Sorry for being MIA but this is an incredibly busy month for me. I'm heavy into gardening and end up giving a helping had to most of my good friends. This last weekend was a long one for us Canadians so went to visit friends and had an awsome weekend away. A little golf, a little fishing and a lot of good food Sighhhhh!!! but it was worth it. We had alot of fun but I'm not stepping on the scale for at least 3 days becasue I know it won't be pretty.
I'm going to hit the gym this week at least 3 times and be very good with my eating patterns. Congrats to all who have lost and hold in there everyone who is stuck. It'll come off by sticking in there through the thick and the thin.
Aimin I'm so interested in your new program I'm going to look it up tomorrow on beach body.
Bridget it's awesome when you can notice a visible change in body image but even when it's not showing up in the mirror it is so apparent in how you feel. You've lost 36lbs the equivalent of 4 bags of potatoes and that is amazing. Even if it's not being noticed on the outside by less than observant people, think about your're overall health picture and keep going. Even a 10% loss can improve your health picture 100% and you've lost more than 10%. Look in that mirror and focus on the positive and I bet you'll keep going. Positive feed back goes along way and there's been many a day I've wanted to just give it up and then I read one of your awesome positive post and just pull up those socks and get on with it.
Hi everyone, I haven't been back for awhile, but I still want to participate. Last week I didn't post a weigh-in because we were away on vacation. Today I was 247, so I've lost a lb. Not much, but still not bad, considering I probably ate more than I should have on our trip.
hi everybody h r u? hope u r all doing nice well the sclae is stuck at 194 for a week n no matter what i did it stayed there but at the end of the week it did move n now its 193 so 2 pounds this week anyways something is better than nothing we have our anniversary on 28th n i wanted 2 lose 10 pounds before that i.e 190 or 189 but lets see what happens now
Help Me Lose- Ok- Thighs and booty.. Do you have one of those toning bands that looks like a sheet of rubber? If so, tie it in a knot leaving a reasonable size of circle and place it just above your ankles. What you want to do is spread your legs to about hip's width apart and take little steps side to side. Put on a fun beat and kind of groove to it. You should feel the work on your outer-thigh muscles. To get your booty in the action, just try to alternate raising your knees to the beat with the band still on. Also you can do squats to take a break from this and you can "ballet style" with the band still on, raise your leg straight out behind you. Alternate in this series of movements until everything burns sufficiently. "Plies" 3rd position are great as well for inner thigh work. Disclaimer* These are not my moves, these are culled from a series of professional workouts such as Turbo Jam, Classic Ballet, Yoga Booty Ballet and QuickFix Total Mix ( I have a dvd addiction...can you tell?)
One of the best moves I have ever encountered for that little blob of fat that hangs just under each " cheek" is a single legged squat with a sideways leg lift. To do a single legged squat, just imagine that you are "curtsy-ing" for the queen. Take all of the weight and shift it to your left leg. Place the right leg bent, tip of the foot down for balance, then squat. After you return to standing, lift your left leg out straight at an angle that is not quite behind you, but not quite out to the side of you (aim for the back left corner of the room) Once again, do this until everything is burning. For your booty- also, to get a "lift" simply squeeze your butt as hard as you can for 20 seconds at a time (do this privately, it looks bizarre) every half hour while you are at work. In a week, your cheeks will round out a bit and raise up Pamela Lee style. Do it as often as you can. It works kind of like the stomach vacuum.
Also- for inner thigh and booty work, sink into a third position plie and rotate your knees back like gates subtly... you will feel it if you are doing it properly.
Best of Luck!
Last edited by aimin4thin; 05-22-2007 at 01:01 PM.
Reason: addition
Aim - hhmm I don't have one of those bands, I am going to have to get one, maybe this weekend I will. It kind of sounds complicated but I am sure if I read it slower and try it when I have the band I will be able to do it. Thanks for the suggestions! I can't wait to see the results.
I am new to this website, and would like very much to join this labor day challenge, is it too late?
I have been losing weight slowly for the past few months. I try to excercise at least 3 times per week and watch what I eat. I have done WW points, Cabbage Soup Diet in the past few months. I tend to get bored with "diets". I am just trying to figure out how to eat healthy without any gimmicks. I have a long way to go right now.
glad to have you. Good luck with finding the right plan for you--I think everyone is different. I have tried all of the above diets too--right now nutrisystem is working for me. Let us know what your goal is for weight loss by labor day.
I feel like I really triumphed staying on plan during my trip to visit my family--and they were annoying part of the time too! I just focussed on relaxing and staying on my diet and it was easy. Phew! Now I know I can do it!
Strawberry: congrats on the weight loss! You are doing great--two lbs a week is really the max you can lose healthily. If you keep it up you will attain your goals in no time! Just think--you could have gained weight during this time!
Nina: good to hear from you--you have been doing so great you deserve a little splurge. I know you will get right back on the wagon with gusto!
Aimin: thanks for the tip on the "vacuum pose". I did it a bunch of times today--cant wait to see how it works! Can you do it too much??
Congrats to all the losers this week- make sure you put your total pounds lost so I can update the list!!
Hey Snow- I don't think there is such a thing as "too much" on the vacuum pose, but after a while of doing it, you kind of do it without thinking about it. Who knows... maybe that is the trick! HA HA... you just walk around holding your stomach in all the time LOL!
Just kidding- it really does work and trust me, I study exercise and nutrition like it is my life doctrine! The explanation is that there is a band of muscles (the top rim of your 6-pack) that can't be tightened via crunches or other ab exercises. When you do the vacuum pose, it tightens that muscle so that it actually holds your other muscles tighter to your frame. It isn't magic, just science and that doesn't mean that you should quit doing crunches or other ab exercises. Just add them in with this.
