OK FlSun this is my recommendation on the weight thing. It sounds like you got a good start on the free weights. But if you decide to go and get a rack and have all dumb bells I would highly recommend looking into what we got. It is a dumb bell set that goes from 1 to 100 lbs by locking the weight in. They are so cool. You don’t have a thousand weights all over the place they just take up minimal space and you have everything you need with one thing. My son is a power lifter and wanted them when he was still living at home so we bought them to save room. Plus they seemed to cost much less than a full set of dumb bells. Also if you are looking for a bench and bar with free weights I would look in your classified ads first. People buy that stuff and then don’t know what there doing and want to get rid of it. You can buy them for a fraction of the retail cost. My co worker recommended looking at articles in shape magazine for good workout information with weights. I can not say for sure what is in it as I have not looked into myself. I like Gina’s recommendation of Jillian M’s book. It seems to work for the folks on BL. Good Luck!

Pretty quite weekend for me. To cold for riding. My DH rode to couple of meetings he had this weekend and about froze. I told him he was getting to old for that. I told him I wasn’t going out unless it was 60 plus degree’s. He just laughed at me.

Hi to each of and all of you! Holly glad you are posting more reg.! Well Chicks have a good one and keep on keep’n on!

Craigslist dot org is another great place to find used equipment....if they are active in your area. Not all that user friendly as a search, but it's free to post stuff for sale!

Good Morning Chickies!

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions to get started with my weight training. I soooo appreciate it! You guys are THE BEST! I do wish I could find a DVD that I could pop in to show me the correct way to do it, I hate stopping to look at pictures in a book!

Haven't posted in a few days...been busy getting my Gazelle Room ready and have been absolutely AWFUL with my eating. It's the bad, Bad, BAD psycological thing for me...I see "another new beginning" with the arrival of our Gazelle, so I have been eating things I never would in anticipation of "starting again". That's the thing I MUST overcome! Thankfully, the scale shows no movement, I don't know how! Well...TODAY IS GAZELLE DAY! I checked w/ UPS and one of those cute guys in the brown uniforms will be dropping it on my doorstep!

2 & a half weeks til Cayman ...so I'll be hitting it hard to lose a few by then. I know I just have to be careful not to over-do it the first few days
Our "weekend" is coming up tomorrow...HH works a rotating schedule, so days off are different each week. A dentist appointment in Tampa will screw up our day tommrow, but we're planning a ride to St. Augustine on Thursday. Should be the perfect day...sunny and 82.

Make It a Great Day, Girls!

Hey girlies!

Hope that everyone had an awesome weekend. Mine was pretty good. I ate badly, but I kinda planned to.

Jill- Yipppee...Gazelle day!!! Have a blast on it! I'm thinking of using mine after work today, too. How long are you going to do on yours? Oh, as for weight training...I don't know much either, but I did buy the Biggest Loser DVD and Bob shows alot of great strength training workouts on there. I really like it!

Our weather is gorgeous here. It's supposed to be near 70 degrees today. So, dh and I really need to get our butts out for a walk...no more excuses. He got the bike out and was going to ride this morning, but didn't. It was 48 this morning and he has about a 35 min commute, so he was not totally prepared for it. we may go for a little ride around town...nothing to compare with flsunbkd awesome riding places...I'm so jealous Why oh why did my family have to settle for KANSAS?!?!

Have a great day ladies!

Hi Chicks! Went to JC last night and I am down another 2.7 lbs!

We got 77 degrees yesterday, I think it was a record breaker. Today only 53 . Who well it is still winter.

Well Chicks long weekend for me I am bouncing(as my kids say) on Thursday afternoon for a little town in the rockies called Estes Park. I will be home on Saturday. Going with some Chicks I love! Should be good times.

Hope you all have a good weekend. Stay on program and Keep on Keep'n on Chicks.

Woo Hoo Harleymom!!

It's off and on wet over here....I was too chicken to attempt riding today. Hopefully it will clear up for the weekend.

We got an IKEA opening across the street from where I work. What a zoo it was. I figure I'll wait til things mellow out before I attempt shopping.

Good Morning Chickies!

I am still hanging in there at the same weight...which is good considering that I have NOT been sticking to my plan very well. Today is a new day tho.

Been busy the last few days....HH was off, so it was our "weekend". We wasted the first day with dentist appointments & errands, but spent yesterday riding our HOG over to Florida's west coast to a little seaside town on the Gulf called Hernando Beach. Nice day! It was 82 and sunny....just like today. It's Bike Week in Daytona, but I think we'll skip it this time. We were just there for BiktoberFest in October. It will be a wonderful weekend for all the Bikers tho! I soooooo hope that many of you also have a warm weekend so ya'll can get out there and RIDE!!

Got our Gazelle.....got it put together in record time and our Gazelle Room looks great! Today was our first real day of using it on schedule....HH Gazelled before work and I did about 25 minutes after that. I plan on another 25 minutes or so later on.

