Why I Hate the Scale (but keep going back for more....)

Everyone in my family is tiny. The eat a whole pizza and still stay skinny kind of tiny. Built like marathon runners, naturally thin, lithe gazelles like creatures. And then there was me....who tends to take after my Dad's side of the family as in if I think about eating a cupcake I will probably gain five pounds. They workout and get leaner. I work out and put on muscle pretty fast. I tend to get bulkier before I lean out. (At least that is what I keep telling myself.) I am just bigger than everyone.

And that has pretty much sucked my whole life.

Especially when your great grandmother tells you it's unfortunate that you inherited her thighs. (I mean seriously. I was in high school. Who says that? I was pretty small then and thought I was doing okay. I had a lime green mini skirt and rocked it. Man, I loved that outfit.) And this is the memory I am left with about my deceased relative decades later....

But seriously. Now, as a grown up, I am less worried about how my thighs look and much more concerned with my health. (At least that is what I say out loud....because let's be honest, if I were able to rock a pair of booty shorts I totally would. I would never take them off. Even in the winter. Maybe it's  a good thing for everyone that this isn't going to happen. There will never, ever be any thigh gap here.) My relatives aren't exactly known for longevity. Heart disease has pretty much blanketed my family tree and cancer is right up there too. So the realistic and rational part of my brain is all, "Hey Sara, maybe we should get a jump on this. You know before your doctor is drawing THAT line in the sand."

And so I plug on. Getting my workouts in. Eating clean most of the time.... (I mean there are gelato emergencies. Don't' get me wrong.) In all seriousness I do try to live by the 80/20 rule. Try to eat well 80% of the time and the other 20% is for fun dinners out, traveling, vacations, barbecues and beer. (Because there are Shiner Ruby RedBird emergencies too. Life is supposed to be enjoyed. And if I can't have an awesome ginger beer on a hot summer day then I don't want to be any part of that.)

But what amazes me the most is how I still continue to hang onto the number that I think I "should" see on the scale. So many women have this magical number. Who knows where it even came from....maybe it is our high school weight. Or the weight we were at during a happy time in our lives or just a number we picked out of all of the numbers that we think we should weigh. But let me tell you a little secret right now. The scale is a liar.

When I was first asked to take pictures at the start of my first challenge group, I was SO freaked out. I didn't want to take pictures. What if someone saw them? So they got buried in files on my computer. And I held my breath as I emailed them to Katy while all these thoughts were running through my head. What if she mocked me? What if she saw them and was all "wow, Sara is pretty fat. I mean she really let herself go." Or what if she thought I was a total lost cause.

The irony here is that people saw me every day. My clothes weren't magical things that made me appear tall and lean and super model gorgeous, like with the right outfit I was fooling people into thinking I was actually a size 2.

In hindsight, the pictures I took have become my greatest source of motivation and encouragement. I was with  these pictures I was able to see that my hard work was paying off. That my body is changing. That I am making things happen.

The scale wouldn't have told me that.

I am able to lift heavier weights. Do longer spurts of cardio. I am able to pick up my knees just a little bit higher. Move my feet a little bit faster.

The scale wouldn't have told me that either.

I am able to chase my kiddo on the playground. Climb up the rock wall after her. Pick her up and spin her around....and I don't lose my breath or need to stop for a minute.

The scale would NEVER have told me that.

It also wouldn't have told me how much better my quality of life would be.


It was on a very bad day when I decided to look back at where I was last year....I was angry. I was frustrated. I wanted to throw things. I was upset that my weight really hadn't changed in the last year despite everything I was doing. Of course, it fluctuates based on things like how much salt or water or sugar I had eaten the week before.... like weight tends to do, but never really moves. I pulled out the old pictures to put in for my free shirt I earned when I finished Insanity (and never claimed) and I was shocked at the difference a year (and no difference on the scale at all) can make.

