<p>NMinn, sorry about the flare up, but glad to hear you’re going to doctor. You’ve got to listen to your body and it sounds like you know this isn’t right this far out from your surgery.</p>
<p>Well, the 126 calorie hissy fit did the trick and the scale moved this morning. The bad news is it moved a wacky amount, which pretty much guarantees it will move back in the other direction tomorrow morning. C’est la guerre!</p>
<p>Our gym got some of those big ropes recently–they’re attached to the wall and you hold the ends. Then you swing your arms either alternately or together, creating kind of a sine wave in the ropes. I was astonished at how quickly it pushed my heart rate up! I could only two 30 second intervals. They’re kind of a goofy piece of equipment because they take up a ton of room without a lot of different uses.</p>
<p>Those ropes are one of the torture devices that Alwyn and [url=<a href=“Rachel Cosgrove the Maneater! Only from coachdos.com! - YouTube”>Rachel Cosgrove the Maneater! Only from coachdos.com! - YouTube]Rachael</a> Cosgrove<a href=“of%20Spartacus%20fame”>/url</a> put their clients through out in their California gym. It looks absolutely brutal, to me. After a while you can tell just by looking when something is going to wipe you out. Heavy exersion with big muscles like that does it every time. Similar ones are pushing a sled across the ground or tipping a tractor tire over and over.</p>
<p>It was probably the most fantastic dining experience I’ve ever had from the surrealistic decor to the service to the food. Wonderful place. Vibrant. Bustling. Not at all stuffy. And, fairly reasonably priced for a high end Iron Chef celebrity restaurant – in retrospect an appetizer and an entree per person was too much food. We ordered three appetizers, three entrees, and a sushi platter for three and couldn’t come close to eating it all. </p>
<p>It’s the kind of place where you share everything anyway (just to try it all), so I’d probably focus more on appetizers and less on entrees if I went back. Athough, I had an entree that was to die for.</p>
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</p>
<p>It was actually like a Japanese seafood stew, with all the seafood in a broth of butter, lemon, and probably sake. Very simple preparation. Perfect seafood. Unbelievable flavors. This is actually what gave me the idea to poach fresh haddock in white wine and butter. Little different flavor, but same idea.</p>
<p>So, some lady named Joan Benoit Samuelson lives in my iPod, too – along with Lance Armstrong and the mean man who says, “begin next exercise in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”. This Joan lady came on the headphones and congratulated me on my fastest ever mile after my little 5k stroll this afternoon. At least she wasn’t silly like that other lady who said, “I know fast when I see it…”. I figure Steve Jobs probably lives in there, too… right?</p>
<p>I’m training to walk as fast as an old cripple lady. 17:01 per mile today with a fast mile of 16:37. My route is not suited to record pace. The outbound and inbound miles on pavement both have long steep hills. The middle mile is flatter, but all rocky dirt and gravel paths that I’ve learned the hard way are more conducive to sprained ankles than speed.</p>
<p>She was in town to run the Chicago Marathon this weekend… did very well for her age, but would you expect otherwise?</p>
<p>
D1 is beyond thrilled that there are finally plans to open Wegman’s in MA; only problem is, it’s way out in the Boston 'burbs, so she’s already plotting how to get out there.</p>
<p>OK… some kind of exciting news for me to update you all with.</p>
<p>Flat-bench pressed 125 today… and again, it’s hard for me to get as excited as my trainer because it was only two sets of three reps (after doing previous sets of less weight but more reps), but he always gets so excited when I reach a new milestone.</p>
<p>And the even better news is that I took six pairs of dress pants into the tailor’s tonight, thinking they needed maybe an inch or so taken in. Each pair is going to have at least two inches, and closer to three inches taken in at the waist, as well as down through the hip and butt. As she was pinning them, I realized I’d sort of forgotten how nice it feels to wear dress pants that actually fit. Having them all altered and dry-cleaned will run $116. I could barely buy one new pair of pants for that, so I’m glad I’m taking this route for now. Can’t wait to get them back next week!</p>
<p>Obviously I knew they were all big on me, but I had been telling myself that I was not going to go through the effort and money until I had stabilized at at least a twenty pound weight loss, which has happened in the last couple of weeks. It’s actually more than 20, but if it fluctuates a couple of pounds, I’m still safe, so I officially call it 20! I wonder how much fat weight I’ve actually lost, though, since I’ve obviously put on a lot of muscle weight! Slow and steady, although Hawaii looms two months from tomorrow!</p>
<p>Teri- That is truly amazing! 125. I can’t imagine. Congrats on that AND the pants!</p>
<p>Idad- Thought of you tonight as I drove by Swarthmore.</p>
<p>I knew Joanie back in the day. She won the first women’s Olympic Marathon in LA. She came to Dallas a few times to speak/run. She just about qualified for the Olympic Trials at Chicago at age 53. She is amazing. She has done so much for women’s running.</p>
<p>I’m going to have to visit sometime just to make the quarter-mile hike up the hill without getting winded! Let’s see, it rises 100 feet in a quarter mile, so if my math is right, that’s a 7.5% average grade. No wonder I was always huffing and puffin. It would probably be alot easier without that 60 pound weight on my back!</p>
