I meant to make a post 2 days ago, when I completed Day 15 of the shred but life sometimes doesn't leave us time.

Lets start with the progress:

Weight: (Day 1) 130 lbs (Day 15) 126 lbs

Waist: (Day 1) 30 inches (Day 15) 27.75 inches

Hips: (Day 1) 35 inches (Day 15) 34.5 inches

Thighs : (Day 1) 21 inches (Day 15) 20.5 inches

Bust: (Day 1) 36 inches (Day 15) 32 inches

I am seeing a lot of progress with the shred and I am happy that I have stayed with it. At times it is difficult, especially on the knees and joints but with enough persistence you do see results. I am looking forward to seeing what others changes come during the last 15 days.

I also want to point out how amazing it is to see my body transform. Growing up, I never had a waist. I was built like a green bean, tiny and straight. Since having kids, I never realized the figure it has given me. My waist is now tiny with fuller hips and an hour glass figure that I can't wait to see at its best. I really need to thank my boys, they changed my body for the better!!

During the first week, I continued to eat like I normally do but I was tracking my intake on sparkpeople.com and seeing where my troubles came in. During the second week, I started correcting some of the problem areas with my eating style. I seem to have a hard time getting enough protein, fiber, iron and calcium. I am still adjusting and looking for ways to increase them. I also had to raise my calorie intake from 1200-1550 up to 1490-1840 to adjust with the calories I am burning. Not an easy feat when I don't usually consume many calories. One good thing is that it is forcing me to now eat breakfast. A meal I usually skip.

I did injure my ankle on Day 14 doing jumping jacks and pushed through Day 15. The following day I did take a break from the shred to give my ankle time to heal. Yesterday I started back up and although I thought my ankle was healed, the jumping jacks once again triggered the pain in my ankle. I will be modifying the rest of the shred to avoid more injury to my ankle.

I have also added some more to my workout days.

7 minutes of Tai Chi in the morning to stretch through the sore muscles and relax my body, mind and spirit.

30 minutes of Yoga with my boys to help teach them the practice.

20 minutes of Pilates to stretch my body and help tone my muscles.

and of course the 27 minutes of The Shred followed by a longer Stretch.

I will update again in 4 days when I move over to Level 3.

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I turned 30 last May and found myself in a depression coma from March of last year. It was a strong battle of growing up and noting that I didn't achieve as much as I wanted and/or planned before I turned 30. I thought the depression would dissipate after the big 3-0 came and although it did, I started slacking on my health. I figured, I had 3 kids, so what did it matter what I looked like? This worked for me.

Then in February I received the results to my physical and was told I had high cholesterol. Well if that didn't put me in enough of a funk, realizing that my 30 year young self had issues with cholesterol, what else could go wrong? So I started thinking about working out. Yup, thinking about it. I even became motivated enough to WATCH fitness videos and root for the women breaking a sweat, while I sat comfy on my couch, reading and pigging out.

I let my body fall apart, taking my emotional well being with it... up until 12 days ago when I looked in the mirror and said, "Mandy, what the hell are you doing to yourself?" What message am I sending my children??

So, I took out the scale and measuring tape and recorded what I was embarrassed to share with anyone.

My weight: 130 lbs (Still safe BMI for my 5'3 stature, but kind of
round in the belly area of my tiny frame)
Waist: 30 inches
Hips: 35 inches (Boy, you might as well roll me with my hips and waist
being so close)
Thighs: 20 inches
Bust: 36 inches

Just looking at those numbers made me nauseous. I needed to do something, quick!!

So, I started Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred on March 28, 2010.

The Shred is 30 days of circuit training divided by 3 levels. Each level is done for 10 days.

The first night on the shred, my kids started acting up when I was 15 minutes into it and panting like I was near death. I paused it to tell them to go back to bed and could not turn it back on. I felt sick to my
stomach and felt like the life was beaten out of me.

The next day, I ached!! I ached so much and went searching for information on how the shred works. (I didn't know then that this was a mini boot camp) I wanted to give up -- ON DAY 2!!! But, I sucked it
up and did my workout, this time completing all the way through. It became easier every day and I started looking forward to it and the 27 minutes of sweat. I started adding in Tai Chi and Yoga, as well as some walks with the kids to help loosen my sore muscles and gain more fitness minutes.
I did take a break from the workout the two days before Easter since I had to prepare but I didn't stop working out. I refused to become inactive. I still tracked plenty of fitness minutes and calories burned to make up for the missing shred exercise.

Last night, April 6 2010, I completed Day 10 of Level 1. I have already noticed decent results not only in measurements but in sleep quality as well as all over mental health.

I have not checked my weight since but I have checked my measurements.

My waist is NOW: 28 inches (lost 2 inches!!)
My hips are NOW: 34 inches (lost 1 inch!)
My thighs are NOW: 19-3/4 inch (1/4 of an inch...but still improvement)
My bust is NOW: 34 inches (back to normal!!)

I'm getting there and all this in 12 days...Technically, 10 days of the shred. I'm sure to hit my goals by the end of 30 days.

Now it's time to start, Level 2 . Right after, I put my boys to bed. Night All!!