<p>I am REALLY getting discouraged. I am in a lot of pain today, which could be from the shot itself (the actual needle in the butt thing…). What I read on Dr. Internet about this diagnosis is not good in terms of quick healing or actually knowing what to do for it. I need to get through the next two weekends- the half marathon this Saturday and the 2 day ride the next weekend, then I can decide how I want to proceed in terms of “rest” or whatever. I may walk/jog a 5K Oct 30 in MSP since I’ll be there for a wedding and everyone involved is running the race(s)(13.1, 10M and 5K choices) and then I’m entered in a prestigious invitation-only 2 mile event in Dallas on Nov 6 where you don’t have to be fast. CEOs in their 90s participate. I could probably beat some of them!</p>
<p>Add me to the list of race participants this weekend. Doing my first 5K on Sunday. H is doing the half marathon, his first.</p>
<p>MoWC, I can’t imagine how frustrating this all has to be. I’ve only been exercising for 7 months and I can’t imagine being forced to the sidelines.</p>
<p>NorthMinn–yay for you!</p>
<p>Hi gang,</p>
<p>Been lurking lately as there has not been much to report, other than I’m still chugging away at this all. When I first started making changes and exercising, I was not really working at all. Since June, I’ve been working more than usual, and just haven’t found much time to do anything other than my bi-weekly sessions with the trainer. After my last report of incline bench pressing 100 lbs., I can now proudly say I’ve done 115 lbs. Again, only two sets of three reps (one day I could have gone 4-5, but the trainer doesn’t want to push me too fast). Have also hit new milestones on about every other weight-lifting exercise I do. </p>
<p>Interestingly, as I’m now pulling out clothes I haven’t worn since it was last cool in the spring, I’m finding that most of my clothes are very loose on me. So I have engaged in some major retail therapy. I actually bought some skinny jeans last week, and kind of liked the way I looked in them. I was NOT going to try them on (the whole dilemma about 50-somethings wearing clothes meant for younger ladies), but upon hearing my story of my fitness quest, the sales associate insisted I try them on. Paired with the right top and shoes, I do like the way they look! </p>
<p>MOWC - you are an encouragement to me… your ability to muddle through the challenges should be a lesson to us all. D2’s high school choir director (who I’m facebook friends with), has not been able to run since 9/4 due to a stress reaction in her ankle - as opposed to a stress fracture - but is scheduled to run the Chicago Marathon on 10/10 and the ING New York City Marathon at the beginning of November. She has been relegated to the stationary bike for another two weeks and is in a boot, then will be able to resume her training (she also got a steroid shot in the ankle). But her facebook statuses have been all about how much she HATES the stationary bike and just wants to be running. I just can’t even imagine training so much for these events then not being able to do them.</p>
<p>Anyway, Hawaii is now in three months, so I need to get serious. Every time I think my hours at work are going to let up, things change, and I’m status quo. I really had gotten used to not working at the beginning of the year and wouldn’t mind another couple of months like that again. But, I have to step up the pace now that summer’s over and I’ve lost the option to lounge by the pool!</p>
<p>BTW - I meant to ask… does anyone have any good Showtime series recommendations? We’ve never subscribed to premium channels, but D2 got me hooked on Dexter this last summer (I’ve seen all four seasons now), and I ordered a subscription starting this week so I could watch Dexter when the season premieres this week. I justified it by telling myself whenever it’s on, I have to be on the elliptical. But one hour a week is not enough. I need some new shows to watch on Showtime on Demand so I’m entertained while working out at home.</p>
<p>Teri - it sounds like you would be the perfect candidate to try I-dad’s Spartacus set! With 15 lb dumbbels! 
Just kidding.
