Gotta hand it to that crack Biggest Loser editing team.  I was convinced that Michael would be the one carted off by ambulance in the middle of the night.   But no!  Dun da DAH!   What I really loved about this episode though?  Blue Team and Yellow Team showed the rest of the players what class looks like.  Gracious beyond belief!  A welcome break from the Red vs. Green drama.

AFTER ELIMINATION

Miggy suddenly realizes she’s all alone.  Her daughter’s gone.  She cries herself to sleep, only to awaken in a few hours with severe stomach pains.  A producer calls 911 and the ambulance arrives to take Miggy to the hospital.

THE RETURN OF BLUE AND YELLOW

Alison gathers the players and reminds them they’ve been free from the challenges of the outside world for 30 days.  Reality check!  The outside challenges have returned – in the form of the Blue and Yellow Teams who have been training at home for another shot on campus.  Since they never got past the first challenge, Blue and Yellow finally get to participate in a Biggest Loser rite-of-passage:  a Last Chance Workout with the trainers before their weigh in.

Welcome to the show, people!   Jillian smirks with satisfaction as O’Neal pushes the weights across the gym.   Cherita, surprised by intensity, partakes in another Biggest Loser tradition – puking.    The triple crown is at stake – winning team returns to the ranch, gets immunity AND the only vote at elimination.

PRELIMINARY WEIGH IN:  BLUE VS. YELLOW

Proving it can be done at home, the dueling parent-child teams shock the rest of the players.

• Cherita – 24 lbs
• Victoria – 39 lbs (only 6 pounds less than average on-campus player does in 30 days!)
• Sunshine -  25 lbs
• O’Neal – 51 lbs
  

Yellow Team is back!  Given all the sniping between Red and Green this season, it’s refreshing to hear O’Neal and Sunshine praise Cherita and Victoria’s accomplishments.   These two teams were worthy opponents.  Sad that we didn’t get more time to get to know the Blue Team.

IN THE GYM

Yellow Team has the only vote this week and beyond the first day, they’ve never seen the rest of the players in action.  Most of other players know they have to prove themselves.   However, Melissa can’t stop whining.  Bob knows she’s lost confidence in herself, but insists that she push outside of her comfort zone.  He admits that she gained his respect with the previous week’s 11 lbs loss.

Jillian reminds Daris that he can’t afford another week so close to the yellow line.  Focus, Daris.  FOCUS!  But only after Jillian breaks you down and makes you cry.

Bob crams four weeks of nutritional counseling for the Yellow Team in one Jennie O product placement.  Every single calorie counts, both going in and out.

CHALLENGE

Another football challenge!  The show loves them as much as the water challenges.  Each team has a dummy situated between two blocking pads.  One person from each team has to hit the dummy 1000 times, and it’s harder than it looks.  The pads swivel after each hit.   Winning team gets immunity, the losing team gets a 2 lbs penalty.

Red is so concerned with beating Gray, they are completely shocked when Michael ties up with them.  Michael pushes past Melissa and Lance, setting his sights on the Gray Team.  He goes head to head with Sam and manages to eke out a win!  Love that little Rocky moment as he realizes he’s got immunity.   Pink Team can’t keep up with the rest of the players, coming in last and locking in the 2 lbs penalty.

After the challenge, the group learns that Miggy’s back!  Michael’s been missing his mom, so he’s overjoyed to see Miggy.  The stomach pain was appendicitis.  She also had a cyst and another mass removed during surgery.   She is allowed to walk, no other exercise.   And that’s what she does, vowing to walk all the way to Puerto Rico if necessary.   When Dr. H visits Miggy, he can’t believe she walked 13 miles the day after surgery.   Now that Migdalia’s really gone, Miggy realizes that she wants to stay.  Desperately.   The doctor also has some news that might affect that desire though – they pumped loads of sodium into her system during surgery.   What will that mean for her weigh in?

