30 Day Shred

Project 36 Update: 37 Days Left

June 7, 2013 By Lisa Leave a Comment

When I kicked off Project 36, I had no doubt in my mind that I would and could accomplish everything on my list. I knew some of the items on my list would be a stretch, but I needed a good challenge. I had no idea that our life was going to drastically change this year and that my time, my efforts, and most of my energy would be spent on the 2 new additions to our family. It seems like everything has fallen to the wayside since we added the twins to our family and now that life is moving along at a less chaotic pace (and also now that we’re only 37 days away from my 37^th birthday), I thought I’d check in to see how I’m doing with Project 36.

1. Make my bed 36 days in a row.
2. Walk or walk/jog for at least 36 minutes, 36 days in a row.
3. Go on 36 dates with my hubby.
4. Make a realistic to-do list and accomplish it 36 days.
5. Do 36 fun things with my family.
6. Take 36 good pictures of my daughter Amina.
7. Take 36 good pictures of my daughter Khrystyna.
8. Take 36 good pictures of my husband Fred.
9. Get family photos taken before I’m no longer 36. 🙂
10. Do T-Tapp Basic Workout Plus 36 times.
11. Do T-Tapp Total Workout 36 times.
12. Do Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred 36 times.
13. Try 36 new recipes.
14. Memorize 36 Bible Verses.
15. Make a 36 day menu plan.
16. Do 36 days of C25K. (This will allow me to repeat weeks if necessary).
17. Do 36 consecutive days of clean eating. (no gluten or sugar)
18. Complete a 5k in under 36 minutes.
19. Do 36 consecutive days of at least 36 minutes of exercise.
20. Lose 36 pounds.
21. Lose another 36 pounds.
22. Lose yet another 36 pounds.
23. Read 36 books. (At least 10 of these were Chautona Havig books. I seriously love her writing!)
24. Jog 36 miles in 1 week.
25. Do 36 Random Acts of Kindness.
26. Send 36 Snail Mail Cards.
27. Do 36 “man pushups” in a row.
28. Take 36 walks with friends.
29. Play piano for 36 minutes on 36 days.
30. Get rid of 36 pieces of clothing (and socks don’t count).
31. Do 36 craft projects.
32. Save an extra $3600.
33. Take at least 36 pictures of myself in various outfits as I lose weight.
34. Call, write, or visit with my grandma 36 times.
35. Watch 36 hours of TV or movies (I don’t watch TV and I rarely watch movies, but I thought this would be a good way to unwind).
36. Spend 36 minutes doing non-blog writing on 36 different days.

As I looked through the list, I was shocked to see that I’ve only completed 4 of the 36 items. I think that if I really go after it for the next 37 days, I can accomplish 21 more of these goals. While I had hoped for a 36 out of 36 (A+), it looks like I’ll end up with 25 out of 36 (69% D).

While this may not seem that impressive, I realized that if I accomplish these 25 things I will have done the following:

Made my bed 36 days in a row
Walked 1300 minutes in 36 days
Gone on 36 dates with my hubby
Had 36 fun experiences with my family
Taken 108 good pictures of people in my family plus taken 36 pictures of myself.
Had family photos taken (even though I’m not at my goal weight)
Completed T-Tapp Basic Workout Plus 36 times
Completed Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred 36 times
Completed 36 Days of C25K
Completed 36 consecutive days of exercising at least 36 minutes
Made a 36 day menu plan
Read over 50 books
Made 36 peoples day with snail mail
Downsized my closet by 36 pieces of clothing (easy to do when you lose that much weight)
Enjoyed 36 consecutive days of Body by Vi Shakes
Lost Over 60 Pounds

So here’s to the next 37 days! I’m going to be a busy girl, but I’m looking forward to being able to say that I accomplished these things!

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Policy for more information.

Project 36: My 36 Goals for the Year

July 24, 2012 By Lisa 2 Comments

I’m a dreamer or maybe I’m a visionary. I have lots of great ideas and big dreams, but without specific, tangible goals, nothing ever happens. I know that about myself. The years that I have set goals, posted them on the internet for the world to see, and placed them on my wall above my desk to daily remind me of what I’m striving for are the years that I’ve been successful in accomplishing things. When I haven’t set goals, or they haven’t been specific, I’ve found myself further away from my goals at the end of the year than at the beginning of the year.

