Hi everyone!! Hope you are having a good weekend. It is crazy here -- school's out and there are way too many 8 year olds hanging out at my house!!!

It's rather hot here -- I'm not a big summer fan, but I guess I'll live -- what's worse mowing grass or shoveling snow???

Hey girls! I'm still around. Yesterday we got hit with a bad storm - 90 mile per hour winds that knocked out power to over 120,000 households yesterday...45,000 households are still without power. Thankfully we got our power back around midnight last night. I was on Interstate on my way to pick up my son when all of a sudden the wind went from 0 - 65-80 in a matter of seconds. It was not a fun experience, it seriously felt like I was in the middle of a tornado, especially when I saw a semi-truck (2 vehicles ahead of me) almost have it's trailer tipped because of the wind.

Thank you for all of the support and words of encouragement girls! We can do this!!

This is my *new* (as of today when I finalized my plans) workout routine

I'm doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred (I had to go look her up on YouTube since I don't watch TV. She's tough!) - it's 20 minutes long and does strength, cardio and abs in a circuit training pattern. I'm supposed to do that every evening for 30 days - I just finished day 4! I'm only doing level 1 of 3 - and it's pretty well kicking my a$$!

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I will be doing the Hundred Pushup Challenge training. I did the initial assessment on Wednesday and ran through day one of week one on Friday. It's tough but I'm amazed at how well it's going. We'll see if I can do 100 in 6 weeks! I like this challenge because it only takes about 10 minutes to do and you only do it 3 days week - so a total of 30 minutes or less a week and you can do 100 pushups!!! http://hundredpushups.com/

I started today my Couch to 5K challenge with the intent of running (not walking!) a 5K in October or November. 5K is equivilant of 3.1 miles - which is a crapton more than I have ever run in my life. I barely managed to run the mile in high school! This is yet another training program that's designed to take about 9 weeks and a whole lot of interval training - but relatively little time. The average workout is 20 to 30 minutes long! Not bad! I will be doing this training on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

I'm also doing two yoga classes a week on Saturdays and Sundays at my gym. Saturdays is Yoga Stretch which is way slower and remarkably, WAY harder. Talk about holding poses for a really long time! And on Sundays, it's Yoga Pump which is a little faster paced but a bit easier. More cardio work and way less muscle strain. Both of those classes are about 60 minutes each.

So, on Sundays, I do 60 minutes of yoga and 20 minutes of Shredding for a total of 80 minutes. On Monnday, Wednesday and Friday, I do 10 minutes of pushups and 20 minutes of Shredding for a total of 30 minutes a day (90 minutes total). On Tuesday and Thursday, I do 20 minutes of C25K and 20 minutes of Shredding for a total of 40 minutes a day (80 minutes total). Finally, on Saturdays, I do 60 minutes of yoga, 20 minutes of C25K and 20 minutes of Shredding - total of 100 minutes. Total amount of exercise for the week - 700 minutes. Sounds like a lot but - how much time do I spend reading or on the internet a week? Goodness only knows!

Diva
I haven't been doing my usual exercise BUT I am also not doing normal day to day house work. Pushing a scrubber across floors for hours. Stretching, turning and reaching to clean ceilings. Up and down the ladder and up and down stairs. To be honest, I can't wait until I am done and I can get back to my normal routine. Just now done for the day and it is almost 1 am. I have to take it real slow because of the shoulder and knees and back. They haven't been hurting but I have had each of them hurting again with in the last month. Had way to much to do to push them to much. Oh it will be so nice when it is all done. Kind of a combo of spring and fall cleaning all rolled into one. Remember, all it takes is one good decision, one good choice to get us back on track. I haven't been eating enough which, for me, is death. I gain a ton if I don't eat enough for some reason. If I stay at 146 until I have everything done I will be happy. Take a deep breath make a list for yourself and you will be heading in the right direction again.

Shelby
Trying having way to many 16 to 20 years olds hanging around and having to keep an eye on the 20 year olds so they are keeping their eyes off the 16 year olds lol.

thistime
I love the dollar store, bargain bazaar, big lots, all those stores. Wouldn't matter how much money I have, I am in no way poor, I would still shop there. When I lost 50 pounds hubby asked me if I wanted to get an outfit from Sax to celebrate. I said are you nuts I would never spend that much money lol. Heck, the cost of one outfit from Sax bought a new kitchen floor for me. Sighhhh, I am way to practical lol.

Andi
There was a time I ran a trucking terminal. Part of my job was to go out to down loads for safety reasons. I was unlucky enough to have one go down real close to my house. I got there when they were trying to get my driver out. There was stuff spread out 2 acre from the truck. You stay away from trucks. You stay way way back. They have less control of that load than you think and they sure don't need to worry about 4 wheelers when that trailer is out of control.

Kelly
Sounds like a packed plan. Where is your day off? Most specialists say the body needs one day off a week.

I haven't been doing my normal routine since I have been doing all this cleaning but usually I do.....3 miles walking/aerobic videos twice a day Monday to Friday ( average 45 min each ) + Mon, wed, Fri, I do about 40 min of some kind of resistance training. About 570 min a week.

