Sarah - Day 11

PHEWF! After a full day of Christmas Eve-ing… I'm beat!

My dad is going to sleep over tonight so he can be with Talulah and I for Christmas morning…… So……. He got to watch me shred. I bet it was a treat for him. My poor dad - watching me sweat and grunt and make faces and almost die. Ha!

At least I shredded! Yipeee!

It should have been my first day at Level 2, but because of ma joints I stayed at Level 1 with modified cardio.

I bought a big exercise mat thingy (not like a yoga mat, but like those interlocking thingies) because I thought maybe my hardwood covered concrete floors were too hard on my joints. After Christmas I will treat myself to some really good running shoes. I'm hoping both of these will help immensely. To tell you the truth, I can already tell a difference with the mat. I even did a few jump ropes!

Now, time for a shower and then to stuff stockings and eat cookies!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Ho Ho Ho :)

Sarah - Day 10

Yaaayyy! Day 10 is complete!

I tried to wear heels at work again today, but not so much. The box of shoes under my desk is feeling rather neglected. Poor poor shoes…. Soon, my loves. Soon.

Modified cardio is going great! I'm getting better at all of the moves and did a few more man push-ups than yesterday. Yay!

Tomorrow is supposed to be Level 2. We'll see how my joints are feelin' tomorrow and decide if I'll stay at Level 1 for a few more days or brave Level 2 with the modified cardio.

OH…. And I'm getting more flexible too! I've always been twisty, but since I've grown up I've had issues with touching my toes, etc.

The cool down at the end of the workout calls for sitting with your legs apart, like as much of the splits as you can do, and then grab your toe and stretch to one side, then the other… etc. etc. etc. Well, for me before it was more of grabbing my CALF instead of my toe. But now I can grab both toes and still go down farther! I wonder how long it'll take for my nose to touch me knee!

Mandy - Day 15

Don't know if YOU know, but Santa comes VERY soon.  That means people at work may stop bringing ass fat (or, goodies, if you will) to work and my shredding may result in some weight loss.  A girl can dream... she just can't say no to yummy things...

I shredded tonight, likely not tomorrow night, and most definitely not after turkey on Christmas Day.  I expect to cry when I do finally resume the shred.  Tonight, I'm baking sugar cookies as one last hurrah for the fat man that cometh...

Have a very merry Christmas!

Sarah - Day 9

I shredded! Yaaayyyy! It actually felt GOOD to do it. (Did I seriously just say that??)

I tried to do jumping jacks and my knee and ankle would have NONE OF IT. It hurt a lot. So, for all of the cardio parts I did squat punches. I wasn't sure it would be enough "cardio" without all the jumping and whatnot…. Boy was I wrong!

I punched harder and faster than I have before and holy smokes! I was dripping with sweat and completely out of breath. So, it totally works for cardio. (For Level 1 anyway.)

All of the strength stuff I did, I was very mindful of my knee with the lunges and squats, and all the abs stuff was no problemo.

I'm diggin' the shred now. I like that it's quick but I still feel like I'm getting somewhere.

The only thing is that I have one day of Level 1 left and then I'm supposed to move on to Level 2. I haven't seen it yet, but Mandy - you said I can't substitute cardio in that one, right?

Should I just keep doing Level 1 with modified cardio until I'm better? I might actually have to go to the doctor because it hasn't been getting any better. Even these last few days of not shredding…. They've done nothin' for my little joints.

I'm not sure I'd have a chance at getting in to see anyone before xmas, but maybe I'll call my doc's office tomorrow.

I wanna get all skinny and buff like Mandy!!! You hear that joints? Now buck up, wouldja?!

Mandy - Day 14

Day 14, completed. 

Shae was asleep at 6... so I shredded, showered and now I'm sitting here at 7 pm, (the time I'd normally shred) plotting the ways to smuggle my slimmer self into Sarah's bags for March. 


But - now she has motivation to get shreddin' with me again!  Nothing like the fear of the bathing suit to motivate a woman...

