The Blubber Battle: My 30 Days With Jillian Michaels

“This is you time baby. Make. The. Most. Of.It.”   -Jillian Michaels.

Not too long ago, Jillian Michaels asked me to hang out with her. She said if I gave her quality time for a month, she’d make a difference. Aiiiiight. Maybe it wasn’t like that really, but I did spend about 25 minutes with her each day for 30 days straight and she was right, I noticed a difference.

I just completed Jillian’s 30 Day Shred. It’s an exercise DVD that I’d do every day and it’s the same work out for ten days, and then you move up a level. Though I’m not “shredded,” I’m better than I was before. I lost about 5 pounds and 4 inches.

Unfortunately those aren’t “Biggest Loser” type numbers, but I’m telling myself: slow and steady wins the race. I’m breastfeeding and watching that my calories don’t dip too low so Ethan can still have enough to eat. For some nursing women it seems the pounds simply melt away at lightening speed, while for others of us, not so much, at least not without affecting our supply.

The big thing I gained from the workout was confidence from my commitment to not miss a single day for 30 days, regardless of my kids’ or my hubby’s needs. I prioritized Me. There were some workouts that took place right before bed, others I had to hit pause while I got Ethan back to sleep. And his big brother, Logan, even joined me in a handful of workouts.

There also were days where my whine gave my 3-year-old a good run for his money: “I don’t wanna wooooorrrrkkkk ouuuutttt. I’m tttiiiirrreeeedd.”  But then I’d do it. Very grudgingly.

The main thing is I finished it and I’m much stronger. I can see whispers of my pre-baby belly. I love that I can easily do 15 “man” push-ups now and impressive moves while holding a plank pose.

Next up for me in my Blubber Battle is to focus on running since I’ve got the Shamrock Shuffle in a couple weeks. Earlier in my 30 Day challenge, I’d do Jillian’s workout and then go on a run. That proved to be too time consuming, so the last two weeks I have been all Jillian.

After my race, I’m considering doing another 30 Days with my girl Jillian, maybe her new Ripped in 30 DVD. We’ll see.

The Blubber Battle: Jillian Michaels, Logan and Me

Today I finished Day 17 of Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred. Though I haven’t missed a single workout, I’m not “shredded” yet, but who knows, maybe after the next 13 days I’ll have a body like hers. Ahem.

Logan doing the 30 Day Shred with Mom.

I’m on a mission to lose 30 pounds of baby weight. I have been eating “clean” with five to six small meals each day. I’m also working out regularly and drinking tons of water. It’s not a totally strict diet in that I’m also still drinking a fair amount of wine. If the pounds come off too slowly, I’ll cut that out too, but I love wine so much (probably too much) I’ve got to toss back a goblet or two here and there. (Check out my weight loss journey page.)

I’m not a huge fan of workout DVDs, but with a two-month-old and cold Chicago weather, the easiest way for me to work it out is by watching TV. I chose the 30 Day Shred on a whim, my best friend is doing it and it was available On Demand, so I decided to accept Jillian Michaels’ challenge. Through Twitter, I stumbled upon a Facebook group on the 30 Day Shred.

Thank GOD for this group. Everyone checks in each day to report their workouts. On the days when I don’t want to drag my butt off the couch, I get emails with everyone saying how they’ve finished their work out and that peer pressure propels my blubber into action.

The DVD isn’t as hard as I’d feared, but I just think that’s because I’d previously been involved in a personal training group for several months. Many folks on the Facebook page talk about how the workout kicks their butt and I agree it *is* hard, but it’s a good hard. Also, Jillian isn’t screaming at you like she does The Biggest Loser contestants, another thing that I’d feared. I don’t respond well to people yelling at me.

One evening my 3 ½ year old Logan came running downstairs when Hubby told him Mommy was exercising. He did the entire workout with me and followed along really well. My favorite part was when mimicking Jillian, he turned to me and said: “You can do anything you want to do!” He’s right.

After my 30 days are up I’m not sure what I’ll do after that, I’m still training for the Shamrock Shuffle in the coming weeks but I need to figure out a workout in addition to that. Especially since I don’t plan on giving up my red wine.

The Blubber Battle: My First Missive Against The Bulge

Oh how I’ve dreaded writing this post. But I know I need to because it’ll help me accomplish my goal since talking about it will make me accountable. After all, my word is my bond.

It’s time I talk about my post-baby weight. Ethan was born two months ago, and while I’ve got no Hollywoodish disillusions that my body will make a Heidi Klum-like comeback (hell, I didn’t even look as good as her pre-baby!) I must drop the weight much faster this time than I did with my first kid.

After my first, it was bad in that I was still calling my jelly rolls “baby weight” when my “baby” was 2 years old. This time, things will be different.

With my first pregnancy, I gained about 30 pounds. With my second, I out-did myself. I thought it was a total 40-pound weight gain, but when I actually did the math, I discovered me and Kate Hudson had something in common for once. We both gained 60 pounds in our pregnancy. Wowzers.

In the month after Ethan was born, I dropped 30 pounds, but I’ve got 30 more to go. My plan? I want to do it the old fashioned way. Eating right and exercise. If I burnout on that, I’ll switchover to something like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig, but I’m really inspired to do it “on my own.”

Right now things are going good, I’m doing Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred and really like that. (I’m one of those weirdos who likes to exercise.) You’re supposed to workout every day for 30 days. I’m on Day 10 and have hit all my workouts. After the 30 days, Ethan will be old enough to where I can take him to our gym’s daycare so I can melt some more lard there. Plus I’m prepping for the Shamrock Shuffle race next month.

On the food front, I’m drinking an insane amount of water, eating small meals every few hours and try to have them be “clean” (i.e. not processed, more meals made from scratch) I *did* eat a glorious cheeseburger on Wednesday, but it’d been months since that happened. See? This is why I’m writing this, to keep me on my soon-to-be-skinnier toes.