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A Review of Yeah Baby! by Jillian Michaels

When I first found out we were pregnant, I researched all of the best books for moms-to-be. And then, in all honesty, I felt a little overwhelmed. So I stopped Googling, and instead, ordered just one book – Yeah Baby! by Jillian Michaels.

As some of you may recall, I have a bit of a love/dislike relationship with Jillian. I love her workouts and her overall approach to fitness, but I often find myself getting annoyed by her personal stories. They come off a bit privileged to me. With that being said, when I first heard about this book while listening to her podcast, I almost dismissed it. However, the information shared definitely drew me in and prompted me to read a few reviews. So at about eight weeks pregnant, I ordered Yeah Baby!.

I have to start off by sharing that I actually love this book. For many reasons. Of course, there are a few things that didn’t really resonate, but those were truly far and few between.

What I loved about Yeah Baby!:

The tone in which it’s written. It’s very Jillian, which in this case, I actually like. You feel like you’re chatting with an old friend about all things pregnancy. And from what I hear, this is something that sets this book apart from some of the older books out there.
The content is research based and supported by a team of five experts from various health/wellness fields.
The book is broken down by trimester (makes total sense), and at the end of each section, Jillian provides a customized workout plan. I intended to try her workouts, but then found some great YouTube channels and kind of forgot about this part of the book. But after taking a deeper look at what Jillian proposes, I can definitely see her plan being effective.
She includes a chapter on the “Fourth Trimester,” which I love since not too many people talk about it. From what I understand, there’s a [huge] adjustment period after the baby comes, and I feel like the information she shares is practical and well-founded.
Each chapter/section goes into a lot of depth without being too technical or even scary. The information is easy to understand, current, and fun to read. And everything is focused on baby and mommy’s health…no hidden agenda.

What I didn’t love about Yeah Baby!:

While everything Jillian shares makes sense, I often felt like I wasn’t being a good mommy-to-be because of her super high standards. For example, my make-up products aren’t all chemical free. But I’m trying my best. Is that good enough? I sure hope so!
To implement every single one of her suggestions, you need a lot of money. Period. It’s not easy for the average, every day women to buy all organic everything. That’s the honest truth. I truly believe we all try our best, but even then, some things are out of reach.
Again, the meal plan at the end of the book is not for the every day woman. So many strange ingredients. And this coming from someone who buys said strange ingredients regularly.

Overall, I found this book to be comprehensive and the perfect one stop shop for all of my pregnancy related questions/issues. Of course, I always check everything with my doctor, but it’s been nice to have a reference guide at home that’s written for the modern momma.

Ripped in 30 + Back to the Basics

written by Parita 7 Comments

Ripped in 30

I’ve been intuitively exercising since my half marathon. Basically, this means my fitness routine lacks structure. I do what I want when I want.

This also means that my motivation to workout has been anything but consistent lately. Quite frankly, I just work better with a plan. I also work out better when someone else is telling me what to do.

Enter Jillian Michaels’ Ripped in 30.

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As you all know, I’m not the biggest JM fan as evident by my open letter to Jillian. I am, however, a fan of her workouts. I really do love them! When I was in Atlanta last week, I did level 2 of Ripped in 30 and was sore for two days. Like so sore that it hurt to get out of bed.

When I thought about it some more, I realized that this DVD is exactly what I need right now. The prescribed program is only four weeks long. The workouts target all body parts and incorporate strength, cardio, and abs. And really, all you need is thirty minutes, some floor space, and a set of dumbbells. Perfect!

Now for the sake of transparency, I have to mention that I’m going to Puerto Rico in a little less than a month for my friend Sweeti’s bachelorette party and wanting to look decent in my bathing suit may be a big motivator right now. It’s not that I’ve completely let go of my healthy habits or anything like that. But ever since our team meeting earlier this month, I haven’t been making the best choices. I’m hoping my plan + my trip will help kick my butt into high gear!

JM’s Ripped in 30 workout plan suggests doing 5-6 days (in a row) of each level before moving on to the next. I don’t like doing the same exact workout (except running) on consecutive days, so I’m customizing it to fit my style.