Sarah - FML

I know you're feeling lonely.......... I'm feeling very flabby.......... :(

By joints are still eff'd to the point where I still can't wear heels at work. I don't know what I did. But, I have a new plan. My new plan is to take a bunch of advils before I put Talulah to bed, then by the time I'm ready to shred they will have kicked in and I can do it!

We'll see how that goes. I have some advice saying to take it easy and go to a doc, and some advice saying it'll get better once those muscles are strengthened. I'm going to go with advice # 2 for now because it's the easier option for a mommy with little to no spare time for doc appointments.

So, no shred the last few nights. I'm WAAAAAYYY behind. But GOOD FOR YOU Mandy! Abs?! Are you serious?! I can definitely tell that my muscles are stronger (like, all of them) so that's pretty cool.

On a side note............ I have some news.................... Exciting news.......................

I'm planning a vacation with my bestie in March!!! A hot, beachy, relaxy vacation.... aaahhhh. Yes, you heard me correctly, BEACHY. That means that shredding will have to kick into high(er) gear in the new year (I'm giving myself until then to slack off if my joints are still eff'd), and it MAY need to be accompanied with healthier eating habits too.

We shall see how it plays out, but I want to feel like a million bucks on that beach with my superhot friend! Or at least like fifty bucks.....

Mandy - Day 13

Done!  And, dare I say, I think I see some abs forming?  I mean, I have to pull the skin REALLY tight to see them through the layer of fat... but by God, I think I see some!

Feeling a little lonely here, pardner...  did you shred last night? 

Mandy - Day 12

Day 2 of Level 2 - it was... okay!

Guess what I can now do?  Some man push ups.  I don't know if I've ever been able to do a man push up!  I kinda want to get a tee shirt printed.  I'm that proud.  "I do man push ups. Ya I do."

Sarah - Day 9

So, I bought tensor thingies and wore them all day yesterday. It didn't help my ankle, but it helped my knee a little.

Because I was so sore, I didn't shred. I think tonight I'll still shred but do the squat and punch exercise for all of the cardio parts. Then I'm not jumping and stuff. We'll see how it goes.

I came into work today and slipped on my lovely black patent heels..... and then realized that there's no way my ankle would survive even half a day. So instead I'm slumming around in my winter boots. :(

I think I'll just stretch out my ankle and take it easy on it until it's better. The shred must go on... I'll just do squat punches until I'm a-ok. (Imagine how kick ass my bum will be if all I'm doing for cardio is one big squat while punching really really fast? Buns of steel... I hope.)

Mandy - Day 12

Sorry.  I had a life today.  No shred.

Sarah - Day 8 (FINALLY!)

Phewf… Day 8 = Shredded.

Due to a very hectic schedule (even more hectic than usual, which I wasn't sure was possible) I skipped three days in a row. THREE. DAYS. That made Day 8 particularly gruesome. It was still waaaaaayyyy better than Day 1, but my body sure as heck noticed those three days let me tell ya.

I have a question though…. hopefully some of our readers are fitness buffs, or at least remotely educated on anything fitness cause that's about a thousand steps ahead of me. Sooo, I definitely hurt my knee. I think I posted a few days ago that I thought it was hurt.

While I was NOT shredding it was still bothering me, like in every day life, but I just attributed it to my abrupt departure of any physical activity.

BUT…………….. it was really hurting during the shred today. Like REALLY REALLY hurting. Like I considered stopping hurting. I just pushed through. I did all of the exercises (still girl push ups, but whatev) but, is that okay? Will I "injure" it more by just pushing through? Will it eventually just stop hurting if I keep going? Is there anything I can do to make it get better?

Yowch.

So, my left knee is killing me… And my right ankle is bothering me too. I'm not uber concerned about my ankle, I broke it when I was a kid and it didn't heal quite right so every now and then it bothers me but it always gets better.

My knee though, that's another story. It's hurting a lot. :(

Any tips and tricks would be VERY much appreciated!

