellow line is the 'trend line', the average/underlying weight taking out fluctuations). 

Fitness fakers

When you think about going to the gym and the essentials needed what do you think of?

Your gym kit, bag, water and a towel?

Or rather is your fake tan topped up, your makeup thickly applied, your best gym gear and revealing outfit packed, along with your designer sunglasses?

I often on a Saturday morning roll out of bed, put my gym kit on and head straight to the spin class, so you can tell which camp I’m from…

Yes, I will have makeup on if I’ve gone for a workout straight from work, but that is the only reason why.

Yet attending my local gym recently I felt like I’ve been surrounded by bronzed-up gym bunnies and arrogant muscle meatheads.

Don’t get me wrong if I had a hot body I too would want to flaunt it and show off how the hard work had paid off.

However, often these people are rude, bowling through the building and barely break a sweat as they wander round the machines not really doing much at all.

Take my spin class, some females have been known to whoop throughout as if they are out clubbing. Now I’m not a complete bore here, when you really get into it sometimes the instructor makes noises and gets everyone going, but an individual doing it on their own when nobody else in the class is of that nature is just cringey.

One lady recently rudely shouted out to the instructor “Oi turn the music up, I can’t ‘ear it!” Charming.

As for the men. What exactly is the point of going to the gym to hog a weights machine and sit on it in your jeans with your woolly beanie on chatting to your mates about your next night out? Or lifting weights that are clearly far too heavy for you and then simply letting them drop with an almighty clang on the floor? Don’t even get me started on the grunts and groans!

And if you dare to walk in their pathway don’t expect them to move. Oh no, they own the gym didn’t you know? They are the kings and queens of the faux fitness world so you better all move around them.

My fiancé has ended up in a coughing fit on the treadmills after a girl jumped on a treadmill directly next to him (there were loads spare, another pet hate!) and had so much perfume on she affected all the surrounding air.

Also I’m sure you’ve experienced the people on their phones (despite numerous signs saying you shouldn’t use them) on the treadmill and bikes? Or the friends in matching Juicy-esque tracksuits side by side on the treadmills having a conversation the entire time.

Now correct me if I’m wrong, but is a gym not a place to get fit, lose weight and work out?

Apparently, it’s actually the place to go to ‘check in’ on Facebook and let people know you’re at the gym yet again, but in fact you are there to pose. I’m all for fitness having a social element and people having workout buddies and really embracing the healthy lifestyle. An hour plus of wandering around chatting and eyeing up the similar ‘talent’ is a whole other world.

In another spin class, I was in the middle of stretching at the end when I had to let 2 or more people past (of course they’re ‘too cool’ to stretch!). The best was my return to the ladies changing room to find one female standing in front of the mirror preening. She was literally standing admiring herself – checking out her bum, her tummy and pouting!

She then proceeded to leave the gym in her leopard print hat, skin tight outfit, fake tanned skin and huge sunglasses (worn inside of course!).

Since when did gyms become more about showing off than shedding fat? Flaunting the fact you are ‘fit’ in the attractive sense, not health-wise?

Do you experience this at your gym? Or is it just an Essex thing?...

Fitness favouritism

I've mentioned before about my pet hates in the gym and the etiquette most people follow.

Recently I've rediscovered my love for spinning and have attended a few classes. I'm actually hoping to get back into my old routine of 3 classes a week.

Last night reminded me of 2 things. 

1. The power of the instructor and music and their influence on your class experience

2. Gym posers still exist 

It's fair to say I am quite a creature of habit and nobody will agree moreso than my partner when it comes to spinning!

He already got a telling off last night for just picking any old bike, after strict instructions to 'test them out' first.

Anybody whose done spin before will get my point, particularly in Fitness First Romford where it's often a case of bike roulette in the studio. 

You want to make sure you haven't got:

A wobbly bike

A bike where the resistance doesn't adjust properly

A bike where the pedal straps don't tighten or stay done up 

A bike where any of the height adjusters are too tight to change 

All of these points can make your class painful, frustrating or even cause injury.

Anyway, being an old 'veteran' of the classes I knew Thursday nights were run by a lady called Carmel. But as I got into the studio, met by my fiancé standing next to a wobbly bike (god forbid!) I realised there was a cover teacher.

Sometimes this can be a good thing as they challenge you more and teach you new routines.

To be fair this teacher did that. However, until quite near the end I found the class painful and admittedly rather boring.

The music in the main wasn't my sort of thing and it was so quiet. The instructor was very mumbled and so you couldn't really tell what she was saying. She also had this rather interesting approach to getting us to a standing position on the bike - whistling at us like herding some sheep (a reference I owe to my partner!)

