OMG I just did the shred for the first time now. I can barely lift my arms to type ! I read on a forum somewhere that people burn about 150-250 kcal per workout depending. Well, its worth the 30 mins and I think after 30 days I will get toned. I drew a heart on my calendar and hope to do this everyday.

Day 2.. I can barely keep up with this !! I hope I can get better in a week. Did you girls take a break at first or keep going through it?

I did it as often as I could when I first started! But that still wound up only being a few times a week! lol Your body will get used to it. Just KEEP GOING! I was pretty out of practice when I first started, it depends on the individual I guess.

There have been days where I felt so bad I swore I wouldn't be able to do it, but I tried and GOT THROUGH IT! That always feels so much better than sitting on my butt feeling sorry for myself for being sick or hurt.

What have you got to lose by trying? If you really can't go on you can always turn it off and try again tomorrow.

Thank you for the motivation, Metal Chick.

By the way, just from doing this a couple days I have noticed an increase in energy throughout the day. I am also happier and more motivated than when I was just dwelling on diet alone.

Am reading all 20 pages of the thread now, but to do it do you have to have weights??

You're welcome, Mikan! I LOVE how great it's made me feel too.

Sidrah: Nah, if you don't have weights I would say just ball up your fists (as if you're holding weights) until you purchase, or are strong enough for, weights. And try to focus on your movements. The great thing about weights is that they provide resistance, if you concentrate on keeping your muscles firm you will feel resistance even without weights.

I'm not sure if I worded that right. Maybe someone can explain that better? haha

I kind of felt the weights were fundamental for the strength portion. I think they use 5 lbs weights on the dvd, but for myself I bought some 3 lbs weights. I haven't exercised for a few years. My muscles are sore so maybe it would be better to start with the little 2 lbs ones. You need 2 if you don't want to modify the exercise. I got mine on sale at target for 8 bucks (2 bucks off). (I bought them 2 days ago)
My uncle pointed out something interesting when I told him I bought 3 lbs- he said that is pretty good and not to go higher. "A boxer just wears 8 oz gloves and look how strong their muscles get".

Welcome Mikan!

When I do Shred, I use 3lb hand weights as well. You will feel it! I've recently gone back to level 1 and increased my hand weights to 5lbs. Oooo feeling that! My thoughts are "we start where we start and work to stronger". We don't want to injure ourselves, that's not going to help us reach our goals.

ExerciseTV's website has a PDF file of a 30-Day Slimdown plan that utilizes the 30DS, NMTZ, and BFBM workouts. I'm going to try that. It requires working out 6x a week, with one day of rest. One of my mini-goals is to do this plan straight through.

Hopefully by the time I get through this plan and by the time spring rolls around, I'll be able to have more endurance on my bike and be able to deal with the hills.

Thanks for telling us, I am gonna look this up now !!

I pushed myself to do this workout once and literally felt like I was going to die, lol. I am not an exerciser so I'm admittedly very out of shape, but this one was soo rough on me... I had to sit down for a couple of hours drinking water and feeling my heart beating out of my chest to try to get back to normal, and on top of that, I felt a bit sick too. I don't know if I'll ever try it again... oh, and this was day one level one. A sad tale! ;P

Ok, so since I was kind of on day 3 I decided to pick up "No more trouble zones" and "Banish fat boost metabolism" at costco so I could try out the exercise tv workout. Cupcake, I've only been working out a few days and I can kind of relate to you. I turned off No more trouble zones right in the middle and my heart is still beating fast. it was HARD!!! I think if you at least do what you can a little bit a day you will be able to handle these workouts, but it takes time.

Mikan,

I have both NMTZ and BFBM. They are both a$$kickers! But, you can start slowly and only do as many circuits as you can and work your way up to doing the whole dvd. I did that with both of them and now I LOVE em! I love having Jillian kick my a$$!!

Doing it slowly, circuit by circuit, is very motivating too. To see yourself get stronger and try just one more circuit today than you did maybe last week or so. Your gonna feel great about yourself!

Thank you, I am really happy to hear someone else decided to take on the harder ones too. I used to do karate when I was a teenager and the workouts were very similar. However, the break from exercise has made it impossible to finish the NMTZ workout all in one go. I will keep switching the dvds around and hopefully in a few weeks I can have enough endurance for that workout, because it seems like such an awesome and beneficial workout. I really like Jillian's no nonsense personality in these dvds. I bought a dvd about "yoga for weight loss" or something and it was really new agey and not intense at all. It was good for relaxing- just not weight loss or even toning. I really like that Jillian says, "If I am going to make you big promises you have to work hard", because I know this is the truth. I feel like its only been a few days and I feel so much better, my walk to school was WAY easier (it is about a mile), and maybe it is just in my head, but I see my tummy looks just a tad bit smaller already. hehe could just be the TOM switching up my water weight though.

I did 30 day shred for the first time today. I haven't exercised in months so it was a hard workout for me! I couldn't do the whole circuts, but felt like I pushed myself and got a good workout. Deciding whether to do it tomorrow as well, or just the treadmill.