This year has been an exception to that rule. I set some pretty specific goals for 2012 only to spend every week so far of this year with horrible, debilitating vertigo. I could barely make it through the day. I felt like I was going through life in a fog. Simple tasks took 3 times as long as they normally would. I wasn’t able to exercise at all and I gained a ton of weight. Needless to say, I’m so far away from so many of my goals that they’re not even relevant!

Thankfully, last week I was able to see a specialist in Massachusetts about my vertigo and for the first time this year, I’m feeling pretty normal! Woohoo! This also happened to all coincide with my 36th birthday.

So in honor of my 36th birthday and my desire to reach some amazing goals this year, I’m launching Project 36…my own personal set of goals for the 36th year of my life!

Since I do best when I share my goals, I’m sharing them all with you! I even created a notebook this morning with all of my goals and forms to track my progress.

If you have suggestions as to how I can reach my goals, I’d love to hear them!

1. Make my bed 36 days in a row. Completed 9/12/2012 Woohoo! I’ve turned this into a habit!
2. Walk or walk/jog for at least 36 minutes, 36 days in a row.
3. Go on 36 dates with my hubby.
4. Make a realistic to-do list and accomplish it 36 days.
5. Do 36 fun things with my family.
6. Take 36 good pictures of my daughter Amina.
7. Take 36 good pictures of my daughter Khrystyna.
8. Take 36 good pictures of my husband Fred.
9. Get family photos taken before I’m no longer 36. 🙂
10. Do T-Tapp Basic Workout Plus 36 times. Completed 10/29 Need to start doing this regularly again.
11. Do T-Tapp Total Workout 36 times.
12. Do Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred 36 times.
13. Try 36 new recipes.
14. Memorize 36 Bible Verses.
15. Make a 36 day menu plan.
16. Do 36 days of C25K. (This will allow me to repeat weeks if necessary).
17. Do 36 consecutive days of clean eating. (no gluten or sugar)
18. Complete a 5k in under 36 minutes.
19. Do 36 consecutive days of at least 36 minutes of exercise.
20. Lose 36 pounds.
21. Lose another 36 pounds.
22. Lose yet another 36 pounds.
23. Read 36 books.
24. Jog 36 miles in 1 week.
25. Do 36 Random Acts of Kindness.
26. Send 36 Snail Mail Cards.
27. Do 36 “man pushups” in a row.
28. Take 36 walks with friends.
29. Play piano for 36 minutes on 36 days.
30. Get rid of 36 pieces of clothing (and socks don’t count).
31. Do 36 craft projects.
32. Save an extra $3600.
33. Take at least 36 pictures of myself in various outfits as I lose weight.
34. Call, write, or visit with my grandma 36 times.
35. Watch 36 hours of TV or movies (I don’t watch TV and I rarely watch movies, but I thought this would be a good way to unwind).
36. Spend 36 minutes doing non-blog writing on 36 different days.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Policy for more information.

30 Day Shred: Down But Not Out (Days 9-11)

October 10, 2011 By Lisa Leave a Comment

So I fell off the 30 Day Shred Bandwagon for 6 days. One of my workout partners tore her calf muscle and couldn’t work out last Friday (which would have been day 9)…and then it went quickly downhill from there. Add the flu to a bad lupus week and you have the perfect storm for not working out.

Thankfully I was able to get back in the groove of things on Thursday morning. On Wednesday, my running partner and good friend Laura got a membership to the gym where I work out which means that we can meet at the gym and do 30 Day Shred there…even when it’s raining! YAY!

We met at the gym on Thursday morning at 6, did a 2 mile warm-up on the treadmill and then did Workout 1 of 30 Day Shred. I’m so inspired to do more when I have someone else working out with me and Thursday was no different. I’m pretty sure I never would have gotten on the treadmill if it hadn’t been for Laura’s prompting.

On Friday morning, we were at the gym again at 6. We decided to get Jillian Michaels out of the way first. We also decided to do Workout 2 of 30 Day Shred. Jillian Michaels is 1 tough cookie. She nearly killed me! After we finished 30 Day Shred, Laura suggested we do 15 minutes on the elliptical. I’m telling you the girl is crazy (in a good way) and she definitely keeps me on task!

Saturday was a strikeout for me in the workout department, but I didn’t let that get me down.