I still haven't been able to get rid of the scale completely. I really try to not let it ruin (or make) my day. I try to remind myself of all the things I have accomplished that have NOTHING to do with the scale. The inches, the sizes and the pictures tell a much richer story that that one little number. It also doesn't' tell me what kind of role model I am for my daughter, what kind of ripple effect the changes I made in my life has on my family's lives, or what kind of influence my story may have on another.

And that allows me to step off the scale with a smile on my face, despite any number that might show up down there. Even if it hasn't changed at all.

The Difference a Year Can Make (and yes this means I am putting my fat pic out there for the world to see)

This is one of those things I have been dreading since I started down the path to wellness. As part of my ownership of where I was and how far I have come, I feel that making my journey public has held me accountable to where I am going and not giving up. So I guess that means I have to share the terrible awful picture that made me get off my ass and do something (although I would rather burn it and delete off of hard drives than actually put it on the internet for the masses to see.) So here it goes....

I guess I could have blamed it on baby weight (and that was part of the problem) but I had always lived a super busy, crazy, never home, living out of my car kind of life. I worked non-stop, often at least two jobs or I was working and going to school full time. I didn't eat. And when I did it was take out, from the food court at the mall (I worked retail management for almost 7 years) or from the pretzel stand outside of our store. But I was always on my feet, so I didn't suffer from the ill effects of the way I was eating until later on. It wasn't until I was in a super stressful, crazy work situation that I started to gain weight. (Don't get me wrong, my weight has fluctuated my whole life, up and down like crazy, but in my 20's living a go-go-go-go life and consuming more calories in alcohol than actual food, I was hanging steady at a size 6/8 and wasn't thrilled but wasn't unhappy enough to change my lifestyle either.) I gained about 20 pounds and I couldn't get it to go away. I was working out like crazy with no results. So I quit. I figured why bust my ass when it isn't getting any smaller anyway.

A few years later I left my job to go back and get my masters (again another going to school full time with a full time internship--just my kind of crazy.) I got married and was still hanging onto the 20 pounds or so I gained a few years back and just couldn't get rid of. But at this point, I was too worried about going out and drinking microbrews and going to wine tastings than really focusing on what was going on. I also couldn't find a job with my new fancy masters degree, so I was nannying. Sitting on the floor (or couch) at someone else's house, playing with their kids and all that awesome kid junk food laying around (stuff my mom would never buy me growing up, ever.) And then I got pregnant. So add on the 38 pounds I gained with that and we arrive at that dreaded picture (I still don't want to acknowledge.)

That picture was taken on the Fourth of July 2012 which we spent in the Pacific Northwest. I had a dear friend of mine come out for the weekend so we were doing all sorts of fun touristy things (including taking lots of pictures). She sent me all the pictures she took of our time there a month or two later and I remember the gauntlet of feelings I had when I saw that picture. Disbelief, embarrassment, shame and then finally deciding I had to do something, anything. How had I gotten so out of control?

So I dusted off a copy of P90x that belonged to my hubby and stuck it out for about 3 weeks. I started
having pains in my abdomen that were terrible. I thought it was from the exercise and we had spent a weekend cleaning out my grandfather's house, so I was convinced I pulled something. The pain became spasms and then turned into full out attacks that were paralyzing and extremely painful. I went to the doctor and he immediately said it was my gall bladder. I was put on a no fat diet. I was pretty much eating oatmeal for every meal and the attacks just kept getting worse until at one point I had to call an ambulance. I was scheduled for surgery the next day. Through that whole mess I actually ended up losing about 12 pounds and went down a jean size. By the time all of this happened, it was November and cue the holidays. My weight loss (and smaller jean size) were short lived. By January, I was almost back to where I was in July.

