the 30 day shred

I tried the 30 day shred. Let me just say that I scoffed when I read that you could lose 20 lbs in 30 days doing this dvd every day- I understand why they said that! It was a rough 20 minutes! Basically, you do a 2 minute warmup, and then three circuits of 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, and one minute of abs, then a 2 minute cooldown. So, the actual exercise takes 20 minutes, but there are a few seconds of time between each exercise, so if you plan to do this, give yourself 25 minutes.

I think you could lose a lb a week doing this dvd 3 times a week and nothing else. I think it would take a LOT of willpower to do it every day for 30 days, because I am already sore and I only did it 4 hours ago. :)

so totally didn't hate it

I got the massage! It was fantastic. I have to say, though, that I have been spending a lot of money lately. I am getting my hair cut and colored (very necessary, you should see it) tonight and then the spending spree is over. Back to the budget.

I have some Self Challenge updates/ info to share:

I've been doing it! I did both strength workouts and one cardio (walk). I also just checked out the Jillian Michaels (Biggest Loser) 30 Day Shred DVD, so we'll see how that is. I like how it's only 20 minutes long, though.

I have been eating the food, too. I really like the cereal with the apples in it, and the ricotta wrap was good, too, but I didn't put in all the honey the recipe called for and then I wished I did. For lunch, I tried the roast beef sandwich, which was good but nothing special, and the soup, which I really liked a lot and was easy to make the night before so that it didn't take too much time in the morning.

So far I'm down 1.2 lbs! :)

Mental Health Day: Part One

Oh, the guilt required to be a mom. I brought my kids to the babysitter/preschool, and both time felt incredibly guilty that I was not using this day to be with them. Then I called and scheduled the massage for 1:30. Right now I'm home, I'm going to go for a walk (self challenge is going quite well, if you don't mind the 100 dollars I spent on healthy foods, which I honestly think is a good thing) and then go buy my mom a birthday present, pick up the house and eat lunch (roast beef sandwich from said Self Challenge) and then head to the massage place.

I hope I don't hate it! :)

PSA: Hand me downs

Last week, my cousin gave me a huge bag of clothes for my 4 year old, and today I gave my pregnant friend a huge bag of baby clothes. No money exchanged hands, no clothes reached landfills, and we're all happy.

So, if you have clothes your children have outgrown, call a friend who has a younger child! Ask around! Pass them along!

That is all. :)

Self Challenge Details

It looks like you CAN get on to the website for the Challenge for free (http://www.self.com/challenge) so as far as I can tell, you don't need a subscription to participate. If you don't know what it is, its basically a three month program with three components: cardio, strength and eating. The cardio component is really flexible- whatever you like to do. So you can walk every day, run a couple of days, or do an exercise video a few days a week.

The strength component is a series of exercises that you do in succession- none of them are particularly difficult, but when you put it all together it is a great, fast strength training workout. I remember that my muscles really started to look more toned by the end of the first month.

The eating component is great- lots of flexibility, lots of healthy, fresh food, and easy recipes. If you follow the portions they tell you, it's hard to feel hungry, plus the combination of produce, grain and meat that they use (it's 50% produce, 25% grain, 25% protein) is super filling.

Have fun!

Yay! the Self Challenge!

I love the Self Challenge. I've done it almost every year, and every time I've done it I've lost about 12-18 lbs (after each kid, for example) and gotten in better shape, with great muscle tone. When I saw the scale this morning, I was already thinking about how off-track I've been with my eating and exercising, so when the Self Challenge came in the mail today, I was so happy to see it! There's no time like the present, so I'm starting now.

Does anyone else get Self who'd like to join me? I know you can follow it on their website, but I can't remember if you have to log in and I'm posting this from my phone so I'll have to check later.

Yay! My weight loss goals are these:

1. Lose about 10 lbs
2. Lower the body fat percentage number on my scale by 3
3. For my back to stop hurting

I'm so excited!!

Make it frugal or splurge?

I'm all set for my Monday off, but here's the rub- my hairdresser doesn't work Mondays. So, I can't get my hair cut, which means I have to find something else to do. I have two options:

1. Make it frugal: stay home, watch a fun movie, take a bath, get a mask or something from CVS with the gift card I've been hanging on to.

2. Splurge: go to a day spa, get a real massage (something I've never done). Would that even be fun if I was by myself? It sounds really relaxing, but I'm also not the touchy type of person- will I hate it?

My instinct is one. Hmmm.