Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred (and a weight loss logged too!)

In all my Mother's Day weekend excitement I forgot to post about my weigh-in on Friday.  I lost 2.4 pounds last week!  Yes ma'am, that's how I roll.  So now I weigh 160.2 pounds.  Do you know what that means?  I am 1.4 pounds from my mini-goal, which was my lowest weight before having these babies.  I am so close, and I've  been feeling somewhat emotional about it lately.  I got back on track on June 3rd, 2011.  The one-year anniversary of that is two weeks away.  I might actually reach my next mini-goal by then.  To be back at that weight within one year is just a dream.  A real dream that I, me, moi - turned into a reality.  I made this happen.  I made a choice to change.  See?  Told you I am getting emotional about it.  I wasn't sure this could happen, I had doubts, it seemed like such a huge mountain to climb.

I am also quite close to my goal weight, 15.2 pounds to lose to get to 145.  Wowza!  Soon I will have less than 15 pounds to lose.  This whole thing is almost surreal.  I am working hard to have my mind catch up with my body, it's slow going in that department but I'm working on it.

So, on to Jillian.  I got a call at work today that Myra was sick and I would need to pick her up.  She has a fever, which Marek had late last week, so I guess now it's her turn.  I had plans to go to the gym after work but now my only option would be to go after dinner.  With my chest cough I don't want to do that.  Anyway, I picked up Myra and came home.  I gave her some Tylenol and put her down for a nap.  Then I remembered the Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred DVD.  I picked it up at Target a couple months ago ($9) for situations just like this.  The funny thing is I have been meaning to return it because I've never used it.  Until today, that is.  I figured, 2 minute warm-up, 20 minute workout, 2 minute cool-down - perfect!  A quick workout goes along well with my recovery week too.

I changed into my workout clothes and started the DVD.  There are 3 levels (1, 2 & 3).  Initially I was going to do level 3 and then I figured I better check myself - these have a reputation for being kick-butt and this is a recovery week so I settled on level 2.  After the two minute warm-up (which included some jumping jacks!) we started in to the workout.  She does 3 cycles of strength training, cardio and then abs.  It was all good stuff...here's a few screen shots:

This is part of the warm-up

This is a good example of a kick-butt part.  She has you get in this squat position and hold it for what seems like forever while you do shoulder presses.  Ouch!

I enjoyed the pushups and the planks and all the other fun stuff she throws at you.

All-in-all the workout met my needs.  I watched level 3 after I was done and I think if I were looking for a more intense workout I'd do level 2 followed by level 3 (skipping the cool-down at the end of level 2 of course).  I had a couple of complaints, the main one being that Jillian will stop what she's doing to point out how the others are doing the exercise, but she gives no warning and a couple times I thought she was stopping because we were changing exercises.  Also, she doesn't tell you how many reps you're doing, which makes it harder for me mentally.  If I know I'm doing 15 I'll focus on that and it helps a lot.  Finally, the cool-down stretching was really skimpy but what can you do in 2 minutes?  I'd just do more on my own.  But the workout itself was plenty tough - I was sweating like crazy at one point and had to stop and breathe sometimes - I couldn't keep up!  Like I said, it was a good workout and met my needs perfectly today.  Glad I had it around.  I'm sure I'll use it again for days like today.

Recovery Week (Yes!)

Friday turned out to be a hectic day at work.  I was going, going, going and come quitting time I just wanted a beer.  So I had one and ended up blowing off the gym.  Instead, I went out to dinner with my neighbor friend and her husband.  They're moving soon so it was a going away party for their SF friends and I joined in the fun.  We went to Shabu House for Japanese Fondue.  It was good stuff.  By the end of the night I'd had my dinner, a beer and a vodka soda and a scoop of ice cream.  It was all good and I didn't go overboard on the eating.

On Saturday we had a birthday party to attend (great party Jackie!).  I knew there'd be good ("bad") food so I packed my own sandwich and planned to eat little in the way of junk.  I know it was sort of lame bringing my own food but I wanted to save up for my mother's day brunch.  In the end I ate my sandwich, a few real potato chips, a handful of mini-pretzels and 3 bites of birthday cake.  I was very pleased with my choices.  I'm learning there's something magical about 3 bites - just seems like the perfect amount to enjoy something decadent. 