Yet again my taking things a bit too far approach kicked in as I also found it annoying the way she kept referring to adding a gear. Most instructors refer to 'turns' and you add either a full turn, quarter or half.

Safe to say I wasn't overwhelmed by the experience and am hoping the regular lady is back next time.

The difference compared to the recent two classes I've done was huge. My legs didn't seem to want to go very fast at all, I found myself tiring more quickly and I seemed to take a long time to feel the effects in the right places (with other classes I can feel the ache in my quads, abs, arms etc straightaway).

As for the gym posers, well, I'll come back to them in another post - they need a blog of their own! 

The class last night made me think though. 

Do you get more out a class where you know the instructor and their methods?

Do you actually hold positions in the correct way if you know the teacher? And as a result get more benefit?

Or is a 'stranger' key to giving your body a shock and actually working different muscles and working you harder? 

Should you in fact go to other classes to break habit and stop your body getting too used to things? 

I'd love to know your thoughts, whether you go spinning or classes, or just generally are into fitness in some way. 

Comment below... 

Two weeks on: bringing back the balance

I met up with a close friend a few days back and she reminded me of my plans to blog about my diet and exercise.

Of course those of you who read my posts regularly will know that I haven't actually done this.

The reason being? I didn't get off to a great start if I'm honest.

On Sunday 11th May I started off my 30 Day Shred workout DVD and in the main stuck to my calorie limit.

And then? I ate healthily but I didn't do any exercise again during the week.

I'm pleased to say that things are now looking up again (of course they are that's why I'm blogging!) 

I've now completed 9 days of level one of the 30 Day Shred and I've eaten healthily.

The balance is still there as I pigged out last Sunday at a family BBQ and I've been out for meals. When I'm eating out at restaurants I'm staying within my recommended calorie intake this time and logging my diet and exercise on MyFitnessPal.

I finally seem to be getting back on the fitness 'wavelength' again. 

It's paying off.

Since starting 'The Shred' I've lost 5lbs in weight and lowered my body fat and BMI as a result. 

I've still made plans and kept a social life.

Yesterday I went on a bit of a shopping spree and was pleased to see I'm still fitting in size 12 clothes in the main too. 

Let's hope I manage to keep it up and keep blogging about it! 

Day 2 of bringing back the balance

In order to attempt to restore balance in more ways than one (or perhaps to get the excuses in early!) I'm thinking I may not be doing my workout DVD when I get home this evening.

Yesterday, as you'll know from my blog, I did my workout DVD (30 Day Shred, my trusty favourite) for the first time in a long time - in fact the first exercise I've done in about 3 weeks!

Today I had a course on Investor Relations and Financial Markets at work (contrary to what you'd think it was actually rather interesting). As a result I'd be on the course and unavailable 9-430, therefore I did some work on the train in and got into the office half hour early. 

As is typical with most of us these days in the working world any lunch or tea 'breaks' were spent back at my desk doing work. 

Knowing I had to be in early must have been playing on my mind as I just could not sleep last night. You know those situations where you wake up every half hour and on the hour? So much fun!

This morning as a result I awoke shattered and in turn super achey from my exercise attempt on Sunday.

Throughout the day my muscles, in particular my quads (thighs) have got tighter and more sore, to the extent as I walk it feels like my legs might burst!

I'm cranky, tired, have had no fresh air all day and am super sore. 

Add to that brain melt from all-day training and I'm not in the best of places for this evening.

Nope I'm not already talking about doing my workout.

Oh no I'm talking about the long phonecall I have this evening with my fiancé and our mortgage broker. We're going to be talking losing your job, getting injured and dying. Well, moreso critical illness cover, lifetime protection and the like.

I did thankfully leave work 15-20 mins 'early' today so am now on the commute home.

Right now I'm really not keen on doing any form of exercise when I arrive home.

Of course, as a result, I am now starting to feel guilty and to be honest a bit of a failure, for on the second day only thinking of not doing the workout.

Am I being lazy and a failure? Or am I being sensible letting my muscle repair and recognising I am exhausted?

Help! Please answer!

I either need reassurance I'm okay and doing what's best, or if not a virtual kick up the a*se to get myself in gear.

Please do tell me what one... You've got about 30 minutes before I crash on the sofa and eat my dinner (healthy of course !)

Oh and not wanting to sway your judgement or anything but I thought you should know:

At breakfast at the course there were freshly baked croissants and biscuits.

I had my light yoghurt and a low fat cereal bar

I drank over 1.5 litres of water.

Not tons of the coffee and tea in the training.

At lunch they'd ordered in Pret sandwiches, crisps, juice and biscuits/cakes/sweet treats. 

