Okay, I have a question. DH and I were planning to try to observe Passover this year, which starts halfways through next week. I call it the "Passover diet." :lol: In any case, I was fine with this plan, until I realized that it is right before the triathlon. I know in general the advice for preparing for an endurance race is to eat a lot of carbs. Is it okay for me to go on the no-bread no-pasta no-rice Passover diet right before a triathlon? Should I just eat a lot of potatoes instead?

Meg - I think I have to take antibiotics before the dentist now, too - I have a touch of mitral valve prolapse and foreign objects, so I guess I'll be taking them pre-cleanings forever! I've always wondered why you can't get some kind of ID card or pre-clearance if you have metal joint replacement - I see people at the airport getting pulled for it a lot and I'm sure it gets old...

I'm two months into weighing myself and tracking it every day - my average for February was 121.9, March was 121.4. It puts my panic at seeing 118.5 move up to 123 between March 1-15 into a whole different perspective. The 118.5 was a blip, just like the 125 a couple of days was a blip. I think that keeping track every day and running an average does keep me from being crazy, for the most part. Helps me to learn the blips and better deal with them when they happen, and see patterns as they develop. I like it. One more thing to add into my maintenance pattern. Now, if I could just make myself get up in the mornings to exercise again - I've only gotten up two weekday morning in the last four weeks now, and a couple of weekend days here and there. I've been staying up later at night - running puts me home a little later some days, and I've been sitting listening to music with DH more. Makes it hard to get up... I can remember when I did get up for six months or so, and I felt a lot better, and could still stay up later because I had more energy - but try telling me that when I'm changing the alarm in the morning! :o

Have a good day everyone!

Your cat and mine are psychic twins. I could have written that post word for word.

Mine also has to stand up on my knees when I'm using the other facilities in the bathroom.

My in-laws cat likes to drink from the sink, too, Meg. But they tried a couple different fountains and finally found one that he likes. He also loves bags--but big paper shopping bags are his favorite. He also has a thing for packing material. Everytime they get a shipment that has the thick plastic packing sheets he goes crazy tearing it up.

We have a second cat that we indulged by letting her drink from the bathroom sink faucet as a kitten. Hmmmp. She took to sitting in the sink and howling (she's Siamese) until we turned it on. Took us much longer to break the habit than to create it. :lol: The same is true of counters. We have never (except as noted above) let our cats on kitchen or bathroom counters, and they never do it when there's anyone in the kitchen or living room. But leave the room and you'll hear a thump of someone jumping off the counter when you come back. :) Sneaky little devils. I've never left food on the counter anyway, but I don't know the fascination.

Cool this morning, but sunshine predicted for later - and nothing has erupted for nearly 36 hours now. I've actually printed out my boarding pass.....

My parents cat loves bubble wrap - will roll around on it and squeeze at it until she pops the bubbles. My grandmother also loves bubble wrap, so all of us save any we get in to split between Bobbie & the cat!

Pat - I had a cat with the counter and faucet habit. Still isn't fully broken of it... I bought her a fountain water bowl and that helps, but she still wants to get up and drink out of the sink...

Good Morning,

All the pet stories are halarious! The carpet in our house stops at the entry to the kitchen, and the dog has always been taught she's not to come in the kitchen, so she sits right at the edge of the carpet line while I'm making her food (or pretty much any time I'm in the kitchen, she follows me everywhere). After our 18 yr old cat passed away a couple of years ago we eventually got a new kitten, and somehow she learned the same rules - so she sits next to the dog at the edge of the carpet waiting - it's pretty cute AND keeps her off the kitchen counters. I'm pretty sure she thinks she's a dog.

Meg, I didn't know that about antibiotics for people with foriegn objects - I wonder if my daughter knows that. When she was about 20 (she's 23 now - man that makes me feel old!) she was working at a plant nursery and while moving a 300 lb cart taller than she is it fell. She got mostly out of the way (PTL) but it landed on her leg just above her ankle and shattered everything. She has a metal plate and I forget how many screws in her ankle (she had two removed, but the others don't bother her, I think there are 6 or 8 still in there). Anyhow, she's never mentioned having to take antibiotics for the dentist or anything like that. I'll have to mention it to her. She does hate going through security at the airport though!

Shannon, I never thought I'd be a morning exerciser. I hate mornings and used to be a 'hit the snooze button 15 times before dragging myself out of bed' type. There was no way I could never convince myself to get up early to work out. Somehow when the alarm goes off, "Gee, I want so badly to get out of my nice warm bed and work my body until my muscles feel like rubber" just never crosses my mind! I thought people who got up to work out in the morning were insane!

But, a few years back during one of my 'weight loss' periods, I was having a tough time fitting exercise into the evenings (probably related to having three teenagers and two babies in the house, and working full-time all day...)

Anyhow, I read a maintainer's post where she said that she started out by just getting up 15 - 20 min earlier "just to have a cup of coffee and relax, watch the news, check/post to the diet board, etc." Eventually she moved it earlier, and would just tell herself "I'm just getting up to have my coffee, and IF I happen to feel like working out after that, I will."

I tried that method and it worked for me - when my alarm goes off I tell myself I'm getting up "just to have a cup of coffee and do morning devotions". Once I'm awake, it's not AS hard to convince myself to work out, and I found that I love how I feel all day after a good workout in the morning! (however I work out at home, I still think people who get up early and go to a gym must be some sort of strange alien being) lol!

