Morning, girls!

Fresno - nice to see you again! crazy that your gym is sooo busy - that's part of what keeps me exercising outside - I'm not at all a fan of a really crowded gym. Good for you for finding an alternative workout!

No run for me today as I had construction guys to deal with before work and a girl's dinner tonight at my favorite brick oven pizza place. I'm thinking a big salad and a small serving of pizza - we'll see how it goes. I'm having a skinny day today - my work dress pants are feeling loose - might be time for me to pull out the next size down. My bf headed out this morning to visit his folks and won't be back until Sunday so I'm planning on getting in lots of exercise this week/weekend and maybe even catching up on work and organizing my storage area. Just had strawberries and blueberries for breakfast - yum.

What's everyone up to today?

Fresno: You are going to hit those 160's with a vengence this week! Good for you for finding an alternate workout. I used to work out at a horribly busy gym, and even when working with a trainer, you still had to wait for machines! Kinda negates the point of working out if you're spending half your time standing around! LOL

Dance: Yeah for loose pants!! Love that feeling. Happy Skinny Day! Enjoy the pizza (man...I miss chicago pizza...haven't had it in forever). Gotta be careful, I may start drooling!

On plan for the day. I didn't have time to make my lunch today (Maddie woke up 30 minutes early and it throws off my whole routine). Had oatmeal and fresh fruit for breakfast, still need to figure out lunch, and dinner is grilled chicken.

So, I wasn't sure what I was going to do for a workout today, but Jeff emailed me and asked if I was training tonight. He had a spot opened, so I took it. So now I'm working out at 7:30. Tomorrow I'm taking my friend to his class and then Friday I may do some running.

Last night was interesting. I was pulling out all my clothes that I've shrunk out of so I can post them on ebay. It's amazing how many clothes I'll be getting rid of! I've logged 60 items so far and I'm not even half way through them yet! Craziness. It will be good to get them out of my closet, they are taking up so much room! I'm going to take the money from the sales and 1) Buy some really cute clothes when I'm at goal and 2) get a mani/pedi for hitting Onederland. I think that's a good way to spend it.

What is everyone else up to today?

Dance-the chili was delicious. I still have lots left, gonna put half in the freezer. Have a fun girls night. You sound like you will have a productive week. I'm gonna try to get to 192 this week.

Fresno-glad you found an alternate workout. Being outside always makes me feel so good too. Do you know where Alpena is? Im close to there, about 4 hrs north of Detroit.

Vicky-glad you gonna be able to get that workout in. I should have done that will all my clothes, but I gave them to some family so that was a good deed, I guess. A mani/pedi sounds nice, a good reward for hitting onederland.

Went with my SIL yesterday and picked huckleberries. Got a cup full, need to make something with them before Chris eats them all. Then we went to the farmers market this morning and loaded up. Gotta get day 18 done, but it probably wont be til later tonight. We have a cookout to go to at 4 for Chris' aunt. She is from Louisiana and today is her last day here so we are all getting together. Then I have the boys tomorrow from 4pm til sometime Friday. I havent had them in a while. I've told her no the last couple times cos my family was here. Gotta get back in the swing of things, we need the extra money.

Sandy-where are you? How are you and Bubba doing??

Hi girls!

How's everyone doing today? Hope you're all having a good day!

Well, my scale is STILL reporting 171 pounds! Ugh! I'm definitely thinking it's a bit of a plateau, plus my body getting used to a lower caloric intake / hoarding some fat. Does anyone have any idea when the weight will start to come off? (I think three weeks sounds approximate...any thoughts?)

Yesterday's diet was a healthy one:

B: Oatmeal w/ soymilk
L: Whole wheat pasta w/ marinara
D: Panera veggie sandwich
S: (as I was still hungry, lol) Microwave 'natural' popcorn which was really, really good !

Today:
B: Fiber one w/soymilk
L: Peanut butter/banana sandwich, sandwich bag full of carrots, tomatoes and sugar snap peas
S: string cheese and Kashi crackers
D: Probably a veggie burger and salad

What's on everyone else's plates?

Burgundy, I DO know where Alpena is! My dad lives outside of Bay City... =)

Dancer and Maddies - thank you both so much for your undying support! I know the 160's will happen eventually. But you know, if they wanted to get here sooner than later, I'd appreciate it. haha

Looking forward to your updates!
Keep up the good work, everyone!

fresno - when I've been stuck at a plateau (a real one, not just me taking a break from calorie restrictions), I've found that calorie cycling (google for a calculator that I found useful) has helped - maybe that will work for you.

maddiesmom - sooooo fun to get rid of clothes that are too big and I love the idea of reinvesting the profits in new stuff and gorgeous toes. I'm wondering at what point I should start to keep things - I'd like to get down to an 8 as my goal but am in the 12s and 10s depending on brands right now. Anything that I love at this size, I'm thinking I may keep for a while at least while I figure out the rest of this process. Have you decided anything on that front?

I looked it up, and I think I will try it. Thanks for the tip!

fresno - let us know how it goes!

