<p>I really enjoy Arizona! Watched *The Savages *last night (no kids at home so we could watch an R rated movie) and it started out in Sun City. </p>
<p>I had a brief conversation last night with that mom who is my age and teaches exercise class. She mentioned how her 20 year old D had lost 30 lbs. She said something about cutting out wheat and how most women should do that. ??? I thought we were supposed to be consuming lots of whole grains. Anybody up on the wheat issue?</p>
<p>^^^^^Maybe her D has gluten intolerance. I think I’ve read that people who are gluten intolerant lose weight when they give it up.</p>
<p>Whew! Back again at the gym…this must be some kind of record for me! Improved my mileage on the bike within my hour time slot. Hooray! Still not seeing much weight loss but I keep plugging away! Something has to change!</p>
<p>H would not try the Tofu hot dogs I bought! Hey, they only have about 2.5 grams of fat, but they taste like cardboard! My idea of cooking out includes Salmon Burgers & Tofu Hot Dogs. His idea is hamburgers & hot dogs with lots of fat! Lately we have experimented with both chicken & salmon cooked on those cedar planks over charcoal, very good!</p>
I am not doing well. My SI joint is out and I have been having pain in my lower back and hip. Chiropractor and massause have forbidden me from doing my usual hills until it is back and staying. I have one hip that is higher then the other but both legs are the same length. Off and on over the last 20 yrs I have had periods of time where the SI joint is out or my psoas muscle gets short and tight and I have bad hip pain. It is frustrating to lose 20 lbs and now to have to slow down. I can walk flat but I don’t have flat outside my front door. Hoping that a few more visits for massage and chiropractic that things go back to normal.
Add to that some unhealthy eating. Yesterday H picked up fresh bagels. Also dipped into the bag of Trader Joe bbq chips D had open. I find I fall to the two extremes. I am either really good about my eating or I am really bad. One chip or slice of toast and I am falling full force.
I tried the Tofu dogs on my family. Not a hit.
<p>I’m still around, plateaued after my initial 11 lbs. Haven’t been too hard on myself, but realize I’ll need to step it up if I’m going to move any lower. Back to the menu plan & working in some interval training on the trails outside. I watched a video recently where the trainer said how your metabolism will stay higher much longer if you interval train for that 30 minutes as opposed to just jog at a steady pace. Never tried it before, so we’ll see!</p>
<p>No tofu at our house either.</p>
<p>Have stopped with the spinning class, not because of being abused but because it hurts my knee too much. Can’t figure it out. I’m fine with walking, running, step aerobics but the cycle makes the outside of my knee really hurt.</p>
<p>I am stuck in NV due to my city being underwater and flights all being cancelled yesterday. As a result, I was “forced” to run/job for my exercise yesterday and today. I did a slow 3 yesterday (at 5500 ft in AZ) and 4 today in NV at 2500 feet. I took it easy and my hamstring felt tight but bearable and was NOT worse afterwards (the test by the PT of what I can do). I am certainly not ready for prime time, but it’s nice to know I can head down the road a little bit.</p>
<p>Definitely no grilled tofu for our house either. We grilled filet mignons from the world-famous [Hilltop</a> Steakhouse & Butcher Shop](<a href=“http://www.hilltopsteakhouse.com/]Hilltop”>http://www.hilltopsteakhouse.com/), with a side of fresh grilled yellow squash. As a concession to my new habits, I did not make the Julia Child Bernaise sauce with eggs and a stick of butter to drizzle over the beef!</p>
<p>While I had the grill going, I grilled up a mess of boneless white meat chicken tenders, for a grilled chicken Caesar Salad dinner tonight and I don’t know for sure what we’ll do with them for tomorrow night – maybe a fresh homemade tomatilla salsa would be good, hmmmmm…</p>
<p>I’ve now lost 22.5 pounds. Twelve weeks since I started eating less. Ten weeks since I started scheduled exercising. Trying to figure out what workouts to do this week. I’m right on the verge of graduating to Phase II of my iPod nazi workouts, but I think I’m going to give it one more week of the supersets I’ve been doing. They are working crazy well for me right now both in terms of steady weight loss, strength increases, and the way I feel doing the exercises. 45 seconds of plank felt completely different on Friday than it has for the last two months, as I could really feel my abs contract and provide all of the stiffness to stay off the ground. I really had the sensation that I could simply lock my core and stay there indefinitely. Likewise, the push ups and the two squat exercises are feeling different. I can finally do the squats with all of the force back on my heels, where it is supposed to be.</p>
