Weekly Workout Thread 20th November till 26th November

[Mara]

nejarb...when i started all of this in may of this year, i was 150 and holding...even with working out about 2x a week at 45 min of cardio and walking about 2x a week just out in the park and eating more healthy than i used to, i couldn''t seem to make the scale budge at all. i ratcheted it up to 4-5x a week and started eating even healthier than i was before. that is when i saw the changes happen for me. now i''m 140 and holding (140-141 depending on the day and when i am bloated to 143 but it always goes back down) and my body fat last time i had them measure (a month or so ago) was about 21.5-22. the trainer said that 18-21 for women is ''lean'' and 22-27 is ''average''. so i''m right on the cusp of lean. i may even be there now since a month has gone by. i can''t seem to steadily get under 140 right now...i''ve been holding there for a month now. but i don''t look 140 since i have a bunch of muscle..my body likes to look leaner but wear a bunch of muscle, i''ve done that since high school when i weighed more than everyone else but i was really lean looking (i ran track). right now, i wear a size 6 and i''m 5''7" with medium build but with broad shoulders. when i started i wore about a size 10 in pants. so i lost a bunch of INCHES and built a bunch of muscle, but only lost about 10 lbs on the scale. the whole thing is kind of interesting, i don''t know how best to calculate out what you want to lose in fat and gain in muscle but i can just say eat right and work out like a fiend and it''ll happen. hahaha. and make sure to eat a sustainable diet. because otherwise you''ll slip back and feel deprived so it''s best to just incorporate your favorite bad foods in every once in a while so you feel okay.

and planning ahead for me is what saves me during the week. i go to trader joes on a sunday afternoon and stock up for the week. i get healthy snacks like prepackaged fruits or roasted plantain chips for work and then get us fresh healthy pizzas for dinners, salads for lunch, pre-packed rosemary chicken and rice, etc. that way i know we are ready for the week and the times that i don''t have a snack or good type of food around is minimized.

so anyway, i was going to hit up the gym today but i don''t know...when i woke up my BUTT was hurting soooo badly from the walk yesterday..which is really funny because i walk up to a 14 incline now for 30-40 minutes and i don''t get sore after! but greg pointed out that the path we walked yesterday for the race was kind of up and down and the streets weren''t flat also, they were sometimes at a weird twisted incline where one foot was higher than the other, so chances are some muscles got worked out that don''t get worked out on the treadmill. but OW. oh and we went for a 1m walk with portia last nite when we got home from dinner. so it was after that when my muscles started to hurt, they were probably like OKAY enough with the walking, crazy girl. so we were actually both going to go to my gym but we may just relax today and go tomorrow instead. i may do a home cardio workout because i know i can bounce and do kbox on my legs and butt with no pain, but doing more power walking on an incline right now would really make my poor muscles SCREAM.

in terms of food, i don''t even want to count. hahaha. dinner yesterday i didn''t actually eat that much because i wasn''t starving and also i wanted to save room since we had THREE desserts that i wanted to try. so i had a small slice of blueberry pie, pumpkin pie and this mocha cake my mom brought. all were divine but man that blueberry pie i got was just soo good. so then about 5 hours later i had a small dinner plate of just a touch of cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, stuffing and turkey, and then greg and i shared a pumpkin and blueberry slice. hahaha. so i''m already overdosing on thanksgiving goodness. this morning i was craving some routine so i ate my regular fiber cereal and coffee but then greg had fruit loops out so i had a small bowl (there is so much sugar in there i always feel lightheaded after eating!).

so hope everyone else is doing okay, tybee how do you feel after your long run? anyone else eating themselves silly? i am really bummed i can''t get to the gym today but i figure i shouldn''t push my body too hard. doing the home workout thing should be fine and then we can take a 1m walk later too. then tomorrow i can ratchet it up at the gym with hopefully no pain!!

happy friday all.

