[Snail Trail]

I've been "changing" my life as of April or so. You know, making better choices. Cutting out soda, and all of the bad habit foods. I got really into Jillian's 30 Day Shred. I was totally in love with it and doing excellent. One day, while doing the jump rope portion, I landed wrong. This causes my back to hurt insanely bad just between the shoulder blades. I could do crunches, sit ups, push ups, ANYTHING til I was blue in the face, but I could not do anything related to jumping. And for those of you unfamiliar with jillian's 30 day shred, there's A LOT of jumping in it. So I figured I'd take a small break. You know a couple days, and see how I felt. Nope. Still horrible. This made me really depressed and made me feel like I was doing absolutely everything in my power to get my body back, but failed. I'd try my hardest to do the exercises, but couldn't due to how much it hurt. So I took a longer break, but switched my exercises up. I figured I'd just do the strength training portions of Jillian's, then (this may sound silly) just do 35-45 minutes of Dance Dance Revolution for the cardio portion (the game does feature a wonderful workout mode). That was going well for awhile but ended up KILLING my feet. Like oh dear jesus I can't walk. That bad. (sounds like a lot of excuses, but I assure you it's all true). So FINALLY I found a work out that suits me. Slim in 6. I gave it a try, and it's awesome. Nothing back straining, or foot straining. It's a lot of work and effort, but it's amazing and fits me well.

I've forbidden junk food in my house. I'm doing excellent on that part. It's not even an issue for me anymore. I've been loading up on my favorite fruits and vegetables, and cutting out the breads and pastas, OR when I do eat them, I stay in control.

I keep telling myself all of this, and that I'm doing good, but it's so hard to stay motivated. Not that I feel like I'm in danger of slipping back into my old habits. But I'm always so concerned that I may be wasting my time, or that it's not going to work, or that I'm just totally failing at losing weight. But I figure, if I'm doing something drastically different than what my body is used to IE eating better, exercising, etc. Something is bound to happen.

Anyone else ever get this way?

Also, I am onto the 2nd phase of slim in 6, and it's 48 minutes long ...
Not that I have trouble keeping up with that, I can handle it. I just feel like I get bored too easily. Sigh..

I need some pep talk.

[LotusMama]

Don't listen to the voice in your head that tells you might be wasting your time. This will work and you can make it so!

Hang in there,

J

[mandalinn82]

Anything you're doing that involves moving or a healthier choice helps!

Using a lower impact exercise now, especially one that you'll stick with, is 1 million times better than not exercising or finding an exercise that's so hard you won't stick with it. And if you don't get the results you like, you can always decide at a later date to do more difficult exercises or expand your program in some way.

on making such good choices!

In terms of motivation, doing different activities really helps me...I recently found a water aerobics class for $3 at my community pool. OK, yes, it's a little silly, and no, it isn't as intense as some other workouts, but it's really FUN and I'm excited to go. Do you have some things you can mix in with your other program to keep it exciting? What about some weight training?

You CAN do this and if you continue making small changes, they WILL pay off.

[Vladadog]

Congratulations for sticking with it! For your sore feet - finding the right shoes can make a HUGE difference. When we aren't exercising we can get away with almost any shoes but when you are actually using our feet they can need a lot of support to support us. I ended up with shoes designed to for people who over-pronate plus I have orthotic inserts - it was worth the time to get it all sorted out since now my feet (and knees and hips) are all working together to help me rather than hurt me.

[3fcuser1058250]

Snail Trail (you're so pretty BTW) -- Hang in there do what you can, walking is great too... As long as you're moving you're good... Eventually you will get back to the 30day shred, but give yourself time to heal that's very important...

[ddc]

Congrats on the positive changes that you have made.
Maybe you just haven't found the workout that you're going to love doing yet.
If it feels like a chore, you're not going to do it (we all hate doing chores, right?)
I consider myself an intermediate/advanced exerciser and 30 day shred killed my knees. Therefore, I do not do it.
I enjoy kickboxing dvds. Leslie Sansone's walking dvds are no too taxing. I have a homemade version of a TRX trainer that I do exercises with and I have various resistance bands and dumbbells that I use for muscle building.
The key is to find something that you enjoy and that you can do for life. Cause this is your life we're talking about here.

Best wishes

[StephanieM]

I've had this before, where I've worked out too hard or done something wrong and hurt something. It feels bad because you want to try so hard, but you are in pain.

What's good is if you can differentiate sore "worked out" muscle pain from "injury" pain. My legs are sore this morning, but that's because I had an awesome run yesterday, and I'm going to have another one today

I'm glad you got slim in 6 and are back at it! That's good you found something that works around your injury. Don't give up either. I gave up for a few months (I did quit smoking during that time, but still). I'm glad I got back at it because now I'm a lower weight then I have been in four years.

Stick around

[Snail Trail]

I did phase 2 of slim in 6 today. The whole thing! 48 minutes. All of it. I felt wonderful afterwards. Then I suddenly had the energy to do everything around the house that I needed to. Cleaned out my salt water tank (which I am sure burned SOME sort of calories) considering I had to carry jugs of water back and forth a dozen times. Then I had to clean the litter box, then make dinner for my husband (enchiladas, quite the task indeed). Today was a good day. I got everything accomplished, and I look forward to exercising again tomorrow. I just made a really long play list of my favorite song, and nothing seemed boring. The little counter on the video said "42 minutes left" and I still wasn't thinking "oh my god" I felt more like "It's almost over!". Awesome feeling. Thanks for all of your support, it means a lot. It's hard doing all of these things without discussing them or hearing feedback.

Tomorrow will rule!

Thanks guys. <3

P.S no junk food or junk drinks today! Just water!