I went to my desk to check work emails and ate my homemade salad.

In the afternoon the temptations remained.

I snacked on my mango chunks and then some low fat crisps when downstairs.

So? What should I do? 

Bringing back the balance

It has been a long long time since I've blogged. I feel I spend more time writing posts apologising for not having written anything than any other subject! 

I have had good reason. Promise! 

Myself and my fiancé have literally been living and breathing property. We've been focussed on me trying to sell my flat and buying our first home together a house (more on that another time). 

However, things seem - touch wood - to be a bit more on track and I've been trying to focus on having fun and doing things rather than just making the selling and buying my whole life! 

I seem to be managing to get on a more even keel finally between that area of my life and my social life again now.

One area where I've really been suffering is diet and exercise. It's been over three weeks since I've done any exercise and food and drink seems to have become a huge focus of late.

I'm not one of these people who gets stressed and stops eating. If only! No, I'm a comfort eater, meaning the last few weeks as well as no exercise, most days I've been eating non stop junk and drinking alcohol. 

My fiancé is the same. We've been getting takeaways, eating meals out and generally consuming far more volumes of food and drink than is needed. 

I've always said when I see programs or articles on obese people who have numerous health problems caused by their weight that surely they must reach a point and realise they're going too far? 

Myself I felt I reached that a few years back where I suddenly identified I'd got pretty big in size and was pretty unfit. 

Now I've never let myself get to that point again, but over the last few days on talking to my fiancé and others it's clear I've got a bit off track.

Ironically it's whilst eating out the last two nights saying to friends how I always find it hard to be healthy and still sociable, that something has clicked. 

So enough is enough.

It's time to bring back the balance.

I've done a little plan as you can see and decided to give good old Jillian a go again.

So today I've tried to eat healthily so far, drank loads of water and have done my workout DVD.

Day one, level one of Thirty Day Shred done.

I'm going to the cinema tonight and we're going for a carvery first but I'm going to stick to my calorie limit. 

Hopefully by focusing on my weight and fitness again (which is horrendous judging by how hard I found the DVD!) I will also keep a bit calmer on the house buying and flat selling process. 

I also plan to keep blogging about it so I hold myself accountable.

Measurements have been taken and the first step is starting it so here's to getting shredded! 

Level one nearly done!

Day nine of the Thirty Day Shred workout. Only one more day left on Level One. 

I'm sitting here watching Supersize vs Superskinny and there's another program coming up on plus size ballerinas. 

Trashy TV heaven tonight! And about my favourite topic at the moment diet and exercise! 

I'm going to try do the full 30 days in a row as best I can and do 10 days on each level like before.

So how is it going this time round?

One things for sure my fitness levels have really dropped and I definitely found this workout more a struggle than it seemed in the past.

I find my knees and arms are pretty weak so at times the bicep curl and static lunge move really makes my knees ache. Also the side lunge with shoulder raise move makes my arms/shoulders heavy too.

Thankfully most other parts are fine and I'm getting that feeling I want to move up a level. 

I've had quite a week of it too so I'm thinking I might have had more of a struggle because that.

One things for sure I feel so much better for it, I'm sleeping more soundly, my body feels better and I'm sticking strictly to my healthy eating diet. 

It's all about balance and I don't want to become obsessive or a bore, but for now I feel I need to see some strong results before having too many treats.

Last Saturday I'd found I'd lost 1lb which I was pleased with as I'd only done 3 days of exercise and healthy eating.

This week I will have completed 7 days of exercise and 6 days of healthy eating! This would have been seven full days but I had a slight pig out at the in-laws last Sunday. 

I'm sticking at it and hoping to finish my flat declutter this weekend and burn some more calories doing that! 

Plus having a bit of a hard week I'm not just pleased I've stuck to the plan (my workout and recording my food on MyFitnessPal), but also loving the boost to my mood the exercise brings.

Now for the weigh in on Saturday and starting level two. The only problem is I've found out one of my favourite spinning instructors is covering the Saturday morning class. Do I have a day off the shred and get back to spin or not? Dilemmas dilemmas! 

Back to basics

Ahhhh it feels so so good to do some exercise. 

After recently injurjng my back I've been a little fed up, wanting to exercise and get active but nervous and mindful of doing any further harm to my back. After all I still don't 100% know what caused the problem and I've never suffered from back issues before.

I realise I'm a tad late to the party here. January is all about New Year's Resolutions and gyms across the country are jam packed at the start of the year.

However, this time around I've been slow to stick to a diet and have found myself finding it increasingly hard to get motivated and back on track. I seem to keep getting ill (coughs, colds, injections) and hurting my back made being able to exercise even harder! 