I am also going to get started on my weight training. I have never worked with weights before so I am taking the advice of all of you , reading the websites you suggested and have written down many of the basics I need to do to get started. I ordered Shaping Up with Weights for Dummies...a DVD with the most basic stuff on it. I know I will outgrow it quickly, but just need the basic guidance to make sure I'm doing the forms correctly. Gotta get ready for that Cayman trip!!! Also need to get my house stuff and packing done so I can log in a few pool hours prior to my trip on the 18th. BooooooHoooooo..it's a rough life, I know...but somebody has to do it!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Good Morning Chicks!

It has been another crazy week.

Gina- I know that I've heard some of you mention IKEA's before, but I don't remember what they are.

HarleyMom- Yipppee on the weight loss! I hope that you have a terrific weekend.

flsunbakd- Ohhhh...your ride sounds heavenly.

We have a motorcycle club meeting this weekend. I'm not too thrilled about it, though. Normally I am pretty excited, but we're meeting at a new place and at a screwy time, but I'm sure it will work out better.

Ok, here's my long saga for the day...lol. Dh and I have a 2 bedroom bungalow-type house. One bedroom we use and the other is (sadly) storage space and lately more disastrous. I don't care for our bedroom because it's much smaller and at the front of the house. So, my big goal (much to dh's unhappiness) is to move the crap from the other bedroom into the shed, buy a new bed set (ours is old and awful) and move ourselves into that larger bedroom. Then with the empty bedroom I am going to eventually set up a fitness room. Put the Gazelle, weights, stability ball, tv and dvd, and sometime a treadmill. Like I said dh isn't too excited about it. I really want to start this weekend with moving the junk out of the house. During spring break I'll probably paint and border...with mom's help...hehehe.

Another thing on my mind this morning... do any of you have digital scales? I just bought one in January and I weighed myself this morning. I loved what it said...125.5, but that is impossible. Can the batteries go bad that quickly? I do usually weigh myself daily, so maybe b/c of my weight and using it alot I ran up the battery? I hope it's not busted. I didn't save my receipt. Oh well.

Anyone have big plans for the weekend?

Well, if I don't get back online today...HAVE AN AWESOME WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!!

Hi chickies!

Ohhh I can feel summer coming on!!!! It's only in the 50's so I have a while to wait, but it's coming!

Rebel, what's the problem with the scale? Sounds like it's working perfectly. I'd take it back, I hate to buy stuff that doesn't work so soon after I get it.

flsunbked. I'm beginning to not like you. You live in the warm weather AND you get to go on a vacation to even warmer weather???? I'll be thinking about you when I'm scraping the ice off my windshield. If you want demonstrations of different exercises go here http://www.bodyforlife.com/exercise/index.asp They have a bunch of different exercises animated for you. (if they take out the link it's bodyforlife.com - exercises - exercise demos)

Everyone have a great weekend!

Kathy

I gotta spend some time in that Body for Life site - a bunch of chicks around here have had some impressive success with BFL..thanx for the link, Kathy!

Andrea - I've got a scary second bedroom as well....but at least we are already living in the bigger nicer room. Come on over when you're done with yours, huh? Sounds like DH needs to learn not to try to stop a chick in nesting mode... IKEA is a furniture store from Sweden - pretty nice simple stuff and the prices are decent.

Jill - you go, girl!! Ya can't beat Dummies for explaining things in normal people English.

Hi All,
What a great idea! For those of us who enjoy Motorcycles to work together at our weight loss goals. Hubby and I ride Vulcan 1500s and love it. I am 52 and the weight just isn't coming off as easily as it has in the past. It is like I get to aroun 180 and it just doesn't budge. I am so frustrated I am ready to say to heck with it all and just forget about it....but my inner self does not give up so easily.

I work out at Curves on a regular basis and most days I am pretty good about journaling. Probably my biggest problem is I love **SWEETS** they are my biggest downfall. Of course when I was under 30 I could eat anything I wanted when ever I wanted and never gain an ounce. But oh how life changed after that 30th b-day.

Another problem I have is I am totally bored with food, hubby is a vegetarian and I'm not (recent development last 10 years), and we made some major changes in our life last year (moved, no longer working outside the home, children moved farther away) and just very unsettled. Trying to venture into photography through a correspondence course and I am enjoying...I just don't seem to have a lot of iniative to get up and out to pursue the things I want to do. I would much rather just stay home, watch a little TV and play Literati (scrabble like game) with my daughter who lives 600 miles away now.

Chocolate is probably my biggest down fall, plus I am not working full time any more since we moved (left our home of 23 years due to downsizing). I thought I have always wanted to be a stay-at-home wife, but I am double guessing that at this point as I have come to realize recently my self-worth has been wrapped up in my jobs (I know- not healthy) and I am trying to find out who I really am...I don't think I know. Been married for 26 years and hubby has changed a lot over the last 10 years (spiritual changes, etc.) which have caused a lot of stress (better now though ).

I haven't talked this much to any one really about how I am feeling. Wow what a relief. sorry to jabber on so, but I am just so frustrated with trying to lose weight, at times I just don't want to try any more. But I don't want to get any heavier and I want the weight to come off easier (I know pipe dream).

