I will also be watching TBL tonight. But I will be working out during the commercials. I'm going to try alternating between running up and down the stairs (our house is a split foyer so I have 2 sets of stairs for a total of 16), jumping jacks, leg lifts, crunches. Anyone care to join me??

WTG on the workout, Diva!!! I know what you mean about feeling good following a workout. Afterwards I feel exhausted, but definitely accomplished.

krjpy- i have the polar F11, I LOVE IT. It is so cool, it was like 150$ and it has tons of functions that I am trying to figure out- I just got it a week ago, but so far so good! I too love the fitness test!

roni- happy birthday!! What is your HITT routine that you do on your tredmill?

Zinke...I am going to go to my nearest nutty-crunchy store and find me a Diva-cup. That sounds worth a try! Thanks!

Happy Birthday DIVA I'll enjoy the show on my couch too in honor of you, hee hee!

I did an extra hard "last chance" workout this morning so I could sit without guilt! However, I will say I do enjoy a good watching of BL while pounding on the treadmill. BL-power to you while you jog in your house Chiquita!

On the Heart Rate Monitors...I have a sort of basic Polar (no computer download stuff) that is going strong since 2002. I unfortunately took "time off" from regular exercise for about 2 years during that time...but the HRM is still great! Participating in the 3FC 5K on Saturday encouraged me to dig it out of the drawer and start using it again this week. Mine came with a chest strap which works with gym machines too, it has an audible beep feature that I set to tell me when I am below my target heart rate and has 3 zones of heart rates possible. So I can warm up at one intensity level and then after 10 minutes get into the target zone a the new level and taper off at the end in the 3rd zone. There is a helpful overview at the Polar site here: http://www.polarusa.com/consumer/fitness/hrm.asp

I think my Polar is the older model of the F4 now about $100 and a fairly basic starter model probably. It has good solid features but its not loaded. It looks better now.

Ya'll are making me want a HRM now! I knew they were good, but now I really think I shouldn't be without one...I'm sure hubby will thank you when I inform him I have to have it

My poison ivy is driving me insane! It's starting to dry up which is itchier than having it fresh

Diva--you have earned your place on the couch, enjoy.

On the $$ saving note, I turned our heat off two months ago and took $90 off our monthly bill. We had a warm bout of weather and I knew it would get cold again, but thought i'd try to leave it off as long as possible. Turned out I was the only one ever cold, so ended up leaving it off. I have spent many days running around in 2 pair of socks, long johns under thick sweats, etc. but no one else has seemed to even notice it's turned off, kids stay nice and warm, and we all have really warm bedding, so I realize we don't need it as much as I thought we did.

That's too funny about the heat!! Try being menopausal and having hot flashes. I'm always wanting to turn the heat down to around 63 but DBF is always cold and wants it up to around 70 all the time. I'd love it at your house, Firefly. (Sorry I don't know your name.) Can I come and stay there where it's nice and cool?

Sure, come on over but come summer it will be hot in here and I'm going to try and not turn the air on until I absolutely can't stand it. We have good ceiling fans in every room, but we'll see how long I can make it in the heat!

Adding--I just read in the local paper that our electric bill is going up 5%, even more reason to keep the heat/air off!

.... .
Happy Birthday Roni!

knew you'd love the pink

Well its official... I quit FitDay. Finally got it out of my system since I'm finding I have to plug every little thing I eat into the custom foods option, and frankly I don't have time for that. Maybe that's why I was never journaling before?

So instead I made the move over to The Daily Plate which has alot of the brand name stuff I eat as well as generic stuff and it does all the stuff FitDay did that I used anyway. It'll even calculate how many calories I need to eat daily in order to lose X lbs per week as well as how many calories I'm burning per exercise based on my current weight. I'm using the free stuff... cause lord knows I'm not paying for it! I sound like such a saleswoman.

Signature got a revamp today too... I needed to change things up. So now I have links to my blog, my daily plate and my charts. At least now I know its not in the red zone for being too long!

I had two bad eating trips today and I know one was out of lack of planning. This morning however was sheer stupidity. I woke up and did my morning routine and when I walked out of the house I had this craving, and gnawing in my stomach. I knew exactly what it was for. Sausage egg and cheese Mcgriddle with a diet coke and hashbrown.... it was my daily breakfast for 3 weeks straight before I got healthy groceries last week. (Also the reason I blew back up to 203 ) Anyway... so I was fighting the temptation when I passed the first on the way to work, but by the time I got to the second one, it was over. I had to turn, and I did. I ended up with a chicken biscuit instead which is no better but yea... I skipped the hashbrown. Then lunch rolls around and I tell my hubby I needed a sandwich or something to complement my packed portion of my lunch. I'm thinking at best he'll get a grilled chicken sandwich plain. Oh no! He brings me a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and a Dr. Pepper. Men... I swear!

So yea now that I've gotten that little bit out...

I'll probably DVR the finale cause I have "gamer obligations" online tonight at 7:45, so unless those go a rye then I'll be watching it later than the other Eastcoasters.

Have a good evening ladies! Try to behave better than I did today!

MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm. McGriddles. My favorite. I'm drooling now!! Thanks Michelle. I'll keep this in my head all afternoon. Luckily it's after the breakfast hour and I'm not able to get one anywhere!!

I didn't want to get people wanting !

Holy cow Roni.... look at all them badges!

This is the one I have also. It is very cool! The very nice thing about Polars is that they interface/communicate with most cardio equipment at the gym. I was worried that I wouldn't like the chest strap, but it's extremely comfortable and I wish I would have purchased it sooner. My personal trainer kept on me for a couple months because he wanted to see what my cardio stats really were.

I have accounts both places - FD and TDP. I just need to use 1 of them!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DIVARONI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!