Daily Workout Thread--Wednesday, May 10

[monarch64]

Good morning ladies, just wanted to start the thread today.

I worked on my arms at home last night...tank top weather is almost here where I live and I want to feel good about my arms. They are getting better with repeated workouts, I''m glad to report.

I had a nice light dinner of some of those frozen veggies you steam right in the bag, some whole grain bread, and some fruit for dessert. I am trying to get serious about my weight loss and lose the rest of my poundage before summer, and yesterday I had to make up for my pizza and cake indulgence at work, so I really had to watch my calories at night. Today I am back on the wagon. I visited fitday.com...it''s really helpful. Ediets has the same thing but you have to pay a membership fee to use it. Anyway, when I plug in my numbers everyday it helps me stay on track.

Hope everyone is doing well today. I''m going to try to walk tonight, my blister is getting better and I need to get out in my neighborhood and start pounding down the doors for donations for my marathon walk. Wish me luck!

 

[monarch64]

*bump*

 

[Mara]

hi monarch, sorry to hear about your blister!! make sure to rest it up. work on abs, arms, squats, do those leg exercises i told you guys about etc. it will make you feel like you are doing something at least.

i walked 1.5m last nite, woohoo nothing big, but i wasn't super motivated. my eating has been very good also, i estimate i consumed about 1700 calories yesterday...i am also finding that i do not need a super large breakfast or lunch if i have fiber in it. so yesterday i ate lunch a little late, at 2:30 and i just had a 1/2 bagel toasted with PB on it and that was enough to tide me over til i ate dinner at 7:30. i could have had an apple in between and been fine too. and that keeps my calorie count down as well which was good since last nite i had grilled persian chicken kebabs and rice which was healthy but the whole thing had alot of calories because i just LOVE it and so i eat more than i should portion wise, probably estimating about 1k calories in terms of cups/ounces etc. so it's good that breakfast was only about 370 and lunch was 270! hehee.

so anyway hoping to walk at least 2m today, also do some arm work with weights, and then tomorrow go to cardio kickboxing again. i definitely feel like i am looking okay, but still just those last 5 lbs kind of thing. on a plus note, when we were in texas, my hotel room had a scale and i weighed myself for the first time in months and i weighed 5 lbs less than i thought. so that was a perk!!

 

[monarch64]

Mara, that''s great that the hotel scale gave you a "happy" number! I have to tell you I''m surprised to hear that...since you have gained quite a bit on your left hand ring finger, hee hee hee!!!

Sorry, I couldn''t resist!

 

[Mara]

haha monarch, the funny thing is that the ring does feel a little heavier with the larger diamond, i am more 'aware' of it now for sure.

since we don't have a scale at home i was curious to see how it worked consistently, so i kept getting on it and off it when i got in and out of the hotel room. funny was that even though one night after dinner i'd feel TOTALLY bloated, i'd get on the scale and it'd only be like 1 or 2 lbs higher than that morning. i was like DAMN i ate all that food and it's not even showing on the scale really. one night it didn't move at all from the morning weight. so kind of interesting, that just totally underscores how i prefer to go off of what i look like visually rather than the scale, because i know that i was looking a little belly bloated after gorging on a 4 course meal and a few sangrias ... hehehee...and yet the scale said i was basically the same.

 

[monarch64]

I agree--the scale definitely fluctuates quite a bit for me...I try to only weigh myself once a week (ok, sometimes when I''m having a "feeling thinnner" day in the middle of the week I hop on then, ha ha), and only in the mornings. I''ve made the mistake of weighing myself at night before and there is a definite 1-2 pound difference between that and a morning weigh-in. It''s not that the scale rules my life, but it has been a good motivator and has helped me keep track of my progress because I have a bit more of a weight loss goal than 5-10 pounds. My clothes definitely fit looser and that is also a good gauge of progress. In fact, I''m almost a little sad that a couple pairs of my favorite jeans are getting way too saggy after I have them on for a few hours! I know I can always get new ones, but they were favorites and I will miss them, lol!

 

[AsscherGirl]

Hi Ladies!

I admit - I have been lazy with my workouts! The last time I was at the gym was Friday!! I can''t believe it''s Wednesday already - I am ashamed

.

Anyway, our gym has been having strange hours lately because it is a college facility & they cater to the student''s schedule. Since it''s finals, they''ve been closing early & are not open at all on the weekends. On Monday, I was in the city for work & got home so late I could not make it there in time. Maybe that is legitimate...yesterday, I went to bed at 8pm!!!! I didn''t even eat dinner!