Mandy - Day 11

Um, I did Day 1 of Level 2.  It was horrifying. 

The inside of my head sounded like this for 50% of it:
Ow...uh.... uh...uh...ow...what?....what?  I do, what?  Left foot?...where?...uh...uh...ow...oops....how do I?... uh..ow...ow...uhhhhhh....fluck me... seriously....uh...uh... like this?.... what the fuck?

Jillian Michael's needs to come over and show me most of what she asked me to do today.  I'm really uncoordinated.  My balance needs work.  I did do like 1/2 of the moves.  If I hadn't remembered how horrendous Day 1 of Level 1 was, I'd quit right now.

Huh... I wonder how I'll feel in the morning?

Mandy - Day 10

Goodbye Level 1!  

I'm currently taking bets on how many times I swear after blogging about my first go at level 2 tomorrow night.  Place your bet in the comments, and I won't peek.  Winner gets... gingerbread cookies?  (I'm baking those tomorrow... I'll need extra calories to survive, I think).

Sarah - (Almost) Day 8

Okokokokok... I KNOW. But, I'm not actually fully and completely slacking.

Last night, my beautiful friend Amber came into town with her delicious new baby boy Sullivan (6 weeks old) and we were having a meet and greet at my house.

Seriously, Sully is worth every second of slacking on my shred. He's SO adorable, and SO sweet, and SO happy! I got to snuggle him, be his perch for a nap, change his outfit, carry him around, give him a trillion kisses, play with him, burp him, put him in his car seat (Remember bucket seats? It's been so long since Talulah was in one that I almost forgot about them. It brought back waves and waves of sweet memories of baby Talulah... Sigh), assist with a diaper change, etc. etc. etc.

I even got some amazing little Sully smiles and stories at the end of the night. MELT.

I love him.

It was a splendid visit.

Anyway, there was no shredding last night. Sully and Amber were visiting until late and then I drove my sweet McKenzie home so it was a LAAATE night for me.

On the bright side, when I shred tonight it should be EXTRA hard as a punishment for two days in a row of non-shredding.

I'm sure Jillian will make me pay dearly for my laziness busy schedule.

Mandy - Day 9 again

I shredded!  Day 9 complete!  Tomorrow is my last day at Level One.  I'm a-scared.  Like, I'm a-shittin' my pants a-scared...

Day 9 - Mandy

No Shred! 

This may turn into the 60 Day Shred...

My excuse was company at 8 and a 7:15 bedtime for Shae.  YES!  That is 45 minutes and the Shred is 20 minutes... but my shower is about 30 minutes... so suck it, Jillian.  I had no time!

Sarah - Day 7 (Continued)

No shred tonight folks… It's 10:30pm. Talulah's only been in bed for 30 minutes. (That's almost three hours late.)

I'm just sitting down to take a break from sanding and treating my countertop, putting my heaps and heaps of clean laundry away and tidying my house to have some friends over tomorrow. Still have to clean the bathrooms and my bedroom.

But, I might skip the bedroom. Nothin's gonna be goin' on in there so maybe I'll just leave it messy.

Anyway, off topic.

Kenz, you have free reign on me tomorrow.

Sarah - Day 7

I shredded last night.... But wasn't feeling too bloggy, so I didn't update. Still not feeling super bloggy so this is just an obligatory update to record that Day 7 was in fact completed.

I think I might have hurt my knee last night though! Despite doing the "knee rolls" in the warm up it's pretty sensodyne today.

Anyway, sorry for the lame-o post. Hopefully tonight I'll feel like getting my blog on.

Mandy - Day 8

*flexes muscles*

I feel good.  I feel strong.  I don't think I swore one time.

This is good.  This is doing something.

Sarah - Day 6

Oooooooh Kenz…… I'm gonna hug you so good tomorrow! Ha! I shredded my butt off tonight!

