<p>THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all! Some very good advice (of course I’m asking at the worst possible time of year! :-)<br>
All was good, but I really like interesteddad’s take…don’t look at the whole amount of weight, but to break it into smaller, manageable goals. I am taking all of the suggestions and try to implement them a bit at a time.<br>
I’ll keep checking back here. You guys are very inspirational!</p>
<p>my2sunz- You can do it. Stick with us. Baby steps. Just make small changes. Eat a little less and move a little more. The results will give you motivation (and so will we).</p>
<p>On the LiveStrong Daily Plate, the only catch is that many of the listings for food are just plain wrong. I do best when I search for the exact name brand “Progresso” soup, or “Chatham Village” croutons. I have the most trouble trying to get an accurate read on something like “rib eye steak” or “grilled pork chop” or “split chicken breast” or “baked potato” with some of the choices just being ridiculously low. There’s also a lot of ambiguity between raw weight and cooked weight.</p>
<p>One trick is to look for the one that actually have a supermarket name, like “Kroger split chicken breast with ribs”. Or, sometimes finding the restaurant version works, like “Wendy’s baked potato (plain)”.</p>
<p>Anyway, don’t let rose colored glasses trick you into picking really low calorie counts for items. For example, I know that a 12 ounce grilled rib eye steak is probably more than 240 calories, tempting as it may be to pick that one from the list!</p>
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<p>MOWC:</p>
<p>Good for you. 35 minutes on a bike with nothing to pass the time is fantastic! I just can’t sit there and peddle along. I have to crank it just to keep it interesting. It would probably be kind of interesting to do set of intervals with no watch. Just crank it for as long as I can and then recover until I can do it again. I wonder if I could do longer intervals without seeing the clock?</p>
<p>I have been using these Workout Muse soundtracks on the Airdyne lately, instead of music. I like music for just cruising along, but the interval workouts are so intense that I really find music a bit annoying at the point of just pure panting like a dog, heart pounding. So, I’ve been doing music for the warmup and cooldowns.</p>
<p>I was thinking about you and the Airdyne, because a spin bike is similar but with no arms. I did do intervals and climbs. I did it by time and then some by heart rate. I can’t just pedal along… My injury leg bothered me some, so I didn’t do a lot of really heavy pushing. I have a PT appointment on Tuesday. I really think I messed up the hamstring when I fell- not from landing but from my leg going out from under me probably.</p>
<p>The odometer on the ol’ Airdyne clicked over 500 miles during my workout today. I can’t believe I’ve pedalled that damned thing farther than from Boston to Washington, DC.</p>
<p>Tough workout today. iPod nazi supersets. Lots of lunges and lateral arm raises, which means lots of sore muscles. I gave away my 5 pound and 8 pound dumbbells and the 10 pounders are right at my limit for lateral raises for 45 seconds. Lunge walking with lateral arm raises is a mean, nasty exercise; getting the thighs and the arms burning at the same time. Doing that in the same workout with a split squat and one arm lateral raise is bordering on criminal. I’m either going to get stronger or ask for my 8 pound dumbells back.</p>
<p>I did five burpees in 30 seconds and went the full minute doing jumping jacks (at a VERY deliberate pace, believe me!). Gpt mad at the mountain climbers at the end and did the full 45 seconds hard. </p>
<p>I’m toast.</p>
<p>Hi ya guys,</p>
<p>Seems like everyone is hanging in there, and that’s what’s important here. I often wonder about eddieodessa, who was really active here, then I think sort of fell off of the wagon when she had some health issues. It’s kind of like a 12-step meeting when, at the end, they say all say together, “Keep coming back, it works, if you work it.” </p>
<p>MOWC - just following your treks through airports on facebook exhausts me! Have you ever taken advantage of the massage place at the Philly airport when you’ve been there? I have a couple of times when I’ve arrived really early for a flight. </p>
<p>NorthMinnesota - honestly, if I told my trainer I was doing 90 minutes of cardio a day, he would yell at me (and he has never yelled at me) that it’s waaaay too much. I think a few pages back we were talking about how you have to balance your cardio and your food intake. If you do too much cardio and don’t correspond your food intake more adequately, your body is reluctant to shed the weight. My trainer has told me of many people he’s worked with who hit a weight loss wall, and he had them cut back on their cardio and they began to lose weight again. The key is to do your cardio/weights and eat just under what you’d need to sustain your weight because then your body won’t react as if it’s being starved. When you do 90 minutes of cardio a day, it’s a lot and your body needs to make sure it will have enough fuel for the following day. It’s difficult to articulate it here, in writing, but I’ve done some follow up research online after my trainer started telling me this, and there’s lot of research out there that supports this. My mom had her first heart attack in her 50s, and eventually died from CHF in her early 80s, so I, too am highly sensitive to what my numbers are. But my mom was also a smoker except for probably the last ten years or so of her life. And she had a hysterectomy in her early 40s, so again, she had high risks that I’ve avoided so far. </p>
