Less jiggle in my wiggle

I did a whole post on Jillian in my Losing It blog, so I won't beat the horse to death (not to say that Jillian is a horse...well, she does kind of look like one, but in a good way).  (See, http://jacci-clark.blogspot.com/2011/05/shredded.html.)

But I am still getting my butt kicked by her workouts--both figuratively and literally. She has you do butt kicks during the cardio part. I began two years ago doing the 30-Day Shred. I was winded after just doing the jumping jacks at the beginning. And I had to take plenty of bathroom breaks. Because at my age and after having several babies...well, you know. 

After I mastered The Shred, I moved on to the No More Trouble Zones (worked that one for a year, I highly recommend it if you want to get rid of saddle bags) and did 6 Week Six Pack.  Okay, I only did the Six Pack three times. My abs were not sore at all, but my neck muscles were strained, my shoulder was impinged, and a muscle in my inner thigh was pulled. Not lying. Jillian just kind of goes psycho on this one, shouting and making you do moves that aren't even natural. Sorry, but I'm just not coordinated enough to twist myself into a pretzel.  So I guess a six pack is not in my future.

I am now doing Ripped in 30. I like it. More strength training. I'm only on week one of four, so I know what's to come in the next weeks. Jillian torture. She's sadistic. It's very effective.

But  after she's laughed at your pain for a half hour, she gives you kuddos and a pep talk during the cool down that almost make you want to forgive her. She says a couple things at the end that resonate with me.

You can eat yourself through any amount of exercise. Uh, yeah. I should've figured that out a long time before I did. But I finally got it. No amount of running can compensate for eating half a pan of brownies before bed.

Transformation is not a future event, it is a present activity. It may sound hokie, and it may seem obvious. But it is the absolute truth. We make it awfully difficult for ourselves. We tell ourselves it will happen tomorrow, or when we throw out all the food in the cupboard, or when our knee quits hurting and we can start exercising again. But change really happens right now with simply putting the fork down and taking a walk.

It doesn't have to be perfect. It's about effort. When you bring that effort every single day, that's where transformation happens. That's how change occurs. True, my friends. Change happens when you go just a little more than what you thought you could.  And then the next time you push even harder until pretty soon you're surprising yourself.

Okay, enough pep talk. I need to go to bed.

I thought about a picture to put with this post. I didn't want to pull a picture off the internet of someone's jiggly butt. That wouldn't be nice. I do have a "before" picture of myself in a two-piece that I could have used. But, it might end up on someone else's blog.

Doing a 5K this summer with a little less jiggle in my wiggle.