Onestar - you can do it! If it helps, come tell us what you plan to do for the day in the morning, then tell us how it went in the evening.

kpme - good for you for turning it around so soon after your big trip. You'll be right back on track in no time.

takingcharge - woohoo!! Maintenance - that's awesome. So glad you're in a good place now and enjoying what you've achieved - you deserve it!

TakingCharge - your new goals sound WONDERFUL! I also agree that long-distance training requires more than 1200 cals a day. I'm around 1200-1300 right now but I'm only training for a 5k... the long distances certainly require more sustenance! You never know, maintenance mode might actually cause you to drop a few more lbs. Good luck with the training!

kpme - sounds like a great trip! It is hard to get that many people to agree on food. I agree - booze is a killer. I tend to do that with all caloric drinks, though... it's like something inside me is like "oh, free calories!" well I full well know that a glass of soda or a beer contains a good amount!

onestar- exercise definitely helps with depression! One of the ways I keep my depression/anxiety under control is regular exercise. Once I started exercising 4-5 days a week I just seem to have an easier time handling stress and I don't get as anxious or depressed as much. Good luck with getting back into the swing of things!

wannabe - wow, sorry to hear about the recent health news. Hopefully the cyst will begin to resolve itself and you can get back to fertility treatments soon! I'll keep you in my thoughts!



My weigh ins continue to go well. I had a challenging week. First, my iliotibial band (IT Band) gets inflamed every time I run now. This started happening when I climbed the 14'er so I was hoping it was just a temporary injury, but it seems to be sticking around. I am bummed but the only thing I can do (which seems to work by minimizing the inflammation) is take advil before I run and stretch. It's not an injury that could progressively get worse (like, ruin my knee forever), it's just annoying. So I've been taking days off in between runs and that does seem to help, but I get antsy and bored on the days i'm not running. I'd really like to add in some other type of exercise that's easy on the knees - swimming or something.

Then we had a huge customer event all week so there were lots of goodies (bagels!) and a business dinner on Tuesday night. I survived for the most part!
SW: 185
CW: 174
GW: 165

I had a good 1.4 lb drop this week - my own personal goal is to be at 172 by the end of July so with just one week left I think I can make it if I push it hard!

Let's have a WHOOSH WEEK!

Thank you girls for the support. It means a lot!

Fatpants - I know what you mean about having a hard time not running everyday. I've had to stick with 3 days a week so I can take a day off in between each run (to keep the shin splints at bay) and I totally miss running on my days off! But I've found that a hard spinning class+yoga on my days off actually help with my running because they increase my strength and endurance, which will also help prevent injury. Sorry to hear about the IT band injury...bummer! But you're being responsible and nursing it, which is awesome. Keep up the great work!

Takingcharge - I am a shinsplints queen and have been dealing with them for ages. Here's what works for me: I run on dirt paths and do some major calf stretching before I run. I also do funny exercises where you stand against a wall and raise your toes up over and over. That seems to help with the calf/front of shin imbalance that causes the kind of shinsplints that I get. Hope this helps!

dancer and fat pants; thank you for the support. i have not been able to do my exercise in the mornings yet. i have been just dragging myself onto the treadmill in the evenings. but about 10-15 minutes into it, i feel excellent. i get energized and motivated and my mood is so much better. i guess the hardest part is actully getting dressed and ready to go. sometimes it's so tempting to not do anything since i'm at home or get distracted with housework and stuff. i am feeling better and gettting a little energy back. excited about this next weigh in to see how i've done. thanks again.

onestar - totally agree - the hardest part with exercise is getting started. Once you're going, it's never that bad to finish. Good for you for making it work in the evenings!

Good morning, ladies,

I'm not going to lie -- life could be worse. I am housesitting for the aunt and uncle of a friend of mine and am typing here at the kitchen table overlooking the Atlantic, eating the oatmeal I just cooked on the 6 burner Viking stove. I am going to go for a 7 mile run (hopefully...we'll see how it goes), followed by a dip in the inground pool. Can you believe they're paying me for this???? Modestly, but paying me nonetheless. And all 10 minutes from my home so I can pop home and feed my kitties this afternoon.

Onestar - good for you for getting into the workout swing. I agree that it's so hard to motivate - both for an individual workout but overall, too. When I'm in my phases of no workouts I find it so hard to get motivated to just get back in the swing of things. Keep up the good work - even 10-15 minutes is a victory!

Aah - running injuries. I have lots of experience with both. I actually don't get shin splints anymore,but I used to get them tons and always found icing right afterwards helped overall. IT band -- that's a major drag. I suffer from the same thing. Women are prone to getting it b/c of the geometry of our wide hips relative to our knees. You may find that "rolling it" with one of those long foam rollers helps. You know what I mean, like a funnoodle but harder? they usually have them at the gym. Other than that, do weights to strengthen your quads/hams and just try to lay off the running. It's a major bummer. Icing and ibuprofen will help it, too.

On that note, I need to get myself out onto the roads before it gets way too hot. I can feel the temp creeping...

Have a good weekend!
kp

Hope everyone is enjoying National Whoosh Week! Except for an attack of the carb monster one evening , my eating has been pretty much under control this week. I had my session with the personal trainer late Wednesday evening, and I'll see him again very early (6 AM) Monday morning. I had a long cardio workout this afternoon, and I'll have another one on Sunday.