Skipping the gym on Friday meant a trip to the gym on Saturday, my normal day off.  After we put the kids down for their naps I headed off to burn some calories.  I rode the upright bike for 25 minutes and it was tough but I got through it.  After that I did chest/triceps/core.  My workout started out rough on the bike but something kicked in and I finished strong.  Maybe it was the cake.  As I was leaving, a guy at the gym asked me if I was training for something.  My husband doesn't read my blog so I feel safe in telling you this guy is super hot.  He's got this handsome but sweet (and yet still rugged somehow) face and is in great shape - slender but not skinny, muscular but not huge.  Juuuust right.  And he seems so nice and humble, as if he has no awareness of how hot he is.  Oh dear me, I'm getting off track.  Anyway, he asked if I was training for something, "because I see you in here working your ass off so I figured you probably are."  (Ack!) So I said I sort-of am and shared my upcoming events, and that I'm also just trying to lose weight and get in shape.  He tells me he can tell I've lost weight and that I'm looking great and to keep it up.  Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you view it) the interaction was in no way flirty, he was just acknowledging me, which felt really good.  Thank you super hot guy.  Needless to say, I left the gym feeling solid.

After the kids woke up we took them to Costco and ended up buying a ready-made chicken alfredo pasta dish for dinner.  I didn't want to eat that so I made myself a salad with chicken breast.  I threw in avocado and sunflower seeds to liven it up a bit.  It was great and I felt good not eating the cheesy pasta (though I did have a bite and tracked 1 point for it).  I had a trail run planned for the morning so I went to bed early.

Sunday morning - Happy Mother's Day to Me! - and to all the moms of the world.  I started out with some cuddling with the kids and a small breakfast before leaving to hit the trails.  A mom friend agreed to meet me for a trail run (Yay Deb!) at 8:30am.  I got there and the weather was just looking perfect, a bit overcast, no wind - perfect.  I have a slight chest cough and I was worried it would derail me but we got underway and things seemed to go fine.  I had to cough a few times but otherwise I felt pretty good.  I love running this trail, just the perfect amount of challenge and enjoyment.  It was fun running with someone else, really made the time go by faster.  I did three loops and ran for an hour total.  I was a bit slower than the past couple of weeks but I'm blaming the chest cough and moving forward.  After the run I stretched a bit before heading to the gym to do weights.

Recovery week, recovery week!  I'm so excited about this new concept.  Every 4th week I'm going to do scaled back workouts and I was looking forward to taking it easy.  I wasn't sure exactly what my recovery workouts would look like but not too long into weight training I developed a plan:  For cardio I'll do level 5 on the bike (instead of level 7) and I'll do slow run/walk intervals on running days.  For weights I'm going to still do 3 sets but I plan to lift lighter amounts so that it feels on the easy side.  For body-weight exercises (pushups, squats, etc), I'll just do less.  I'm so excited about this that I think I need a recovery week dance.

After the gym Miguel and I went to brunch with the kids and I ate heartily and with impunity.  I had an omelet with sausage, avocado, onion, mushroom and swiss cheese.  Home fries on the side.  Coffee with cream.  And a half-slice of french toast with syrup.  The meal was very good and I had a great time with the kids.  Oh!  I almost forgot to tell you about my mother's day gift...

Brooks Pure Grit

You already know I have my new Brooks Pure Flow running shoes - these are the trail version.  Yes, after doing two trail runs I now have trail running shoes.  Thanks guys!  Me, Michelle, wanted trail running shoes for mother's day.  Times, they have changed.  I ran with them today and they were great.  I forgot to mention that on my third loop I tripped over a tree root.  I started to take a dive but was able to recover.  The cool thing was how I felt the muscles in my core and hips tighten up to pull my body back from falling. 

So, a great weekend.  And the other good news is, after logging all my food and exercise I'm actually still in the black on points.  In fact, I feel sort of weird because for weeks I've decimated my points on the weekends and then had to scrape and skimp all week to recover.  No scraping and skimping this week.  And recovery week to boot!  It's already shaping up to be a good week.

10:00 Minute Mile!

Yesterday was a day off from the gym but still an active day.  I started with a couple hours of gardening - pulling weeds and planting a few new plants - before getting the kids out the door for some errands.  After the errands we went to Whole Foods to meet a friend and her kids for lunch (Hi Michelle!).  The cool thing was Miguel was able to come meet us.  Always nicer to have the whole family together.  I had a burrito with a whole wheat tortilla, chicken, black beans, veggies and salsa.  I was going to have avocado too but I figured with the mother's party that evening I should save the calories.  I wasn't sure how many points to give it so I went with 10.  In reality it was probably more than that. 

