JBee- I dont know what dance class you went to but, I try and get to Zumba once a week. Its an hour class at my Y and it is so much fun. It really dosent feel like a workout!

Barb- I am crossing my fingers and my toes for you!! :cheer:

Wow, Barbara - Congrates on the 100 lbs, and yes, maybe I too should send you some Reese Cups, Cupcakes, Brownies and whatever else!! I am proud of you, but dang I wish I could lose like that! You go girl!

Lori sorry you have been sick, but glad you got up for your new pic - you can clearly see 'slimming' going on! Hope your feel better soon. I too hate it when one side of the nose refuses to work! LOL

Jamsk, Global Freezing exactly! I think the Polar Bear are real happy right now! LOL

Well I change my Avatar too. I figure it was time for the pig to retire and me to come out of hiding.....lol......anyway, back to hopefully a regular workout routine and WEIGHTLOSS!!!!!!! I need to reach my Easter Goal! I was doing great until the Bike Week fiasco that totally screwed me up.

Oh welcome julie, glad you could join! There are five weeks left and plenty of time for you to kick butt!

Julie, Derby girl, huh? You're braver than I am! I like all my body parts intact, so I stick with dance skating (aka jamskating). Skating has to be my fave workout, since as you said, it doesn't feel like a workout.

Lori, nice pic! You know, when I'm sick, a workout usually helps clear things up, but I understand that sometimes that does not work, so I hope you'll wake up having turned a corner on this one!

Grits, I love the new avatar!

Angel, :wave:

Barb - I broke it doing flyes. I was lifting to failure and when I failed I smashed my finger between the dumbbell I was holding and one laying on the floor. I should have moved the ones on the floor away! Lesson learned. No more gym slob dumbbell hog.

More Creatine Madness, for Jam and Barb...
Lazy 'splaining method - the finger is holding me back!

Yes, I do cycle it, both because of the cost (my various supplements do make a substantial monthly bill) and because of the claims that it loses it's effects.
Link about that HERE!

I'm currently using a formula developed by the owner of the fitness club up the street - he produces a line of supplements as well. He's VERY affordable in comparison to other places (if you'd like the info I'll PM you guys), doesn't put much of a profit on his or other brands. Seriously, what costs $60 at GNC is $30 at his place. Looking at bodybuilding.com's best sellers would be an excellent place to start (site is down right now or I would get it for you).
I use a different type of creatine that doesn't require loading or big doses. The articles likely refer to Creatine Monohydrate - which was the first widely accepted form sold. More recently, Creatine Kre Alkalyn has come into the limelight - it does not require loading or large doses by the gram.

Here's an interesting link about that HERE!

I take 4 capsules per day (2 in the morning, 2 pre or post workout). Total of 3 grams per day, which is equal to 30 grams of traditional Creatine.
From the bottle....

The bottle runs at $26.00 for 120 capsules - so it ends up being less than the traditional Creatine powder (also $26.00 by Scifit, sold at the same gym store) depending your on purchase source (where you need larger doses and may choose to load). One bottle is enough for a cycle.

The Kre Alkalyn doesn't make me bloat as much as the Monohydrate. Thank goodness. In addition, the pills are so much more palatable than powder.

So - I'm trying a different type of Creatine this go round.

20-30 grams of powder likely looks like 1 scoop of protein powder. A lot.

You could take it throughout the day, most people (including me when I did powder) - do 10 grams at a time, 3x per day.

I played and played with the powder, using hand mixers - and could not NOT get it to mix. It stayed clumpy, I burned out the motor on a mixer. In addition, it's bitter as ****. Blech!

Sorry if I sound curt - I don't mind answering in the least! Just trying not to make convoluted answers with my convoluted humor. :)

Ask away if you have more questions!

Seriously. I likely sound like a she-beast drug taker juiced up person. I know. But I've seen remarkable results since using this new type. It's crazy madness, my lifts and gains are through da roof (that was a lil' BB talk for ya) and I'm really leaning down. I was complimented on my triceps, of all things, by a dude at the cell phone store today. Huh? Scope my butt instead mister! :lol:

Thanks, FB! Non-steroid butt-kicking juice sounds good to me, lol. The stuff you're taking looks like the best bet. No loading and 4 pills a day sounds better than the alternative! I'd better go to sleep. Stayed up late again, and I'll be cryin' in the morning.

Brutal about the flyes...what are the freakin' odds? :(

Hattie-sorry it took me so long to come back, but I generally can't get on the computer on the weekends-too much competition from the DH and DSs! To answer your questions, I had started my weightloss journey 1 1/2 years ago, doing the "Flavor Point Diet" but that ended up being too restrictive for trying to keep the family happy, so then I went off and gave up (again:() I had lost about 30 pounds, but then proceded to gain back 20 of it:yikes:. Last year, I had heard about 3fc in a magazine and decided to see what was here (I really believe God led me here:yes:). I learned a lot from so many people here and finally, on September 15, I started my final leg of the journey. I just do calorie counting and cycle calories, varying between 1300 and 1600 each day to average about 1450. I had started my plan varying the counts between 1600 to 2000, but when winter hit and I was indoors more, I reduced it some and have reduced again as I lost the weight. Now that it's warming up, I'll be able to go out to walk more and may be able to up it a little, but I don't think I'm missing anything foodwise, so my cals may be ok even with adding more walking. So, it's taken me since 9/15/08 to lose the last 51 pounds. No real plateaus, although getting below 200 teased me for about a month-up a pound, down a pound.......but I get so much support here I just stuck with it and knew it would finally go. I make sure I eat whole grains, lots of veggies and fruit, only dark chocolate, and drink lots of water (no pop or artificial sweeteners and I don't like coffee or tea). I've changed the way I cook and modify our old recipes to fit our new eating habits, like using evoo instead of butter or other oils to "fry". Hope I haven't gone on too long. I saw your extra pounds dropped off quickly :carrot: (water retention gets very frustrating at times!)

