Eight days in to my new diet and exercise regimen and the going is both easy and tough.

Vegetable Eating Progress

I am getting more used to fixing meals at home with fresh vegetables but also tired of the effort too.

And it’s not all fruits and vegetables and healthy eating.  Last night, my daughter talked us into buying a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts (which she calls “Happy Home” doughnuts) which we all devoured with gusto.

Exercise Progress

I am building more stamina to complete my workout program at the easiest “Level 1” setting but also getting bored with the routine of it, even though the workout still is challenging to me. In two days I bump up to “Level 2” and am terrified at how hard that will be!

I sent Jillian Michaels a tweet about my last blog post and to my great shock she (or a publicist) replied!

So the guru herself does not necessarily recommend the 30 Day Shred and instead advises you try the Ripped in 30 Days video. I plan to finish up with the Shred regardless since I have already started but I look forward to trying the Ripped video–hoping I will continue my regimen after November is over.

Reader Questions

diadia commented about my blueberry smoothie recipe:

“In ‘Fit for Life’ the authors stress not mixing fruits with other foods in combination. It slows the digestive process of the stomach and small intestine. Fruits, eaten alone, should be left in the stomach 30 minutes before other foods enter. This is the nutritional and body cleansing action fruits provide. Fruits for dessert is questionnable–before meals or for meals or snacks between meals to benefit our bodies.”

Thanks for the great comment!  You could modify the recipe to meet this criterion by leaving out the milk and just putting in water.  I assume fruit mixed with other fruit and water would be OK?  The other day I counted the calories in this and with 1 cup frozen blueberries, 1 cup milk and approximately 2 oz orange juice concentrate, you are looking at around 300-350 calories depending on the fat content of your milk.  This smoothie gives you 25% of your daily fiber, 160% of vitamin C and 8g of protein, plus it’s yummy!  As for the 30 minute rule on fruits, I don’t doubt the expertise of the authors but this is probably too perfectionistic for my lifestyle.   Do you find you follow this rule?

Ruth commented:

“How much money are the videos? And I HATE exercising with my 2 year old…it feels like child management to me…I have to pay a sitter to work out to feel good about it…but everyones different. Also my toddler is in a phase of fright mares so no sleep around here and no sleep means little to no energy for much…also I think the fruits and vegetable plan sounds good but expensive…any advice for those on very tight budgets maintaining this diet??”

These videos are not expensive at all.  The 30-day Shred is just $7.25 or you can download a digital copy of each level of the workout (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3) for $1.99 each.  The Ripped in 30 video Jillian recommends is not much more at just $9.49.  I can sympathize with the babysitter comment but I know that I would NEVER get a workout done if I had to transport my kids to the sitter plus pay for the sitter every time I wanted to exercise.  20 minutes at home is far from perfect but it is getting the job done.  As for the expense of the diet phase, I am tracking expenses this week and will post next week on how that turns out.  In general, I am finding that fruit and vegetables are some of the cheapest things on our grocery bill.

Bertie commented:

“Well done for you! I had the Jillian Michaels DVD. It is good and I agree it could be used for both genders, but it is very bootcamp style, which is not my favorite. One of my favorite DVDs for shorter workouts is Emergency Workout by Minna Lessig. It has 2 workouts about 25-27 minutes. One is a cardio workout that combines athletic moves with some more dance-y inspired moves. The second workout is a basic all-around strength/toning workout. I have had this video for years and still enjoy doing it because it is structured well, has a variety of exercises done for just the right amount of repetitions, and is well cued with a likeable instructor. I would say it is not quite as challenging as Jillian’s, though.

I also like two of the new Trudie Styler series by Gaiam. One is called Cardio Dance Flow and is a cardio workout with a few ballet and yoga moves mixed in. The other is Sculpt and Tone Ballet. Both of these workouts are also under 30 minutes. I am interested to hear which stretch video you found. I think it is really hard to find a great stretch video because most don’t provide a long and deep enough stretch for me.”

I was glad to receive this comment, particularly the part about how Jillian’s workout is “challenging” even to someone who has done as many exercise videos as Bertie!  I just assumed that I was miserably out of shape.  Yes, it is hard!  Even at Level 1 it is really hard!  The first day it doesn’t seem that hard but start doing it every day and it gets harder and harder to sustain! As for the stretching, the library video was a Jazzercize one that I have not actually tried yet.  I agree that it is hard to find a good stretch video.  My favorite stretch class was the yoga for ballerinas class I took from Regina Bogomolova since no one stretches more deeply than a ballerina!  She should make a video!

P.S. Bertie, you should start a blog reviewing exercise videos.

Thanks everyone for your comments and for joining me on this experiment!