Level 1 is definitely getting better for me. Compared to day 1, the difference is night and day. I'm still struggling with some parts, still doing girl push ups, still sweating like nobody's business…. But, my butt kicks are actually butt kicks! In the beginning it was almost like jogging on the spot, I couldn't get my heels up to my butt for the life of me. Now I can!

I definitely feel stronger, but still very very jiggly. :(

I KNOW it's only been 6 workouts. And I KNOW it takes time…. But I'm sick of being jiggly. I'm pretty sure my arms and stomach just jiggled because I typed the word jiggly. I'm sick of having like five chins. One's good…. really.

I have faith that I will get to the end of the 30 days and, if nothing else, I'll be really really proud of myself. Yes, even if I'm still jiggly, I will be proud. I don't think I've EVER worked out for 30 days.

On a bit of a sad note, my ear and throat are hurting again. I think it's my insomnia bug that's hindering my immune system from kicking this cold's ace. I need sleep if I'm ever going to get better!

Maybe I should do TWO shreds each night to make myself so exhausted I can't possibly stay awake. HAA….. Yeah, that's not gonna happen.

Okay, it's time for a shower and a snooze. Wish me luck on the snoozing part. Here's hoping for more than three hours of sleep tonight!

Mandy - Day 7, again

Okay, skipping a whole Shred Sunday means I do not advance a day, according to Sarah's rules.  Effyousarah!  So - Day 7 was this evening's Shred. 
 
I gotta say, I think the slacker weekend was just what this old broad needed!  I felt stronger than ever tonight!  Might have had something to do with the 10435 calories I consumed at today's Secret Santa event at work... I had a ton of energy from the 43 different desserts, maybe?

I'm still doing girl pushups, I'm still doing one weight effyoujillians instead of two... but when Jillian talks me up at the end of a round of cardio, dammit!!!  I AM made of air, I CAN float off the ground!  This might actually be working!

AND!

I caught one of Jillian's minions - the one in the red shorts... Natalie? - cheeeeeeeating!  For the rest of you shredders - watch Natalie when Jillian moves in to discuss the static lunge with bicep curl move with Anita (blonde)... HA!  Natalie stops lunging! 

It amazing what you notice when you aren't close to blacking out, eh?

Sarah - Day 5 (Continued)

So, I'm stuck on Day 5. I skipped my shred last night too. (But at least I got Saturday in!!! Not good enough, you say? I can feel Jillian's rage for skipping 2 days. But they weren't in a row!!! Yeah, yeah... I know, not good enough.)

In our (I'm including you in this too Mandy, since it looks like we both had less than stellar shredding weekends) defense, it was our FIRST weekend of shredding! And, you know what? We're busy single moms with not much time to get everything done so it's not like we sit around bored wondering what we should do on a Friday and Sunday night......................

Okay fine. No more excuses. Daily shreds, NO EXCUSES.

I've been bitten by the insomnia bug. I've been exhausted. Instead of lying in bed absolutely wrecked and frustrated from lack of sleep... I'll shred. Last night I was so so so SO beat that I decided to skip shredding and hit the sack. Then I spent HOURS in bed trying my hardest to fall asleep. Trying to not fall asleep (reverse psychology... it didn't work).

So now today, with 3 hours of sleep, I sit here beyond exhausted wondering how I will make it through the day. Sigh.

Okay people, tonight's the night! I'm gonna shred like I've never shredded before and I'm gonna LOVE IT. (I'm going to give the positivity route a try.)

Tomorrow's update better be amazing. Or I'll let McKenzie hit me all day without counteracting her violence with hugs.

My Kenz is a tiny little friend that I work with who hits harder than you'd think she could based on her pint sized stature. Because she's expecting her first baby and I'm trying to rid her of her violent tendencies. I've been giving her the biggest, loooooooooooongest, most heart felt hugs every time she hits or even thinks of it. BUT my punishment, if I don't shred tonight, will be that tomorrow she has free reign to abuse me recklessly all day without any loving consequences.

Bring it on Kenz..... I'm gonna shred big time tonight so I can hug you so good tomorrow.

