30 Day Shred - Day 2

This Saturday I got dearest boyfriend to do the 30 Day Shred with me. By the end, both of us were covered in sweat and needed a shower. I dont think he had previously believed me when I told him that it was super tough! He believes me now. I'm thinking that within the week i'm going to try out the level 2. Maybe towards the end of the week.

Had an incident with some cookies last night. I couldnt resist them, so I had a bunch. Bad bad Manda!

Jillian Michaels Kicked My Behind

Wow. I woke up this morning and i'm VERY sore from last nights Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I'm more sore from that DVD then I have been after my workouts with my personal trainer. Absolutely great DVD. I can't wait to find out what is in store for me when I bump up a level!

Tonight I have an appointment with my personal trainer. I'm going to gain, but I just get so sick of looking at their scale. We've decided that we are going based on my scale and thats the end of the story. It still gets discouraging when you eat and drink all day and then try and get an accurate weight on the scale.

Today my friend Kaleena and I started our Easter Bunny Challenge! We are going to go from today until April 2nd and having a little "biggest loser" challenge. At the end of this, whoever loses the greatest percentage of weight has to take the loser to a movie. I'm seriously excited. I feel like I am a winner either way because I will get to hang out with my Kaleena whether I win or not. It will be nice for both of us too have a little competition with each other, I live for friendly competition!

30 Day Shred - Day 1

Holy OUCH! Uhm, yeah. I definitely underestimated the 30 Day Shred. I'm in Circuit 1 and it absolutely kicked my hiney for all 25 minutes of it. From warm up, two the circuit training, and the cool down - I burned a total of 197 calories. I felt every-single-minute.

I sit here, muscles quivering, hands shaking, completely sweaty and exhausted. My first impression? I never want to subject myself to this pain again... BUT - thats not what this is about. This is about kicking butt, taking name, and getting in my itsy bitsy teeny weeny green and white polka dot bikini. Yes. Tomorrow is another day.

For now... my quivering muscles and I have some Real Housewives of Orange County to watch... it's my guilty pleasure...

30 Day Shred

Yep! I have caved and decided that since I only meet with my trainer 2 days a week, that I need something else to do between then. I was surfing some weight loss blogs and found that many of them had a common element between them: The Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred.

I did some research online and found that most of the people that purchased it were very happy with their purchase. Being the human guinea pig that I like to me, i've decided to add this to my arsenal. I am going to do this video and then give a full report! My goal is to do the complete 30 Day Shred and I shall report my progress, my results, and my overall opinion!

Trip, Stumble, Ouch

Last night's company dinner was a blur of cheese, crackers, wine, and food from the delicious Hyde Park Steakhouse. I'm suffering today from my indulgences. But even though I tripped, stumbled and scraped my knees with my food choices, i'm not going to feel guilty or quit. Today is a new day and I'm ready to keep my momentum carrying me forward.

Today I woke up feeling incredibly achey. My joints and back are still killing me. I've taken some ibruprofen, so i'm hoping that it kicks in pretty quick. It also snowed a couple inches last night and I sit her contemplating why I live in Ohio, hah.

Today I have armed myself with a menu to follow, my full water bottles to drink, and a fresh frame of mind. I'm going to stick to my 1200 today and have a great day. Why? Because I am CHOOSING to have a good day. I'm CHOOSING to be on my plan, and i'm CHOOSING to work towards my next manicure (which I get as soon as I hit 150!).

I'm in charge, I'm powerful, and i'm on my way to skinny!

Starting Day Numero Uno

Tonight is definitely going to prove to be a challenge. We are having our company dinner at a fancy steak house. I've all ready ordered the filet mignon (I cannot pass up tender juicy steak!). I've all ready figured out my calories for the day up until the filet. I'm going out on a limb and thinking that it will be a 6 oz filet, however i'm not sure what they are serving with it. I've left myself a bank of 261 calories for the side dish and salad that I know will accompany the dinner. Oh, and I plan of having a small glass of champagne as well. I've also all ready decided to skip out on any dinner rolls that may be served.

