Squeak the Little Sneak

New Painting: Avery in PEI

Update on my Shredding and my lack of posting about Shredding

I know many of you are following me and my adventures in Shredding. It's definitely been an adventure.

12 days in I was so proud of myself I was noticing huge changes. I was motivated, I was focused, and I was LOVING it. And then WHAM. Got smoked with a fever so high I was practically delirious. Then came the 10 days of pure hell of recovering from the worst case of Strep Throat I have ever had. I've had Strep Throat more times than I can count and most of the time I get the telltale sign of a sore throat, I go get it swabbed and within 24 hours I'm on antibiotics and have little more than sore throat.

This time it came with the fury of a tornado, and left me in the fetal position for 10 days. I did eventually recover in time to be at my family reunion. And then Heat wave 2010 arrived on our doorstep. And no sooner did the heat wave let up, it as time to hit the each with our trip to Wasaga.

A lot of excuses, a lot of postponing but I'm back. Although not as motivated as I was, I'm ready to begin again. Day 1 starts up again on Saturday morning (I need a few days to psych myself up for it.)

Here we go!

30 Day Shred: Starting Week 2

I never expected the response I got from my original post 1 week ago. It has exceeded all my expectations. Not in measurements, not in weight loss but pure emotional support and motivation I have received from so many people. It's really blown me away.

I don't know what made me post it. I don't know why I was so determined but am I ever glad I did. There is nothing more motivating than being a motivator. Now I know why coaches, leaders and motivational speakers do what they do and love it. It's very powerful.

The workouts themselves are tough but getting easier everyday. That first day of shredding I cursed myself for humiliating myself and making a promise I couldn't seriously stick to. Why hadn't I tested the video first and made sure that I could do it? I cursed the day Jillian Michaels was born. And continued to yell and curse at her as I push myself to finish the video. Day 8 is today and I can honestly say that I woke up ready to workout. I can now make it through all of level 1 and only want to break out in tears during the lunges (they KILL me). The fact that when I started and I could only do 3 pushups and am now doing a full set astounds me. It's only been a week. It amazes me how much stronger I could get in only a week. And the fact that I am no longer sore the next day after a workout lets me know that I am already so much better for doing this challenge. I hear that Level 2 is a bitch and that level 1 becomes easy once you've tackled Level 2. I'll be ready for her on day 10. I have no doubts.

I'm not going to post a video today as I don't look any different, and I'm in scrubs and haven't brushed my hair yet today (the life of a mother on maternity leave). But I will take my measurements and post them.

Weight: 163 lbs (down 1)

BMI: 29.8 (no longer in the obese category)

Waist: 37.5 in (down 1/2 inch)

Hips: 39 in (down 1 inch)

Thighs: 24 in (same)

Upper Arms: 13.25 in (down 1/2 in)

Neck: 14 in (same)

Wow now that I see those measurements it surprises me. I don't feel much smaller but look at everything that went down! And I'm sure it only gets better.

Hey Jillian Michaels: BRING IT ON Biatch! BRING IT ON!

New Painting: A portrait commission

30 days of Hell... I mean shredding.

A lot of you who know me knew that 2 years ago I lost over 50lbs. I went from 200 lbs (after Jake was born) to under 150 lbs. And then within months of meeting that goal got pregnant with Jordan. I'm happy to say that I didn't gain a huge amount of weight with Jordan (Thank God he came early) but the nagging 15 lbs are sticking to me like glue.

I've discovered that my current willpower is stuck at a minus 10. The thought in my head is that I'm on mat leave and barely leaving my house so what does it matter what I look like. That's not the way I want to think about it. I want to be fit. I want to lose the weight but more importantly I want to be healthy. I want to play a game of Ultimate Frisbee and not feel horribly out of shape. I don't want to get all huffy and out of breath. So I'm about to do something humiliating to help me find motivation.

Does that make sense? Not really. But here's my logic. I find that promises to myself are too easy to break. I feel like I need to make a spectacle of myself and show everyone who reads my blog my progress. This way maybe people will leave me inspiration and help me motivate myself. This way, although I'm not technically leaving the house, I'm still out in public. I still need to take care of myself.

This is what brings me to the humiliating part. Some of my Twitter folks were talking about Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. It's an intense 20 minute workout you do everyday for 30 days. Everyone who's done it says it's amazing. So my plan is today I will start the 30 day routine. Today I will post a before video and every Thursday I will post a new video to show you my progress.

I won't be solely relying on this workout though. I will also be playing Ultimate once a week, watching what I eat and drinking 8 glasses of water a day.

So here goes....

Day 1

Weight: 164 lbs

BMI: 30.1 (Although I don't feel it this number qualifies me as Obese)

Waist: 38 in

Hips: 40 in

Thighs: 24 in

Upper Arms: 13.75 in

Neck: 14 in

After the workout:

It's definitely intense but I surprised myself. The Ab workouts were great and didn't need a break doing them. The leg and arm workouts KILLED though. I will definitely be sore tomorrow. I found she moved on to other exercises quickly so the time flew by. It was easy to push myself through it. So far am very much liking the workout. If it shows results in a few weeks I'll be very happy. Yay me!

Squeak - 6 months

Here is a video of Squeak at 6 months old. His 6 month weigh-in had him at 12.5 lbs.

You can see from the video that he is happy, and full of energy. He's meeting all his milestones. He'll be crawling very soon and is still drooling and chewing on everything like mad. No teeth yet, but we can see them coming. And still has the bluest eyes known to man. I think these ones are going to stay.