good morning, ladies!

well, I talked the husband OUT of the Vegas trip. I just cannot condone charging the whole thing, when it just puts us deeper into debt. Why didn't he think of that himself? Now our younger son is disappointed I think it was so irresponsible to even come up with the idea

OK now onto happy thoughts

Just finished doing: 30 minutes cardio; 15 minutes back/shoulders strength; 15 minutes of abs. I really, really like this system. I'm a little disappointed as the set of tapes came with a CD ROM that would enable me to join Gilad's FitQuick chat room/on-line support, but I don't think it would work with an Apple computer. Any computer-savvy people here? is that right?

This is my second day off, so I guess I better accomplish some things around the house today, unlike yesterday

I also have to do grocery shopping today. I'm out of my staples - yogurt, Kashi (store brand) and tuna. My trinity

We had a lady here, tryin'hard, who was phenomenal (sp?) as she lost one hundred pounds, and was maintaining the loss for, I believe, over 2 years (which means she had it licked!) I remember her encouraging us through the winter, saying we should all visualize the thought of upcoming warm summer months, and how uncomfortable oversize thighs rubbing against each other would be That thought surely helped me that first winter!!!

snowey, snowey, I'm still thinking of you, girl!

Hi everyone.

I have been having a hard time lately sticking to the program. I recognize that it is because of stress. I have been very busy at work. I am in logistics, and have been bringing lots of trucks in and out. I am also missing my last job. I worked there for 14 years and it was awful! It kept getting worse everyday. I hated my boss so much! I keep asking myself why anyone in their right mind would miss it. I am also stressing about my boyfriend griping because my daughter uses my car alot. She lives with her boyfriend and their car, which I bought for her, is being repaired. They don't have transportation for work, school, errands, etc. right now and I try to help out as much as I can. He has never had children, (he's lots younger than I). I am having trouble deciding if I really am being a pushover, (I am very easy going),or if the BF is not understanding the situation because he does not have kids.

Better get back to work.

Deb

Hi ladies

Deb~It sounds like you are going through a trial time right now But I think that is what this Forum is all about. Venting, encouraging, information and friendship. I know it is hard enough to find the time to take care of your self but it is even harder when there is family stress as well....Hold on and remember exercise is a stress reliever.

Hi Del, Melissa, Holly and Amy

I did my elliptical last night and did my cool down walk but my hip is hurting. It was hurting yesterday? It feels like it is almost out of line and when I walk it hurts a little? It may have been the move I did on the Yoga DVD. I didn't really like it. I love the Pilaties but not so much the Yoga? My calves (sp?) are really sore too, maybe from doing those stairs the other day! I am doing good today food wise. I will not walk today, trying to let my hip get a rest. Tonight is Pilaties DVD and maybe a 4.0 mph 30 min walk on my treadmill if my hip is not hurting. I can not tell if I should work through it or if it is something I need to let rest?

Hi, Angelinabtl I am glad you decided to join us, it is a great group here.

You all welcome angelinabtl she is my cousin . I told her about this site along with foodfit and fitday. We are more like best friends. We grew up very close until I moved south from Maine Our mom's are sisters. She has really accomplished so much since her divorce (major weight loss, restructuring her life with a new job, new car, bank account and a new man) who by the way looks a little like kiefer sutherland to me ) She is Very funny and a hard working lady.

My cals today are 1371 and 39g fat

coffee
1/2 multi gran toast w/ tsp peanut butter

Oat meal
1 med pear

plain tuna w/ 1/4 c rice, 1c broccoli, 1/4c Zucchini and 1c of baby spinach with carrot

Apple
1 tsp Almonds and 1 tsp macadamia nuts

Lean cuisine dinner 290c 7 or 8g fat?
green salad with 1 tbsp low fat ranch

4oz cottege cheese
cup of green tea

I am trying to get a large variety of fruits and veggies. I am meeting all my nutritional needs according to fitday?

Amy~ do you use fitday? If so how accurate do you think it is as far as cals and stuff? I think it has been matching what my container's say but the activity section seem off? My treadmill will say I burned 300 cals and the same time and speed on fitday will give me like 200. Which is right?

I am looking forward to weighing in on Sunday and am praying for at least a pound gone! Have a good weekend girls !

Amie

debbie - I am so sorry things are rough for you now! You're probably missing the familiarity of your old job, do you think? even tho' you disliked parts of it...and it surely must be hard to be the "go-between" or mediator between your BF and your daughter. As a parent, I think you are doing the right thing, because it's what YOU feel you need to do. Of course you're going to want to help your daughter while the car is being repaired. I sure hope things smooth out for you soon. As Amie said, even some exercise is beneficial for some stress relief. Hugs to you!