Hi ladies,
Just wanted to post quickly to let you all know i'm still alive. I haven't been feeling like posting lately because i've really been struggling and just in a WW slump. But something motivated me to get back on track this week and I really worked out TONS. I worked out 6 out of 7 days and earned 53 activity points this week. I took a 4 hour hike Friday and earned 14 aps in one day. WOW! So I was excited to finally see a loss at weigh in this morning. I am going to really keep it up with the exercise and get back into the groove of a consistent loss every week like before. Hope you are all doing well and I will try to post more often now that I am back on track and a little more motivated!

Sounds like a lot of us are dealing with the heat! I just want to find an igloo somewhere and hunker down!

Kelly - holy smokes that's a lot of working out!

Andi - Glad you're okay!

Have a good day all!

i have been off the exercise wagon for a while....took inches/weight yesterday...lost a little in the last 3 weeks (with hardly any exercise), but am determined to restart things tomorrow on exercise! I CAN do this!

Oh Rennie, trust me, I know the horrors of semi's. When I was younger my dad did Over-the-Road hauling across country, he used to own his own semi. Then he switched to working with cement trucks, then he hauled mail across 2 states, now he's hauling dry cement and carries a double long trailer. My dad always taught me the dangers of semi's. Not to mention my dad almost lost his life 2 years ago because he crawled under his semi to look at something and didn't turn the semi off, the sleeve to his jacket got caught in something and my dad had to break his arm to pull his arm out of the sleeve so that it was not pulled up into the innards of the semi. Needless to say I have grown up appreciating semi's and keeping my distance.

Welcome back to posting land Melissa!! I think a few of us have been struggling lately. I'm right there with you with finding that needed motivation last week. Congrats on finding your mojo!

melissa
I think all of us go thru that from time to time. After a year I know it isn't as exciting as it was when I started lol. I am not doing all I should do. I sure am not eating enough. Just a few more days and I will have everything done and then it is back to planning my meals and getting back on my normal routine of exercise. According to the docs scale I lost a pound so that is good. I hate getting back on those darn meads. We will all get where we want to be we just need to take a deep breath and get back on track.

fat chick
I am loving the heat this year. So great to have some of this weight off.

army
The exercise doesn't effect my weight loss at all. I was losing at the same rate rather I exercised or not but I sure did like how the toning was going. All the more reason to get back on track.

Andi
I loved that job. Oh my gosh I went all over the country with my drivers it was great. Free vacations lol. Any driver I was with would make sure we stopped at a museum no matter where we were. They also loved that when the manager was in the truck they got paid for all miles I was with them not just book miles lol.

My FIL is also a truck driver, since hubby and his brothers were little...so they were raised around it and were taught the dangers, etc. like dont tailgate them (my hometown is like tailgate central) lol but i do appreciate them for what they do and keep my distance...not like some fools on the road who will try to cut them off or pass them and jump in front of them to get off the ramp on the interstate/highway.....craziness!!! the ppl around here drive insane sometimes, like they think an accident is not gonna happen to them....news flash!! you aint invinsible!! geezzz.... i don't understand ppl sometimes....

An old boyfriend of mine used to drive a logging truck. Some stupid woman pulled in front of him when he was going down a hill once and he drove over the back of her car -- luckily he was able to stop before he squished her -- but I also don't understand where people think a big truck like that can stop/slow down as fast as their car can??!! (I always found men who did physical labor totally hot -- not into the banker/accountant type!!)

Rennie those lint rollers are great! I love em! But, imagine taking little pieced of scotch tape and picking up lint off the carpet LOL! Now thats funny!

Diva...I'm with ya woman! I had started the pushups and then totally got side tracked with dh! I'm getting back on that darn it, and bike rides are going to become a nightly thing! We can do this woman...recommit!

Shelby..I feel for ya!! I swear all the kids are always at my house! Which is fine most of the time but ugh...sometimes I just want quiet! LOL! I say shoveling is worse even though I love snow! Mowing is like therapy for me LOL!

Lonnie...I hope you have a nice relaxing day today! I think we may be following suit around here. gonna be 100 degrees! OUCH!!

Andi...OMG!! I'm glad you are okay! Thats scary! Even though I love storms I think there is a limit! I hope your community gets back up and running soon! Hopefully you've not got those high heats without electricity, then there's really gonna be trouble. Be safe!

Kelly...alrighty lady you've got a plan!! You can do it!! Running 3.1 miles is a crapton for me too! LOL! Love that word! Just think how amazing you are gonna feel after just one week of this!

Melissa...good to see you good job getting back on track! Use your support systems when you are struggling. White knuckling it never got anyone anywhere! Stay strong, you can do this!

Heather... Stay cool!!

Mandey...you can do it!!!

Good Sunday Morning everyone!!! Well we ended up going to the lake yesterday and are gonna stay in the cool house today! Maybe this afternoon the girls and I will go for a bike ride. My goal this week is to make that a nightly thing. Ive just GOT to get my energy back! I'm already struggling being so tired and once the high temps are in full swing I'm really gonna be in trouble.

My friend danielle (who you all know as sugar n spice) is an exercise goddess lately and she is so inspiring to me! I need to take a page out of her book.

Have a wonderful day today everyone!! I think we'll hold off on the theme days this week and just try some QOTD instead? Sound like a plan!? Be good to you!