Good Morning!

Didja all survive the weekend? I had a very hungry week and made some unwise, later than usual choices last week. Consequently, I only had a .5 lb loss for last week. Oh, well - happily plodding along!

Happy Monday!

Hey, girls! I am back from my month long vacation and down 7lbs! Woot!

I am doing A LOT of walking, jogging, etc. I am doing about an hr. every day (lots of hills!)

Still stayin on plan for the most part. I did have a lil slip up at my coming home party on Friday night. Too much wine and waaaaaay too much sushi! But Sat., got up, did my workout and ate pretty good all weekend. Next Sat. is my daughter's b-day. She turns 8 and we are having a huge party as usual. I will have plenty of healthy foods and I am sure everything will be terrific!

Hope all is going well with all of you!

I had a terrific weekend. I stayed my course even when standing in front of a buffet at a golf tournament. GO ME!

I also got a trophy on my Wii Active for being active for more than 2 hours yesterday. I just kept goin & goin.

I am impressed by the posts today!! 7 lbs on vacation? Two hours of activity and a loss even after unwise choices. You ladies rock!!!

I got up early today and ran which feels great. I wanted to make it to yoga class today too, but I am feeling a little unmotivated to get the kids moving. They are still asleep. We went out on the river last evening and dinner and bedtime were quite a bit later last night.

Hello everyone! I am new here! I just want to stay motivated and it looks like I have found the right place! I am at work now and drinking some hot tea. Its apparently 90 degrees out but I am freezing in my office!

I desperately want to move my workouts to the moring before work but I just don't have the time! I have to be at work by 8 am and it takes me 35 minutes to get to work plus an average 45 minutes to get ready in the morning. So I get up around 6:30 as it is! I would have to get up at 4:45 in the morning to do my work out (My gym opens at 5 am) and thats just barely enough time to get through my routine! I might be over the hill, but I am not an early bird just yet!

I wish there was a better way. At this point I go to the gym after work and I don't get home until 7pm, then I first have to shower and eat dinner. I barely get to see my husband! I hate it!!

Any suggestions?

Harps: My routine: Get up, pee, drink 16 oz. water, stretch, recumbent bike 30 minutes, a few hand weight reps, cool down while setting clothes out for me & kids, start coffee pot, shower (DH helps kids with potty, hygeine, & breakfast), eat breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed (no make-up, easy hair care), help dress kids, make sure everyone's teeth have been brushed, put shoes on, grab coffee, get everyone in the car. Away we go!

I put in another workout in the afternoon or after supper.

There is the occassional outbreak of chaos in the morning, but I have not missed my workout or my shower yet.

Had a tough time getting up this morning because the visiting doggie-tongue-alarm-clocks got picked up by their mommy yesterday. So I slept in a good 45 minutes past when I wanted to get up. So instead of 30DS and a walk with the dogs, I just squeezed in 30 minutes on the elliptical. I'm just about to leave for my lunchtime walk, too.

I did a day of 30DS level 2 and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm going to give it a try a few more times, but I might switch to a different video for a while. There is a lot of plank work that I am not good at and I think I should get stronger at that before I expect to do the workout well. At this point I feel like I get a better workout doing level one really well than I do doing level 2 really badly. But I'm not sure yet. I have the Biggest Loser videos, too. A yoga one, a power sculpting one, and a cardio one. (Value 3-pack!) I'll try level 2 a few more times and then decide...

The 3 pounds I lost while I was out of town have stayed off -- plus I'm down another few fractions of a pound . And now that I'm back into my regular routine (cooking my own dinners, packing my own breakfasts and lunches) I feel much better and more in control. Now just to add back in my regular exercise.

UGH you are so good! If I had equipment at home it would be a different story all together. Someday, especially when I have kids, whether my hubby likes it or not, we are getting some equipment!

Harps - I have the same schedule as you do in the mornings and I have to get up at 5 when I work in order to squeeze in a run. I don't do it every morning, but I try to get up at least two days a week. This may be a little gross especially after a workout, but it's survival: I also wash my hair in the evenings so that I don't have to spend time blow drying it in the mornings. And I eat breakfast at work on my 10:00 o'clock break. It's a hassle, but I sure do appreciate being free in the evenings...

Even just a small aerobics step can help. Step up and down briskly -- like marching in place but made a little tougher -- and you've kind of made your own treadmill slash stepper machine! And a few sets of hand weights are super cheap.

Throw a BOSU in there and I bet you can do almost all your exercises at home. In many ways, weight machines aren't that good for you. Using free weights works big muscles and the "helper" muscles all at the same time and both burns more calories and is a better all-around workout. And as for leg stuff, your body weight works wonders!

I've been a member of many gyms and I'm having the most success right now by doing everything at home!

I second what rebound says! It does not have to be pricey. Before I got the recumbent bike, I had a plastic stepstool instead of an aerobics step. (I'd make sure the step is stable and not too high - I think I hurt my knees) I don't remember how much I spent for the few free weights I have. . . I'm pretty sure it was under $50. Before I had the weights, I used canned food.

I bought the bike for $100 on clearance at WalMart. I couldn't find one for less locally when I wanted it. In my area, people just start giving their exercise equipment away when they decide they are not going to stick to certain New Year's resolutions and they *don't* need that extra clothing rack.

BOSUs look cool. I stood on one once, visiting the gym with a friend.

We have exercise balls to sit on in the living room. We ditched the love seats right before Indy was potty training and went on a poop-smearing campaign. He did it more than once, too. Primitive cave wall paintings in the fecal medium. On the walls, the empty bookshelves, the TV, the floor. *Shudder* I never thought I'd get that room clean.

Okay, you just made up my mind. I am NEVER having children...

Bluefruitmomma/Rebound- EW! hahaha! I apparently used to shred my diaper into a million pieces full or empty (my mom loves to remind me), so who knows what I am in for!

As for working out with makeshift homewares, or steps and weights -it is a great idea, of course- my problem is, right now we are in a one bedroom apartment and I would make enitrely too much noise in the lounge in the morning, however, in the evening I could banish the hubby to the bedroom for 45 minutes to watch telly. That is do-able. I do LOVE going to the gym though. I enjoy being in a gym and having all that I need available to me. I like having other people around to make me want to work harder and I am a machine junkie! I live for the eliptical! I want to have my own at home when I do have kids. But ideally I want an exercise room in my home, then the gym wouldn't matter as much to me. I really like euipment, I should break myself of that cause it is rather stupid when I can run outside for free! The gym I go to is $19.99 a month, so its really no big deal in that sense.

For now, I am going to try and go in the morning. I have decided I will try that either this week or next and see how it goes.

thanks for all your advice! I want to get an exercise ball for home, so I'll get a stepper while I'm at it. Any advice where to get either of these cheap?

[sarcasm]

How terribly uncouth of you.

I, on the other hand, was a perfect child.

[/sarcasm]

I live near a college. The last time I was in campus town in the grocery store, Xander took off on me, laughing as he tore around the aisles. So, I was trying to catch him with Indy in tow. Indy's hand slipped, and then I had two kids laughing and running away. In opposite directions. Now, I feel the need to explain that they're not ill-mannered per se. Indy has Autism and Xander is developmentally delayed. In less familiar environments they get overstimulated.

Thankfully, it's a small store and I caught them in a few minutes. So, I get up to the register line, and everybody is grinning. I'm sheepish and still out of breath. I say, "Yeah, I like to come to campus town from time to time to promote safe sex."

They are a joy, but this parenting gig is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.