<p>I can see, looking ahead, that I better really own these current exercises before moving on to the next set, which add difficulty to the exercises, increase the number of sets, and decrease the rest time. I’m not sure I’m there yet. For example, 45 seconds of lunge walking with dumbbells turns into 45 seconds of lunge walking while pressing dumbells up overhead with every step. Hamstring roll-ins on the stability ball (I call it “the cramp” because it exercises the exact leg cramp muscle) turn into one-legged hamstring roll-ins on the stability ball. I don’t think I can do those two yet. The easy versions are still a challege on those two; I don’t feel like I really have control of my form on either. I can’t believe how hard these two are when you are hauliing around a bunch of extra weight. They are the true meaning of “bodyweight” exercises!</p>
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<p>See if your gym has any Schwinn Airdyne bikes. They have a big fan front wheel. My original exercise bike was kind of like an old-school spinner with mechanical brake shoe resistance. My tendency was to ease up the resistance and pedal really fast. I can see where that would not be good on a rehabing knee. The Airdyne is a slower pedal against resistance that increases dramatically with speed. There’s no way to pedal fast against light resistance. I haven’t experienced any knee issues at all. I don’t know, but I suspect it is very good for knee rehab. It’s very, very smooth.</p>
<p>Like Melsmom, I’ve only lost around 11 pounds since January. I need to work on the food piece a little harder I think.</p>
<p>MomofWildChild - I knew you were from near Nashville. Is your home okay?</p>
<p>For those of you have plateaued - I think you should be so pleased that you LOST weight during the toughest time of the year. With summer fruits and veggies around the corner and longer daylight - you should be great. </p>
<p>I returned to serious walking this weekend. I was really, really sick about three weeks ago and while I resumed walking after about a week, it was not with my usual intensity. I hit the weights, did some Pilates, and walked 5 miles in just over an hour. I ready to train again. </p>
<p>I do believe in interval training. Some days I incorporate some speedwork into my walks, it helps to keep things fresh.</p>
<p>Hey - we are thinking of you MoWC!</p>
<p>So, I ended up doing a full circuit of intervals on the Airdyne. Hadn’t done that in a couple of weeks because the weather has been nice and I’ve been doing the hilly walk for cardio. Three sets of intervals - all with a short recovery (for me). 20 minutes of intervals mixed in with another 15 minutes of slow and steady. Worked up a good sweat, got my heart rate up to 90%, but it’s nice that I am no longer completely schnockered by these workouts.</p>
<p>Way to go idad!
MOWC…hope all is well at your house. Sounds like your leg is improving!</p>
<p>Tried the interval training on my bike today. Actually got 15 miles in my hour! That’s improvement again for me. Yay! Bad thing was my ear phones fell out of my ear because I was sweating so much and got tangled in the pedal! Just pulled the wires apart so I couldn’t finish hearing Ellen! Then went over to dreadmill and did a slow pace there for another half hour to try to get the stiffness out of my knee. So an hour and half of exercise today…and I felt tired but good at the same time. Gosh, I hope I need to buy a new outfit for D1’s graduation at the end of the month!</p>
<p>Oh…I am bringing dinner to a friend who is battling colon cancer today. I want to make something healthy but really yummy. Any suggestions???</p>
<p>NorthMinnesota not sure if your friend has dietary restrictions. On the Food Network site search Butternut Squash soup. The recipe by Giada is delicious. It tastes rich but contains no milk products. It has a comfort food feeling. Add some nice bread. Fresh strawberries.</p>
<p>Mom60 - I was also thinking of butternut squash soup!</p>
<p>NM - Is your friend in treatment? Do certain foods smell funny to her? I know that when our beloved friend was in treatment for colon cancer, smells were an issue. He just couldn’t eat certain foods because his sense of smell was so goofed up - so don’t be afraid to ask. I know she will appreciate your kindness. Not having to cook is such a gift!</p>
<p>interesteddad,</p>
<p>So interesting you would mention the Schwinn Airdyne bike . . . when I had a really terrible case of frozen shoulder, that’s what finally got it moving a Schwinn Airdyne arm bike.</p>
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<p>When my husband was battling colon cancer, both his smell and taste were off. He would have a really weird metallic taste in his mouth when he was getting chemo and then nothing really appealed to him. On his off weeks, he liked a chicken and rice casserole I would make using rotisserie chicken,rice, and 1/2 cream of chicken, 1/2 cream of celery or mushroom. Baked potatoes also went down well. They told him not to eat food that was really high in fiber-it needed to be food that was easily digested. For the first time in years I was buying white bread products, white rice, mashed potatoes, and the like.</p>
<p>He finished his treatments almost 2 years ago. Last week I made the chicken and rice casserole, and he literally gagged when he saw it. I guess it just brings back negative emotions.</p>