How about everyone else - do you work out in the morning, lunchtime, after work, or after dinner? How do you motiviate yourself to move from whatever activity you are doing just before working out to go to the gym or get started working out?

I need to get more work accomplished today than I did yesterday. Hope you all have a great day!
Shanna

Shanna, I prefer to work out in the morning, but I refuse to wake up before 6am! :lol: My workout times have shifted around as a function of my work hours mostly. When I was losing, I was in grad school. I would work out in the morning MWF because I didn't have class until 9:30 (and the gym was 5 mins from home and 5 mins from school), and for a while I also worked out in the afternoons TTh, but at around 3pm (I was done with class for the day by then).

When I first got my job, I had trouble fitting in workouts since I have to be at work around 8:30 and back then it was about a half hour drive away. Eventually DH and I joined a gym that was near work, and started going on our way home, so we'd get there around 5:30pm or so. It was exhausting because we didn't get home until around 7:30, then we had to shower and make and eat dinner and would go straight to sleep after dinner at around 10.

We did that for a while, then we moved closer to work. It made the commute nicer, but still tiring to get home from the gym so late. Then we got a dog, and stopped going to the gym because we didn't want to leave him alone for so many hours (8am to 7:30pm). Since then I've done all sorts of weird workout times. Usually I take the dog for a run when I get home and that's my workout most days. For a while I was taking him running in the morning at 6am, but then it became winter and was too dark and cold. For a while during winter I was working out at lunchtime at work because it was too cold for outdoor exercise.

Dang! I wish I could sleep in until 6 am and still get my exercising done! As it is, I get up at 4:23 (weird, but it gets me in front of the tv on the treadmill for the 4:30 news). I stay long enough to see the local forecast at about 5:03 and then I go pour my coffee and take my shower.

I just got back from taking Chico baby to the vet. He's got stinky ears, but at least there is no yeast infection. We mainly went for his rabies shot.

On a sad note we're laying off another three employees today. That puts the total at 8. We're keeping 9. I guess that's close to a 50% reduction in force. I don't like it.

I wish I could work out in the morning, but no matter how many times I try to start it as a routine, I end up quitting after a few days. I think if I could just get through a week or two I'd be set.... but no such luck! Right now I like to work out after work and then have dinner. I feel like I've earned my dinner if I work out first! =)

I am not working now so I go to the gym as soon as I drop my son off at pre-school. I get there just in time for the 9:30 class, whatever it may be. Sometimes my husband will drive carpool so on those days I'll do the 8:30 spin class and then the 9:30 barbell class. I love those days.

I really don't have room to fuss about the mornings, to get up early to exercise means get up between 6:30 and 7... :o As it is I snooze now until 8:15... I love living 5 miles from work. I've just got to make myself do it again...

Shanna - DH is working on getting back into the morning habit. He has been getting up early and just puttering around for a week now, he plans to actually add the exercise in this week. We'll see if it works for him! I should try that too - my problem comes when the alarm is set 1.5 hours early. I need to start smaller and work my way back, that is how I did it before. Thanks!

I hate you both ;)

I get up between 4:15-4:30, drink coffee and read my Bible, work out (on good days), shower & get ready for work, help the girls w/their hair, feed the pets, make my breakfast which I eat in the car w/my second cup of coffee while driving 40+ min in order to get to work between 7:45-8. yuck! DH works only 10-15 min from the house. In the mornings I don't like him much either.

Jessica, One of the reasons I don't go to a gym is b/c I don't like being away from the family (including the pets) that many hours. I have an eliptical at home, and also use on demand exercise TV. BTW, I know a bit about passover sedar, but nothing about doing a triathlon. Sorry.

Allison, sad about the layoffs. What kind of business do you have? It must be hard to lay off people! :hug:

Shanna~your mornings sound as jam-packed as mine! But I prefer not to be rushed in the morning (it makes for a bad mood all day). So I'm up at 4:30 if I exercise, otherwise 5 am. Shower, feed the dogs, read the paper (2nd cup of coffee), fix lunch for me and DH, wake up and feed the hungry teenager, pour 3rd cup of coffee, make the bed (DH stays in bed up to an hour longer) and then check my email. Finally I get dressed and make my breakfast and eat. Then I load the car with my kids and the two neighbor boys and head off to school and work. I get to work about 8:05--only because of traffic around the schools and I can't get them there any earlier.

You asked what my business is? DH and I own a glass contracting business where we specialize in high end custom homes. Follow the link if you want to see our latest publication (the house featured is in the April 2009 Robb Report called the ultimate home for 2009). Frankly it's amazing what people will spend their money on...Robb Report April 2009

I'm feeling much more spring-like and festive today :dance: - from the ankles down :p!

http://www.shoebuy.com/sofft-felicity/293343/626361

And for my wide feet to not hang over the edges of such a pretty open shoe is quite remarkable. I've been wearing them for an hour and am just about ready to face the cranky DH (exam study is NOT going well) when he comes home. Retail therapy rocks!!!

Back OP today too :D after a couple of days in a funk :( for no apparent reason whatsoever.

Have a great evening all!

Dagmar :bunny: (my twin!)