I started Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred

So, I'm currently doing a nursing preceptorship in the Surgical/Trauma Intensive Care Unit (known at the STICU) while also working as a Nurse Aide on a cardiac telemetry floor.  I see a lot of sick people for about 40 hours a week every week, and I don't want to be one of them.  At 5'2(ish) and a fleshy size 14/16, it's not hard to envision myself dealing with high blood pressure, diabetes, or even a stroke in 20 years (or even sooner).  I don't want that to happen.

After a day of training at the hospital, an inspiring hour of therapy, and a day of poor eating, I decided it was a good time to try Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred.  If you haven't googled the before and after photos from people shredding then I highly recommend you do so. Very inspiring.

Barefoot, without a sports bra, and with a stomach full of pasta salad and steak, I started the Level 1 workout which is a 20 minute workout with 5 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down.  What I learned in my 1st Level 1 Work Out:

1. DO NOT eat a large plate of steak and pasta salad before attempting this program. I thought I was going to puke off that pounds.

2. Two minutes of cardio can feel like an eternity.

3. Wear a sports bra and maybe even sock and shoes! Duh, really Courtney?

4. I can sweat A LOT and REALLY FAST.

It felt great minus the imminent pukefest. I can't wait to try it tomorrow without a dinner on my stomach.

I'm bringing myfitnesspal.com on board to help me wrap my brain around my kcal consumption. Today I...well honestly I just tracked my kcal for fun today. Without going into the XX(and by XX I mean XXL) details, let's just say I went over my net kcal goal by over 700 kcals. Yeah, that's like two additional meals worth of calories.  I am excited to see what happens tomorrow when I make a conscious effort to stay at the 1420 kcal recommendation that the myfitnesspal.com app told me to adhere to.

Here are my pics so that we have a "before" shot or two:

 

Look at dem guns....

In the words of Honey Boo Boo Child: 

"I'm gonna show the judges my belly. Look at this big ol' thing"

Here's to living a long, stenosis, diabetes, myocardial infarction, CVA, AAA, hypertension, osteoporosis, COPD FREE LIFE.