Good morning LWL

Late start here- where's Fru? I can't remember when I last started the weekly thread.

How is everybody doing? What is everybody doing? How about checking in and letting us know what your nutrition/exercise program looks like? I know we are all doing something different these days.

I'm doing a 4 day lifting split (legs, chest, shoulders, back) and throw in some arms and abs every couple of days. I do cardio 4-5 days a week. Food is 5 meals per day with ratios targeted at 48%P/30%C/22%F...or as close as possible. Calories tend to be from 1100-1500 depending on the day. At least that's the plan. I always get the exercise part right, but the food has been off lately I really want to buckle down and lean out some. I've done it before, I can do it again. I just need to lock the peanut butter away! Ds and dh will have to keep their snacks somewhere else and make their own lunches

This week is kind of a mix up for me. I have no clients today so I'll do some extra cardio, but tomorrow I'm booked solid

Have a good one

Mel

I'm here! I think I just forgot to start the thread this morning! I was catching up with reading the last one and answering about my little blue glovies (which I forgot AGAIN at lunch and am now sporting nice blisters on my hands! )

Anywho! I survived a weekend with the 'rents. They have both bought their wedding outfits now - we spent about 10 hours shopping on Friday but we got them something they are both happy with. I also managed to buy some half-price Nike workout stuff and another sports bra - in PURPLE!!! I've got the wedding flowers sorted out now, 7 stem roses, 3 buttonholes and 4 corsages came to a grand total of £90 anyway, they'll look good and I'm glad I got it sorted out!

I ran a 10K race on Sunday, I managed 1 hour and 11 minutes which I'm happy with, since I jogged all the way round and only slowed for an acid reflux moment!

This morning I've had my gym program done by a trainer! It's EVIL but I love it!

So the gym program is as follows:

kneeling lat pulldown on the pulleys 4x10
assisted tricep dips 3x12
assisted pull ups 4x10
overhead tricep extension on the pulleys 3x12
barbell upright row 4x10
tricep press-ups 3x12
lateral raises (db) 3x10
reverse cable flyes 3x10
side to side jumping squats with one leg at a time on bosu ball (if that makes sense...) 3x20
low to high cable pull with twist 3x10

then the next day:
high to low cable chest press 4x10
narrow grip lat pulldown 3x12
dumbbell chest fly on ball 4x10
bicep cable curls 3x12
press ups with feet on ball 4x10
hammer curls 3x12
leg press 3x10
single hamstring curls (explosive) on stability ball 3x5
squats 3x10

Oh and this morning, trying this out, I squatted 50kg - that's 110lbs!

So that's my lunchtime workouts, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

Monday night is 1 hour kickboxing, Tuesday night - 1 hour, hopefully 2 hours kickboxing, Wednesday night either rest or a gym session and a class, Thursday night 2 hours kickboxing, Friday night either rest or gym, Sunday is my long run day, which this coming Sunday will be the Amsterdam half marathon!

Food is 5-6 meals a day aiming for 1200kcals on days when I can count and be restrictive, somedays it goes up to 1400kcals, then at weekends I try to eat sensibly and eat when I am hungry and stop when I am full, and a couple of treats sometimes slip in sideways. This seems to be losing me about a pound a week at the moment. As for ratios, I think I just aim for as much protein as possible and as few starchy carbs as possible.

So that's me

Like I said, tonight is teaching the kiddie winks and I just have to figure out my taper for Sunday. I'm leaving for Amsterdam on Friday afternoon and before then I'll have to buy myself some new running socks since I've lost a pair...

Tonight is w/t, and I'm really looking forward to it. I missed my last scheduled one, so I am ready. DH is going to pull out the heavier wts from the storeroom tonight and set me up. I've been using 3 and 5# dbs, but these have finally got easier. So I'm ready to graduate to the next level.

I eat between 4-6 meals depending on day's activities. Cals stay between 13-1500, with a 15-20%F/55-60%C/25-30%P ratio. My running days I eat higher Carbs for better runs. Stay away from processed foods, white grains, and sodas. Drink either water or 1% milk.

Hi all!

I started taking dopadil for my knee issue and it made me feel so sick for the first couple days! I didn't exercise on Friday but I figured it was a good rest day anyway. Then on Saturday, DF and I went into DC and we walked... and walked... and walked. It was basically 5 hours of walking. Yesterday, we went to Sugarloaf Mountain and hiked that. It was a beautiful day.

I am starting physical therapy in a couple weeks (earliest new client appt) so that should be interesting. I can't believe my wedding is in less than 6 weeks. I actually had to print off a couple more invitations last night for a couple people DF forgot that he wanted to invite. I packed a gym bag for tonight just in case but I hate Mondays at the gym. It is always so crowded because of the people who took the weekend off at the gym have to make up some time.

Frus, for US standards, your flowers were cheap. Mine were about the same price but I didn't get roses. I don't care for roses though but I'm getting a bouquet of various flowers in fall colors (red, orange, yellow, cream).

