Out with Jillian...

In with Tony Horton and the Power90.



I finally got to the point where I couldn't stand to listen to or look at Jillian anymore. My co-worker Lynn did the P90X a while back and loved it. She's actually just starting up as a coach for the program. I always teased her about it, but in the back of my mind I thought it might be something to try after my lactating days were over.

So here we are! C and I are doing it together, which can only help us to stay on track. I need that late-evening motivation when all I want to do it sit on the couch and watch TV. We decided to start with the Power90 rather than going straight for the P90X - figured if we jumped into something that was outside of our ability range then we'd be less likely to stick with it.

2 weeks ago we started circuiting through Tony's Power Half Hour series, and then last night we began the Power90 in earnest. I don't know that we'll go the full 90 days, we might jump over to P90X sooner than that. So far the sculpting on the first set of disks is way too easy. We're going to swap that part out for the Power Half Hour disks.

I'm not looking for (or expecting) any huge bodily transformation. I'm relatively happy with my shape and size, but certain parts could stand to be a little firmer. I've also resigned myself to the fact that my stomach will never be exactly as it was pre-baby no matter how many crunches I do.

Oh! And my first AW! Last night I successfully did THREE real push-ups! I've forever been a knees-bent push-up kind of girl, and I'm very proud of myself!

Shred Discovery

I found out last night that there's an option to turn off Jillian! That totally made my day.



I'm not nearly as sore today as I was on Tuesday. I've also decided to pick up an old Weight Watchers habit and track my food. I realized yesterday that my willpower has pretty much disappeared. I think I need as much accountability as I can get, especially with the holiday season right around the corner. I'm not interested in denying myself holiday treats, so the focus will be more on moderation. I don't think I have to worry about alcoholic beverages this year, I certainly can't drink like I used to. No peppermint schnapps in hot chocolate for me!

(And no, I'm not pregnant. Why is it that when women talk about not drinking the only assumption is that she's pregnant?)

Day One

In the interest of having somewhere to be held accountable, I'm jumping back on the Shred bandwagon. I started it again last night and I'm paying for my weeks of couch-dwelling in today's aftermath. Ouch!

Jillian is so annoying. While the shred is certainly better than nothing, it's definitely not "replacing hours of phoning it in at the gym." I'm going to pull out some old Rage CDs for tomorrow's round.

I Feel Blobby

I know I don't really have any right to complain, seeing as how I'm actually below my pre-pregnancy weight by a few pounds, but I've been feeling rather "blobby" lately. While the number on the scale isn't anything shocking, it seems that the distribution of fat on my body has been radically altered. I'm having serious butt issues.

I know that I need to do something about it. I had been running 3-4x / week for a few months, but then when it started getting dark earlier I stopped because running alone when it's dark creeps me out. I live in a stereotypical suburban subdivision, but I just feel so exposed running through the streets after sunset. Maybe I need to get over that.

I don't want to get up and exercise in the mornings, because I get up at 5:30 as it is. I don't want to exercise in the early evening, because I want to play with Baby C. After he goes to bed at 7:30, my motivation to change, get all sweaty, and then shower again before bed is pretty much non-existent, and it's just too easy to sit on the couch and spend some quality time with my husband. We don't get to do that often enough as it is.

I really need to get going, maybe tonight will be the night.

30 Day Shred Day 1

So I had every intention of starting The Shred last night, but my good buddy Stephanie came over for dinner and conversation. We ended up talking on the couch until past 9:30, by which time I'm usually in bed. After she left I still had to make bottles, lunches, and milk, and by the time that was all wrapped up it was pushing 10:30, so I decided I'd get up at 4:00 and do it in the morning. C was positive I'd change my mind when the alarm went off. I almost did, but forced myself out of bed.

Three main thoughts of the day:

1. I started out on Level 1, thinking I could just ease back into exercising. Not so much. It's either not as beginner as I thought it would be or I'm more out of shape than I thought I was. Probably a little of both. Can I tell you how much I hate push-ups? My arms feel like jello.

2. I need to get a better sports bra, but since I only have 18 days left as a dairy cow I'm not going to buy one right now. I guess that means modified jumping jacks with my arms crossed over my chest for a while. Holy cow I hope these things shrink soon.

3. This is probably an unpopular opinion, based on the huge numbers of people I see extolling her virtues, but I don't really like Jillian Michaels. I thought she was kind of annoying and tried to be too funny and clever. I've decided that I'm going to mute the DVD and use the awesome XM stations that came with DirecTV instead. I'm also going to replace my mental image of Ms. Michaels with the Real Shredder, instead.



Much more motivating.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

I'm one of the lucky ones who lost all of the extra pregnancy pounds and then some relatively quickly after having the baby. I'm sure breastfeeding had a lot to do with it, and since we're about to wrap that up I know I'll have to readjust my eating and exercise habits again. To be honest, I haven't exercised in MONTHS, outside of the walks we take around our neighborhood after work.

While I've lost the weight and the number I see on the scale every morning makes me happy, the pounds that belong on my body have redistributed themselves in a way that I'm not very happy with. Certain areas jiggle when I'd prefer them to remain static and other areas look more like cottage cheese than I'd like to admit. Either way, I'm not doing this to lose weight but to redistribute the weight that I have and maybe build up some muscle so that I don't feel like I'm going to die by the time I get to the checkout with the monster package of baby wipes.*

Since all of my (internet) friends are doing it I picked up the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD at Target last night. I was originally going to wait until I was done with the whole pumping thing (19 days!), but I'm going to start tonight, instead.


* Yes, for the most part I only use cloth wipes, but there are some diapers whose contents require a cleaning by something more easily-disposed-of. Still 100% cloth diapers, though.

Pregnancy and Vanity

As you probably gathered from my last post about my jeans, I'm over the moon excited that I'm fitting back into my old clothes again. I'm also very glad to not have any stretchmarks and to be see happy numbers smiling back at me from the scale. I always knew that I had some body image issues, but I'm surprised (and kind of disgusted) at how happy it makes me that I'm looking more like my old self again. I was so afraid that I would struggle to lose the pregnancy weight that I put on and so afraid that I would never look the same. I feel guilty in some ways for not embracing the idea of wearing my "battle scars" of pregnancy the way that some women are able to. I have never been more excited to get back into exercising and eating better.

I've never been one to fish for compliments and I don't take them very well at all, but I was in a wedding this past weekend and I really really enjoyed it when people told me they couldn't believe I had a 2 week old at home. Does that make me a bad person? I don't think it should, but for some reason I feel badly about it :(