30 Day Shred : My Journey To Feeling Fabulous At 40 #3

I am still on my mission to get fit and fabulous in time for my mile stone birthday next year and you can see how I have got on so far in week 1 and week 2 .

I started off well at the start of last week, and although I hadn't quite perfected all of the moves (not sure I would within 30 days anyway) I decided I would like to try level 2 a couple of days sooner than I had planned, as I was a bit bored of the first one to be honest. Level 2 is much more intense and the 'plank' work was hard and I couldn't do all of them straight off, but it was nice to try some new moves and they certainly had me sweating and out of breath which is all good when burning fat and calories.

However, Thursday night, my second day of level 2 and day 11 of my shred, my knee gave way half way through the routine and I had to stop. I have been suffering with twinges on my left knee on and off for a week but it felt different this time so I decided to stop. Friday afternoon while at the park with the boys, I messed about and twisted my leg as I got off an apparatus and this just made my shred war around (lol)  worse. I thought about doing my shred that night, but as I was in pain going up and down the stairs and after consulting my facebook Ladies who shred support group, I took the decision to take a couple of days off to rest it and see how it felt on Sunday.

By Sunday my leg was better - not right - but improved and so I decided to go back to Level 1 to ease myself back in gently. The problem is with Jillian and her 30 Day Shred DVD, the word gently doesn't really come into it because its intense from the moment the routine begins. Still, I gave it my best and even worked out while my OH was sat in the room, probably trying not to laugh at me and my wobbly bits moving around the lounge! Needless to say, my knee and leg did not fair well and I was crying out in pain after about 10 minutes and part from the ab work which I continued doing til the end I couldn't do anything else which required me putting weight on my left leg.

me rolling around in pain - taken by my supportive *ahem* OH which was posted on facebook & instagram

So as much as it pains me to have to do this, I am going to have to stop the shred until my knee and leg have completely healed because I don't want to risk doing something which causes a long term injury because I need my legs in good working order with the boys. So for now, I am going to try to walk whenever possible - like yesterday I walked about 4 miles to playgroup and back - and still do some ab work because sit ups and ab crunches can be done even with a dodgy leg. Swimming would be good but I just cant get there during the week as OH works away so I have no one to watch the boys for me evenings so I could go to the pool. Hopefully, my leg will heal and then I can do some shredding again - or maybe my knee and the shred aren't made for each other!! It appears that a few ladies who have been shredding at the same time as me have also complained of knee twinges so it must be a common injury.

Anyway, I still measured myself last night to see if even after fewer days shredding I had lost any more flab and surprisingly I had!!

Not a huge change from last week in terms of the photos, but lets see what the tape measure revealed:

Hips 41 inches

Stomach 37 inches

Chest 34 inches

Waist 34 inches *

Thigh (right) 26.5 inches

Upper arm (left) 13.5 inches

(* I realised last week I hadn't been taking any waist measurements so have started from today)

That's another 3 inches lost!!!! 

And that's after not even shredding for at least 2 1/2 times!! 

I am still continuing with ensuring I only eat when I am hungry and to eat foods which are less fattening.

I am really pleased! Not sure how well I will do this week though without the DVD helping me but I have to get my knee better.