Amie, how cool that you and angelinabtle are cousins!!! Of course we welcome her with open arms!

and Amie, I am pulling for you to see a nice loss this week. Your menus, as I said before, are SO on-program! Like they came directly from a nutritionist. What do you do, or tell yourself, to keep from snacking, or straying??? that's my problem.

in regards to your hurting hip...when my hips have hurt, it usually came from when I did a step aerobics tape, and didn't properly stretch before or after. The hip flexors get tight with the stepping motion. I would guess that the stair climbing did it? Try some slow, gentle, easy hip stretches. If you aren't sure how to do them, I'll try to describe in another post

Hi del and melissa! and of course hey to aphil and amie's right, where's SusanB? and Skyfirefly?

Hey, no one's done the grocery shopping yet, LOL! guess that's my cue

have a great remainder of the day, and send me strong vibes to keep the evening toast demons away, please

SusanB, I was reading over old posts, and read you said that you try to eat right for your blood type - can I ask what that means?

Welcome angelinabtle. I am glad you joined us. This is a great group, I always find help here when I need it.

Amie, Has your hip been hurting since you started the elliptical? You might need a break. I spend over $1000 2 years ago to find out that I should not be using the treadmill everyday at the gym. My calves were hurting everyday and felt hard. The doctor convinced me to get a bunch of tests done for fear that it might be a blood clot. Thankfully it wasn't.

Hi everyone!

amie-I would guess that your hip is hurting due to improper warming up before/stretching after your treadmill and eliptical workouts. That would be the most common cause-and would account for your calves hurting as well. Most exercise videos have a warm up period before...and a cool-down and stretching portion built into them...(if any of you DO...PLEASE do not skip the stretching and cool down in your videos!!!! )

When you start your treadmill or eliptical workouts...or even walking outside-start with 2-3 minutes at a slower pace-don't jump right on there and start going as hard as you can. When you are near to the end of your workout-the last 2 minutes or so-take down the pace slightly then as well. Your body and heart rate need time for recovery.

When you get off of either machine-STRETCH thoroughly. Stretch your calves, hamstrings (back thighs), quadriceps (front thighs) which are worked the most during walking and eliptical. Hold the stretches for at least 10-20 seconds each. Your muscles tighten up when you are exercising them-and you need to relax and stretch them back out to resting length when you are done working out.

With a proper warm up, cool down, and stretch-you should start feeling a little better. If it isn't painful to exercise-you can continue to do so-but if you are doing walking or eliptical-take it at a slightly slower pace for a couple of days until the discomfort subsides. Let your intuition and the way your body feels be your guide on that one.

debbie-I know what you must be going through with your situation with children/boyfriend. It can really be EITHER of the ways that you mentioned-your boyfriend not being as understanding because he is childless...or the possibility of you giving too much. You should probably sit back and think about it from both perspectives and see what you think. If this is an isolated incident-your adult children do for themselves pretty well, are responsible with their jobs, homes, bills, etc. and they were right on the ball in getting their car into the shop to be fixed-then it was definitely a good idea to help them out. Everyone needs a helping hand every now and then.

On the other hand...from experience on the other side of the picture-I have a stepbrother who is very irresponsible-and is always asking for a handout from my mother/stepfather because they are doing well financially. He quits jobs here and there "just because he doesn't like them" and always makes snide comments about my parent's nice things, makes silly financial decisions like getting a home equity loan on his house to buy pool tables and crap like that-just to keep up with what everyone around him has.

So I guess it depends on your personal situation whether your boyfriend is being irrational-or if there is some real cause for concern there. Either way-just think it over, and handle everyone's feelings as nicely as you can, and as fairly as you can. I am sure that you will do fine. And cardio exercise is a GREAT stress reliever.

Hello all, for the welcome!!
Its been a busy day here at work, thank god, its about time, all week its been fairly slow and the days just drag on. I like it when its busy, makes the day go by quicker than before you know it its 5 and time to go home!! And yet another day gone from the workweek. As you all read Amoses (Amie) and I are cousins. (By the way my name is Lori) And I want to thank her for the nice words she wrote about me. She is an awsome woman, and she herself has come ALONG way from our teenage years!! I am VERY proud of all of her accomplishments she has made in her life. I miss her everyday Cant wait to see her this summer...
I danced my tushy off last night..Well felt like it anyways! Did my arm weights. And I have been sticking to the diet, healthy foods and fresh fruit and veggies. I am bad when it comes to the water intake though. If I am lucky I drink 1 8 oz glass a day! BAD!! Is that flavored water bad to have? I am going tonight to get the Windsor Pilates DVD. I have heard nothing but good reviews about it. How often do I do them though?
My youngest son got stranded at my mothers last night, she was nice enough to watch him so I could work, he only had a half day of school and we ended up getting some really nasty weather, snow turned into freezing rain and ice, yuck!!! I should of moved south with Amie, lol....So after work tonight I have to go and get him, then go and do grocery shopping, the store is having a real good sale on fruits this week though so I am happy about that. Well I have to get back to this order, have a great day ladies!!!

