Howdy Chicks!

I hope everyone had a fantastic day! It was a good one here. I worked from home, which is always nice cause I skip an hour+ commute each way to work and I get to catch up on some tv and household stuff. Then I had a training session, which I always love, love, love! Last night DH and I had a tough time, but something I said must have hit a nerve because we had a nice evening tonight....well, once we got past the pizza incident....

As I was walking out of the gym tonight DH called and said, "I thought I'd help you out so I just ordered a pizza for dinner"! Hello?!?!? Knucklehead...anyone home!?!?!? So, he brought home a delicious looking pepperoni and sausage pizza that he and the boys ate while I grilled up a homemade turkey burger with some laughing cow cheese and a salad with a little homemade mustard viniagrette. It was delish...and the funny thing was DH kept asking for bites of my burger and then proceeded to ask me to make one for him tomorrow. Oy...men.

...so, after the pizza debacle we broke out the Wii and played tennis and Price is Right. Our boys are too little to play yet, but they loved watching and the oldest thought he was playing because we gave him a controller. We had a good family night...which we need to do more often!!

Jam - Awww...I'm one of your heros?!?!? I'm so touched. You are totally my crazy crossfit hero!!!! Man, can you imagine if you, me and FB got together to work out?!?!? What a blast! Oh...LOVE seeing that new weight of yours. I see the 170s in your near future!!!!

BBB - Great to see you back here! How's the water going? I know that was a toughie for ya. Great job working on and learning about your healthy food choices!

FB - I love seeing your workouts (Jam too). I'm learning so much from you gals! You have me convinced to dust of my HR monitor for my next session!! Now I'm curious.

Angel - No excuses! Get movin'! You know you wanna! You'll feel so much better when you do!!!

Sorry to leave so many other friends out but I have a couple things to finish up for work tomorrow. Have a fantastic night!!!!

Barb

hello cc chicks

no progress, uh. nope.

(but, yes I am proud of you jamm , FB it's ok to veg sometimes but I am somewhat incapable of doing anything else in the evenings... anf that's the only time I have to get productive with the things on my to do list)

till tomorrow....

I've been eating between 1600-1800 calories a day and started lifting weights/doing resistance bands last week. I have been doing that faithfully every other day and have been doing cardio for a month now. I really think Ineed to give up refined sugars. I do have a bit of a sweet tooth. I feel like I am going to have my period every day due to soo much bloating, but nothing yet. It's really frustrating! Have any of you followed any low calori structured plans to start your weight loss? I was consistently losing weight for about 5 months and then stopped trying three months ago and am back on the band wagon now. My Husband thinks my yo-yoing has caused a plateau. I am just a little frustrated. Anyways, I think I have lost inches, but it's nice when the scale starts to show a decline in poudage!

My son turned 3 today and peed on himself twice while we were out! Oh the joys! He does fine at home, but seems to forget to go pee when we are away. Oh well, this too shall pass.

Jam- CONGRATS on your lowest weight so far! That is the best feeling! WOo Hoo for you! :0)

Angel- Sorry it is so cold where you live! I live in central california and we are lucky to get below 50 here.

Soybean- I've been doing some strength training too and LOVE it!

Barb- That cracks me up about your Husband and the pizza! Sometimes they just don't understand!

POP today.

Stuck to my meal plan, and went to spinning class at 6:45am this morning! I feel very accomplished about getting up so early and getting my butt to the gym.

Glad to see so many of you ladies staying on-point and getting it done. Hugs for you all!

I'm pretty beat, so I'll keep this one brief. Time to catch some zzzzs.

Good luck for tomorrow.

Hey ladies, it's late, and I'm tired, so I'm going to wait for tomorrow to do the individual replies. I always have something to say about everything , but I need to get some sleep, so I'll hold off till tomorrow on that.

FB, here's my workout, as promised. I wanted to do something fun with DBs, for my cardio day, so I did this one, using two 20 lb DBs, and did jumping pullups on the tree branch outside (closest I can come to a pullup bar at home right now, lol):
10 C&J (clean and jerk with 20 lb DBs)
1 JPU (jumping pull up)
9 C&J
2 JPU
etc down to 1 C&J the last round, and up to 10 JPUs.
After that, I did 25 straight leg sit-ups on the swiss ball (I hook my feet under the bed frame for these).

Here's a video of the workout, since I found it on crossfit. Hopefully this one will play for you!
DB Clean & Jerk/Pull-up WOD

Okay, I will sleep now, and dream of 170s on the scale. lol

Hi, everybody.

Well, I've been sick with various sicknesses since Friday. That isn't my plan for weightloss! I'm losing really fast, but not in a controlled, healthy way. I'm up to nine pounds gone since I started, which is less than two weeks ago.

I am trying to get the calories in and am mostly doing a good job with that, so I'm afraid I'm dehydrated despite drinking a ton of liquids.