Recently I was asked my opinion on the 30 Day Shred, as those of you who are avid readers of this blog and people who follow me on Twitter will know I've had a go at this workout numerous times. You could say I got somewhat obsessed with it!

In fact the last time I fully completed the whole workout and did 10 days on each level I had some pretty impressive results. 

At present I feel somewhat hypocritical giving advice on it given I've been eating like a pig and moving at the rate of a sloth.

So when I'm feeling sluggish, am not sure of my current fitness levels and am wanting to dip my toe into the pool of exercise where else would I turn? 

Back to good old Jillian of course.

I'm still to properly give my other Ms Michaels' purchases a go, but I find 'the shred' always a good starting point.

Therefore this evening I walked part the way home from the station (10 minutes so nothing too strenuous!) and decided enough of the excuses tonight I'd try and climb back on the fitness wagon.

I have to say I really enjoyed it. I can feel how unfit I am (and extremely stiff from lack of movement of late), but it wasn't that hard and it just felt so good to be moving!

Whether I'll follow the full 30 day in a row plan across the three levels we shall see. I doubt I'll be able to complete the workout on Friday for instance and also I'm keen to try and get back into some old good habits - running, spinning and maybe even swimming if I can drag my fiancé there! 

Alike my attempts to get started on decluttering my flat ready for valuation, I feel slowly but surely, a little bit at a time is the right approach to take for now. 

I've really been feeling down about my weight having creeped back up and my fitness dropping down. I don't like my clothes feeling tight and feeling self conscious of my appearance again so enough is enough I am going to try and battle the bulge by going back to basics. 

Jillian bring it on!

No More Trouble Zones?

It's been a long time. 

I've been conscious that I've not posted on here for some time and over the last few days a number of people have mentioned to me TheMelican has gone very quiet.

So, here I am.

I've been up to a fair bit over the past month plus, but I thought today was a good point to come back to the blog.

No, not because of the great storm in the UK and travel chaos today. Not because the clocks have changed and we're going to and coming back from work in the dark.

Nope, today I decided to finally try out my new batch of Jillian Michaels DVDs. We all know I had pretty good results from the 30 Day Shred and it's become a bit of a go-to for me when I need to give my body a shock. 

I became a bit obsessed with it - I would Tweet each day I exercised and looked at other fellow shredders and their views. This is how I came to know of the many other workout offerings Ms Michaels has made. 

The ones that caught my eye were Six Week Six Pack, Banish Fat Boost Metabolism and No More Trouble Zones. 

Tonight I decided to try No More Trouble Zones (NMTZ). If I'm honest this appealed as the cover explained there were '6 minute fixes' so I thought I could maybe just try out a few.

Once I started though I had my usual fitness fanatic head on and selected the full 40 minute workout.

Now I do 1hour/90 minute workouts in the gym and 45 minute/1 hour spinning classes. When it comes to Jillian Michaels though my only experience has been the 20/25 minute 30 Day Shred workout. 

Forty minutes seemed a long time.

So what did I think of this one? 

Split into different circuits this is hardcore.  When you're feeling tired in the warm up you know you're out of shape so I was feeling pretty nervous.

Each circuit is split in five moves split into two sets. A majority of the exercises consist of mat work, as Jillian herself says some of them are old moves but they are classics.

What I love about NMTZ is that throughout it all you can feel it all working. I dread to think how I am going to ache tomorrow...and the plan is to do it all five days of this week. 

I was absolutely dripping with sweat and at the end I felt quite nauseous and had wobbly legs!

What results I see will remain to be seen, but I'll be sure to share any progress/updates on here as I did with 30 Day Shred. 

You need your trusty weights and a mat and be prepared to burn. As usual Jillian combines moves so you're not just working on one area. So you'll work biceps and quads, triceps and butt, abs and shoulders for instance. 

Expect planks, double crunches, donkey kicks, chair squats, sumo squats and lot more and all of course with a twist.

Be warned. It burns. However, sitting in now post workout and following a dinner and shower I do overall feel better for it. Even if I do also want to go straight to bed and sleep! 

Let's see if I do manage to reach a point where I have no more trouble zones.  Well, at least slightly less troublesome anyway...

30 Day Shred: the results

I've become a tad obsessive of late with the 30 Day Shred, I constantly visit its hashtag on Twitter and I keep looking for signs it's worked/working. I've even had strangers sharing tips, work colleagues starting the plan too and people asking my advice on Facebook.

30 Day Shred has pretty much been my personal life.

So now thirty days down what do I think?

First off I'm having a 'fat day' today so it's probably not the best day for me to judge this plan as I'm feeling a bit of a whale! 

However, the facts and figures can't be denied I admit, regardless of how I personally think I look.