Mandy - Day 7

BAH!  No Shred tonight!  JIllian's gonna need to personally stop by my house on weekends.  Sigh.  I'll Shred all week, I SWEAR!

Mandy - Day 6

I did 1/2 a shred again last night.  For real - maybe I have commitment issues?  Seriously, who wants to torture themselves on a weekend?

Sarah - Day 5

I'll just come right out and say it… I skipped my shred on Friday. My baby girl and I got home late, she was suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper over tired (my bad) and had a hard hard HARD time going down. I was exhausted and still have my cold and I just didn't want to push it. I'm not disappointed in myself because I shredded today! (If I skipped today too that would have been another story…)

I'd love to update you on the shred and how it's getting more and more do-able each time. I'd love to update you on the fact that I'm not sore anymore, I can definitely still feel it but I'm not sore. I'd love to update you on plenty of things……..

But, my copy of Eclipse arrived yesterday and I have a date with Edward Cullen.

Mandy - Day 5

Shredding with a 2 year old awake - impossible.

Friday night, my boyfriend was coming over for a movie night.  My NEW boyfriend.  The isn't a dollar amount or celebrity encounter you could have offered me to do The Shred with him around.  Heck, I'M embarrassed by the grunts and moans I emit while I shred - no effin' way was Jeff catching a glimpse of me cheating on my pushups and still struggling!

So, I decided to do it while Shae was awake.  While I'm sure I got a good ab workout while she sat on my face, or chest or jabbed me in my armpits, I called it about 1/2 way through.

Some highlights:
- A two year old that had not mastered the 2 foot hop looks like a wet noodle with limbs... having a seizure... while attempting jumping jacks.
- Asking her to do "butt kicks" results in my butt being slapped.
- Her idea of pushups is playing London Bridge and crawling or laying under me and laughing.
- She was pretty good at pretend jumprope - we played bunnies all around the house.

So - my shred report is less than stellar today... back at it for Saturday!

Sarah - Day 4

Well folks…… It's 11:30pm. I was at work until 10:30pm and when I got home I was BEAT. I had every intention of blogging my massive shred fail because I had noooooo intention of doing it. I was so tired…….. SO. TIRED.

While I was sitting on my couch thinking of what to write, I realized that I couldn't skip it today. It's only 20 minutes for crying out loud! (Well, actually… it's closer to 30 minutes with the warm up and cool down, but still. It's only 30 minutes!) I knew I'd be disappointed in myself if I skipped it that easily, and I KNEW I'd be disappointing our dear readers (okay, maybe that's stretching it a bit) so…….. I shredded.

I'm glad I did! Now I don't have to go to bed feeling like a quitter!

Wanna know what's even MORE exciting than not giving in to the dark side? When I woke up today I wasn't nearly as sore as I was yesterday. I could walk with probably 96% control over my legs, I was walking at a normal pace, I could stand up and sit down without grunting, AND…. I could sit down on the toilet without having to brace myself! No hands, no falling…. It was glorious. (And no Mandy, I didn't try to crawl up… Thanks for that though.)

The shred was easier again tonight. Maybe easier is the wrong word… it was less torturous than the previous days. I'm not hating the "butt kicks" or the "jump rope" as much as I was before. They're still my least favorite… But they're definitely doable now.

Anyway, now that it's practically tomorrow I'm going to shower and hit the sack.

Until next time… Yay for us!

Mandy - Day 4

I'm gonna make it to Level 2.

Although I did not manage to smile like the chimps behind Jillian in the DVD even one time, I did manage to do some pushups, most of the jumping jacks, and almost all the effyoujillians.    I'm even walking faster than most 90 year old women.  Things are lookin' up.

I didn't weigh me. Okay, I did, but it was a different scale than yesterday, and it told me I gained a pound.  So, I did not weigh me officially.   I'm going to buy a scale tomorrow.  I'll step on them ALL before I choose the one I'll call "official".