Thanks to everyone else for the well wishes! It feels so good to be past that hurdle-I haven't been this 'small' in over 16 years! I'm so glad to see so many of you doing so well, too-I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you wise 3fc supporters & encouragers to help me along the way. It just helps so much to read about everyone's victories and failures and know we're all working toward a common goal-being healthy!

Have a great day:D:hug:

SO I went and got a new gym membership yesterday. It is so much nicer, the people that use it are not as dirty as my old gym...

and I love it.. so nice!

Week 2 Workout 1 of the couch to 5k completed today!

Oh and I got to play badminton last night (haven't played in a long time) and my arm was pretty sore this morning heh

Hey Everyone -

Jamsk8r - Thanks for the compliment for the pic's, no body shots till I lose more though! LOL :D

FB - Wow, you do juice it up! I'm glad it's working for you. Your arms in the photo you had on there last week have definite definition and look great! :carrot:

Hattie - Thanks for the tips. :) I remember from the Trainer that changing it up is the key - basically keeping the body guessing on the calories and workouts will give the best results.

Yesterday I was finally back on track after the craziness of Bike Week. I'm not working out until tomorrow, as I want to get the food intake in order first and plus my body is still recovering from the last 10 days.

I'll check in later -

Hey guys. I know I've been missing and I'm sorry. I'm not gonna get all into it cuz I've already posted a "poor me" post on the 20 somethings page. I sucked this weekend. At eating. AT work. At working out. At life in general. I gained 4 pounds and am also out of ONEderland. So bummed out. BAck on track today though and hoping that I can do better and make myself get out of this depressing rut I'm in today.

KKat, badminton! That's a fun game. I should get a set. Now that I can actually run, I might be able to hit the thing! Glad to hear that the new gym is good. Did you get the spin classes you wanted?

Everybody else gets a :wave:!

I took a real rest day from exercise yesterday, on purpose and everything. :devil: I think I'm going to do that each week, either Sunday or Monday, depending how I feel. Looking at my stats for Feb, when I worked out every day, I can see that my performance was tanking after the first 2 weeks, so I think I need to have a planned rest day where I just do not work out, let things heal up. Between crossfit class and skating, I've got 5 days in a row, so I'll probably use Sunday to rest, then Monday for a skills practice, easy workout day.

Today, I'm going to hit the Y to practice on the rower some more, and I'm curious to try the assisted pull-up machine, like a little warm-up, then do single reps and see how high I can get the pin (aka, how much assistance can I take OFF, and still get a pull-up?). I know where I started, so I'm just curious to see how far I've come in the past year.

I got a new low today, surprisingly. Usually, my weight is up after a rest day. The new number was 177.2. Funny, because when I finally quit worrying about what the frickin' scale had to say, it started dropping. I haven't had a chance to see what my current cals are, I've just been eating 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day with protein/veggie carbs/fat. The GI problems seem to be cleared up, so I think the higher fat was just a shock to the system. I am definitely feeling a lot better, more energetic this past week!

I hope everybody has a great OP day today!

Ronnie: Thanks for sharing your journey. It helps!

FB: OUCH!!!

Jams: You have really got it going!

mygritsconfessions: First..I have to say..I LOVE grits! Nobody else I know likes them. I also was down at bike week quite a few years ago. MADNESS!!
My hubby has a Harley and he couldn't resist "stopping by" on a trip to Disney.We used to go to bike rallies here in CT.. It was so much fun. He has not had the bike out in about a year. Maybe this year. He bought a jetski for our house on the lake and has been consumed with that.

Nicki: Sorry you weren't in a good place but I am glad you are back! You will hit that special place again any day. You really rock it!

Kalikat: Badminton is so much fun!! I was pretty good at it in my younger days. I also was a champion of tether ball at my elementary school! Loved that!!!

I am down to 205! Love that # for some reason. If it stays for a couple of weeks I will hate it though!

Have a great night everyone!

LOL on the tether ball. I just remember getting smacked in the head a lot by the ball-on-a-rope. Another fun one my boy might like, though...hmm... :chin: I bet I could rig one up pretty easily in the yard. Heck, I might like to play with the thing! I for reals want a pull up bar, some gymnastics rings, and some other crossfit toys to play with at home.

Heya Cheryl, thought of something really quick - while you're in such a curious and researchy mood, look into BCAA supplements as well.

Soooooooooo close to the 1's Hattie! You go!

Nicki, try not to get too down on yourself. At at least one point or another we all have or will hit a bump in the road. You'll see onederland again in no time!

:wave: Hiya everyone!!

Just a drop by to say things are going great. My workout today was Zumba for an hour!! I have to take my DS to the dentist tomorrow so I am sure that will be a workout in itself. :dizzy:

Have a great night ladies!! :)