BODY STATISTICS

I started Level One of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred at 137.5 pounds and a BMI of 24.37, as measured by Wii Fit. (I later learned that my Tanita scale weighs me heavier than Wii Fit, so moving forward I'll also report those numbers.) I did not do a body fat percentage test on Day One, although I can tell you that back in September before I did South Beach it was around 33-34%.

On Day 10 of Level One, I weighed 133.6 pounds with a BMI of 23.67. The Tanita scale told me on Day 9 that I weighed 136 pounds with 31% fat.

DAY ONE PHOTOS: (137.5 pounds, BMI 24.37)

DAY TEN PHOTOS: (133.6 pounds, BMI 23.67 or via Tanita: 136 pounds, 31% fat)

(Unfortunately, both Day 1 and Day 10 hair is HORRIFIC - yikes!)

COMPARISON OF THE BELLY:
Day One on left, Day Ten on right

Here are a couple graphs courtesy of Wii Fit that show how my weight and BMI yo-yo'ed throughout the ten days:

Interestingly, my Day 3 statistics ended up being my Day 10 statistics.

EXERCISE

In terms of exercise, I did Level One of the 30 Day Shred every day, of course, but for Day One, it was in the evening (since the DVD had not yet arrived in the morning.) Days 2-10 I did the Shred first thing in the morning before all other activities. On Day 1, I did a 45 minute walk in the morning, then the Shred at night. On days 3 and 4, I did the Shred first, and then a 45 minute walk a few hours later. Once the kids are back in school (Spring Break was this week) I'll resume the 45 minute walk three times a week. I may add in some Wii Fit yoga or other activities as I feel motivated. (And indeed, with the Shred in the morning, I end up feeling energized enough that I actually want to do more activity!) On Day 5 I did the Shred in the morning per usual, then went to a "walk around the museum" activity with the kids. I was exhausted after this and vegged-out the rest of the day. On Day 6 I did the Shred in the morning, major housecleaning in the late morning, and then a few hours of weeding in the afternoon. Not surprisingly, I slept in on Day 7 (but still did the Shred first thing once I awakened!)

SLEEPING

The first few days I found myself having difficulty sleeping. I could fall asleep, but then as soon as I awakened I HAD TO BE AWAKE. Alas, waking up to pee at 4am meant that I was UP NOW. For a few days this was useful because I could jump right into the Shred and then get work done. I ended up being very productive, but it was a reluctant productivity because I didn't like being SO AWAKE and SO MANIC. Midway through Level One this all shifted - since I had been sleeping without an alarm, I allowed myself to wake up at will. Suddenly I was sleeping IN much more than usual. But, since I know that bodies need appropriate sleep to repair muscles, process the weight loss, etc, I wanted to just let my body be my guide. I'm nervous for the start of school again since I'll have to again get up with my alarm - we'll see what happens.

IMPRESSIONS OF THE SHRED: LEVEL ONE

On Day One, I was definitely hurting. I did it all, but was definitely sore afterward. I made definite improvements On that first day, for the first strength circuit I did 10 real pushups, and then on the second round did 5 modified pushups (with a couple beat-breaks.) On Day Ten, I did 15 real pushups during the first round and then 5 real ones, 5 modified ones for the second round. On the first day, I had to stop a couple times (just for a beat!) during some of the cardio circuits. On the 10th day, I was doing butt-kicks with Natalie and not stopping at all. I loved that round 3 cardio moving from one type to the next in rapid succession.

My favorite strength exercise was the chest flies of the third round. I upped the weights on that so I could really feel it as the days progressed. The press of the first round kicked me even if I was holding soup cans (but I upped the weights on the last day anyway.) Clearly, my strength is better in some aspects than others.

The abs work was pretty easy for Level One, "easy" being relative. I've done abs DVDs before that make me so sore that I can't eat, want to vomit, and definitely cannot repeat the workout the next day. This particular set of circuits allowed me to get the knot in my stomach during the exercise, but not make me feel ill the rest of the day.

The one thing about the abs that wasn't easy was that the small of my back ended up bruised from the rubbing of skin and bone the first few days. To remedy this, I tucked a rolled up towel in that area for the rest of the time. I'm still using the rolled up towel for Level Two, but at some point may try some of the work on a half-stability ball provided that it doesn't make the exercise less effective. (I hear people do use stability balls and half-stability balls for abs work, so hopefully this will work.)

STARTING LEVEL TWO

I've now done one day of Level Two. My starter impressions of this are:

- OMG I'm dead. I was drenching in sweat afterwards. My heart-rate was definitely up.

- I had to stop a few times for a beat or two. Always less than two seconds, but a beat nonetheless.

- Walking push-ups didn't really challenge me. Perhaps I have to go much faster? (And yet isn't it the slower resistance that makes it a more challenging exercise? I don't want to quickly bounce in and out of it because that isn't strength.)

- I'm usually a goddess with planks (on Wii Fit,) but I've only really done static planks. The jump in-and-out of the plank made me die. The plank-jacks weren't so bad, but my endurance piddled away so I would skip one every so often.

- The initial abs stuff was again not super-challenging, but gave me more of a tummy-knot than Level One. The final abs circuit (the plank w/ a twist) was hell because my arms were shaking (still in recovery from the strength stuff,) but I understand how as I improve doing this particular exercise it will be a really good toner. My guess is that I'll really like this particular move once my endurance improves.

- The palms-up curls were very difficult for me. During the second round of these I could barely get them up. I hope that I'll be reporting on Level 2 Grad that I've improved on this significantly.

- The lateral jump thing with the arms out to the side KILLED my right arm. Similarly, the neck roll (which is usually a relaxing exercise) in the warm-up SEARED with pain as I rolled over the right side. My right shoulder feels way out of whack right now. Perhaps I slept on it funny...

- My flexibility at the cool-down still sux. I used to be a dancer and still wasn't extremely flexible in my prime, but I'm surprised at just how stiff I am now. On the flip-side, I can barely feel the quads stretch. I'm one of those people that has to lean forward with my foot in back to really feel it.

So there you have it -- improvements made from Day 1 to Day 10 on Level One -- and then the starter impressions on Day 1 of Level Two so we can compare in nine more days!

Woooo!
--Shreadhead Update------------------------

- I joined the Shreadheads
- Graduated from Level One
- Graduated from Level Two
- Graduated from Level Three

... now on to continued use of the 30 Day Shred plus Bob's Weight Loss Yoga to continue toning and hopefully losing some weight in the process!