<p>San-dee. I’m OK, thanks. Haven’t been sick in 2 years so I was due. Just takes me awhile to shake a cough whether I run or not.</p>
<p>Well, my little hike was uneventful. 3.67 miles in 1 hour 45 minutes on hard packed, icy, crunchy snow trails through the woods. Just little ups and downs, not terribly strenuous. Hiking boots and MicroSpikes.</p>
<p>I was way overdressed. It was about 25 degrees and the wind wasn’t blowing like it had been early in the day. I wore power stretch tights under hiking pants and was sweating a little. Up top, I wore a midweight base layer, a power stretch hoodie, a synthetic insulation jacket, and the GoreTex shell (the ultimate wind protection). I had everything unzipped and ended up stashing the GoreTex shell in my pack at the halfway point. It’s really hard to know how warm to dress because it’s frickin’ cold just standing around, but it’s all a function of how hard you are exercising (and how hard the wind is blowing).</p>
<p>I’m definitely sick, but it wasn’t too bad after my running nose froze up! Nice to get some fresh air.</p>
<p>typical day - did all my upper body weights and machines. </p>
<p>Was trying to use elliptical but all of them are taken. So I did some running instead. The legs are still somewhat sore from yesterday’s 10K. Started out 5MPH just to get then legs loose and finished 2.5 mile at 6 MPH. </p>
<p>It is all mental - once I did complete the 6.2 miles, 2.5 mile felt like a piece of cake. </p>
<p>Will consult my running coach at work tomorrow about signing up for a 1/2. It is now possible but will require some serious training to get ready.</p>
<p>40 minute cardio dance class=fun
30 minute Pilates dvd = booooring</p>
<p>Was my active rest day, so the combo above was fine. For all of you who are able to do workouts from dvd’s- my respect. I am beginning to hate the Pilates gal…</p>
<p>1 mile warm up on the eliptical</p>
<p>Back- 2 sets@10 pullups, seated row and pulldowns
Biceps 2 sets @12 olympic bar curls, ez bar curls and short bar curls</p>
<p>treadmill intervals 25 minutes 2/3 and 5 minute cooldown total 30 minutes.</p>
<p>HOPS challenge in a very cold basement before a hot shower. 27 of each, all in one set. The last pushup was very shaky. That’s right at my limit.</p>
<p>Over my 10,000 steps for the day and 10 flights of stairs goal! Yay! I so want a glass of cab right now to celebrate. 
My knees are being cranky with the cold and extra workout so off to get some ibuprofen.</p>
<p>Oh…and my back isn’t hurting!!! :)</p>
<p>Stretching and weights today. Cat wasn’t available to provide entertainment for me during planks as she was busily attending to her dinner bowl. Pretty good tunes on the radio though so not a problem. Bringing the radio downstairs to where I do my home workout a few months ago has improved enjoyment level immensely.</p>
<p>Sewhappy, glad you’re feeling better and able to get back out there with the group again.</p>
<p>Feeling like I’m getting adjusted to the new, heavier for me weights for the bicep curls and tricep kickbacks. Form was a little questionable by the end of each set initially, but I think it’s all right now. Not doing as many reps as I was with the other weights of course.</p>
<p>Cals :1175
Fat :43 g
Carbs :113 g
Fiber: 8 g
Protein :79 g
Sugars :28 g </p>
<p>45 minutes on the elliptical (3.5 miles), interval hills; three big walks, including one downtown to work on sabadog’s social skills (5 miles total). Supposed to get ice here overnight so who knows what tomorrow will bring. Maybe ice skating.</p>
<p>2.5 miles on the treadmill today. I exercise at a fitness center where I work- at a medical college - lots of the users there are medical/university students. I sometimes wonder if or what they think when they see me- old enough to be there mother, running the best she can and sometimes looking awkward and ALWAYS fully sweaty with a red face. But lately I look at them and say, “I am more than twice your age and I may not be able to keep up with you, but I am dang proud for all this sweat!!”</p>
<p>sabaray:</p>
<p>Awesome day on the food front! I don’t know how you guys get below 1500 calories!</p>
<p>I think I’ve eaten 1500 calories since dinner! I am not proud of this. Here in PA there is way too much food around (fresh baked chocolate cake etc) and lots of stress to drive the eating. One more day.</p>
<p>I’m at 1500 for the day and the only way it doesn’t go up is if I go to sleep right now - which probably won’t happen. We don’t have any snacks in the house though. If I want food, someone has to make it.</p>
<p>I’m not going out to get something as it’s 17 degrees.</p>
<p>So sad about the hiker… Stories like this make me worried about idad, even though I know that he is the most cautious of all us, exercise geezers!</p>
<p>Please stay safe, everyone! D said her roomie slipped on ice and had a concussion - yikes.</p>
<p>Time to make my legs work a bit… I’ve been sitting on my rear end all day long trying to finish an assignment for the class I’m taking. The funny thing is that I remember all the math I had taken in the past, it just takes me twice as long as to get the solutions. Geezer brains, LOL.</p>
<p>On this plateau thing: </p>
<p>If anyone really had the foolproof answer for how to kick start a weight loss plateau, they could make millions this week!</p>
