Daily Workout Thread - Wed Apr 12

[stermag]

I will start today, although I don''t have much to brag about - I ran 3.5 miles this morning, stretched and managed to get to the office before it started pouring outside.

My biggest accomplishment is turning down a bottle of Jones soda in favor of a bottle of water. Not nearly as tasty, but I can do without the 48g of sugar.

I am taking Friday off from work, so this week is close to over - I am desperately looking for the bright side, can you tell?

How are the rest of you doing this morning?

 

[lovelylulu]

hang in there stermag! a friday off is definately a

bright

side. are you going to do anything fun with your extended weekend or just use it to recharge?

I went to the gym last night and while i started out feeling kind of blah, i worked myself up into a pretty intense 3.5 miles on the elliptical. then came home and did my pilates tape. it''s a new one. the winsor pilates with a small piece of equipment that is basically just a plastic circle. you use it during the workout for your arms and sometimes as resistance for your thighs. it''s not as "relaxing" a workout as my other winsor pilates tape, but i really do feel it working my abs, butt, thighs...like you lulutheleo, i''m trying to do this cardio/pilates combo at least 4 times a week.

so far, i''ve lost 13 lbs since january -- though i''ve lost and gained and lost and gained those last two lbs about three different times now due to laspses in diet control

my goal is probably another 10-15 lbs, but for wedding purposes (three months away) I''ll settle for another 8lbs.

 

[lulutheleo]

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to hit the 4 days a week this week. Let's just say, after my inaugural pilates work out, I can even sneeze today without bending over in pain. It's so true what they say -- if you do pilates you work muscles you didn't even know you had! Owie.

I think I"m going to pick up one of those windsor pilates tapes, lovelylulu. It sounds fabulous, and I want something I can do at home too (right now I always work out at the gym)

I am going to go after work tonight to the gym.

 

[monarch64]

My foot still hurts!

I''ve given it four days of rest and it seems a little better today but who knows, I could just be used to the pain at this point. Still no swelling or redness so it can''t be more than a tendon or ligament issue. I''m debating going to the doctor in the next day or so, because I have a feeling they''re just going to tell me what I already know--rest, ice, and more rest. Blah.

Unless it gets worse I think I''ll stick with my own diagnosis and treatment, lol.

Stermag, keep up the good work! I can tell the rainy weather has got you a little down today, hee hee.

Lovelylulu, congrats on your weight loss. I''ve gone through the same thing with weight fluctuation--if you graphed my weight loss progress it would be all over the board, peaks and valleys!

You gals have me thinking I need to try a pilates class at my gym. I''ve never done it before, I guess I''m afraid it''ll be too much for me! I''m a bit of an exercise-phobe, I like to stay in my comfort zone of walking and strenth training with weight machines. I am intrigued by your experiences, though. Maybe I will look into a DVD first so i can try it at home and avoid embarrassing myself publicly, lol!

 

[Mara]

hehee i always feel so sore with my stomach after doing pilates....the next day, ow!! i think i still have a sore muscle from LAST WEEK. now if the fat over the muscles would just melt away, i''d be golden.

haha i had a BAD day yesterday but i don''t feel any guilt really. i had THREE cupcakes (Yes three!!!) and i didn''t walk because is was pouring. i also think i''m getting a cold...so don''t know if i will be walking today either, which maybe is just as well since it''s raining AGAIN. ready to kill the clouds.

anyway today i had my cereal and coffee and lots of echinacea, i''m having lunch at this fab singaporean place with a friend and we always totally carboload there..for dinner i feel super lazy so maybe we''ll just get a burrito. maybe i will muster up some energy for pilates and some arm weight lifting later today.

oh and there are two cupcakes left but i am under strict orders from management (aka greg) to leave them for him. why oh why couldn''t he have taken them to work? on a positive note, typically after i make cupcakes like this and overdose on them, i don''t want them for another 6 months.

 

[SarFarSuperstar]

Good afternoon girls! Sounds like everybody is doing well today. I slept in this morning- fiance had to leave for work early so I decided to take that extra hour and enjoy the WHOLE bed to myself! Amazing! I did jog 1/2 a mile and walk 1/2 a mile last night after work last night, so I don''t feel too bad about skipping this morning. Tonight I have class, so I might go for a little walk before but nothing hardcore. Back into the AM workouts tomorrow morning. I''m going to try and start incorporating some core work into my routine soon, as well.

 

[akw94]

Good afternoon to all...
I have nothing positive to report. I didn''t get in my evening workout last night. I know that on nights when it''s not a gym night, if I don''t wake up in the morning, I might as well forget it! Tonight is a gym night though, so i''m glad about that. Some days I wish I had someone to literally push me to the gym or push me out of bed b/c otherwise, it''s not likely to happen. So......... today will be my 2nd day and I do NEED it b/c my eating hasn''t been great. Not terrible but just too much. I am really going to try for 5 days this wk but that means I have to be really good and actually GET UP tomorrow, Friday and work out Saturday. yuck!
Anyway, that''s about it. Other than that, I really wish my bf would just bring up the ring shopping so I could stop wanting to talk about rings and just talk about them.

Glad others have been managing to workout.
Monarch, you prob. should go to the dr. if the pain is still constant. Or at least call. Don''t ya think?
Ummm, Stermag, you ran 3.5 miles! That *is* something to brag about!!
LovelyLulu, 13 pounds is great! Good motivator.