I need to step up my workouts, too, since I will be going to Honolulu in December, too! I doubt that I will have much time to splash in the ocean, because the meeting program has sooo many interesting-sounding talks.</p>
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<p>Teri would need 25 pounders to work up a sweat!</p>
<p>I only used the 15 pounders for one exercise today: the squat presses. That’s right at my limit for 60 seconds. Actually, I used one for the goblet squat. It’s not quite enough weight for me, but I’m using the 60 seconds to work on form and getting lower on the squat.</p>
<p>I used the 15 pounders for the one-arm swing the other day, but backed off to the 8 pounder today because I wanted to go the full 60 seconds and I felt like the heavier weights were swinging me a little bit.</p>
<p>These circuit workouts are interesting. The weight you might be able to lift if you were just doing that one exercise might not be the weight you can manage for 60 seconds when you are doing 10 exercises in a row without a break.</p>
<p>BTW, I read that the full three sets of Spartacus burns, on average, 730 calories in 41 minutes. That’s some serious fat burn in under an hour.</p>
<p>I-Dad–What’s a Spartacus burn?</p>
<p>Good luck to all the racers this weekend! I am heading out of town tomorrow but will check in when I get back to see how everyone did. You all intimidate me! You too idad!</p>
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<p>I should have written: “The full Spartacus Workout, all three sets, burns on average 730 calories.”</p>
<p>The Spartacus Workout is a ten-station exercise circuit written by Robyn Cosgrove and others, marketed as the workout that the actors in the TV series Spartacus used to get in top physical shape for all the sword fights and chariot races. All that aside, it is an excellent example of a high intensity body weight exercise circuit training for fitness and maximum fat loss.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/high-intensity-circuit-routine/printer.php[/url]”>http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/high-intensity-circuit-routine/printer.php</a></p>
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<p>I’m just an ol’ fat boy trying to lose five pounds!</p>
<p>I will say that I feel like I’m at a crossroads. For seven months, I’ve been eating less and moving more to lose some fat and gain a little muscle fitness. As a result of my years of smoking, I never really thought in terms of becoming fit; the best I could hope for was to not get fat.</p>
<p>I’m now at the stage where the little muscles I’ve been working on are no longer buried under so much fat. Up to now, my whole mindset has been shedding weight. Now, I’m at a point where I can see this workout thing actually leading to a fit body (in the context of an old guy turning the corner towards 60) with actual muscle tone and stuff. </p>
<p>That is a completely new mindset for me and one that’s kind of exhiliarating. It’s kind of inevitable if I keep up this eat less, move more thing. There’s no question that the kind of workouts I’m doing and ramping up to will produce that result eventually. I haven’t been fit like that since I played a lot of tennis back in the early 80s.</p>
<p>Bunsenburner - Are you officially going to the meeting? Are we going to meet?!? If so, that will be my incentive to crank it all up a notch. You’ll be my CC confirmation that I really do have cuts. After the meeting, H and I are heading off to Maui, where D1 and D2 will be joining us for Christmas, so H and my total time in Hawaii will be two weeks!</p>
<p>BTW - we’re staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. I just told H that I might meet a CCer in person, in Honolulu, and he seemed surprised that I know someone outside of his company that’s a chemist, that he doesn’t know.</p>
<p>teri, I sent you a PM. Goodness, we need to go shopping for bikini swim suits so we will be able to show off our cuts to the chemistry nerd crowd 
JK! JK! LOL 
(FYI - check the Dressing Young thread. I think we came to a conclusion at one point that skinny jeans were a-OK for ladies over 30 (ahem) if worn with proper footwear and tops.)</p>
<p>Is this a great country or what?</p>
<p>There’s a company that sells MP3 downloads of soundtracks for every imaginable configuration of interval workouts. Voice over countdown timers and techno music for 30 seconds of work, 15 seconds of rest, or whatever intervals you like. No stopwatch needed. Just crank the iPod and bust your butt.</p>
<p>They have a FREE soundtrack for the Spartacus wprkout! The full three sets, ten exercises per set, 60 seconds of work alternating with 15 seconds of rest (I’ve been taking 30 seconds of rest). Two minutes between sets. Complete with cheering crowds in the Roman Coliseum after each exercise.</p>
<p>Wow. This is gonna kill me. The thing about these iPod timers is that there’s no cheating unless you dive for the PAUSE button.</p>