I can't recommend the Feel-Like-Crap-to-Lose-Weight Diet.

Layri - Hello there! We missed you! I hope your workouts do indeed turn out to be fun. Sorry about the back to back thing. Hopefully your break was worth it.

Angel - Oh, thanks. I hope you feel better soon. Maybe a light workout would help to clear your head and chest? Well, you asked for a butt kick - so there!

Brooky - You enjoy the whirlwind ride of weightloss. Don't think now about the inevitable slow down - just have fun!

Soybean - Cool on you for strength training. I'm in love with it. And YESSSSS on a looser shirt! Cool.

Kitty - If it makes you feel better, to have company- I have made absolutely NO progress towards my Valentine's Goal. NONE. Not even an ounce. Hope your evening is more productive tonight. One thing that helps me to have productive veg time is to put my stationary bike near the television. I have a rule - if I watch TV, I watch it while using the bike. Do you have any equipment you could do that with? Even walking in place or doing your abs is better than couch time. Bonus is you still get to enjoy TV.

Jerms - How long and how often are you doing cardio? You mention a sweet tooth (I have one too) is a disproportionate amount of calories coming from sweets? Is your diet clean? I lost weight by counting calories as well as carbs, per my doctor's advice. I don't low carb my diet really, but the carbs generally stay under 80g per day. That means room for a sweet or two if I keep my diet clean otherwise throughout the day. My problem was sweets. Lots of them.

Great job Shauna! It does feel good to start your day off positive like that. Grats!

Barb - Sounds like a lovely evening, aside from the pizza. Wish we lived closer - we could make our silly husbands hang out together while we workout. Our hubs are very very similar.

Blech! Feel better Eiluj.

Jamster - I really admire your workouts. Those are tough and completely opposite of what I do. YOU'RE TOUGH! I have to admit, mine are more for bodybuilding aesthetics than functional strength. Isn't that awful to admit? The strength is a side bonus, the looks are the primary reason. Hey, the video has been loooooading the entire time I've been typing, not ready yet.