<p>So I made a deal with my trainer after my my brief absence from the gym due to my injury and bronchitis. We are trying to meet three times a week until I leave for Hawaii (less than four weeks now!). I definitely was not able to resume where I was at with weights when I returned. But I’m moving and finally felt confident enough to return to some cardio about a week ago. </p>
<p>On Wednesday we had a ‘spare affair’ employee bowling event from 2-5 and I went, with no intentions of bowling. My history with bowling is about once every five years! But I was talked into it, and bowled two games and knew when I left I’d be sore the next day (and still today). It got to me in my left hip from the final step as I approach the foul line and release the ball. But I did break 100 on my first game, which was why I then bowled the second game… I got a little cocky with myself. Probably would have been fine had I stopped at one.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, going MIA usually indicates that somebody has fallen off the train. The reason I post my workouts every day is that doing so helps reinforce the motivation.</p>
<p>I don’t know how NMINN does 90 minutes on the bike at a time, but it’s obviously working for her. She’s losing a lot of weight. You know what they say… the best exercise program is the one that you will keep doing. I suspect that too much is made of one program over another. The important thing is to do something. Anything.</p>
<p>Hi everyone! Finally caught up on all the posts I missed while H & I were in Italy for 2+ weeks. Kudos, congratulations, encouragement, and healing thoughts to all as appropriate. </p>
<p>It’s been way too l-o-n-g since I’ve been to the gym, but my plan is to start up again on Monday. We did LOTS of walking on vacation, so I came home only weighing about 1.5 lbs more than when I left – not bad considering all the phenomenal food and wine we had, But, I clearly need to keep on top of things now that we’re headed into the holiday season. (At least I missed Halloween, so no temptations there!) I think my body is telling me it’s missing the gym sessions – I’ve been waking up with a sore hip/butt muscle every morning for several weeks. It’s fine after I spend some time stretching and/or start moving around. Plus, my system seems to be little out of whack, even though we’ve been back over a week. Not sure what that’s all about …</p>
<p>A couple of special shout-outs: MOWC – are you ever at home? According to FB you’re all over the country!!! And chintzy – Your weight loss is amazing! I’m in awe.</p>
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<p>That’s pretty impressive. I once gained 15 pounds eating lunch at a little trattatoria in a village outside Milano. And then there was dinner… I’d say that 2 weeks in Italy, limiting the damage to 1.5 pounds is a major win! </p>
<p>Your sore hip might be from all the walking. I’m constantly amazed how many different places there are to be sore and how every different exercise manages to find a different one! I’m seriously considering a three-day cease-fire on lunges and squats.</p>
<p>Yeah. I **finally **hit my goal. I lost five pounds! </p>
<p>This one has been a long time coming – six weeks. I was *right there *two weeks ago and then started hearing that awful *boing *sound as I bounced back up. Now, I’ve been back knocking on the door all week, tantalizingly close, and finally hit it this morning.</p>
<p>With any luck, maybe I can bank a little bit of cushion before Thursday. That would be good because I plan to eat some stuffing.</p>
<p>Glad to hear from everyone and iDad, congrats on the 5 pounds. That is excellent- once again.</p>
<p>CBBB- My travel has been insane in Oct and Nov. Some was business, some personal, some 1 time events (40th reunion and a funeral), but it has all been exhausting. Not to mention the food and drink…</p>
<p>A year ago I weighed about 2 pounds less going into Monkey Marathon weekend. I’m not happy about the increase, but I don’t think it is too terrible since I can’t train. </p>
<p>Today I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and average HR was in my aerobic zone. I then did 13 minutes on the dreadmill and came home and walked the dog a couple of miles, stopping at every bush. I also did some weights. </p>
<p>Teri- I think of you everytime I am on the benchpress doing my measly two sets of ten with just 5 pounds on each end. It feels DARN heavy.</p>
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<p>Me, too. I think of Teri, realizing that I’ve been “chicked” on the benchpress! I do take some solace in the fact that dumbbells are harder to lift than barbell weights. Mike Boyle says his athletes can only lift about 80% of their barbell weight when using dumbbells. So, if my math is correct, pressing 20 pounds of dumbbells is equivalent to 25 pounds of barbell. Figure another 20% or so if you are doing them on a stability ball instead of a bench (less stable). Also, doing ten reps is harder than doing 1 or even 3 reps.</p>
