Children should learn that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school.

My dad has had cancer twice – breast cancer and bone cancer. My family knows what it’s like to go through the fear and the waiting and everything connected with it. An estimated 3,000 people (women AND men) will be diagnosed with breast cancer in South Carolina alone this year, and many of them will not be cured.

I want to do my part by participating in the Walk For Life again this year. The Palmetto Health Breast Center saves lives everyday, and I want to support that. If you want to support it, too, please consider donating to the Walk For Life/5K Race for Life through the link below – all proceeds will go to PHBC.

I did the Shred over 34 days (30 days of workouts with 4 days off due to scheduling). I also continued my regular 30-minute workouts at Curves three days a week and ate an average of 1400 calories per day.

Since I don’t have a workout buddy for this experience, I thought I would blog my daily reflections about good old Jillian, and her kick-butt workouts, and the emotional roller coaster than ensued. Enjoy.

Day 01: Sweet baby Jesus, where’s the Tylenol…
Day 02: I can do five girly push-ups. Yay me.
Day 03: Jillian Michaels is the devil.
Day 04: Thirty girly push-ups! Miracles do happen.
Day 05: Crunches are hard when your cat wants to sit on your stomach.
Day 06: Vacation weight totally gone. God bless you, Jillian Michaels.
Day 07: Definitely less endurance when working out at 11pm.
Day 08: Jumping jacks are hard when you have to pee.
Day 09: Took a peek at Level 2… terrifying.
Day 10: Farewell, Level 1… I’ll miss you.
Day 11: That’s gonna hurt tomorrow.
Day 12: Really starting to see a difference!
Day 13: I can actually do the walk-out push-ups!
Day 14: I really hate plank exercises.
Day 15: Halfway through! Quite proud of myself.
Day 16: I’m actually getting better at plank exercises!
Day 17: Tired of Level 2 and ready to try Level 3…
Day 18: My toes hurt. Not sure how that happened.
Day 19: I don’t even want to peek at Level 3 now…
Day 20: Feeling a million times stronger than I did on Day 1.
Day 21: I can get approximately 1 inch off the ground in the Superman pose.
Day 22: Traveling push-ups are my new least favorite.
Day 23: Either Level 3 is the easiest level, or I’m getting much better at this…
Day 24: Benefit of doing this late at night? I sleep like a rock.
Day 25: I will never again do this on a full stomach.
Day 26: I will be very glad to be done with Jillian Michaels.
Day 27: I will never, ever be able to do rock star jumps.
Day 28: I’m going to ignore the shooting pains in my wrist.
Day 29: So close to the end…
Day 30: I DID IT!!!

Pounds lost: 6.2
Inches lost: 11.5

Final thoughts: While the 30 Day Shred was incredibly difficult and pushed me to my limits, it was totally worth it. Not only did I lose pounds and inches, I gained so much strength and confidence. I’ll definitely be doing the Shred again!

01. Enjoyed a four-day weekend.
02. Had a party with my students.
03. Had a family dinner at Kovachi’s.
04. Bought myself a new purse. And new shampoo.
05. Played with the iPad my parents bought me.
06. Enjoyed the gorgeous weather with the windows open.
07. Ate the biggest piece of red velvet cake EVER.
08. Watched the Ellen show for hours on end, thanks to DVR.
09. Slept in very late four days in a row.
10. Got a billion lovely birthday wishes from friends and family.

The big 2-9 has finally arrived.

02. Hone my photography skills.

03. Keep going strong with my weight loss.

04. Read 50 new books.

05. Watch 50 new movies.

My dad has had cancer twice – breast cancer and bone cancer. My family knows what it’s like to go through the fear and the waiting and everything connected with it. An estimated 3,000 people (women AND men) will be diagnosed with breast cancer in South Carolina alone this year, and they will go through hell.

I want to do my part by participating in the Walk For Life this year. The Palmetto Health Breast Center saves lives everyday, and I want to support that. If you want to support it, too, please consider donating to the Walk For Life/5K Race for Life through the link below – all proceeds will go to PHBC.

I say that with 10+ years of learning to love myself inside and out. However, as I have watched my darling father struggle with health issues (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, among others), I have finally reached the point where I can clearly see that I am on the same path. I don’t want that.

In the past, I’ve always said to myself, “I’m only a little bit overweight… I haven’t even hit ___ lbs.” The number kept going up until a few months ago when I finally hit a rather-depressing 250lbs, which weighs heavily (haha) on my 5’4″ frame and has caused a fairly significant amount of stress on my joints. (I even had to walk with a cane for 6 months after a knee injury caused primarily by my weight… ridiculous!)

I’m 28 years old and I am so out of shape it’s embarrassing. I travel extensively, and I find it increasingly frustrating that I can’t keep up with my friends on walking tours and other such adventures. It’s finally time for me to get serious and make a real change.

I’ve lost significant amounts of weight in the past (over 40lbs on Weight Watchers), but my lifestyle over the past 7 years (living overseas with limited food choices) has made weight loss difficult and my weight has steadily risen to this all-time high. Now that I am living in America again, I feel like I have many more choices for weight loss help, even just in the variety of foods available.

So, I’m gonna do it. I’m going to lose 100lbs.

My strategy this time is to use MFP as a nutrition tracker with the SlimQuick fat burner supplement as a jump start (I only plan on using it for a month) to spur me on to healthier eating habits.

The main battle I see ahead of me is exercise: not only do I loathe it, but my joint pain (especially in my knees) makes intense cardio workouts painful and frustrating. I know that right now I can’t do those muscle-shredding-infomercial-type workouts, so I’m going to start with something I love: bowling! And, depending on my budget, I’m hoping to join a Curves gym. (I’ve done Curves in the past and it was surprisingly fun!) I know that I have to exercise in order to lose the weight and get healthy.

My amazing parents are taking this journey with me and already we are eating and feeling so much better. Living with someone else who is “dieting” is certainly motivating!

I will be occasionally tracking my progress here, but I will also be posting my daily nutrition diary on MFP if you care to check it out.

By this time next year, I’m going shopping! ;)