Alrighty everyone. We are through the hardest part of the holiday season so it's now time to get those bodies moving and burn off all that holiday cheer. Work It, Work It, Work It.

Thanks for starting this one, Tammy! Work it is right!

10 minutes stair master, 53 minutes elliptical, 20 minutes upper body weight lifting.

Grrr..I am sick again with the same thing I had about a month ago. I have taken it easy today, but I am going to attempt a light workout at the gym tomorrow. For three days I have little or no appetite. First it started out with nausea and then turned into a rotten head cold. Maybe I have the flu. Anyways, my kids have it also.

I'm determined not to let this get me down for an extended amount of time like it did last time. I'm wondering what in the world is up with my immune system since I am getting sick so often.

Dana, you had a great exercise day. When you do the elliptical are you doing fat burning or cardio? I'm always curious to what other people are doing.

Hey Mez, you doing ok? Have not heard much from you in a few days. I hope that all is well.

Hi Tammy I'm still around. My daughter hasn't been feeling well so I spent the day in the hospital with her. She dehydrated and the doctor wanted to run a few test on her to make sure the baby wasn't under stress. Her due date is Jan. 9th so she can go at anytime. I did miss out on my workout but that is fine since she and the baby are ok. I'm sorry to hear your sick. When I feel somthing comming on I take an extra Vit. C. I don't know if it works because I still get sick but it doesn't seem to get bad and I think it might shorten it. (mind over matter?) Hope you and the kids get better soon.

How exciting that your daughter is due any day. I know you must be joyfully anticipating the birth. Is she having a boy or girl? Yep, being at the hospital with your daughter certainly was your biggest priority for the day. I hope that she gets to feeling better soon. I know how miserable it is to be pregnant and sick. It's not much fun at all.

Tammy, don't rush yourself! YOU (and us, too!) you are dedicated and kick *** with exercising, no need to put the extra pressure on yourself. You know your limits though, so good luck today if you decide to work out. Be kind to yourself, though! I hope you and the kids get well soon. Hmm, it depends on my mood for which setting I use on the elliptical. Usually I'll do manual or "cross training" and turn the resistence up a bit, because I like to be in the cardio heartrate zone. What do you do?
Mez, how exciting about your daughter! Glad to hear that she's okay. : to you and your family, especially your daughter!

Thanks for your kind words Tammy and Dana. It's a boy. His name is going to be Phoenix Xander. She likes uncommon names. I'm so excited. I can't stop myself form picking up things here and there at the stores. There are so many cute things and I've been able to find wonderful bargins. I was hoping the baby would be born before Jan. The doctor told my daughter that he thinks she'll more likely be overdue than early. (he hasn't dropped ect..) He also said that the baby is 7lbs right now. My daughter was 9 1/2 lbs and my son was 8 1/2 lbs. (both were 2 weeks early thankfully) I did make a baby bag for her. It has relaxing lotions, books, suckers (for a dry mouth) camera, socks that say push on (Top) her side and pull on the doctors side. (bottem) a small massager, music cds and some other stuff for when she's giving birth. Sorry I'm having a brain fart I think I wore myself out during my workout today. Speaking of that... here's what I did.

Tuesday
I added 5 lbs ankle weights for all my workouts (boy did I feel them)
3 Mile WATP
2 Mile WATP
1 Mile WATP

Greetings! I guess I should commit to an exercise plan. It's been so difficult because my dh and I work different shifts, and I'm alone with my 10 1/2 month old ds after work, so my only time to exercise is in the morning before work. Lately ds has been waking up and wanting mommy before work, so I haven't been able to use my new step that I got for Christmas. But dh and I had a talk today, and he says he's going to take care of ds if he wakes up before I'm done. Hopefully he'll keep his promise! So my plan is to 1) do Step Aerobics three times this week and 2) walk during lunch.

Well, I was going to go to the gym today. Everytime I got up my head would spin and I would break out in a sweat. I thought it would probably be best to go ahead and take it easy. I've stayed way on-plan as far as eating goes, so I am not to worried. Is it me or as you start to get older you seem to stay sick longer?

Dana, I mostly stick to cardio on the elliptical. I figure with doing weight training also that I am boosting my metabolism way more that way than trying to do hours of fat burning on the elliptical. My trainer told me that although cardio is important, by far, better affects on the metabolism are seen by doing weight resistance training. He told me that one session of weight training will boost the metabolism for up to two days. That is just tremendous!! I love that. So, I basically do cardio as a healthy benefit to my heart more than anything. I do like the fact that the cardio burns a good bit of calories though. Weight training burns very few calories so the cardio does benefit in more ways than one. I just try to find a good balance. I usually set the elliptical to cardio at first and then after a bit I put it on manual. I don't tend to use much resistance at all because I am pretty tired after doing weight training and to much resistance about does me in. Oh, FYI, for all of you that use the elliptical or any other machince that can track your heart rate. Taking you own heart rate as opposed to letting the machine do it is way more accurate. The machines can be really off whack sometimes. I noticed on one machine I use it was saying my heart rate was 139. I felt like I was working way harder than that. I took my own heart rate the old fashioned way and I was at 155. That is a big difference. 150-155 is the heart rates I shoot for when I do cardio. Dana, what does your heart rate run when you do cardio? I know, I ask alot of questions. I don't really have anyone else to share or ask so it is super nice to have someone to do that with.

Mez, you are spoiling the baby rotten already. As well you should...That is super sweet that you made your daughter a bag. The things in the bag will be very useful and she will enjoy them. Are you going to be in the room also when she gives birth?

I suspect you will be feeling the effects of that extra weight even more tomorrow. Looks like you had a really good exercise day.