 

[Tybee]

Post Turkey Day~

Thanks all for your comments. The run was not my first 1/2 marathon, but my first in a long time. It was DH''s first, though,
and I''m very proud of him.
I''m hoping that he and I make it a yearly tradition (all part of my diabolical plot to get whip him into shape...mwaa ha ha...)

Must say (sorry men) that I was completely chaf free thanks to the champion jogbra. whew, that was a relief.
We''re a little stiff today, and perhaps a bit hung over (shouldn''t have had that last glass of champagne!) but we''re off to the gym for
some post run loosening up. Think I''ll spend a good amount of time on the elipitical trainer, but bascially take it easy on everything else.

Rod, I really feel for you two. I hate change, I hate moving, I hate anticipating those things. I think that it''s great that you''re working out to help you with your frustrations. It really is a good physical and mental outlet. A new car can be fun too, think about using it to drive to the beautiful North Carolina mountains, or to the NC coast, which is really quite beautiful. I know that I said this before, but my father now lives in Wilmington, the beach there is glorious! The water has an emerald green quality, and the waves are beautiful, maybe you and Charlie can learn to surf?

Mara, I couldn''t help but think of the 3,500 calorie plus meal that I was ingesting yesterday, lol! The worst thing about cooking T-day dinner is that now we have a fridge full of leftovers! I''ve never prepared the meal before... always had the opportunity to walk away from it, now that cheesy squash casserole is whispering to me from the fridge!

Kimberly, hope you are feeling better.

Jeff, thanks for the green light to indulge... opportunity TAKEN!

Off to the gym, hoping that it''s not crowded with people feeling post T day remorse!

 

[Tybee]

Yikes Mara,

Sorry to hear that you''re hurting! Do you think that maybe you want to mix up your treadmill walking with some
outdoor stuff? I actually find that running on the treadmill is very very different than running on the street.

 

[Mara]

Date: 11/24/2006 1:52:27 PM
Author: Tybee
Yikes Mara,

Sorry to hear that you''re hurting! Do you think that maybe you want to mix up your treadmill walking with some
outdoor stuff? I actually find that running on the treadmill is very very different than running on the street.

Yeah i was actually thinking this when greg was saying how the walking yesterday probably worked other muscles that the treadmill is not. I would love to go out and mix it up a bit, but we don''t have many hills around here really or trails with hills. What we walked on yesterday was actually a closed down series of public streets that typically have cars on them. There is one huge forrest/park kinda thing that is like 20 minutes from the house that is a bunch of hills, but I doubt I will want to get out in the cold weather and be walking that much other than around the neighborhood here which is all flat! And driving 20 min to go walk some hills will definitely not happen often, hehee. So I don''t know really what to do to mix things up now. Kind of at a mental loss!! I know I am getting a good workout on the treadmill for sure, I have been continuing to ratchet up the treadmill at the gym but I would love to be sure I am hitting these other muscles too. Dilemma!

 

[Rod]

Thanks Tybee. I am hoping we like Wilmington and the beach there and you''re right, the new car would be a great way to get there.

Mara: Sorry to hear your rump is sore. It definitely shows how real world exercising is different than the controlled gym enviornment. That''s why I try to mix it up with runs on real pavement when I''m not at the gym.

We worked out this afternoon and then bought boxes at U-Haul. So, the packing begins tonight. Yuck. I hate packing. I''m not good at it at all. We''re only packing what we need to have with us in the apartment as we''re leaving the condo here in Tampa furnished to help it sell.

Anyway, got to run. Just thought I''d check in quickly.

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Hope y''all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Time to hit the gym (again). Hey Rod--I''m an expert packer..moved about 11 times!

But the moves were always positive and for good reasons. Good luck buddy!

 

[Rod]

Date: 11/24/2006 5:16:58 PM
Author: Modified Brilliant
Hope y''all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Time to hit the gym (again). Hey Rod--I''m an expert packer..moved about 11 times!

But the moves were always positive and for good reasons. Good luck buddy!

Well we''ve got extra room and it''s way warmer here in Tampa than where you are, so get on down here and we''ll put you to work. Imagine the calories you can burn packing out things!!!!

