30DayShred by Jillian Michaels

Challenging my self another month with Jillian's 30Day Shred and just in time for the Holidays. Thanksgiving is a few days away with Christmas not far behind. After my last challenge (posts here) I faced my first taste of defeat. I gained 3lbs. You may be thinking, that's not a lot. When it takes a 15lb loss to 10lb it's a big deal. I've played the if-game. What if I'd just said no to the Halloween candy, what if I didn't take all those days off in between challenges, what if? It does me no good, so my motivation for this next 3lbs is, I've lost you before I can lose you again Boo-yah!! Yeah I talk to my fat like that.

This momma is on a mission and I've hired Jillian to be my tour guide. 
There are some things to know about this workout. She allows for very little rest. You are supposed to complete the entire 30days in a row. I'm a firm believer in giving your body a rest, otherwise mine would shut down in the middle of the challenge and I'd have to start all over. Now granted you'll only be working out 20min a day. So I think I could do it non stop I just don't want to take that chance.

There are 3 phases in this set. Each a little harder than the previous one. Each to be completed in 10days. In between each exercise you're allowed to rest no more than 10-15 seconds. If you get tired you're to take a break no longer than 5sec. It's designed to keep you moving to maximize the effectiveness in such a short time frame. After a few days you'll start to feel stronger. My first day I felt challenged at the beginner level, now I find myself attempting to stay with the advanced level.

Instructor Comparison
It's hard to compare styles of all the different instructors. Jillian gets a bunch of slack for talking throughout this DVD. Some people like this while others are turned off. Instead of doing the workouts with you she's explaining each movement at each level. This can bothers those who don't like to be talked at while working out. I'm used to this style coming from the military with drill sergeants and growing up with militant sports coaches. It makes an instructor easier to follow if they're doing the moves with you.
Read my Overweighted post about how tracking goals with lbs can be misleading.
Tweeted the other day about my scale, it's MIA. The hubs hid per my request and I will not be venturing into the attic to find it. I'm excited and scared to move forward not knowing my weight. I'll be tracking inches weekly from now on instead of weighing daily.

Challenge Beginning Stats:
I began this challenge mid week on and got a total of 5x that week so we'll count it as beginning on  11/13/11. I'm only including my weight as this was the last week I weighed myself (lbs). This will be a great post to come back to in a few months.

Arm: 13	Chest: 40.5	Neck: 13	Waist: 35
Navel: 38.5	Hips: 39	Leg: 23	Calf: 16	Weight: 210

Updated results will be posted
after 12/13/11

Phase 1
For the 1st 10 Days I followed phases 1 and 2 workouts. This was Thanksgiving weekend so I took 2 days off instead of my planned one day of rest. I'm not strictly following Jillian because I get bored very easily. So I knew I wouldn't follow the phase 1 workout for a full 10days.

Comparing the first 2 phases I'd def say the 2nd is more challenging. However they are both great quick 20min routines you can do if you're pressed for time.

Phase 2
I started the 2nd 10 Days with phase3's workout and I literally cried. If you knew me lately you'd know I tend to cry a lot when the workout really pushes me to the edge. It's not that it's terribly hard and I can't do it. What kills me is knowing this used to be apart of my daily routine. Granted this was over a decade ago but my memory doesn't compute time. My mind thinks my body should be doing this stuff without a sweat and my body is like, are you kidding me?