<p>So, I’ve got Teri in my sights when I stability ball bench press my two 30 pounders. Don’t think she isn’t motivation when the ol’ fat guy is grunting to get the 8th rep without dropping the things on my head!</p>
<p>Having said that, you should ask for some 8 pounders for XMAS! I know that the legendary MOWC can bench press 8 pound dumbbells! I’m pretty sure you could even go 10 pounds, but the 8 pound neoprene hex dumbbells are pretty handy. My “Svetana” even does her t-pushups with them!</p>
<p>All kinds of milestones today. I did my (now standard) 5k+ hilly state park river walk – acutally, it’s about 3.25 miles.</p>
<p>Felt good and did the arm pumping race walk thing the whole way, but mostly just tried to push a quick stride, even on the hills.</p>
<p>The famous runner lady (who I’ve never heard of) living in my iPod says I walked my fastest 5k and my fastest mile ever. I knocked almost a full minute off my previous best on this walk and about 2 minutes off what I’ve been walking.</p>
<p>I averaged 16:13 a mile and broke the “16 minute mile barrier” 
with a 15:56 mile.</p>
<p><a href=“http://slowgeek.com/ru/hwc1954/1236329271[/url]”>http://slowgeek.com/ru/hwc1954/1236329271</a></p>
<p>That is really fast walking! I shoulder press 12 1/2 pound dumbbells. I think I could bench 15s. I have 5s at home that I use for some of my PT exercises. I also have a medicine ball. Everything else is at the gym.</p>
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<p>Probably a little too fast. It required consicously thinking to push it the whole way. That’s fine, but it kinda gets in the way of just zoning out on a nice walk. It is good, though, because I can still get my heart rate up on the hills by pushing it.</p>
<p>Just checking in to say that I haven’t been posting much lately but I have been pretty faithful with exercising despite incredible family demands with my folks. I haven’t been doing any weights lately, but I have been out doing my racewalking at least 5 days a week. I had to eliminate something, and I needed the relaxation benefits of cardio more than anything. I am pleased my weight has stayed down despite more meals out than usual. </p>
<p>Long story, but 84 dad had hernia repair/stoma moved and is not recovering well at all. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, mom who has some cognitive issues, needs a lot of help from me. To top it off - the CCRC where they live, does not have any open skilled nursing beds, so dad will have to go somewhere else. LOTS of fun this week. Actually, the CCRC thing is deserves a thread of its own. </p>
<p>Come to think of it, I am really proud of my exercising record these past two weeks exercising.</p>
<p>wip:</p>
<p>Yep. I can understand that you need to get out and walk just to zone out, breath hard, and sweat for a little while. Sounds like a difficult stretch.</p>
<p>wip…sorry about to hear about your challenges…I hope things start going in the right direction soon. You SHOULD be proud of what you’re able to do through this storm. </p>
<p>I’m not posting much either. I’ve gained a new respect for those of you out there who hold ft demanding jobs and still keep up with a good exercise routine. I’m struggling. I did do a yoga class today and I’m biking and walking briskly (with elevation) during the weekends. But I’m lucky to do a 1/4 walk during the week! I’m also rather sleep deprived so I don’t want to get up at 5am to exercise. I’ll adjust I guess. And at least I haven’t gained any weight in 3 weeks (really watching my food intake).</p>
<p>WIP2- I hear you on the eldercare problems. I am not on-site (my sister is), but we’ve had a lot of issues, too, in the last few years. Good job on what you CAN do. Remember-something is better than nothing. Same to you toneranger. If you are maintaining, that is perfect. </p>
<p>I hung out tonight with a bunch of my in-town and internet running friends at the pre-race (Monkey) dinner. This included the guy who was on Team USA for the 24 hour run earlier this year. He is a BIG guy (not fat, but you would not peg him as an ultra-marathoner). He’s the one I posted about on here months ago- he lost a bunch of weight when he started running and now is one of the top ultra-runners in the country (world, actually). He’s so down to earth. Another young woman was there who does a lot of ultras, too. They are a different breed. I don’t feel so tough when I’m talking to them. She actually told me that she appreciates my posts (on the running forum) and that it is good for the younger runners to hear my perspective after all the years I’ve been at it. (They can be a little short-sighted)</p>
<p>Things have been very stressful for a variety of reasons and I’ve been gradually cutting back on working out. I played tennis for about 4 hours last weekend which resulted in knee injuries. I then played on Wednesday and modified my stroke to compensate for the knee problems and injured my arm. Then on Thursday night I slept the wrong way and injured my neck - when I get a neck injury, I can’t exercise at all. I also picked up a cold about ten days ago - it’s mild by annoying. Work has picked up, my trading picked up, I had to work with both kids on work-related stuff and buying clothes for interviews. So I cut out a lot of forum-related stuff as time has been scarce as has been rest. Weight has been constant - no progress there. Things should quiet down in about a month.</p>