Day 13 (Level 2, Day 3) | My Weightloss Struggle

Okay, I'm officially discouraged. Still no pounds lost, and yesterday my shoulders were hurting me, so I took another break. Which I feel incredibly guilty about, but at least today the soreness was a little better and I completed the exercises. My back still hurts though.

I'm wondering if I'm ever going to lose weight. I feel a lot stronger, firmer, and a little more slender, but the scale doesn't agree. *sigh*. I have to keep going or I'll never know if I can do it.

Maybe it's okay to just be stronger and feel better. Maybe it's not about the scale so much. Maybe it's just about the confidence this will give me, even if I never have crazily defined abs.

I'll keep that in mind, and keep pushing. See you for Day 14 of My Weightloss Struggle.

--Steph

Day 12 (Level 2, Day 2) | My Weightloss Struggle

Today has been a busy day, so I didn't get the chance to post about my workout until now. Definite improvements on my exercising today. I didn't scream "I hate you" at the TV screen, but I still did have to stop a couple times. Planks pose kills. But, I didn't stop as much as I did on Day 1...I am getting better already.

Sometimes I feel like I have lost weight, and other times I don't feel it at all. I feel stronger, but I don't really feel slimmer at the moment, and it's kind of a letdown. I'll see if I've lost any weight in a couple days. This isn't really a good week for a girl to be measuring/weighing herself, so I may wait till next week. I haven't decided.

Diet update: Did you know black beans have more nutrients than pinto beans, but are about the same calories? Why wouldn't you have black beans knowing this?! Oh also, I cut my burrito in half at lunch today, and made myself drink a whole glass of water during my meal. I think it helps to fill my tummy while my brain registers that it is full. Plus, it keeps me from being dehydrated, or thinking I'm hungry when I really just am thirsty.

My shoulders are really sore today. Hopefully they'll be better in a day or two. See you tomorrow for Day 13 of My Weightloss Struggle!

--Steph

Level 2, Day 1 | Day 11 of My Weightloss Struggle

Level 2 of Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred" kicked my ass so hard. If you want to know how it was, let me just say I screamed "I hate you" at the screen a whole lot. It sounds funny, but I'm so serious, and I didn't realize I was doing it for a while. Ha.

It was so hard on my arms. One circuit of everything (abs, strength, cardio) was done in "planks pose" which is push-up pose. Yeah, that's right. Cardio = jacks, abs = twist with one left, strength = walking pushups. Wow.

I admit, I had to stop a few times. Even on the "modified/easy versions"... Mostly during the plank exercises. The other things I fought through. I sweat and my arms are really tired. But you know what, I'm proud of myself. These exercises will get easier as time goes. And it made me really happy to see that Jillian's team was struggling too. They were laughing and panting through the pain with me. They were more talkative than Level 1, and I needed the distractions.

It's lunch time now. See you tomorrow for Day 12/Day 2 of Level 2 on My Weightloss Struggle!

--Steph

Done with Level 1! |My Weightloss Struggle

Today I finished Day 10 of Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred" DVD!! That means, I'm done with Level One! The squat/punches were much easier today, as well as the crunches; which are usually the things that give me trouble. I had a little trouble with the static lunge/bicep curls today because I started to get off balance. I also attempted a full push-up today, but I had to go back to the modified version after three push-ups. Oh well. I'll try again in a few days.

Overall, I feel a lot stronger. I stopped feeling like I had to guzzle water in the middle of jump rope, and I'm no longer anticipating the ends of each exercise (a la "is this the last one? what about now?!" ...ha). I really want to weigh and measure myself, but I'm going to hold off since it's only been a few days since the last time, and I know that it won't show up on the scale just yet.

Today my energy and optimism were up a little bit more. Maybe because I knew it was the last day of level one. I'm really anxious to figure out what exercises are in level 2.

I'm off to eat breakfast now. Oh by the way, here's my recommendation for a breakfast/snack bar. Fiber One bars!! SO YUMMY! I love the Oats and Chocolate the best, but I just got the Oats and Strawberry and those are great too. I haven't tried the Chocolate Mocha, or the Apple yet. I have trouble getting my fiber in, and if I'm starving between meals, these are better than grabbing a candy bar.

See you tomorrow for the start of Level 2 on My Weightloss Struggle!

--Steph

Day 9 of My Weightloss Struggle

Well, I took another workout DVD break yesterday. I was volunteering for a dance event, and imagined I would be running up and downstairs all day. Instead, I ended up standing and walking around in 95 degree weather pointing cars in the direction of the parking lot. For 8 hours...Ah well.

So, today I woke up at 3 am because my adorable cat wanted to play. So I spend the rest of the night off and on pushing her off my face and trying to keep her from scratching my legs when I rolled over.

And I finally got out of bed at like...noon. It's my first day off from work/school in a long time, so I lounged for a bit. I sat and moped and felt self conscious for a while, and then I finally put in the exercise DVD. I just have to say, I feel SOOOOO much better now that I worked out. The endorphins must have kicked in.

I'm still not "shredded", but I'm feeling much stronger than when I started. Let's see how this continues. One more day of Level 1 and I'm on to level 2 on My Weightloss Struggle.

--Steph