I'm not even getting a bouquet - that's why they were cheap, but I'm still shocked that it came close to £100 for a few piddly roses by themselves!!!

You don't even get a bouquet!! Yeah they do milk you for weddings

I really can't be bothered with flowers, it's taken me AGES to get round to ordering them too!

Gooood Morrrnnninnngggg Everyone! Man, I feel so good today. I had a really pathetic workout today so I can't contribute it to that. It must be that the sun is shining outside today. (we don't get enough of the clear blue sky days here)

I took last week off from the gym to rest that leg a little bit. You would have thought I took a month off instead. Those weights felt like they weighed twice than they normally do.
Does that count as lifting double the weight than what is marked on the dumbbell? It should... Anyway. Instead of three sets of 12, I took the hint and only did one set and called it done! I'll try again on Wednesday.

As far as workouts, I'm only doing three days a week and upper body only. Cardio is consisting of only 20 minutes of cycling until I get the green light to do something more.

Mel, I am also focusing more on the food this week than usual. I hopped on the scale this morning and found a three pound gain from last week.
So, it's back to FitDay for me. I am going to hover between 1200 and 1400 cal/day this week. Lower end for the first four days and then higher end for Sat. I am also planning a 40protien/40carb/20fat ratio. Dinner for tonight is already done so the rest of the small meals will be planned around the beef barley soup. Mmmm.

Ohhhh. I am so excited for you 2Fru and Nelie. I remember the flower purchases as well. Next to the reception meal, it was one of the most expensive parts of the wedding. And to top it off, we couldn't get my favorite flowers, blue hydrangias, because she didn't want to compete with the "Mother's Day crowd" That should have been my first clue to walk out. Anyway, we did have roses and they were beautiful.

Just remember, even with all of the planning, there will be something that will happen you won't expect. Good, bad, it just will. In our case, I was late to the church...(Bridemaids couldn't get their hair dried in time) I made it just in time to walk down the aisle but no prewedding photos. My DF was so freaked. He thought I wasn't going to show up. My grandmother, teased him a little that maybe I changed my mind. (She should know better) He looked at her and with a straight face said "Ellie, after all of this I'm marrying someone today. And if your granddaughter doesn't make it here in the next ten minutes, it might just be you!) That shut her up pretty quick!

Have a great week everyone!

I really liked picking out my flowers and since I don't care for roses, I did have a lot of options. I can't actually remember the name of the main flowers I picked out but I love them. DF was sweet and a couple days after picking out the flowers, he brought me a bouquet home of the flowers I picked out for my bridal bouquet. My flowers total for the corsages, men's flowers (I can't spell what they call them), my bouquet and for the chapel cost around $220. I thought that was a lot

I have to go apply for the marriage license one of these days but I keep forgetting. Also, I need to make a CD for the wedding music which I keep forgetting about as well. I was actually thinking of doing no music but I guess we need music.

What a nice mix of weight and wedding talk. I got married on 2 weeks notice, had only 12 people! I got silk flower bouquets for me and my matron of honor, none for the guys!

My "program" looks like this for next 3 weeks. Two days of full body workouts and shorter cardio (M/F this week) and three days of HIIT or longer cardio (T/TH/S) leaving W and Sun for rest days. For HIIT I'm using the Cto5K workouts on the elliptical. I downloaded podcasts so I have music, and best of all cueing for the running sections. I'm on the 3rd workout of Week 2. They're pretty good, and the time passes really quickly.

My eating is so-so. I'm doing well in choosing about 95% whole foods, but frankly I only track my calories 1-2 times a week, and it's 1350-1500. I'm not tracking my percentages, though I aim for protein at every meal. I need to work on portions as much as anything.

My weight is going down oh so slowly (13 lbs since April) but my pants are fitting better! I have a 4 day conf (W-Sat) out of town next week, and am going to Houston, TX for a week starting Halloween, so keeping exercise up will be the priority there, but careful eating will be a close second.

Warm (60's) and windy (gusts to 75 mph) here today, with intermittent downpours. Lovely - NOT!

to you all. Happy lifting.

Wow a lot of great routines here…

I took the idea of my routine from the book “Winning by Losing” I lift on Mon/Tues/Thur/Sat. My workout consists of 2 exercise and then 1 minute of cardio like this: (12 rep bench press/12 rep lateral raise/1 minute jumping jacks. I do 3 sets of this then I move on to the next group. I have 4 different groups of exercises. So I end up doing 8 strength training exercise and 4 cardio exercises. I do this continuously only stopping for an occasional sip of water. I wear a heart rate monitor and keep my heart rate between 140 and 165. I do this over my lunch hour at work it takes 40 minutes.

I do cardio 45 to 60 minutes of cardio 4 to 5 days a week. I do this part of my exercising after work either outside or at the workout facility at my job that has a cardio machines. I am in the process of purchasing a spinning bike for my home so I can complete the cardio portion at home.

