September/October Alternachick chat
 

Hello alternachicks! :wave:

Hope everyone had a good summer and is raring to go for the fall! :)

I am getting into the cooler weather already. Today I finished painting the trim on the front porch.

Then I baked low-fat muffins and banana bread (a WW recipe), and for dinner I am making a ham with scalloped potatoes (a WW recipe) and corn.

I really enjoyed baking and have missed doing it over the summer. I am also looking forward to making soup. :chef:

I am signing up for bellydance class in two weeks and really need to get back to basics after taking the summer off.

What"s new with all of you?

Bellydance classes sounds like fun - wonder if I could find any around here - are they expensive ????

I'm getting my house organized - well as much as is possible :D
I LOVE this time of year - cool nights for sleeping - coolish days
Red Sox winning the division and in the playoffs

I do miss baking too but can't do it much - I'll eat it and there's just me and my 10 year old
I'm going to try to make a couple of things a week in my crockpot and then freeze a few meals so I can just microwave at night and steam a veggie

I'm looking forward to spending more time on my new bike - can't deal with the heat so this is s great time of year for me to really burn the calories on long rides

Hope everyone is well.............

Witchy - I got a new bike this summer too. Didn't use it much during school holidays because it's not as easy with the boys. I did get to use it when we were camping, but not so much at home. I've only used it once since school started but have more opportunity now and as you say, it's cooler.

For me, I started TOPS this fall - with all my boys finally in school I have a bit of time to go to such things. Only two meetings so far but a supportive group of ladies and it looks like it will be fun.

A small NSV this weekend - I accidentally put DH's shorts on (he's in much better shape than me, being one who works construction and naturally slender) and didn't notice until we were out! They did feel a little odd, but what actually made me notice is that they have a cargo pocket on one leg, and mine don't. I'm only 10lbs heavier than him right now, and am aiming for 20-25lbs lighter in the long run.

I'll miss the summer veggies (and the farmer's market, which ends Oct. 6) but I love the crockpot meals of fall. We bought some organic beef finally this weekend which I'm cooking tonight. I plan on ordering a package of meat from the same farm next time DH gets paid.

On with the day...
Jax

I'm so ready for fall, but so not ready for winter!

Bellydance classes do sound like fun! My husband has a bellydancer thing, and he made me promise to take classes eventually. Maybe...when my belly is less jiggly.

I bought new trail running shoes Saturday and meant to break them in Sunday, then spent the whole day cleaning and was too exhausted. *sigh* Maybe tonite, but probably not. I have to sew three huge dog beds so I can have my bed back!

Eco, you know that Belly Dance can help your belly to become less jiggly don't ya? You can do it and then when you are all slim and trim, you'll be a pro at it and you can seduce him with your mesmerizing hips ;)

EcoGeek-contrary to popular opinion, it is actually a good thing for a belly dancer to have a belly and hips that can jiggle. It makes the flutters, belly rolls, and hip shimmies much more pronounced and apparent. It is much easier for an overweight woman to get a really good hip shimmy than it is for someone who is stick thin with no body fat whatsoever.

:)

How are you ladies doing today?

I have been meaning to jump into this chat all month! :lol:

Mauv-how are you? :)

Yep! All types of women have been in the classes I have taken. In fact it is a great way to trim down your hips and tighten up your abs but it is great to have curves to shimmy with.

Classes in my area range from $52 to 80 for 10 to 12 classes.

Jaxjob - nice NSV! :cp:

Aphil - I'm doing well. :) I have been really busy at work and trying to clean out my house and paint before Christmas rolls around. I've also got some courses to take in October/November for work. At least being busy keeps life from getting dull - :D

How are things with you? How are your hubby and kids doing?

DH and the kids are great. Saber is 13 months old now, and walking and getting into EVERYTHING. My classes are going well-I teach 3 a week now. :)

Things are well here-doing stuff around the house, sewing, etc.

:)

Wow - I can"t believe Saber is that old already!

Glad things are going well.

Well here we are almost into October - time to pack up the summer gear and get out the Halloween decor! :D

We are off to our last summer BBQ today - I will try to enjoy myself but not pig out too much. :ink:

I really need to get back on track and back to yoga class. :drill:

Whoo! Made it in twice in the last two days! :cb:

Tough day at work today - I'm exhausted. :yawn:

DH and I are going to see Resident Evil 3 (or whatever it's called) tonight. We have a 2 for 1 one admission coupon.

