Weekly Workout Thread 26th Dec till 31st Dec

[KimberlyH]

DeeJay: I''m going against the grain here, I like to feel some muscle strain when using the elliptical arms. I tend to grip the bars, push and pull, but not so much that my legs aren''t doing working out. I had an itch on my chest yesterday (above the boob, below the neck) and I can actually feel som decent muscles in that area and I think it''s from the machine.

Tybee, Mara and Rod: I ended up spending 3 hours taking Christmas down but otherwise had a relaxing day. My MIL is 86 and has late-stage Alzheimer''s, she is unable to express what is wrong with her (she thinks she''s in the hospital because her legs hurt, when in fact they are simply cramping because she is completely dehydrated from diarreah and vomitting). They believe she has a mild case of diverticulitus as well as a UTI and are keeping her for observation for a few days. You know she''s feeling better when she gets fiesty and she was mad as a hornet yesterday so we''re headed in the right direction. She would prefer to die, but physically she is in amazing health, has the heart of a 40 year old. Anyways, thanks for the kind wishes, it''s sort of routine with her to go to the hospital once every 3 months or so.

Diamondsrock: welcome to the thread!

The list that Mara posted is so accurate. During my weight loss process, about 4 years ago, I surrounded myself with people who understood why I was doing what I was doing, namely my family. My mom and dad were so supportive. I found substitutes for my normal food cravings, frozen yogurt for ice cream (there''s almost always some in our fridge) and I''ve learned to cook foods I love so I don''t feel deprived. It''s never been a diet in my mind, it''s a way of life. That attitude makes all the difference. As does the allowance for mistakes. Eating a cookie will not kill me eating 5 every day will be bad for my health (it took me a year after I lost weight to figure that out).

I''m going to exercise today. We''re sticking close to home tonight. We''re going to La Jolla to a market this afternoon where fisherman sell their goods to pick up some fresh crab and then to the local fruit stand to pick up some delicious veggies and tonight I am making low-fat butternut squash bisque, low-fat crab cakes, grilled asparagus for a healthy NYE dinner (all recipes from my new cookbook) and creme brulee for a special new years treat.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful NYE! Take good care of yourselves and be safe.

~K

 

[basil]

Today is technically my rest day, but I think I might go for a short ~2 mile hike/walk in the park later this afternoon if it doesn''t start raining. I worked this morning and I counted 10 flights of stairs that I walked up. That''s pretty average, I guess, but every little bit counts.

For breakfast, I had 2 bowls of Special K with milk, and green tea. For lunch, I had a Trader Joe''s frozen Pad Thai, which I didn''t realize had 600 calories in it when I bought it. Only 7 grams of fat, though, most of the calories are from those yummy rice noodles. Oh well. For dinner, I''m planning grilled salmon with teriyaki sauce, sweet potato fries (TJs has these prepackaged raw sweet potatoes cut into fries that you just toss with a little olive oil and kosher salt and bake on a cookie sheet - really tasty), and salad or spinach. I might finish up the cranberry vodka I made for Christmas with some diet tonic as a special NYE treat.

I stocked up today at the cafeteria at work because my meal card for the month was expiring and I had about $50 left to spend. I got a bunch of packets of cashews, mini boxes of cereal, mini tubs of hummus, mini containers of salsa, and diet Dr. Peppers. I still ended up with about $25 extra, but that was all I could carry.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Despite my lousy hangover, I just had a GREAT workout! (More on the HO later... ) I did an hour on the eliptical while watching the Steelers game (I'm from Pittsburgh) and it was SO exciting! At one point though I had to slow down; when Pittsburgh fumbled inches from a touchdown the heartrate thing started beeping at me--I was at 180!!! For most of the hour though I was between 145 and 155, which was a very comfortable zone for me.

Now for the hangover... We went to a BYOB restaurant last night with a tasting menu and they recommended that you bring a red and a white wine so you could drink something that went the best with each course. Well, somehow we managed to drink ALL of BOTH bottles. I'm good for about two full glasses of wine. At three I'm down on all fours barkin' like a dog, so you can imagine how I felt this morning after all that.