LAST CHANCE WORKOUT

Stress at the gym!  The players are even telling the trainers to shut up.  Oooh.  No one likes a trash talker at the gym if it’s not Bob or Jillian.  Miggy’s wondering if this week will be her last.  John’s doing cardio sprints in the gym, working his butt off.  Jillian works on Ashley, trying to get her to up her intensity.  Ashley’s resistant, but Jillian continues to press, telling Ashley that what she’s been thinking/doing hasn’t worked.  Get on that treadmill!  Ashley admits a lot of regret over watching her dad die of cancer.  Tears start flowing.  Jillian’s work is done here, so she rounds up Drea, Stephanie and Sunshine to join Ashley on the treadmills.  Sunshine is not sure about a five minute jog at 5.5 mph but Stephanie and Andrea count it down with her…HELL YEAH!   Nice energy and attitude coming from these four girls.  Loving them more each week.

Decision time for Yellow.  O’Neal reminds Sunshine that they have to get serious.  If they have to crush the opposition to stay, that’s what they’ll do.   While they’re deciding, producers ask the rest of the contestants to finish the sentence “This weigh in is…”  Unpredictable, scary, the usual!

WEIGH IN

Alison announces that there will be no vote if one of the single team players falls below the yellow line, so say what you want to say before stepping on the scale.  Miggy walked 18 miles 2 days after surgery.  Will it be enough to keep her there, in a week when Yellow and White both have immunity?

• Sunshine – 5 lbs
  
• O’Neal – 5 lbs
  
• Michael – 13 lbs
  
• Ashley – 9 lbs
  
• Sherry – 6 lbs
  
• Melissa – 5 lbs
  
• Lance – 4 lbs
  
• Cheryl – 3 lbs
• Daris – 12 lbs
  
• Stephanie – 5 lbs
  
• Koli – 6 lbs
  
• Sam – 10 lbs
  
• Andrea – 5 lbs
  
• Darrell – 8 lbs
  
• Miggy – 5 lbs
  
• John – 6 lbs
  

We don’t get any insight on who Yellow thinks is a threat, because John doesn’t get the 7 lbs he needs to stay.  6 lbs for John and that sends him home immediately.

HOW THE ELIMINATED PLAYER LOOKS NOW

After a disappointing first week at home, John hit his groove!  He discovers he loves doing martial arts.  The results?  You be the judge.

NEXT WEEK

Going for the Gold!  The players head to the U.S Olympics training center in Colorado.  They’ll weigh in as individuals and two players will be eliminated.  Let the games begin!

I don’t know if it was food poisoning or a 24 hour bug, but after completing my Level 3 shred on Day 23, I went downhill quickly.  Decided to give myself a break and take it easy for the rest of the day.  I took a hot tea tree oil and epsom salt bath, then headed to bed to sleep it off.  Felt so much better by Friday afternoon!  Ended up skipping the Day 24 shred entirely though.  Didn’t want to chance it.

Glad I waited, because I was able to make up for it on Day 25 – I did Level 3 twice!  My poor legs and shoulders were not happy with me.  Kept it to a single shred today on Day 26.  Also remembered to switch starting legs on the plank so I wouldn’t hold on the same size two days in a row.   Wonder if that was an editing error on the DVD…or maybe Jillian just wanted to keep us on our toes.   I still want to do Levels 1-3 on the final day of the challenge.  1 hour of working out like a fitness machine!  Gulp.

Final week starts tomorrow…wheeeeeee!

Thought that laying this rock solid foundation meant I was completely ready for Level 3 on Day 22.  Was completely wrong!  Jillian says it at the beginning of the workout.  Ali also reminded me (oh yes, thankful I wore the industrial strength sports bra).   Level 3 really is harder than the previous levels.   And I started with the 3 lbs but SURPRISE!  You don’t even pick up the hand weights until the second circuit.  Jillian turns the knife with a smile from the very first pushup move.  I was all Anita, all the time except for the forearm to full pushups, mountain climbers and jack-knife jumps.

I’ll need my sleep tonight to be ready for Day 23!  Carry on, Team Shred.

I hauled out the 8 lbs weights for Day 19.  In theory, smashing!  In practice, silly!  My arms were sore for the entire day.   I had to switch down to the 5 lbs for the second set of each strength exercise.

Kept the insanity going on Day 20 by using the 8 lbs again!  Still couldn’t do more than the first set with them, but oh well.  Maybe I can pop out a few 8 lbs reps on the second strength exercises tomorrow.  Next short-term goal:  Level 3 by Day 22, plus cardio on the back end of each workout.