Biceps/Triceps:
Hammer Curls
Concentration Curls
Incline Curls (if you try these be very careful w. form - use light weights)
EZ Curls/ wide + narrow grip
Reverse EZ Curls
~~~~
Overhead Dumbbell Extension
Skullcrusher w. EZ
EZ Close Grip Press
V Bar Pressdown
Rope Pressdown
~~~~
20 minutes stairstepper
10 minute mile / treadmill
~~~~
HRM sez: 881 calories - hells yeah!

How about post workout nutrition? Today I wasn't very hungry afterward so I opted for some liquid BCAA and a protein shake.

I like the link up
only accomplishing a few of them with 8 lbs GD not easy at all !being in the cleaning business for so many years my knees are shot !

FB, I am lifting for aesthetics, too. Nothing wrong with that! The crossfit/functional fitness stuff is for fun, and to give me some variety in my "cardio" workouts. (plus, have you seen some of these crossfit girls? They are buff, so I figure it can't hurt!)

My "plan" is to do 4 days of lifting with upper/lower split for a while, and for "cardio", run/skate/crossfit and cycling when I get brave enough to try and push past the saddle sores, lol.

For lifting workouts, I am working on building strength in my deadlift, squat and bench (though I'm ready for a break from squats, just mentally). For the rest, I'm doing mostly hypertrophy sets for the moment.

With my van being broked this week, things haven't been going quite as planned (can't get to the Y), thus I'm filling in with more crossfit, since I don't have the equipment/weights at home to get a good BB style lifting workout, and am just hating on doing everything with one set of DB bars, too. I'd kill for a barbell and some other options for legs, honestly! Once I can get to the Y, I can post some of my regular lifting workouts.

Great workout, btw, and tough, IMO. The crossfit workouts are hard, but they're usually short. The BB workouts are hard for me, too, because they are longer, and by the time I get to the isolation work, I'm busted down to girly weights. Can you post sets/reps, next time? I'm curious how many sets you're doing of each thing, though don't worry, I won't be trying to be all that and copy you. I'm not as far along with lifting as you are. I just like to learn...input, more input! I'm curious what weights you're using, too, if you wanted to share, but I know some folks don't like to post weights.

Post-WO nutrition, I usually go for a protein shake after lifting, nothing after cardio except for regularly scheduled meals/snacks. I don't feel like I know much about optimal nutrition for natural bodybuilding, but it's one of the things I plan to learn more about.

Dang, I missed so many posts, I had to take notes!

Layri! been missing you around here since you hit goal! Good luck with the double workouts!

Angel, here ya go.

Brook, you are rocking this challenge, baby! 5 lbs already!

Soybean, I'm also a card-carrying member of the perpetual singles club. I'm pretty sure I've just been single too long, and frighten them off by being too self-sufficient. Guys always want to be my good buddy. sigh.

Barb, yes, you are my hero! Anybody who can sit in the same room with a fresh pizza and cook up a turkey burger is my hero. I'd have been all over that pizza, I confess!

Kitty, thanks! Hope you find a way to get some stuff off your to do list, so you can feel guilt-free about taking some veg-time at the end of the day. Sometimes we just have to admit that we can't do everything all the time!

JG, the bloaty feeling and stuck scale is pretty typical if you've just started lifting. It's only temporary, though, and only lasts a couple weeks, if I remember right. Your cals seem a bit low to me, for all the working out you're doing and your current weight, but if you're happy with that number and can stay OP, I'd just give it a few weeks, because it's normal for the scale to stick when you first start lifting, just because of the extra water weight your body is holding for muscle repair.

Shauna, you've been doing great this week. Congrats on another POP day!

Julie, hope you are feeling better, soon. Some of the weight loss might be due to sickness, but a big water weight drop is pretty normal, too, the first 2 weeks or so, so it might be "for reals" as FB would say!

Melinda, WTG for trying those exercises! Those C&Js took the stuffing right out of me, too! I've had to work a long time to handle 20+ lbs overhead like that. When I started, my shoulders were so weak, I had to use the 4 lb DB bars with no weights added. Then you add in the squatting motion, and ouch, that's all I've got to say. I was crying for my mama, lol. In a twisted way, I kinda like that, though, makes me feel tough to finish when I really just want to quit. I like that dog in the pic...who is that?

My report: forgot to say, got another new low today: 180.4, down 0.4 from yesterday! I try not to be all about the scale, but it's still pretty exciting to see it going down, after being stuck since summer time in the mid 180s to low 190s range!

sorry about your van...
I live in a part of NH and it's kinda rural I could not live without my rig !
good luck with that situation
I might have to cut back to 4 pounders for that exercise
wow I can feel it !
I am shooting for at least a pound loss for Thursdays weigh in !
gosh I could be back in the W's


that is a pic of my dog Reese is is an oldie but goodie!
best dog I ever had in my life ! really

Eiluj ~ Hope you feel better

Yawn...so tired, but wanted to say hi! It's going to be a busy few days, but you know I'll be popping in when I can!!!

OP Day. I even made up my cardio day that I skipped on Monday.

I'm pretty beat (I've been really tired lately... dont know why).

Stay strong ladies and all the best for the weekend.

FB, no lifting workout today, but I ran for 90 mins, which is the longest I've ever gone. No idea of distance, since I was just going for time, while listening to a book on tape. I was supposed to do LB lifting today, but I've been meaning to try a longer run, and today just felt like a good day for it.

Barb and Shauna,

Melinda, I like the name!

Heya Jamsta....

I love that we've got our own little lifting thing going on. BARB should really chime in - she's a training maniac. Just a crazy woman.

On the sets/reps/weights - I don't mind sharing. I typically do 3 or 4 sets. Yesterday was 4. I do reps until failure. I've been trying to build muscle so my reps are in the 6-10 range. Failure is tough - I like dropping weights everywhere. So macho. JK.

I don't keep track, don't use a log book - just my little exercise notebook to remember what to do. At this time in my life I don't need anything else to record, you know?

My weights just vary by days - I'll make mental notes next time. Some mornings I'm feeling stronger than others, I just flow with it. I think yesterday my curls were with 22.5# dumbbells. The cable tricep stuff was at 65 pounds - I know that for certain, because before I had to cut back at Christmas I was up to 90 pounds. I was surprised at how quickly I lost a little strength.

I guess people don't like sharing weights because they're self conscious about it? I always feel like I was being all buff - and then to see other people's weights I realize I was wrong!

LOVE the video. I just left it open to load all day. That was some workout. Those people looked on the verge of vomiting several times. Some of those Crossfit girls certainly are buff. I want that! Yeah - the pants I was given by my trainer's twin are like theirs.

Shew - I thought you'd think I was a vain and petty monster to lift only for aesthetics/pretty muscles. It's funny how you can build all kinds of beautiful muscles, yet have virtually no functional strength. Many of the guys at my tiny gym are like that. All puffed up and big chested, but unable to unscrew the lid of their peanut butter.

Your workout plan is solid, looks good. I feel guilty about dumping cardio. It's just... the cardio overdrive of last year has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I'm done ellipticalling for 70 minutes. The thought makes me sick. We'll see how this works out. I'm having doubts because of my recent weight troubles. Real doubts.

I'm going to continue riding it out without any change for now though. Over Christmas my studio was just so busy that I was unable to devote more than a fake effort. I lifted, but I was in and out as quickly as possible - some weights I just looked at and considered the glance enough exercise. I'm feeling terribly swollen since returning to my normal routine, it HAS to be water weight - RIGHT? Right, please? I haven't changed my eating habits, except to add more protein. Water weight, for reals.

90 minutes is frigging amazing! 90 minutes! My GAWD!

Is it warm enough there for running/cycling? I about froze my face off last week, blinded by my tears.