Here’s a rough outline of what a given week will look like:

Ripped in 30 + 20 minutes of cardio on non-consecutive days. Once I’ve done each level 4-5 times, I’ll move on to the next.
Running/walking/elliptical on the in between days for 30-45 minutes
One longer run on the weekend
One full rest day
Lots and lots of stretching

If you’re in the middle of a winter workout rut, I highly recommend this DVD. It’s one of her best ever. Quick and effective!

Back to the Basics

As I mentioned in a past post, Vishnu and I are officially “cleansing” right now because we ate a lot last week. And not all of it was healthy.

Our definition of a cleanse is probably different than most people. We’re basically going back to the basics with most of our meals. This means we’re going to be eating lots and lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, and lean proteins. I’ve also recommitted (for real this time!) to the dairy-free way of eating.

We stocked up on lots of fresh produce on Monday night, and I’m going to the farmer’s market on Saturday to buy more of the good stuff. And so far this week we’ve enjoyed salads, stir-fries and a new-to-us green juice (recipe to come!). I feel better already!

Are you a fan of JM workouts? What’s your favorite?

An Open Letter to Jillian Michaels

written by Parita 15 Comments

Dear Jillian,

First and foremost, I have been a follower of yours for about five years now. In fact, you are the reason I started viewing exercise differently. 30 Day Shred and No More Trouble Zones made strength training fun for me. I went from being a total cardio queen to someone who actually enjoyed picking up a pair of dumbbells. Thanks for that.

When I learned that you had a podcast that I could listen to every week, I was beyond excited. After experiencing for myself what your fitness philosophy can do, I was eager to learn more. So you and Janice accompanied me during my long commute home. And I have to say that while your blunt and abrasive style probably offends some people, I don’t mind as long as I’m learning something new.

However, Jillian, after listening to your most recent podcast titled “Jillian and The Sushi Chef,” it is my opinion that you need to stick with what you’re good at. And that for you is health and fitness.

You started this particular podcast by talking about how Amber, your assistant, made a reservation for you and Heidi at a specific sushi place. Amber informed you that this was a chef’s choice restaurant. After learning this, you still decided to go because you wanted the experience.

Jillian, I don’t think you understand what chef’s choice means. It means that the chef gets to decide what he serves his guests. There is no menu, there are no options, and usually everyone pays one set price for their meal. People know this going in and want to eat the food even though they have zero control over what it will be.

When you got to the restaurant, you were seated at the bar where the chef prepares the food. You didn’t ask to be seated elsewhere.

You also mention that this restaurant serves traditional Japanese food, like what you would find in Japan. You state that you’ve been to Japan and have tried this very traditional food.

Also, before I go on, I just have to say that you should also stay away from accents on your show. You said that you didn’t want to offend anyone by speaking in a Japanese accent, but you still proceeded to say some words with a slight (what I believe was a Japanese) accent. Just don’t.

Anyways, after being served food that you clearly weren’t expecting and did not want to eat, you started hiding said food in your napkin. What? Who does that?

You really had no idea what you were getting into, did you? I mean, you mentioned something about the restaurant not serving spicy tuna rolls. If I were going to pay hundreds of dollars for a meal, you better believe my research would have been done way ahead of time. Not only would a few minutes on the Internet have saved you $500, it would have probably led you to a restaurant more suited to your taste where you could have fully enjoyed your meal.

Eventually, the chef took your plate away and stopped serving you. Ok, so I get that his reaction was a bit extreme. But I have to believe that your behavior was not only rude but totally inappropriate for him to do that. The poor guy was probably as shocked as I was at the fact that you were sitting in his restaurant where you had no interest eating his food. And only because you had no clue what you were doing.

You then state that when you got the $500 bill you were shocked – “There is no menu, no way of knowing.” Again, if you had done a tiny bit of digging around, you would have known exactly how this was going to go down. But of course you can just “chalk this up to being lucky that [we] can take this hit financially.”

