You know what would be great with gym machines? If you could "save" yourself as a user, save your height, save (or change as it changed) your weight, age, etc. etc. and then from there the machine would monitor your progress. It would 'think' that a user had been doing elliptical on the same resistance for 6 months, so they're probably pretty efficient, and would take that efficiency into account and spit out fewer calories burned. I'll bet they can do that in a lab, can't a $1200-$1500 piece of machine do it too?

Anyway, Meg, glad your gym got those new ellipticals! Sounds fun!

Jessica, I agree that your dog would probably like it if you came home right after work. But I hate to say give up the gym. Could you and your DH alternate who goes straight home to take care of the dog, and who goes straight to the gym? Or commit to going home, taking care of the dog, then making a quick trip to the gym? Or one of you goes to the gym in the AM, the other the PM, and the person not at the gym is walking the dog? (You can tell I love the gym and want everyone to love it like me here, lol!) Of course this all depends on the distance between home, gym, and workplaces. Could you get a 1-month-at-a-time gym membership to try and see what you can work out?

Good news about my gym. In December my membership was up for renewal, and the desk guy/trainer who works "my" gym shift told me to only renew for 1 month - he thought the gym might be closing, after the adjoining PT closed, and the owner was remaining tight-lipped. Last week he told me to go ahead and renew for a while, b/c he believed the owner would keep it open. Oh joy! My gym is literally the only gym in a 1+ hour radius from my house.

Aww, Meg, I hope your kitty is ok.

Lily, I hope you're feeling better today. Does that mean DH sat in front of the boob tube instead of going to the gym? ;) I hope everyone with colds is feeling better, too!

Oooh, Pat, enjoy that paycheck!

Carolyn, mmm, your tuna sounds yummy. WTG getting your weight down!

Today I have to go to the city to my other desk. Oh and I get to trailer a boat through the city streets too. This should be fun. I usually only trailer boats in my non-crowded rural streets. Wish me luck. Have a great Friday all!

Good morning everyone!

I'm happy to report I'm down another pound. It may be only temporary as I had an extra light eating day yesterday.

I've been thinking of getting a heart rate monitor, but with all the other "equipment" I put on for my morning run I may not. Okay, so it's not a lot of equipment but I'd have at least 3-4 layers on my midsection which might bug me (jog bra, shirt, reflector halter and add a HR band to that?) I do agree that it is distressing to put so much work into a workout and then come home to look up how many calories you burned and it isn't even a couple hundred. Oh, well, at least I'm exercising!

Just popping in. It's my birthday today so I'm sure eating won't be on plan. My 9yo dd is making a cake. Her version of cake is mostly icing. I have two home today with fevers so I'm hoping I avoid that.

Shane-congrats on the job offer.
Lisa-Marie-very cute pic of you and dh
Sickies-hope you're all better soon.
Megan-good show of patience/character, despite probably wanting to snap
Meg-hope the kitty is ok

:bday2you: :balloons: Happy Birthday, Lisa!! :balloons: :bday2you:

Cake is calorie-free on your birthday, everyone knows that. ;) Have a wonderful day!

And congratulations on another pound gone, Allison! You are really on a roll here. :D As for exercise, think about all the other benefits besides burning calories. Heart disease is still the #1 killer of women and you're strengthening your heart and improving your health in too many ways to count. :carrot:

Just what I was going to say, Meg! Happy Birthday Lisa!!! Enjoy your special day.
:celebrate::bday2::woo::balloons:

Happy Birthday Lisa!!

Jessica, bf and I work our exercise/gym schedule around the need to exercise the dog: MWF - I run the dog, bf goes to the gym; TThS - Bf walks the dog, I go to the gym. We live a block and a half from our office and about 4 blocks from the gym, so sometimes I come home, hang with the hound and have a snack before going to the gym in the evening for an extra workout. If you arrange your exercise schedules properly, you can be kind to the dog and yourselves.

Happy Friday everyone!

Hi everyone, Hope all of you with colds are feeling better. My tummy feels fine this morning. I plan to go to the gym today while DH goes for a haircut.

I also have noticed at the gym that when I do the stairstepper or treadmill for 30 min's I've only burned off a small apple. I'm trying to ignore the calories burned thingy and just tell myself that it doesn't matter and that my body needs exercise anyway. Has anyone else tried the perpetual stairs thingy? It really kicks my butt.

Meg, my gym got 3 new stairsteppers the other day. I liked the old ones better, but the new ones are more hightech and smoother. The old ones a little light popped up each time you had walked another floor of steps. It was motivating to see the light thingy.

I have my dogs on a schedule. I walk them at 9AM, 2PM,7PM and just before I go to bed around midnight. Most days I pick the girls up from school at 3PM and we hit the gym. We're always back before time to walk the dogs again.

Lisa, Happy Birthday and wish I was there, I'm a cake-a-holic.

Allison, WTG on taking off another pound.

Megan, yes, DH and Shelbey spent the evening re-watching 2 Harry Potter movies on PayPerView. While I napped, cooked, cleaned the kitchen, did 4 loads of laundry, then walked on my treadmill. They were at least kind enough to walk the dogs twice for me though.

