Weightloss Update #4

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1. Height: 5’8″

2. Current Weight: 140.5lbs (-5.5lbs)

4. Fitness Challenge: To complete Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred

5. Diet challenge for this week: Continue to stay away from grains, dairy, legumes, sugar and any sort of processed foods. Watch portion sizes and eat only when hungry. Try not to eat between 6pm and 10am. Fast once a week from 6pm to 6pm of the following day. Drink at least 2 liters of water per day.

6. How did it go: The last 5 days of the 30 DS were somewhat of a struggle as I got pretty bored with the workout. I took a lot of willpower not to say, “Screw it, I’m as shredded as I am ever going to be” and move on to something different. I ended up taking a one day break after day after day 8 and simply powered through the remaining two days. As far as my diet is concerned, I did very well in terms of quality of the food that I ate, but was terrible in terms of the quantity. There were a few day when all I wanted to do was eat, eat, eat, and it wasn’t even that time of the month. This emotional state got me pretty worried, but fortunately I haven’t gotten off track too much and things seem to be back to normal. Sadly, I continue to be pretty terrible about my water intake :/

7. Failures and slip-ups: On Tuesday, I decided to have banana with some peanut butter for snack and ended up devouring 3 bananas and 1/4 jar of peanut butter in under 15 minutes. This tells me that while my cravings for certain types of unhealthy foods are gone, I am still a bit of a binger and therefore should be extremely careful with my food choices. The banana episode was followed by two violations of my commitment not to eat after 6pm. This is not too bad per se, but taking into consideration that I was not hungry on either of these two occasions, still qualifies as a slip-up in my book.

8. Results: April 1st was a very exciting day as it was the first time in one month that I’ve stepped on the scale. I have lost 5.5lbs, which, I think, is a pretty decent result considering that I did not bother to count calories. In retrospective, I am very glad that I stayed away from the scale this long because I’ve been able to avoid going a bit crazy every time I weigh myself and do not see the desired result (which in my case would have been -1.5lbs per week). It happened to me many times before: I lose a little less that what I hoped for, get upset for a few seconds, promise myself to be super strict with food and exercise next week, follow this promise for a couple of day, and end up falling off the wagon because both my body and my brain rebel against limits that are way too strict. This time around, even though the numbers I saw on the scale might not have been as impressive as I hoped, the photo results were more than reassuring, so I truly could have cared less.

9. Progress photo: You can see the rest of my progress shots here

April 7

30 DS: Days 25-30

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As promised, here goes my final 30 Day Shred update. The last five days of Level 3 were very much the same as the first five: tough but doable. It was nothing like Level 1, which got significantly easier after day 5-6, or level 2, which continued to kill me until the very end. Even though I liked Level 3 very much in the beginning, I’ve got pretty bored with it by day 6 or 7, which made the last few days more challenging. I even had to take a day off after day 8, which considering how good I’ve been with staying on track, says a lot. This being said, I still think that 30 Day Shred is one of the best workout DVDs out there and will be professing my love for Jillian’s workouts for a long time to come.

Even though the changes in my shape became less dramatic after Level 1, I am extremely satisfied with the final result. The most noticeable difference is definitely on the top of my body, but I think my legs are in a much better shape as well. In fact, while I look pretty much the same after Level 3*** as I did after Level 2, I think that my saddlebags situation has somewhat improved. The best part, however, is that the transformation I’ve seen does not end with looks: I feel stronger than I have ever had and have seen an absolutely amazing improvement in my endurance. While I still have a long way to go before I actually start enjoying this type of exercise, I am at a point when I no longer hate it, which is more than I could have asked for.

30 Day Shred Before and After

***DISCLAIMER: The last picture is not 100% representative of the final result as it was taken this morning, after I have been doing Ripped in 30 for 6 days.

Will Be Back Soon!

