30 Day Shred: The End

So on Friday I did my last work out to complete my thirty days of shredding, and I wanted to review it with you. I do have before and after photos butttttt I'd rather not paste half-naked photos on the internet surprisingly! but what I do have are lots of words.

The DVD and workout:
Loved it. Love it on day three, loved it on day thirty. I love that there are 3 parts to each of 3 circuits. I'm one of these who sometimes cannot be bothered, so the fact I can work out in my head that I'm on my second circuit abs section, I know that I only have three things left to do. As I said before as well I love the variety of moves, I can't pretend I loved all of them (thrust squats are NOT my cup of tea), but you do them for a minute and a half max, and I can definitely get through that. Best work out I've done in a long while (bar a good run).

Weight:
I lost about 5 pounds in total, but I have gained so much more muscle, so I reckon I must have lost a bit more and then put it back on as muscle. I'm fine with this, I wasn't aiming to lose weight in the first place, I wanted to be more toned and stronger. Another thing that I find about exercising is that your boobs always decrease in size, that's the first part to go (for me anyways), but doing these exercises I'd actually have to say that mine have grown (lots of push ups)! and that they are better now than they were before, ha.

Strength:
My arms are 100% stronger. I can see muscle and most importantly, when I bring my food shop in from the car and up three flights of stairs I no longer feel like my arms are going to fall off/I'll die. My leg muscles have gotten bigger and stronger which I'm not thatttttt pleased about, because I wanted my thighs to stop touching, not touch even more haha. But again, I always walk up stairs two at a time, and it's just a lot easier now.

Tone:
This is where I have seen the most difference. My arms look a lot better, my butt is INCREDIBLE in skinny jeans/my old grad dress. I don't have a six pack (surprisingly) but I am pleased that my love handles have gone down (and I only just realised that taking these before and after photo's because the swim suit isn't cutting in at all. And that was another big goal of mine, because I couldn't think of any exercises that would sort that bit! On a side note, my hip bones are a lot more prominent now and I'm not sure how I feel about that. In a ridiculous way, my knees look a lot better too, ha! I have never had knee issues before but I noticed it whilst I was working out, and liked it. I didn't think there was that much difference to my stomach area because it's the area I hate the most, but looking at the photo's there is actually, so I'm pleased about that.

Recommendations:
I really urge you do it. It's nice to have that challenge, it gets you up everyday, it's 20 (27 in my opinion) minutes out of your day so it's easier to fit in than you think. It helps you sleep better and gives you more energy.
If you are enticed, I would also really recommend that you look up a food plan from Jillian Michael's too (I'm not saying pay for it, but study how she puts the plan together and try and make variations of the dishes guessing her ingredients) because I did it still eating how I normally do, and I reckon if I followed the diet plan too I'd be a different girl today.

Conclusions:
I'm so glad I did it. I think I'm going to keep the DVD in my disc drive and still aim to do it about three times a week, because it's good fun and I need something quick else I lose interest.

If you are considering it, here is a youtube video of her level 1 circuit so you can see how much variety there is and how well she pushes you. I feel like Jillian and I are best friends right now, hanging out together for 30 days straight.

Let me know if you start it! I'd love to discuss it with you.

Weekly Roundup #30

I've had a bit of a crazy week. I've been working on my essay, on my dissertation, on interview prep and for money. I had the interview, I got declined for the job (with good feedback though so it's not all tears- in fact there were none!), and I saw how supportive and loving my friends and family really are. I saw an old friend I haven't seen in a long time, I met up with another friend, and of course I've spent my fair share with Belle and Natalie :)

I started off the week making my own granola which was insanely good

Natalie had her first Wagamama's experience on Wednesday (as did Belle!)

(yaki udon and chili squid)

we then saw the little tortoise

we also had cake and tea :)

lunch for work on Thursday

during the day out on Wednesday I found some washi tape, so of course I had to try it out. 

I also want to keep track of the things I'm sending Michael :)

an evening ritual for my father and I is to sit and watch a film with dinner/afterwards depending on the time, this night we had flavoured hot chocolate too :) it's a good memory because we both knew the packets were in the cupboard and we both looked at each other with a cheeky smile  like 'IT'S TIME.' aha

trying out drinks in starbucks, this was some kind of lime coffee infusion, it was good!

then the buffet dinner with the long lost friends. I love desserts. and definitely got my moneys worth. haha

Michael's most recent parcel. 

It's been a good week but I have not done enough of my essay! That said, I have managed to crack on today and did a fair bit on Friday, so the total now stands at 4,416/6,000. Slow and steady, it WILL be done by the next weekly roundup. Oh also, I'm still sticking at the 30 day shred, I had to miss a day because of giving blood but I worked extra hard the next day. I've lost two pounds but my arms, back and thighs really feel different. Still waiting for my six pack to shine through though!

Day 3 of 30

So I started Jillian Michael's 30 day shred on Tuesday (who starts things on Tuesdays I hear you cry.. but I figured if I did not start now that's progress I would have missed waiting for the next Monday), and it's really going well.

Here's a really detailed eHow on the DVD - it goes into a lot more depth than I will.

I was hesitant when I first bought the DVD as it's more than I'd like to spend on such a novelty item (yeah, I don't usually stick to things like that), but waking up the next day after my first work out, I knew this was something different. I don't need to lose weight per se but I definitely need to tone up. I am so sick of my thighs touching! I know lots of peoples do, but I will consider it such a goal if I manage to tone those right up ready for the Festivals this summer. I chose this work out DVD because of exactly that - I'd like to tone up and lose a few inches, rather than pounds.

You do the work out once a day, everyday for 30 days (surprisingly!). Jillian offers three circuits of different intensity, so on the first day I started on the first level. This was definitely the right choice because I woke up SO SORE the next day, which made me vow to myself that I would do a little bit more of a cool down that Jillian proved - people complain about this in the reviews but I just consider it to be no sweat. The soreness definitely affected how intensely I worked out yesterday but I think as soon as I feel better again I will move up to level two, which is exciting!

I'm yet to find anything I dislike about Jillian's workouts (other than she makes me do push ups). But what I love about it, is a) that my arms are weak and she really makes me work on it, b) the circuits last for twenty minutes (not long at all) but you definitely know it's worked and then next time you do a work out it feels like it was only ten minutes this time, c) the exercises change (no, it's not a magical Harry Potter DVD that changes every time you play it..) what I mean is that you don't go from push ups to jumping jacks back to push ups, you're onto the next exercise so you don't get bored of the same thing over and over. I wonder if you should only do it for 30 days or if you could keep at it as your general work out?

I forgot to take my measurements so I'll do them today because my mum will have a tape measure, but I have taken some hideous before and after shots so they'll be wonderful to look back on haha! I won't update on this everyday, maybe just a couple of goal days or something. Have you ever done this challenge? would you consider it?