Wow -- just saw your photo in the jeans! Wow! Dare I say that they look LOOSE on you? Can size 3 be far behind?

Meg

Hey everyone!

Here's hoping the sun will come out and the thermometer will soar.. ahhh let's face it, I'd be thrilled with 10 degrees.

Thanks to all for your good wishes on my shoulder, it's getting better but I will still lay off it tonight in my UBWO with my trainer.

Beth - Yes I commute 4-5 hours a day and it is exhausting but I made working out and feeling better a priority since Jan and actually have more energy now so it's not quite so bad. Last year was a really really rough one for me, my best friend was killed by a car and my work laid off over 300 people (less than 50 of us now) over 6 months, it was slooooooooow and torterous and so I spent ALOT of time eating and drinking way too much. It's much better now and I find that I am waking up hopeful everyday. I'm totally jealous of your 10 minute bike ride to work. Good jobs are really hard to come by in the west end but I'm still looking. :-)

Colleen - WOW great pictures! What a transformation! You're gorgeous!

Deb - keep your chin up.. this too shall pass.. Try not to let things get you down..

Mel - I can't believe you used to live in North York! I like that area as well. How do you like PA??

Meg - If you don't mind I started checking out your food journals at fitday.com and got some good ideas, the first of which was to sign up myself. I find it has been very very eye opening about what I am eating. Of course, I was taking in more carbs than I thought. For now I'm going to try to get protein/carbs even and then I'll try to work my way down from there, getting in all this protein is TOUGH and even still I'm only taking in between 1000-1200 cals a day, of that 100-120 gm of protein but I'm working on upping that everyday.

Meow, so sorry to hear about Zeppelin. Congrats on continuing your workouts and getting back on track food wise after such a sad time. You are in inspiration!

Trinidad - how's things since you stopped playing it safe? I"ll bet you're kicking some ***!

Mindi - everyone keeps saying that you should stay off the scale and it seems we both have trouble doin that. we should have a bet who can stay off that darn thing longer! :-)

JC - soccer training - yikes! That is one tough sport!

MrsJim - you got up at 3:30 to go to the gym? I'll get back to ya on that when my chin is outta my lap.. THAT is dedication! Or insanity.. lol

Ilene - I always love to reading your posts. Done 12 weeks of the challenge, fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to GI, Chelly and everyone else I missed!

Well, back to work for me, although I'd prefer to spend the day here reading and posting.. I'm sure I'll be back at lunch to check up. Have a great day everyone! So glad you're here!

adena

oops, one last thing, my msn id is [email protected] please feel free to put me on your buddy list.

Ahhh yes, chocolate does have caffine in it Mindi, but I actually haven't had any in over two weeks! YAY! I know you can do the same....
Jamie

would you believe that reading all these posts took so long that I had to have a meal in between? LOL

WOW. If I miss responding to anyone, I apologise in advance. Also, the spacebar on this keyboard is broken so sorry for any spelling probelms, its making me insane!

Ilene and niffer, it was greattotalk to you guys!! Hope to see youon MSN again soon!

I cant believe some of the progress ppl have had. Ive notlost a whole size in 10 days,but the possibility seems more real now

I would guess that I am a tight 14 right now, down from a tight 16 in week 1. Seems odd that I wouldnt be "smaller" considering the amount of inches and what I can see in the mirror, but its just a number heh.

I had a great 20MAS today! did 3km in 24mins (including5 min cooldown) and 2 cycles of Ab boot camp *gasp*

Welcome to all the new peeps!You'll be old timers here before you know it! I feel like Ive known these girls for AGES now hehe

yesterday was UBWO and I am feeling it in my chest/arms! Guess I really did some good work

Tomorrow is LBWO and I am hoping to start using the big barbells(olympic?). Ive been wary of them because I dont know how much they weigh and they seem a lot longer than ones I use now(4 ft. , with the weight already set and ready to go in 3kg intervals)

I ordered 3 bikini's from a catolog yesterday, so when they arrive I will pick one out for my 12week pics (only 3 weeks away! EEP! gotta get out the bronzer lol) I refused to go looking in the stores because it would just putme in a bad mood :S

Im clearing out my wardrobe, and its SO painful! Im a closet Goth so I have (i think) some really nice stuff that it actually HURTS to get rid of. Im going to have to buy a new corset as well, as the one I have now is too big *sigh*Expensive but worth it!

Well, I have to get going. Must make food and shower and do laundry and study *blech*

*hugs* to all!

Tidey

Hi Tidey -- I'm running out the door to a guidance counselor's meeting (ugh ugh dreading this), but I wanted to say real fast that clothes sizes change a lot faster the smaller down you go, so don't be discouraged. It took me 35 pounds to drop just one size when I started losing, but once you get into 10s and below, every 5 - 10 pounds makes a huge difference. I think that's what everyone means when they talk about the "pants-o-meter" -- at a fairly "normal" weight, you can feel just a few additional pounds in the pants. At my starting weight, however, you could have parked a truck in my elastic waist pants and I wouldn't have noticed the difference!