We went last Monday to see Halloween and there were only 4 of us in the theatre. We are hoping that the same thing happens again tonight. It was nice to have the place to ourselves. :)

Mauvaisroux - I love going to movies when the theatre's almost empty. Only problem there is then I'm tempted to go sit next to someone who's alone. Boy, I'm creepy. ;_; Anyway, I hope the movie's good ^^

haha that's funny faerie because i was going to post and say that every time i think i'm lucky i've got the theater to myself or close to it - someone comes and sits either directly in front of me, or really close to me.

it would be fine except most of the time those people are also talkers! *LOL*

I really really want to see Into the Wild... Man I haven't gone to see a movie in quite some time...

Things here have still been a little bit stressful. October marks the beginning of mandatory overtime - I'll be working 6 day work weeks twice a month until January. BOOOOOO. That ought to do wonders for my stress levels. *LOL*

Other than that things are good - it really feels like fall here and it's very beautiful. I am enjoying snuggling up in warm clothes.

Hey guys I'm still here... been a bit busy with the bookbinding work.

I really want to take a bellydance class but i wouldn't have been comfortable at my starting weight. Since I've been working out at home for about 5 months now I'm much more comfortable with my body and I'm thinking about maybe taking a class after the holidays. I've done a few bellydance DVDs on my lower-intensity days (I know I know Aphil!) and I know for certain I don't feel as goofy as I did when I first tried one. I was like total disconnected with my body before or something.

-muse (who surpassed 50lbs down and 1/3 of the way there this week!)

muse-congrats on passing the 50 pound mark!!!!

:carrot: :carrot: :carrot: :carrot: :carrot: :carrot:

I also love it when we go see a film and hardly anyone else is there. I hate it when moviegoers put their feet on the back of my seat, or kick the back of it romping around....talkers...those who don't turn off their cell phones...the makeout couples...

:lol:

Hi girls. Nice to see so many of you taking bellydance classes (or at least looking into it!). I did 2 hours of bellydancing last night (admittedly not non-stop ... we had a tendency to dance then stop and chat then dance some more, then chat some more!).

The troupe I have joined have a couple of performances coming up including a performance at the dance school's Halloween party :) I can't wait!

It's great exercise and the best thing is it really is for women of all ages, shapes and sizes!

I would love to try - but I feel the same - need to lose some more weight first. A gal I work with does it and loves it - but she looks good doing it too. She said the ladies with more layers show the movements better though and was encouraging. I thought that was nice. :)

I have a small NSV - I've been dragging my giant pants with me everywhere I go for some time now... but have been in between sized so didn't bother to get new ones. Last night I bought a pair of 22's and they fit. perfectly. I am so happy. I can toss out some of my saggy pants.

lizziness-your friend is correct. While women of all sizes look fabulous belly dancing, it is actually easier for a beginner to learn to shimmy, etc. if she has a little extra. Skinny women can definitely do it, but sometimes it takes a little more work for them, since they have less to get vibrating.

Classes around here are $12 and if you buy a 10 class card it's $100.

lizziness - yay about your pants victory :)

All this talk about bellydancing has me looking into it. If skill were based on size, I could be a natural born pro! ^^ In all seriousness, I've always wanted to wear what they wear in confidence & show my stomach to the world! :) Maybe someday...

Yeah, I seriously am thinking of looking into it around January, funds willing. Even though with the weight loss, I'm more confident. I work with kids and I had to swim with the little ones. I walked by the (rude) older ones and they made fun of me in my bathing suit but I didn't get bummed out about it like I normally would because I was confident that next year, I won't look like that anymore. I'm a work in progress and my progress is for the better. Although it is VERY positive to hear that bigger women will learn bellydance easier. :p At our place, they have bellyaerobics. I'm going to try that first then add in the begining bellydance classes. I live a quick bike away from the dance studio too!

I should get my Bollywood dance workout in the mail tomorrow. Anyone tried it? I am interested in bellydancing meself, but oh, so have to start in my living room first. My belly is where I carry ALL my weight, so this should be interesting.

What's NSV? Still trying to get down all the abbreviations here. TOM took me forever and then when I found out, I couldn't belive menstrual cycle has a dude's name. WTF?

Congrats, liziness:)

NSV-Non Scale Victory

Like, not eating the cake you were offered, having a pair of pants getting too big, etc. Anything that shows progress in your path to health that doesn't have anything to do with scale numbers.

:)

ollie-which Bollywood one do you have? I have one, but I don't know if it is the same one you ordered.

Hey ollie - This might help : http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83430

Thanks. Makes sense. I guessed the victory, but had trouble with the rest. Speaking of which, I had a weekend house guest come in late last night with a piece of carrot cake for me, and I refused!

I Netflixed the "The Bollywood Dance Workout With Hemalayaa" and didn't like it. Sending it back tomorrow. It is billed as being one for beginners, but it still moved a little fast for me. And it was a little too, "Oh and this is a SEXY move! Yeah, baby!"

