Continuing on from here; http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/feat...s-chat-16.html

Man oh man, March already! The first of the month is always a good time to do a check-up and jot down some goals for the month. Anyone care to share?

Mine are to stick to my workout program (no problemo) and stick to a healthy diet all but ONE night this month, while visiting my husband. It'll probably be 8 or 9 March.
Aside from that, I still have a goal I want to accomplish soon so I'm going to work hard and prove I don't need a coach to get me there!

Well, I didn't see 148 this morning, but I'm pretty unhappy with my digestion at the moment so I'm not that surprised. Should be soon anyway! My goal for March is to log all of my calories and stay under my max every day.

Fitting in a planned treat every week and a half or so is still working for me. I avoided caving to a cookie craving last night because it meant I couldn't try the cappuccino flavored almond ice cream I bought for Wednesday.

krampus ~ Yuuuuuckkkkkk to the sick! No good, man. Feel better. Rest up and hydrate!

Turbo ~ lol - you sound like a master of the houswife arts. I think the reason the floor I was watching this tv show on ayurvedic healing and there was a guy on with almost the exact symptoms I have and Cameron (the model guru) recommended that he sleep on the floor to help align his back. It works because the floor doesn't support any misadjustments, although I can imagine that it would be wearing after awhile. I did it again last night and it was a bit more difficult. Not sure if it's going to get easier or harder.

Joss ~ Good goals! :thup: You got this and it sounds like hey, you are your best coach. Yayay and excited for your visit to see your hubby. Were you putting it off b.c you were on the restrictive program, or was it more your/his schedules? Either way, so glad you guys will be together soon and that's the best reward of all!!!!!

bunneh ~ logging cals is a powerful tool and glad that your "expensive treat" motivation is working, too!

~~~
So early check in today as I'm planning to "motivate" through this work day, too.

Children's concert last night went better than expected. I worked hard, yo. Practiced a ton on my own and after running the symphony we're playing, I feel pretty prepared. My stand partner has three kids and two are applying to college this year, so stress galore and hasn't been able to prep as much as she would have liked. We muddle through, but it's kind of an interesting position to be in where I'm the one who feels more prepared.

Came home wrecked but happy after the concet. Had a mug of peppermint tea, practiced, then went to bed. On a downward trend weight-wise, but I've been resting too high too long, so I'm guessing it's going to take serious work to get back down to where I was four months ago.

Feeling positive and dedicated, though. Let's do this thing!

Happy March!

TGIF!

I knew my weight would be up today...I feel puffy! 113.0 isn't bad but it means no refeed meal this weekend for me

I'll check in later for personals!

It is already March!

Joss : That is some pretty interesting goal you've got They're big enough to challenge you, but on the other hand still manageable!

I can't wait to hear you say : TAKE THAT, FREACKING COACH!

TheBunneh : Awww, sorry you did not see the 148 you were hoping for. But as you said, if it is because of digestive problem, you should see see it soon enough

cappuccino flavored almond ice cream? That sounds delish!

Alexis : I'm glad to hear the Children's concert ran smoothly! I love your positive attitude about what you are doing and what needs to be done concerning the diet You are still my hero for sleeping on the car, I guess I'm a pricy princess when it comes to sleeping

Bayzee : Aww, hope this puffy feeling will go away soon!

***

So, I weighed in at 139.0 this morning, which is a loss fromthe 139.2 I was standing in all week long after the Oscar night. At least I'm back down where I was supposed to be, but that also means I not no not loss for this week. OH WELL. At least it is not a gain!

Last night, I officially subscribe to TWOOO races (the prices were increasing on March 1st, what a great trigger huh :P). I am now in for Sherbrooke (my current town) half-marathon (did it last year as my first half ever) on June 29th and for a Sprint Spartan Race on May 26th. I'm super excited but stressed too, my cardio will need a loooot of work. But I was in a pretty bad shape when I started training for my first half last year.. it's gonna be painful, but I think I can do this. I want to improve my time to, so I put myself in a stronger training program and the time I am supposed to run is so fast, it is scary LOL

Leaving tomorrow for the snowshoeing little expedition, I need to prepare all the stuff today. I said I'd bring cookies for dessert, so the challenge today will be not to eat all the batter :P

***

To answer Joss questions, here's what I would like to accomplished this month

- Start my half marathon training program and, most of all, trade my 2 threadmill run during the week for OUTSIDE runs.

