[Mel]

Good Morning LWL
Personally, I haven't seen the sun since getting back from Colorado. We are fighting an ant and mold infestation here but the grass sure is green for mid-July!

Today I'm going back to my regular split and cardio schudule after a mixed-up two weeks of accerating my split, then just a few full-body session and intermittent cardio. It will be interesting to see how my body reacts. I'm sure I'm going to be sore and tired.

Not very busy at the gym this week- the least 4 "twice a week" clients are on vacation. The good new is it's not so busy...the bad news will be my paycheck next month!

Have a good one!

Mel

[LKTS]

Hi, LWL!

Mel, it's cloudy here this morning too, which is odd for this area and time of year. Humid yuck! Hope your mold and ants go away soon...

My usual busy schedule this week - for the last two weeks I haven't missed a workout, which I'm really pleased about. I'm doing a 4-day split, a couple Nia classes a week, and some HIIT cardio a couple days a week. PMS kinda grabbed me a bit and I had some not-so-clean food this weekend, but I managed to keep the volumes down fairly well.

[Greekgirl]

Hi everyone!

A bit belated, but yes to me too you are an inspiration, Sarah.

My weekend after the break-in was no fun at all. Hot hot hot, first, then, on Sunday, I worked the whole day at 100F ( 36 degrees C).
From 10.00 am I mowed the lawn, cleaned the kitchen, did the laundry, and then at 17.00pm, when I thought to go for a swim in our neighbours' pool, DBF, who'd been working on his car in the blazing sun (!), said I shouldn't because there was so much to do still. I am so pissed. But I'm worried more, he's shown more and more signs of diabetes onset: eating more and more sugar and caffeine in huge quantities, combined with not drinking water at all and instead drinking coffee and tea and beer, unreasonable behaviour (nagging) and irritability. No weight gain but even a small loss.
I'm worried sick, especially since his brother has heavy diabetes 1 and let it go until he turned into a disfunctional human being from a brilliant person.
I don't know what to do except for waiting 'till it's too late and he falls in a coma, and I refuse to do that.
The only thing I could think of was to set him an ultimatum: If he doesn't go to the doctor's until September, I'm leaving. I refuse to see him destroy himself out of stubborness and fear. I hope it works.

Wow, sorry I let loose ladies, I guess I need it...

'till soon, sad and unhappy (for once)

Lieke

[Ilene]

Lieke -- you must have needed the venting because it's not like you to do that, hang in there, hope all is better for you and DBF soon...

Mel -- Mould and ANTS ewwww!!! What do you do for that?

LKTS -- I had a HORRID food weekend too... I was up 4# this morning ....

I've already gone for my Dad's radiation so now I must get myself motivated to get to the gym to do legs...I'll lurk and post here a bit and then I am on my way... Man it's a scorcher here!!! Sure am glad we decided on this year for the central AC and my parents also had it installed, I sure am happy for that because the radiation doesn't seem to bother my dad so much, at least he gets some good rest in...

TTFN I'll report back later...

[JuliaTN]

The only thing I could think of was to set him an ultimatum: If he doesn't go to the doctor's until September, I'm leaving. I refuse to see him destroy himself out of stubborness and fear. I hope it works

I know exactly how you feel about wanting to issue an ultimatum, just be sure that you really are willing & ready to follow through with it. It's easy to say it but not always easy to do it when you really love someone - I just ended a 4 year relationship via an ultimatum that didn't really go the way I wanted it to so I really do understand.

It's hard to understand why someone won't just do what they need to do when the bad news would be (relatively) easily manageable AND the good news would be a huge load off your mind

Ilene - 4# OUCH - that's sounds like some good motivation to get back on track.

Have to admit that I'm skipping the workout today so I can take my car to the aforementioned ex's house and make him help me fix it. I haven't seen him in 15 lbs (how's that for a measurement of time) so I may wear something really skimpy so he can see what he's missing

I did get in 70 minutes of cardio, 30 minutes of lifting and 90 minutes of soccer yesterday so I feel like I'm entitled to a day off.

[Mel]

Quiet week here at LWL
I just finished munching my way through a bathtub of salad greens and broccoli topped with cold ground turkey-black bean-chickpea chili. Yum! I was starved after a long leg workout, then half an hour of moderate cardio on the elliptical. I've discovered how my body is reacting to going back to my regular split and cardio: I'm starving all the time!