Pilates is strength training-just as weights is-and you need to wait 48 hours recovery time (muscle repariaing and growing time) between body parts. If you are doing weights or strength training for any body part-you should not strength train that part again for that time period. Floorwork for legs/buns is also considered strength training.
So...if you do a full body strength training workout-then wait 2 days before doing a full body Pilates video. You can do cardio-walking, etc. inbetween.
You can "split" your workouts-depending on what videos you have. You can strength train every day if you do body parts separately-like doing a little cardio every day-but working abs today, upper body with weights tomorrow, and legs/buns the next day. If whatever Pilates video you get focuses on one body part-then you can split it that way...etc. Just don't overtrain and work the same part two days in a row...it could cause injury, and it will actually slow your results-your muscles need the recovery time to strengthen, heal, and grow.

Holly~ This is the way I have been keeping on track. 1. I do the grocories and I have been trying to get enough fruits, veggies, nuts, yogurt etc. to last the week so I do not come to a day where I am on my way home and think I have nothing for dinner and go to the drive thru or go to pack a lunch and make something fast and unhealthy. I have noticed, if there is a lot to choose from, I go for the good stuff first. Also I do not buy chips, little debbies or bags of candy. If I do get stuff for my DH and DD it is like pudding, fruit cups or gramcrakers and baked lays if they have to have them with a meal. I do sometimes by my DH a treat, maybe every other week becouse he is so disapointed went I come home with out something, but it is like one item and I try to pick something he likes, that I am not so crazy about, so I am not as tempted and I keep in the pantry out of site. If there was a bag of good chips on the bar I would be taking one when I walk by so I also keep then in the pantry, if I buy a bag at all. 2. Fitday, ever since I have been inputing my food there and trying not to go over 1400 cals I seem to go out of my way to make sure that I keep that number? I think by actualy seeing a number written out, it is more real to me. I "plan" my day, the day before, out of things I know I have or can get and put it all in the fitdat foods eaten. I then look at the numbers and adjust it if I need to, adding a food or cutting one in half to meet my cals and nutrition needed for the day and that is my menu for the next day. Then that night I pack my stuff for work and try to measure and pack everthing up. I am honest with my self and if I ate something I would add it to my food list and it would drive me crazy that my numbers were over 1400! I am an engineer?? LOL. So pre plan, have what you need and pack it up and bring it to work. The foods I am eating also allows me to eat more stuff and I am eating 6 times a day so I am not finding my self wanting anything in between 3. I don't work at a bakery! I think if you walk out of there and have not eaten a face full of it you are doing great! I think it is all planning and writting it down so you are conscious of how much over plan that snack will take you? Have a fav treat or meal once a month or what ever works for you so you keep going without feeling so deprived.

Lori~I like water and don't know why the flavored water would be bad?? But I do notice, I drink 3 times as much water when I am drinking out of a bottle. I will buy a .5L Dannon water at the store and refill it all day. I don't know why but I do. When I use a cup with ice I sip on it and with the bottle I kinda gulp it down? I will go through 4-5 at work and 2 more at home. Try lemon too. I think the water is important.

Aphil~I do stretch out my full body before and after ever work out. I can not do it here at work. I don't get a warm up on the elliptical but I do on the treadmill. Now the stairs may have done it becouse it happend after the stairs and/or the Yoga tape?? I love to stretch and always have. Now I do 6 days a week but do Pilates one day with a long walk and then the next day do the elliptical and a short cool down walk, Do you think I should not be doing the treadmill everyday like that? Is the elliptical considered strength training? I know it is cardeo but feels like it could be both? The Pilates I do, is only 20 minutes and works the legs, hips and abs. It is a good work out but not too demanding. The accelorated dvd is more demanding and I will do it down the road when I get too use to the 20 min workout. I think I am fine, just a little uncomfortable.

Deb~ my calves are "hard" and sore. It may be the 6 days a week on the tredmill even though every other day is only for 15-20 minutes? But I think it was the stairs.....


Thanks for all the advice and it will not keep me from shopping this weekend!

Amie

Aphil, thank you so much for the advice!! I will do that. I dont want to cause injury, I am a baby when it comes to pain.... You are so knowledgable and I thank you all for welcoming me, I am so glad Amie told me about the site! Time for this "chick" to go home.. Have a great night all.....

