Level 1 Review of Jillian Micheal's 30 Day Shred!

Let's talk about Level 1 of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and my personal experiences with it. First off...I took all of my measurements because I've read that with this workout you will see a lot of inches lost which means you are gaining lean muscle and losing fat. The scale will more than likely not measure your progress as well as the tape measurer will. I will be measuring myself after I complete each level. I just finished level 1 yesterday and will begin level 2 this evening. On the first day of popping in this dvd I was very positive that I was going to have a great experience since each level is under 30 minutes. I began to work out and decided to take the modified approach since I've just started working out again. I thought I was going to DIE!!! lol! I was huffing and puffing, stopping every few seconds to drink water, sweating like a banchi, and was waiting for the cool down session to approach. Afterwards I felt a bit shaky and going up and down my stairs for the next few days was definitely no treat. I trekked on to day 2 and I was soooo sore. Muscles I didn't even know I had were in pain! I pushed through the workout thinking..."If I can get through this my soreness will ease up." I was so wrong! I'm not trying to discourage you in any way, but this workout takes some will power. Jillian literally kicks your ass for the short amount of time that she has you. Haha! On day 3 I was in the worst of moods. I didn't want to be touched, I felt sick, sore, and pissed off. Did I quit??? Hell no! I kept going! By day 4 I felt better and started to notice that my endurance was increasing. I was stopping less than I was before and felt great and motivated. 
From day 5 and on I couldn't wait to be done with this level because I was sick of listening to Jillian say the same things over and over which motivated me even more to not skip a day. I literally wished at times that I could throw my hand weight at the tv screen. Lmao! Yesterday I finished with day 10 of level 1 and will now be moving on to day 2. Hooray! By day 9 and 10 I was able to make it through the workout without stopping except for a quick sip of water. I'm feeling awesome!!! I have noticed that I have been a lot hungrier lately, but when I eat my appetite is smaller which is odd. I did expect to be hungrier since I am more active.
As I mentioned before I will be taking my measurements after each level is completed and I did so yesterday. To my amazement I gained 2lbs! I read on-line that when you workout when you've been sedentary and you begin to lose weight, your body reacts by retaining some water. Your muscles get tears in them since they are being worked out and the water retention is a defense mechanism to repair our muscles and to also take place of the lost fat. There is something called a "whoosh" effect that happens 2-3 weeks into working out or dieting where you suddenly lose water weight and the scale drops because your body realizes that fat will not be restored and it's fine to let go of the liquid. So...I wasn't to discouraged by the weight gain since we all know muscle weighs more than fat. I did notice that my jeans have begun to feel tighter in the butt and leg area. I'm assuming...A. because of the water retention and B. because I'm gaining muscle. Anyways...I'm not brave enough to post my exact measurements quite yet because I want to reach my personal goals, but I have lost inches! 
I have lost 1/2 inch on both of my arms, 1 inch from under my bust, 1 inch from my waist, 1/2 inch from my lower stomach, 1/2 inch from my hips, and a 1/2 inch from my mid thighs. The only things that haven't budged yet are my calfs and upper thighs. In total I have lost 4 1/2 inches on my entire body in just 10 days so I'm really proud of myself and excited. For level two I expect to see better results as I am hoping to release this water weight from my body. My legs feel a lot firmer and my booty is feeling lifted. I am also able to push through the ab workouts and push ups. They're still hard, but I can do them without stopping! I am so excited to approach level 2 with some motivation! If you have done the 30 day shred or are doing it...please comment below with your experiences! I'd love to hear about them. :)
<3
Hayley 

Introduction to Jillian Micheal's 30 Day Shred Challenge!