Honestly, I ain't feeling the sexy thang right now. Eventually, maybe. But not right now. I need something a little bit more down to earth than the hair swinging, sexy! moves. Suggestions are welcome:)

Thanks, Faerie. Bout to check the link out...

I've always wanted to belly dance too. I had a DVD that I wanted to learn from, but I somehow picked up one that just showed belly dancers instead of actually teaching you how to do it.

My goal for the next couple of months is to get into some kind of shape so I can join a dojo near my house. I used to do jujitsu in college, and it's going to be a reward once I get to my halfway point. I'm going to join mid January. It's been working really well so far because I haven't stopped thinking about it.

October is going pretty well so far though. It's been extremely warm for October here in DC though. Like, summer heat. I don't know what's going on. I want crisply cool days with flirty winds! I can't wait for Halloween too. I plan on doing something this year. Anyhoo, I just started my journey to get fit at the end of September, so I'm still in the first blush of it. I'm trying to remember to stay patient and just take it one week at a time, one day at a time, but I feel really good.

Ahh what a day... Don't know about anyone else, but today was just so... blargh. Maybe it was the cloudy sky & drizzle. Boy I feel busy though. Just had a joint parent dinner this weekend to tell them that me & my boyfriend are engaged to be married next year. We did all the cooking, so I was on my feet for about 27 hours. >.< (Internet note: I'm totally exaggerating as I'm prone to do with numbers... it was really closer to 12 hours. Next time I embellish I will do so with greater leaps... 1,000 hours.)

Oh well, managed to walk an hour after work today, and my yoga book & dvd arrived. (Thanks ollie for the recommendation.) Now I just need to take an hour to relax & start my yoga journey.

Too bad that this is the week before my friend's wedding. I've got to finish sewing the hem on the bridesmaid dress tonight, and then iron everything out tomorrow night. And then go buy foundation & cover-up and other essential what-nots.

I am really super glad that I've lost 50 lbs since ordering the dress, though. As I'm sure you're all aware, bridesmaid dresses run old school sizes, so a size 24 is not a today size 24. Anyways, parts of it had to be taken in, and only a small bit had to be let out. If I hadn't lost some weight, I bet a ton more would've had to be done.

Not here. The weather was absolutely GORGEOUS! Took another midterm today which I kicked arse and took names on and got my exercise in as well.

27 hours?!?! Slow yo' roll!

Hope you like the Megayoga and yoga in general. I do the balance ball as well. Good toning and strengthening.

Frog- can I call you frog-Jujitsu sounds wild. Have you ever practiced Qigong? That's another thing I would like to learn about.

Night, night, gang.

Faerie - Congrats on the engagement and upcoming marriage! 27 hours on your feet though! You must have been frazzled. Also, grats on losing the 50 lbs and having to only do a little on your dress.

Ollie - Grats on your exam and getting your exercise in! I love jujitsu. It's great for a shortie like me. I don't have to worry about reach. It's all about take downs and grappling and joint locks and the like. I have done a little bit of Qigong at a martial arts retreat I went to. I was very surprised. You can really feel the energy they're talking about if you really focus on it. I think I would like to eventually take more of it.

Anyhoo, today is starting off well. I hope the weather is normal. I'll chat again with you later ladies. Have a wonderful day.

p.s. Oh yeah! Frog is fine. I have a thing for poison dart frogs.

My room mate and I are getting a new internet provider. LOL. Our internet used to crap on us. And we're getting cable. It was so funny. I took a cat nap. Force myself to go to the bathroom to change for the workout and he just laughed at me because I was in "zombie mode."

Ollie & Frog - I added an "internet note" to my above post. You both made me laugh :D I didn't actually mean 27 hours. I forget sometimes about the intarbloggotubes not having any tone inflections. >_< My bad.

Ollie - I'll definitely let you know how the yoga goes.

Frog - Thanks for the congrats ;)

Daimere - Good for you for getting up to work out even though you were nappin'! (I know that's tough >.<)

Faerie - congratulations on your engagement! :cheers: How exciting for you!

We had a great Thanksgiving (Canadian) weekend with family and friends. On Tuesday it really did feel like a fall day - yippee! I love fall.

I made stew for supper and soup for lunches tomorrow - I can now get back in to baking. Just picture me with a skull print apron and a mixing bowl in my hands - a gothic Betty Crocker - :lol:

Did you make the skull apron? :D

I am planning on doing some baking today myself-a healthier version of apple crisp. Less butter, skins left on the apples, more oatmeal and some wheat germ added, etc.