Last night I had the boyfriend take my measurements. I was a little surprised with the numbers, but now I have a beginning point to work from. I'm very happy I had him do it. I officially weighed in this morning at 154.4 on my home scale. The home scale is what I will be using moving forward with this blog. I am going to weigh myself officially every Friday.

I have found that since i've started taking the Recreate I feel a lot more alert and not as drowsy as I have been. Its fantastic. I'm not jittery or shakey, and I'm able to focus and concentrate on my work/homework/whatever. Its been a fantastic addition to my daily life. Starting tonight, I am also going to begin taking a daily multivitamin so that I can build up my immune system and hopefully not get sick again this winter.

So last night I went to the gym and faced the music. I weighed in at 156 lbs. Not too shabby considering I spent the entire day eating and drinking (which dramatically throws off your weight be up to several pounds). I was much happier then I thought I was going to be.

Last nights work out was just upper body because my lower back has been acting up. Sometimes my pelvis comes out of alignment and it causes inflammation in my lower back. So, we skipped all the leg works outs and focused on the arms. I was glad I went, because at least i'm staying in the routine.

Came home and cooked myself a dinner! I had a DELICIOUS mozzarella grilled cheese sandwhich that I made, along with a big salad, a pudding, one of my protein bars, and a delicious Apple Crisp snack that I bought. I was definitely looking forward to my dinner. I even had 30 extra calories left that I used to have two club crackers.

Official daily calorie count for Tuesday, January 26th: 1200

Goals and Rewards!

In the spirit of getting on track, I have created goals based on weight that I have lost. When I weigh in and achieve one of these milestones then I get the reward attached to it!

Here's what I have so far:

150 - Manicure
145 - Pedicure
140 - EA Sports Active Trainer
135 - Facial
130 - Massage

What do you think? I think these are definitely things to look forward too!!

Me Me Me!

In the interest of keeping it real, here's a little diddy about me!

My name is Amanda and i'm a 23 year old college student/full time employee in the beverage distribution industry. I am a recent graduate with my Associates Degree from the University of Phoenix and am back full time and working on my Bachelors Degree.

I currently live at home which I absolutely love and which poses its own challenges in and of itself. We will get into that more later. I have an absolutely amazing Mother who is my cheerleader and my balance. I live with both my Mother and Father and a younger brother. I absolutely love living there, being around them, but I dislike that theres always something available to snack (aka binge) on.

Next month, at the end of February, I'm moving in with my boyfriend Jon. We will be celebrating our 9 month anniversary on February 1st and i'm so incredibly in love with him. We are very excited to be taking the next step in our relationship and co-habitating *or living is sin as my Mom puts it, ha*

I should start out by saying that I havent always had a weight problem. I was a skinny minny growing up, doing gymnastics, playing softball, and doing the dance team in high school. I was very active and didnt realize that without this daily exercise that eating whatever I wanted would eventually catch up to me... and oh did it ever!

Once I hit college I gained the Freshman 15 plus + 35. I wasnt happy with myself, but didnt know what to do about it. Thats when I joined Weight Watchers. In 2 years I managed to lose 50 lbs and was very happy with myself. After doing the same routine for so long my heart wasnt in it and I needed a change. I stopped following weight watchers and went back to the sea of dining on whatever I so desired.

To put a stop to my destruction I joined up with a personal trainer. That brings us to the current time! My trainer has me on a 1200 calorie diet, meal shakes, and protein bars. It has taken some getting used to but I'm doing a good job getting my morning and lunch time shakes in, the bars are shaky, and so is my resolve to only have 400 calorie dinners.

Thats why i'm creating this blog - to be my source of accountability! I'm starting fresh, and starting over. Tonight, I will step on the scale at my personal trainers and have much to account for. But this is the new beginning, so I will live and learn. In my tool box I have the following: a daily planner, Wii Fit, a trainer twice a week, protein shakes and bars, vitamins, Recreate diet supplement, and now this blog.

I will be taking my measurements tonight and posting them tomorrow for all to see. I will also be taking before pictures, and if i'm feeling daring - i will take them in my bikini that I hope to wear this summer without frightening small children or having people blind themselves.

More to come!