This summer I will be heading to Vegas for a Scentsy convention! Yay! Not only will I be able to meet a few of my Youtube friends, but I'll also get to meet a lot of people on my Scentsy team in person. I'm so excited! We will be flying out on July 24th. With that in mind...summer is right around the corner. I live close to a beach and we're planning to spend a lot of time out there so I decided it was time to get in shape. I recently quit my birth control patch and started gaining weight rapidly the way I did the previous time before when I quit. I gained 10lbs in 1 month!!! Since I'm only 4'11 the weight has no where to go but out. I was feeling frumpy and very sedentary. I was used to being very active when I was performing onstage.(singer) I decided to bust out one of my old DVD's called Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I bought it off of Amazon when I first got married for $4! You can easily find this at Wal-mart now a days for around $10. This is the workout program I will be reviewing for you and I will also post a video about it on my youtube beauty channel with my final thoughts once I've completed the whole program. 
This DVD says that you can lose up to 20lbs in 30 days. On average, I've seen people lose around 8lbs of fat which doesn't sound like a lot, but they look amazing! (google this dvd and you'll find a ton of before and after images.) That is pure fat lost and of course a lot of muscle gain. This workout comes in 3 different levels and it's basically circuit training. I researched everything I could find on this workout so I could do it right. You're supposed to do this workout for 30 consecutive days. No breaks, no resting, etc.  You're supposed to do level 1 for ten days, level 2 for ten days, and then finally level 3 for the remaining 10 days.  (I finished level 1 yesterday!) All you need is a workout mat if you're on a hard surface and some hand weights of your choice.  The dvd also has 2 women working out behind Jillian. There is one girl who does a modified version of the workouts (which I am doing) and one who is doing a more difficult full on way of doing the workout. The workout is in a 321 format meaning...3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs. You have a warm up and a cool down session and the entire workout is LESS than 30 minutes! I have been able to fit this into my busy schedule fairly easily. The other awesome thing about this dvd is if you finish the challenge and you've started with a modified version you can then do it over with heavier weights or by doing the unmodified version to take it to the next level. You can literally get a lot of different workouts from this one dvd. 
I will say that this workout definitely takes determination and dedication to reach your goals. I started on May 21st which gives me 2 months to look fab for Vegas and for the beach.  I am so excited to see my final results because I've never done something like this before, but my body definitely responds to this kind of training. If you want to know my experience with Level 1 you can read the next blog. For those of you joining the 30 day shred challenge...Good luck!!!
<3
Hayley

Today was one of those days for me. I was tired, moody, and did I mention tired? Haha! I recently started a new workout routine and I've been exhausted. My body isn't used to this kind of strain anymore. I used to dance on stage (singer) for 6 hours off and on in heels without an issue. This also kept me in shape...AND I was also 19-24 which meant everything was younger. It is sooo not that way anymore. Haha! Anyways...I pushed myself to workout today even though I was pooped and I was really proud of myself. If you all want me to elaborate on what I'm doing as far as workouts feel free to comment and I'll try my best to review what I'm doing through this blog. :) Today was also the first weds. I've had off in over 2 years without being sick. I no longer work weds which means my week has an extra day for something else. I spend the evening with my husband and we went shopping at the outlet malls where we live. I found some killer deals at the CCO (Cosmetic Company Outlet) and was so excited. 

When we left the outlets I got to thinking about what I do for a living. I also got to thinking about some of the big beauty gurus on youtube and the amount of hate they receive. (I may be doing a video on that soon.) I just thought to myself how lucky I am to be doing all the wonderful things I do. It's almost like a dream world. That is how thankful I am! I have managed to take so many things that I love and make a living off of them. Most youtube girls always get asked how they make a living when they do a haul. So...How do I make a living? Music, singing, candles, make-up, shopping, chocolate, and teaching. I am one lucky girl!!! When we take things for granted we seem to forget how lucky and blessed we truly are. Sure I could go on and on about how tiring it is to be up at night basically hosting party for everyone, or complain that my guest room has turned into a room that functions as an office, filming studio and of course a bed. But, I am happy with everything! I am happy with what I've done and how I've done it. In the past month...thinking positive has really brought positive results my way.  Removing negative people has brought positive results as well. When I'm working...I am doing just that...Working. I read in my book the other day about a woman who makes a decent amount of money at her job. She explained that she had a friend who also works where she works, but is envious because she doesn't see the same results as she does as far as money.  The woman went on to explain that her friend spends all of her time emailing funny jokes to people while she is at work. We can't expect the same results as someone else when we are putting in half of the work was her point. I fully agree. We can not expect success if we only want to put in half of the effort to get there. 

