cgh-- I also want to try to lose 7 lbs by the week before the Memorial Day holiday, so I can celebrate the holiday in Seattle (folk life festival) at 169 lbs! But take it easy on your knees! IMO, I think Jillian was a drill Sargent in a former life!

caleighsmommy-- welcome to our little thread! It's always great to have committed exercise junkies like ourselves chat here!!

FP-- Yeah, I know, my exercise routine seems nutty lol. But I do a total body resistance workout for the hour for the time being as I learn the machines. I suspect later on, I'll figure out how to break up my resistance routine so it's only say lower body one day and abs/upper body another day
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Tuesday's workout session:

* 55 minutes on the elliptical machine (Did great, kept my heart rate elevated at an average of 138 beats!)
* 40 minutes of pushing a grocery cart at the grocery store (okaaaay, okaaay, it's NOT exactly treadmill routine, but eh, some walking - even if it's plodding - counts, lol!)
* buns & thighs pilates dvd

I cannot wait for my copy of Jillian Michael's new book & portable exercise cards to come in the mail from amazon later this week!! *My treat for reaching my milestone of losing 130 lbs*

unfortunately i'm not gonna be able to work out today cause of passover. i'm hoping to get to the gym tomorrow instead since i took the day off for the holiday. all in all, passover is NOT going to be good for my weight loss efforts. sigh.

anyway, i think tomorrow, instead of going to see how far i can jog in 50 or 60 minutes, i will set my incline at 2 and see how far i can jog in that time but making sure i keep my heart rate below 160 for the most part. this will likely lead to me going verrrry sloooowly. at a 0 incline i already have to slow it down to slower that 5.5 mph after about 2 or 3 miles into my run just to keep the heart rate down, so i imagine i'll be doing something in the 4s for speed. should make for an interesting experiment.

UGH!!! I had such a terrible run. I was totally not into it, couldn't find a decent song, running through terrible cramps and just feeling plain fat and awful.

I feel so depressed. I feel like I work so hard and have nothing to show for it. I change into my running clothes and look and myself and think - what's the point?

:-(

~Choirgirl~

Today I did 3miles on Treadmill!
Walk 3 mins on 3.5mph/run 1 min 5.0mph. I also did weights for the first time in foreverr My arms are killing me, but it's definatley worth it. I dont want to have flabby arms come summer!

Fat pants- I'm glad the scale didnt go up!! I would say you were pooped!! Thats great

tea- Wow, what a great workout!! Pushing a grocery cart is still walking right? 130 lbs?! Congrats that's amazing!

sws- Good luck with your experiment!!! Hope it goes well for you

sws19-- let's hope your incline workout goes well! Happy Passover too!!

cgh-- aww, girl! Don't give up! Do a different cardio workout on days you don't feel up to being a road runner on the treadmill You can still sweat it out like the best of 'em and feel GREAT!

Caleighsmommy-- Do you have an abbreviation we can use for you on this thread? Congrats on the three miles & resistance training! I've just started doing resistance training myself a bit over a week ago! Keep going, it burns more calories for ya!!

~ tea
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Wednesday workout session:

* 55 minutes on the elliptical machine (frustrated the dang machine couldn't give me an average heart rate while exercising Still got a good sweat in!)
* 15 minutes walking
* abs pilates dvd

Hang in there, cgh! We all have bad exercise days. In fact that's how I felt last week. I hate it when we KNOW our bodies are capable of doing something, but for one reason or another, just can't make things click like they should. Don't give up!

Just a quick check in, third day in a row for the run/walk, plus some time on the elliptical and a 15 minute walk outside at lunch. Usually I have a day of rest in between but hubby and I have plans right after work so I won't be able to get to the gym today. We won't get home until about 12:30 tonight and up at 5:30 for work... here's to hoping I still have energy for the gym on Friday LOL.

Keep up the good work, everyone!!!

awww cgh, chin up. i've never understood why one day something i did easily last week is suddenly impossible or super difficult. it's one of the most frustrating mysteries. i keep trying to remind myself that even if i just go 1 mile today as opposed to, say, 5 miles, that that's still waaaaay better than if i hadn't gone at all. of course, it's small consolation but it really is the truth.

we all just have those off days.

