OK, first of all, I am really jealous that you are running that marathon...lol. I don't know anything about the JM shred thing. Before Big Sur this year I tried the Insanity workout and it killed my legs. The first one I did I was walking funny for about 2 days and I was thinking..."I am suppose to do this workout for 5 days straight?!?!?". I knew after one workout that , well, it just wasn't going to workout!. I think Z is right. Adjust your food and make sure to still get the best nutrients in your mix for your training. I personally only want to lose one lb a week and so far that has worked out great for my marathon training. Listen to your body. It will let you know when you are not getting proper nutrients in your meals.

I did the shred last year while I was training for my half. I did find I started to get burnt out with all the exercise. And I found that DVD was hell on my knees. Not to discourage you, that's just my experience with it. If you need to lose 20 pounds it's going to come down to your diet. All the exercise in the world can't make up for a bad diet. (Not saying you have a bad diet, I haven't been peeking at your diary lately ) December is still a long ways away, you should be able to lose most of those pounds if you really dial down on your food and get it right. I'm in the same boat, I am trying to drop 15 before race day. There's a book called "Racing Weight" by Matt Fitzgerald which might be very beneficial. Anyways, we're already friends but we can be weight loss buddies too since we have the same goal.

Thank you for the advice! I'm worried that my knees will start to go with the added exercise! Other than some cheat days, my diet has been 1600 calories a day 50/25/25 and I don't know if I should eat less or more! I am running alot but I don't feel like I'm not getting enough fuel. I lost 30 lbs easy then I just plateaud which is why I feel like I need to add more/different exercises. What is your diet plan? Calories/fat/protein?

My macros are set to the same as yours I think. I currently have my calories set to 1700, but that's based on a TDEE minus 20%, which has the exercise built in so I don't eat back exercise calories. (Or at least I try not too) I did this because after about 6 months of not losing any weight I needed to try something different. I did have my calories set to about 1400 before I think but I was eating back ALL of my exercise calories and with measurements not being exact as far what I was burning I was obviously eating too much. So since I switched methods I've dropped another 5 pounds in the last 8 weeks or so. If I was stricter with my diet it would be coming off faster for sure. I've also really been trying to focus on getting the majority of food in the form of fruits and vegetables, so it's carb heavy but all good carbs and that way I do get enough fuel for my workouts and I don't feel hungry. (On a perfect day of course. Not yesterday when I ate cinnamon buns and mexican food, lol)

I was having some knee trouble back in Dec/Jan when all I did was run. I added in a circuit training class at the gym once a week and also trained for triathlon this spring/summer. I have had no problems with my knees with the cross-training. I have not ever ran a marathon (will start training for a half next month), but I think that adding in some different types of workouts would be good for you. I have done 30DS in the past and overall liked it. Be cautious on some of the exercises that can hurt your knees. Maybe you could do the video every other day or something, so you don't burnout with all the training. Good luck!