Jillian Michaels is my Trainer

I never really watched The Biggest Loser before. I had seen a few episodes here and there, and I think I remember watching one of the finales a year ago or so. But I knew who Jillian Michaels was because when I started working on Sanibel, the girl I replaced (she was moving to the UK) mentioned her name like every five minutes. So I decided to check her out. In 2011, I acquired her 30-Day Shred and Yoga Meltdown DVDs. The latter was just too hard for me - I wasn't a yoga regular yet so trying to add cardio to yoga was insane. And the 30-Day Shred was doable, but once I got to Level 2 (of three), I was dying. I was also trying to do all of this while fighting with my thyroid, so it was really hard most days to even get out of bed and work nine hours, let alone do an intense workout. Every now and then, I get out the 30-Day Shred and do a workout, but never consistently.

That changes now. I started her Body Revolution on Sunday. It's a 90-day extreme weight loss program. I'm not going for "extreme" - slow and steady wins the weight loss game (not a race, to me) - but she is intense and inspiring. I know her style is too rough for some, but 14 years ago, my gymnastics coach molded me into someone who thrives on tough love when it comes to working out. He used to call me a baby and tell me he was going to make me wear diapers if I didn't man up and throw tumbling passes that scared me. And he wasn't kidding - he would have gone to the store and bought adult diapers and made me wear them if I didn't do what we both knew I was capable of doing.

Anyway, I completed Day 3 on Tuesday at 6:15 a.m. Of course, I set alarm for 5 a.m. but after hitting the snooze button once, bundling up, and taking the dogs for a walk in the (dusting of - not the 2-4" I was promised) snow, it was 5:45 before I finally hit "Play." So I decided unless I have something going on at night, workouts before dawn just ain't happening.

The program works like this for the first two weeks:
Day 1: phase 1 workout 1
Day 2: phase 1 workout 2
Day 3: cardio 1
Day 4: phase 1 workout 1
Day 5: phase 1 workout 2
Day 6: cardio 1
Day 7: rest day
Day 8: phase 1 workout 1
Day 9: phase 1 workout 2 (tonight)
Day 10: cardio 1
Day 11: phase 1 workout 1
Day 12: phase 1 workout 2
Day 13: cardio 1
Day 14: rest day

After two weeks, you go to the next phase, repeat that phase for two weeks, and so on.

I started on Sunday, so that means I'll always get Saturdays off. I'm not sure how I feel about that - Sunday is easier for me to workout since I refuse to do anything other than errands if I can help it, but it also might be nice to have an entire day with nothing to do. We'll see.

I will being updating on my progress regularly. Juls and I are trying to keep each A. motivated and B. in check, but it's hard when we're 90 miles apart and working out separately. I am also sticking to my 1,200 calorie daily limit, with one meal per week that doesn't count. Two weeks ago, it was dinner at Chili's with my mom. I had steak fajitas and a skinny margarita, followed by a glass of wine at a family party. Last week's cheat meal was dinner at Max Burger with the girls before our Junior League meeting. I can already tell my body can't handle these big, greasy meals as well anymore because I couldn't finish my 8 oz. burger and fries, and even still felt like crap for the next three hours until I started to digest. It was kinda nice to be affected by all that fat, grease, and sodium - it makes me not crave it nearly as much when I know how awful I'm going to feel if I overindulge. Last night I enjoyed a buffalo chicken wrap with fries (my weakness - can't you tell?) and two glasses of wine. And a cupcake that I made from scratch (frosting, too) - so no artificial ingredients or preservatives.

My weight numbers are private, but my goal is 35 pounds of weight loss which is what my physician recommended even though it would mean weighing less than I did before I got sick. I was really muscular but still a little overweight, so 35 is my magic number. I lost 5 pounds since starting this program and actually following the 1,200 calorie per day limit. I know it's best to only weigh myself once a week, but since I'm too curious to wait that long, I'm going to weigh myself daily but only record once a week. I also read that some people actually gain weight - scale weight but not actual body weight - when starting an intense fitness program because of the fluid that builds up to heal sore muscles. So my hope is that once my body adjusts to these newly awakened muscles and stops hurting all the time, the weight will start coming off more consistently.

I'm also working with my dietitian - as I have been since November - but sometimes I feel like we are just going in circles. Fortunately, insurance covers X amount of visits per year with no co-pay, so at the very least, I'm learning little tips and tricks here and there from her.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I returned my FitBit Zip. It really was just a pedometer that also gave you a running total of your TDEE and upped that number when you were running or walking, but since most of my exercise is not running or walking but other cardio and lots of strength, it wasn't doing anything for me. It was also wildly inaccurate, so I got my $50 back.

Note: this is a running total, so if you're reading this in the future, it will tell you how much weight 

I've lost as of the day you're reading it, not as of the day this was posted.