Meg

Hey, all!

Got back from our cruise late Sunday. Had a blast which netted me a few pounds, but it was worth it. Buffet lines and Seabreezes are evil

Anyway, I'm not discouraged as eating well and being back in the gym is taking care of that. It's amazing how quickly you can gain weight and how hard it is to lose.

Welcome to all the new people and I hope everyone is doing well.

LOL meg!

that post made my day! I dont think you could park a truck in my clothes (at least not while they are occupied) but I know what you mean!

Off to make dinner!

Tidey

Hey everyone,

Ilene Yes remember we are a day ahead of you so it’s morning here! As for you workout, it could be a combination of a few things besides cutting carbs. If you body is excessively tired you could be in the process of loosing some extra fat. I have noticed a lot of people will get very tired and loose strength when they are about to dump some fat. It may be a lack of carbs but it more likely could be the hormonal hunger from cutting the carbs. I will probably get stoned for this but I would suggest adding some good fats to your meal if you decide to cut back on the carbs at all. Add a bit of flax to your protein shake before bed etc. Energy for our body either comes from fat or carbs so if you cut one you need to add the other back in to compensate for the cut. As for the weather I don’t think so….. but it’s sounds like a good excuse!

I always find it interesting that there are loads of ESSENTIAL amino acids (from protein) and there are ESSENTIAL fatty acids (fats) but have you ever heard of an essential carb?

To give you an idea about hormonal hunger and normal hunger think of it like this. Normal hunger is when your stomach is making noises and you start to get weary from lack of food. Hormonal hunger is a specific craving (esp. sweet or salt) and when you KNOW you want something but you aren’t particularly famished. We should try to avoid both, but if either occurs then normal hunger should be indulged and hormonal shouldn’t. Last night I had a carb load. I ate a LOT of carbs over about 8 hours (about 230gms) Within one hour of my last meal at 8:30pm I was hungry again. THIS is hormonal hunger, because when I woke up this morning I wasn’t even the slightest bit hungry. Actually, I had trouble getting my breakfast down. I didn’t give into the hunger last night because I knew that it wasn’t real it was just the sugar in my system talking to me.

As for me I do protein and fat on all days, but on Wednesday and Saturday my food changes at lunch to start the carb load and on those mornings I cut back on fat a fair bit since I will have so many carbs in my system that day. So it works out over the week to be 5 days protein/fat and 2 days carb. HTH

Mel Maybe you could give Jamie’s some tips on training for the race?

Jamie How on earth did you work out which group you were in? I never did the program because I couldn’t work that out!

Tidey enjoy your dinner!

I am having a great morning so far except that our alarm didn't go off this morning! So I missed my workout but what are the afternoons for huh? I ate a lot of carbs last night which made me sleepy but I learnt something about myself that was useful. My veins were popping out everywhere as well.

Anyway I hope that everyone is having a great day/evening!

JC

Hi all,

It's been a weird day today. I live in Brooklyn and went into Manhattan for the first time in about a week. There were national gaurds with big guns on the subway platforms and the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. Too many flash backs to 9/11. At least there were no tanks on 5th Ave. My reation to stress in to eat. I am just trying to do the program by the book.

cc

Just did workout#2 on the GetLean program. I don't like the workout scheme- 3 days lifting, one off, then repeat. That means a lot more body parts per workout than I'm used to. It felt like I raced through my workout and barely hit all the muscles. I may have to rethink this. My trainer thinks it's crazy and told me to do a minumum 4 day split, then day off. He also says he thinks the carbs will be way too high for me (Karen- just like Robb's email and what Kristi said!). I do notice, like JC, my veins really pop out after these carby meals. Kinda cool, but it won't be cool if they start disappearing under even more fat

Tidey- you are doing great. It took me 4 challenges to go down 2 sizes. A size every 2 weeks? That sounds incredible. and expensive. I just waited til my clothes were literally falling off, then bought some new really tight ones.

Ilene- Hope you're feeling perkier. Could you be getting sick? Or your strength and energy levels change thru your TOM cycle too.

Shelby- Welcome back. Where did your cruise take you? I used to think I'd hate a cruise, but now am rethinking it. Particularly would have liked a nice island one about a month and a half ago!

Jamie- Training tip: don't wear cotton socks. Get those expensive coolmax ones. they are well worth the price for no blisters!