It was so cold last night and Lucy jumped in bed with us. We just let her stay there, LOL.

my goals for today:
1. eat on plan
2. hit the gym for my UBWO and cardio
3. dress in something I feel great in
4. sing my butt off at Karaoke tonite

Happy Birthday Lisa!!! Have a wonderful, cake-filled and fever-less day!

Isn't it ironic that what we want can often be so difficult to obtain? Why is it that it is so easy to gain and so difficult to lose? On the other hand, why is it that the stock market can take a tumble and you can lose thousands of dollars and it takes months (if not years) to re-gain your loss. It just isn't right (and as far as I'm concerned it should be just the opposite in both of those scenarios!!! LOL). That's my thought for the day!

Thanks for the advice about the dog guys. Our problem is that DH and I carpool to work, and the gym is 5 minutes from work in the opposite direction of our house! We specifically picked a gym that we would have to go to directly from work, because once we get home, chances that we'll leave again are slim. So since we carpool we can't really take turns with the gym and the dog, and because of the location we can't go home first. We talked it over last night and our current plan is to do a 6-month renewal of our membership instead of a whole year. It will be at least a couple more months before we get a dog anyway, so that will give us room to see how it goes. I'm also thinking though that would the dog really notice a difference of 1.5 hours in when we get home? Is 9.5 hours that much less than 11 hours? He would have a dog door so it's not like he wouldn't be able to go do his business. OTOH I would love to spend lots of time with the dog! Actually I already have it planned out that I'll work from home for a week or so when we first get the dog to make sure he is acclimated!

I bet some of you guys think I'm crazy for planning for a dog months before we are going to get it. I have been waiting so many years to be able to get a dog that I just can't contain my excitement! We're going to call up the fence installation company to get a quote tomorrow, then we'll have to have our property surveyed and submit the request to our homeowner's association. They have a rule that you have to submit the request 30 days before you plan to put the fence in, so it will be a little while.

Lily - my gym has two oooooooooold stairclimbers. They are so old that they are unusable. I have never, ever seen anyone on them! I tried a couple times and they were so beat up that I started sliding off! :lol: I wish they'd get new ones, but they probably don't bother because they aren't popular.

Lisa - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Hi to everyone else! I am down to 139.8 this morning for my official weigh-in. Woohoo! Last Friday I was 141.2 so that's a whopping 1.4lbs. I don't remember the last time I lost more than 1lb in a week! Plus I am feeling really good about the thyroid medicine. I haven't worn my coat at work all week, and I'm thinking of turning down the heater at home too. What a relief to not be freezing all the time!

Jessica, I think your dog plan is a good one. As long as the dog gets some exercise in the morning, s/he should be fine alone during the day. Especially with the dog door and the freedom to wander around inside and out. Our dog has to be crated when we leave (separation anxiety) so we have to be a bit more careful about how long we leave her. But I think all this pre-dog planning is a good thing! I wish more people would spend more energy thinking about their dogs (and then we'd have fewer dogs like Lily's neighbour's!)

I also lost weight this week. I saw 136.9 AND I got my period. Hooray! I might be able to make it down to 135 after all. (And then I won't have to be Kim's fat sister any longer :) )

ETA: I just realized that it looks as though I'm hooraying getting my period. That doesn't thrill me, but a 1lb loss despite getting my period does! :)

Jessica~you are not crazy! You are showing that you plan on being a patient, dependable pet owner (rather than one of those who adopts a puppy, doesn't train it, ties it up, lets it bark and then gives up and takes it to the "humane" society for re-adoption--they are rarely re-adopted).

I really don't think that most dogs would understand the 1.5 hour difference. Perhaps, depending on your neighborhood and the type of dog you get, you might "hire" a neighbor kid for a couple dollars a week to come over after school and play with the dog if you feel that the dog is bored. Boredom usually manifests itself in digging, excessive chewing and barking. Older, trained dogs probably wouldn't do any of that, but puppies will. And separation anxiety is real. One of my dogs has a problem with it, so he has to have a companion--thus us having 2 dogs.

Wow. I just stumbled upon (yes, I subscribe and stumble quite a bit when I'm bored at work) a really interesting site. Basically I'd call it "everything you need to lose weight and keep it off." It is a complete synopsis of what to do and what not to do in the diet world--it contains everything that I've read here on 3FC. Quite interesting.
http://www.acaloriecounter.com/weight-loss.php

Allison, that weight loss guide is incredible! Someone put a ton of work into it!

Allison, I'll have to check that out. Sounds great.

I made my gym workout today. Now, I'm babysitting my grandsons for 4 hrs. We are going out to dinner later tonite and I picked a place that has a great grilled chicken salad so I could stay totally on plan. Right now I'm very hungry cause I just had celery and laughin cow cheese for lunch. I was saving my cal's and carbs for dinner.

baffled, there aren't many of us that use the stairsteppers at my gym, but I like them. It gives me a break from the treadmill everytime and I find the Elliptical is more difficult for me to do. It just seems too jerky on my knees. I do use the exercise bikes occasionally, but I'd rather climb steps!