As you'll see from the image below I have seen results from this workout.

The plan goes for thirty days and I decided this time to follow it solidly everyday consistently and work up through the levels. 10 days on level 1, level 2 for ten days and a further 10 days for level three. 

There are resources online to follow a set diet Michaels prescribes, however I wanted to just eat a healthy balanced diet, I'm not a fan of fad diets. 

I've stuck mainly to my diet, although there have been a few odd days on some weekends when I've had to eat out or drink some alcohol. 

A key improvement I've seen is my core, definitely improved and I've worked my way up through the levels. I definitely have more defined back, shoulders and arms. I'm disappointed I didn't see more of a 'shred' on my thighs and tummy, but I'm pleased my bum has a bit of shape now from all the squat-like moves (it kinda disappeared through spinning!)  

So what have I achieved? In total nine pounds lost in weight. No not 20lbs suggested by the DVD, but I'm not too disheartened as I've seen most people report similar. The best results can be seen in my measurements, three inches off my waist is pretty impressive even I admit.

I think the problem I had was that I'd seen such good results by day 20, I was really thinking I'd get amazing results by day 30. There wasn't that big leap I had set my heart on.

However, I can't deny I've done well overall and I would certainly use this plan again.

For now, I want to exercise/eat healthily up until my birthday week off I've got planned so I'm doing the shred until Friday for another three days. 

I decided I'll mix it up and so am doing level one for day 31, level two for day 32 and level three for day 33. I just hope it gives me another kick and gives me a few final results! 

I've then got a busy and calorie laden rest of the month ahead so who knows what's next. Now I've got to decide what else I can do to try keep shrinking my body, I've got a long way to go yet!

Level three of the 30 day shred

So today I tried level three. I vaguely remember looking at it and attempting parts of it once back when I first bought the DVD over a year ago.

Today I had to do it properly and get used to the fact I'll be doing it every day now for the next ten days.

When you move from level one to level two it feels a huge leap. Moving to level 3? Totally different again.

It's good in that you can see why you've done certain moves in the other two levels, to get you ready for this last level.

However some moves I just couldn't do. Even the warm up is tougher doing previous cardio moves just as a warm up! I was scared what was coming next.

How about walking planks? Yep get in plank position and then one side at a time come up from your forearm onto your hands, come down then the other side. Ouch! I found this very hard. Clearly my core needs a lot more work.

When Jillian said by now you should be starting to see a six pack I was not impressed. I've seen good results so far on paper but I'm a long way from a six pack! Granted I'm not following HER diet to be fair.

Brushing that comment aside I was met with a whole host of fun moves...

Travelling push ups

Arm row and leg raise whilst in plank

Side plank

Jumping squats

Rock star jumps

Cardio whilst holding weights (such as boxing and star jumps!)

Overall the workout itself seemed to go very quickly time wise, but the moves you had to do at the time were tough and I feel I probably missed all the full number of repetitions as I couldn't keep up. 

Hopefully as with the other levels I'll just grow stronger and get used to it. Lets hope so! 

Day 20: ten days to go!

Twenty days down, ten to go.

So how am I finding this workout plan this far down the line?

At times this week I've wanted to kill Jillian Michaels I am so tired and achey and feel I can't give anymore.  Then I complete a workout and feel great and can feel areas toning up and I worship her!

The last couple of days I will admit I've found tough. My muscles are just so tight, doing exercise continuously for this long really does push you and I am feeling very stiff and tired as a result. Some days I go to the DVD and my achilles, shoulders and abs are so tight I think I'm never going to do it.

However the American trainer is right once you train your body and push it to adapt you feel better and you feel stronger about lots of things you can achieve.

It goes to show you can do workouts when you're still feeling the pain from the day before. And being 20-25 minutes in duration you finish just when you do feel like you're about to pass out! 

So this morning I had a major lie in.I have been feeling very tired this week. I did my workout DVD and boy was it tough. You know you're feeling it when the warm up is killing you!

However before doing it I needed a push and realising it was day 20 and I could measure some results I jumped on the scales and took out my tape measure.

You can see the results for yourself in the picture below. What better motivation than that?! 

Now though I'm at the next stage, well the final stage. The last 10 days. Tomorrow I need to move on to level three. I'm scared.

Scared how tough this is going to be and can I do it. Also scared how jumpy it is as my neighbours (who we know like to moan about my jumping about!) are going to react... 

It's just ten days though and if I can get even more results by final day it'll all be worth it.

Yes I ache it but I'm healthier and fitter for it overall. I've been better this week on my diet, I've had no alcohol and eaten healthy every day.