Sarah... about your question whether or not I can get onto a toilet without falling?  I've been crawling to the bathroom and working my way up... it's kinda gross at work, but far less risky than a controlled fall onto the seat.  Try it!  And then tell me you did so I can laugh so I can see if it works for you too, okay?

Sarah - Day 3

Let's start on a positive note today. Or wait… should I save it for the end since I think I only have one positive note? Meh, forget it… I'll use it up now.

So, positive note. It was significantly easier to get through the workout today. I thought it would be harder because I was SO. EFFING. SORE. I really thought that I wouldn't be able to do it. But here I sit, a sweaty mess, having just shredded my third shred. It feels good! (Mentally… MENTALLY it feels good.)

Physically? Um… Kill me now. I was hobbling around all day today at a snails pace, only way less graceful than a snail. (I don't know if snails are graceful at all, but even if they're not… They would still kick my butt in a grace competition.) Every now and then my leg muscles would just give out and I'd do that almost falling but then your muscles kick back in and you catch yourself thing. The funny thing is, when my muscles kicked back in it would hurt soooooooooooooo bad that I'd almost prefer falling. Except then I'd have to get up. And that would not be pleasant.

So Mandy - tell me if you've found going to the washroom excruciating?? I try with all my might to lower myself gently onto the toilet seat, but about a quarter of the way down my legs start to shake and I basically just fall the rest of the way. And then I cry. Okay, I don't really cry…. But I seriously consider Depends each and every trip I make to the washroom.

Oh, and I've been having dinner at my daughter's table (which is about knee cap height) and let me tell you….. NOT a good idea if you're thinking of doing the shred while you're still enjoying dinner with your toddler at his/her toddler sized table. No. Don't do it.

Guess what though… We're one tenth of the way there!!!

One more thing, I still forgot to weigh myself and haven't measured myself with my handy paper Ikea measuring tape. Mandy's kind of awesome to shoot for doing it every day. I'm going to shoot for once per week. Sound good?

Okay, time for a shower and then to fall into my blissfully comfortable bed.

Mandy - Day 3

You know what I said I'd do on Day 1 that I won't be doing after all?

Running 2x a week.

In fact, I'm thinking it will be a miracle if I can manage to walk from my desk at work to the lunch room to make me a coffee in the 15 minutes I'm allotted for a break. 

My. Calves. Hurt.

In fact, the only time some part of my body is not screaming at me is if I lay on my back in bed and do not move anything.  My body can handle the rise and fall of my chest wall as I breathe.  That's it.

Some of the most torturous requests that beeotch (sp?) Michaels makes of me?  Jump rope.  With no rope.  Woah, not just workin' my body out, also flexing my creative bone.  That's cool.  Not cool on hobbled calf muscles. 

She also does this side lunge with this move that entails lifting your weights (2 5lbs for me) from your waist to eye level with straight arms.  I call it, "effyoujillian".  My armpits hurt?  Seriously.  I've modified that one by setting down one weight and just lifting one with both hands holding it.  Effyoujillian.

I did weigh me on my daycare's scale.  I think it's a wretched, hateful piece of garbage.  It lied read 138.  I hate it.  I'm buying me a scale that loves me asap.

Sarah - Day 2

O….. M…… G…….

That Jillian knows how to kick ace. Really really.

All day today my legs were super wobbly. I felt like I didn't have full control over them, I don't even want to know what I looked like from someone else's point of view. Yowch.

I had an eye appointment over my lunch hour today, I decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Going up was painful, but not awful. Going DOWN the stairs was another story. Down the stairs when your legs are tormenting you for torturing them the night before is NOT PLEASANT. So unpleasant that I actually almost fell when my muscles said, "No thanks". So unpleasant that it was actually funny. I laughed really hard and sent Mandy a text:

          Have you tried going down stairs yet? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


When I got home tonight I passed the elevator and took the stairs again, you'd think I would have learned my lesson… But no. Oh no. No I didn't. I'm only on the third floor, but those stairs have never seemed so daunting. It was a slow walk up.