Today, Fi & I decided to go straight from work right over to the gym, so I should be back on the wagon today. I am not sure if I want to run today or lift weights. Even though I haven''t been working out, I have a strange sore hamstring muscle??? Too much walking in heels?!?!

Monarch - congrats on your walking this weekend! That is amazing!!!

We need to liven this thread up - people have been dropping like flies!!

Virginia - did you hear from Stermag? Do we know what happened to her? I miss her!

 

[Mara]

danielle...your hamstring could be sore because you haven''t been working out.

i know that when i don''t do SOMETHING for a few days, i feel more sore, aka i get a back twinge or a sore leg muscle or something. it''s like your body going HELLO out there, i''m bored. hehee.

so i''d run actually. maybe that will get the blood flowing again.

this thread has totally dropped off in the last week and a half, what happened??!!?!

 

[Mara]

oh and monarch not sure if you saw my post yesterday but we had a dinner on monday night that was super low in calories but yet filling. it was grilled orange roughy with a marinade (not high in calories) on it and cauliflower. we each had 6 oz of fish (i know that because i bought 12 oz) but i wish we had had more fish because i think poor greggy was a little hungry after..hehee. and then i bought a huge head of cauliflower and we split it. so a 4" head of cauli has like 70 calories, i added a little butter to it while cooking; and then the fish was something like 150 calories for the 6 oz even with marinade. so i estimated about 250 calories for the whole thing. not bad for fish and veggies. anyway just a thought when you are trying to do the ''lighter dinner'' thing or have had a super big lunch. i was pretty happy afterwards, it tasted good (we grilled the fish in foil in a fish grill thing because its TOO light and flakey to not wrap in foil...so the fish was kind of a mix of grilled steamed, yum) and it was healthy!

 

[monarch64]

Danielle, glad to see you''re back, this thread has been "lighter" lately! I agree with Mara, maybe you should do some good stretching and go ahead and run. Maybe some ibuprofen would help?

Mara, I did see your post about your delicious dinner. It sounded really good, and isn''t it great how you can sub. different veggies for tons of pasta or rice and feel full? Especially cauliflower since it''s kind of "bulky" and is definitely filling. I just hate the way my house smells after I make it, though...but it''s so good!

 

[akw94]

Hi,
I know i''m late but wanted to say a little something. Ok, nothing actually useful to say b/c today''s workout is this evening but my eating was pretty good today. One thing I found out is that when you use the site www.dietfacts.com, you can click a button and it will automatically insert your food into www.fitday.com if you are logged in. That is great b/c I find that the fitday''s food info. isn''t always right..usually pretty close though but it is limited in choices. Today, I filled in my weekend eating and that made me want to really pay more attention to my choices. Boy did I do bad this weekend! Who knew that tortilla soup was so bad for you?? Quesadilla''s I kind of figured but wow, they really are bad! So it''s good b/c it keeps these food choices on my mind.
Mara, that dinner you made sounds good and I may have something similar tomorrow. I have to stop being so lazy and cook a bit more. I used to make fish often but lately haven''t very often.
Monarch, I hope your foot is feeling better tonight on your walk.
Danielle, I hope you have a good workout tonight. I''ll be working out too! It''s my second day of my Phase 2 in the cool runnings program. I hope it''s a little easier tonight but I need to burn a whole lot of calories so maybe it''s better if it''s a little tougher..

Have a good evening. "See" you tomorrow.

 

[Mara]

It''s so true re: how stuff is good or bad for you.

The other day last week when I was thinking about charting my calories, what kind of sent me over the edge and deciding to do it was that I was checking out what some of the stuff that I tend to think is ''healthy'' is made of. I used that Restaurant link that Tacori posted a while back and looked up Una Mas and Baja Fresh which are two big chains out here for burritos, tacos etc.

I used to get the grilled shrimp tacos on regular soft corn tortillas and sometimes we get a basic chicken or steak burrito with just rice, beans, meat and salsa. holy crap! Here you think okay the shrimp and the corn tortilla and the loose slaw (no mayo in it) they put inside has to be healthy. WRONG!!!! The fat grams on that taco were like 7g. That''s alot for one little taco, esp since I would have TWO. They must coat the shrimp with butter or something before grilling. Also the burrito, even the most basic of basic was still a huge amount of fat like 20g. I don''t recall calories but I do remember thinking they were kind of high though I guess if you ate small low-cal meals the rest of the day and then had a 900 calorie burrito for dinner it would be ''okay''. Not fab but okay. Kind of like the whole I had cake at lunch so there was my splurge.