Once the holidays were over, I knew I had to do something. I purchased a groupon for a morning bootcamp. 5 days a week at 5:30 in the morning. I thought maybe in doing something drastic, it would finally make a difference. I felt like no matter what I tried, or did, it didn't work. I spent a whole month busting my butt in this class. I was glad to see that I could hang (all that working out with Jillian Michaels paid off even if it wasn't consistent) but I didn't lose any weight. Not a pound. Not a half a pound.  Unfortunately, I hadn't learned about the other ways to measure progress (measurements, calipers, old jeans that didn't used to fit.) So I was angry, frustrated and quite frankly desperate.

Desperate enough that I logged on and ordered Insanity. I thought doing bootcamp workouts were going to be crazy and intense enough to finally work, so I my next logical thought was that if Insanity is supposed to be one of the hardest programs out there something HAS to happen. And it didn't.

I went for 3 weeks. I loved the intensity. I loved the fact that all I wanted to do was lay on the floor and not move when it was over. I loved that feeling of giving it all until I had nothing left to give. So if that was what I was doing, why was nothing happening?

So I emailed someone I used to work with who I knew was coaching. I signed up for a free account with her, joined a challenge group, added Shakeology and discovered clean eating. That in combination with the second half of Insanity resulted in a loss of 9 lbs, 9.5 inches overall including 2 inches off my waist. I was thrilled. (You can read more about my experience with Insanity here.) After Insanity I moved onto TurboFire and continued to see great results (a 5 pound weight loss in the first month!)


While I am no where near where I want to be, I thought it was important to reflect on how far I have come. I tend to just keep looking at where I want to go next, the next goal, the next program, the next size down and never look back. In doing this and consciously looking back, I have been able to see exactly what I have accomplished. Over the last few months, I have plateaued, switched programs due to an injury, adjusted to life back in Pittsburgh and the additional responsibilities I have here. But I have kept going, I keep pushing play, I keep cleaning up my eating and am finding new ways to motivate myself and others. I am running my own challenge groups now that allow people to pick goals, stick with them and stay motivated. They were a key piece in the puzzle for me and I am so glad to be able to possibly do this for someone else (and keep myself motivated at the same time).

If you are interested in joining me in a challenge group please send me a message or an email to scyobe@gmail.com I have new groups starting each month and I would love to continue on the journey with you! (To read about my October challenges click here.)

Insanity: the good, the bad and the ugly (and why I am so ready to break up with Shawn T)

When I ordered Insanity, I had just done a month of bootcamp (with a Groupon) and was in love. I was getting up at 5 and busting my hump 5 days a week. My month with my Groupon was almost over (and I couldn't afford to stay without the discount) and I didn't want to lose the incentive or the good habits I had started. The infomercial for Insanity came on and I thought why not? I proved I could do more than I thought by taking a bootcamp class for a month, maybe this was step 2. Go big or go home. And really how much harder could it be?

Ummm....so much harder. So much harder that I couldn't even get through the warm up without
pausing the dvd to catch my breath. Yes. The warmup. I was all wait a minute this is the warm up? I thought I just did the workout. This whole your workout is my warm-up thing I see floating around on the internet. Totally true. Jillian Michaels so did not prepare me for this. Neither did my beloved bootcamp.

Despite the difficulty, I was pumped. And that adrenalin and excitement got me through the first two weeks. Granted, week 1 I spent a lot more time watching than participating. I focused on what I could do and had to base my progress off of that, because if I didn't I would just quit. (Or go crazy because sometimes I just wanted to punch those people on the video in the face. Cheering and smiling while I was trying not to puke. Dude, I don't know if you know what type of activity constitutes cheering and smiling, but I assure you, this is not it. Go get drunk in a bar and dance on a table. Ride a roller coaster. Something.)