I wasn't looking forward to shredding tonight. My entire body was in agony and my cold hasn't improved. I seriously considered using it as an excuse, but I couldn't possibly slack off after only ONE DAY, right? Right!

I shredded. And it was hard. I wanted to stop… But I didn't! I pushed through, and finished day two of the shred!

I also forgot to weigh myself at work and don't own a scale at home. I'm going to take my measurements. Hopefully the paper measuring tapes from Ikea are accurate, cause that's all I have.

Ooooooohhhh, and based on a few comments I have something to clarify. I have committed to The 30 Day Shred, and to blogging about it. I have NOT committed to eating healthier or practicing portion control (like Mandy, I have issues with the portions).

I'm well aware that eating healthier and practicing portion control would make things waaaaaaaaaaayyyyy easier. But that's just asking for trouble. I'll work my butt off, and as a reward enjoy a delicious east indian lunch buffet, or possibly milk and cookies, or maybe some of those dinosaur treats that Melony has in her office…..

Oh wait. I know what Jillian Michaels' dirty little trick is. She's going to work us so hard that we'll be too sore to walk to Glory of India, or to the kitchen for milk and cookies, or to Melony's office for dinosaur treats……………….. She really is evil, that Jillian Michaels.

Mandy - Day 2

I can say, without question, I have never thought having a child that has waked every night for 25 months of her life would be a blessing.  If three evenings ago you had asked me, "Hey, Mandy, what are your honest thoughts about having a child that has a mental jab in her brain that jolts her awake at least 2x in 12 hours of sleep, for over 2 years?", the answer would have been filled with a dejected, defeated tone, peppered with some mommy expletives ("Whuck?" and "Essballs" and "Oh EFF" are favorites here), and CERTAINLY not positive.

But.

I love my little discombobulated sleeper.  She cried out for me during the first 2 minutes of cardio this evening, and allowed me to pause that witch Jillian's beat down of me long enough to lower my heart rate to only about 150 beats per minute.  Here's to 28 more days of craptacular sleep.  I may even start showing her some news clips to make sure her brain is really active before bed...

OH!  And I didn't weigh me.  Oops.  Mental block, maybe?

Sarah - Day 1

Hi, I'm Sarah. Like Mandy, I'm a single mom to a two year old girl. Also like Mandy, I have wiggly arms and a jiggly belly….. Let's be honest though. I have a jiggly everything. I'm not kidding…. EVERYTHING. I spend plenty 'o time obsessing about that when I should also be thinking of other things. Not my new boyfriend, that's Mandy. (I sometimes mistake my real life for the vicarious life I live through Mandy and her new boyfriend… But for blogging sake I'll stick to real life.)

Hey, new boyfriend or not I have a bazillion other things that I should be thinking about. Like the fact that I should get my DVD of Eclipse in the mail any day now and I can resume my fantasy romance with Edward Cullen. Okay, woah… Way off topic. That may happen from time to time, I apologize in advance.

My starting stats:

31 years old
5'4" 
138 lbs (For the record… the most I've ever weighed was when I was NINE MONTHS PREGNANT with my daughter and that was 136 lbs. Seriously, that's LESS than I weigh now.)

No upper body training in … ever.  I was doing 30 minutes on the elliptical 3-4 days per week for like two weeks, and that was maybe three months ago. In the past month I've been to the gym a total of ONE time. That's right folks… ONE. TIME. Ugh.

My goal is to just get into better shape, and to get to a place where I'm comfortable in my skin. No matter what the scale or the clothing label says… I just want to be comfortable and say goodbye to self conscious Sarah.

Now, let's get into the nitty gritty. The Shred.

Frankly, I'm surprised I didn't collapse in the shower and smash my head wide open before I had a chance to blog. I'm also surprised that my legs carried me all the way to the computer.

Today, the first day of The Shred, fate decided to shove a nasty trick down my throat hand me a nice surprise. You know, give me a test to see what I'm made of. It gave me a cold literally in an hour. Hit me like a ton of bricks.