- Pushing on the weight training ; because of the Spartan Race coming up in 3 months, I'd love to make my way through making a chin-up at some point. Maybe not this month, but working in that direction.

- I'm gonna designed some weekly training plan that will put together runs outside and gym training. This gonna need dedication to stick to my plan, but I want to do this!

- As a weight goal, I'd like to be down to 137 by the end of the month. That would make losing 0.5 pound a week. I think it is do-able!

-Control the treeeeeats. This is starting tomorrow :P There will be wine, chips and other thing... I'd like to enjoy them without DIVING in them LOL

Happy March! I can't believe how fast February flew by!

I'm starting the month at 135, which has become my new friend. Today is my off day. I'm going out with 2 gfs tonight for drinks & apps & I am going to enjoy every second of it. I NEVER do this, & I deserve to have fun & eat good food every once in a while. I lost 6lbs last month so I think I can stand to have one night of fun.

I'm clearly going to have to do something very different from what I've been doing because I've bobbled between 135 & 136 for 2 weeks. My body doesn't respond to low carb - like not at all. I gain, if anything. So, I may try a week of hitting 1200 cals & see if that changes anything.

BUT tonight...I'm going to wear a hot dress, have fun with my girlfriends & enjoy my night. I haven't gone out like this since before I was married...6 years ago. And I was tubby then so this will be a lot more fun being a size 6

Happy Friday, my bishes!

Maddie, you haven't been out with your girlfriends for SIX years?! My goodness woman, you are overdue! Take your hot little 135 pound body out for drinks, yummy appetizers, and enjoy it!

I'm hanging out at 1200-1250 calories for this week too, just to offset the damage from Monday and Tuesday and to hopefully offset any damage I do having dinner out with my hubby. I don't think there is anything wrong with going low calorie to minimize some damage or to bust out of a rut. I hope it works for you!

Turbo - Congratulations on signing up for the events! That's definitely exciting but I can also see how you are a bit worried about your cardio. I'm sure you'll do just fine though; you've done them before and you know how to train for them, so just listen to your body and lets hope for no more injuries.

I think that a .5 pound per week weight loss is super doable, especially if you're going to be beginning all the training runs for your events coming up. You should have a big enough calorie burn that your diet shouldn't really require too much tweaking to get you there.

Yeah, I do think my goals are manageable, especially after having just done nearly 6 weeks on a program that was mentally a lot tougher. Keeping my big indulgences limited to one night for the month shouldn't be too difficult, especially considering I just killed some cravings earlier this week, and I'm visiting my hubby next weekend. Really it just means I have to be back 'on plan' for like 3 weeks and then I can set goals for April.

Bayzee - Recomp! Your weight is going to go up! You'll be fine... I'm just hoping that means you're feeling better?

Alex - Not seeing my hubby was a combination of both things, but mostly my program during this point. Can you imagine trying to fit in 1-2 hours in the gym while traveling and going to visit my hubby whist preparing my chicken and salads to such rigid specifications? It would have been no fun for either of us. When I go visit we still go to the gym but we have more fun with it and workout together, and we still eat mostly healthy but we like to cook together and make healthier versions of fajitas, french toast, and stuff like that. We also like to go out to eat, and if I choose to indulge I can, but I can also choose to eat something healthier.

I see you'll be joining us on the daily weigh ins! I think that I'm going to continue with it as well. I plan to weigh in tomorrow and then every day that I can thereafter. I won't be on the 8-11th because I'll be visiting my hubby but I have found that I actually like weighing daily and I think it might motivate me a bit more. I've realized that my weight fluctuates so much that if I just so happen to weigh in on a high day (for whatever reason) and thats my only weigh-in for the week, it might be discouraging. If I weigh every day I might see those spikes but it's more a mentality of "meh, we'll see what happens tomorrow". We'll see how it goes!

Maybe it will help you break your high streak down a bit as well.

TheBunneh - Hey, you were close though, and you had a great NSV holding out for the treat you REALLY want! Thats fantastic.