I wasn't too bad last week but did have some alcohol on both Saturday and Sunday and ate out Saturday night (I did try to pick healthier options though) and had a picnic on Sunday (although that was pretty healthy).

Let's hope this hard work and commitment continues to pay off. I need all the strength and motivation I can get to make it through level three! 

15 days in: half way there!

Today marks my fifteenth day on my workout/healthy eating plan.

I'm half way through! Only another fifteen days to go now. I'm half way through the overall workout and after doing five days of level two I'm also half way through this next level.

Which means next up is level three... Level three which I vaguely remember trying once before a long time ago. I'm kind of nervous I have to admit.

Yes it's a workout DVD, yes I could not do it, yes I can turn it off if it gets too much. Right?

Wrong. Jillian Michaels is amazing and this is why I love her workout DVD. I don't stop, I don't give up. I really listen to her when she says speed up, keep on going, squat deeper, do those jumping jacks wider, do those 'high knees' higher. 

I only allow myself a five second break as she allows and only then if I feel like I'm on the verge of an asthma attack/passing out! 

So how has it been? As you know this is the first time I've attempted to follow the plan all the way through. 

I've followed a strict healthy diet for 13 of the 15 day so far. This is because this weekend I indulged in some alcohol and ate out. Although even then I've tried to be sensible with the food.  

So far I've lost six pounds in weight and my body shape does seem to be changing.

I have good and bad days, some days I'm tired from work, some days my muscles are still aching from the day before. However, so far I have managed to stick at it every day and no matter how I've felt before or during the DVD I've felt so good on completion...if a little sweaty in this current weather! 

Now I've made it half way and I'm determined to make it through the other half. When I've been fed up from work or had plans I need to stick to this workout has helped boost my mood and fits in easily with my time.

I am just really scared now what level three has in store, particularly since the leap from level one to level two is so huge! 

So 15 days down, 15 to go! 

Shock to the system

Today is going to be day eight of thirty.

Today is Monday which means time to weigh myself.

I've had two shocks as a result of the Thirty Day Shred and my diet. I got a shock this morning when I got on the scales (and weighed myself again). 

My body has also clearly had a shock from this workout routine and eating well. 

I've seen results!

After looking at last week's figures/my starting weight, body fat and BMI so far I've managed to achieve:

Body fat down 1.1%

BMI down 0.8%

Weight down 5.2lbs

Now you can see why I stepped back on the scales!

I'm doubtful this will occur every week, but for now this is great, just the boost I need to push on and know this is doing me good and will get results. Never mind the fact I feel a lot better for it health wise (well, apart from my sore left knee this morning!) 

My next challenge will be on Thursday, when I'll need to make the move to level two...

Seven days in - the thirty day shred

It's Sunday morning and I'm set for another day of relaxing in the sunshine and working on my tan. 

However before I got to have a refreshing shower and get into my bikini I had something I had to do first. My workout DVD.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm trying to complete my Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred workout DVD. In this, the American personal trainer claims you can lose up to 20lbs in weight (if you follow the workout DVD and her recommended food plan).

I'm not following Michaels' diet as it seems to pretty much reflect a healthy diet, something which I'm trying to follow myself so don't want to go down any fad shortcut diet routes. 

The idea of this plan is to get me back on track and not get a quick fox solution which sees me then putting everything back on within weeks!

Anyway, I'll get back to the point. How is it going? 

I'm now seven days in. I have done the workout on level one for seven days straight and I've eaten healthily (including no booze) for seven days now.

Today I'm off to a BBQ at my parents but  I'm having salad with my meat anyway and not drinking alcohol so it's not really going to be that much off 'plan'. 

So far I've found I need to learn some patience and not expect results too quickly and I will try remember this at weigh in. Something else I'm debating whether to stick to my usual Monday morning weigh in or to for the sake of this plan weigh myself every ten days (as I complete each level).

I'm finding the DVD is becoming a habit now and not so much a chore to do and as I'm used to the level one workout I'm finding it feels like I'm completing it so much more quickly. 

I do ache though. Right now it's my achilles and my shoulders in the main. From prior experience I know it's going to be my abs that burn when I move onto level two.

I'm finding once I start doing the workout most of my aches I forget about and I can complete it. I'm interested to see if I'll feel the same come level two though.

Right now I guess you could say it's going well. I'm a tad achey, but that's good because to me it signifies hard work and I seem to be sticking to my healthy eating too and feeling so much better for it.

I feel so much more alert for the increased water intake, but the constant visits to the bathroom at night are pretty annoying (4 times the other night waking me up!) 

It is helping knowing my boyfriend is eating healthy and doing Insanity too I must admit. 

For now I'll keep at it and keep you posted! 