Morning ladies! Did pretty well at the brick oven pizza place last night - green salad and a piece of pizza as planned. I'm out of pretty much everything at home so I need to hit the grocery store desperately - maybe at lunch. Off for a run before it gets too hot. Anyone with me for miles today? I'll probably just do my usual three but try to pick up the pace a squidge by alternating between my usual slowpoke jog and a slightly faster one - maybe every time the song changes.

mygrits - come say hi - we miss you!!

Down to 170.5 today....haha...why are the 160's not happening!?
I am going to work out a LOT this weekend. I'm hoping to see 169.something on Monday. I will also do a little calorie cycling. I hope it will help get me past this slow crawl of the 170's!
I did cave and have pad thai w/ tofu last night. Probably not the best decision, but I couldn't resist. And I only ate half!
How are my friends doing today?

fresno - you are almost to a new decade! One weekend of sticking to plan strictly should do it - we'll keep our fingers crossed for you

Fresno: I agree with Dance - one strict week and you will be in the 160's without a problem. You had pad thai - but you only ate half! Good for you!!

Dance: Congrats on the willpower! I don't think I could stop at only one piece of pizza. Chicago style pizza is the best, and to turn it down, it's hard!

So, guess what? I injured myself. I went to the gym last night and what was cool was that it wasn't a technical "PT" session, it was more like 2 people just working out together. Well, I was doing some "clean squats" and felt something crack in my knee. I got up, tried to walk it off, and had excruciating pain. I tried to stand on it, and I pretty much collapsed on the floor. Jeff came running over asking me if I was ok. Then he said, "Know what this means?" Yep, I knew...it meant ARP.

He got the ARP machine out and I thought that all the pain was in my knees, but when he tried to find the pain, it was actually in my shin. He said that what was happening was that my shins weren't able to take the impact of all the running I've been doing. So, this pain would have come out sooner or later. He ARP'ed my left shin and then did a little on my knee just to avoid swelling.

I'm going back to ARP today, this time I'll be doing both shins. Jeff is thinking that if one shin is weak, the other will be as well. So, totally painful lunch hour I'm going to have today. I love Jeff though, he's doing all my ARP for FREE this week. He's such a great guy. (Plus when we were working out together, it was nice seeing him in his element). I may ARP tomorrow, I'm going to see how I'm feeling. I want to get this pain done and over with - it's hard for me to get around right now.

So, needless to say, I won't be running the 5K in two weeks. I don't want to put myself through all this pain to run the 5K and do this to myself again. I will start running after I start feeling better, but probably shorter distances, and with more guidance from Jeff.

I'm back to eating a ton of protein to help with my muscles and no hard core workouts until I'm feeling better. At least I can do crunches and work on my upper body - I think.

maddiesmom - so sorry about your injury - what a bummer! It wasn't just shinsplints, right? It sounds like something different based on my experience. I've had to deal with shinsplints because of muscle imbalances between my calves and shins most of my life and they're pretty ouchy but not the kind of thing that knocks you off your feet. There are some very specific kind of funny exercises to strengthen the front of your shins (kind of just toe raises if you can imagine - you stand with your back to a wall and just lift your toes - do 5 sets of 10 and it's harder than you would imagine) once you are over the pain if that is part of what you need to be able to run again in the future. Hang in there sweetie - injuries are the worst! And you've had to deal with far more than your share of pain, poor thing.

Dance: No, this is more than shinsplints - it's really bad. The funny thing is, that my shins really don't hurt, but the pain is being transferred to my knee (I know it sounds weird). Jeff said that shins are the most painful area to work on, which is why I'm freaking out about my appointment right now. I go in an hour. Basically he hooks the arp up to me, then the exercise I do are calf raises to get those muscles to fire.

Just another bump in the road - I guess I'm more disappointed because I can't work out for the next week or so, I can only do arp. But, on the bright side, he's not charging me for any of these treatments - usually, they're $50 per session.

ouch ouch ouch - ask jeff for me what this type of injury is called if he knows, I'm always curious to learn new medical stuff - just enough to make me dangerous Good luck with the treatment - you are going to be one tough cookie in the future from all of this ARP stuff!

Ok, so it wasn't as bad as Jeff and I originally thought. It turns out that my shins are fine (they just hurt the most at the time Jeff began to ARP me. Your body automatically prioritizes pain, so that's what hurt most at the time). So, what hurts? It's my knees again. I'm glad that it's not a new injury, but ARP'ing my knees really hurts too. What can you do?

I'm going back tomorrow for another appt (I have the day off) so he said that I'll be 100% in a week. I told him that I was cancelling the 5K, but he said I didn't have to, that I should be fine in time for the race. I haven't made any final decisions, we'll just have to see.

What's everyone else up to today??

maddiesmom - If you can, I'd hold off on canceling the race and see how you feel. You can always decide not to the day before or whenever. Sorry about your knee pain though - just think, you are making your knees' lives so much easier with each pound you have lost and by strengthening the muscles around them. Hang in there!