30 day shred, is it worth it?

Hey there! So after 34 days I've finally finished the 30 day shred and thought I'd post my results/review of the DVD :)

Right so first thing's first, I've been trying different exercise videos and programmes for over a year now, trying to beat that post baby weight and I'm happy to say I've nearly gotten down to where I want to be! I used to do Tiffany Rothe workouts a couple days a week along with healthy eating and I lost a stone in just over 6 months so I'd definitely recommend her for beginners and people who aren't so into exercise! 

But after christmas this year I still had about 8 or 9lb left to lose and the youtube workouts weren't working for me anymore, I'd hit that stupid plateau. I might have mentioned before that me and my friend are off to Greece for a girly holiday next year and she told me about the 30 day shred and as she was also going to be doing it I thought I'd give it a go. I have previously tried the Insanity workout but it actually made me ill so I had to stop :(.

The 30 Day shred is by a fabulous woman named Jillian Michaels, who's a fitness trainer featured on Biggest Lose USA. It's a 25-30 minute daily workout based on circuit training and three different levels of fitness. Each level contains 3 circuits of 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio followed by 1 minute of abs. You're supposed to do each level for 10 days then move onto the next one until the 30 days are up. Now on the actual DVD, Jillian mentions nothing about taking any rest days, but on a podcast I've heard about, she says you're supposed to take at least one rest a week so I think it depends on your personal preference and how you're feeling.

I didn't follow an actual diet plan during this workout, but I do tend to eat quite healthily 4 days out of 7, it would be more but I just have such an addiction to pasta!

LEVEL ONE.

The first day of level one I'm not ashamed to say, killed me. I thought I was quite fit, considering all the youtube workouts I'd been doing but after the first workout I was on the floor panting and sweating away. The second day I was in quite a bit of muscle pain, but I pushed through and just did a more relaxed version of the workout. Ooh forgot to mention that as well as Jillian there are two girls - Natalie and Anita that you can follow. Natalie's the more advanced version and Anita the beginner 'easier' version. (I put quotes here as on level one I wasn't finding this particularly easy either!)

By day 7 I was finding it quite a bit easier and I found myself pushing to do the more advanced versions of the workout an by the end of the first level I was feeling pretty confident about my improved strength.

LEVEL TWO.

Three words can describe level two: Oh. My. God. I've read it before, but I now agree with it whole heartedly - level two is the devil's work. It was the worst 10 days worth of exercise I've ever done. I mentioned above about the rest days and although I was adamant I didn't want to take any, I actually ended up having three during level two. Not making excuses but those darned lunges actually gave me a knee injury that I still feel the ache of now! Although I didn't want to rest, it wasn't 3 consecutive days of rest so I let myself off. I was so insanely happy to have finished level two though and ended up dreading level three.

LEVEL THREE.

Okay so despite my fear of these last 10 days due to the horror of level two, I actually genuinely found myself looking forward to doing each day of level three's workout! Safe to say I was shocked at this. I found that if you put on some more upbeat music as by day 21 that stupid 'music' played in the background was doing my head in. The only thing about level three is that there's quite a bit of jumping so if you have weak ankles try just following Anita's version of the cardio. 

I did end up having one more break two days before the end, but that was due to a shopping trip last Saturday and getting in quite late. 

I don't actually know how much (if any) actual weight in pounds I've lost as I don't like looking at the scales anymore as it puts me off, especially seeing as you probably will put on a bit of muscle weight through this. But, saying that I have actually gone down to my previous bra size in the back giving my bust size a loss of 2 inches. I've also lost an inch on my waist and about half an inch round my hips and legs. Although this little loss on the lower body hasn't actually allowed me to comfortably fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans, they do successfully do up now! I've kind of resigned myself to the fact now I'm not going to lose anymore as my hips widened quite a bit having my little monster, but I don't mind :) I'm most proud of my stomach and bum. I'll never be flat stomached, I know that but both my stomach and bum have lifted slightly giving them more of a defined look. I can also feel the difference in my stomach, as it's like a rock when I tense :)

All in all I think the 30 day shred is worth it. Even if you don't lose anything, you still feel a lot stronger than before you start, knowing you've done some good to your body which is always a bonus! 

Anyone else tried this and had good results? Give me a comment below and let me know what you thought of it :)