Control freak

Those that know me well will not be surprised to hear me label myself as a bit of a control freak.

I love to be in control, whether in my personal life or at work.

This often causes me problems.

I get very frustrated and down when I don't have control and things are out of my control and can't be fixed quickly or within a reasonable time.

I am one of those To Do list people, but I want to tick off that list every day and not have long term items that I have to rely on others for. Not a fan. 

Therefore of late I have been a tad down, frustrated, angry etc because lots of things I want to control but can't. 

In turn I've been 'letting my hair down' a tad too much and have let my healthy eating and exercise slip.

Last week I had loads of junk food - burgers, a Chinese, chocolate, cakes etc and I had just one day where I exercised. Topped up with lots of booze. 

The result? Over the last few weeks I've put on weight and am now feeling flabby, tired and a failure. 

So on Sunday night I decided enough is enough and I have to start taking control.

And where is the true area I can do this?

With my diet and exercise of course.

Hence I am now being strict with my food and drink intake, now on Day 4 (Thursday) and I am ensuring I regularly exercise.

Knowing I was on the 'late shift' this week (7pm finish) I knew I needed to be realistic. I also knew that I needed to do something different with my exercise as my spinning routine was becoming exactly that - too routine and the same thing.

My body needed a shock.

So although I wanted to do Insanity, I knew my downstairs neighbours would not be so keen with all the jumping etc. And so I am where I am now.

Doing the 30 Day Shred Jillian Michaels DVD. I've blogged about this before and how good the workout is for such a short (20 minutes) DVD to do at home.

I've never done it for the whole 30 days though and have always used it as an exercise to do when I miss spin or can't be bothered with the gym or the weather outside is no good for a run.

I'm currently on day four (technically I did it on Sunday and it's day five, but I ate bad so am not counting it!) 

I am finding it hard to stick to the healthy eating as the sun is making me crave ice cream and barbecues! The exercise has been a pain once I get in from work past 830pm and am starving for my dinner.

However I find if I push myself I feel better for it after.

I've also decided to try blog about it on here to try and share my thoughts, progress and hopefully results. 

Here's to getting shredded! 

As Jillian says Don't Give Up Unless You're Puking Fainting or Dying.

Here's goes...

Spinning: a year on

Sitting on my sofa on a Friday night in my PJs, hungover and having stuffed my face with enough junk food to feed a family for a week, I am about as far away as you can get from a spinning session. However, today marks the day of my 'spinning anniversary', yes it's been a whole year since I discovered spinning.

I remember going to my first class and now I've got familiar with the various instructors and classes at my gym I know I picked a good session to start with. The Thursday night class is a lot calmer and you have more opportunity to go at your own pace if needed. In some of them the instructors are personal trainers and they are like army sergeants!

As I am such a spinaholic now, I thought I'd share a bit about my favourite fitness hobby - why I like it and what it actually involves.

What happens in a spinning class?
Randomly a few people have actually thought spinning is as the name suggests and you spin round and round in a class. No you don't spin round in circles. Spinning is based on stationary bikes that are specially created to allow participants to do the various positions/moves on them - standing, squatting, hill climbs, sprints and so on. At my gym there is a separate room/studio in which around 25-30 bikes are set out in a semi circle featured around the instructor's bike so everyone can see them wherever they are placed in the studio. A spinning class varies from 45 minutes to 60 minutes and can only be called spinning if the instructor is qualified, else it gets referred to as 'RPM'. The class is based around loud, pumping music with a strong beat which you move along to and you can do the class in a dark room or with UV lights or even flashing lights - as if you are in a nightclub! You will find it hard to walk after your first few sessions, particularly the next day and your bum will ache I won't lie! My boyfriend reliably tells me it's quite uncomfortable for men and their bits and pieces too!

On the bike you need to adjust it to suit you, you adjust the height of the handlebars, the height of the saddle, how close the saddle is to the handlebars and of course the resistance once the class starts.

The instructor will shout out the position to get into and often count you down into them and will advise on resistance whether to do a turn up or down and whether it is a full, quarter or half a turn.

How the class runs depends on the instructor, so in classes I've been in there have been exercises/moves such as:

Squats - either actually doing a squat whilst standing, but stopped on the bike or holding in your abs and lowering your legs so the tension is on your quads and you continue to pedal
Spin/sprint - whether off the saddle or seated you have to pedal as fast as you can
Hover position (off the saddle, leaning forward with your bottom just over the seat)
'Position 4' standing upright with your abs in
Seating upright
Seated leaning forward
Seated arm push ups (with arms out for biceps and in for triceps)
Standing arm push ups (with arms out for biceps and in for triceps)
One armed cycling
One leg focused pedalling
Super slow pedalling
Hill climbs (very very high resistance)
Various circuits

Some classes include a variety of moves and constant changes stand up/sit down/stand up/sit down, whilst others focus on blocks of set moves. All these sessions will be hard, but some instructors take a bootcamp approach to running the class, some walk round and turn up your resistance and shout at you to go faster, some are more concerned about technique, some really get into their own spin experience and shout or scream.

