Day 8 and 9.

Day 8: Tuesday, February 28
Workout: Phase 1, Workout 1

Day 9: Wednesday, February 29...Leap Day!
Workout: Phase 1, Workout 2

I'm combining these two days because the workouts are the same as last week. I don't need to talk about them too much. I just want to say I've decided definitively that Workout 2 is my fave! Even over Cardio. It has the perfect amount of impact. Not that it matters, I do them all and I do them to the best of my abilities. That's all that matters!

Okay, so it's been over a week. Time for an update!

Drum roll please....I lost THREE POUNDS in the first week! This is amazing to me. I had a couple bad eating days and still lost. I'm having a great eating week this week so I'm really hoping to lose 3 or 4 more. It's totally do-able with this workout/eating plan. By the end of March, I'd like to be down 15 pounds total. It'd put me right about at where I was when I got pregnant with Rory. Boy that would feel good! I want to be completely done with my weight loss goals by July 4. I know that is far away,  but I'm not crazy. I know after the first few weeks my losses will slow down. I want to give myself achievable, realistic goals so I don't get discouraged.

I'm having lots and lots of pain in my left sciatic nerve and my right soasz muscle. I'm not sure how I injured myself, but yes. I'm injured. Today is cardio day so I think I should be okay. My pain is strongest during squats and goodness knows Jillian LOVES TO MAKE ME DO SQUATS. I'm not sure what's going on. I'll give myself a good ballet barre session tonight, hopefully that will help the tension ease up. My stupid sciatic nerve is hurting so bad, I couldn't fall asleep last night.

Whatever. Nothing's going to stop  me!

 9 days down, 81 to go! (Wow, almost to the 70's!)

Day 7.

Day 7: Monday, February 27

Workout: Phase one CARDIO!!

I love the cardio! I love the cardio! I love the cardio! I know, I know. I say that every time. But I really do. It goes by so fast and I sweat like a pig during it. (Aren't you glad you know that? :))

The plan for today is to workout with Jillian at 10 am. Then tonight while I'm teaching, I'm pledging to do some sort of ab work in all seven classes I teach. Some sit ups, a plank, some roll ups...whatever, I'm going to do it in every class. I'd also like to get in a Pilates workout but we'll see how I'm feeling after work. It's Monday, another long day.

Update later!

Day 6.

Day 6: Saturday, February 26

Workout: CARDIO

Here's a confession. I reversed my rest day and my cardio day this week. Considering it's cardio and not strength training, my muscles won't be hurt by working out the same groups too close together. I just needed a break yesterday. Another long day of work, another long day for my mind. So I chose to watch The Oscars and eat (small) Cashew Chicken with lots of veggies and steamed rice for dinner. And that's okay!

Tomorrow I will do my cardio and do it happily after a good night's sleep.

6 days down, 84 to go!

Day 5.

Day 5: Saturday, February 25.

Workout: Phase 1, Workout 2.

I'm not feeling it today. I'm worn out, every muscle in my body is tired. My mind is racing. I had a bad food evening yesterday. Just the evening, the rest of the day was good. Today's eating has been much better, but still. I'm just having an off day! Blah.

BUT!

I did my work out! I put a lot of my frustration and anger in to my workout tonight and I'm prettttty sure it's my best workout so far on this program. Actually, I know it is. :) I was sweating, my muscles were screaming and the time flew by. I did all the ab workouts the whole way through. Didn't have to stop once! That's huge progress for me and my flabs abs. My foot didn't hurt once this workout, even during the cardio intervals. I'm hopeful that tomorrow I can make it through all the exercises in the cardio workout tomorrow.

I'm going to add in some yoga/Pilates work next week. I love the way pilates makes my muscles look long and lean. I think I could use the quiet time that those types of workouts provide as well. Quiet my mind, quiet my thoughts. I'll dig out my Pilates dvds this weekend.

I also ordered a Pure Barre DVD that came in last week! I'm going to try that out sometime next week. Yes, I'll be working out twice a day. I can do it, I'm tough. Remember?

I'm contemplating getting a smoothie maker. I have a blender but it's not very good. I'm having a hard time forcing myself to eat breakfast, I just don't like food in the mornings. Weird, yes, I know. (haha) Obviously, I want to get a healthy start to my day. I think Green Monsters would be an excellent way to get dairy, veggies, fruit, protein, all the good stuff first thing in the am. Now I just need to rationalize it with my no frivolous spending goal. ;)

Back tomorrow for day 6! CARDIO DAY!!!

5 days down, 85 to go!

Day 4.

