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!

A Successful Weekend

For probably the first time since starting my weight loss journey in November 2009, I had a successful weekend in regards to weight loss. For the first time, I didn't over eat and go crazy, thinking "I'll behave again on Monday." Instead, I thought, "I'll behave all weekend because it makes Monday easier."

The very best part of the weekend? I didn't deprive myself of anything I wanted, but simply counted all of my calories BEFORE I ate it; especially when it came to ice cream. Sure, the sodium was still higher than during the week, but even that wasn't higher than a typical weekend and I know the 1.2 lbs gained over the weekend will be gone by tomorrow. It's all water-weight due to the sodium, so no freaking out here!

It's also been easier this morning to fall back into my routine because I won't feel like I'm starving, the way I do after two or three days of eating whatever I want. Who knew behaving on the weekends would be LESS stressful than doing whatever I want to? It's a nice change and one I'm hoping I'll be able to continue going forward.

Hot by Halloween

One of my weight loss sisters remind me today that it's only 12 weeks until Halloween. Where did the time go?
A while ago, my weight loss sisters and I set Halloween goals so that we could wear the costumes we really want to wear to parties. For me, that means dressing provocatively; mostly because I've never been able to do so. Last year's spandex leopard print pants do NOT count.

What all of this boils down to is that it's really time to get serious and start behaving on the weekends! I do really well all week and crash on the weekends with too much unhealthy food and adult beverages. No more! I want badly to see 175 on the scale for Halloween. I realize that 14 lbs in 12 weeks may not be reasonable for me, but I want to at least be able to say that I tried my hardest and have no regrets!

Swimming Confidence

As a child, I remember taking horrifying swimming lessons from a woman who would make us hold empty gallon milk jugs under our arms (caps were on) and jump into the deep end. From there, we had to swim to the shallow end, where she would shove our heads under the water to get us used to putting our faces in the water. Instead all of this making me like swimming and making me want to learn to swim properly, it scared me! As you can probably imagine, my swimming has been pretty limited because of it. I somewhat like to swim (if I can touch and/or see the bottom), but rarely go under water and never open my eyes under water. Oh, and forget going under water without plugging my nose! I even used to fake reasons why I couldn't swim when it was part of gym class in school.

Last night I was at a pool party with my boyfriend's family and his nieces thought that it was funny when I told them I'd never jumped off of a diving board because it was scary. His 11 year old niece took me on as her special project, trying to teach me to go under water without holding my nose. Eventually, when I couldn't figure out how to blow enough air out of my nose under water, she told me "Well, maybe you could hire a personal swimming teacher for like $10 an hour." Yeah, even an 11 year old realizes I'm hopeless!

Even though I "failed" at my lessons last night, the fact that I tried and let the kids try to help me was progress in itself. For several years now I've had the desire to learn to swim properly or be able to jump in the water, but there's a fear factor there dating back about 22 years. It's hard to overcome that and it's certainly not going to happen overnight. Considering I live in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," it just might be a good idea to take the advice and hire a personal swimming teacher!

What Will it Take?

What will it take for me to realize that I am no longer a size 14 in pants or an XL in shirts? Yes, I know that I've lost just over 30 pounds and yes, I know that I can now fit into smaller clothes. But when will I stop wearing the old, baggy clothes that look terrible on me and replace them with fashionable, well-fitting clothes?

Quite a while ago, I purchased a shirt on clearance for $1 at Steve & Barry's when they were going out of business. I figured for $1, I would buy a "goal shirt" as something to work toward. When I took the shirt home that night and tried it on, I couldn't even get it on all the way, so I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me.

Fast forward to last night, when I pulled the lovely "goal shirt" out of the dresser drawer and tried it on. Surprise! It fit beautifully and the saying on the front, "It's not my fault I'm AWESOME" has become even more appropriate than it was when I bought the shirt. It sums everything up. I am awesome.

This brings me to today. I pulled on a pair of my favorite size 14 jeans and wore them to work. Within an hour, I realized they are baggy and look terrible on me. I have jeans of the same brand in both 14s and 12s but continue to wear the 14s. I need to give them up once and for all but the familiarity of being the same size for many years brings emotional attachment. Will giving them up change me? Probably not because the change happened before needing to give up the jeans.

So, the question remains. What is it that will finally convince me I'm no longer the same size I was 30 pounds ago? The answer has yet to be determined.