I'm going to Ohio Friday-Sunday to visit dd and watch lacrosse games. She just called me to say she sprained her ankle badly at practice today and doesn't know if she'll be able to play this weekend Nothing like driving 8 hours, preparing meals for 3 days, and watching her sit on the bench! Poor kid, these are the 2 biggest games of the season, too. Oh well, least we'll get to visit some. I'm trying to find a gym to workout- Susie in Ohio (from that other board) lives right near there, so I've emailed her.

gotta go-
mel

Hey you guys!!

YUP I did get to the gym at 3:40 am this morning...and right now I'm dragging booty big time...because of our dear sweet kitty, Sparky...went to bed last night at 9:00 sharp (after this great movie on Animal Planet called "Big Spender" about a racehorse rescue farm run by convicts...I'm a sucker for happy endings). Well actually it was more like 9:10...then Jim finally got into bed at 9:20...and THAT's WHEN WE FOUND OUT that The Sparkmeister had left a little surprise on our bed - he threw up...aacck...so Jim and I had to totally change the bed linens of course. Sparky was sitting watching us with a evil look on his face... but that wasn't all the fun he had planned for us last night! After we were sound asleep, he decided to walk over to the window and rattle the ol' blinds for awhile...then at 3:00 am (he must have heard me saying I was going to get to the gym by 3:30 this morning!) he did his usual rattling of the doorknob...so...I got up, got dressed, went to the gym and did a killer leg workout and I gotta say the beauty about being at the gym so goshdarn early is that you pretty much have the whole place to yourself!

Of course right now (at 2:30 in the afternoon - nearly 12 hours later) I'm about ready to FALL ASLEEP AT MY DESK...and have forgotten what else I was going to say...zzzz....

CC,

As a fellow New Yorker, I totally empathize with how you are feeling. Seeing the National Guard drives home the point that we are indeed at war and our city, New York, could be affected once again. The days after 9/11 are still so vivid to me; the disbelief on everybody’s faces, the open wound that was The World Trade Center, people seeking their relatives, the unrelenting fear…. Having lived here all my life, I just didn’t think that kind of devastation could happen and the city and its people not only survive, but also thrive.

But use this as a positive. Subway crime should come to a virtual standstill. So in some ways we are actually safer. We will get through this. Sending warms thoughts and hugs your way.

Sel

Ilene: For the past 3 nights, I've tried cutting my carbs in that last meal, and I don't think it's a coincidence that I have had a hard time with my cardio in the AM (a complete lack of energy, despite a caffeine boost). I'm going to give it aother week or so, and then decide what I want to do from here on out. I take a spinning class most mornings during the week, so I really do need to give my body something for energy. It may mean eating something small before going, although I hate the thought of not working out on an empty stomach first thing in the AM.

Adena: Sorry to hear about your bad year... good on ya for kickin' booty in 2003

Mel: The site of my veins popping out GROSSES ME OUT!!! IN due time, I suppose...

cac: hang in there, chickie! sorry to hear about the situtation. i'm hiding from all of that at the moment. I jsut can't bear to watch the news at night. it's easy to forget how things are when you're not close to it. (although, in Fredericksburg, VA, I'm pretty darned close to DC and he Dahlgren military base, but it's actually been pretty quiet in my neck of the woods)

Off to eat fajita-style chicken with rice!

wcolleen: I LOVE veins popping out - they are so fascinating and as my DH puts it - you have road maps on your arms!

Karen: APPARENTLY Bas (our older Beagle) had a coughing fit at about 3am as well (must be in sympathy with Sparky) and so he got up to help rub his chest to calm him down - that's why he said that his bodyclock didn't wake him up when the alarm didn't go off this morning. I was in such a deep sleep I don't remember a single thing. When I woke up (I was going to work out) Ray jumped in the shower and it wsn't until a minute later when the radio annouced the time and I suddenly realised that it was LIGHT outside that I ran to the bathroom and told Ray he was late. It was cool in the end but I was surprised that we both slept through our normal wake up time?? Anyway I am sleeping SO WELL at the moment.

JC

Wow all the posts! I can barely keep up! The period button on this key board doesn't work, so I just use explanation points and sound very excited! LOL

Karen- that is amazing about your husbands family, and your jump!

Adena- smaller pants, WOOHOO

Niffer- good luck on the job search

Sandy- you will soon be in those shorts! Keep it up

Meg- I understand the shoes and underwear thing, my daughters
drag me out of the store if I start going towards the underwear

Cac- 2 weeks on BFL done! GREAT !

Meow- sorry about Zeppelin

Tami- BFL has changed my life completely! You can do it!

To anyone I missed, I'm not intentionally ignoring you, I just can't keep up!

I finally finished most of the wallpapering in the house we want to rent! I'm exhausted, and if Rich ever says WE will do something like that again I will strangle him! Because somehow WE turned into ME! Men! ARG!

Now all I have to do is figure out how I can go home to pack that house yet still be on this half of the state to take kids to and from school, should be interesting!

But my eating and excersize has been on track!

Jonda