----------------------------------------------------

I have mixed feelings about my workout today... here's what I did;

Pullups superset with dips
10 minutes Jacobs Ladder
hang cleans superset with ab wheel rollouts
incline barbell chest press superset with dumbbell split squats
10 minutes running
bicep cable curls superset with cable tricep extensions
hanging knee raises superset with machine chest fly
10 minutes standing bike

(Unit PT this afternoon, so I plan to add another bit of cardio)

My pullups and hang cleans were (IMO) pathetic. I should have expected as much considering I haven't been doing them lately, and it will take some time to get back into the swing of things again. On the other hand, my cardio was a breeze and I was doing my cable bicep curls with 70 pounds... thats a 30 pound improvement from about 7 weeks ago.

I feel like some things have obviously improved, but the things I equate with overall fitness like the heavy olympic lifts and pullups have drastically declined. It gives me areas to focus on, but also makes me feel like a weenie.

In other news, it's Friday! Whoot! I might be running out here in a few minutes to go with my roommate to get a tattoo (her, not me) and then tonight I'm looking forward to one of my recent favorite dinners; Tilapia with a zesty slaw served hot topped with avocado. Yummy!

Hoping this month's first-of-the-month weigh-in will be on the high end for March: 124.6. I got a boost of energy at the end of the work day and completed Upper Body B of my program - pull-ups, dips, lateral raises, tricep cable pulldowns and cable curls.

I feel like such a WIENER on the lat raises - I used 10 lb dumbbells and probably could have used 12s but found I was making all kinds of "involuntary" straining faces - oh well, this is how people improve. I also was sort of embarrassed using the Gravitron machine for dips and pullups, but with 30 lb of assistance I know I can work on it.

Ended up going out with people in the evening - I stress ate a footlong from Subway for lunch and had a healthy dinner of chicken on kale, but ended up eating half a turkey reuben and 4 wings with bleu cheese at the pub...then went home with my BF and had PB&J minus bread or crackers or anything. Got up late today so no Lower Body B until next week.

Cold is still there but I'm just ignoring it and chugging Vitamin C which is making me feel nauseous. But in GREAT NEWS our friend who was in jail/detained by immigration police was successfully bailed out - we all wrote him character references and it would seem he is free for now. Not sure about what the next step will be...but he can see his daughter now and that's all he cares about!

My goals for March are:
-Eat right for strength gains.
-Focus on IMPROVEMENT on my lifts versus losing scale pounds.
-Run outside whenever the weather's nice enough.
-Go to more group classes at the Y to get my money's worth!

Maddie ENJOY girls' night out - I seriously can't believe you haven't been out in 6 years, live it up and have a great time with your girlfriends!!! 6 pounds in a month as a featherweight is serious progress and I hope you and 135 continue to make nice and you meet 134 soon.

Turbo You're so motivated and inspirational signing up for all these races and events. With plenty of time for training you will totally be able to meet the challenge (cardio and running...and not eating ALL the cookie batter, hehe). Your March goals sound very solid - I'm so excited about FINALLY being able to run outside without freezing to death and hating every second of it!

Bayzee Sorry you're feeling puffy. If I were you the little satan on my shoulder would win and say "have the refeed anyway - you can't spend your whole life at a deficit" - I hope you will debloat soon. How is your health/cold?

Alexistrophic Awesome to hear that the concert went well. Being the stand partner who is more on top of things feels great - I remember being concertmaster once and KNOWING my stand partner should have been, and the way he looked at me I think he knew it too. Peppermint tea...mmmmmmmm...I forgot I have like 2 boxes at my desk. Will load up today!

Bunneh Tell your tummy to get moving! Your discipline around desserts is mighty impressive, it's great that you found a system that works for you where you don't wind up feeling deprived and overcompensating for too much puritanical goodliness.

JossFit I hope your March will be fantastic and filled with JOSSFIT workouts. Prove your $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ coach wrong! I found Minsoo Go yesterday, she's a Korean-American bikini competitor and trainer in TX who is someone to aspire to...if I lose 10-15% body fat I probably will look nowhere near as good as she does, but we have a similar natural shape!



HOLD THE PHONE - you're bicep curling 70 pounds with ONE ARM? Ohhhh maaaaaan. Try not to feel too discouraged about the pullups and hang cleans, like you said you've not done them in a while - it will probably be a few sessions before you're back to a place you're happy with. You mentioned you were starting to be displeased with the aesthetics of your program results - did it make you top-heavy, or what? I notice a lot of Bikini competitors are very upside-down triangle shaped.

Exactly. And don't be embarassed about anything in the gym, ever. (Well, unless you like $hit yourself. That I could understand)

How did you do that? Just spooned it in? I love the whole PB or almond butter and jelly combo, but I'm not much of a bread eater so I rarely buy it. When I want PB&J I put it on a protein pancake, in my Greek yogurt, or in cottage cheese.

