30lbs lost & just finished Jillian Michaels Body Revolution

(copied & pasted from my official MFP blog about this)

So I've finally finished JMBR, and I wanted to post a recap for anyone interested in doing BR themselves or for those who are just curious about the program & my results.

THE NUTRITION: the adage of "abs are made in the kitchen" is so true, and I learned that the hard way.

Initially I tried to follow the kickstart week and made it about halfway before cracking. I had gone from 40% carbs to like 20% and couldn't handle it. I did however learn a few dishes that I still eat (and are healthy), and it forced me to learn how to cook meat (I had always cooked vegetarian before). So for that, I thank Jillian. I’m only really getting into detail about my specific nutrition so that you can understand that results will vary depending on your diet, I think had I cheated less in phase 1 & 3 I would have had a greater loss, although I am very happy with my results. I will give you one recommendation on supplements, USE THEM. I take glucosamine for my joints (I’ve always had knee issues and aches), and it totally helps with this high impact program.

I started off Phase 1 eating a little above 1200 calories and I pretty much kept slipping up, due to laziness in the kitchen and pure cravings, I was starving myself I soon realized. At my first 5lb weight loss MFP cut my cals to the bare minimum and I realized that unless I start of higher, I'll have to keep cutting severely and literally starve my body to get consistent results, plus I knew on this plan I would eventually plateau.

Phase 2 rolled around and I realized I needed to eat more but I was too scared to take the leap and fully subscribe to the "eat more to weigh less" mentality (if you want more info on EM2WL check out the forums/groups and check out this calculator http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ and fill in your info, you'd be shocked how much you CAN eat and still loose). I ended up upping my cals to 1550 and in phase 2 I saw the best results, probably because I was finally netting closer to 1200 and I cleaned up my diet hardcore. I was eating salmon every other night pretty much. Mmm. For ****s and giggles I also did a 1 week 3500 burn challenge and did double days of JMBR+cardio.

Phase 3 was similar to 1 in my eating, lots of cheats and realizing I need to be eating more but being too scared, I finally decided to do it and I started by first eating back my exercise cals. My birthday weekend extravaganza fell in my 3rd week of the phase which semi stalled my weight loss and the final week I finally reset my cals to the correct number according to the scooby calculator and posted a final week loss of 2lbs, so clearly it began to work.

THE WORKOUTS:
JMBR is set up for a 6-day workout week. You basically have 4 days of strength & 2 days of a cardio session you do for the entire phase. You do 2 “workouts” a week and alternate so your week would look like:
M: WO1
T: WO2
W: CARDIO 1
TH: WO1
F: WO2
SA: CARDIO 1
SU: REST
I really love how this program was structured mostly because I only had to devote 30 minutes a day to it and I got results similar to people on here that workout for twice as long. Throughout each workout I was always sore the first week and the second week I rocked it, and pretty much throughout each phase my *kitten* was consistently sore the first 2 weeks (which explains why it looks so good now).

Phase 1 seemed really easy for me because I had previously completed RI30, so this was basically that but regurgitated with a couple new things, if you’ve done anything by Jillian Michaels leading up to this, definitely try for the harder/advanced moves in this phase. Cardio 1 I hated because of running man (i still hate those), but overall it was the easiest out of all the cardios and by the end of the phase I was adding in extra cardio moves (like running in place while she explains moves or gives breaks) to get in an extra burn and keep my HR up. Also, if you want to do “extra credit” I would most definitely brush up on your yoga on your rest days because Jillian LOVES downward dog & chatturanga, know them, love them, they will haunt you in the next 2 phases.



just try it! it looks harder than it is i promise!

Phase 2 started off great but the last 2 exercises of phase 2 got me, they were notably tougher than before and I pretty much hated them, combined with the fact that I took a really bad fall and screwed up my shoulder the last week of that workout. I hated cardio 2. Absolutely hated it. I hate burpees, I think I always will. I saw my biggest losses in phase 2 with weight and inches, probably because I really cleaned up my diet for phase 2 and it was completely different than the moves I had been doing before with RI30 & phase 1. For those of you who consider yourselves already semi-fit and are toying with the idea of starting on phase 2, I would say go for phase 1 anyway because some of the new moves you learn in phase 1 are built upon in phases 2 & 3 with harder modifications or plyo. If its too easy, make it harder. Add weights, greater range of motion, but I wouldn’t recommend skipping to phase 2.

Phase 3 was my favorite by far. Cardio 3 is extremely fun, lots of jumping which kept it interesting and my burns were consistently higher in phase 3 (thank you standing mountain climbers that made me want to puke each time). WO11&12 felt easier than 9&10 but my HRM begged to differ as I had consistently higher burns, sometimes by 100 cals. I loved the addition of more plyometrics (jumping explosive movements) in these workouts and cardio, and honestly it keeps it interesting, you would be surprised how many calories you burn whilst leaping through the air like a damn frog.

THE RESULTS: the moment you’ve all been waiting for.

LBS LOST: ~22-24 (I didn’t have access to a scale until the end of phase 1 so i’m guestamating considering my average loss of 1.7lb a week)
INCHES LOST:
BUST: -2.5’
WAIST: -3’
GUT (this is my problem area): -3.3’
HIPS: -1.5’ (initially I lost 2 but gained a half inch back in muscle/reshaping)



THE NSV’s:
MY *kitten* IS KICKIN. Seriously I thought i firmed up my butt during RI30 but something in JMBR rounded it out and lifted it, there is a notable difference in the shape of my *kitten* and definition. I’m not sure if its because I slimmed off a lot of my muffin top zone so it makes it stand out more, but either way, baby got back.

I CAN DO PUSH UP(s). Never in my life could I do a push up before Jillian Michaels. Now i can do several. And on one leg!!!

I HAVE TRICEPS. You can see a little bit of definition on my arms now, and for someone who is still 30+lbs overweight, that’s a pretty big accomplishment.

I LOST A PANT SIZE. Finally! This was my main goal for the past 3 months and phase 3 finally got me there and I am sooo so happy.

Overall I'm EXTREMELY happy with my results and the fact that I stuck with something this hard for 90 days.

Next for me I will be working through the New Rules of Lifting for Women and I will definitely be posting my results along the way since its a 6 month program.