I am trying to keep myself motivated to do my workouts. I know it helps to have someone to check in with, so am hoping someone out there is also looking for a workout buddy.

I'm 33, married, no kids. I like to jump rope, walk, and do weights.

I'd be THRILLED to be your accountability buddy! I was recently looking for the same thing but that was before I found this site! I'm 35, married w/ 4 kids & currently weighing 150 and trying to get to 135. I'm the same way and feel the need to have someone "check up" on me to get this done.

I'm looking at getting a recumbent bike for aerobic workouts and need to get back on the wagon for the strength training. Maybe you could tell me what your doing for that so I can get some ideas.

Pleased ta meetcha! Right now I'm using jumping rope as my primary cardio workout. Love that it gives me some good junk in my trunk, something I never thought I'd have!! Also gives you killer calves. I also walk 20-40 minutes per day, commuting to work. Unfortunately I sit on my bum for 8 1/2 hours at work, so need to do something to fight the dread "spread".

I've fought my way down from my all-time high of about 210 (ack!!), and am now hovering between 168 and 171. I'd like to get down to around 150, but that isn't set in stone. Basically I want to FEEL good. I want to have energy and feel strong and beautiful. Having a completely empty lap when I sit down would also be nice.

I do crunches, some free weights for upper body, and squats and such for lower body. I'm trying to beef up my "flab-fighter muscles", quads and glutes.

I'll be out and about with a friend today, so will get some decent walking in. Tonight I plan to jump for about 30-40 minutes.

That's awesome that you've made so much progress already! Right now I am just below my all time high of 154 (I'm at 150). I've been trying the South Beach diet but I keep 'slipping'. I've managed to lose 4 lbs but it's taken me a while. I'm pretty sure the only way I'm going to lose anything substantial is to get back to working out. I'm going to try to start working out on my husband's stationary bike tomorrow but it's kind of big and I don't know if I can do a full 40 minute workout on it. I'll let you know how it goes.

With the weights, do you work out both upper and lower body on the same days or do you alternate? Since I'm kind of pressed for time, I found I was having better success by doing full body days and having days off in between. The only reason I was forced to stop was because I had injured myself by trying to increase the weight too fast while doing squats. So now I'm going to have to start all over again

Did you end up working out last night?

I didn't end up getting home until about 9pm last night, so no workout. I did walk about 4 miles yesterday, and danced around my place to The BeeGees and The Cramps last night.

I primarily use weights for upper body. Lower body I do squats, plies, calf raises, and dead lifts with no weight.

I'll be cleaning my grandmother's condo today. There's an old saying: "keep a clean house and you'll never get fat". I'll do some crunches, calf raises and arm work when I get home and call it good.

I don't really do diets. I try to eat better, but prefer to burn calories rather than "deprive" myself.

We have a gym in my complex, but I don't use it much right now. I did love the elliptical machine, but jumping rope is more fun and burns more calories, so win-win.

What are you planning to do today?

Yesterday I was planning on working out at night so I spent the day catching up on laundry and cleaning the house. I'm hoping you're right about that old cleaning saying because I guess I ate something that didn't agree with me AT ALL and became sick to my stomach. So instead of working out I ended up spending the rest of the night on the couch. I'm actually not entirely better this morning but I'm hoping some oatmeal for breakfast will help settle things.

Today the plan is to start using my husband's exercise bike. I'd like to do 40 minutes at 14 mph. I read that doing so will burn 500 calories, so that's the goal. We'll see how that goes. If it doesn't work out, I may just get myself a jump rope until I can afford my recumbent bike

For strength training I think I'm going to start with the 5 lb weights and do 2 sets of 15 for upper body and follow your example for lower body today.

Do you do aerobics everyday? Or just a few days a week? And how often for the weights?

Good for you for running! It looks like you've got a good routine going. Keep it up, you're doing great! Did you get those crunches & arm work done last night?

I did do the upper body work Sunday night. I do about 50 crunches, and use 8 lb dumbells for arm work until the muscle is exhausted.

Yesterday was only so-so. I wasn't feeling all that hot, so didn't do much beyond about 40 minutes of walking. I got up early this morning and jump roped for 15 minutes, and also walked 45 mins today. Tonight is date night with hubby, so no workout. Although seeing Daniel Craig as James Bond is a workout for my heart...

So, tomorrow night is jump rope night. I like to jump rope while watching a dvd (Supernatural this week, courtesy of Netflix). I am working towards cardio 4-5 days per week, and strength 2 days per week.

