for a week that includes April Fool's Day!!!!

how's it going, ladies??? and lurkers.. can't forget the lurkers!!!!

yesterday was pretty much a rest day, if you can count 4 loads of laundry, and grocery shopping REST...

today.. an hour hike...

what about you???/

Made it back to the health club today. I sure felt good to be missed. All the "little ole ladies" said they really missed me. (I think I make them laugh) anyway all I did was a 1 mile walk, but it was so nice. Talk about spring, in the two weeks I've missed the azalea are all in bloom all along the outdoor track, and birds were out, and a gentle breeze. It is really a wonderful place to walk.

I made it to the gym today too. Increased my treadmill to 28 min on level 5, and 22 min on the incline bike. 10 min on the reg. bike and off to the machines. I did the abs machine for 25 times with 60 lbs of weights. They told me it would help with the lower abdominal roll-- we'll see. All in all, I burned close to 400 calories according to the machines.

congrats barb!!!! you are one determined woman.. and ditzy, and pookie.. you're doing great!!!

and sorry i didn't answer youru question the first time you asked it, pookie. sooo here's my experience with the ellliptical..

first off, i figured that i could do it because, after all, i hike for a couple of hours, or i do hard intervals on the treadmill. and intervals on the bike. i figured.. piece of cake.. WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!

first off, the movement of the feet is SOOO EASY that before you know it you're doing 150 steps per minute or more and you can't figure out how to stop it unless you jump off.. and then the blasted thing gives you a digital message ; GO FASTER.

who dreamed this up??? no wonder i fell off after the first 5 minutes!!!!!1

and if you don't put the angle of the feet at the lowest level, you will burn out your quads and not touch your calves. i'm sure meg is laughing at this point...

so, i told the trainer what i'd done, and his eyes got really big, and he said; JIFF, BE CAREFUL!!! you've done great but you have to work up to the elliptical. take it slow,

wasn't that sweet of him????

soooooo. i made sure the angle was at the lowest possible. and i put it on manual. and make sure my feet are as far in the BACK of the platform as possible. and just hum along for about 20 minutes at between80 and 90 steps per minute, which keeps my heart rate in the fat burning zone. towards the end, i rev it up a bit to get into the middle of the cardio zone, just for fun. and hten a 3 minute cooldown so i can walk again.

and then i go over to those lovely big blue balls and start stretching in prep for the weights. see... right now, i'm only using the elliptical for a pre-weight warmup. i'm still relying on the walking or hiking for my real aerobic exercise.

does this help??? or scare you half to death???? oh. and one more thing.. if you're doing it right, you will sweat like you've never sweated before, so be sure to have your water with you...

oh wait.. almost forgot. here's today's exercise report.. an hour walk with the dog. 15 minutes on the elliptical. 2 hours of weights, including an hour with the trainer, who actually made me work hard enough that i had to concentrate!!! but i impressed him with 80 pound lat pulldowns!!!

and then, of course, steam room, whirlpool, shower.

Yesterday I walked 2 1/2 miles, Yes, I over did it, had trouble getting home needed to take 3 rest on what ever I could sit this behind on and it was to hot out. I saw the doc today, he said to slow down too. so I'm taking 2 days off and then back to 1 mile for at least a week. I'm down 15 # in 12 days YAHOO.
Hugs
Karen

Hey, Exercising Fools ! (Jiff said it, not me!)

I've been an Exercising Fool myself since this is my last week in the gym for a bit. Going in to get some more of the saggy, baggy skin cleaned up tomorrow and I'll have to behave myself for a few weeks to let everything heal with the prettiest and least obvious scars possible. So lots of reading -- no gym for me for awhile.

Anyway, I've been hitting it hard all week and am doing legs with a trainer and then shoulders today on the theory that hey! I'll be taking pain killers tomorrow anyway, so it doesn't matter how sore I get!

I'm counting on all of you to do some stellar workouts for me while I'm sitting on my (stitched up) behind at home.

You all are doing so great! It doesn't matter where you start so long as you try to do just a teensy little bit more every time. Jiff - I'd never laugh at you with the elliptical! Mel has a hysterically funny story about the first time she got on one of those - you should ask her about it. She thought she was going to die. Pook - it's a LOT like the Gazelle; you'd probably have no problem with it since you're the Gazelle .

We've got a thread going down in the Maintainers Forum about how important exercise was and is to weight loss and maintenance, if anyone's interested. It seems to be a very important part of all the successful losers' lives. Waiting to hear from Jiff!

Be good, y'all, and do a few extra reps for me.

