Author Archives: crimeangurl

Weightloss Update #5

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1. Height: 5’8″

2. Current Weight: 140.5lbs (-6.0lbs since last weight-in; – 20.5 lbs total)

4. Fitness Challenge: In April my fitness challenge was to complete Ripped in 30. In May, when things got crazy in school, it was to just workout at least 5 times a week, alternating Ripped in 30, 30 Days Shred, No more Trouble Zones, and Banish Fat Boost Metabolism.

5. Diet challenge: 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. And most importantly, to not let stress lead to long spells of bad eating.

6. How did it go: Everything considered, I think I did amazingly. I did manage to complete Ripped in 30 in April and then worked out at least 5 days a week during the first 3 weeks of May. In May, knowing that I’ll be extremely busy in school, I consciously decided not to set any strict rules for myself so that I do not to feel guilty when I can’t follow them. On the days that I did not feel like working out, I did a short workout from either 30 Days Shred or Ripped in 30, and on the days when I did, I went for No More Trouble Zones or Banish Fat Boost Metabolism. Overall, it came down to at least two long workouts per week.

7. Failures and slip-ups: There were two or three of times when I did go on a little binge, but these binges never lasted for longer than one day. Every time after it would happen I felt extremely worried that I’d go back to my naughty ways, but fortunately,  the only thing that these binges have shown me was that I really don’t care for all the crappy foods I used to crave. Don’t get me wrong, I still like me a yummy desert, but if you really listen to your taste buds, the sugary stuff that comes from the supermarket  simply does not taste good, and I am most certainly not going to cheat on my über healthy diet with anything that does not taste heavenly.

8. Results: The results, in my subjective opinion, are amazing. I am down another 6lbs since my last weight in, and for the first time in many years, I like what I see in the mirror. Overall, I have lost 21lbs and am super close to reaching my goal weight. Because I feel very comfortable in my skin right now, I am beginning to take things a bit slower: I’m still planning to workout frequently and eat clean, but my focus is not so much on losing weight but on developing a system I could stick to for the rest of my life.

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

May 26

10. Finally: And just so that you can truly appreciate the difference, a side by side comparison:

february vs may

Back with a vengeance

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In case anyone has been wondering, my prolonged disappearance from the blogging world had nothing to do with my falling off the wagon and going back to my face stuffing ways. I have simply been super busy trying not to fail all of my classes in the last semester before graduating from college. To say that it has been a stressful month is not to say anything as in addition to taking 21 credits, I have been working part-time as a nanny and trying to find a real full-time job. Even though I came super close to failing my French (due to skipping third of the classes) and really struggled to make myself study, I’ve managed to finish the semester rather with two As, to Bs, and a D, about which my old, 4.0 GPA maintaining self, would have been extremely upset, but my current, sick from going to college for the past 9 years self, couldn’t care less. Long story short, I did manage to graduate, and could not be happier about that – especially because I was receiving my diploma with a pretty amazing full-time job offer in my pocket.

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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