30 Day Shred - Day 1

I have been fairly lucky in life where I can usually eat what I want and not really exercise, but I can tell that my metabolism is starting to slow down. Apparently that is what 27 does to you. I don't necessarily have a bad diet, but I do like my desserts. I also am not a huge fan of exercising - I never had to exercise growing up because I had gymnastics classes 3-4 days a week so that kept me in shape. That needs to change since I have gained 10 pounds and have high cholesterol (family trait!). I want to make sure that I stay healthy, especially since I intend to have kids one day. I have focused on buying healthier snacks and foods so now I just have to kick my butt to work out. Today I started day 1 of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. Here's a little review.

I know most of you have probably heard of it, but for those that haven't...the Shred is a 20 minute exercise with 3 levels. Once you feel comfortable with the first level, you move on to the next. It is much like circuit training because you switch from strength to cardio to abs and repeat. Therefore, your heart rate stays elevated for the full 20 minutes and you get a better work out in fewer minutes. I enjoyed this work out. I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be at the end compared to how I felt at the beginning. My arms have gotten pretty weak so the push-ups and arm presses were fairly tiring for me. I liked that we stayed busy the whole 20 minutes because I felt that I was working hard. If you are really new to exercise, then you can complete the modified versions of the exercises, but I was able to do the advanced versions, except for the push-up portion. I hope to move onto level 2 sooner than later. I will update as I do more days and then move onto the next levels to let you know how things are going!

5K training...not going as well as I thought.

I have a really hard time when it comes to exercise. I was in gymnastics for 15 years and dance for 4 years so I never really had to work out like a normal person. I did strength training and cardio at gymnastics and dance practices. However, once I began college I did not have those opportunities anymore. I have not stuck with an exercise program since I was 17. I'm turning 27 in September...that's a DECADE of not having a decent workout program. I've tried DVD's, going to the university rec center, running on my own outside, among a few other things and nothing has stuck with me. Fortunately, I am still within my weight range for my height and have a healthy BMI. But I still want to work out and be healthy since I do have high cholesterol problems (family trait). Plus, I know eventually my metabolism will slow down immensely.

I found a 6 weeks to a 5K program through fitnessmagazine.com. Of couse, I didn't start it on Monday like I was supposed to. I started it yesterday and I didn't even make it through the entire 4 miles. I am way more out of shape than I would like to admit. Additionally, my Ipod ran out of juice while I was running....that should not be an excuse, but I made it one anyway. I ended up only making it through 2 miles, but I am determined to do this so I will keep at it until it sticks. I have also been trying to find a 5K to run this summer so I have a goal to look forward to, but I have not been able to find one yet.

This whole working out thing needs to start - like now.

I have been telling myself for 4 months that I need to start working out on a regular basis. Has that happened? No. I am pretty good at coming up with excuses for things I don't want to do. Just ask my husband. But, excuses no more! I can definitely tell that I gained weight over the winter, especially with all the baking that I like to do. I admit - I like my sweets. However, if I'm going eat them every so often (ok, ok...just about every day) then I need to work them off. So, I impulsively just bought this:

I have been watching The Biggest Loser this season and know that Jillian kicks some major butt. I have also heard good things about this video (besides the agony of pain that participants feel after doing it). So I figure this is a good option for me to jump back into working out!

Numbers 12, 13, 14, 17, 27, 37, 38

I didn't complete a lot of my goals this week that I have set for myself. I have not "failed" at my goals, however. I am just going to strive to complete them and not beat myself up for not doing something last week. It's only the first week for a lot of my goals! I have time. Additionally, I understand that life can get in the way - it was supposed to be my last week of work, but for unforeseen reasons I am now working the next 2 weeks a few hours here and there to help out. So last week became a weird week and I lost motivation.

Number 12: I did keep in touch with my parents this past week, even though most of our talking was random little moments about my car and me coming to visit this week.

Number 13 & 14: I did not keep in touch with my brother or Grandpa this week so I will need to work on this! This is an especially important goal for me so I really want to focus on this.

Number 17: I hung out with friends this past Friday night. I got invited to Adrian's mom's house for dinner so I went with him and Erin to eat and then to Korrin's house later that night to hang out and play Apples to Apples.


Number 24: I completed Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. I enjoyed the book and have decided to let others enjoy it too by joining swaptree.com. In fact, someone has already requested the book so I am going to send it out later this week!

Number 27: This is one goal that I have kept up on! I have read the main highlights from cnn.com and msnbc.com through Google Reader. I have found that this is a great way to get a daily dose of the news.

Number 37 & 38: I did not complete my exercising for this week. I need to work on some type of schedule so that this will be easier for me to do. I did find some old magazine articles on various exercises so I do intend to use these for strength training and even a little cardio too. Additionally, I rented 3 DVDs from the library that I want to try out. This goal is one that I am really going to have to kick my butt to get done because when I get busy exercising is usually the first thing to go!

Number 12 & 37

I have to find ways to work out in our apartment because we don't have the money in our budget for gym passes and it's too cold for me to run outside. I tried running outside in the winter in high school once and when I got home I thought I was going to die because my lungs burned so bad. So I don't do it anymore. I love the first warm air of the season because then I can start up again. Anyways, I have 2 exercise DVDs...one is a 10 minute pilates DVD (which I love) and the other is a Denise Austin cardio dance DVD. I only bought the Denise Austin DVD because I love to dance so I thought it would be a good one. However, I hate this DVD because Denise Austin gets on my nerves too much (and frankly, so do her "helpers" in the video). I still did it tonight because I had no other options, but I was annoyed the whole time. I even skipped over one of the 10 minute segments. So I ended up working out for 45 minutes instead of 55 minutes. Oh well, my goal is 30 so I surpassed it by 15 minutes anyway! I think I might rent a new exercise DVD each week from the library (since we don't have money in our budget to buy new DVDs either...haha), but I have a feeling that most of them will be checked out since it is January and a lot of people make exercising one of their resolutions. Hopefully I can find something! I also found a bunch of workouts that I ripped out of magazines in our office today so I intend to look through those tonight.

The dreaded Denise Austin!

During the first 10 minutes of my workout, my mom called me. While I was at work my dad called me about my car (it got hit in a parking lot last month - but that's a whole other story). So technically I talked to both of my parents this week, but it was a little rushed each time since I was in the middle of other things so I will probably talk to both of them later this week. Actually, I have no problems talking to my parents during the week so this is kind of an easy goal for me. :)

Number 38 & 52

I've had a stack of movies from my mom for probably over a year. I have not watched any of them and need to so that I can give them back to her...although I'm not sure she even realizes they are missing! Since Jon is working tonight and my vacation time is winding down, I decided to watch one of them. I chose No Reservations, which is perfect since I have really gotten into cooking lately and I'm also a fan of Aaron Eckhart. The reviews weren't that great for this movie, but I enjoyed it and would recommend it to others.

I also decided to do some strength training while I was watching the movie. I'm crazy, right? Anyways, I got in a half hour of strength training. I did 10 minutes each of arms, abs and legs. I know I'm probably going to feel it tomorrow though! It's been a long time since I've worked out because I've found it very difficult to keep up with it due to my schedule. I'm hoping that I can form somewhat of a routine before I begin student teaching at the end of the month.

Oh, and I should mention that I subscribed to cnn.com & msnbc.com on my Google Reader so I am getting my daily dose of news in!