Fantastic news!!

I actually thought that was you at first glance! She is definitely in great shape, but I don't think that's in any way unattainable for you. Off season bikini competitors aren't really all that ripped or built, but basically just have some feminine muscle. You already have that!

LOL, no no no, I was doing cable bicep curls with a straight bar, so both arms. Still, 4 sets of 12-15 reps at 70 pounds was good for me! That wasn't like my 'max', those were working sets.

Yeah, it's a process and I'm sure that those skills will come back fairly quickly.

Yes! I do feel a bit top heavy, so I'm glad to be stopping now. I feel I gained a good bit of muscle, but since I didn't finish leaning out I feel kind of "bulky". Yes, I said it. He actually had me eating like 1800 calories for a while so I'm not surprised. I think I prefer the look I had going on before, so I'm eager to return to that.

Krampus - that girl is HOT! You could totally do that! I actually want to up my weights to 8 or 10lbs. I read the other day that you should be dying with 8 reps with heavier weights...? Is that true, Joss? I like my arms, but I'd like to love them.

And yeah, 6 years. I've gone out for dinner or whatever with friends, but this is like a different kind of thing. Our group kind of dispersed to various parts of Colorado, so I've been slowly making some new friends outside of church & outside of family (who are CRAZY). I'm going to wear my hot girl dress that wore for my birthday a few weeks ago. If I'm going to try to get knocked up next month, then I need to take advantage of my tiny frame now. I'll post pictures so you can tell me how hot I look :P

JESUS CHRIST, I thought the same thing, Joss!! (although it is still incredibly heavy for me LOL)

Trainer Joss, what training moves would you suggest to someone (hear this : THIS GIRL) who is weak as h*ll but who wants to someday be able to do chin-up and stuff like that?

krampus, after googling exactly what were lateral raise (I though it was another move I saw the guy at the gym do- I'm actually calling those 90 degrees raise), BLAAAAh this stuff is hard. Right now I am just able to do rep with 8 pounds, I increased from 5 pounds last week. By my 12th rep I start making ugly faces... Don't wanna know what I would look like if I try 10 pounds right now. My wrists are week, they'd probably break :P

God, this trainer in the picture is so fit. I want those abs!

Turbo - No matter what exercises you do, the key is PROGRESSION. You should strive to add weight and/or reps EVERY workout. You might not be able to, but you should be trying.

As an example, try this with lateral raises;
Aim to do 3 sets of 12 repetitions to start. If you know you can do them with 8 pounds for 12 reps, go ahead and increase to the 10 pound dumbbells and keep the 8's nearby. Do as many reps as you can with the 10's and when you can't do any more, drop down to the 8's and finish until you get to 12 reps. You might only be able to do 4 reps with 10 pounds, but next week you might be able to do 6, and soon after that you might be doing all 3 sets of 12 reps with the 10 pound dumbbells. Then, repeat again adding in the 12 pound dumbbells.

I would recommend you do a good full body routine, just the basics; Bench press, squats (barbell, dumbbells, etc.) bicep curls, tricep extensions, pushups, bench tricep dips, lunges, ab exercises, low back extensions, etc. No need to get super duper fancy.

Basically just make sure you do exercises for all your body parts and don't neglect anything!
Shoulders
glutes
hamstrings
quadriceps
delts (shoulders)
calves
back
chest
abs

Maddie - I agree for the most part. For STRENGTH gains, 6-8 reps is optimal. For maximum HYPERTROPY (e.g. size) 10-12 reps is best, and for endurance, 12-15 (or more) reps are best. I vote you use a combination, but put the emphasis where you need it based on what your goals are.

Thank you for the tip! I was quite lost about when I was supposed to increase weight.. So far I was sticking to a weight until it became easier... but when I tried to increase on the lateral rep, for exemple, I hit this wall and quickly fall back to the lower dumbbells. I'll try your strategy! Can't wait to go to the gym now!!

You will absolutely hit a wall, but thats the point; just keep going back and pushing your limits and eventually it WILL get easier. I love keeping a workout log so that I can flip back and see my progress and help me determine what weight to use.