<p>What a country, huh?</p>
<p>[Spartacus</a> Workout Soundtrack | Workout Muse - Interval Workout Music - Interval Training Music](<a href=“workoutmuse.com”>workoutmuse.com)</p>
<p>What’s a goblet squat, idad? I do what my trainer calls Sumo squats–legs spread wide, toes pointed out, with a 45lb dumbbell held low in front.</p>
<p>Grrrr…after hitting my low weight last week I am in a slump! Guess this is my first plateau and I don’t like it!!! Haven’t lost any weight since Saturday and in fact am up a pound with no increase of calories eaten. I upped my exercise a bit today but I leave for a weekend away this morning. Will be extra diligent with my eating and will improvise exercise since there will be no gym. Will hike and use the steps and try some core exercises thanks to idad! Will see if it helps when I get close to a scale on Monday!</p>
<p>northminn…hang in there. I haven’t lost weight in 3 weeks…but I’m happy that I haven’t gained weight with all that I have going on. </p>
<p>Good luck to all the runners and walkers this weekend! And healing wishes to all those dealing with injuries. </p>
<p>Once again, reading through the reports have made me feel like a total slug so I’m taking a break and heading out for a hilly walk. I REALLY wish I could do weights and planks and such but my elbow is saying no. 14 months now with tennis elbow. I’m starting to feel like this will be a permanent limitation :(</p>
<p>Just keep doing what you’ve been doing, NM, and it will come off.</p>
<p>NM - it does get tougher as you move towards a healthier weight. I was thinking about this the other day, it is certainly possible to eat an extra 1000-2000 calories on a given day. It is NOT possible to eat 1000 or 2000 less than what is reasonable. I think I consume about 1500-1800 calories a day. If we go out to eat or I make a great tailgate menu - I can easily go 1000 calories over those numbers. Well, I can’t eat only 500-800 the next day to make up for my splurge. It is much harder to take off weight than put it on. </p>
<p>Not a real scientific explanation - but just what I was thinking as I was pondering why I can get to my goal weight, stay there for a few days, but then go up a pound or two after a couple of days of just not being careful. It’s a bummer, but just how it is!</p>
<p>The history of man and food is one of scarcity and I think that our bodies are tuned for scarcity so we predisposed to preserve weight and calories. The last time I lost major weight, it was mostly all through diet and exercise - tennis and running. Dropping the last ten pounds required adding three days of weights. It did come off. That pyramid thing that idad posted a few days ago sounds correct.</p>
<p>But for me, the easiest thing to do day-in and day-out is running with a little tennis and I know that running works very, very well - up to a point. I have quite a ways to go before getting to that point so I’m not worrying about it right now.</p>
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<p>It’s just a regular squat, but holding one dumbell vertically, cupping one end in your upturned palms. Or a kettleball or a medicine ball. The weight just stays fixed just under your chin while you do the squat. I’m sure you could do the same thing with a pair of dumbells, but this position forces the elbows in. That may be the rationale; I don’t know.</p>
<p>I’m finding it effective at helping me push my hips back and get lower into a squat position, which has been a challenge for me. That’s what I focus on for the 60 seconds rather than worrying about lifting more weight – well that and just trying to do squats for 60 seconds.</p>
<p>nminn:</p>
<p>My weight has been all over the place since my colonoscopy prep last week. Big day to day drops and then big bounces back up. I’ve also been seeing big swings in body fat readings from the scale. I’ve lost 1 pound in the last 14 days, even though I’ve gone up and down 3 pounds in that time frame. My jeans have also gotten noticeable loose in the waist over the span of those 14 days.</p>
<p>It’s just part of the game. Fitness and fat loss experts scoff at the idea of a “plateau” until you’ve stopped losing weight for weeks or a month. That’s a plateau. A week without weight loss is just normal variation, even for someone doing everything right. A 16 ounce glass of water is a pound. About half of your body weight is fluids. So, it’s pretty easy to see weight loss masked by even small variations in hydration.</p>
<p>It may be just coincidence, but this is several times that I’ve seen the scale stall when I’ve stepped up my weight and resistance workouts, even though my waist and other indicators suggest that there’s no plateau. Who knows? All I know is that, if I eat fewer calories than I burn and keep working out effectively 3 to 5 times a week, I will keep losing fat and/or start getting lean muscles. For me, it could just be the cooler weather and not sweating buckets as much.</p>