A key part to the spinning session is the music - it's got to be fast and bassy enough. I for one am a fan of those classes that feature garage, house, old school clubbing tunes and R&B. When it's dark you can often catch me having a bit of a sing along to some of the songs and if I get songs I like I go so much faster, I get some sort of hidden super boost to my speed!

The last five minutes are used to do stretches - the instructor will take you through a set of appropriate ones and show you how to do them.

Tips
* You definitely need a towel - you sweat profusely
* You definitely need a bottle of water (a big one)
* Get a saddle cover or padded trousers or both (the saddles hurt!)
* Some people wear cycling gloves to allow grip on the handlebars (you slip a lot where so sweaty and some bike handlebars are
made from a rougher material so can hurt your hands)
* Try find out what the classes are like at the gym you go to so you can try out a 'calmer' version of the class. If you go to a
more extreme one the first time round it might put you off!
* Go at your own pace and build up (speed and resistance wise)
* Keep your focus on technique - shoulders relaxed and abs tight (you will feel the pain/after-burn more and see better results)
* Make sure you have short or tight fitted bottoms on so nothing can get caught up in the pedals or wheels
* Some people have special cycling footwear which can be 'clipped in' to the pedals to help them feel more secure and be able to
go even quicker
* Keep an eye on the instructors legs/speed to get an idea if your resistance is too high/low
* If you're a girl and have long hair, pull it back, it will get in your face and you will sweat and want to keep cool

What are the benefits?
1. It's great fun
2. I've really found since I've been going it's helped me in my weight loss (you can burn an average 400-700 calories per session)
3. Great for sculpting your body shape - biggest change I've seen in my body shape from doing spin overall (particular my bottom, legs and arms)
4. It takes your mind off things, good stress-buster
5. Great for strengthening your core
6. Great for developing your fitness
7. Focused session which really pushes you, achieve a lot in not a huge amount of time, I realised how I hadn't properly pushed
myself in gym sessions over the years once I started these classes
8. Even if you are tired or fed up it's great because the music and high energy of the class boosts your mood and pushes you on


I could go on about this class and how much I love it, but you'll be pleased to know I'm now going to come to a stop. A year on I still thoroughly enjoy this form of exercise and would recommend it to everyone - we get all shapes, sizes and ages in our class and if you have any injuries you can advise the teacher before and they'll advise what you can/can't do. At times of late just when I've started to feel I might be getting a tad bored with the class then suddenly they seem to get updated/amended! And to be fair I do go to up to 5 classes a week!

On that note I'm off to enjoy my lazy relaxing evening for a bit before tomorrow morning's next spinning session!

The power of compliments

I'm currently lying in bed feeling fed up, tired and hungover (yes alcohol probably is the reason for all three feelings listed!)

However one thing has just given me a bit of a boost - looking at my photos from last night and then looking back at some old photos. 

The reason being? Well happy memories from last night obviously. The main reason though is comparing my body from then to now. 

Quite a difference.

In fact lately I've been feeling a bit down for a few reasons, which we won't go into, but most days I've been given a similar boost. Compliments.

How nice is it when you work so hard to improve your weight and fitness and other people congratulate you on it?

I feel - as I've mentioned before - I've reached a stage where I'm on a wavelength and healthy eating and exercise are now a way of life for me. 

However we all have ups and downs and blocks and sometimes feel a bit disheartened. As soon as someone compliments me it just pushes me back on track. It's great.

Over the last week I've had compliments how I look from friends and work colleagues. The guy on my gym reception complimented me on my dress. Another guy on the same evening nearly walked into something looking at me (yes I know I'm as shocked as you are!) And I've also had various car beeps and wolf whistles. 

Now I'm not saying this being vain or showing off, I just wanted to share as it's really made me smile and really inspired me to keep at it.

I've never been overly confident about looks or shape and so I guess I'm also in a bit of shock to think I may actually be getting to a point where for once I am relatively okay with how I look.

I noticed for instance at two recent social events we've been to and I've taken photos I've actually thought I look okay. For years I would look at photos with me in and delete them or crop them to 'cut out my big arms' for example. Now I'm not feeling I need to do that.

And do you know what it feels bloody great!

Granted, how I feel when I step on the scales tomorrow after some of the food and booze I've indulged in this week, may be a whole different matter!