You then go on to say that you tried so hard not to upset the chef who was very mad. I mean, hiding food in napkins is totally normal, right? And all you wanted was to eat something “less radical.” That’s exactly why people go to chef’s choice sushi restaurants. It’s like someone signing up for a Jillian Michaels workout and not getting the 10 water breaks he/she deserves. Right? [SENSE THE SARCASM]. (Thanks for the example, Thea!)

But you didn’t stop there. You went on to talk about the “lesson” in this whole weird situation. Something about bridging gaps between cultures and how the chef didn’t even try. And the concept of certainty (people holding on to their beliefs) being related to issues of insecurity. You sort of ended it by saying that there is no one path to any end goal and if you understand this you can be more connected to others.

So Jillian, in my opinion, the chef wasn’t the one with the problem. While I agree that he shouldn’t have stopped serving you, you are the one that decided to eat at his restaurant because you “wanted the experience.” What experience did you think you were going to get? If anyone needs to be more open to other cultures, it’s you. Maybe you need to stop projecting YOUR own insecurities and flaws on to others and take some responsibility for your behavior. You didn’t take the high road. You actually ended up taking the low road by not looking inward first, especially because everything that went wrong in this particular situation had to do with you. And only you.

And finally, after talking about this for 15 minutes plus, you say that because the meal was $500 you had to bring it up on the show. No one gives a s***. I promise. You sounded like someone who just likes to listen to herself talk or someone who wanted to say that she spent $500 on a meal that didn’t go her way.

As a long time follower, I have one piece of advice for you, STICK WITH WHAT YOU’RE GOOD AT. That is pretty much the only lesson I learned during the first part of the podcast. Thanks for that.

Sincerely,
Parita

P.S. I’m still going to follow you because I really do like your overall fitness philosophy. And your workouts have done good things for my mind and my body. However, one more segment like this and I may change my mind…or write another open letter. Haha. So again, please please please just stick with what you’re good at.

The Grass is Greener…

written by Parita 10 Comments

The other day, I came across an article on the Purpose Fairy blog about happiness and scientifically proven ways to increase it. The wannabe psychologist in me loved this piece. However, the core premise was surprising. Let me explain.

According to research that’s been done at the University of California – Riverside by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky, a person’s overall happiness level is a combination of three things:

1. A “happiness set point” determined by genetics, which accounts for 50% of happiness
2. Life circumstances, which account for 10% of happiness
3. Intentional activities, which account for 40% of happiness

What surprised me was that intentional activities, the things that we choose to do, account for 40% of our overall happiness. For some reason, I really thought there would be a more even split between the three.

This article then made me think about something I heard recently on a Jillian Michaels podcast. I think she was talking about people purposefully creating the life they want for themselves (or something like that). During the discussion, she casually threw out a phrase that was completely new to me – “The grass is greener where you water it.” What a powerful idea. In fact, I’m still thinking/writing about it weeks later.

This made me laugh a lot!

I think we (society) are so used to hearing about the grass being greener on the other side that we never stop to think about the reasons why it isn’t greener on our side. Well, it’s probably because we’re too busy looking elsewhere and not paying any attention to what’s happening in “our own backyard.” It takes courage to turn your gaze inward and ask the question – “what can I do differently.” I don’t know too many people, including myself, who do this well.

The one person that does come to mind when I think about all of this is my dad. He is probably one of the happiest people I know. And not because he lives a perfect life, but because he chooses to be happy and focuses on all the good that surrounds him. A small example of this is how he deals with his early wake up call (4:45 am) for work. Instead of comparing himself to other people his age who are retired and “living the life,” he’s thankful for his health and a body that allows him to get up so early every morning. I’ve honestly never heard my dad complain about this. In his words, “it’s a part of life.”

The Purpose Fairy article outlines three scientifically proven ways to increase happiness. Well, here are three ways of increasing happiness that I’ve learned from the happiest man I know:

1. Smile more. Smile for no reason. Smile at strangers. Hell, smile at yourself in the mirror.
2. Make it a point to listen to your favorite music often. Instant happiness! The minute my dad gets home (from anywhere) he plays old Bollywood songs because it makes both him and my mom happy. I know I don’t live at home anymore, but I guarantee that most evenings those two can be found signing around the house. It’s cute!
3. Keep in touch with those you love. Both my parents are really good about calling up friends/family just to say hi. The simple of act of regularly picking up the phone and catching up with people creates an environment of happiness and love.