For example, today I looked at last week and saw that I had used 60 pounds on my bicep curls, so I decided to add 5 more pounds just to see how that felt. I banged out 15 reps so that was OBVIOUSLY too easy, and added another 5 pounds which made for a good burn at 12 reps -- which is what I was aiming for. I could have done lower reps at 75 but I will save that for next week.

Happy March and Happy Friday, Feathers!

I weighed in slightly higher today, as expected, since I had that really hard run yesterday. My food intake was otherwise pretty good, aside from something a little sodiumy for dinner. I am okay with it.

I had a HARD run today (intervals). I was literally drenched with sweat when I left the gym. I LOVE that feeling.

SO Spring break is on my mind. I have three different choices. Maybe you guys in all your wisdom can help me come to peace with something, although I'm sort of leaning toward one thing, haha.

SO option 1: I have credit through American Airlines because of a canceled trip back in December. My best friend in LA has said that it would be awesome if I visited her. However, first weekend her boyfriend has a birthday so it's better if I let them celebrate that day AND she has to work much of the week, so I wouldn't get to see her as much as I like (although she has some flex time). American Airlines goes into LAX but not the airport that is actually closer to her. Also flying out of my town is super expensive which means I'd have to drive or figure out transportation to another airport. Also, I hate L.A. (no offense if anyone here is from there or likes it, haha).

Option 2. Use my airlines credit and take a short, three day trip and splurge on a beach front hotel in Florida (because it's usually warm there that time of year) and spend the rest of the break at home relaxing. Plus side: Doing something really nice for myself when i've had a rough year. Sun and warmth and ocean! Negative side: I'd be alone (which is okay for parts of the day but maybe not as enjoyable as getting to go with someone) AND I'd feel guilty for spending the money when I do want to buy a house in the next few years.

Option 3. Stay at home and create a writing retreat and get a massage and treat myself to a few things here in town (I'm a writer, but I never mention it -- why? Because I never get to write because of my current schedule/situation with having to take all these classes and work full time on top of it).

So I'm leaning toward 3 and considering using my airline credit in the summer some time. Taking a trip in early August last year was really pleasant last year and maybe I'll repeat that again. But whenever I think I've decided on 3, then I start second guessing...

@Krampus - I HOPE you're starting to feel better! My friend is doing much better and I did think about what would happen if she had an accident of some kind in my car, lol! That would have been unpleasant! And yum at the PB&J in any form -- bread or no bread, lol! And that woman in the picture looks awesome, but you could SO get there.

@TheBunneh - I've had two good runs in a row this week, yay, and thank you! I like the idea of the treat every week and a half. I find that a "cheat" day or meal helps me, too. I can give up anything the other few days if I know I can have it on a certain day. And then sometimes the day comes and I don't even really want it.

@Jossfit - so awesome that you get to go visit hubby now! YAY!!! And I agree with you that I think you know best of what you need to do to lose the weight and get fit. You've done it before and you can/will do it again! I'm sorry your body feels so wonky right now! It will balance out soon, I'm sure. It WAS a very hellish week. Probably one of the worst as far as being exhausted and having more and more stuff to do and no free time.

@Alex - I do need to drink more water, that's for sure. But my problem is literally time, lol! I know. Ridiculous, right? But it's true. I don't have time to go to the bathroom all the time at work/school. Curious: Why do you think your program isn't suitable for kids? Glad to hear it went well! And yikes, hope you can get a new mattress soon!

@Turbo - and I have the opposite "like" -- I like to have dinner stuff for breakfast since I don't like most breakfast foods, lol! Yeah, my friend seems much better, luckily. Seems like a fluke thing. And awesome on the races!!! I always feel so simultaneously freaked and excited after I sign up for a race! There's this "point of no return" feeling about it, haha.

@Bayzee - hopefully the puff will go down soon and you'll feel good. Drink lots of water today and that should help hopefully!

@Maddie - congrats at starting the month at a good weight! Wow, can't believe it's been so long since you've been out with the girls! I hope you have a lot of fun!

Oh, to answer Jossfit's question, I'd like to get down to 139 by the end of the month. I also want to find a way to deal with weekends. They are my most challenging issues with weight loss. If I learned about the weekends, I think I could easily get down to 139. The truth is, I don't WANT to eat what I do during the week. I feel bored and disgruntled if I have to do that. It's like I need excitement and thrill for the weekend, need to feel "treated." I think there must be a way to trick myself by finding healthy options that are VERY tasty and/or spicy that I don't have during the week. I'm working on it!