Anyway, it was pretty interesting to check out that link. Also we eat alot of sushi and it can be high in calories. Like a rainbow roll with 8 pieces is about 500 calories. And I typically have a spicy tuna roll (about another 400 calories) AND a rainbow roll when we get sushi AND we eat edamame which I haven''t checked into yet. So sushi which seems healthy can be alot of calories. But I figure as long as I am AWARE of what is going in and what is going on I am better off than before when I thought ''oh sushi is totally healthy, no biggie''. At least this way I can make a conscious decision to say okay for dinner we are having sushi so I better have a low-cal breakfast and lunch so I can splurge at dinner.

I''m just on week 1.5 of the tracking calories thing so we''ll see if it really does anything, but I think it will be positive for me long term to at least be more educated. I don''t want to be obsessed with tracking my calories, but I want to be smarter about choices hoping that over the long-term it will just become another way of life for me the way drinking water instead of sodas and choosing apples over chips etc already has.

 

[AsscherGirl]

Hi everyone! I just returned from the gym - I am actually stretching as I type!

I decided to run - I think you guys are right that my lack of activity is just making my muscles flare up. I finished my 3 miles today in 37:10! That is so far my best treadmill time. I am hoping I can get my treadmill time down to my race time & then hopefully my race time will go down. I said a few weeks ago that I was going to try & up my constant running mileage (instead of run/walk). Today I ran for 1.5 miles straight, then walked for .25 miles, ran for .5 miles, walked .25 miles & then finished with running .5 miles. I was sooooooooo tired after the first 1.5 miles, but then when I was walking, I noticed that I was recovering so much faster than before, hence I was able to run a lotmore in the second half of my workout.

Re: Food...I find it interesting that I know a lot of people who never eat at home. They will eat out 3 meals a day, 7 days a week...I don't understand how these people are not severely overweight...I find that it's really hard to find "good" food at any restaurant or take-out place & that if we do eat out, I have to compensate with everything else in the day. Maybe all of those people have really fast metabolisms?

Oh, and Mara - do you ever wear your juicy velour suits to work out in? I saw a girl at the gym today with her juicy pants on & my first thought was, "eww, why spend so much on clothes you are going to really sweat in?!" And then I thought, "Isn't she going to be really hot?" haha

ETA: Sorry Dixie! I forgot - sounds like you are doing good! Keep up the good work & we'll be here later to see what you accomplished.

 

[Mara]

haha danielle sometimes i wear the pants, but i don''t like long pants to work out in during the summer, i tend to wear like capri yoga pants or something ... in the winter i do wear long pants but i always wear tanks with a coverup...i can''t stand being too hot !! kudos on going running, i definitely feel like my muscles are atropyhing or something if i don''t work out at least doing something every other day or so.

 

[monarch64]

OK, this is my last post on this thread for the night, and I probably should''ve postponed it until tomorrow''s thread, so if no one answers I will at least copy and paste it into there (deep breath--run-on sentence, sigh).

Dixie, you''re never too late to this thread--I''d hate to see gals get discouraged b/c they don''t have time in the morning at work or whatever to post. I think it''s awesome that you''ve made an effort to post here every day as long as you have! Thanks for being concerned about my foot--it''s getting better every day, thank goodness, and your support means a lot to me! Also, as for calories and who knew there were so many in things, yup, I bet the new website will help out a lot with that. I''m so glad to hear you''ve been following the coolrunnings.com thing...I have to say even though I''m walking some long distances these days that I still aspire to become a runner and you''ve been a motivator in my life to keep that dream alive, so thank you!

Danielle: Awesome effort and I''m impressed that you got your 3 mile run in in such a great time on the treadmill tonight! Wow! You''re a champ, seriously! I''m a total wimp when it comes to running. Walking, I can do...running, well, I hate to sweat and labor, so I just am so impressed with gals who take it upon themselves to do these kind of training regimens and stick to them as you and Dixie have done. A big pat on the back from moi to you!

Mara: You also seem to be very consistent in your workouts and posts here on this thread, and I look up to you for that. You''ve definitely been an inspiration to me! I hope I''ve been able to motivate you at times, as well. On the fast food thing, it seems like we''re eating so healthy at places like Baja and Chipotle (another fresh food burrito joint), when in fact, if you go so far as to be an intelligent consumer and check their websites for nutritional content you find that it''s really not that far off from (scream!) McDonald''s!!!

Kind of scary, isn''t it. I think you''re absolutely right, though, as long as we educate ourselves and know what we''re putting into our bodies (without getting obsessive about it), we can make little differences that will make big differences in the long run, such as you suggested by drinking water instead of Coke, etc. Fruits or veggies instead of chips tonight during the AI results for me and my friend--we felt tons better than if we''d had Cokes and chips as we did last year at this time!

See you all tomorrow--

Heather