Jen - you are so cute. Don't be scared or discouraged :-) I won't hurt ya... well, maybe just a little. Seriously, the key is to push yourself to YOUR limit. Not my limit or anyone elses for that matter. Remember the part about doing cardio? In the book I ask you to work at 85% of your MHR. What it will take to get you to 85% is totally different then what it will take to get me to 85% and so on. Listen, I won't be the one to tell you "oh just do what you can or just 8 minutes in the morning" blah blah blah. Listen, that stuff is placating and condesending. You are better off being told that it takes work because it does. But, that doesn't mean you have to hurt yourself or work at a level you are not ready for. The whole point of pushing you is to empower you not to disempower you. How about this, you put in 4 hours a week at and push yourself as much as you can. If you can't do what's in the book right away SO WHAT! You WILL get there... just keep pushing. Don't be scared... start out with 30 min of resistance training and 30 minutes of cardio. Does this make sense? Listen to your body - you will know when you can do more and when you need to lighten up. Also, eleanor Roosevelt said you should do something every day that scares you... when you conquer your fears it can only make you stronger. I promise you Jen - you CAN TOTALLY DO THIS. I think you have no idea what you are capable of... take the leap. It's the only way to move towards change momma. I am right here to help in case you get scared again.
xo
j
Ok - I am not sure who posted this question, but the answer is NO. My book is not geared only towards woman at all. It is specifically geared towards anyone who is looking to lose weight and gain lean muscle not bulk. If you look at my team on BL trhis year they are all men and everything I advocate in my book I applied to my team. :-)
Angel - You can modify your push ups so they don't irritate your wrists. Try doing the push ups on your fists so that your wrists are straight the entire time. You will need to put a towel or a pad under your knuckles obviously for padding, but it shouldn't strain your wrists at this angle. Also, why don't your try dumbbell presses? Make sure and angle your knuckles up towards the cieling so your wrists are straight and try not to grip the dumbbells to tightly. Let me know how this works out for ya...
xo-j
Whoa, that is a brutal schedule buddy. Ok, I am not quite sure how much of the day you are actually sleeping because you put your time in bed, but not when you woke up before work. Let's go by the following guidelines. Let's start your day from whenever you get out of bed and account for 24 hours from that point. So for example if you are getting up at 1400 that would be when your day technicly begins and it would run for 24 hours through 1400 the next day. You will be spreading your daily calorie allowance over that 24 hour period. Now then, here are a few basic guidelines: 1. NEVER SKIP MEALS. You should make sure you never go over 4 hours without eating. The only exception to this rule is when you are sleeping. I would start your day at 1400 with what would normally be considered breakfast. I would take in about 1/4 of your daily cals at this time. Then at 1800 I would have a small snack (bout 100 cals). Then at 2200 I would have what would normally be considered lunch. I would take in about 1/4 of your cals in this meal. Then at 0200 I would have another small snack (about 100 cals). Then right when you finish work at about 0600 I would eat what would normally be dinner, take your son to work and SACK OUT! If this doesn't appeal to you or you can't get a normal meal break it is ok to snack as long as you don't lose track of your calories. YOu can even snack every two hours - it's all up to you. The only two rules you have to abide by is don't go over 4 hours without eating when you are awake and don't eat over you calorie allowance in and 24 hour period. Hope this helps a bit... Keep doing gods work buddy!
All my best,
J
Lizster a.k.a lizziness... I get that you guys are apprehensive, but just imagine in your head how you are going to feel AFTER the workout. YOU ARE GOING TO FEEL SO GOOD! I HATE them gym myself. Honestly I do, but I find my motivation inside me. I think about how I want to feel about my body. Honestly, when I don't feel good about myself physically I am less comfortable in every aspect of my life. My love life suffers. I get insecure professionaly etc. I tell myself everytime I head out the door to the gym - you are gonna feel so good when this is over. Then I start to think about all the things that will come from me going. I visualize my body strong and fit. I think about how if I look healthy it will motivate others etc. YOu need to ask yourself WHY you want to change. THAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION. Look inside yourself... do you want to fall in love? Do you want to be more confident at work? Do you want to live longer? Do you want to feel strong and powerful and help others to feel the same way? Think of it like this... if you buy a beautiful home - I am willing to bet (unless you are paris hilton) that you had to work for the money to buy that home... but it sure is worth it once you are living there. It's the same thing with a healthy body. It takes work to build a healthy body, but it sure is worth it once your are living in it :-)
I am so glad you are liking the heart rate monitor - it is an excellent tool to help you guage the intensity levels of your workouts!
As for Pete... he and his wife Pam are wonderful wonderful people. I can't say enough good things about them. I absolutely adore them both... my boy Pete especially!
Now to your quesiton: Is there any relation to oxidative rates and body shape. I have not been able to find one. I have tried and tried to find a correlation between the two and I have been unable. I have met slow, balanced, and fast oxidizers of all shapes and sizes. I will say that I have found most men to fall more towards fast oxidizers and most women to be more balanced.
Thanks! I think you guys all rock too. As for your cerebral palsy quesiton...
In my opinion and in my experience the best exercise program for those with cerebral palsy is based in intensive physical therapy and also utilizes elements of other methods such as PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation), NDT (nuerodevelopmental treatment), sensory integration, strength training and PWBTT (partial weight bearing treadmill training), massage, stretching and manual therapy.