Lieke- I hope things are working out for you and BF. My brother is in the process of killing himself the same way. I wish his wife would issue an ultimatum...nothing else seems to be getting through to him. Maybe she's afraid that wouldn't either. In his case, he has a 4 yr old child. I wish that living to see his son grow up would be enough incentive to change.

Julia- Did the ex get a good eyeful of what he was missing? I got a chuckle about how you measure time.

Ilene and Laura- Hang in there!

Where is everyone this week??? Roll call time! Pat, Ellen, Tiki...what's everyone up to?

Mel

[EofAZ]

Boy it has been a really busy July. I've had my granddaughter visiting me from NY and I've been going a mile a minute trying to make the visit fun, she's 6 years old. She lived with me for 4 years and then her mother re-married and her new Daddy is in the service so she's dearly missed and living in NY State now. We’ve been bowling, visited Seaworld, and attended 2 different b’day parties. Wednesday we’re going to go see Dora the Explorer Live and then two more grandkids (my husband’s) will be here this coming weekend so we plan on going 4-wheeling Saturday. We’re going to have a blast.

Anyway, my eating has been very good this week, can't say much for the rest of the summer but I've reined in and doing much better. I'm stilling meeting with my PT 3 times a week and making great strides there. He had me on a (new to me) piece of equipment that is kind of like a pull down machine but at an angle, kind of cross between a row and a pull down. Anyway my back is to the weights so I don't see how much he is loading on it and he had me up to 110 lbs last week, I was able to do 8 reps at that weight. I think he was more proud of me then I was of myself. He will be moving to Florida at the end of the month to continue his education and I’m going to really miss him, I’ve learned so much from him. He is studying to become a physical therapist and he will be a great one.

Lieke, venting is very healthy so I’m glad you didn’t just hold it all in. Hopefully you DBF will listen to you.

Ilene, I’ve had a bad food year so far. Gosh I’ve been struggling but finally this weekend I decided to give up. It was like I had lost my support around the house and when everyone realized I was going to cancel my appointments with my nutritional counselor it seemed to wake everyone up to how difficult it was becoming around the house. Hence, everyone stopped expecting me to do all the cooking and shopping and I’ve been pretty stress free this week and 100% on plan since Saturday. I haven’t been this focused since before Thanksgiving and I feel so relieved.

Mel, We have sunny skies in AZ, in fact we may match our record this week for number of days in a row over 100 degrees. Our monsoons should have started mid June and we had our first rain storm the day before yesterday. It makes it a little too humid but we need the rain so bad I’m willing to suffer. We went out on the patio to watch it rain (rain is special in AZ what can I say) and my husband lit a cigarette as soon as he stepped out the door. He didn’t have time to finish it before the rain was over. Pretty typical AZ monsoon type storm.

Ilene, I priced having central air installed this year too, the contractor recommended I not do it because my house was just not a good candidate for central air. All of the estimates came in between $9000 – $10,000 so I decided to stick with our evaporative cooler. It works just fine accept during the monsoons and of course that is the hottest time of the year. I did finally find a portable window air conditioner that will fit into our sliding windows so now we can at least have a comfortable nights sleep when the humidity creeps up.

Well I’m going to go warm up my soup and have some lunch.

TTFN,

[JuliaTN]

Got to the gym late last night, did an hour of cardio, then only had about 15 minutes of lifting before they closed. Might try going to the other branch tonight since they close an hour later -and they have an evil stair climbing machine & a treadmill that goes up to a 50% incline - it's past time to mix up the cardio a bit so those may be just the things.

Mel- Don't envy you the cold chili but black beans sound like a good substitute. I've always liked the idea of chili but never really eaten it because I HATE kidney & pinto beans.

Did the ex get a good eyeful of what he was missing?

Erm...yes, he was most appreciative (with only a teeny bit of fishing) and I got in a bit of cardio that day after all

[ellenuw]

Sorry Mel - I haven't meant to be MIA. How did it get to be Wed already? Workouts are going well, I know food will follow. I went to the Urologist yesterday for a test and he ended up doing a 'stretch" while he had me there. Hopefully that will "fix" everything. On the other hand, my medical records now show that I have been using my abs to pee, so I guess Pilates has paid off. I wonder if I can write them off as a medical expense, too