KP, your summer digs sound delightful!

judy

Dancer and kpme - Thanks for the tips in shin splints! Mine have gotten waaaay better since I started running regularly about 4 months ago, but I find when I go from 3x/week to 4x/week, they flare up again, so I might stick with 3 atleast until the 10K and then maybe up the schedule for my half marathon training.

Onestar - Good job getting back on the exercise wagon! It's so true that the hardest part is getting started, but just remember how good you feel afterwards and try to use that to motivate yourself!

As for me, my eating/exercise has been good this week. Since I'm "maintaining", I've allowed myself an extra 100 calories or so a day and I went out to an amazing dinner last night and actually ate a little bit of dessert, which I haven't done in forever! I've been exercising a ton this week (2x/day!) so I'm not sure yet how many calories I can eat without gaining weight when I'm on a more sustainable exercise plan, but I guess this whole maintanence things takes time to figure out, so I'm trying to be patient and take it one day at a time.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

down about a pound from last week

sw: 180.4
gw: 160

June 15: 180.4
June 22: 179.8
June 29: 176.4
July 6: 175.4
July 13: 175.4
July 20: 177.6 bummer!!!!
July 27: 175.8....i can see it's time to step up my game
Aug 3:
Aug 10:
Aug 17:
Aug 24:
Aug 31:

LABOR DAY SEPT. 7:

Onestar - way to turn it around! Congrats on the loss!

I indulged a bit too much this week but it didn't do too much damage and I tried to make up for it with some good hikes. Only a 1lb loss for me this week but I'll take it : )

June 8:190: 190
June 15:188: 189
June 22:188: 188
June 29:186: 187
July 6:184: 184
July 13:182: 181
July 20:182: 179
July 27:180: 178
Aug 3:178
Aug 10:176
Aug 17:176
Aug 24:174
Aug 31:172

LABOR DAY Sept 7: 170

Onestar and denver - Great job! A 1lb loss is awesome so be proud and keep up the good work!

As for me, the maintenance things has been interesting. I upped my calories waaaay too much this week, reaching a weekly average of 1800 (up from 1350). Literally, about 95% of the extra calories were from fruit, so it's not THAT bad, but I just got too comfortable and lost the control that I had when I was really watching myself. So, even though I didn't gain any weight (which could have to do with my 2 a day workouts last week), I'm gonna reign it in and bring my weekly average down to about 1500 or less. I need to learn how to eat more calories in a controlled setting instead of just eating all the fruit in my apartment! Haha.

Anyway, I'm glad to see you girls are doing well and I can't wait to hear from everyone else. So glad we're in this together!!

5/21/09(SW): 147.4
5/25/09: 145.8
5/31/09: 144.6
6/8/09: 143.6
6/15/09: 140.8
6/22/09: 140.4
6/29/09: 138.8
7/6/09: 137.4
7/13/09: 137.4
7/20/09: 138.4
7/27/09: 137.6 (back to maintenance weight)

D'oh! I forgot to weigh myself this morning, so I'll post tomorrow morning's weight. I had an early-morning session with the personal trainer, then stayed at the gym for 60 mins of cardio machines. I certainly feel lighter! I hope the scale agrees with me.

WTG, Dancer, TakingCharge and OneStar!

judy

Hi ladies,

Been a long day, but wanted to drop a quick note to say that I was pleased to be down 2.8 this week. Good to have recovered from the canoe trip disaster and still manage to take a little bit off beyond that.

Congrats on all the slow and steady losses -- it's maintainable that way!

Hoping to be able to cross the "I lost 10 pounds" threshold next week...going to be a challenge to meet my goal by the end of this challenge, but I'm keeping an open mind!

Thanks for sharing all your great news!
kp

Hi ladies! Hope your week is off to a good start. Sounds like everyone has got some great losses happening!

I have a mini-vent/whine...

I weigh myself every day and usually it doesn't bother me to see little blips in the upward direction, especially if I know exactly what caused them - change in exercise, water retention, etc. They only really frustrate me when I'm doing everything RIGHT and the scale still moves in the wrong direction. I'm at 174.8 today (!!!) and I just don't know how I got there! Eating has been right on. The only thing I can think of is that I upped my mileage/overall time running to 4 miles/45 minutes on Sunday, but since I have felt pretty good since then, I don't think it's water retention from sore muscles or anything. Anyway, it's just frustrating. I had a goal in mind to hit 172 by the end of the month and I don't think that's going to happen. I just keep trying to tell myself at least I'm still lower than I was at the beginning of the month, right?

Anyway - running injuries. kpme, I bit the bullet and ordered one of the foam rollers you mentioned. Doing some research online, it seems like everyone with IT Band issues swears by the rollers, so I'm hoping it works. I was hurting pretty bad after my 4 miler on Sunday, but I'm SO FRUSTRATED just sitting around so I ran 3 miles yesterday evening even though I probably should have given my knee a break. It went better than I expected and my knee feels great today. Today my goal is to hit the gym for at least an hour - hopefully squeeze in half an hour of running and half an hour on the elliptical or bike. I'm looking ahead past my first race to training for my first 10k so I'll probably gradually increase the mileage every week. I'm trying Hal Higdon's 10k novice program and it looks pretty good.

Keep up the good work everyone!!!