Archive | 30 Day Shred

Weekly Workout Recap: The First Week for the Rest of My Life!

This was a big week for me, since it was the very FIRST week of my workout program.

I delayed the start since I had the entire week from Xmas to New Years off and it made sense to start it on the Monday following Xmas. I had decided to do a mix of Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred with the Banish Fat Boost Metabolism and the No More Trouble Zone videos, when there is  more time to work out.

Looking forward to this week!

A nice garish color combination! Probably why it only cost $15? 

Before starting, I treated myself to a pair of KSwiss Sneakers (X Lite Tubes) that I intend to only use during my home workouts. It was on super sale for $15 on Amazon, score!

I want this to be a new healthy habit. I want to feel like something is wrong if I don’t work out. At this point, I want to be a fitness nut. I want to look like the helpers in Jillian Michaels’ videos. I want to be strong and able to do the advanced versions of all these moves! You get the idea. This is a first step in a big change. (pun intended, haha)

Losing a bit of weight

Prior to starting the program, I lost about 7-8lbs, from ~138lbs through intermittent fasting (IF). I cut out breakfast, but kept eating everything else as normal. For the most part, I my intake was about 1300-1400 calories, in some cases going as high as 1600-1700. IF was not terribly hard to implement, although it got a little uncomfortable sometimes when I was feeling hungry in the morning. By the time lunch rolls around 11am or so, I am starving and just about anything tastes delicious which is why I have been getting away with eating salads for lunch.

Losing those extra pounds made me feel a bit smaller and more agile to be able to work out, although I am still flabby and floppy. Once the workout groove gets going, I will focus on eating better and cleaner. Eventually, much like working out, I hope the healthy eating will become second nature.

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Weekly Workout Recap: Planning for Fitness and “Testing” Some JM Videos

Umm.. no way will this ever be me. (*hides*)

I have been thinking quite a bit about the goal that I want to work towards.

Initially, I figured I needed to join a sport of some sort since it would be easier to visualize. So maybe working towards a body competition, you know, the fit ladies who are super tanned in skimpy bikinis? I had a friend who was into it and I know she devotes an inordinate amount of time to prepare for it. I then remembered that I am an introvert and doing anything on stage practically naked is probably not a good idea.

So what about rock climbing, boxing, cycling, triathlons, half marathons, power-lifting, etc.? It dawned on me that choosing a specific sport too soon is too much commitment in time and money for something I don’t know if I will like just so I can force myself into a goal.

I figured I should start with the journey before I determine an “end goal.” So ultimately, I decided that…

  1. I want to get into the best shape I have ever been
  2. I want to incorporate exercise videos into my life as a daily habit (I want to feel weird if I go a day without doing it)
  3. I want to be able to develop my cardio endurance enough so that I can participate in a 5k without stopping, maybe in a Disneyworld 5k!
  4. I want to be able to do a proper pull-up/chin-up, 5 total! (for now)
  5. Lastly, I want to be able to do a hand stand, hand stand push-up, and maybe walk on my hands!

Yes, that’s literally it. Those are the goals for now. I would like to learn how to swim eventually and maybe even do a proper cartwheel. Heck, I might even work up into playing basketball or some kind of adult sports league. We’ll see!

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Weekly Workout Recap: Leading up to the Dieting and Soreness Prep

I will be posting in this format which will allow me to write freely and post it once a week to avoid annoying any readers (my mom, ha!). I would much rather devote the daily energy to working out and and watching what I eat!

During the time leading up to the great big “Sore Weekend,” I was still attempting my daily Fitbit goal of 10k steps a day, which I will regularly reach after walking to and from work and marching in places or pacing around the apartment to finish off the remaining 2k steps or so. If it is a busy walking day where I might clock in 15k steps, I would be sore the next day! So while I was much more active than the previous 5 years, I was still out of shape.

Starting in early November, I slowly incorporated Intermittent Fasting as a part of my “diet” although I feel it would be more apt to describe it as a habit instead. I’ll post a longer entry on it eventually, but the gist is that I follow an 8/16 hour cycle of feeding and fasting. I would eat within an 8 hour window and fast in the remaining 16. It amounts to basically skipping breakfast and having lunch at noon and dinner finished by 8pm. I would adjust the dinner time accordingly depending on when my first meal of the day was. Eating between the lunch and dinner hours are fine too and I do snack as normal. I found that cutting breakfast had removed about 300-400 calories from my diet which was hovering about 1600-1700 calories a day. I was now keeping it about 1200-1300 per day which is recommended for someone who sat around all day as I did.

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