Another video blog!  I talk about working out for yourself, and no one else.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome to get compliments about how you look if you lose weight, but you should think about the fact that you’re getting fit to be healthy.  And that’s the best feeling!

I am slowly getting the hang of just letting the words come out of my mouth.  It’s a work in progress ok?

I took a break from working out for a few days.  Mentally, it’s been a trying few days.  Trying to figure out my life and where I am happiest.  It’s not an easy thing to do.  I’ve learned that in order to be successful, you need to take risks.  And although I stopped working out, I told myself that it was ok.  As long as it was something temporary, I was allowed to do it.

The happiest thing that happened to me during that 5 day workout break was that I was complimented on how skinner I looked at the 4th of July gathering at my parents’ house.  And I was surprised because I never really took the time to look at myself to see if what I was doing for the past few weeks was working.  It apparently was (and is!).  And it just motivated me to keep on going.  Even though Jillian Michaels’ DVDs are killer, they are definitely doing something for me!  Sometimes, it’s really those little things (such as compliments) that make you want to keep going at it and get to my goal (which is to lose 3 inches off my waist:  29in to 26in).

I’m really grateful for a 3 day weekend.  I plan to resume the 30 Day Slimdown today where I left off today.  I don’t feel like a quitter, or a slacker.  I really needed that break to really evaluate myself and think.  So, if you’re in a similar place, remember that it’s okay to take time for yourself sometimes, just as long as you get back on track!

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July (better than I since it rained all night and the closest I could see fireworks was on TV)!  And by the way, if you’re on Twitter, lets follow each other!  I’m @SusanJaneC.  Say hello too!

I’ve been doing this 30 Day Slimdown program for a while now, and it has really gotten me back into working out again, and more importantly, a fitness routine. Before I got back into working out again, I was thinking about a way to get back into it and how. I realized the best way was to get into a workout program, such as the 30 Day Slimdown. If I were to just say, ‘I’m gonna get back into working out again,” and just do a Jillian Michaels DVD, with no real plan, it wouldn’t be as motivating to me. I have done this in the past, and it proved correctly. I wasn’t motivated, and just stopped after the 2nd time I did the workout.

So, 11 days into the program, I really feel that I am sticking to it quite well. I had to do some tweaks, like swap rest days due to unforeseen situations, but that’s ok! I feel that as long as I am sticking to the workout plan, I’m making progress. Something is better than nothing, right?

I also thought about the fact that since the program is a 30 Day program, what will happen after the 30 days? I definitely don’t just want to stop working out after that, and these types of programs kind of set some kind of expectation that once the program is done, it’s done. I look at it as, getting used to a workout routine. I read somewhere that it takes about 28 days to get used to a routine, so I hope that holds true for this!

As we all know, weekends are usually good for sleeping in and not having to worry about an alarm waking us up.  But for me and my husband, we had plans to take my car to the dealership to get looked at.  So, we ended up waking up at 6am!  That’s even before I usually wake up to go to work!  Needless to say, we ended up out of the house by 8am.  Since we planned to wait there for a while, we had a small egg, cheese and bacon breakfast sandwich and just chatted away until my car was ready.  It was still early, so we also went to Target, then lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.  All of that done by 1pm!

We had a BBQ to attend later on, so before that, we just hung out at my parents’ house and took naps.  The BBQ we went to made us completely stuffed, but I had to also get my yogurt fix!  Once we got home, I wanted to do my workout, which was Level 1 of Jillian’s 30 Day Shred.  So I ended up doing it, and then my husband decided to work out with me!  He found it really difficult, since he doesn’t work out regularly.  I think maybe I’m having an influence on him!  I kept on encouraging him to keep going, and to think about how short of time the workout circuits were as we were doing it.  I didn’t even realize that they are essentially short circuits!  I guess that is a good way to think of it when it seems like it’s getting super difficult.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day and because I’m probably going to be out spending time with my family, I won’t be working out tomorrow, even though Day 5 is a workout day.  I’m going to trade my Day Off (which is on Day 7) for tomorrow.  On Monday, I’m going to attend a Zumba class!  I’m super excited.  I will consider that my Day 6 workout.  Day 7 will resume back to Jillian Michaels’ workouts.  So, with that said, I’m going to get some rest, and enjoy the day tomorrow. 

I was pretty much dreading today’s workout because I knew that it was going to be A LOT of work.  But as all workouts are, they are work.  It’s work that I’m not used to doing on a daily basis.  My body feels sore, and for the past 2 days, I’ve felt like a sore mess.  Maybe it’s actually working?  Maybe!  After work I headed over to Target to buy Jillian Michaels’ No More Trouble Zones DVD, 2 – 2 lbs dumbells and a new sports bra.  I don’t know what it is but I like working out in a sports bra.  It makes me feel a bit more motivated because I can see my gross muffin top.  Sorry, TMI, I know, haha.  Just had to put it out there.  Gotta be comfortable right?

Anyway, the No More Trouble Zones workout is twice as long as the 30 Day Shred workout, and a crazy intense workout.  The workout consists of a 5 minute warm up, followed by 6 circuits, totalling 40 minutes, ending with a cool down.  The 6 circuits target different areas.  Jillian’s workouts are really efficient because she stresses the fact that you can’t just work arms and expect to see results.  You need to combine it with something else.  So doing a squat exercise with the combination of working out your arms helps burn more fat.  Some of the circuits were killer to me because my knees aren’t so great, but I got through it using a couch pillow for cushion.  At least I got through the entire workout right?  By the way, here’s The 30 Day Slimdown with Jillian Michaels’ Plan if you decide you want to challenge yourself too!

If you didn’t think I wasn’t more obsessed with Jillian, I am also a member of her website, JillianMichaels.com.  Today’s email was really inspiring, and was about having the right attitude to reach my weight loss goals.  In the email she mentions this:

Having the right attitude is so important because thought is behavior. The power of the mind is total — the way you think about yourself manifests as your reality. We all know how easily negative thoughts can lead to lack of confidence, hopelessness, and depression. You’ve heard about self-fulfilling prophecy, right? Well, if you tell yourself that you’ll always be fat or you’ll never find happiness, chances are you’ll end up fat and unhappy. Hey, it makes sense.

I totally agree.  I think one of the reasons why I’ve been kind of yo-yo-ing is because I just didn’t have the right attitude towards it.  I am definitely working on having a positive attitude in all facets of my life — although it is definitely a challenge for me.  But I think it not only works for fitness goals, it works for any goal, even if it’s not related to fitness or health.