But, any who..to get back on topic...I am so happy for all the effort I have put into my household and businesses and even though it's taken a lot of time to get the ball rolling on everything it's definitely rolling. I feel like I'm in a good place right now. I love singing for crowds, playing music to keep the party going, reviewing cosmetics, teaching my viewers about different things, being a part of Scentsy (the most positive business I know) and now Velata. I pray that everyone can feel as peaceful as I do right now and I pray that things can keep going up from here.

I tend to get scared when I reach points of success, but I am thinking positive and telling myself that I haven't even gotten to the peak yet. I just need to keep climbing that mountain. I have so much more in store for this year. I just wanted to share because if there are things that you all are dying to do or want...it takes work. All of these things didn't just "fall into place." I made them happen. I put the elbow grease into them and you can do the same for whatever goals you have for yourself. :) I believe you can!

<3

Hayley

Focus

Today I picked up one of my favorite tabloid magazines that I bought over 2 weeks ago and forgot about. While I was reading I realized that I am so behind on my favorite celebrities. Jessica Simpson had her baby...Beyonce's lost her baby weight, Drew Barrymore is pregos, Miley is scary skinny, and Brad and Angelina got engaged. WTF? Normally every week I would go out and buy my 2 favorite magazines and read them the first day I got them. I'm not upset to be so behind. I'm just so shocked at how little I cared and how uninterested I felt while reading all of this. My books have replaced my magazines and my books have given me so much knowledge that I could care less about what else is going on around me. I say this because the books I've been reading have been spiritual, self help, or business oriented books. Since reading these I feel like things have been happening for me. My businesses are improving, my  way of thinking is changing, and I'm feeling so much more positive. Normally when someone would give me the details of some scandal happening where I work (example) or with someone I don't even know, it would be interesting to me. I would listen and again I was usually the last person to know the latest gossip because I try not poke around in people's business. 


As of lately...I feel almost as if any sort of gossip has been a complete turn off for me. I don't care about what other people are doing and I don't care what other people's problems are. For the most part I would listen to people gossip because I am a sympathetic person. I always felt like I had to be there problem solver. Over the past 2 years I have told myself that I can not do that anymore and have been successful at not fighting other people's battles. Therefore I am just a listener and my life has been 75% drama free. It's not that I don't want to listen to people's "personal" problems, I just don't want to listen to them talk about other people's personal issues. Who cares? I see people go on and on every single day on Facebook about what other people post and how much they hate it, make fun of people, etc and all I can think is...why are these people so concerned and feel the need to talk about what other people do? Obviously if we have to sit and talk about other people's lives then we don't have one of our own. I feel like I'm so focused on my goals at the moment that every thing else just seems like a blur. I like it that way. I like giving myself goals and actually reaching them. I like focusing on my businesses, my house hold, my husband, and myself. I've been praying so hard for God to remove people from my life who will distract me from my goals and viola..so many people aren't around as much.  I want to surround myself with successful and genuinely happy people. I would rather have one happy, positive and supportive friend any day than have a ton of fake people surround me.  All in all I have given myself a new goal. A BIG one and I plan on reaching it. I know God has given me blinders for the moment so I can keep my eyes on the prize. 
<3
Hayley

Obsession

My mind is constantly spinning and swirling with goals and achievements I want to accomplish.  It's not a bad thing, but I find that I can't think of anything else other than my goals. It becomes an obsession.  I feel like when I'm super focused on what I want, that is when people catch on and start trying to be competitive with me.  The thing about this is I've been like this my whole life. People constantly think I'm trying to compete when in fact the only thing in my mind is my goal and not anyone or anything else.  All I'm worried about at this point in my life is my household and long term goals.  I'm still trying to run my house to the best of my ability while running 4 businesses.  I have another idea for another small business that I want to progress on over the next year and this is yet another obsession. Haha! People LOVE to pick on me because of my jobs and what I do for a living. They roll there eyes and say..."All you're doing is playing music, recording tutorials, selling scentsy...ect." Look...I don't sit around saying my jobs are difficult, but I will not make any apologies for what I've chosen to do either. It is not my fault that I was smart and took all of my interests and made them into lucrative businesses is it??? DJing is such a fun job. I <3 music and what I do. But, the flip side is that I am constantly out. It's exhausting. Anyone who parties or is up until 2-4 am 4-5 days a week becomes exhausted. Not only that, but I have been trained to have immaculate hair and make-up for performance which takes me 2 hours to do. Imagine having to host the party and keep people spending money and having fun on top of being up late. That is my job. 

