Well, just making it out of bed was an accomplishment today because apparently, I had NO idea how sore I was going to be today.  I know yesterday’s workout burned, but today my body was so sore it felt like I had been just pulled apart from every appendage.  My thighs?  Sore.  It hurt to lift my arms to do the simplest things, like wash my hair in the shower.  Aleve didn’t even touch the pain I have felt all day.  I told my husband my c-section didn’t even hurt this bad.  I’m serious about that.

However, I got up and decided I would immediately do the 30 Day Shred DVD just to get it out of the way.  I lasted 10 minutes today.  And it wasn’t like yesterday because I was so winded, it was simply because I hurt so bad I had NO strength to carry on.  None.  I decided I would try to finish the DVD later on today, but that didn’t happen either.

Instead, I did a full hour of walking around WalMart doing grocery shopping and could only stand about 5 minutes on the stationary bike at my parent’s house before my thighs were on fire.  Naturally, I feel like today was just a big wash.  However, I did eat well and didn’t go above my recommended caloric intake, so I feel good about that.  I ate protein for breakfast, something I normally never do, and was surprised that I felt NO hunger all day long.  I finally made myself eat at about 5 PM this afternoon.  I know it’s not good to not eat throughout the day, so that was a weird thing for me to not have feelings of hunger.  I also drank 1/2 a pitcher of water today.  I feel good about the food choices I made today, but just terribly disappointed with how sore I feel today.

I know this pain is just part of the process, and I really did try to push through, but 10 minutes of the 30 Day Shred was all I could do today.  Hopefully, I will feel better tomorrow.

Today I completed my first attempt at 30 Day Shred, and honestly? I’m discouraged. I’m not going to start this post off complaining about how I hate Jillian Michaels, because I don’t. What I do hate is the fact that I have LET myself get so very out of shape to where a 20 minute workout felt like an outer-body experience, and not the good kind. I cannot sugar coat it. It was brutal. I thought I would die.

I wasn’t aware I would need small weights to do this workout, so I didn’t use them.  However, I did find 2 huge cans of vegetables in the kitchen cabinet and used those.  Must. Get. Weights.

If I had to estimate, I made it almost 10 minutes into the DVD before I felt like I was going to puke. Jillian kept saying, “No injuries allowed”, and I wasn’t about to toss my cookies all over the living room floor, so I stopped for a good 5 minutes to catch my breath and get a drink of water. I honestly felt like crying and fought back tears of frustration, which was a very surprising emotion to me to have during a workout, but there you go. I had to modify the rest of the workout because I was just too weak.

I  wanted to quit so bad after I took my little break, but then my son came in, got down in the floor, and started doing the workout, too! It was a huge motivator for me, and I thought it was so precious the way he was giving me encouragement so freely. He even pulled on me while I was on the floor, trying to help me up after the ab exercises were done.  Bless his sweet little heart!

It took a little bit to catch my bearings after it was over. My thighs were burning and I felt so weak I could hardly prepare supper, but this is what I had:

I added a few pineapple and peach chunks to the salad and drenched it in Red Wine Vinaigrette dressing. I grilled the steak and asparagus. Everything was delicious, except for the asparagus. It smelled funky and tasted even worse, which was quite a shock to me because I had a Caribbean Chicken dish at a restaurant on Saturday and ate every bit of asparagus on my plate. I’m not sure where I went wrong. In any case, probably not THE healthiest meal, but it sure beats the norm: Dominos Pizza or fast food chicken and hamburgers.  A funny thing that happened after this workout was that I was suddenly craving water, which I’m sure is a big clue that I don’t drink near enough (I’m strictly a Diet Coke drinker).  I made a huge pitcher of lemon water to chill in the refrigerator.  Another funny thing is that while looking for everything I needed in our pantry to fix supper, I literally wanted to throw up looking at all of the processed crap in our kitchen cabinets.

I also talked to my husband on the phone, and he was a big encourager. He sort of has to pull me back down to Earth and remind me that even though this first workout basically kicked my hiney all over the place, I did hang in there the best I could and little by little, it will get better. I mentioned in my previous post that I get discouraged easily when I don’t see immediate results and I felt like a failure because I couldn’t hang for 20 minutes with Jillian. 20 minutes. It felt like forever.

I’ll definitely be back at it tomorrow. I may very well stay stuck at the first workout on the DVD all summer, but that’s my mini goal for now, to get this through a workout without stopping. I think it’s do-able.

Due to recent medical test results that a certain person in our home who shall remain nameless received, we all have to change our terrible eating habits in our home. Said certain nameless person has already changed theirs and is feeling much better, so that leaves me. Have I ever told you guys how much I don’t cooperate with change? How I hate exercise? No? Well, consider yourselves warned because this is going to be my summer “hobby”, I guess.

*sigh* **stomps feet**

In all seriousness, I know we need to do this. The way we eat and hardly exercise is totally unhealthy. It’s just that it’s so difficult for me to stick with anything when I don’t see immediate results. I also have no willpower. This is a dangerous combination when trying to change anything in life for the better. However, I have no excuses now, seeing that I am off work all summer and have time to prepare healthy meals and exercise regularly.

This week I will be experimenting with eating healthier, trying new foods, and (gasp!) exercising. I’ve decided to give Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred a whirl. I’m probably biting off way more than I can chew for a beginner, but we will see how this week goes, weed out what works and what doesn’t, and then get really, really serious next week.

I’m also looking for any great websites and apps that can help with this journey to health. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them in the comment section.

Wish me luck! I will keep you all posted.