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Date: 11/24/2006 5:49:34 PM
Author: Rod

Date: 11/24/2006 5:16:58 PM
Author: Modified Brilliant
Hope y''all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Time to hit the gym (again). Hey Rod--I''m an expert packer..moved about 11 times!

But the moves were always positive and for good reasons. Good luck buddy!

Well we''ve got extra room and it''s way warmer here in Tampa than where you are, so get on down here and we''ll put you to work. Imagine the calories you can burn packing out things!!!!

So tempting and I could visit my alma mater (USF). But unfortunately I gotta work

 

[Rod]

Date: 11/24/2006 7:25:54 PM
Author: Modified Brilliant

Date: 11/24/2006 5:49:34 PM
Author: Rod

Date: 11/24/2006 5:16:58 PM
Author: Modified Brilliant
Hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Time to hit the gym (again). Hey Rod--I'm an expert packer..moved about 11 times!

But the moves were always positive and for good reasons. Good luck buddy!

Well we've got extra room and it's way warmer here in Tampa than where you are, so get on down here and we'll put you to work. Imagine the calories you can burn packing out things!!!!

So tempting and I could visit my alma mater (USF). But unfortunately I gotta work

Well, you can't blame me for trying.........

 

[Mara]

so i ended up not working out at all today after reading a sparkpeople article about overworking yourself...and then greg was telling me to just take a day off and take a break and let your body rest. i thought hmm that sounds nice. hahah. so i just cleaned up my closet a bit and did some laundry (i''m trying to shrink some jeans that totally don''t fit me anymore). then we went for a little drive in his power wagon to this big park/nice house area then walked around there for about 45minutes and looked at the houses. so that was some nice activity but nothing grueling..and maybe helped stretch out my bootie a bit too. for lunch we had a snack of cold turkey and some cranberry relish on a slice of sourdough bread with a bit of salad...so i''m looking fwd to the full on turkey/stuffing/mashed potato dinner tonite, hehee. with PIE! then tomorrow we are going to the gym, and we''re heading into SF for the car show and going to grab dinner at this place on the water that we love...so it''ll be a nice break from thxgiving food. but for now we''re just relaxing and enjoying the time we have...we''ll cuddle up and watch a movie tonite with our dinner.

hope everyone else is enjoying the days off...and rod good luck with packing...i hate packing but i love unpacking in the new house!!!! think of it that way. haha.

 

[basil]

Glad to see everyone is doing well and had a great Thanksgiving!

I haven''t been updating in a while...because I haven''t been doing anything. Work got super busy all of the sudden, and I literally am almost running around, dealing with real and imagined crises, up and down stairs, etc. all night long some nights. I haven''t had time to eat my midnight meal in the last week, so I''ve only been eating dinner and breakfast. I''ve dropped about 3 pounds from where I was before, but not in a healthy way. I''ve pretty much given up trying to fit cardio into this schedule, since it''s only one more week til I switch back to days and have more reasonable hours.

My parents and I just celebrated Thanksgiving tonight because I was working last night. My fiance was working too, so he had his turkey dinner at work and then had a TV dinner at home. Poor boy

My mom made a turkey breast, roasted squash, baked sweet potatoes, sausage stuffing, cranberry sauce, and homemade gravy. We skipped mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, etc., because it just seemed like too much food. And we had blueberry pie for dessert. Of course, I managed to drop a slice of it on my nice light beige carpet, but luckily the stain came out with my little spot carpet cleaner machine. I''m looking forward to a nice turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sandwich tomorrow.

 

[Tybee]

Ooh, poor Basil!
Working nights can be stressful in so many ways! Glad to know that you will be switching back to days soon.
Take care of yourself.

Mara,
I am a firm believer in taking days off, but maybe that''s because I used to be super obsessed, then injured myself a lot.
It''s much better to take off a day here and there, than to be forced to take time off due to a stress fracture, or ligament strain.
Plus, I think that the body reacts really well to a work out after a bit of a rest.

