Tuesday 19 February 2013

30 Day Shred - Day 29 Review

OK a few things about me first - I do NOT stick to things. I try things, and unless it works instantly, or is really easy, I give up fairly quickly. I also don't follow recipes -  I miss loads of ingredients out, and try to think of short-cut ways to make the cooking time shorter and the whole process easier. So when I decided to give 30 Day Shred a go, I doubted myself right from the start that I would be able stick to it, do it every day, and really make a go of it. Not because I am pessimistic, but because I know myself!! (Also I am super pessimistic....)

I was right in some respects. I tried to do it every day, oh Lord did I try at the start, but it was so damned intense and I ached for days and days after doing a couple of sessions consecutively. So, I started in mid December and here I am finishing in mid February. 2 months means I averaged 3, maybe sometimes 4 times a week. General guidelines, like those given by Change4Life (the government's effort to get chunky munkies off the sofa and eating better) say exercise two-three times a week, so I managed to do that. 30 Day Shred is a very intense workout, and lasts for 20 ish minutes, so I think I've hit the target for how much exercise I should be doing. 

Over the past 2 months I have also started to eat MUCH better, and much less. Every lunch I have fruit, or yoghurts, low fat and low sugar biscuits, and sugar free squash. This is compared to an average lunch on an average day where I'd buy crisps, a sandwich or a wrap with about 500 calories in, chocolate, cheese strings, pepperamis, you name it I'd grab it. I'd easily have 1000 calories just for lunch. I also would buy the 2 for £2 Coca Cola's that were ALWAYS on offer and I would go through those on my lunch too. Now I barely go over 300 calories. I also have breakfast, which was really difficult for me as eating in the mornings makes me feel sick. But I have discovered breakfast biscuits, milk and cereal biscuits that are easy to eat while I sit in the inevitable M3/M25 traffic jams an hour or so after waking up. The biscuits are only 100 calories for 2, and it means I have had something to start the day whereas before, I was ravenous by 10am and would grab ANYTHING at the service station. We have also only had 2 takeaways since before Christmas, which for us is unheard of - we'd generally have one at least once a fortnight, if not every week. And the takeaways we  had were because we both felt really ill and neither of us could muster the energy to cook. So in general, I have improved what I eat and when massively. 

So, having just completed Day 29, how do I feel after the 2 months? Well - truthfully - exactly the same. And I mean EXACTLY. For weeks and weeks, nothing changed. I ached and ached, but I looked the same, weighed the same, felt the same. Finally, only a couple of weeks ago, the numbers started moving and I have now lost 6lbs. Which is great, but I look exactly the same. And for 2 months seriously hard work, that I have really stuck to for the first time ever, its SO disappointing. 

No, I didn't do the 30 Day Shred every day like you are supposed to, but I went from doing practically no exercise to a seriously hard slog of a work out at least 3 times a week (and lets not forget I have done it more than 30 times, I put myself back a couple of days because I had a couple of days off over Christmas and felt I needed to work that off). So I expected to at least look a little more toned, to maybe have lost a stone or so over the 2 months, with the working out and eating much better combined. But no, I look the same. 

The workout itself is pretty good, it really makes you sweat and her motivation is excellent. Maybe if I could muster the energy to do it every day I'd have the amazing results that everyone else seems to have got with it. The before and after pictures from everyone else I find online, they look about half the size they were. And I didn't expect that, of course not - I only did it half as often as you are meant to, but I did expect a little bit more than I have ended up with. Maybe I was foolish - maybe I was even fatter than I'd first thought, maybe I was kidding myself. Maybe its going to take months and months to shift this hideous extra weight and for me to even start looking remotely different. We'll see. I'm going to move on to something else now, something that is designed to be done a couple of times a week rather than every day, but maybe try to do it a little more often. And we'll see how I go with that!

One more day really isn't going to make much of a difference but tomorrow is my last day of 30 Day Shred. I will take my "after" photos and then you can see just how pointless the past two months of super hard work have been... :(

Onwards and upwards I guess?

1 comment:

  1. Don't lose your motivation! Cardio is key to burning fat.. If you wanna see some results, hop on a treadmill and walk at a steep incline. Eventually, jog.. And once you can jog, eventually you'll want to run. Watch the weight fall off!

    (Diet is also very important.)

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