2011 shredhead part 3 - and other JM instruments of torture!

[flatmouse]

No room at the part two inn - so here goes part 3!!

6W6P level 1 day 8 done...
... And I still hate burpees!

fearnelinen, sounds like you're really seeing results and all power to you for actually running on the school run! Venetia, great weight loss so far! Keep going! I've just tried 4 circuits of NMTZ with 2 min cardio circuits from the Shred inbetween each one - it feels like a good mix for me, took 40 mins including warm up and cool down, so 15 mins longer than the Shred but I need the variety !

Hi all - been AWOL on a half term visit to Scotland, and didn't do any Jillian however did 40 mins of pilates (on iphone!) in a hotel room, and two short runs so not an exercise free zone. Am planning a L2 6W6P tomorrow (did a run at 6 am yesterday morning before work - was not fun...)

Well done on the toning up Fearne and the weight loss Venetia. If it is of any inspiration, my friends in Scotland (who I haven't seen in a while) were hugely complimentary of my body and one declared that I was looking 'amazing - better than you have ever looked in your life.' She has known me since I was 9 and I am now nearly 40 so I am taking that as a big compliment. I am not just trying to blow my own trumpet here (although I realise it sounds a bit like that ) but to say that a real focus on exercise and following a healthy diet most (not all!) of the time has meant that I really have changed my body. It does work - it may take time and adopting a new way of 'being', but it does work.

Thanks Notyummy and knottyhair; and congrats to notyummy on people spotting the improvements; very energising! How long have you been doing it now?

And meant to say congrats on the lack of wobble to Fearnelinen too - washboard stomachs here we come...

fearne that's definitely a good sign! If you look back over the thread lots of us have not lost any/much weight doing the Shred alone but have toned and tightened up and lost inches, so sounds like that is starting to happen for you. And well done Venetia on the half stone. I'm a big MFP fan too!

Wow, well done guys on the inch/weight loss and toning, that's brilliant!

Notyummy you must have been really chuffed about that! It's lovely to get positive comments from people, sort of spurs you on to keep investing the time and energy... I saw a friend a month or so ago and she said I looked really 'vital' - I took that to be a compliment

Didn't manage to fit anything in yesterday after the trauma of L2 6W6P on Sunday (arms, back and bum still ache!) but hope to do a Shred later and may even re-visit L2 6W6P tomorrow to see if it was as knackering at the time as I remember!

have a good day everyone

Hello everyone and it looks like well dones all round!

I have been a bit unwell over the weekend and haven't shredded or 6W6P-ed for what feels like forever.

I am sitting here with a cup of tea looking at the clock and trying to gird my loins to do a 6W6P before the school run. I have done almost everything else on my ridiculous pedantic daily list.

Go on Balloon, you know you want to
glad you're feeling better

Venetia - I have been 'into' exercise of some sort for quite some time, however it has really only been the last 12/18 months that I have stepped it up a bit and noticed a change in how I look. I wasn't overweight before (haven't been so since a teenager, but have fluctuated by a stone or so over the years.) I have come to realise that if I exercise hard (i.e 2 shreds/5kg weights etc) then I can get some real changes to my body. I have also been following roughly the low GI principles in most of my eating (cutting down/out 'bad' carbs etc) and cut right down on my drinking. That said, I still have a piece of cake most days, and occasionally have quite a few drinks (like Saturday night....) I may not be Elle Macpherson, but I have a slimmer hips/tummy etc (5ft 10, size 10) than I have ever had before and am definitely fitter. It has taken me quite a while though - I started off doing a range of fitness activity and realised that I had to keep pushing myself to get beyond the 'not overweight' to the 'toned and fit' category.

agree about the whole lifestyle change thing. I think that's why Shred is so successful - you can fit it into your routine. I also hate that bit Venetia when she says about your 6 pack starting to show. No sign of mine!!!