I was stressing this appointment - more fear of the unknown than anything else. My trainer got messed up with our session on Mon so he offered to make it up to me on Tues. My doctor's appointment was at 9, and I was already stressing on Mon (after a 40 min run - imagine how I was before), so I wanted to meet him at 6:30am Tues. DH thought it would help me burn some stress before I went in. Now, my trainer is a real sweet guy, he would give you the shirt off his back as long as it was oh, say, 2pm when you asked for it. I know some of my 9am appointments hit him harder than me - I also know he has a 5:30 am Mon and Fri, so I was very touched that he offered. Yes, I am selfish, and I took him up on it. He was very good to me, pushed me like I needed to be pushed ...and ... ta da ... I did "boy" pushups - 2 sets even!! Woo woo!! Right there on the floor - no Bosu, no Smith, no bench, no knees on the floor ... YAY!! Today was shoulders and legs. Tomorrow is a 30 min run and back to yoga - it has been almost 2 weeks and I am feeling it. Then I have a 10 mile run (5 uphill to the zoo and back) on Sat.

Evangeline - good for you for getting your food back under control. Sometimes we just need to let those around us know we need help. I know my eating has been quantity driven, but with no junk in the house, no real permanent damage. I just got back with a "double" load of produce from Costco - we have been invited to a BBQ this weekend, and now I know I'll take something I can munch on. I hope you are enjoying your time with your granddaughter. But seriously, who is running who? Did she drive you to Seaworld?

Lieke - I know this is hard, but you needto be true to yourself. He will come around, or he won't, but you will know the ground under you is firm. Good Luck (*hugs*)

Julia, Ilene, Laura: HI! it is hot and humid here, too. I am ready for it to break.

Pat, Tiki, everyone else ... Hey there

[WaterRat]

I'm here reporting in. It's been crazy buzy at work, and lots of stuff going on during evenings and weekend too. Gads, summer is just screaming by and I'm running to catch up.

I did an upper body last night, but no time for cardio before a meeting. Oh darn. I'm going back tonight for legs and some of the

I had an eating epiphany this weekend too. I won't say that I've completely cleaned up my act, but it's so much better this week than last that I'll say I'm on the way. Need to get to the grocery though. We're out of a lot of my staples, which always leads to trouble. Now I think Mel's cold chili sounds yummy, and in fact that's what I'm making for dinner tonight! I like mine with any kind of beans, mostly it's what I have.

And a week from tomorrow I go on vacation - a week on a friend's boat in SE Alaska, followed by a 3 day conference in Sitka. Don't hate me.

[lessofsarahtolove]

Hello, ladies!

Finally checking in after a hectic little time! First off, I want to most sincerely thank Laura, Ellen, Ilene and Lieke for your very sweet words of support. When we reach out to one another on here, writing messages that we hope will impact another positively, we do our best and send it out into the void -- not knowing if it will make contact as effectively as we'd like. It can be a difficult medium. I want you to know that your words went so far in bolstering me and reminding me that it really will all get easier. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. :grouphug

My eats have been stellar, and my exercise, while good, has fallen just a bit only temporarily. I had my port-a-cath removed from my chest two days ago (if only there were a JUMPING banana to express my jubilation!!) The surgeon put the kabosh on exercise that evening and the following morning, and limited me to lower body exercise the following evening -- so I did lower body weights (a little tough because holding the dumbbells pulled on my stitches a bit, but whatever.) Today brought now fewer than 3 doctor's appointments -- including two for my dear partner Lorraine, who, it turns out now officially has Lyme Disease, which has damaged her beautiful heart muscle. It caused the muscle to weaken significantly, so it's output is greatly reduced and may call for a pacemaker. It also caused a left bundle branch block. Anyway, we ran around so much today and it was so emotionally draining, when we got home at 8 I just wanted to cook us a healthy meal and decompress. Of course now I regret not having decompressed on the treadmill or exercise bike!

On the agenda tomorrow: another doc's appt. (sheesh! ) and no less than 50 minutes of cardio, as well as upper body weights. (I'm trying to catch up, so I can get back to my planned 3 x week full body workouts.)

My weights not moving, which I was told to expect, but thought I might escape because I'm so special. I had a nice conversation with the surgeon about it when he had my chest open and was pulling the port out of my main artery! He explained that the body, after extreme physical stress, dramatically slows its metabolism and retains fat in particular in its desire to preserve itself. How clever our bodies are, no? Ah well, can't argue with that kind of physiological intelligence, even if I'd very much like to reason with it! I'm sure the exercise -- and time -- will eventually convince my body that it's ok to relax, cooperate, and give up the fat. In the meantime, I'll stick with the daily cardio, the 3 x week FB weights, and the 1500 (average -- I cycle them) clean kcals. What else am I gonna do?

