Shredded

Before Joey was born, on inspiration from watching a friend, I ordered a copy of "The 30 Day Shredd" by Jillian Michaels with intentions to get back into shape and lose some weight after he came along.  Every since mid-October Jillian has been kicking my hind end, repeatedly, and it's been painful.  Because I'm a glutton for punishment and because I like when people point, laugh, stare and shake their heads, I decided that Christmas was no excuse for a break from my exercise routine and just kept plugging away while we were home.  In an uncharacteristic show of restraint, I opted to leave my six pounds (3 lbs./weight) of exercise weights at home and just wing it with whatever I could find to suit my purposes while we were on the road. 

Turns out canned yams work very well as weights.  As an added bonus, they look ridiculous.  Just one more reason to point and laugh.

I had no idea how ridiculous I look until I saw these pictures my lovely husband took of me.  They probably look a lot less ridiculous if the insecure person having their picture taken would not make strange faces.

Just so you don't think it's all smiles and laughs, here's a picture of what I usually look like when Jillian is doing her job.

After watching me sweat, whine, complain and grimace for several months, the girls decided that they would join the "fun" in January.  They're strange girls.  They get it from their mother.  Here are my two best girls (if you do the Shredd, you know why that's a funny statement):

They even pick out their own workout attire.  Lovely isn't it?  (Notice Theia's new shoes Grandma D?  She loves them!)

They also randomly walk around the house doing arm crosses and other "Shredd" moves.  Occasionally, in the middle of other normal play, they'll lay on one of the carpets in the kitchen, put their legs in the air and announce that they are working out.

And here they are working out before I've even started the video on a recent morning.  Now that's dedication!

Actually, maybe they're not working out.  Maybe Xandra is just showing Jillian her pipes.

On mornings when I don't exercise before they wake, they really do stand beside me and attempt various portions of the workout. Here's a little footage I snapped one morning when they weren't watching.

They each get into it in their own little way. And this is the best part: knee circles.



Next goal: An April 9, 5K run with friends, Anna & Julie. I'm up to 2.5 very slow miles.

The girls are training, too. This morning after they ran about 10 laps around the island in the kitchen. They both stopped, informed me that they were sweating, and that they had just run 6 miles. If only it were that easy!