Well, I’m off to spend time with Vishnu and his dad (another very happy person) for the next couple of days! He’s in town for a conference and is staying with us!

Have a wonderful weekend! And don’t forget to water your grass with lots of intentional, happy actions this weekend!

Sick All Weekend

written by Parita 9 Comments

.I think the title of this post says it all. Both Vishnu and I were sick…all weekend long! No worries though, we’re feeling much better today. I honestly think we just needed a few days to recover from the craziness of the past couple of weeks. Our bodies had enough and needed us to just rest for a little bit.

Needless to say, we didn’t do too much this weekend. Friday night ended up being a movie night. We watched Live Free or Die Hard. I’m usually not a huge fan of predictable action movies, but this one was pretty good. The effects were a tad over the top, but according to Vishnu, that’s what makes for a good action movie. Whatever…yippee-ki-yay.

On Saturday, we both woke up at 8 am only to go back to sleep and really wake up at 11 am. I’m not going to lie. It was nice. However, I do think all that sleep set a rather pathetic stage for the rest of the day. We literally did nothing. Well, maybe not nothing. I did manage to get a workout in. And I made us a little pre-dinner treat with my new blender (recipe coming soon). Other than that we did nothing but sit on our butts and watch four episodes of The West Wing.

Jillian Michaels and her No More Trouble Zones DVD kicked my butt

What looks like nasty brown goop is actually a delicious dark chocolate frosty treat

After an unproductive two days, I was determined to make the most of Sunday. We got up (throats still a little sore), cleaned, and went grocery shopping. At the farmer’s market we found the world’s biggest apple (or what we thought was the world’s biggest apple)…

It was honestly HUGE.

We also found a new to us fruit…star fruit. It tastes like a cross between a really crisp apple and grapes. Vishnu was a huge fan and suggested making it into a drink of some kind next time.

Well, that’s all I got. I’m hoping for a cough and sneeze free week. Finger crossed!

Have a great Monday!

Kickbox Fast Fix

written by Parita 7 Comments

It’s no secret that I love Jillian Michaels and her workout DVDs. In fact, I own six of them. The newest addition to my collection is Kickbox Fast Fix. And like most of Jillian’s other DVDs, this one doesn’t disappoint!

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This workout is a bit unique from the others in several ways. One of the major differences is that this DVD is broken up into three separate 20 minute workouts, with workout one focusing primarily on the upper body, workout two on the lower body, and workout three on abs. Also, instead of having two girls in the background working out with her, she has about seven. And from what I observed, not all the girls are at the same level – some were going all out with every single move, while others didn’t kick as high or punch as hard. That was definitely a nice change. Another change is that there is no warm up at the beginning of the workouts. Jillian gets right into the first circuit with some light cardio and then moves on. And while most all of her DVDs (at least the ones that I own) are very structured in terms of only strength or only cardio or a particular combination of the two, this DVD is a bit more random and there’s a bit of both scattered throughout each workout.

One other important thing to note is that this DVD comes with a tutorial, and I highly recommend that you watch it BEFORE attempting the workouts. I almost didn’t take the time to do so but am glad I did. Jillian isn’t as instructional in this DVD as she is in others, so don’t expect much, if any, explanation from her about the moves. Even though I know what uppercuts and jabs are, I wouldn’t have been able to follow along with the quick sequence of moves without knowing the exact terminology Jillian uses. The tutorial is kind of a must, and you should watch it at least once. Trust me.

The one thing about this DVD that is similar to the others is that each workout is still broken up into mini circuits. The only difference is that each move in the circuit is done for 30 seconds at a time, and she encourages you to do to as many reps of the move as you can. Each of the workouts uses elements of kickboxing, traditional cardio, and strength moves. For example, in workout one, one of the circuits is a combination of punches, pushups, jump rope, and suicide runs. Workout two and three are similarly structured but with more emphasis on the lower body and abs, respectively. There is no shortage of kicks, punches, and ab work in any of the workouts.