How did your day go?

Okay, so yesterday was not good... Did not work out, and overindulged in pumpkin pie.

So far I did ab work this morning. Did 10 minutes of Zumba videos online, also Kathy Smith's lower body toning video. I'm gonna get some jumpsnapping while I catch up on Supernatural. Today is going to be a good day!!

I got my 20 mins of jumpsnapping in yesterday as well. Woke up this morning.. "oh, hello there hamstrings..."

Today I'll be cleaning my grandmother's place. This will be a big one, so it will count as my activity today.

Hey! SOOO sorry I haven't been on the last few days! I've been super busy with getting ready for Thanksgiving and then my 21 hour shopping marathon on friday That left me pretty much exhausted for the weekend clean up!

Good for you for keeping up your routine. [Don't worry about the pie, life happens ] Hope you get a lot done today at your grandmother's.

I don't know how you're able to get so much done in one day. I'm still trying to figure out how I can piece together everything I have to do and still have time to breathe I have a huge list on my fridge of things I need to do and I don't even know where I can stick exercise. Maybe I can squeeze some in later tonight. I'm hoping I just don't like exercising at night

Well, not having kids helps. Also, DH is very low maintenance.

Cleaning at my grandmother's is definitely a workout. Moving her furniture (she insists on vacuuming behind all the couches, etc. I ate well, had a small tuna salad when we went out for brunch.

My hammies and glutes are still recovering from Kathy Smith's video. If you can find it (I have it as a bonus on her Yoga Challenge dvd), it is a KILLER lower body workout. I'm taking it easy today. I did walk to and from work (22 mins each way), and did crunches tonight.

Stocked up on healthy snacks yesterday. Fiber One bars, dried apricots and walnuts. Walnuts are excellent for curbing appetite.

Glad you checked in. How was your Thanksgiving?

My thanksgiving was pretty good. I never over do it on that day. I usually have a ton of salad, some of my MIL escarole soup and a little turkey with some of her mashed potatoes (my worst cheat for the day). But I have to admit that I HAVE been over doing it a bit with all the leftovers. It's just too easy to pick at! I can't wait for it all to be gone...lol

I am proud to say that I did my aerobics for the day. 40 minutes @ 14mph on my recumbent bike. I was able to get it working. It looks pretty funny, but I don't care because at least now I have it working! I will be doing my strength training later tonight. I'll post an update once I have it done!

I got a huge motivator last night. I had been auditioning to sing in a band for the last few weeks and found out last night that I got in. But here's the thing: Our first 'unofficial' show is in 2 weeks and I don't want to look like this on stage! So that definately helped to kick my butt in gear today!!! I told my husband I'd love to find a quickie lypo place that was cheap if I could....lmao!

I know I won't be able to lose much in 2 weeks but the first 'official' show is Jan. 9th and I'm hoping I can lose more by then.

How did the cleaning at your grandmother's go?


***did 2 sets of 12 reps with 5 lb weights tonight. Tomorrow is lower body. Hope to get a regular routine going! Hope you're doing well too!

Hey! Hope you're having a great day!

I was able to get another 40 minute workout on my bike today. So happy. I just hope that I can keep it up because I'm always gung-ho at the start and then end up stopping somewhere along the way.

I also did upper body again today. I didn't feel like I got much of a workout yesterday so I added some reps and feel better about the workout today.

Hope you've been able to keep up your exercising too! Have a great night!!!

Hi again!

Just a quick post tonight. I had to exercise later today because I worked and I TOTALLY hated it. I have so much less energy at night and it was pretty tough to stay at it. It took me a little longer to hit my 500 calories because I was having a hard time staying near 14mph but I did it.

Now I'm going to shower and veg for the rest of the night with my hubby since he just got back from a long business trip.

Hope you're having continued success! I'll check in again tomorrow!

Hey, I'm still here.

I am super excited! I won a Zumba system in a silent auction at work today!! So tomorrow is gonna be serious butt-kicking time! Tonight I did the intro dvd for Zumba, which got me moving for 58 minutes, sweating. Also reminded me that I am NOT coordinated... Tomorrow I plan to do the Kathy Smith lower body dvd plus the Zumba Sculpt & Tone.

I walked and did lower body work on Tuesday & Wednesday as well. Took last night off, letting my hammies and glutes recover.

You must be excited for the audition. I have awful stage fright, so never did much singing outside of a chorus. And I head ya on the need for speed. Can we just hit fast-forward on the fat loss??