are you there jillian? its me rachel...

I started exercising with some seriousness and regularity only a few months ago. Or maybe I should say re-started, some minor explanation...


I've long been an exercise bike lover and shed some serious poundage sitting on my glorious bike watching any variety of tv show that would hold my attention enough to take my mind of the constant circular motion of my legs. At first I got the exercise bike because I thought I could reliably want to watch at least one tv show each day and I had a rule that I would exercise for the first show of each day. It worked really well for me, even when I didn't get in until late I would watch a show and de-stress, add some exercise to that and the de-stress effectiveness increased exponentially, plus the bonus of fitness and weightloss.


Last year lots of things changed for me and I let exercise take a back seat; actually imagine we're in a bus and I'm the glamourous host presenting your tour of day, telling you the most interesting things about your surrounds and pulling off a combination of intriguing factual info, witty humour (with nary an ounce of cockiness) and impromptu story telling, all while holding your attention with ease and aplomb and not sounding like I've told all these stories and used all these lines at least three times already today - where was I? how is me being a tour bus host relevant (which I'm not by the way)? - Ok, so last year, we're on on the bus, I'm up front doing my thang, Mr Fun, Mrs Excitement, Dr Travel, Monsieur Romance (oh la la) and Study Jr are up front, Master Diet is somewhere in the middle, along with little Miss Getting-8-hours-sleep-a-night, Professor Writing-letters-to-those-I-love and Count Keeping-up-with-current-news, Exercise is sitting on the back row (without a title) where the speakers crackle and people look at each other hoping the important information will be conveyed and recognised by judging everyone else's reaction to what's being said. Exercise and I got disconnected.


The only exercise I did get in was several hikes with Mr C and the occasional 27min session with my trainer, Jillian. 30 day shreds are great because they can be really tough and you kinda feel invincible after surviving some time with Jillian, if it is not obvious, she is Serious Hard Core :)


This year when Mr C and I got serious with making healthy changes we started walking because we love to walk together and chat about the day - the walk involves the 40min trek to his work, him in the morning and me in the evening, and our 40min trek back home again together - I listen to my ipod on the solo-segment. I have a problem listening to music on my ipod in public; I always want to sing along. And I know I shouldn't care about what people think of me but I'm really quite sane and don't know many people here, so becoming The Singing Walking Lady is just not for me right now. 


So, destiny stepped in as I rediscovered weight loss blogland and I found the fabulous Two Fit Chicks podcasts to listen to during the walks. I was quite far behind with the podcasts and had about 10 or 11 to catch up on to begin with. I found listening to them was informative and enjoyable and not only did they motivate me but I felt like I'd been through a good session of therapy after listening to them. It was a match made in pod-blog-heaven. 


And. Then. I. Ran. Out. I was beside myself, Mr C and I discussed whether we could afford to pay Shauna and Carla to make me a podcast a day. But, low and behold, the answer was right there all along in the Fit Chicks' podcasts - one of the reasons they started making the podcast in the first place - the end of Jillian's radio show on Sunday morning. I had listened to zero of these shows and found them on itunes and downloaded a bucketload of them and have been overjoyed with them - seriously, the throes of emotions podcasts can put a girl through!


So Jillian comes on my walks now, we have become very close and she has taught me alot about calorie intake, interval training, "mixing it up" and I have come to adore her, even when she rants and says things that I would normally dismiss, if Jillian says it, I will listen with patience. I do her shred workouts too - I love her little sayings and how she praises me through the tv, who knew when she made the dvds that she could see how well you do and give you feedback :) She is one busy lady and I love that she has found her passion in life - she is changing people's lives and is certainly present while I change mine.


Its always a surprise when I see her on tv now - especially training other people - I can't deny the green eyed monster rears up a little. I've gotta learn to share her around, she has enough ass-whiping for all of us :)