About 10:30 this morning I got up and had a banana, some ginger ale and fiber one with skim milk. Then I went back to bed with The Demon. About 1:00 I had a cheese omlet and some toast. But at 2:00 I was like, OK, YOU did this to YOURSELF, get over to the gym RIGHT NOW. And it worked--I feel so much better!

Tonight we're staying in (we can't go out on nights when they have fireworks because The Demon goes CRAZY). The happy hubby is making homemade pizza and we have a bottle of champagne chilling -- but just ONE, LOL!

Happy new year to everyone!!!

 

[Mara]

go deejay for pushing through the hangover pain and getting out there, lol!! i definitely feel better after a workout typically.

however, today i was seriously flagging at the gym. i think that i might have overdone it a bit the last few days with 3 consecutive workout days and the long walk last nite (longer than we expected). my legs were like butter today. so i just did about 400 cals but only 100 shy of my weekly goal so i'm fine.

i had the tuna salad on wheat crackers for snack and now i am craving sweets!!! since we don't have much in the house i am eating a bowl of trix for a sugar boost. i plan to have a pear later before we head out for dinner...we aren't eating til late tonite so i have to make sure i don't starve til then.

tomorrow morning i am making us this DIVINE sounding french toast recipe i found on cooking light, it's a casserole style you make the night before then just bake in the morning. can't wait to try it and a serving is not that many cals at all...even better. then tomorrow for lunch i got us some smoked salmon and we'll have that on wheat crackers with some whipped cream cheese and probably a salad. tomorrow night my parents are having us over for dinner for cornish hens, baked lemony potatoes (i am making these, they are so good, just dice and put lemon juice, olive oil and garlic then bake!), fresh salad and toasted french bread.

and tomorrow i am off from the workout/gym so i am pretty excited about that, i think my body needs the rest..though we might take a walk tomorrow after lunch. i am really looking fwd to tonite's yummy splurge too. happy new year everyone, may 2007 bring us all the healthy bodies we devoted wwt'ers desire (or if we already have them, continue to keep them, hehee).

 

[KimberlyH]

Hope everyone is having a terrific NYE! I got in 70 minutes and burned 650 cals on the elliptical today and then did arm exercises using my free weights. I felt great! I''m working on dinner at the moment and excited to eat it, I''ve never made crab cakes before, should be interesting!

DJ: Great job hitting up the gym! I''ll bet you worked some of the toxins out of your body while sweating!

Happy Evening Everyone!

~K

 

[Rod]

Happy New Years Eve Everyone.

We had a very nice day. Got up and had a healthy breakfast then went directly to the gym for a 2.5 hour workout (really needed since we missed working out yesterday). Then a quick bite and we spent the rest of the day with our realtor. This time we looked at single family homes in the areas we want to live and it absolutely confirmed our belief that we DO NOT want a house and the maintenance associated with a house. We also saw the last available condo in downtown Raleigh that is brand new and it was certainly unique, but not for us. It had two bedrooms (seems almost all Raleigh condo''s are two bedroom), and really high ceilings, and while it''s a new condo, it''s actually quite an old buiding with polished concrete floors. But, it was so monochromatic, with white on white on white, that we''d have to gut the kitchen and start all over. It''s also on the busiest street downtown and right over the ABC Station and just two blocks from the convention center under construction that we felt traffic to and from the unit would be a mess. For example, today the street was completely blocked off for tonights New Year celebration in the street that we woudn''t know how one could even leave or come home on a day like today.

So, we officially made the decision to buy the outrageously expensive two bedroom 1800 square foot ultra cool 11th story in the incredible new building condo we''ve been obsessing over. We''ll have to get rid of half the furniture we own and half our shoes and clothes too, but just having made the decision is somehow liberating. Now we have to wait and see if the builder accepts our offer, but he seems so interested in gettig an offer from us that I''m pretty confident we''ll be able to get this place locked down. Now, all we need is to sell our place in Tampa and finally get out life fully transitioned to Raleigh.

