Day 16: Progress

I've finally made it to the latter half of The 30 Day Shred, however it is by no means the home stretch. The past 16 days have helped me find some of the confidence I thought I had lost over the past months while dealing with stress eating, etc. The sense of accomplishment I feel every day for fitting in some sort of exercise has been bleeding into other areas of my life. I've been approaching things differently and thinking more positively. I think it's because I've a newfound respect for myself.

This daily exercise, I should mention, has been anything but easy. On day 11, when I popped in my DVD and started on Level 2 I was convinced I'd have to go back and just continue with Level 1. But I kept on trucking. Though the Level 2 workouts still have me on the floor in a ball of panting, sweaty exhaustion at the end, I'm finding getting through them less of a challenge here on Day 16 as opposed to Day 11. I don't think planks will ever be easy, but they don't hurt anymore. I've been focusing most of my attention on form. Thankfully it's improved, which I can only assume makes the workout that much more effective.

I've been eating well, to boot. Meal planning has been my greatest tool. I pretty much know what I'm going to eat for breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner throughout the week. I've also been plotting out snacks to prevent vending machine regrets and baking on impulse. Is anyone else a stickler for planning? Has it worked for you, too?



Tonight I made some wheat berry and lentil soup that should last me through the rest of the week and thensome. It's a satisfying meal and it tastes good, too. I found the recipe here.

I feel ready to reach my health goals in 2010. How is everyone out there feeling about theirs?

Shredder

As mentioned in my last post, I started Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred on Sunday. I plan on weighing in and checking my measurements after completing the first ten days of Level 1. I'll do the same for Levels 2 (Day 20) and 3 (Day 30). But what after Day 30? Being against the idea of dieting and quick fixes, I've already decided that after this I'm going to continue incorporating workout DVDs into my schedule in addition to gym visits. I purchased Jillian's Banish Fat, Boost Your Metabolism DVD the same day I picked up 30 Day Shred. That's a 40 minute video, so I'm thinking it'll be a little more challenging. Hopefully after these 30 Days, I'll also still feel compelled to incorporate Levels 1, 2, and 3 into my daily routine moving into the future.

I'm feeling really optimistic about this and hope that I get the results I'm looking for. Having some sort of goal in mind has seemed to help me stay on track with my eating habits. Today I confronted platters of cookies, crackers, chocolate and other nasties in the office kitchen on my first day back to work but successfully avoided them. I think that the lingering muscle soreness from Day 1 reminded me of how hard I am and will be working to reach my goals. Today marks two days of clean, mindful eating.

Speaking of which, tonight I prepared some vegetable soup for dinner to offset the bitterly cold weather we've been having. I found the recipe on Dr. Oz's Real Age site, which has oodles and oodles of great, easy, healthy recipes. Because I dine alone, the recipe yielded enough for me to eat this all week. I might even need to freeze some. Red lentils are fantastic because they cook up so easily and pack such a mean nutritional punch. You can find the recipe for this soup by following this link, which also displays nutritional information.

I look forward to making this week a success. One step at a time.