<p>I think they’ve pretty much got the reasons for the plateau figured out. As you lose weight on a restricted calorie diet, you are shedding fat and lean muscle. As you get closer to the finish line, there’s less fat to lose and continuing to restrict calories is going be costing more and more lean muscle, which means you’ll be burning fewer and fewer calories 24/7. This resting metabolic rate is where the vast majority of the daily calories are burned (like almost all of them), so a declining burn rate there makes trying to kick up the calorie burn on the treadmill a fools errand. Robert Lustig has a good section on this phenomenon in his book. You don’t exercise to burn calories on a diet. It doesn’t work. You exercise on a diet to build/keep as much lean muscle as you can. That increases your calorie burn all day every day and reverses insulin resistance, making it easier to burn fat. And, it makes you look better.</p>
<p>When I got to the last 20 pounds, I thought I was finished. So I stopped thinking “diet” and “weight loss” and started thinking about becoming as “ripped” (term used loosely, I assure you!) as I could. I started focusing on core and strength – that’s when I did New Rules of Lifting for Abs. I definitely got leaner and more muscular and went down another pants size. The scale followed, but it might not have if I were a little younger and could still add muscle a little easier.</p>
<p>This whole muscle side of the equation sidetracks a lot of us as we think only in terms of the scale. I think it’s a particularly big issue for women as they are pounded with the message that building muscles will make them look bigger. It’s just the opposite. Rachel Cosgrove has women loosing two jeans sizes (which is a pretty significant improvement in appearance) without losing a single pound on the scale. This is more and more of a factor the closer we are to a target weight.</p>
<p>Finally, I think we have to be realistic about our targets. Not many of us in our 50s are hormonally capable of having a 20 year old’s body. I can tell where my limit is when I eat under 2000 calories for a few weeks, tracking diligently, and don’t lose a pound. That tells me that I’m simply not going to lose weight without draconian measures – measures that, frankly, would probably be counter-productive to my health. Hormones and genes are what they are.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think any experienced hiker knows (whether they admit it or not) that hiking that trail, above treeline, in this weather, is a potentially fatal endeavor. Winter hiking above treeline in the White Mountains has killed a lot of people, a fact that is not easily missed. It’s well known that Mt. Washington has the highest recorded wind gust ever, [231</a> mph](<a href=“http://www.mountwashington.org/about/visitor/recordwind.php]231”>http://www.mountwashington.org/about/visitor/recordwind.php). You don’t set out on that trail, in this weather, unless the whole idea is to take a risk.</p>
<p>Here’s mine. No hiking snacks. No midnight snack. I’m wore out and headed for the down comforter!</p>
<p>Cals 1617
Fat 98 g
Carbs 106 g
Fiber 16 g
Protein 76 g
Sugars 41 g</p>
<p>I think I must becoming ripped this week, because I am certainly not losing weight!</p>
<p>Today was a gym day - machines, some of the Workout A, 30 minutes on the elliptical and the Hops challenge.</p>
<p>Jeez, I don’t think I can bear to count calories like you guys are. So much effort.</p>
<p>But I just ordered the Jillian Michaels Body Revolution. I hope it doesn’t sit in my closet. Has anyone done her exercise program? I think I need something I can do at home or in a hotel room, with someone yelling at me to get off the couch.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, it’s almost no effort at all. </p>
<p>[MyPlate</a> - Food Diary & Food Calorie Counter | LIVESTRONG.COM](<a href=“http://www.livestrong.com/myplate/]MyPlate”>MyPlate Calorie Counter)</p>
<p>Just type the first few letters of what you ate and a list of options pops up. It remembers which foods you have picked in the past. So, when I type “GNC”, it pops up with the Psyllium Husk fiber I take. If I type “half” it pops up to the Hood Half and Half I use in my coffee. If I type “baby…”, it pops up with a half rack of bar-b-q baby back ribs that I used for part of tonights combo platter. For the other half, I type “pulled…” and I get sauceless pulled pork bar-b-q by the ounce. I was out of my bar-b-q sauce, so instead of typing “Middle…” for my Middle-Georgia style homemade sauce, I typed “Bulldog…” and got the Bulldog brand Japanese tonkastu sauce that I had instead. Pretty painless.</p>
<p>It also allows you to enter an entire recipe, so I’ve got most of my “go-to” meals entered that way. I type “blue…” and it pops up to the 510 calorie blue cheese salad exactly the way I make it. Or my homemade bar-b-q sauce.</p>
<p>I enter the whole day at one time in the evening. Takes about three minutes. I don’t track all the time, but it’s a great learning tool to figure out all the stuff I’m putting in my pie-hole. And, it’s good as an occasional corrective for a month when it’s time to tighten up on portions and snacking. A kitchen scale is a big help in terms of accuracy. It’s looking like I’ll need to track for a few weeks every six months or so to keep maintenance on track. I am not putting that 90 pounds back on, or any part thereof. 
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.</p>
<p>I didn’t start out my diet tracking food, but I now believe it is the optimum way to get a handle on where cuts and adjustments can be made. Certainly, if someone is struggling to lose weight, it’s the only way to make the endeavor “reality-based”.</p>