Hello ladies,
Amie thanks for the advice on the water, I will try that. We have a water cooler here at work. I dont think I could bring myself to drink the lemon flavored water, but maybe the strawberry
I tried to edit my signature cause I noticed that I put highest weight at 211 and thats not true, it was 221. So if any of you notice that my numbers are off on that, its because I am somewhat computer illiterate
Went grocery shopping last night and got alot of fruit and some veggies, yogurt and nuts, among other things. I also picked up some of that 12 grain bread, I tried a pc this morning and it wasnt bad I weight in on sunday so I am crossing my fingers that I have lost something!! I didnt get to the store to get the Pilates DVDs last night, but tonight my boys are going with daddy for the weekend, so its off shopping I go!! Well you all have a wonderful weekend.

Hi Chickies...
Hope everyone had a lovely Friday (TGIF - yahoo). Just checking in to say hi and see what everyone is up to.

Deb, your situation(s) sound stressful...change can make you feel some odd things, even miss something you know was not good. Hopefully your vehicle woe will be resolved v. soon, just do what your heart says to do. Shes your daughter, for Petes sake! I imagine there's not much you wouldn't do for her! BF needs to let it be and let you do what you need to do, in my humble opinion.

Holly, good for you about the Vegas trip. I too know what is like to try to put a halt to the debt-thing when no one else wants to. It just takes some adjustment time to get used to the saving thing versus the charging thing.

Hey Lori - WELCOME! You're in great "hands" here. From Maine I see - I bet its so beautiful there and with snow all the time, lucky you (of course you probably wish you lived in the tropics).

Amie, sorry about your hip. Sounds like maybe your hip is saying, give me a break! Injury/pain is sure a 'beach'. I am still not walking right from my foot sprain before Christmas...reason being that I (the impatient, independent one that I am) started trying to be 'normal' before I should have and its gone and prolonged my healing time. I am focusing on weights and floor exercises right now but missing my cardio, though.

Aphil, the vast extent of your knowledge regarding diet, exercise, etc. never ceases to amaze me! You sure you don't want to be a nutritionist or something along those lines later in life. You know more than a lot of them do. Oh or maybe write a book!

I am doing fine on my raw journey...day um what day? I think 19...had a couple bites of hubby's green peppers, mushrooms and onions he grilled up tonite. They were sure gooooood! But I'm back on track now.

Have super great weekends everyone!

Hey all! I'd like to join you as I have tried every diet imaginable and always come back to regular calorie counting and exercise. I havent been very successful though and am determined to see 120 lbs this year. I love good food and although I track my calories, I have a hard time figuring out some specialty store items here in NYC and have to forgo them for awhile I guess. I am trying to keep calories to 1200 - 1300 (I am 5' tall) and exercise 30 minutes cardio 5 times per week. Will add weight training and some pilates when my routine with the other stuff is set. I was doing great for 2 weeks and then got sick. Some flu like thing that knocked me on my a** for a solid week. Feel good enough to start exercising tomorrow.

About me: I am 46 with two great kids, Shannon 9, and Charlie 6. My husband and I are separated but friendly. I work in federal law enforcement, and go to school two nights a week for my Master's in Mental Health Counseling so I can teach and have a therapy practice when I retire in a few years.

Life is hectic but is much worse when I am not paying attention to what I am eating!! I feel better, energy etc when I am taking care of myself.

Thanks for listening!

Hi everyone!!!!

beachlace-welcome!!! Your goal weight of 120 is very reasonable for your smaller stature of 5' tall. 120 is not always a reasonable goal for women of average-taller height-but for you it sounds just about right. I would like to suggest that you raise your calorie level up just a bit...maybe to the 1300-1500 range rather than 1200.

It is actually your current weight and activity level that calculate your calorie requirements each day...rather than your height-which helps calculate a healthy goal weight.

1200 is pretty low-and you risk slowing your metabolism and the possibility of "binging" when you eat that low for an extended period of time while regularly exercising. (The binging can come in when you are exercising a lot, and maintaining a very low calorie level for a while-and one day you just become a bottomless pit and eat everything in the house... ...sort of the body saying to you "I"M STARVING!!!!!"

Raising the caloric level up just a notch will not slow your loss rate...you will just be much less likely to slow your metabolism any, and less prone to binge eating.

Del-thanks so much for the compliments!!! Yes...I actually have thought about becoming a nutritionist or personal trainer of some sort. My dream however...is sort of along those lines. I would eventually like to teach Middle Eastern dance classes...it is an art form, but in a sense it would be a form of fitness teaching as well. Yeah...my knowledge sort of comes from all my reading and exercising myself...as well as having a mother who is a nurse (and used to work in the dietary field) and having a former pro bodybuilder for a stepfather. That will just about do it.

I hope everyone is doing well!!!