Thanks for letting me vent some of frustrations and I hope to get some support, advice, kick in the butt, etc. from the group.

Patricia

Patricia!!!!
I just hit 40 - but my story is pretty much like yours when it comes to sweets and how hard it is to get the last pounds off. I look at it this way....if I give up - I'll just put weight on. At least if I keep working at it - my worst case scenario is that I maintain where I am. This for me is not optimal - but WAY better than going back to where I was.
I have been doing circuit workouts 4x a week and cardio 5x since August. (Before that I was walking every day - but no weight training) I have lost inches but very few pounds....I figure I'm gaining muscle weight and losing fat...dang well better be, anyway. I have gone from a 14 to a 12 in pants and spend a lot of time flexing in the mirror...

Get the chocolate out of the house if it's a trigger - I find it easier to only have stuff like that when I go out - if it's in the house it's in my mouth... As far as being bored with food - can't really help ya there...I wish I was bored with food... Maybe get some new cookbooks? I have a few vegetarian cookbooks - an old favorite is Laurel's Kitchen...she has a kinda hippy attitude...but good healthy eating.

Hi Patricia!

I had a nice weekend, fairly clean eating apart from yesterday. Better than recent weekends anyhow!

I went back to my old school and people were amazed! I was at my heaviest when I left school.

I tried on wedding dresses and managed to fit into most of the samples that were a US8 I think that really rammed home quite how far I've come in the past 6 years.

Even my mum and grandma were impressed and they only saw me in December-ish. Oh and another thing, I tried on this pretty tea dress of my mum's from the 70s back in December and I had to squidge myself into it and get someone else to zip it up while I breathed in lots. Well I got mum to bring it for me at the weekend and I tried it on last night and it zipped up no problem. I thought I hadn't got the zip up properly, but it just slipped on so easily, didn't need any help and I could breathe!

I also got hold of some trousers that I used to wear for work this time last year. I weighed the same as I do now... However that was before the weightlifting. Those trousers fall right to the floor now

Lots of NSVs and I'm just going to stay away from the scales because these are better than any numbers!

Off out to ride in the face-freezing cold!

Patricia!
Wow 2frus very impressive Chick! I have also tried on some of the things that didn't fit in December that now are either to big or look great. It is such a wonderful feeling. To be able to try on wedding dresses from the rack has to be a great feeling. YOU GO GIRL! Good luck on finding that prefect dress!

Gina Great advice for Patricia. I would like to also add that you must must must find something to do that is just about you. Think about things you can do for free if money is tight. Walks, reading, we have free concerts in the park, getting back to nature seems to have some freeing for me, there is lots of things if you start thinking about it. You must feed your mind, body, and soul. If one thing is out of wack the whole thing is wrong. Losing weight and excersise is so much more than just doing it. You have to be in the right mental state for it. Look at small goals at first. Maybe it won't be loosing weight. Maybe it can be getting rid of the trigger foods in your life, then you'll see weight loss come a lot easier. It is good that your going to curves keep up the good work on the excersise routine. So glad to have you join us!

Had the most fab time this weekend. Was warm in Estes and enjoyed the mountains. Hope to go up again soon. Had a great time with friends. Ate a few things I shouldn't have but for the most part did OK. I got a new pair of jeans this weekend and I got a lot of complements on how good I look. It is fun for people to notice my weight loss. My DH says I am a hot momma.

Reb good luck with the rearranging. You sound like me about the time off. I have painted to summers in a row. I told DH no more painting on my time off this year. It is going to be a fun time not work time this summer! I might get my pit of a bedroom cleaned up good.

Jill congrats on getting your excersise room put together, now the goal is to make use of it everyday, or least 5 times weekly. Good Luck!

Hello Kathy, Holly, and Star. If I forgot someone Hi to you Too! Have a good one Chicks and keep on Keep'n on!

Hi Kids! Not much time right now, but I wanted to tell you all how much I've enjoyed reading everyone's updates today! Sounds like lots of great advice & super-positive thoughts, as usual. You guys are all such good influences!

Yep....Gazelle Room is up and running....and so am I! I had a slight set-back...and was disappointed when it arrived and the instructional video was a darn VHS tape!!! Who the heck has VHS player (anymore) in these days of DVD's?! I got online right away and ordered Tony Little's Crosstraining DVD and it's GREAT!!! If any of you have a Gazelle (Reb?!)...and you're bored with it ...you might want to order this DVD to give you new life on it! The time with Tony flies by and he has chosen some good music. I've been getting some really good work-outs on it since the Crosstraining DVD came. YAY! Now I am waiting for my strength-training for Dummies DVD to get started on that part of my New Me. I have renewed incentive to stick to my eating plan now that I'm in exercise mode. MAYBE I'll have the guts to weigh myself in a day or two.

Tommorrow starts our "weekend" and the weather will be warm and sunny ....so we will ride practically non-stop for the next couple of days.

Less than 2 weeks 'til my Cayman trip ....I wish I could take Tony & my Gazelle with me!!!