Notyummy also agree its the exercising hard that matters and once it gets easy you need to push on. Actually found myself quoting Jillian at my Yr10s this morning when they were saying how hard what they were doing was - I said that bit when she goes on about 'this is when changes are made, when it hurts' blah blah. And I teach French not PE!!!!

Hi! I started yesterday. Managed until 16 minutes before giving up ached an awful lot today, work was horrendous with the stairs and sitting/standing. Today seemed a bit better but my laptop (some reason doesn't play on my dvd player???) battery ran out at 16 minutes....grrrrrr.

Where's best - read cheapest - place to buy hand weights? Not sure what size??? 2lb???

Lol at the thought of you saying that to your students chocshoes - I fully intend to use a few Jillian quotes, like "don't phone it in", with mine (I teach at a Law School).

Went for a jog today and found myself muttering Jillianesque encouragements to myself: "this is easy for you because you're strong, you're floating, don't you dare quit on me" etc!

Welcome ednurse! Well done for making a start, it'll get easier, just keep going! I'd say look online for weights, otherwise I know Tesco do them, probably other supermarkets do too.

Have good evenings all.

Hi ednurse! As Jackster says, it does get easier, you'll even get to love it! I bought a set of weights at the beginning from a local sports shop but I'm sure you can get a set online as well. I got 0.5kg, 1kg, and 1.5kg. I then needed heavier ones (which I NEVER thought would happen) and bought a 2kg pair from Amazon for a tenner.

Hi Everyone,

Just thought I'd pop in to say hello and well done. I haven't been posting or 'doing' Jillian for a while as I gave myself a groin strain while doing squats from the warm up for 6W6P L1! It was a few weeks ago though and I can feel a huge improvement with it now so I am hoping to start JMing again next week and am going to try out NMTZ.

I have been continuing to run though as that doesn't hurt and am doing my 7th week of the Bupa C25k plan this week. I am amazed I am managing - having avoided running since I left primary school a few centuries decades ago - but tonight's run with DH was almost fun. And it all started with that first day of 30 day shred.......

Keep up the good work everyone!

PS I have also recieved a couple of complements this week about looking good with an air of vitality!

Hey Jellibelli

Great news you've managed to find some form of exercise that doesn't aggravate the injury. You always hear of footballers suffering from a groin strain and it sounds horribly painful and makes me mentally cross my legs, hope you're on the mend now...

Vitality eh! I said a bit further up my friend said I was looking vital, maybe that's what she meant lol

Managed to squeeze in a L3 Shred today and am actually looking forward to giving L2 6W6P another go tomorrow if I can. Do you know, I think I may be getting my Jillian Mojo back

hello Ednurse and welcome I got 2 kg weights from my local sports shop in the precinct. They only cost me a £5 so worth looking if you have somewhere like that you can get to.

hey everyone - my plan to shred every day of my holidays has not gone to plan!! hey ho, did L2 today and it wasn't as bad as i remembered it being.

well done everyone on the compliments, weight and inch loss, feeling and looking strong. jillian would be proud

Hi all, and welcome Ednurse; I am on day 23 now from being completely unfit, and I can promise you that the initial aches and pains subsided after day 4 - hang on in there if you can....

That said, I am struggling with Level 3; it is so much worse than Level 2 for me; those scissor abs moves are proving almost fatal, and the plank to elbows move has given me carpet burn . And I hate, hate, hate the one where you are in a plank (kneeling in my case) and then have to raise opposite legs and arms - can't get the co-ordination at all....sigh....will keep going though....

Venetia, I had carpet burn as well from the plank things, I found using a yoga/gym mat really helped. And the scissor abs are really hard, but they do get a tiny bit easier the more you do them. I've just done a Level 1 6W6P and promised myself I'd have another go at Level 2 tomorrow but I still found Level 1 a challenge so I'm not sure now {chicken emoticon}.

So, for the shredheads who have toned up by shredding, who has managed to also lose weight? What's the secret?