Today, I wasn’t feeling good again. I was up most of last night with a migraine and my lupus flare seems to be sticking around longer than I’d like. Today I told my husband that if I was going to feel miserable, I might as well feel miserable and know that I accomplished something, so I drug myself to the gym. (I could do the workout video in my living room, but the gym has comfy mats, real jump ropes, and a plethora of different hand weights. Plus, my kids are not there to make fun of me as I grunt and groan through the workout.)

I did give myself a little incentive before I left. I put sweet potatoes in the oven and my hubby told me he’d grill some steaks while I was gone. There’s nothing like the reward of a good dinner after a hard workout…and let me tell you it was absolutely delicious. Steak with a baked sweet potato is one of my favorite meals!

Theoretically, today should be Day 18 of 30 Day Shred, but I’ve only done 10 days of Shredding and a half marathon. I’d hoped to be at 17 days of shredding and a half marathon, but still I’m feeling pretty good about my accomplishments. I debated as to whether to go with my original count or just count my actual days of shredding. To keep me honest, I’ve decided to just include the actual days of shredding, plus I’ve given myself a pass for the day of the half marathon since I actually planned on taking the day off from shredding. If I can make it through the next few weeks without missing a workout, I should only finish a week behind. Then I’ll be ready to tackle a new challenge.

My plan is to be at the gym at 6 every morning this week to get 30 Day Shred out of the way. I’ll try to do a better job of posting, but if it comes down to posting or shredding, I’m pretty sure that shredding will win! 🙂

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Policy for more information.

30 Day Shred: Days 6-8

September 29, 2011 By Lisa Leave a Comment

I’ve completed days 6, 7, and 8 of Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred and I have to say I am completely amazed at how much more endurance I have. I seriously thought I was going to die on day 1. Yesterday, I still pushed myself, but it was so much easier.

The pushups are still the hardest thing for me. I have no upper body strength and even doing “girl” pushups is difficult. I can make it through the first set without too much of an issue, but the 2nd set I can barely do 5. Oh well…on the first day I could barely do 5 in the first set. At least I’m making progress.

I’ve had my workout done by 8am every day this week, so I’m quite proud of myself. With as crazy as my week has been, I know that if I hadn’t finished first thing in the morning, I probably wouldn’t have finished at all.

Tomorrow will be day 9 and I think I’m going to move to Level 2. I’m pretty sure it will kick my butt, but I’m OK with that.

I’ve been eating horribly this whole week, so the only thing that’s probably kept me from gaining a zillion pounds is my workouts. I need to get back on track with my eating, but I feel sooo unmotivated. I know it’s the right thing to do and I know I’ll see huge results if I combine good eating with 30 Day Shred, but I just can’t convince myself to do it. I keep saying “I’ll start tomorrow” and so far tomorrow hasn’t happened.

If any of you has tips for getting back on track with your eating, I’d love to hear them.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Policy for more information.

30 Day Shred: Days 2-5

September 27, 2011 By Lisa Leave a Comment

Although I have been a serious slacker in the daily recap posts, I’m happy to report that I haven’t been a slacker in doing 30 Day Shred.

I’m not going to go into detail about each day since I’m jamming multiple days in 1 post, but I will give you a short recap.

Day 2: I bought weights for Day 2 instead of using soup cans and couldn’t believe how much harder it was with 3 pound weights. (Yeah…I know 3 pounds isn’t much, but after doing pushups, I can barely lift my arms)

Day 3: This is the 1 day in my 30 days that I gave myself permission not to shred. Instead, I woke up at the crack of dawn and did a half-marathon. Yep…I did 13.1 miles on Saturday, so I gave myself permission to not exercise the rest of the day!

Day 4: Sunday was a super busy day for us. We had church in the morning, dinner plans at 6, and I had plans to meet a friend to walk later that night. I also had tons of housework that I needed to catch up on. After lunch on Sunday, I worked around the house and then realized I had 45 minutes til we needed to leave to meet our friends. I knew that I probably wouldn’t be home til after 10, so I had to get my workout in right then.

I threw some workout clothes on and proceeded to do 30 Day Shred. My body was still super sore from the half-marathon on Saturday and it didn’t help that my 13 year old sat on the couch making sure I did each movement correctly and that I didn’t slack off for a second!

Day 5: I managed to convince a friend to commit to doing 30 Day Shred with me on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of this week and next at 6am. Although I didn’t feel like getting out of bed, I headed to the gym to meet my friend for a quick workout. 30 Day Shred is definitely more fun with a friend.

That’s the scoop around here! Have you been working out? What have you been doing?

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Policy for more information.