That being said, I''m still in my robe at 10:20 this morning. We had a light breakfast of fruit cereal and coffee, and might walk the dogs to the park to chill out, but no serious work out planned for us today. Yesterday became more of a workout than planned, I hit the gym for 45 minutes on the eliptical to loosen up my legs, then did a few arm weights and planned on heading home, but got a call from friends that there was pick up ultimate frisbee going on. I''m a little addicted to the fun and running around of frisbee, so I went out to play.
I was really surprised at how great my legs felt despite the long long running they did the day before.

Chilled out on the couch last night with water glass in hand... no wine for me... detox night!

Enjoy the weekend all.

 

[Mara]

tybee, i know that rest is good for the body...i just try to ignore that sometimes!! i am so into working out now that i am SURE i can feel the fat packing itself back on when i don''t work out and still eat the way i do when i work out. it''s particularly bad right now because we are eating so much of the thanksgiving leftovers. even if i don''t eat A LOT in the way of filling my plate, i still feel like it''s a lot of food that i wouldn''t typically be eating. and the desserts!! but i just keep telling myself that 2-3 days of food relaxation and 2 days of workouts instead of 3 is not going to instantly make me gain 5 lbs. hehee. it''s just that you work so hard to get to point B from point A and you want to make sure that there''s no slippage. hehe. but yes it was good to take a day off yesterday and relax...last nite my butt muscle (i could twist over and feel the sore spot) was still hurting, but today it feels pretty good and greg was saying maybe i should take today off. i said NO WAY and also pointed out that obviously the treadmill was not working this particular sore muscle or else it wouldn''t be this sore, so chances are my treadmill workout today would not bother the sore muscle much.

anyway greg is going to come with me to the gym today so that''ll be fun, except that he always finishes early and then bothers me because he''s bored, so i just told him....we''ll be there for 1.5 hours and you have to leave me alone during the whole time! haha. otherwise he will start hovering around 1:10 and driving me insane.

he typically is not a huge gym person but he wants to get a weight workout in and i told him to hop on the treadmill with me and do some incline walking!

tonite we are going out into SF for the car show then dinner at one of our fave places so it''ll be some fish time which i am totally looking fwd to since we''re starting to feel a little turking and stuffing''d out. hehee. hope everyone is having a wonderful saturday!! !

 

[Tybee]

I word for you: MASSAGE!

 

[KimberlyH]

Morning All,

I am feeling a bit better today, I had an upset stomach again last night though, yucky! Perhaps it was because I allowed DH to convince me we should have pizza for dinner.

I''m still holding weight wise which works for me as my jeans are fitting loose and I haven''t seriously worked out in about a week and a half.

We''re having tacos for dinner and watching the Notre Dame/SC game (GO ND!). We''re going to do our Christmas decorating today, getting our tree etc. and I spent the morning working on school. Tomorrow we''re going for a long hike, yippee! I am hoping to start jogging this week. Monday and Tuesday are going to be super busy as it''s the end of a class and I have to teach a lesson for the first time (SCARY!). But I think Wednesday will be a great day for my first jog.

Mara: I''m glad you took the day off but did something pleasant and mildly active. Enjoy the car show. We go to the San Diego car show every year, it''s a ton of fun.

ROd: I hope your first night of packing wasn''t too terrible.

Tybee: SOme days it''s good to stay in your robe!

Happy Saturday.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

No work out for me today--I am feeling a little headachy from the wine I had yesterday---celebrating my Birthday a few days early (MOnday). We will go to a Matinee and then out for dinner as a family.

Hope everyone is having a good w/e; and hope you feel better soon Kim.

Good luck with the packing Rod--moving is right up there on the proverbial stress list!!!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Rod]

Hey Everyone,

We had our last training session with our trainer this morning. It was a very sad thing for me. Our trainer has made such a positive change in our lives and I''ve loved every single second of my time with him. He pushed us super hard today, which I really enjoyed.