Back home and put the kids down for their naps while I started to get ready for the party.  Marek woke up from his nap with a huge fever and that made for some hectic last-minute readying. In the end I decided to wear a black skirt with a pink and white blouse.  For whatever reason I felt kind of "big", though I pushed that feeling out of my mind.  I had a plan to drink two glasses of wine and have one dessert.  I stuck with the wine but in the end had probably more like two desserts.  There were A TON of cupcakes, mini bundt cakes and various other yummy things.  I'm not sure how much I ate because I took a bite of several that I didn't like so I tossed 'em.  I also ended up grabbing a few bites of cheese and crackers and had two small slices of turkey breast.  I wasn't upset about my food intake, especially because I ended up eating just a bar for dinner before the party - mostly because the fever through a wrench in my food prep plans.  Here's a pic from the party, holding my raffle prizes (I won a restaurant gift card and a certificate for a 10" bundt cake).

I had a great time at the party.  All my mom friends overwhelmed me with compliments about how great I look.  It felt good to be recognized for all the hard work.  I've still got a ways to go in my brain catching up with my body but I'm working on it.  One of my friends gave me a workout outfit that doesn't fit her (Thanks Jackie!).  The top is too small for me but the shorts are great.  And hopefully the top will fit eventually.  I got home a bit after 10pm and pretty much went straight to bed.

I had to stay home with Marek today, he still has a pretty big fever.  Fortunately he's eating/drinking fine and other than being a bit lethargic he's showing no other symptoms.  I struggled with wanting to graze all day and I ate a couple of things that were not part of the plan.  Mid-morning I ate a bowl of the kids cereal and later I had a 1/2 of peanut butter/jelly sandwich that Marek didn't eat.  But I tried to skip the negative talk and just tracked it and moved on.

Miguel came home and relieved me to go to the gym.  I started with a 25 minute run on the treadmill.  It was hot and I just didn't feel like running outside.  The run was friggin' awesome!!  I started at 5.0mph, then went up to 5.5, my "normal" pace these days.  At the 10 minute mark I pushed it up to 6.0mph and I felt really good.  I decided to go for 10 minutes at that pace, which would mean a mile at 6mph.  I did and I still felt good enough to keep going.  I ended up staying at 6mph for the rest of the run, meaning I ran for 15 minutes at 6mph!  I felt so happy.  It feels so good to be getting speedier.  I think the treadmill, even with a 1% incline, is a bit easier than the reality of outside but I'm still pleased.  The first time I ran at 6mph I felt like my legs were moving like egg beaters, but today it felt smooth and doable.  Yay!

After the run I did legs/shoulders/core.  Everything went pretty smooth.  I came home and made myself dinner (the kids and Miguel ate while I was at the gym).  I had a salad with chicken breast and avocado.  Yum!  And a good balance with the day's earlier indulgences.  Well, that's it for me.  I'm super tired so I'm signing off.  Night all!

Morning Run

Yesterday afternoon I arrived at the gym feeling a bit tired.  Probably leftover from the super busy weekend.  And then I saw all the upright bikes were taken.  Gah!  So I rode a recumbent instead, which turned out to be a nice change of pace.  I had to use my glutes a lot more.  After the bike I did chest/triceps/core.  I was feeling spiffy so instead of normal planks I did ones with arm raises.  I didn't count reps, I just did them for 40 seconds, my normal plank time:

that's not me.  but i bet you knew that ;)

This definitely made for a challenge.  I finished up with some stretching and then went home to zone out until bedtime, I was tired as heck!

Today, Tuesday, was a busy day.  I had a PT appointment after work so I decided I should maybe do my run in the morning before work.  This way I wouldn't stress about it all day, worrying I wouldn't fit it in.  Also, the forecast was for another hot day, another reason to run in the morning.  I set my alarm and decided I'd make a game-day decision.  When my alarm went off I groaned.  But after a bit of self talk - mostly, "If you don't get up and do it now it might not happen today" - I managed to get up and head out the door.  It was chilly but not freezing.  I ran 3 miles and felt pretty good.  This is only my second pavement run in the Brooks and things seemed to go smooth.  I finished in 33 minutes, my normal/good time, which made me happy.  I stretched after the run but boy were my muscles tight!  That's the biggest drawback of exercising in the morning, you're just not all loosened up like you are come afternoon.

After my PT appointment I went to the gym to do weights.  I did a quick warmup walk and then headed to the weights - back/biceps/core.  I am really focusing on keeping my shoulders down, which is not easy.  I need to strengthen my mid-back.  After weights I did a quick stretch (and still felt a bit tighter than normal, I blame the morning run) and then headed home to my kiddos. 