<p>What an incredible book. It’s like an encyclopedia with color photos and instructions for every exercise known to man and every variation – with barbells, with dumbells, on a bench, on a stability ball, and on and on. Wanna know every possible kind of pushup? It’s here. Every variation on a side plank. No problem. Every core exercise, every weight lifting exercise. Plus a lot of useful informationa about diet, how many reps, how heavy to lift and various workouts (including my favorite Spartacus).</p>
<p>The men’s version and the women’s version are the same: they just use different photo models. Actually, I think they got it backwards. They should have used the little Barbie doll fitness models in the men’s version and the little Ken doll fitness models in the women’s version.</p>
<p>Down another 5 according to idad’s motivational plan. OMG…I have lost 40 pounds!!! :eek:That means I am averaging a little over 1.5 pounds lost per week. Need clothes so I am rewarding myself by buying another cheap pair of jeans to wear to the hockey game tonight and out with friends tomorrow! My last pair were a sz 10 and I really haven’t lost much weight since I bought them but they are baggy everywhere but my #$@! waist. Must be the weights! Gosh, I wish I could find some exercise routine that reduces the top half of my body!Sign me up for another goal of 5 more! :)</p>
<p>Meet with the knee surgeon on Monday afternoon. I know it has to be my meniscus again. Even after the last surgery I continued to have pain but he kept saying it would get better if I biked and lost weight. Obviously didn’t work!</p>
<p>teri…Yay! You are incredible! Just think how your body has transformed! You will be looking good on the beach! ;)</p>
<p>chintzy…Congrats! That movement on the scale is great!</p>
<p>idad and BC…Stop! You are making me hungry!</p>
<p>MOWC…how are you feeling?</p>
<p>amesie…the knee is an old injury. Because of it I started this road to wellness!</p>
<p>I went to LA Fitness with my online guest pass this morning here in PA. They don’t have towels. Did 40 minutes on stupid elliptical and a few weights and my PT exercises. Got HR above aerobic zone for awhile on elliptical. They didn’t collect my online guest pass (they told me to keep it for another time) so I get to go back. Hopefully, the next time I am here I can run.</p>
<p>I’m not in as much discomfort. I guess that’s good. I had my little round “Seen on TV” pillow for lumbar or sitbone support on the plane. I feel like an old lady. Please tell me I’m not really one?</p>
<p>MOfWC: you are NOT and old lady. You are simply an injured young lady. It’s that simple :)</p>
<p>NMinn: 40 lbs - wow. Just wow. I missed the part about your prior surgery for this thing in the past. DH’s doc said the *&%$ meniscus can get new tears in it even after surgical repairs.</p>
<p>Teri: yikes! Bench pressed 125? OMG. That is simply amazing. Some people on this forum weigh that much Congrats on your achievents! I’m happy that the tailors are going to stay in business because of us :)</p>
<p>And for me… I feel like <a href=“mailto:cr@p”>cr@p</a>. Got a cold, apparently, courtesy of my bus people, because half of them are sneezing and coughing. And I wash my hands religiously… I hope this will be over soon, but right now my head feels like it is stuffed with cotton.</p>
<p>wow northminn…that’s AWESOME. People must be noticing with that kind of weight loss. Good luck with your knee. I’ve had knee problems in the past…very frustrating. </p>
<p>BB…feel better soon. </p>
<p>And MOWC…forget the old lady stuff…you are an ATHLETE. And a pretty amazing one at that. Of course you’re going to have injuries. I think I know that Planet Fitness you’re talking about. Go to the other part of that shopping center and head into Wegmans for a nice salad…and a beer. They have a great pub right in the store. Amazing here in PA!!</p>
<p>TR: do you know the name of the Boston suburb where Wegmann’s is going to be located? </p>
<p>NM: Congrats to on your weight losses. </p>
<p>MOWC: Injuries just suck–doesn’t mean you’re old.</p>
<p>I-Dad–you’ve mentioned two gyms (one in Woburn and one in Hudson). I’m not close to either one, but they aren’t millions of miles away. I checked the websites because I was curious to see what they offer. It looks to me like they cater to elite athletes although the Boyle website had a picture of a guy holding up pants that were 10 sizes too big for him and his testimonial suggests that Boyle’s program helped him. So my question is would they laugh at a middle-aged, woman going in there for a program?</p>
<p>Bromfield- at most gyms the members would love to see a considerate middle-aged women since there is a certain “we are all in this together” attitude in trying to get or stay in shape. There are certain rules like putting your weights away, not talking away on the cell phone and others but you will find members generally want to help.</p>
<p>Bromfield - no idea on the Weggies in Boston. They recently open two new ones out here in the Philly suburbs and they are GLORIOUS. Another one to come soon. I’m addicted for sure. That and Trader Joe’s - who needs anything else? And they sell and serve BEER too!!</p>
<p>Also, I like the small neighborhood type, individually owned fitness places…not the big chains. I think I found one in Jersey near where I’ll be working. And they have showers. Can’t wait to check them out… </p>
Congrats on your achievents! I’m happy that the tailors are going to stay in business because of us :)</p>
I hope this will be over soon, but right now my head feels like it is stuffed with cotton.</p>![http://farm1.static.■■■■■■■■■■/189/492417290_1c61b518fd_b.jpg[/url]](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/189/492417290_1c61b518fd_b.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