Lieke, a word to you -- I'm sorry you're at this point with your DBF. I reached that point with my partner and her smoking. I finally gave her an ultimatum (I'd been begging her to quit for 7 years, and she was up to 2 packs/day ) I gave her a deadline -- of September, coincidentally -- which she reluctantly, sort of disbelievingly, accepted. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view,) the heart difficulties were discovered and it was first thought that she'd suffered a heart attack. That was enough to put the fear of God in her, and today marks Day 15 of her new, smoke-free life. I'm so proud of her. I know that when I told her very seriously that I was not kidding, and that I was not going to sit by while she killed herself and held our future -- and my health also! -- in so little regard, she was pretty taken aback. I can only imagine that it was the same for your dear boyfriend. My heart goes out to you -- I know your pain and worry. He'll have to do it for himself, of course, but it's important that he understand that his health has an impact on your relationship and on you, who love him. Big hugs for you.

[tikanique]

Lieke,

You and the DB are in my prayers. I remember how bad things got when my dad became diabetic. Our house was not a happy one but at that point, none of us understood why. Your DB is lucky that you are recognizing the symptoms and pressing him to get help. Now I pray that he listens and follows through.

Sorry to have been so quiet this week. I have been spending my time at the Harry Potter thread (yes I'm a crazy fan). I was hungover all day at work yesterday (drank1.5 bottles of pinot grigio on an empty stomach) but otherwise, food has been on. Exercise is taking a serious hit in that it doesn't get dark here till 10PM and I am not getting to bed until midnightish so 4:30 AM workouts during the week are non-existent. I wish my gym stayed open later. Oh well, I'll keep up with the running at cheer practice, weekend mega workouts and the clean eating.

Tiki

[srmb60]

I humbly and plumply creep back in to say hello all. I have been a horrible schlump for waaay too long. Honestly, I've been so back-slidden that I haven't even been here reading. I only popped in because finally, finally I did a fabulous upper body work out today. I've been working on my eating and feel I'm making some progress.
I don't know why I stayed away so long. It's been so encouraging to read here a bit. I must smarten up.

[Ilene]

SusanB -- YES, smarten up girl .... Welcome Back !!

Tiki -- Just cause you're not getting into working out at the gym in the AM, sounds like you are doing just fine with running and cheering and workouts on the weekend PLUS clean eats, that's just perfect in my books... Sometimes we have to accept plan B as plan A, for the summer time at least till we have a routine again...

This is what I am doing for workouts these days, plan B, because plan A which for me means a ''routine'' for me is phft out the door!! Plan B isn't so bad after all, just a bit more screwed up ...

Sara -- You are in my prayers with all your appointments... I hope all goes well with you and your partner. Your posts are always very inspiring and I read your blog and enjoyed of reading of your journey... Hang in there...

Like I said I am hanging in there myself... Today, since yesterday I've had a splitting headache... Maybe TOM who knows... or the sun I had yesterday walking around a pioneer type village with the kids, it makes me so happy that even at 15 and 17 they still love to visit museum and do stuff like that with us. Although DS has to bring the new BF , but that's ok, he's a good kid and at least I know what they are doing when they are with us ... This morning drove my dad to radiation... Then I went to the nursery for more pots and plants and am now taking a break from the sun because I have a headache...

I haven't decided yet if I am going to the gym or just counting the gardening as exercise today since I do not do well with a headache in the gym...

[EofAZ]

Man, I thought I had a 6:30 appointment last night and it was at 6:00 so I was 10 minutes late when I got to the gym. Fortunately my PT is a great guy and rescheduled me for 5:00am this morning. Now that I think about it maybe he was just getting even with me, but I did get up and have a really great leg day today. He had me do this one move where you stand on one leg, touch the dumbbell to the floor and then stand up (staying balanced on one foot all the time) and press it over head then repeat. I can only do that stupid thing 3 times on each leg before my ankles and the sides of my calves are just screaming at me. If I had both feet on the floor I could have sat there and done them all day long but lift one off the floor and watch out. If any of you need to strengthen your ankles (and he said the hips but I didn’t feel it there, probably because my ankles gave out first) this is a really good exercise.

TTFN,