Overall, I really enjoyed this DVD – intense sweating and huffing/puffing included! The constant variation and quick change ups kept me going and really made each of the 20 minutes fly. I was definitely not in sync with Jillian and the gang 100% of the time, but with every use of this DVD, I think that’ll improve. And once I’m more familiar with the combos, I might use light weights to increase the “burn” factor. We’ll see about that though… Even without added weight, my thighs, calves, triceps, and abs are sore today. And that’s always a good thing!

Let me know if you decide to give this DVD a try or already have. I’d love to hear your thoughts! And if you want to know what I think of Jillian’s other DVDs, you can read about my opinion here and here.

Are you a Jillian Michaels fan? Have you tried any of her workout DVDs? Read her books?

Thumbs Up

written by Parita 18 Comments

How is it Sunday already!? And really, how are we already well into mid September?! Craziness!

My weekend was actually pretty relaxing and fun. This is a very good thing because my next 3-4 weekends are packed with travelling or visitors. More on all that in future posts. First, my weekend recap…

FRIDAY

I didn’t get to workout before work as planned, so I decided to squeeze in a weights routine Friday evening. I usually don’t mention my regular workouts, but this was a good one. I did a series of moves from Jillian Michael’s “No More Trouble Zones” DVD but really tried to make it my own. I also used 5 pound weights vs. the 3 I usually use. This may not mean much to most people, but it was a tough workout, and my heart rate was up the whole time. And I’m still very sore…in a good way. Thumbs up!

SATURDAY

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I woke up on Saturday morning with one thing on my mind – finishing The Hunger Games. And finish it I did. This book was amazing. It drew me in from page one and kept me guessing all the way to the end. And there’s no way you can’t read book #2 because it picks up where this one ends (with a major cliffhanger). I’m definitely stopping at Target tomorrow to pick up Catching Fire (book #2). I haven’t been this excited about a series since Harry Potter! Thumbs up!

After finishing my book, I got ready and headed out to get my hair cut. If you remember from my last cut back in May, it ended up being really choppy and ugly. My layers didn’t blend together, and there was a huge chunk in the back. I waited almost four months to get my next cut because I wanted everything to grow out so I could start fresh. My experience was completely different this time around. I went to a different salon recommended by a coworker and absolutely loved it! My stylist actually listened to me! Thumbs up! Sadly, I don’t have any pics to share but will get on that ASAP.

Dinner and a movie were also on my agenda for Saturday. Sushi and The Help to be exact. My coworker and I filled up on some delicious sushi (I had Miso soup and an avocado, cucumber, cream cheese and chives roll) and then headed over to the movies. I really liked the movie. Obviously the book was 100x better, but I left the theater feeling very satisfied and content. In my opinion, the storyline was followed pretty closely. It was also well casted with each actor/actress making the characters their own. Thumbs up!

SUNDAY

I went to an Indian Bridal Expo today. There were a number of wedding vendors present – restaurants, invite designers, videographers, photographers, DJs, henna artists, etc. It was awesome but a bit overwhelming. There’s so much to think about and take care of before the big day! My wedding is going to be in Atlanta, but I wanted to check out the event for ideas. Little did I know, I would be walking out with this…

…my wedding reception outfit! It was love at first sight! These are pretty much the exact colors I wanted and the style was dead on with what I had conjured up in my head. WOOT WOOT! My mom was relieved that I found something because I was pretty stressed about finding “the outfit.” We’d been looking for months and nothing was taking my breath away. I really thought I would have to settle for something that was just “meh.” But no, I found “the one!” YAY! BIG THUMBS UP!

Well, off I go to watch the Emmys. Modern Family is on fire so far! If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet, DO IT! It’s the funniest show on TV! Thumbs up

A Review of Yeah Baby! by Jillian Michaels

Ripped in 30 + Back to the Basics

An Open Letter to Jillian Michaels

The Grass is Greener…

Sick All Weekend

Kickbox Fast Fix

Thumbs Up

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