We had a fantastic dinner tonight in a really hip restaurant and it was fantastic. The restaurants in Raleigh are far better than we anticipated. In fact, the whole city is nicer than we ever imagined.

Tomorrow, we plan to have a full workout at the gym and then cook a good old fashioned pot raost with loads of potatoes, onions, carrots and celery. It''s my mother''s recipe, and oh so good.

I''m sure I''ll check in tomorrow and wish you all a great start to the New Year!!

PS: Kimberly, glad to hear your MIL is not serious. Sorry to hear she wishes she was at the end of the journey though. That must be tough on your family.

 

[Mara]

rod i know this is now last week''s thread...i just wanted to say that i am jazzed for you guys on deciding to get the new condo...yay!!! i am sure you will both love it.

it''s funny you say charlie is totally enamored with raleigh and that you guys love the food because Raleigh was on our list of ''maybes'' for moving one day...it has a mini tech kind of area where we''d both easily find work but as a california girl i am used to a different lifestyle and more diversity than it seems like that city/area has. what is your vibe about that? i am used to a very liberal accepting kind of attitude about things, do you feel like people are pretty open minded there? also mentally i kind of feel like not very many places would have the amazing diversity in terms of great food and types of food we have here and i am such a foodie i would die if i had to subsist on american food all the time. hehee. so when you talk about the food i love hearing about it because it makes me go hmm. anyway..keep filling us in!!!

 

[KimberlyH]

Ditto Mara''s thoughts re: the condo, Rod, it sounds fantastic and perfect for you and Charlie!

Re: my MIL, she''s been wishing for her death for the last 8 years, she''s a difficult person and it''s hard on my husband as he is the only family she has left, aside from me (and she still doesn''t know my name after 3 years). He''s an amazing man and she is so lucky to have him for a son as he has spent the last 7 years, (prior to her being moved to a board and care because her Alzheimer''s had continued to worsen to the point where she didn''t know how to use the phone) caring for her so that she was able to live in her own home, as she wished to. She was being her usual self today, "praying for the good Lord to take me away" as she likes to say, which means her health is improving as she is strong and lucid enough to complain. Onward and upward...

 

[Rod]

Date: 1/1/2007 5:35:40 PM
Author: Mara
rod i know this is now last week''s thread...i just wanted to say that i am jazzed for you guys on deciding to get the new condo...yay!!! i am sure you will both love it.

it''s funny you say charlie is totally enamored with raleigh and that you guys love the food because Raleigh was on our list of ''maybes'' for moving one day...it has a mini tech kind of area where we''d both easily find work but as a california girl i am used to a different lifestyle and more diversity than it seems like that city/area has. what is your vibe about that? i am used to a very liberal accepting kind of attitude about things, do you feel like people are pretty open minded there? also mentally i kind of feel like not very many places would have the amazing diversity in terms of great food and types of food we have here and i am such a foodie i would die if i had to subsist on american food all the time. hehee. so when you talk about the food i love hearing about it because it makes me go hmm. anyway..keep filling us in!!!

Mara: I''m sure Raleigh wouldn''t compare with liberal California (particularly San Francisco), but as a gay couple, we''ve found the town to be quite liberal and found absolutely no discrimination anywhere. There are terrific shopping venues (in fact more shopping than in Tampa) and as I''ve been commenting, really good food options. Now, we''re not into really obscure foods, though we love trying new foods. We''ve just found restaurants to be better than we anticipated here. In fact we''ve found the entire town to be better than we expected in total. When we first came here, we told our realtor there were three really important things:

1. Really nice urban living options
2. Access to really good fitness facilities
3. SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI

As you''ve seen, we''ve done well with all three major needs.

From a technology stand point. Raleigh may not be Silicon Valley, but there are huge technical opportunities in Research Triangle Park (IBM, SAS Institute to name just two huge tech operations) with a cost of living that is significantly lower than Silicon Valley.

So, while Raleigh is the South, it''s a lot more advanced than we ever imagined and for us, it''s turning out to be a great place to live.

Cheers.

PS: It would be something if you and Greg ever moved out here. You''d surely have two good friends from the minute you got here!!!