My typical day goes something like this: Wake up, check ALL messages (2 facebooks, Youtube, 2 emails, twitter, etc.) respond to all, check Scentsy &Velata workstations, edit a video (1-2 times a week) upload, Respond to scentsy clients, check scentsy/Velata planner, drop husband off at work, set up equipment on some days, come home and EAT, do full on hair and make-up, drive to work, DJ/ karaoke for 4 hours, come home, eat, clean up, play with pets, check more messages, wash makeup off go to bed!

Sunday is my only day where I chill out and allow myself to get away from my obligations. Mondays I clean my entire house top to bottom.  In no way am I complaining. I LOVE everything I do and I am blessed. But, I am so sick of people judging my life as if it's the simplest thing in the world when in fact I have to work very hard at everything I do. I would not make money if I did not promote myself in every single thing that I did.  Promotion is key to getting any business off of the ground. I am never sure if I will lose one if not all of my DJ gigs in a single day, if I will have happy customers and if I will have viewers on my Youtube channel. These are all jobs that I've taken risks on and choose to keep doing because I believe in myself. I only believe all of these things will keep getting BIGGER and BETTER! So...with all this stress, work, and judgement on my shoulders, I know that God has my back and will help me to succeed in whatever I do. I think everyone should take risks with their creativity and interests and try to make a business out of them. After all..the saying goes..."Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life." 

<3

Hayley

Life Detox

I am so excited for myself! In the past few months I have really gotten back into reading again. I used to love to read when I was younger and for a while recently I was feeling extremely uneasy about a lot of things.  I really wanted to find a way to make myself peaceful since my life is always such a whirlwind. When you work in bars like I do, it can be emotionally and mentally draining because believe it or not you are surrounded by a lot of negative Nancy's for the majority of the time. I thought to myself..."What are the things I used to enjoy doing when I was younger and why aren't I doing some of those things now?" Well...One of them was taking long walks by myself to the park or anywhere else. But, in our world now a days that's almost impossible when you're a woman. It's become a dangerous thing. :/ I kept racking my brain and I used to LOVE to read. I probably stopped because it wasn't the "cool" thing to do. But, I love to read things and learn. I'm more of a self help, inspirational, how to, type of reader. Anything that I can gain knowledge from is something I like to read.  

One day I was sitting back getting ready for an event and was flipping through the channels when someone caught my ear. I flipped back and realized that I was on the inspirational channel which I never watch. A Pastor named Mike Murdock was talking. I was instantly enthralled in everything he had to say.  He mentioned one of his books at the end of the segment and when I got home that evening I ordered 4 of them! He has so many books to choose from. His way of preaching is so relatable. He really makes you look at things from a different perspective. I just finished reading my 4th book today and since reading his books I feel like my life and way of thinking has changed drastically.  He is a Pastor that talks about prosperity, having a better life, blessings, ways to bless others, planting seeds, etc. I swear since reading his books I've had more success with my finances, a more peaceful mind, and a completely different outlook when it comes to work and people. He has really inspired me to want to be better. If I've had a bad day I'll come home and read a little bit of my book and I instantly feel a calm come over me. It's amazing! I want to order more of his books now that I'm done with all of these. I want to learn more! He has so many quotes through out his books that you can live by and use as life mottos. One of them that has really stuck with me is.."What you do for others, God will do for you." If you help others to succeed...God will help you to succeed. If you make others happy...God will make you happy. It's all about having faith. :) 

Last but not least..reading these books have made me feel so much more confident. I feel like speaking my mind is the only option lately. It's not a bad thing and I've always been like that, but it's in a different way now. It's almost as if I can turn a negative conversation around just by speaking my mind and asking the questions that most people wouldn't ask. I don't know if that makes any sense...but it is sooo crazy! It's almost like a life detox. Anyways...I highly recommend his books if you are going through a troubled time or simply just want to live a more God like life. I can almost guarantee that this will give you a nice soul and brain detox. Who needs a spa when you can have a life detox in a book :)

<3

Hayley