Jiff Ole Alvin called me yesterday while I was sittting in the doctor's office to tell me he had done a whole hour on the elliptical. He was very proud of himself, and I was proud for him, but I don't think my doc was that impressed that he interrupted her time

Doc gave me 3 meds to try to finally get me over this crud I've got, so no health club for me the rest of the week. We were so caught up in all of this congestion I have that we put off the physical part for another week.

an hour on the elliptical??? good heavens!!!!!! i'm impressed.. and hope you're feeling better soon, barb. you've really had a tough time these last few weeks.

and meg. i've been wondering where you were. many good healing thoughts for you. and you're inspiring me to call the plastic surgeon and get this process moving..

are you going to survive the inactivity????? well, we'll look forward to lots of posts from you.,.,.

karen, glad you're listenign to the doc... it's a combination of rest and movement right now so you can heal. it's NOT forced marches in the heat!!!!!!

i just realized i forgot to post my exercise for yesterday... an hour hike with the dog. it was really nice and i wished i could have stayed longer, but i had to go to work. drat.

and this morning, only a 45 minute walk. it was pouring. but this evening is gym night. maybe i'll try some of the new equipment the trainer showed me the other night. it doesn't look as if i'll break a nail on them, but one never knows. that reclining chest press was a challenge!!!! but i'm up to it. i think.

and meg, i'll post on that exercise thread sometime soon. it'll just take a LONG time to answer.. and i haven't had that much time the last few days.

keep on moving!!!!!

oh. and a PS... it seems that a certain fuzzy peach is looking for duct tape. apparently, she did what her cardiologist <remember him? that hateful person with the great skin!??> said that she could do: RUN. oops!!!!!!!

Help me out here, Jiff ... who or what is the duct tape for? The cardiologist? Peach? Parts of Peach? Is it like a super sports bra???

PS -- way to go on the running, Peach!

LOL!!!! i'm sure she'd LOVE to tape the doc's mouth shut, but no. the duct tape is for her super sports bra... she's a bit busty [you might have figured that out!], and it's hard for her to find ANY kind of bra... let alone a sports bra. because, for reasons NONE of us can figure out, women with DD or DDD sizes aren't supposed to be exercising, at least according to bra manufacturers.

although maybe junonia can help out. i'll have to remember to suggest that to her.

Hey Meg...how are you? Did you have some ps done?

sigh...on the running thing. BUT I think I have found an alternative to duct tape. today I put on two tight bras and my big kids t shirt. That seem to strap things into immobility. (and then I made sure all the window shades were down, the lights were turned low and the doors were locked) I could run longer and was even sort of kind of almost liking it . It is getting easier and I feel a tad crabby if I don't do it. Let me emphasize the word "tad"....I just keep thinking that when the incline is on 8 that I feel like I am going to die and need to knock that sucker down.

Jiff...the trouble with junonia, or any mail order place is that I hate to spend that kind of money and not be able to try the darn thing on before hand. Of course with that said, I'll take another look at what they have. and get this...dh says he is on a mission to find me a sports bra....this I need? hope it comes without tassles. sheeeeeeze....

peach

oh thank goodness you're back, meg!!! i've been checking for a status report on several fora, and just haven't been in the right place, i guess...

but you DID inspire me - as you so often do. i called the plastic surgeon.. scheduled an appt on may 5 in order to get things started. i think that while we're waiting for insurance approval, i'll get the bat wings done... just to get started.

glad you have good drugs!!!

i've been neglecting the POSTING about exercise... which is worse??? doing it and NOT posting it? or oh. never mind.

but in your honor, the 'big boy' chest press on thursday.. a full weight workout.

friday, a 3+ mile walk [an hour and a few minutes]

saturday.. 4 loads of laundry, and a 20 minute walk.

sunday.. an hour hike. and then a slow stroll [with mom, peachie and oldest nephew] for about a mile in nyc..

and saturday.. peachie and i went bra shopping!!! and i ended up buying a body ball. not that i've blown it up. but i think we'll be very happy together...

Well Can I count napping all Sunday afternoon? No....huh.... Well I guess I'll just have to start with this week. Today 1 mile walk with Mom and 1 hour Advanced water aerobics. Getting back in the grove...maybe

Gosh, Barb, if I the slug queen can do it you can too! Go out and kick a can or something!!!

Meg, I hope you were given your drug of choice and that you are thoroughly enjoying them!!!! Thank you for the web site! I will check it out...a bra called the last resort sounds about right for me. Jiff did take me bra shopping and it wasn't too painful. I was shown a bra that is managable and combine it with a regular banded sports bra...it seems to work ok but I am still looking for that perfect one that will completely immobilize me! I think I need to see Ruth and her metal bra contraption!

thanks again!

peach