Bring Your Best Ms. Michaels

Yea!!!!! My copy of 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels (that evil dictator from The Biggest Loser) arrived last night (see link for a video preview). I heard about this workout via several bridal blogs, with brides swearing it got them in shape for their wedding. Now before all of you who know me personally start harping on how I am the last person who should be complaining about losing weight, give me a chance to explain...

So remember how last week I talked about going to NavyGuy's promotion ceremony? Well, you can't show up to these things in jeans and your favorite sweatshirt (rat farts), so I had to dig through all of the winter dress up clothes that were still packed in a tub from Pensacola. As a teacher, I have quite the collection of moderately fancy dress pants, khakis, and tame skirts suitable for high school classrooms. However, as I pulled item after item out of the tub and tried them on, the pile of "Lord No!" clothing was climbing drastically higher than the "acceptable-for-public" or "only-if-all-else-is-dirty-and-you-have-awesome-undergarments" piles. By the time NavyGuy arrived home and I had finished my fashion show of sausage casing pants, I was moping in bed eating Cool Ranch Doritos to soothe my depressed soul.

Luckily (and this is reason #783 why I'm marrying him), NavyGuy reminded me that because of some health problems last fall, I had lost about 20 pounds (a significant amount for a 5'5" girl with good metabolism). Hence, I had purchased several pairs of smaller pants, and now that I was back to my normal (healthy) size, I could not expect to fit into the middle-school sized garments I had previously donned. (Is it wrong to wish for a split second that I was still sick and Hollywood thin? Yes. I said I only wished it for a second! Jeez.)

Okay, so back to the point. I clearly had regained the lost weight (and then some) by a steady diet of man food (meat, carbs, liquor, fast food, and cream sauces), the road trip that would never end (squating over skanky gas station toilets so as to avoid actually touching the seat hurts the quads, but doesn't burn as many calories as you'd think - nor does sitting in a car 10 hours a day), and perhaps a general slowing down of my metabolism (I'll also lay blame on the higher altitude I now live in if that'll help explain it). And, regardless of other people's perception, I was/am not thrilled with how I look and feel. Losing a few pounds wouldn't hurt, nor would toning up and generally getting in better shape.

Besides all the health and well-being reasons, I have vanity as a motivator. One of my biggest fears in life is showing up in my gorgeous wedding dress next May and having back fat. Or armpit fat. Or any fact leaking over the edge of the dress, anywhere. I also have an immense fear of arriving at the dress fitting and not being able to shoehorn myself into the gown.

So, the torture has begun. With cold weather setting in (and my overall hatred of all things running), I've decided the most likely means of my sticking with a workout routine is through exercise videos. The past few days, I've been test driving various workouts through Netflix (side note - second after my TiVo in a list of my favorite things in the world). Netflix has a feature where you can play some of their selections right on the computer, immediately, so I tried out a cardio fat-burning Pilates workout, samba crunch dancing, and a front muscle group workout from the aforementioned Ms. Michaels. Each was lively - and if the pain I felt the day after was any indication - a good workout.

But I have been anxiously waiting for the 30 Day Shred to arrive, because it is a series of three different 20 minute workouts (Levels 1-3). 20 minutes! I can totally do that! If can find time in my day to watch the 20 minutes of TiVo'ed Daily Show, I can definitely fit in 20 minutes of sweating. As soon as I test it out, I'll give a full review for the rest of you who are looking to find a means to getting in shape / battling the holiday food orgies / looking trim and fit in your wedding gown (or bridesmaid dress... mother of the bride dress... whatever!).