I am tired.  Tired, tired, tired.  It's 9:30pm and I really want to watch Mad Men but I think it'll have to wait until tomorrow.  Incidentally, this is already week 3 so next week will be a recovery week.  Still haven't decided exactly what that will look like but I'm thinking maybe drop 2 levels for the bike and do walks instead of running.  For weights I'm thinking one light set instead of three.  We'll see, all I know is that I'm liking this recovery week idea.

I realized I never really commented on my weigh-in last Friday.  Up .4 pounds.  Two words: menstrual. cycle.  Enough said.  Oh!  I forgot to mention - I signed up for another event.  And this one is coming up in less than two weeks!  But I'm out of time so I'll have to share all that exciting info tomorrow.  Night everyone.

Busy Bee, That's Me!

Talk about an active weekend!  I hardly stopped at all other than to eat and sleep.  I went to the gym on Friday morning and rode the bike for 25 minutes.  Then I did back/biceps/core.  I had to go early because between my and Miguel's schedules that was my only chance to go.  I always feel tight in the morning and things are just harder it seems.  I don't know if I mentioned but I've been going to physical therapy for my shoulders.  They have started to ache most of the time and I don't want it to get worse.  So I'm not supposed to do any exercises that aggravate them.  But I get all crazed in the gym and can't skip stuff.  I went to the PT in the afternoon and they gave me some alternatives for now.

Saturday was a day off from the gym but not from running like headless chickens.  We took the kids to an open house at our local police station in the morning.  They got to check out riot gear, sit on motorcycles and pet the k9 officer.  Afterward we walked over to a street fair and let the kids jump in the bouncy houses for a while.  It was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast.  Home for naps (for them, not us) and I ran out and purchased more plants for my ever growing garden.  I'm kind of getting into this gardening thing.  It's amazing what can be enjoyable when you have the energy and feel comfortable and strong in your body.  I think I've always hated gardening because it involved getting down on the ground, using muscles and being in the sun.  All things I can handle just fine now. 

After the kids' naps we took them to a super-fun birthday party with more bouncy house action!  I even got in for a while, which was actually a lot of work.  The kids were piling on me and at one point I feared for my own safety! (wink).  I indulged in food and drink and used up all my extra points for the week.  I had 2 margaritas, 1 glass of red wine, a chili-dog and lots of snacks (pretzels, cheese puffs, etc).  Oh, and 2 mini cupcakes.  I tracked it all when I got home but struggled with a desire to keep eating.  But I wasn't hungry at all and really did NOT want to go into the red on my points.  I vowed to not eat another single bite of food, got a big glass of bubbly water and texted my friend Kristy for support (Thanks Kristy!!).  I made it through the evening without eating more food.  I can't tell you how good it felt to wake up Sunday morning knowing I made a better choice.  The party was a lot but not too much and I didn't go overboard by eating more at home. 

So Sunday morning, despite the alcohol, I actually felt pretty good.  It was going to be a hot day and I wanted to do an outdoor run so I decided I'd better get moving.  I went back to the same trail I did two weeks prior.  I did the same loop, but backwards.  It was much better in this direction, though it meant walking up one steep hill.  I ran for an hour and was able to do the loop three times in that time.  It felt so incredibly good to be out there in the morning air, running in sun and shade, listening to the birds - trail running is sort of magical.  If you haven't tried it I highly recommend it.  I'm lucky to live in this area with all these beautiful trails.  Here's a post-run picture:

Those are my Reebok shorts, size Medium!

After my run I met up with Miguel at the soccer field.  He had a game but took the kids early to play.  Once his game was underway I took the kids home for lunch.  Miguel got home when they went down for their naps so I headed to the air-conditioned gym to do weights.  I did legs/shoulders/core work.  I followed the PTs advice and dropped an exercise that was hurting my shoulders (lying shoulder presses). 

After the gym I had a quick shower and then headed to the mall in a last-minute effort to find a dress.  My mother's club social is coming up this Wednesday and I still don't have anything I really like.  Shopping continues to be a whole new experience.  I can walk in any store and find stuff that fits - even what I consider teenage stores like Express.  I ended up buying a black pencil skirt at H&M and might wear that with a blouse to the party.  It's cute but it's a little work/professional instead of party/casual.  We'll see.  And I have a food/drink plan for the party.  I used up all my extra points over the weekend so for the party I'm going to focus on why I'm there (to socialize) and limit my drinking to two glasses of wine.  I will eat dinner at home and limit my eating to fruit and one dessert item.  Doesn't that sound reasonable?