And then week 3 hit. I was tired. I didn't want to do it. When I was lacing up my sneakers, it seemed like every part of my body was whining, please don't make me! But I had joined a challenge group (something that was so not me.) And I had to post every. single. day. to strangers if I had worked out. Sure, I could lie. But I wasn't going to let strangers beat me by getting better results than me. (I have just a teeny tiny competitive streak.) I mean they were people I didn't even know. I could totally crush them. That is what kept me going. And as much as I didn't want to admit it, the challenge group was worth it. I had always scoffed at the idea of online support in the past. I mean talking to strangers on the internet was so 1994. I was envisioning something like a chat room (cue the dial up internet humming to life in the background) where people whined about how someone brought cake to the office. And that cake is the devil and that person is just so mean to sabotage your diet like that. They must be jealous. Or hate you. But it was just people posting about how well they worked out or ate. Some motivational stuff thrown in there by my coach. Just that little thing, posting in there every day about how well I did, gave me enough to push through the horrible third week.

By week 4 the end of month 1 was in sight! Whoo hoo! But at the end of week 4, I didn't feel ready to move on. What if it's harder? What if I can't even do anything? So I repeated week 4. Then I temporarily relocated across the country, dealt with packing and travel and jet lag. Did the recovery week. But by that point it had been a week and a half since I had done a death by cardio workout. So I was afraid. And I repeated week 4. Again. Ugh. Talk about being sick of Shawn T. Totaling up the weeks, I should have been almost done with this program. At this point, I was only halfway through. I had also finally broken down and told people (besides my online pretend friends) that I had bought the program and was doing it. So real people would know if I didn't do it. Grrrr....

I was pleased to find that month 2 was a little less death by cardio and a little more strength. I was so excited for it to be different. Yay variety! There is still crazy cardio in there but it didn't feel like a form of torture. It was good. I was good. Don't get me wrong I was still super excited for all the leg kicking but the cardio didn't make me feel like I wanted to die. Or just lay on the ground until John came home from work to physically pry my body off of the floor. Month 2 was good. I got through it. I had some pains toward the end, in my back and my wrists. But it was all downhill. If it wasn't for the finish line being right there, I may have thrown in the towel the last week. I was so ready to be done. And now I am so glad I didn't quit.


So here is the good:

The workouts are all pretty much under an hour. The first month they are 30-45 minutes. The second month they jump to 45-60 and the one or two days a week you ad the cardio abs maybe a smidge longer.

Despite all of my setbacks, I saw results. I didn't follow the meal plan. I wasn't a crazy person about my food intake. We did a temporary relocation across the country. We ate pizza and take out around that time. More often than I should have. On average I still ate pizza once a week. I still drank beer. And I still had successes.

The month one warm-up is the same on every dvd. Month 2's warm up is very similar on all the month 2 dvd's. I liked this because I knew what to expect.

I feel so much stronger. I can do things now, at the end of the program, I couldn't do at the beginning.

You stretch. A lot for a home fitness dvd. I was impressed with the amount of stretching he did in each video.

My flexibility has also increased. I've always been pretty flexible, but nothing compared to when I cheered and used and stretched those muscles all the time. Thanks to all the stretching built in, I am way more flexible than when I started.

My core is so much stronger. As a result, my balance is even better. (I've always had pretty good balance.)

The bad:

It does get a little bit repetitive. (Or maybe because I added the extra weeks I was annoyed by this and ready to break up with my new exercise boyfriend.)

The month one warm-up is the same on every DVD. Month 2's warm up is very similar on all the month 2 DVD's. (Both good & bad in my opinion. It depended on the day and what kind of mood I was in.)

The stretching is almost always the same.

I never was able to come close to competing with the people on the video who can jump like ninjas. Ugh. Maybe next time.

And there is so much jumping. If you have any problems in your back or your knees, this is not the workout to try.

The ugly:

By the end my lower back was starting to hurt - especially when doing things like power jumps. I modified those the last 2 weeks.

My wrists also started hurting. There are more push up and plank based exercises (sometimes those are combined) in month 2. For someone who has weak wrists (this girl right here) it was extremely difficult and I had to modify.


