It has begun! Bring it, Jillian.
I wasn’t able to get up yesterday morning, so I did the first workout yesterday afternoon. I always struggle working out in the afternoon, tired from working all day and thinking about all I need to do after the workout. As I struggled through, I loathed Jillian, even though about half of the movements are repeats from the three levels of the 30 Day Shred; I was exhausted…and she looks phenomenal in the video. Her arms are my motivation.
I did manage to get up this morning and repeat the workout. This time, while still challenging, it was much better. To me, I think this routine is equally as hard as Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred – mostly because she ramps up the speed for the “bad-ass” version on most of the cardio…plus some new cardio moves that definitely get the heart rate up.
Now, I am feeling a little sore – mostly in my upper arms, glutes, and hips. I love it. I’ve always loved the slight ache of sore muscles after a good workout. Maybe that’s weird, but it makes me feel like I really did something. So far, I like the video.
A couple of changes I noticed in this series is that instead of two moves for the strength circuit, there are three; I like that change. And I watched the intro part (which I never did for the 30 Day Shred); she tells you to do the workout 5 or 6 days a week, not 7 like I had been thinking. Thank you for the rest days that I would have taken anyway! And there’s a free downloadable nutrition plan.
The nutrition plan is based on 3-400 calorie meals and 1-200 calorie snack. Most of the recipes sound pretty good. But I am not following the plan 100% for several reasons – the main ones being too many ingredients per week and too much food going to waste (b/c of partially used ingredients). Plus the recipes repeat every 10 days or so, and I like a little more variety than that. So…I made my own meal plan, using a lot of Jillian’s recipes, my own recipes, and recipes from another 30 day challenge that I had downloaded previously. I will stick with the basis of her plan – 3-400 calorie meals and 1 snack (though yesterday I didn’t eat it…). I’m incorporating a few other things – Meatless Monday, using the slow-cooker once a week, larger portions for the husband and leftovers for his lunch the next day, a night off every now and then, and a meal out with friends after church, as is our routine. The nights off are for events that we already have planned, and I feel like as long as I don’t go overboard, this should be okay. I’m no nutritionist, but I feel like these modifications make a plan realistic for my husband and I.
Here’s what this week looks like:
I was so disappointed that there were no good avocados at the grocery store last night. No avocado on my turkey avocado wrap tomorrow. This week includes a lot of tacos and burritos – to use up the tortillas that I would have been buying for some of Jillian’s recipes anyway.
I’m excited to see how this month goes!
It's About More Than the Scale 