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Sorry for the lack of updates, everyone! I’ve been extremely busing with job interviews and school work, so had to take a short break from blogging. I’ll be posting a proper update (with a progress pic) in the next couple of days, but, for now, here is a quick recap of the last week:

  1. I’ve completed 30 DS. Woohoo!
  2. On April 1st, I’ve finally got to weigh myself for the first time in a month: I’ve lost 5lbs
  3. I am still eating 100% clean and don’t even remember when was last time I craved something bad
  4. This being said, last week, I struggled with a constant desire to snack on something and was pretty bad at controlling the size of my portions
  5. I’ve started Ripped in 30 on April 1st and am currently on day 3

30 Day Shred: Day 25

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Today marks the halfway point of Level 3 of the 30 Day shred, and I am beginning to get pretty giddy with anticipation of April 1, which is both my first official weight in day and the day of the last progress shot for this workout. I must say, I am extremely happy that I stayed away from the scale for such a long time. In all honesty, I don’t even care what my weight is at the moment. All I need to know about my progress I can learn by looking at my side by side comparison shot, no scale needed. This is definitely much better than getting all upset and demotivated just because I’ve gained some water weight right before the weight in. For these reasons, I am pretty sure that I’ll be keeping my scale in the closed in April as well.

I think I am finally beginning to understand those crazy toned people who are panting and grunting in workout videos, such as a youtube fitness guru Zuzka. I am pretty sure that my liking of the Level 3 has to do not so much with it being more pleasant but with a very big shift in my attitude. Even though I am still pretty bad at pushing myself hard on difficult exercises, I no longer see workout pains as unpleasant. This change largely has to do with the fact that the “pains” I am experiencing right now are completely different from those I had to struggle with in the beginning: Extreme dizziness and running out of breath have been replaced by burning muscles and shaking arms and legs – two unpleasant sensations I find to be somewhat easier to push through.

Acne Treatment Update #3

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March 24

Looking at the picture above, you probably would not think that the last two weeks were the worst in my acne history. When I ditched Benzol Peroxide and turned to all natural skincare regimen, I did experience a pretty unsightly breakout (picture here), but nothing even close to what what I had to deal with since my last acne update. About two weeks ago, I woke up with the sides of my face covered in dozens of small bumps (similar to those I used to get on my forehead) and just as many blackheads, which I have never had on my cheeks before. A couple of days later, I also started to get rather sizable bumps on my chin and around the jaw line (2-3 at a time), which kept popping up one right after another. Fast forward a week and the things were looking so bad that I every time I looked in the mirror or touched my face, I did not know whether to cry or simply rip my skin off.

From the very begining of this pimple explosion, I was pretty sure that it had to do with all the oils I was using. Nothing else in my skin care regimen could have clogged my pores so terribly. It had to be either the Oil Cleansing method or jojoba oil, which I was applying as a moisturizer. As worrisome as this realization was, quitting OCM (or oils all together) before reaching a three-months mark was not an option. Having done quite a bit of research before starting OCM, I knew that it can result in a pretty severe purging period, which can last anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months, and I did not want a temporary inconvenience to prevent me from reaping many benefits of this potentially amazing method. This being said, I did decide that it was time to rethink my oil choices, and ended up replacing jojoba oil with hempseed oil, which is supposed to be completely noncomedogenic (0 comedogenity rating as opposed to 2 for jojoba).

OCM purging March 24

An interesting thing about these two weeks from pimple hell was that while the sides of my face were taking a turn for the worse, my forehead was beginning to clear up. About a month ago, for instance, the texture of my skin there could not have been more disgusting: The oiliness and dry scabs made it feel like a cheese grater that was dipped into oil. Every time I gently scratched my forehead with my nails, I would lift a pretty gross paste consisting of dead skin cells and sebum. To my immeasurable satisfaction, by the end of March, both excess production of sebum and dry scabs were almost completely gone; the tiny underskin pimples that plagued my forehead since my early teens were soon to follow. Below are two photos of the same patch on of skin on my forehead taken one month apart. While lighting makes it somewhat difficult to truly appreciate the difference, I think it is pretty noticeable that my skin looks much less bumpy.

February to March Forehead area

At the moment, my face is about 90% healed: There are still a few bumps remaining, but I think that they are mostly a result of my picking. All the blackheads left my cheeks as suddenly as they invaded them, and for the first time in two weeks, I do not feel completely grossed out when touching my face or looking in the mirror. Throughout the breakout, I continued to OCM every day with a blend of hempseed oil, castor oil, avocado oil, and tea tree oil. To make sure that no dirty oil is remaining on my face, after steaming and cleaning my face with a washcloth, I alternated between honey and clay masks. I plan to continue with the same routine in the near future and hold my fingers crossed that I’ve seen the end of purging (or whatever the hell it was)!