Total, I lost 9 lbs, 9.5 inches overall including 2 inches off my waist! Those are some pretty good results, all things considered. I'm not going to be recruited for an Insanity infomercial anytime soon, but I am pleased with where I am. 

In reality, Insanity was way out of my league. I am now compeltely comfortable admiting that. Despite my best efforts, I could never really do push up jacks followed by ab push ups followed by in and out abs. When I started I couldn't even do a push up off my knees! I may not be able to do the crazy combination above for a minute strait but I can do a push up now (on my toes!) My core is so much stronger. My cardio endurance is so much better. I started running again. Despite not having run so much as a mile since before my daughter was born, I was able to go out there and actually run a mile.  Better than I ever had before, even when I was making an attempt at running daily. (I really am a terrible runner, despite my best efforts.)

Had I been in better shape when I started, I think my results would have been better. But I am still so happy with what Insanity has given me. It gave me a schedule. I am now in the habit of working out 6 days a week without pause. It's just what I do. Completing Insanity was something I needed more for my mental state than my physical. Finishing has given me such a feeling of accomplishment. That I can do anything. That I will get there, even if I'm not there yet.

Last Insanity Workout Done! Yay!

I am excited to try Insanity again, although not anytime soon. My boyfriend, Shawn T, and I just need a break. I mean it was good while it lasted. Great, some days. But I just need some time. I learned a lot in the time we spent together and emerged a much stronger person, maybe even a better person. I learned to push my limits and what I am really capable of. But I am ready to move on and find someone I am a little more compatible with every day.

Why I decided to become a Beachbody coach....

I always said that if I was an actress or model or *insert job that requires a hot body here* I would totally look that good too. I mean, it would be MY JOB. I am going to work hard for my job or not get paid. If the model doesn't look good, she doesn't book any jobs, she doesn't get paid. Well, it's time for me to put my money where my mouth is because I just made it my job. One of the best reasons I saw for signing up to be a Beachbody coach was that it was now my job to look good too. How am I supposed to motivate or help anyone reach their health goals while I am sitting on my ass eating popcorn all day? The answer is I'm not. So on those days where I just don't want to, please don't make me workout, it pushes me to do so. It keeps me accountable without having to go to a meeting to listen to people whine about how cake is the devil.

What I love about everything I have experienced so far is that there is no magic pill. No you aren't going to lose 60 lbs in 30 days (ok maybe someone somewhere has but the reality of that is super slim.) You aren't going to lose weight by sitting on the couch. It just doesn't work that way. You have to put the work in and you get out exactly what you put in. If I skip workouts and eat like poo, it is reflective in my performance and my results. I have literally given blood, sweat and tears to completing the Insanity program and worked my butt off for every single ounce I lost. And I didn't lose a ton of weight. I will not be the next infomercial star but I am so proud of myself for showing up and working hard.

I believe, as consumers, we are lied to every day and, as Americans (in one of the heaviest nation in the world) we are super sensitive to anything that promises to be an easy and quick fix when it comes to weight loss. Beachbody is not that. And I love that about this company. There are so many workout program options and they just ask you to push play and give everything you've got. That is something I can stand behind.

When I ordered Insanity, I had just done a month of bootcamp (with a Groupon) and was in love. I was getting up at 5 and busting my hump 5 days a week. My month with my Groupon was almost over (and I couldn't afford to stay without the discount) and I didn't want to lose the incentive or the good habits I had started. The infomercial for Insanity came on and I thought why not? I proved I could do more than I thought by taking a bootcamp class for a month, maybe this was step 2. Go big or go home.