Out of nowhere came a sore throat, uncontrollable sneezing, plugged/runny nose and sinuses, nausea, sore ears, a cough and a headache. Simply put… I was a vision of beauty.

Now, pair that with an over tired two year old who doesn't want to go to sleep, wear pj's, wear a diaper, or get out of the closet (where she declared she was having a time out)…. I was really not a happy camper.

But, I made a commitment to Mandy, to Jillian, and to myself to start The 30 Day Shred today and none of that was going to stop me! 

I finally got my daughter to sleep. And then promptly got my ace kicked like nobody's business. 

Seriously, how can that workout only be 20 minutes long? And how can that only be LEVEL 1?! I'm going to die.

I will say this, I'm damn proud that I stuck it out and did it anyway. I have a long history of taking any and every excuse not to exercise so this really is a big deal for me.

I thought maybe I could sweat the sick away… But now everything smells like perm solution so I'm not sure that you can actually "sweat the sick away". Maybe that was just a funny joke someone said once and I believed them. (Sarah = gullible… I wouldn't be surprised.) I wonder if you can damage the inside of your nostrils from getting your butt kicked by a workout video??

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Or to pass out right here in front of the computer. I haven't decided if I should try to walk to my bedroom tonight…. I'm not sure these legs will be cooperating after what I just did to them.

Good night!

Mandy - Day 1

Hi, I'm Mandy.  I'm a single mom to a 2 year old girl.  I have wiggly arms and a jiggly belly, and as hot as that sounds, well... I have a new boyfriend - after 3 years of no boyfriend... and I'm definitely spending a lot of time thinking about my belly when I should be thinking about um... other things.

My dear friend Sarah, I suppose, grew tired of hearing me complain about the above (other than the boyfriend) and out of the blue, Amazon.ca'd me "Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred".

I LOVED her for this.  Until I did Day One.  Now, we are not speaking are going to blog about the next 30 days of shredding.

The Shred, in a nutshell, is 3 levels of workouts that increase in intensity.  Each lasts 20 minutes (perfect for single, busy moms - like Sarah and I) and it is meant to be done daily.  After 10 days, you go up a level.  Jillian does 3 circuits of 321 - 3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio, 1 minute abs... hmmm... I'm addled from my workout... maybe 3 cardio, 2 strength... I was on the verge of blacking out for most of it, despite the fact that I CHEATED I improvised on most of the moves after the first 30 seconds... so excuse me if that is inaccurate...

My starting stats:
33 years old
5'6"
135 lbs

No upperbody training in ... three years.  Holy crap.
Run on a treadmill 2-3x a week for the past 4 months.  Will run 2x a week while I'm shredding.

My goal is to lose 10 lbs and maintain at 125lbs for eternity.  YOU HEAR ME, JILLIAN!  You've got your work cut out for you.  Er. Me.


So, to kick off in high style, I ate 5 slices of large pizza with red peppers, bacon and extra cheese about 1.5 hours before Day 1.

What?  There were red peppers.  Veggies make it a balanced meal, right?

Did I mention I struggle with portion control?   A definite hindrance.

Do NOT NOOOOOT NOOOOOOOOOT begin your shred with a belly over full with pizza.  After my 20 minutes of shredding, I could taste it all over again... ugh.  Seriously.  Not a good idea.

What I learned today:
-I can't do one "man" pushup.  In fact, I couldn't even really do a single "girl" push up.
-I should not have stolen 5lb weights from my brother.  I should have sucked it up and bought 2 lb weights, or better, just held my Doc Martens.  Those suckers are heavy but not crippling.  Maybe for Day 2...
-The aforementioned pizza rule.
- Jillian Michaels is trying to kill me.

I'll institute a daily weigh in starting tomorrow... I'm fairly scatter brained and failed to weight myself on the digital scale at work (because no selfrespecting woman owns a scale... when she can eat five freaking slices of large pizza in a single sitting.)