Shred with Weights by Jillian Michaels - A Review

I thought I'd post this for you Jillian Michaels fans out there.

I just received Shred with Weights by Jillian Michaels, which was released earlier this month. It's a kettlebell workout, but can be modified to use a single dumbbell. Unfortunately, Jillian does not give a recommendation for the weight of kettlebell to be used, but does push her adjustable kettlebell. She does suggest those using dumbbells use 3-8 lb weight.

The video consists of a tutorial and two different level workouts. I highly recommend using the tutorial if you haven't used kettlebells before, like me. It was very helpful to take the time to figure out the correct form for the movements before adding the cardio aspect.

I did the tutorial followed by Level 1 and it was HARD. My fitness level is intermediate, as I've been working out consistently for over a year now. It's been a long time since I've felt like passing out during a workout. I did stop to sit down during the workout, in the third circuit during a move called "Turkish Getups". Personally, I burned 199 calories in the 27 minutes of Level 1. I did not count my calories during the tutorial because it is slow-paced.

Overall, I believe this would be a very effective video, like the rest of hers are. It's a killer workout incorporating her famous circuits which include both strength and cardio.

As an FYI for you Jillian fans, her Six Week Six Pack DVD will be released November 30th.

A Milestone

It happened today. The scale said 185 for the first time since 2006, when I was doing Weight Watchers. Of course, I gained everything back once I stopped following the program, but that's another story.

 Typically, I wait until my official weigh-in day to change my ticker and really count any losses. However, I was too excited to wait two days until Friday. I've been waiting for this day for a long time. I even had 185 set as my Labor Day goal, and although it's two days late, it's the first weight goal I've met by my own deadline.

Perhaps even more exciting than the actual number of 185 is that today's weigh-in moved my BMI score from "obese" to "overweight." Seeing the calculation left me speechless for a few moments; all I could do was grin.

Sure, I know as well as the next person that BMI isn't necessarily an accurate measure of one's body composition, but I'm finding all of the reasons I can to celebrate my success. In fact, everyone should, rather than focus on the what they have left to accomplish.

Here's to a new milestone and my successes so far! 

Angry at the Scale!

It happened for the first time this morning. I was so angry at the scale, I wanted to throw it out the window.

 What happened to create these feelings? I worked hard all week with exercising, staying within my calories enough to have a good deficit and drinking more than enough water and the scale "rewarded" me by showing a 0.6 lb weight gain.

Trust me, I'm no stranger to gaining weight from week to week. I've had fluctuations of 5 lbs from one day to the next at times, but this one angered me more than any others because I really had my heart set on seeing a 185 on the scale; my Labor Day goal.

After letting my anger fester for a few hours, I tried to talk myself down with the usual reasoning. Too much sodium, sore muscles, etc. It was when I got up from my desk to walk to the fax machine that I realized my size 10 jeans, which I just bought last week, felt looser. They aren't snug around my waist.

I've calmed down and come to the conclusion that I must be losing inches instead of pounds again. For me, I only see decreases in one of them at a time. So, it looks like it's time to take measurements again...and remind myself to breathe and let it go!