The diet, I am good ¾ of the day breakfast, snack, lunch, and snack are no problem, then there’s dinner. He won’t eat hardly anything good. He actually wanted me to make cheese tortellini and cream sauce for dinner the other day. I explain that I don’t workout for 90 minutes a day to eat a dinner like that, but he doesn’t get it. I can pass on the ice cream and the chips and dips and snack cakes that are all around the house, but I only want to make 1 dinner per night. Is that so wrong? Does anyone else cook separate meals for themselves and their families? It also doesn’t help that he works at Hardees the worst fast food restaurant ever created.

Any suggestions for dinner are appreciated.

Hi LWL,

On quite another note from the wedding discussions, i'm happy to report that I did survive a 3hour+ meeting with XH and the lawyers and .... drumroll please.... we actually got quite far in the divorce settlement!!!!! In fact, all is settled apart form the visiting rights, and we decided to let the judge decide on that. And I DO get to buy the house at my price, and I DO get a decent settlement, and XH commits him self to paying for the childeren untill they are 21 years old, and we got agreement on the pensuion stuff. I am SO GLAD that I now finally know that I am staying at my house.

DD and DS were glad to. And I totally kept my calm, due to several really hot tips from DD. if I got stressed I was to think of her two guineapigs..dressed in gradd skirts.. doing the hawaiian hula. And after that, to think of the glass of white eine i would get in the evening. AND IT HELPED!!! I did NOT freak out, I stayed calm and detached. So, if any of the LWLs are in stress situation in the near future ... think of the guineapig hawaiian hula-dabnce, it worked great for me!

Apart of being very very glad, DD had also bought me 2 chocolate truffles from her pocket money. This is so sweet. I savoured one, and shared it with here.

And I did 1 hour power class today.

Have a great day all,
Rabbit

PS. Coming from the land of the flowers (Holland is a big exporter of hot house flowers) I am shocked at the prices you mention for the flowers in the UK and US. of course, I believe I did not even have flowers! In the same vein as pat, as was married at 6 weeks notice, I was 8 months preggo at the time, and I believe only the family and close friends attendeed. But I have new roses and crysanthemouns today.

rabbit, good job on the divorce settlement. As someone who is getting married, the idea of divorce scares me and I hope I never have to go through it.

As for flowers, they rip you off if you are buying flowers for a special occassion. The same bouquet that you would buy in the store would cost you 4 times as much if you were buying it ahead of time for a wedding. It is crazy stuff. I've even heard the same thing about wedding cakes. If you go to a bakery and ask for a wedding cake, it'd be 2-3 times more than if you went to the bakery and asked for the same exact cake and didn't say it was for a wedding.

rabbit! Congratulations on the outcome and keeping your cool! Quite an accomplishment.

I got married on 5 days notice- my flowers were very inexpensive. I think I had a $5.99 bouquet from Loblaws that we picked up on the way to the ceremony I was about to be deported by the Canadian government. The only reason that I was there was to be with (now) dh, so we solved the deportation problem by just getting married. Or so we thought. Does anyone remember the movie "Green Card"? When we arrived at Immigration and Naturalization, we were each taken into separate rooms and grilled for over an hour on each other's personal habits, how we had met, how long we knew each other (not long ) and was told that marrying a Canadian was not an automatic pass to staying in Canada and I could still be deported. Ooookay! I'm a US citizen with at the time highly marketable technical skills, it's not like I was being threatened with deportation to a war-torn, economic backwater.

Pat- Congrats on the 16 pound loss!

Rockergirl- I very occassionally cook 2 meals, but more often I make one main entree that is healthy (chicken, fish, lean steak, turkey chili, pork tenderloin, etc) then a separate sauce and side dishes for my guys. I load up on veggies and salad and the lean protein. Over the years, my family has learned to eat more like I do and my dh no longer wants to eat junky food either. My 16 yr old son would happily scarf down an entire pizza if allowed, but he only gets the opportunity about once a month.

Chest workout done, 1/2 hour on recombent bike and 1/2 hour on elliptical.

Mel

Dang, I wrote a really long post, then lost it!

Ok, here were the highlights:

My program - doing BFL now - as written, with the exception being that I do 3 free meals a week, instead of free day. And, that will eventually taper down to just one free meal. Workouts as written, but I plan to try to sneak in 1-2 extra cardio sessions a week.

Wedding flowers - the prices you gals mention are cheap - a friend at work got married last weekend, and another mutual friend, who is a floral designer, did her flower arranging as a gift. But, the bride did pay the wholesale cost of her flowers - which ended up to be $800 USD! Bouquet, centerpieces, corsages, flower girl's bouquet, and flowers for the cake - not much more than that!

My plan is tulips - my favorites, but in October they may be pricey! Rabbit, are you from Holland? I LOVE Keukenhof - I believe it's one of my favorite places in the world - have been there twice! Hey, now there would be an awesome place to get married!

I think TOM is coming - I've having all sorts of cravings and not doing very well with them. I'll just keep plugging along, doing the best I can. As long as I keep working out, that's half the battle.

DF has a bad head cold - I made a pot of chicken soup for him today. Fingers crosses that I don't get it - that's the last thing I need....
Cindy