Thursday's workout session:

* 55 minutes on the elliptical machine (It's funny how I felt tired at times, and yet sweated a whole bunch and kept my heart rate up at an average 136 beats throughout the workout!)
* (Skipped walking today... just felt tired.)
* buns & thighs pilates dvd

*I'm enjoying Jillian's new book that came in the mail from amazon yesterday!!

ok so today i took the day off from work today for passover and was able to spend 2 hours in the gym! so i slowed things waaaay down, as i mentioned. did 60 mins at an incline of 2. i kept wanting to decrease the incline rather than my speed, but i stuck with it. after 60 mins i had done between 4.5 and 5 miles. i walked until i hit the 6 mile mark. then did some stretching and cool down. then about 190 crunches and 4 sets of 12 pushups.
whew!
of course, i lay on the couch and ate like cr@p the rest of the day, but my hr monitor told me i burned over 800 calories, (as opposed to my normal 600) so i'm gonna try not to sweat it too much.

tea~ Cal would be fine

Thursday:
1.91 miles on treadmill, walked for 3 mins 3.5mph, ran for 1 min 5mph. My legs were killing me and I dont know how I made it through, took me 30 mins but I wanted to quit 5 mins in. I'm glad I didnt though.
Lifted weighted/ squats 30 mins.

sws19 & Cal-- GREAT JOB you guys on your exercise routines!! Keep up the good work (even if its the holiday season). It can be tough, I know lol.
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I did my 2-plus hours exercise routine today! Even though I had pre-TOM tiredness!! Yippie!

Friday's workout session:

* 55 minutes on the elliptical (my heart rate was the highest this week to date: an average 141 beats! I honestly didn't expect it to be that high, considering how tired I felt and how much I P.R.O.C.R.A.S.T.I.O.N.A.T.E.D. before I actually DID workout, lol!)
* 1 hr - 1 hr & 15 minutes of total body resistance workout on the machines/floor/stability ball (phew!!!!)
* 20 minutes of walking
* Had to skip my pilates for the abs dvd tonight (just didn't have enough time budgeted in for the day ) ... I did however manage to do several sets of front/side planks & stability ball exercises for the abs during my resistance workout, so at least I did SOMETHING today for my abs

Saturday's workout session:

* 55 minutes on the elliptical machine (Even though I didn't feel like I had a very good workout today... felt tired even with a 9 hour sleep.... I averaged 132 heart beats on the elliptical machine and still had a very good, drenched sweaty exercise session ).
* 15 walking today (outside)
* buns & thighs pilates dvd

Now, I can officially enjoy the rest of my weekend without exercising (I have Sunday off but back to exercising on Monday)!! LOL Have a good weekend and see y'all on Monday!

UGH........... I hate it when I get TOM.... just makes me feel so dang sluggish and in a grumpy funk. I did sweat it out on the Elliptical for 55 minutes and increased the incline from level 2 to level 3 today. And also spent 1 hr 15 minutes doing resistance training at the gym. But I just felt so guilty today since my TOM left me feeling tired even before I got to the gym, so it made me feel like I didn't do good enough on my workout routine today, even though I tried!!

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Monday's workout session:

* 55 minutes on the elliptical machine
* 1 hour 15 minutes resistance training
* 15-20 (?) minutes walking
* abs pilates dvd

Hi everyone. I am working out on the treadmill 5-6 days a week for 20-30 min. I get bored easily so I am constantly changing things up. These are some of the things that I do throughout the week:

Walk backwards at a very high incline (I go to 10-15) at about 2.0. Hold on to the sides and take deep steps backward (almost like you are doing a lunge). You will be AMAZED at what this does for your heart rate and how sore your hams and quads will be!

I put it on manual and change my incline every 2 min - I keep the speed low enough so I do not use the bars (I find that I get a much better work out by not holding the bars) - once I get up to the highest incline, I work my way down and go more quickly.

My trainer swears by interval training. Run at 5.5 for 1 min, walk at 3.0 for 1 min - I run for 1 min and walk for 2 (I hate running) -but this shocks your body and gets your heartrate running and steady.

When I am feeling really motivated I will walk on a high incline for 5 min, walk backward for 2 min (high incline), walk low incline for 2 min, run for 1 min and do it all over again.

I find that these really help keep boredom at a minimum. I never read or watch TV while I work out on the treadmill or any other piece of cardio equipment - I find that it's so easy to lose focus and not make best use of my time.

Hope someone can find something useful from those