Mara, thanks for the laugh! Boy do those cupcakes sound good.

Guess i''ll do some work now.

 

[stermag]

Hm, since we''re on the subject of weight loss and being all over the board, I thought I would add something I learned just today!

There is a girl I know who started running 3 months ago, in an effort to train for a marathon. The marathon isn''t until next year, I believe, so she really started from scratch, on a novice program. She''s 5''7" and 160lbs, so not huge, but doesn''t have to run around in the shower to get wet, either.

She was also, by her own admission, in poor shape.

Anyway, before she started training, she had one of those fitness assessments done - where they accurately measure your body composition (body fat %). If I remember correctly, she said she was in the high 20s, which is fair but nothing to brag about. Her goal was to lose 30 pounds.

After three months of training, however, she had dropped only 4, yes FOUR pounds. For those keeping score, that''s a pound and a third per MONTH! Needless to say, she was really discouraged and almost on the verge of giving up altogether. Everybody kept telling her that if she hasn''t lost much weight, it must be because she''s gained muscle and muscle is that much heavier, but it wouldn''t sink in.

Actually, I didn''t blame her. I''ve lost less than 10 pounds in the last 3 months, and I''m not exactly thrilled by my progress, either. The whole "muscle is heavier" justification just didn''t do much to make me feel better... Besides, how much muscle could I have gained?

Aaaaanyway. As it happens, she decided to go back and have her body fat percentage measured again. This is three months after starting her running regimen. It turns out, she has lost 13 lbs of FAT and gained 9 pounds of lean body mass!!!! Can you believe it? I almost couldn''t! Imagine what a difference it makes to be able to say, I lost 13 pounds of FAT, vs. I lost 4 pounds of weight.

So, I''m really becoming a believer... and might even stop weighing myself more than once a month. It''s important to track progress, of course, but the scale is really, truly deceiving when you''re working hard... She wasn''t even doing any weight training, from what I know. Just running. Incredible, isn''t it?

So, to any of you who might be disappointed with your current weight loss, remember, that is your net loss... which doesn''t factor any lean body mass you may have gained. There is nothing inherently great about being 120lbs if you look flabby and unfit. I would much rather remain at my current weight if it meant I could drop my BF% into the teens. I would look FABULOUS!

Anyway, this made my day so I thought I''d share

 

[lovelylulu]

mara: i

cupcakes! delicious. it''s about 4pm and i''m having a late afternoon coffee and i''m thinking to myself that a cupcake would be the perfect compliment...

but, my b-day is coming up soon, so i''ll save the cupcakes for then

monarch: i really like the winsor series, but it''s also the only one i''ve tried. i think that you can get one for something like $9 so it''s not like it''s a huge investment of money. I also like that i can do the workout in the comfort and privacy of my living room. my normal routine is to go to the gym and do about 40 minutes of cardio and then i go home and if i''m feeling pretty motivated i pop in the DVD. i also use the DVD on the days that i don''t do cardio. i find that the moves/positions/exercises aren''t that difficult to do/coordinate. it''s kind of a slower, more controlled form of exercise. but, like everyone has said, the next day your abs let you know that they have been working...

i don''t like weight machines at the gym, so by adding the pilates, i feel like i''m getting a more balanced workout.

 

[Logan Sapphire]

Date: 4/12/2006 3:57:57 PM
Author: stermag
Hm, since we''re on the subject of weight loss and being all over the board, I thought I would add something I learned just today!


So, I''m really becoming a believer... and might even stop weighing myself more than once a month. It''s important to track progress, of course, but the scale is really, truly deceiving when you''re working hard... She wasn''t even doing any weight training, from what I know. Just running. Incredible, isn''t it?

So, to any of you who might be disappointed with your current weight loss, remember, that is your net loss... which doesn''t factor any lean body mass you may have gained. There is nothing inherently great about being 120lbs if you look flabby and unfit. I would much rather remain at my current weight if it meant I could drop my BF% into the teens. I would look FABULOUS!

Anyway, this made my day so I thought I''d share

This is so true!!! I had about a 5-6 pound weight difference btwn my wedding day and about 8 months later, when I was running and lifting weights much more. I was totally depressed and annoyed b/c it seemed like my weight did nothing but go up, even though I was more active. But then I found that the clothes I had done Weight Watchers to fit into were actually really loose on me, thanks to toning up and gaining more muscle. I would definitely trade a lower scale number for a higher one, but a more healthy one.

 

[akw94]

Anyway, this made my day so I thought I''d share

Thanks Stermag! That was good to read. I''m always up for *anything* that could provide motivation.

Wow, everyone is getting into Pilates... I tried a class at my gym but didn''t like it. I have a dvd and maybe i''ll actually pop it in. It''s been a long time, so long that I can''t even remember what''s on it.

But now i''m off to the gym for some cardio. Here I go............

 

[Mara]

thanks for adding that story, mag...it''s so true!

i can see differences in my body but the measuring tape doesnt'' say much is different. however, when i stretch now and feel up my thighs, they feel MUCH tighter than originally, so rather than having the same size leg with more fat, now i feel like i definitely have more defined muscle going on in the leg. so that makes me feel better too.