And while my Insanity results weren't commercial worthy, they aren't anything to sneeze at either. I have tried so many programs, so many different diets, but nothing gave me results that came close to my Insanity results (even the bootcamp I loved so much.) One thing I really struggled with during Insanity (and I think I will with almost every Beachbody program going forward) was the meal plan. About a year ago, I gave up meat and dairy. Most of the eating guides are very meat (protein) heavy. I started searching the message boards and even asked in some of the Beachbody groups on Facebook. I found nothing. I really felt like there was a huge gap in the community. And when I found an "answer" it was to substitute tofu or other soy based protein product (which the jury is still out on how great these are for you too...) I don't mind tofu and I have actually grown to really enjoy it in some recipes (once I fumbled through a bunch of recipes learning how to cook it.) But I really didn't want to eat that much soy. I try to limit that to once a week not multiple times a day! Where is the help for someone looking for vegetarian or vegan nutrition? It just isn't there. I really want to be there to help people who are struggling with the meal plans, like I did.

Learning about plant based nutrition has lead me down this twisty turvy path that has me questioning
not only what is sold as food but what we are told about our food by manufacturers. We are generally given brightly colored boxes with nutritions claims and are virtually patted on the head and told we are good boys and girls for making the right decisions. The entire food industry treats us like we are children. No, honey, you don't really want to know how we put the fiber back in or how we made the fat free, healthy, death by chocolate cookie taste good or how we keep the bugs out of the corn. Those are messy, grown up things that you don't need to worry about. Now go eat your snack and stop asking silly questions.


I feel like my job as a Beachbody coach is not to get people to eat the way I do or get as fired up as I do about the food industry but to let everyone know it is ok to question what is in your food. Why do we have to add red dye to farm raised salmon? (and when I found out the answer to that I gagged and stopped eating farm raised salmon.) Why does Kraft make macaroni and cheese for European countries without artificial food dyes and will not do that same thing in America? (read more about that here. Thanks Foodbabe!) And that it is ok to decide that maybe you want to stop eating things with artificial dyes or sweeteners or even foods that are processed. As Beachbody coaches, I feel, that we need to get out there and encourage people to make their own decisions, to do their own research, to empower them to try things like clean eating and see first hand if it makes a difference in their lives. Our food is fuel for our life. I know I don't want to eat things that make me feel sluggish and tired and laying on the couch all day because I don't want to look back and see that I spent more of my days invested in the lives of fictional characters than I did invested in the lives of the people I care the most about.

And of course there was one more huge reason I bit the bullet and decided to become a Beachbody coach...

The discount! That was a huge incentive for me to become a Beachbody coach. I wanted the 25% discount. Even with the monthy website maintanance fee, it was still saving me around 15 bucks on my shakeology. That was a no brainer for me. Kind of like when I used to work retail. I loved getting the clothes on the cheap (and ended buying way more than I should have or needed.) I also get bored easily. I'm not the type who is going to keep doing the same workout over and over and over. Sure I might come back to a workout (maybe revisiting Insanity once a year or so) but I need to change it up. The discount gave me the ability to purchase more workouts (starting Turbofire next! Whoot!) and now that I am committed to exercising 6 days a week I need the variety. (And if I ever stop ordering "mom's shake" my toddler might never forgive me, as it has become her favorite snack.)

Pushing Through (when the exercise porn doesn't do it for you anymore)

My husband calls me a hobby dropper. I get something new. I love it to the point of obsession. I fill my hours and days with research about it and participation. And about a month later, I am sick of it and move onto the next shiny, sparkly thing I find.

I have reached that point with Insanity. I was so pumped to get it in the mail and get started. Even though the first week (or two) were so hard I spend more time on the ground than actually working out, I was pumped to run down to the basement every morning and work out. I creeped around the Beachbody message boards to see what everyone else was saying. I poked around on some Insanity survivors' blogs to see what their advice was and what their results were (I love seeing the before and after pictures - exercise porn!) I would get sucked in for hours dreaming that those would be my results too. I tracked my calories. Invested in  a BodyMedia Fit band (which is kick ass by the way and I will talk about soon.) Planned my meals. A week in I even gave up all my hesitation about the online support groups and contacted a colleague of mine to be my coach. She had great success and honestly if I was going to do this, I was going to do this. I signed up for a challenge group. Ordered Shakeology to try it out for a while. I was driven. I was going to do this.