Darlene you have your hands pretty full. With work and kids I suspect you are going to have to come up with some creative ideas to get in some exercise time. I hope to that your husband keeps his end of the bargain, that would be a big help for you. I'm sure it will all come together with time.

Mez, I like your daughter's name choice. Your first grandchild is a big deal. That's a really nice idea about the bag.. I'm sure dd will appreciate it! So, 7 lbs now and she'll probably be overdue? Yikes! I bet she wants him to get out already. I can't imagine how exciting that must be for everyone.

Darlene, good for you for making a plan! sounds like you've got your hands full there, but you can do it, especially if hubby keeps his end of the bargain. Sounds good to me.

Tammy, I don't mind a lot of questions, I'm an inquisitive mind myself. Funny you should mention heart rate, because I was going to make a post awhile back out of curiosity about what everyone shoots for. I usually try to hover between 150-155 also; when I do the stairmaster, my heart rate goes up to about 165 but I really don't like that.. it's only 10 minutes though, I figure it's a good wakeup (unless, of course, I'm really tired... then it's like "okay, time to go home!") And I definitely know what you're talking about with the heart rate moniters on those machines- I've been on some that read 72.. what the heck? Oh well. I don't know how to find my heart rate the old fashioned way.. is it when you count your pulse for 10 seconds or something? I can never remember.

I think it sounds good to focus on your weight training. If you don't mind me asking, how do you plan out your workouts? How many reps and sets do you do, and what's a normal routine like? Do you separate between upper and lower or what? I haven't really been able to find the right mix of cardio and strength training yet. I'd like to focus on strength training, but I'm wondering if I should wait to shed some weight first. I dunno, I have read so many mixed opinions and I haven't really figured out what works for me yet.

Dana, I will pull my cards at the gym tomorrow and then I will be able to tell you exactly what I am doing for weight training. The trainer worked it all out for me. Dana, what is your age? If you give me that I can tell you what you heart rate for the ten second way. I'm guessing you are about 20, in that case it should be 28, I believe. If I am wrong I will post and correct. I am 33 and I know for me it is 27. To me that is the easiest way to keep track. I know if I do HIIT my upper heart rate is 163 and slow down is about 150. I have a hard time even doing 10 minutes of HIIT, so lately I have just been sticking with regular cardio.

The trainer told me that when starting weight training I was not going to see very much weight loss. Advantages of that is that you are losing fat and gaining muscle and raising your metabolism. My question to that is, when do you start losing again? No one can really tell me that. I don't want to be stuck at 195 and look buff. That is not what I am looking for. So, I see where there is some confusion about it also. If the trainer is in tomorrow I will corner him and interrogate him..heh

Haha, yeah, interrogate him Tammy, and find out what you can. Do you meet with a trainer regularly still, or was it just something to get you started and all? Thanks for the heart rate tip, too. HIIT is really a killer- I can't do it for more than 10 minutes either, really. How often do you weigh in? It must be frustrating. I assume you measure too though.

Hm, today I was exhausted. I worked in my mom's store cleaning out the basement and lugging trash to the dumpster for four hours (they're moving). I also did 15 minutes on the cross trainer, 25 minutes of upper body weights, and 15 minutes on the elliptical. wanted to keep going on the cardio but i figured it wasn't really worth being exhausted over.

I am sicker than ever today. The cough set in today. I did force myself to go out for a 1 1/2 mile walk with my husband to go weigh at our military medical clinic.

Dana, I did not make it to the gym today I've only met with the trainer once and that is when he took about 1 1/2 hours to go over a weight training program that would work well with me. I have the opportunity to make an appointmet with him at anytime though if I need it. I get way bored very quickly so he came up with something that only entails 30 minutes each time I am there. But, normally I go 6 times a week. So, each time I work two different parts of my body. When I get my workout cards I can tell you exactly. I'm not sure if going 6 days a week is going to work out very well since I have a family. We only have one car and my husband has a job outside his military one so that leave me with no transportation to get there. Granted, the gym is really less than 2 miles, but I can't be away from home that long since my 14 year old watches my daughter and my toddler daughter. Also, if there was an emergency at home I could not readily get home immediately. I forgot to answer the question on reps yesterday. I do two sets of 12. The trainer told me that that is all most people need. On the second set though you should be feeling exremely uncomfortable by the time you get to the count of 10 or else you are not lifting enough weight. I do have to say though it is quite amazing how quickly you start to develop muscle. I noticed a difference after just the first week.

I usually weigh-in every week. I really got side-tracked after my son was hit by the car on December 7. I weighed today though. I'll post how I did on the weigh-in thread. So, I am getting back on track. Weighing once a week makes me more accountable to myself. I don't like seeing a gain and I work extra hard ususally so that I won't see a gain that week.

Dana, sounds like you did alot of physcial work today. You certainly were burning off the calories. Making it the gym also after that shows you have some great motivation. Feels good to get a good workout for the day, eh?

Oh, I just wanted to add in case anyone is interested. Discovery Health channel is doing a National Body Challenge. I am going to insert the link, but I don't know if it will be allowed. Here it is: http://health.discovery.com/converge...e2005/wow.html

I've decided I am going to do this. It lasts for only two months. I sure as heck don't have anything to lose but weight by giving it a try. Also, you get a 2 month Free Bally Total fitness gym membership. I know sounds to good to be true, but I have yet to find any real catches. Let me know if anybody else decides to do this challenge.

This would be an excellent opportunity for any of you just getting started and feeling a little bit lost with the whole process of weight loss. Their website offers some really good information on diet and exercise. I know how overwhelming it is to get started and every little bit of help sure makes it easier.