In the beginning..

As a disclaimer, right here and now, I would like to explain that this website is, very unfortunately, NOT endorsed by Jillian Michaels or The Biggest Loser et al. This is just me trying to lose weight.

Now as I have promised, the beginning of the story.

As with most things, the beginning of this story starts at the end of another one.

A dear friend started losing weight with the HCG diet. I was full of judgement mixed with a slight bit of envy (let's be honest, they are pricey and there is no way I could afford that diet). I decided that I could lose weight the old fashioned way. I started half heartedly eating better, until it was time for dessert, and getting more exercise by climbing up and down the stairs a couple more times a day. I was sure that, even though I wasn't measuring the results, they were there. I just knew my waist was slimming and I had so much more energy. I kept meaning to do better and make more effort. THE FINAL STRAW: when I tried on jeans that should have been way too big and I couldn't zip them up. Let's be honest, I could barely get them over my thighs. They should have been huge!!! It was all very annoying. I threw the jeans down on the floor, (and did NOT return them to their hanger) and walked over to the DVD section in an attempt to find the golden ticket of weight loss. Of all the DVD's Jillian promised me that she could make me lose 5 pounds a week, banish fat and boost my metabolism.

We shall see.



I will also be working with some Crunch DVD's. They are from Crunch gyms, I think in New York, I wouldn't know for sure because they are also NOT endorsing my work. (Selfish!) And my all time favorite Denise Austin. (At the risk of sounding broken-record-ish. Neither is Denise endorsing this weight loss experiment).

I will post numbers of my losses, but for the sake of the little pride I have left, not the beginning numbers.

May I just say to any up and coming fitness gurus, try to remember that you are making Work-Out-At-Home-Exercize-DVD's for those of us who are NOT physically fit enough to work out in public. Why do you expect us to be able to jump and squat and upper-cut and plie like those thin, trim girls you hire to stand behind you. Are they supposed to be inspiring? Am I supposed to work harder because they can throw their knees above their heads, bend and twist and are showing their pelvic bones as if they wanted to be the next Brittany Spears? Ugh! Of course, I understand that had they hired "normal" girls to do the work out...well, I'm sure the results wouldn't be the same. Happy medium? Anyone?

I have decided, after the first attempt at working with Jill-Jill, as I will lovingly refer to her from now on, that she is a homicidal exercise nut job!

We began our journey together with some "warm-ups"...feeling good. The first "circuit" as she refers to them, I pulled a hamstring. I had to stop half way through and remind myself why the h*@l I was doing this. But thanks to Jill-Jill's encouraging, "come on, I don't want you giving up. If you want to see change you have to work hard" I kept going. The DVD is made up of a 5 minute warm up, 6, 7 minute circuits and a cool down. I "made it through" 4 of the 6 circuits. Somewhere between the 180 jump turns and the jack squats is when I realized that Jillian Michaels was not here to make me thin. She was trying to kill me!

I have often been the one to back down from a challenge but, since I have goals this time I will do battle again, at least for one more day.

You haven't seen the last of me Jill-Jill!!!

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