The packing is going OK. We''ve pulled out most of what we know we need to take, now we just have to box it and get it shipped or know it can fit in the cars for the drive.

Mara, you''re probably not using weights to such an extreme that you really need that much rest. Not that rest would be a bad thing, but I think it''s more important if you''re really shredding those muscles to build really big ones.

Anyway, I hope everyone''s having a nice weekend.

 

[Mara]

rod actually this article i read, i thought it said that any type of muscle workout shreds down the muscle and you need to give them time to rebuild or else they will keep shredding and not be of any use after a while!! and since i know on the incline i am working my butt a lot....and the muscles around my butt were so sore from the walk, i figured well i don''t want to be LAME the next day. hahaa.

anyway greg and i hit up the gym today and suddenly wonders of wonders my HRM is working again!!! it matched the machine for calories once again. i have no idea what was going on before. i was super jazzed to see it working again though. really random! i have no idea what could have happened but i was SO happy it was matching again. it made me think that the machines were probably right the last 2 weeks while the HRM was reporting god-knows-what. so that made me feel better too since i have really been pushing it since the HRM started getting wonky since i wasn''t sure what to believe and just wanted to make sure i was working to meet my goals.

the scale didn''t register any weight gain so that was great, and by the end of my workout i had lost 1 lb...probably all water weight! so i did 35 minutes on elliptical, and 37 minutes on the treadmill at incline 11-14 and then 10 minutes of arm weights and machines. total calorie burn was 870!!! my most EVER! woo hoo!

then we came home and had a mini turkey sandwich on extra sour french bread with some cranberry sauce on the turkey. i love that xtra sourdough bread is only 50 cals per slice, must be the absence of the sugar in it. i love bread but i hate the calories in them, so this is doable for sure.

so now we''re heading off to the car show and dinner (not turkey!!)...kim..we try to go to the SF or SJ car show when it comes around, sometimes it''s not doable with schedules but this worked out nicely as we wanted to get out of the house one night this wkd and go do something fun in SF.

have a great evening everyone. i''m off to the gym again tomorrow to do my last workout of the week. then it starts all over again on monday! whew.

 

[nejarb]

well, I didn''t exercise yesterday but I did study alot and I had lunch w/ my aunt, which I''d been meaning to do.

I''ll go down to that treadmill today for at least an hour. It''s getting a little old though...I''d like to mix it up w/ an eliptical machine. and I miss working out on the weight machines. there''s only so much I can do w/ my 5 lb weights.

I know 100/mo is expensive for gym membership, but I think I''m at least going to check this place out. it''s in a really nice hotel and membership includes free parking. my other options are either even more expensive or far away from where I live. there''s this one gym downtown (i live in downtown houston) that''s only 40/mo but it''s damp and dark and the ceilings are low and it just gave me an icky feeling when i went to check it out. plus, I''d have to walk from my apt which is not going to happen if it''s dark outside. so, if anyone is interested in opening a clean, reasonably priced gym in downtown houston or near it w/ free parking, there''s a market for it.

 

[Lorelei]

Sorry guys - been MIA due to various crises this week, hopefully things will settle a bit and I can check in more soon. I have managed 5 cardio workouts this week though!

 

[Mara]

go lorelei!! 5 workouts this week is great!

nejarb, $100 for a gym sounds sooo high to me though i know there are some places around here who are expensive like that. my gym is $10 a month. i''ve had it since i was 19... but the funny thing is that right now they have specials every few months where it''s $20 or $10 a month again as well. so in the world of the $50-100 a month gyms...my gym is a nice haven for those who don''t want to overspend! sure it''s a 15 min drive from my house but the closer gyms aren''t ones i''d be interested in (24 hour fitness?!)...mine is smaller and there are only 3 in the area so it''s more comfortable feeling, less of a meat market, etc.

last nite we went to the car show (nothing really cool this year really!) and then went to one of our fave restaurants...we had ahi tuna tartare (really yummy, one of the best we have had and we love it), shared a bowl of clam chowder and then i had fish and chips with lots of vinegar and garlic fries. mmmmm. it was so nice to not have turkey for one night!!