I struggled to finish month 1 but made it through to the month 2 workouts. When I stared the new workouts, Insanity was all shiny and new again. The workouts were different. Yay!

Well the sparkle started to wane before the week was up. Every step of this week so far (and even the end of last week) has been so hard. I don't want to press play. I don't want to look at Shawn T's face anymore. I am sick of it. (Ironically, this lined up with reporting my 30 challenge group progress. I saw results in my pictures, weight and measurements this still was not enough to push me through.) I was dragging ass when I pushed play not giving it my all. There was no digging deeper. So what was the point. This is where I had to stop and assess what exactly I was doing.

Why am I doing this? Am I trying to make myself crazy? No, I want to see some results and not drop this hobby so my hubby can't say I told you so. (The monetary investment isn't anything to sneeze at either...)

So today I busted out my old gym playlist. I haven't really touched it since I let my gym membership lapse when I was pregnant (which was in 2010.) And I busted a groove. Music seriously motivates me. I love to dance and shake my ass. So I turned off the terrible music that plays in the background of the DVD's (sorry Beachbody, but it's bad) and I turned some Brittany on. I love me some poppy dance tunes and it never fail to not only put me in a better mood but to get me off my ass. I did what I used to do when I would run on the treadmill for an hour, I choreographed in my head. This maybe really weird but if in my brain I am dancing around (and not doing squat jumps or pushups) it really helps. During the water breaks, I wasn't laying on the floor praying for the minutes to move faster. I was dancing around in circles with my toddler. And then was ready 30 seconds later when it was go time. It was so motivating. I've had the best workout I've had in a few days.

Today's lesson: Find what motivates you and use it! As humans, we get bored easily so mix it up. Make it shiny and new everyday and your workout will feel less like work and more like a dance party (for me anyway.)

And when I am sick of my late 80's -90's jams I may just turn on some Pandora. I am hoping this will keep me moving and grooving (and sticking with this Insanity program) for another couple of weeks. Because I will finish this time.

Insanity: Starting Month 2

So I started month 2 of Insanity. It wasn't easy getting here and it took me more like 7 weeks to get through month 1 instead of 4. Squished into those 7 weeks was a cross country (temporary) move to a tiny apartment so we could hang with my husband why he works (all the time.) An injured knee. A funeral. A wedding. B's second birthday and potty training. Just thinking back makes me exhausted (and itching for a cocktail.)

But I ended up repeating week 4 not once but twice. Because I was scared wanted to make sure I was ready for month 2. Between the jet lag and my achy knee I was more than willing to skip my workouts. (And I had some halibut fish and chips calling my name. Seriously, they are kind of the most awesome fish and chips ever. Pretty much one of the three things I look forward to out here.) Plus I had the excuse of not having a basement to escape to for my workouts. I was trying to do them with a two year old crawling all over me (or peeing on the floor, or chasing the dogs with a shoe...)

After a completely lazy week of not working out and eating terribly I decided to get back on the wagon. I pushed through my jet lag and the exhaustion of trying to get a toddler on a different time zone and repeated week 4 for the second time. And I wanted to die. I wanted to quit or punch Shawn T in the face or take out the dvd and throw it out the window every day for a week. Then it all started to come back (and I was sick of doing the month 1 workouts.)

Cue month 2. And it's not as scary as I thought. Once I suffered got through the warm up (which uses exercises from month 1. Like exercises from the main part of the dvd. I may or may not have cursed him out at that point.) I found there were a lot more strength exercises and a little less death by cardio. I may not feel like I worked out until I sweat from some cardio but I love me some strength exercises. (And some straight arm jacks. They might be my favorite thing about month 2.) But it is Saturday and I made it through the first week of month 2 (and I may or may not like it better than month 1.) Here's to keeping it to 4 weeks.