To be truthful, this is way beyond the scope of my knowledge :-( I would recommend seeking out a physical therapist who specializes in working with people cerebral palsy patients. Wish I could be more helpful here....
dear jillian,
thanks for the input. ... im actually impresed bc im 34, and i walk w crutches and i dont even know what any of those things are..... but certainly worth finding out. thanks again!
Miss Jillian ... how I adore you so.
I had the worst day today but seeing you post and reading all your great advice to everyone has cheered me up a bit ...
Listen girl ... I got your book last friday and I've been reading like a crazy ho and just love how honest you are (for once someone tells it like it freaking is) here's the deal ... I'm wondering -- I also got your Shape up front & Shape up back videos and so I've been doing them everyday -- is that cool if I follow your plan but do your videos instead of the workouts in the back of the book or would you say to do those instead or what should I do? I REALLY love your videos and damn do they ever kick my a$$ but I feel so good when I'm done. But I don't want to screw it up!
So is it normal to start out SUPER gung ho and then kinda crash? Like I haven't screwed up or anything, still counting my calories, doing my journal, doing your workout, but I'm so emotionally exhauted and burned out already ... I just feel so discouraged ... anyway honestly you saved my day by coming on here girl ... my day went from total & complete sh*t to just ... better
Much love to you.
Hi Jillian!!! Thankyou so much for taking the time to read all of our questions and be so dear as to ANSWER THEM ALL AT ONCE!!! Holy cow, you must have been on a mission. I will definitely try the substitutions you suggested, and already I can see some 'curve' definition poking through the arm flab. Thanks a bunch. {{hugs}}
First of all ELIMINATE the word naughty from your vocabulary... at least when it comes to food ;-) You have to completely abandong the "all or nothing" mentality. The only way to lose weight and KEEP IT OFF is by building your lifestyle on the middle ground. In other words, there is not such a thing as a "bad" food. There are foods that are unhealthy, but you can and must (for mental sanity) work unhealthy foods into a healthy lifestyle. For example: your chocolate ganache... normally I would try to find some lower cal substitutions for you so can eat a bigger treat (more volume). Regardless, we all have our "thing" that we can't live with out. Mine is the Reeses Big Cup... SO GOOOOOOD! Now there is a Reeses Big Cup that has whole P-nuts in it... I tell you those people at Hershey's have really got their thinking caps on... whoa. Ok, sorry about that... back to you. If their is something you can't live without like Choclate Ganache here is what you should do - find out how many calories are in it and then work it into your calorie allowance! Truthfully you can eat whatever the heck you want in moderation and then you won't feel deprived. I mean is there an ideal "diet" for you to lose weight - sure there is and my book will help you figure out what that is. But that said, you have to be able develop a healthy way of life in order to keep weight off - diets don't work because they are temporary programs and present no options for long term.
As for maintenance - the reason my cals are so low is because I am freakin teeny. Honestly, I am 5'2... pathetic I know. That makes my metabolism much lower then you guys probably :-( Plus, I don't always stick to 1600 cals. I definately have days where I go over my cals and that is the reason I exercise... to keep from gaining when I go over.
As for the whole cheat day idea - I personally don't like it. The reason I don't like it is because there are no boundaries. People can diet all week only to gain it all back in one day with a "cheat day". Plus, you live all week for that "cheat day" and then go crazy. I would much prefer you have chocolate ganache every day and work it into your calories then to take a "cheat day", go wild, and consume 5,000 cals in one day. I know 5,000 cals sound extreme, but it isn't hard to do at all. I mean the bloomin onion at outback steak house alone is like 2600 cals for goodness sake. If you do opt for the concept of a cheat day make sure and give yourself a limit. For example, on your cheat day allow yourself 2,200 cals. Just make sure and do the math... it's all in the math.
You asked me if I still count my calories... YUP. Now, I don't need to weigh my food or measure it anymore. It has become second nature to me. I can pretty much eyeball portion sizes and because I eat alot of the same stuff I already know how caloric the food is. If I don't know I just look it up in my Calorie King Pocket Counter (this thing is INVALUABLE) You must have one - it is the very first thing I give to my team. They all get the Calorie King book, a journal, and a heart rate monitor. Tools of the trade :-)
Buddy you are doing so good... why discouraged? Instead of feeling deflated you should feel elated... and PROUD. Proud of yourself for taking steps to get heatlhy. Proud that your are hanging with me in those freakin videos. Have you done the cardio kick box yet. That is the only one that I do all the way through and I am like falling apart in it.
You asked me if the videos are enough... the only thing I don't like about the videos is that they are 30 minutes. I had to do that because the marketing shows that people who work out at home won't commit to anything longer. Whatever... if you can add a little cardio after doing the video... or, one thing I tell people to do is to do each circuit one more time. In other words, rewind the dvd after you have done the circuit twice and do one extra set of every thing. This way you are doing everything three times not two times. If not, it's still an *** kicker. Don't worry about it.
It breaks my heart to hear you say you are discouraged... why? You are doing everything right... and even if you weren't who cares. Your human - you SUPPOSED TO MAKE MISTAKES. Mistakes are nothing but learning experiences. But you are not even making any mistakes. Buddy, for reals... you need to have a little perspective and give yourself a HUGE PAT ON THE BACK.
xoxo
J
p.s. Sending many pats on the back with hugs too from here on my sofa... (Bob says I am not allowed to say couch anymore). So is my dog. He's sending them too.
Thanks a bunch. {{hugs}}