Fearnelinen, I've lost 22lbs since the end of January. I've done some form of Jillian DVD most days (approx 6 out of 7) but I've also had to calorie count as well. I use an on-line tracker and log all my food and exercise and stick (mostly ) to my daily allowance in order to lose 1lb a week. Some weeks I've lost more, sometimes only 0.5lb and occasionally nothing, but I can usually pin point why. I think the Shred is meant to burn approx 170 calories, and you need to eat 500 cals less than you would to maintain your weight, if you want to lose 1lb a week. So if you carry on eating the same, I don't think you would lose weight by Shredding alone. I guess it depends how much you have to lose. I started off wanting to lose a stone to get in the healthy BMI range, but I've decided to keep going and try to get to 9 stone (I'm 5' 4") - 8lbs to go!

I have lost a little fearne but I have had to cut down. To start with I thought I would drop weight "just like that" because of all the exercise and I was disappointed that I didn't. By cutting down a bit, and shredding, I have got the 5lb I wanted off quite easily.

Venetia I sympathise - I have finished the Shred now and frequently do it again but I always do Level 1 or 2 but never Level 3 - farking hate it!

Just think - 7 more days and you will never have to do it again

Fernelinen, I have adopted exactly the same approach as knottyhair, using the my fitness pal website to calorie count and lose a pound a week. You get to eat more if you exercise, which is the greatest incentive for a greedy guts like me. I am trying to get down to 9 and a half stone, starting at 11 stone after a particular gluttonous Easter (I'm 5 ft 6, and was 9.5 stone pre DD). The other thing I'm doing is to try to walk briskly more places, as this also allows me to eat more...

Hatred of Level 3 continues;surely it's supermen, not supermans....

You see, I hate L2 more than L3!

Weight wise, I didn't 'need' to lose weight, but have lost a bit of body fat (amounting to about 5 lbs) over the past year by doing more circuit training a la Jillian and just being a little bit more careful with my diet. I avoid bread/potatoes/pasta/rice in general - although will eat it at someones house if they have prepared it for me. I also rarely drink now as it really piles on the calories - just the occasional night out. I do, however, have a piece of cake EVERY SINGLE DAY!

OK, question for those of you who have done the cooldown at the end of L2 6W6P. What is she on about when she talks about 'matt prompts' or 'matt props'?? She talks about taking time for yourself and thinking about all the times you pat others on the back and give them 'matt props', and now it is time to do that for you. I have heard it 4/5 times now and everytime I am confused!

Venetia, I'm exactly the same! Knowing I can eat a bit more really motivates me to workout. notyummy, I also hate Level 2 more than Level 3. I don't know what it is, I just don't like the moves as much. I also rarely drink anymore, it does make a big difference in terms of calories. Glad to hear you have cake everyday! I've just had another go at L2 6W6P and.... I really like it! I found it so hard the first time, I think I got scared of it . But it was OK! Really really hard but OK! I did fall over a few times in the T-Stand kicks or whatever they're called. But I can't help with the "matt props" comment, I've no idea what she means! I think sometimes though she invents her own vocabulary .

Well done Knotty! It is tough, both in terms of being demanding physically - and requiring coordination. I think you have to do it a few time before you start to 'get' it. I still take a couple of goes of those 'weight under the leg' ones before I find my rthym...and DH sweats so much he always drops the weight!

Oh another of my diet tips is this:

I tried on some lovely capri pants. The 12 was fine, although I wished it was a wee bit tighter. The 10 would do up but there was the odd ominous bulge. I thought "Hmm, yes but shall I get the 10 in case I lose weight? After all I am trying hard to cut down, and Shredding," then gave myself the stern pep talk: "NEVER buy clothes for 'When I've lost weight,' you fool! They'll just sit in the wardrobe taunting you."

Needless to say I bought the 12 and immediately afterwards the weight started dropping off me and they now look baggy and a bit naff. I can nearly pull them down without unzipping them and I am reduced to tumble drying them in the hope they will shrink.

Had I bought the 10, I suspect I wouldn't have lost an ounce and they'd look awful.