I also want to warn any of you against falling into a school of thought that I, myself was guilty of. I thought " Oh, it doesn't matter if I work my abs because I have this layer of fat here and you can't see my ab muscles anyway!" Let me tell you. Strengthening those muscles will help you see results faster and will help you get into small sizes faster which means you are suddenly filled with even more MOTIVATION!!! So keep up your ab work and build that muscle!!
Also, there is "new science" in the field of ab development as is evidenced in some of the new workouts coming out. Standing ab work can often be just as or more effective than floor ab work. The added advantage here is that your body weight and balance all work to create added resistance for your ab work whereas, the floor was taking care of holding you upright before. Not to mention, we all know that we burn more calories doing standing work than floor work.
In case some of the moves I listed above in my booty/thigh workouts are difficult to understand, they feature the one legged squat and the turnout photographically at Shape.com in the workouts section entitled bikini butt 1
Hi there everyone and welcome Jasmine!!! Aimin I still haven't looked at beachbody yet but I'm hoping my next door neighbour has the vides series your talking about. She's an exercise video queen as well. I have the full TJ series but it causes my rib cage to flare up so haven't been able to do it lately. I love standing ab workouts and have been practising the vacuum lately. That what I love about this board. Lot's of cool ideas.
I just made a low fat iced cap. 1 cup crushed ice, 3/4 cup skimmed milk, 1 rounded tsp. Encore 1/2 caf coffee, 1 rounded tsp cocoa and a package of stevia blended until smooth. It hits the spot on a hot day and less than 80 cals. You can add protein powder and make it a real snack.
I'm still holding off on looking at the scale but feeling pretty good today. I'm very busy with outdoor activities and not finding alot of down time lately. Hopefully this extra activity will make up for some of those missed workouts.
Have a great day all,
I am with you on the scale. I was obsessing about it so I moved it into the guest bathroom. No more scale for me for a while.
Ok- So I wanted to give you all an idea about this weekend because holiday weekends are like a diet obstacle course. I made a spreadsheet of what I wanted to do over the weekend. It starts out every day with a great, gourmet healthy breakfast which I will serve on my finest dishes, with mock mimosas (diet 7up with light orange juice) and fresh fruit and we will dine alfresco on our beautiful patio that the DH just did an extension and flagstone project on with gorgeous climbing vines and trellis work.
Then, the activities for the day involve a lot of walking or exercise interspersed with leisure and healthy meals. for example, walking around the farmers market in Dallas, playing 9 holes of golf (we walk the course, no buggy) Pack a picnic and ride bikes along the greenbelt, tennis at the club with swimming as a reward and going sailboating at the lake.
The way I have structured my days include a meal, followed by something to burn it off. Evening meals include us grilling out healthy seafood and veggies and then taking a nice moonlit stroll. This will be in stark contrast to my usual Memorial Day ---at my friend's lakehouse --which includes whataburger breakfast, drinking all day while floating in the lake, napping til evening because I am sun-tired, drinking til 4:00, eating hot dogs and chips for dinner and then doing it all again the next day!
Anyway- here's hoping that your Memorial Day is a healthy good dieting one. I am going to be wearing my first bikini in 17 years Saturday!!!!!
well I forgot about the abs thing today but started doing it again when I read the posts. I guess it is a matter of making it a habit, Aimin!
That is quite a schedule--you must have tons of energy to do all that! congrats on the bikini--you will look stunning!
Fortunately my weekend is completely free and I plan to stay home and do some gardening. Boring huh.
Plan is going great--not much energy this week--not doing as much exercise--I plan to get back on the wagon tomorrow. I will walk and do my leg exercises yes yes.
Okay all--If I didnt get you please post your total loss for last week in your next post and I will put you in. Here we are for the first two weeks!
Jasmine: will lose 50 lbs by Labor Day
Holly: will lose 35 lbs by Labor Day
Catmint: will lose 35 by Labor Day--2 down, 33 to go
KT: will lose 17 lbs by Labor Day
Fitmom: will lose 40 lbs by Labor Day
Flowing: will lose 40 lbs by Labor Day
Sam: will lose 60 lbs by Labor Day
Lekhika: Will lose 30 lbs by Labor Day
Debbie: Will lose 32 lbs by Labor Day--2 down, 30 to go
Dcapulet: will lose 20 lbs by Labor Da--2.5 lost 17.5 to go
Strawberry: will lose 35 lbs by Labor day--7 down 30 to go!
Aimin: will lose 15 lbs by Labor Day
Bonnie: will lose 30 lbs by Labor Day
Dust: will lose 20 lbs by Labor Day--1 down 19 to go!
Nina: will lose 20 lbs by Labor Day--1 down 19 to go!
Abe: will 25 lbs by Labor Day
Dolly: will gain a max of 25lbs during pregnancy
Luxor: will lose 34 lbs by Labor Day
Barb: will lose 32 lbs by Labor Day--4 down 28 to go!
Sno: will lose 34 lbs by Labor Day--5 down 29 to go!
I made a spreadsheet of what I wanted to do over the weekend. It starts out every day with a great, gourmet healthy breakfast which I will serve on my finest dishes, with mock mimosas (diet 7up with light orange juice) and fresh fruit and we will dine alfresco on our beautiful patio that the DH just did an extension and flagstone project on with gorgeous climbing vines and trellis work. 
(we walk the course, no buggy) 
Pack a picnic and ride bikes along the greenbelt, tennis at the club with swimming 
as a reward and going sailboating at the lake. 
This will be in stark contrast to my usual Memorial Day 
---at my friend's lakehouse --which includes whataburger breakfast, drinking all day while floating in the lake, napping til evening because I am sun-tired, drinking til 4:00, eating hot dogs and chips for dinner and then doing it all again the next day! 