Autumn is my favorite time of the year as well. :)

Faerie, congratulations both on the engagement and the 50lbs lost. Well done.

We had a good Thanksgiving too - although I probably ate too much, not at the meal itself but over the past week with rich leftovers. Ah well. I think my weight will be up at TOPS this morning but that's partly due to still being sick (almost a month now) and not getting exercise. The drugs I've had haven't helped - they get rid of the cough but leave me with even less energy. My body doesn't like drugs. I think I'm getting over it finally but I thought that two weeks ago too. I've been spending far too much time sitting on the couch playing Oblivion this last few weeks. Not good for weight loss or getting stuff done around the house.

Aphil, your apple crisp sounds great. I never peel apples or pears when I cook with them. It tastes good and is much easier - especially if I use our apples, which are small and thus there would be that much more peel for the same volume of apples.

Mauvais - I like the idea of the gothic chef. Don't get into too much flour though - it will really show! :D

We've discovered that one of the apple trees in the yard produces edible apples, the others are good for jelly but not eating off the tree. Maybe large crabapples? But the good eaters are now ready in great abundance. Time to freeze some.

Everything looks wintry now since the huge wind yesterday blew most of the leaves off the elms and poplars. They were such nice colours too. Not as red as out east but beautiful gold. The boys thought the wind was cool since it blew them around on the way to school.

Have a great day all,
Jax

Mauv & Jax - Thank you for the congrats.

Gothic Betty Crocker ^^ hee hee


That's cool that you discovered edible apples growing around your house. I grew up with a crabapple tree in my front yard. They weren't good for anything but throwing at siblings :devil:

The leaves here are only halfway through changing. But it's all rainy right now, so those ones are coming down in a mess. I really love the colorful autumn leaves, so I hope we get some good ones around here. :)

faerie-congrats to you!!! :hug:

I am completely with you on the love for autumn leaves...it was the main reason that DH and I agreed to get married in October (23rd). We have been together for 10 years now, and here in a couple weeks it will be our 8th wedding anniversary.

I still remember it like it was yesterday...we decorated the reception with leaves, pumpkins, straw, and all the tones of autumn-red, orange, yellow, gold, brown, and a little black thrown in. :) Our cake had autumn toned leaves and flowers between the tiers. We actually had some of the buffet items served in cauldrons. :lol:

Thank you aphil ^^ That sounds so nice! How exciting to be together for 10 years and married for 8. My parents were married October 19th and have been together for 39 years. (I think a small part of me wants the October wedding out of superstition... to keep that longevity!)

I'm with you all the way about Autumn. There's something so magical about it for me.

Blarg
 

I knew today's weigh in would depress me, but I'm going to weigh myself in once a week no matter what. It's that TOM but I was still hopeful that my exercise would still show a difference. Instead I'm .5 lbs heavier. Not that big a deal, but I really wanted to see a loss even though I was kinda expecting nothing.

I'm really just anxious to see 19-anything. I've been between 1200 - 1500 calories all this week, but I didn't always make the best choices for what those calories were made of, so I kinda blame myself. Bah. Well, I'm going to be on track for next week. I just have to remember to be patient and persistant.

Does anyone take Yoga by any chance?

Frog--I'm up on my weight from my trip, so if it makes you fell any better, I gotta get myself back on track, too. This thing would be SO much easier if I never left the house. I do yoga dvds at home...

Aphil--I thought Wheat Germ was used to gain weight. Is it not? And your ceremony sounds like it was phenomenal. Mine was in the courthouse and I loved all 2 minutes of it:)

Ditto on everyone's sentiments about autumn. I live in the northern part of my state which has lots of mountains (really big hills) and green turning colors right now. And the weather is sunny, breezy and 79 all day. It's perfect. Ah, to be perpetually October.

No-wheat germ is not used specifically for gaining weight. It is an extremely healthy grain source. :)

Back from the whole wedding weekend. I did well until late into the night of the wedding after I got home... crackers & cheese. Gah. Way too much of it. *sigh* I went up slightly last week, so I'm hoping all the exercise I put in this week will pay off.

I took a treadmill walk at the hotel that I stayed at (yay! no vacations from exercise ^^) and I tried out that yoga video twice that Ollie recommended. Very low key & introduction level. I like it a lot. And omgosh does it require more balance and arm strength than I thought! I'm planning on working it in more regularly into my week, and to use the book as a companion guide to understand the forms better.

Hey Frog - I understand about going up. I just hope it's not twice in a row. *deep breath* Every moment is a new chance for a better choice. Even if I end up going up again a little this week, I know I can do better! We can do it >.<!!!*determined face*