FYI – Jillian’s working on her latest DVDs – kettlebells and yoga shred – and she tweeted that even she’s having trouble keeping up with her own workout during the taping.   Will it make me swear at her less next year when I’m doing these workouts?  Probably not.  But I will laugh a little, knowing it’s just as hard for her as it is for me!

Whenever I have to ice an injury, I remember sitting in the trainer’s office before high school track practice each day.  I had my own stash of frozen Dixie cups in his freezer and every day, I’d ice my shins before heading out to run.  Didn’t care about the pain, I just wanted to be flying down that last 100 yard stretch.

These days, I still love the exercise euphoria, but I’ve traded in the Dixie cups for a Little Miss Sunshine gel ice pack.  And unlike my track days, if I feel pain, I do something light or skip my workout.  I heal quicker that way and can get right back into the routine.  So even after icing with Little Miss Sunshine on Thursday night, I knew I might have to do another modified shred on Day 17.   Not the end of the world.

As luck would have it, the lump went down considerably and I was able to do the full Level 2 on both Day 17 and Day 18.    The knee still looks ridiculous, but it’s pain-free.  I actually felt really good today.   Even considering day a few more days of Level 2, with a bump up to 8 lbs on the first strength set in each circuit.  Then I can start Level 3 next week with 3 lbs and it’ll seem much easier.  HA!  I know what’s coming, thanks to the “Ultimate Shredder.”  Weighted jumping jacks and weighted butt kickers.  JOY!

All Biggest Loser related kidding aside, I’m definitely noticing new definition in my body.  My legs are definitely tighter and my abs are firming up too.  However, I’m feeling the biggest change in my arms.  All those shoulder, biceps, pushups and plank moves have been worth it!   And we’re only halfway!  Can’t wait to see more changes by Day 30.

Slow start to Day 14, because I definitely didn’t eat enough for breakfast.  I knew it the minute I started the first cardio circuit and felt a bit more winded than yesterday.   Need a post-it reminder stuck to my glasses, so it’s the first thing I see in the morning.  Held the same ratio of Natalie to Anita moves as yesterday.  Goal is all Natalie moves, all the time for Day 15.  Need to get in that groove or else I won’t feel confident moving on to Level 3.

Excited to see a kick-butt Last Chance Workout on the National Mall tonight during The Biggest Loser!   And speaking of…just pre-ordered thisand thisfrom Amazon.  Very excited!

Much better shred results on Day 13. By the end of Workout 2, I sounded like a seal making loud honking wheezy noises.  But I felt like I had just done boot camp – in a good way.   Today I began to do more of the Natalie moves and less of the modified Anita versions.    The cardio segment in the third circuit is my biggest challenge, so I hope to conquer those moves Natalie-style before I contemplate moving on to Workout 3.  Perhaps by the end of the week?  We’ll see.

Big day tomorrow!  Day 14, plus a new episode of The Biggest Loser!  Here’s Jillian Michaels as she’s about to start a workout in front of the Washington monument.

I hopped on the bike for 15 minutes post-workout and did the hill interval program.  A little more than I tacked on yesterday, but since I’m treating myself to a few bite-size pieces of candy tonight, I wanted a little extra caloric “insurance.”  Now the biggest decision of the day.  Milky Way and Snickers?  Twix and 3 Musketeers?  M&Ms and Reese’s Pieces?   Who knows – I’ll surprise myself.

Day 12 on Sunday!  Most of us will get to sleep in another hour tomorrow with the Daylight Saving Time change.  Enjoy that extra 60 minutes of zzzzzzz!

P.S. Best costume of the day right here.

That said (one of my favorite Jillian phrases), 1/3 down on the 30 Day Shred Challenge!  Tripped over a stray dumbbell early in the workout and thought that was going to be it for Day 10.   But I salvaged my dignity, picked myself up off the floor and made it through!

Form was much better today and no 5 second dropouts (or dropdowns, since they’re usually during the plank twists and squat thrusts).  I added a 15 minute stationary bike ride at the end to boost the cardio.  Not sure how much of a benefit it actually was though, since I was going pretty slowly.   Energy perked right up again after my post-workout snack of a few Kashi crackers and Smuckers All Natural Peanut Butter.   Excited to try it again tomorrow, hoping for limited breaks in the cardio section.

Day 11, baby.  DAY 11!!!