Day 4: Friday, February 24

Today's workout: Phase 1, Workout 1. (A repeat day)
I worked out at 10:15 this morning, with my kids awake. Let me tell you. That was an experience. Some of the exercise I did with a 22 pound weight in my arms. (And by that I do mean my son. :)) I did it though! I did the whole thing and I did it better than the first day. It was much easier today. I did absolutely 100% of the squats! I'm sure I'll pay for that in the morning but I don't care. Pain is weakness leaving the body. I'm strong and my body better get used to it. :)

I decided to work out in front of my kids today for an important reason. My oldest is an almost 3 year old girl. I want her to see Mommy making healthy choices. I want her to see me taking care of my body in a positive way. I want her to have that as an example as she grows up. There's a difference between dieting and what I'm doing. What I'm doing is choosing a new, better, healthier, exciting lifestyle. Dieting is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. I have a permanent problem: I love food. I need a permanent solution: daily exercise and daily good choices. Dieting alone would not solve my issue. Diets can't last forever. I refuse to go the rest of my life without french fries, cheeseburgers or apple pie. By making a lifestyle change, I CAN eat those things in moderation, paired with good choices the rest of the time and exercise. That, my friends, is something I can live with.

Oh my! I just realized! It's 11 am. No coffee yet!! I did have a big tall glass of water already and some milk. I also ate breakfast! I'm really trying. Like Jillian says in today's work out: "All that matters is you showed up. You showed up for YOURSELF." And she's right. I did show up for me today. I did it. I completed my workout. I'm committed. I'm doing it for me. Sure, my husband will enjoy the end results (haha!) and my dance students will appreciate me being able to dance with them again, but above all else I'm doing this for me.

I've got my why, I can put up with any how. I can do ANYTHING for 30 minutes. Right, Jillian? :)

4 days down, 86 to go!

Day 3.

Day 3: Thursday, Feb 23.

Workout for today is...CARDIO!! I'm excited!

I'll be honest, I'm writing this post on the morning of Day 4. I was super cranky when I got home from teaching last night, worn out and not a happy camper. But. In an effort to prove to my husband (and myself!) that I'm serious about losing this awful fat this time...I did it. I put the video in, I worked as hard as my exhausted and sore body could manage. Was it my absolute best work out ever? Probably not. On the other hand, I surprised myself with how hard I worked and how the motivation to push came once I began the workout.

Also, FYI, I stare at Natalie on each video the entire time. I. Want. Her. Body. And I won't quit until I get there. Although she's got long legs and is tall...I'm short and stumpy but that's okay. :)

I had to adapt a couple moves last night because of an old dance injury in my right foot. In high school, I tore a bunch of ligaments away from my metatarsals and have residual pain. The only thing I really had to opt out of entirely were the suicides. I did the first half of the first set then switched to the run arounds from the first video. I figured it kept my heart rate about the same level. I plan to do a few more each time until I can do them ALL. My foot usually feels better each time I do an exercise, but I have to ease in to it. And let's face it, I can't work out period if I am in a cast and on crutches and that's what happens if I push too hard!

I'm finding the water/diet coke/coffee ultimatum much easier than I anticipated. I did have a headache yesterday but nothing major. I haven't had any coffee at all today and I probably won't! Even if we go out to dinner tonight, I won't have coffee. I will have water with lemon!

I picked up my first book in my pledge to read 7 new books. LA Candy by Lauren Conrad. I know, not exactly substantial life changing reading material, but that's okay. I need a little fluff right now, I've got a lot going on.

Now I'll leave you with my favorite quote from the series so far...

"If you have a WHY you can handle any HOW." 

-Jillian Michaels

Amen.

3 days down, 87 to go!

Day 2.

Day 2. Wednesday, Feb 22.

Oh. my. gosh. My thighs are on fire.

No lie.

I thought yesterday's workout was a good start. Then I woke up this morning. If you would have asked me to name the part of my body I thought was in pretty decent shape, leg would have been the answer hands down. I'm obviously completely wrong because I can barely walk today. (haha) My legs did loosen up as I walked through out the day and taught a bunch of classes.

Workout 2: Back of body, abs, a couple cardio circuts.

This workout was harder than the first for me. Lots of ab work, and abs are my biggest problem area. My abs are absolutely destroyed after my c-sections. There are parts of my stomach that I can't feel at all and I have zero muscle tone. I admit it, I accept it, I'm changing it.

At the start of this one, my legs were seriously on fire with pain from yesterday's workout. But as I pushed through it and did it. My legs felt better after, as crazy as that is. I really liked the carido circuts in this one. They were fun, the minute each time flew by. I think I liked this workout better than the first. We'll see though! :)

I drank all my water today and stuck to my one coffee, one Diet Coke. I had a diet green tea, but that doesn't count because there's nothing bad in it. :)

I'm kind of exhausted. Really exhausted, actually. That's good! Good sleep will come tonight.