this morning we''re having ''turkey hash'' which is leftover turkey, stuffing, a bit of gravy, hash brown potatoes all hashed up in the frying pan and then when done, you put an overmedium or overeasy egg on top of it. greg loved it last year and we have been sticking to our cereal breakfasts the last 3 days so i figured today could be something special, esp since it''s our last day of holiday. then i''m going to work out again at the gym (no leg soreness today..yay) and go for about 600 cals to make my week 3150 calories burned (500 more than typical...hoping it''ll keep some of the holiday 5 off!). we have dinner at this wonderful restaurant tonite with some friends so we are looking fwd to hanging out over their yummy roasted artichoke and cornbread and rotissierie chicken meal with some nice red wine and chatting for a bit. this place also has the absolute BEST dessert ever, their oreo cookie dessert which is all home made super large cookies with homemade ice cream and homemade chocolate syrup and whipped cream, so divine. i can''t wait!!! so my workout will be mentally fueled by dinner and dessert dreams...haha.

hope everyone has a wonderful sunday!

 

[KimberlyH]

Happy Sunday all!

Hubby was hanging Christmas lights so I decided to go at the yard for a bit. I ended up filling the back of John''s F150 with yard trimmings. Somehow I managed to spend four hours out there cleaning things up. I don''t think he thought he''d have to go to the dump when I said "I think I''ll trim some bushes today." Oh well, the yard looks great and I got in a good amount of exercise.

Tonight we''re having a cooking light steak and mashed potatoes recipe. It''s got something like 15 grams of fat total. Should be yummy!

Hope everyone is having a relaxing last day of the long weekend.

 

[Mara]

hit up the gym and burned 715 calories...my goal was 600 but sometimes i just get in a groove! i might be sore tomorrow so we''ll see how i feel about another workout, maybe i can do some kboxing at home. now i''m having a snack of some fresh mango. i went to tj''s to stock up for the week and they were cleand out of stuff!!! i got 2 salads and some mango and that was about it. i''ll have to go back tomorrow or to another one to see if they have the pizzas and stuff for the week.

tonite we''re having dinner with some friends which i am totally looking fwd to....great food and company...anyhow have a great night everyone. it''s chilly here and raining so winter has officially arrived..boo hoo.

 

[Tybee]

Kimberly,

Best of luck teaching! I really hope that it goes well and is fun for you. Did you ever mention the grade that you''ll be teaching? Just so you know, the students always LOVE the student teacher. They actually want it to go well for you too.

Your first run on Wednesday should be perfect timing.

I surprised myself and went for a LONG run today. I was going to go to the gym, but the weather was too lovely. This global warming thing... jeesh!

Officially sick of leftovers now!

 

[Rod]

Hey Everyone..........

Certainly a busy Sunday. Still packing, and the boxes have to be shipped tomorrow morning in order to arrive when we do on Friday. It''s not easy leaving your home in tact, while taking all the things you know you''ll need in order to live. But, we''re managing. So far, we have to ship over 20 boxes of stuff. We also managed to get in a normal workout this afternoon. Thank god for the gym. I don''t know how I would have made it if I hadn''t changed my life on the fitness side. The old me, would have smoked two packs a day and his back would have gone into total spasm by now and he would be useless towards helping with the move. The new Rod, while still stressed is back pain free, and in the best physical shape of his life. A good thing indeed.

Anyway, tomorrow we ship the boxes, take one kitty to have her teeth cleaned, Charlie goes to work to pack his office and have it shipped and then we''re meeting a friend for Sushi tomorrow night to say goodbye. We''re doing our best to just slip out of town quietly. I hate goodbyes and the sadness it brings. I know many of our friends will be surprised to find out we left, but for us, it''s just easier to go without fanfare.

If possible I plan to take a long run tomorrow afternoon. I should be able to fit that in.

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend...........