Yow! I forgot this was Monday Feels like Sunday. I just said good bye to dd and her bf and they headed back to Ohio, and I'm starting the "I should go to the gym" debate with myself. Today is Leg day, and I'm really having a hard time talking myself into going back to my regular 5 day split. It was really nice last week NOT being sore every single day. I even managed to eat on track without my regular lifting schedule until Saturday when the visiting and Memorial Day picnics started. We went to our once every 10 years baseball game, and there just isn't muchhealthy food at a ball park! Roasted peanuts and water were about the best I could manage. They basically frisk you and do a strip search so bringing in my own food was impossible.

Hope you all are having and had a great weekend! Super hot here finally, today it's supposed to hit 93.

OK, I better get to the gym before it closes!

Mel

Its a bank holiday here - a public holiday when everyones' supposed to get a day's holiday from work - so it DOES feel like Sunday.

Its quite cool here, I'm wearing a long sleeves, but this isn't really normal for May, it should be warmer but not as hot as you're having it.

Just a normal cardio day for me. I'm still doing the BfL exercise plan but I'm wondering if my stationary bike is going to hold out if I force it to hit too many more 10s! Its started making some strange groaning, knocking noises when I turn the resistance right up.

We had a lovely sunny Memorial Day weekend - quite hot for Alaska - in the mid to high 70's - enough to make me put on sunscreen while working in the garden. Of course, it hasn't actually rained for about 2 months, so much of what I was doing was watering the seeds so they'd actually germinate, and the fruits (strawberries, raspberries, currants and rhubarb) and flowers so they would keep growing. We also had an entertaining time - not - trying to make my bike carrier bought for a car, fit onto my SUV with the spare tire mounted on the back. Bottom line - can't be done. Sigh. It's a real pain carrying the bike inside the car. Putting it in is fairly easy, but for some reason getting it out is much harder. Never mind that I have no use of the back seat and cargo space when the bike's in there. DH also cleaned out 2 of our storage sheds and there's room to move in there again.

No formal exercise yesterday or today, but lots of yard work and ups and downs tying up sweet peas, etc. No parties either, but we have been eating out on our back deck which is lovely.

Back to work - and the gym - tomorrow. Real life here I come. I'm anxious to do an "official" weigh-in at the gym (now my official scale). Sat I got on and was down 3# : let's hope they're still gone tomorrow!

LBWO for me, followed by abs and stretches then a very nice long walk with the dogs. The weather is beautiful for walking: sunny, windy, cool, fresh - more like March than May, though. I made a few changes to my LBWO and it REALLY gets my pulse racing now!

Pat, What did you do to lose those 3 pounds???? I really want to hit my birthday target but I don't think it is going to happen. My promise to myself was that by the time I turned 51 my BMI would no longer be 'morbidly obese' just 'overweight'.

Hi all,

I haven't been to the gym yet since I got back from vacation last week. This week though I am going back! Ok, I don't know when exactly but I am. I also made a decision the last few days. I'm giving up artificial sweeteners (kind of). No more sweetener in my iced tea, my hot tea hasn't had any sweeteners in a while, my yogurt hasn't had any sweeteners in a while and I'm going to make soda a rarity. There are still sweeteners in some things (such as my sugar free metamucil but I also bought plain psyllium husk powder) but I'm cutting back quite a bit.

Anyway, that is all for now. I hope everyone has a good week.

Back to the real world today. Lovely long weekend, lots of sun and time with friends and a trip to the beach. BF sent me an e-mail from China, he’s having a good time and said Shanghai is amazing. I can’t wait for this week to be over, I just want to leave for my vacation! I was very lax about food this weekend and the only exercise I got was walking, so I think I’ll do a little kickboxing and lunges and squats after walking the dog tonight. Hope you all are having a good week so far.

Hi LWL,

Back from a long weekend, camping! The weather was fairly cold, in fact one of the friends who were supposed to go called off at the last minute, due to the tweather. But we went & we had a good time. it helped, of course, that I also packed an electric fan heater and my electric kettle...so we could keep warm.

Yesterday I went to power class, and i just mowed part of the garden (45 mins) I guess that counts for cardio. it has been the first day in 2 or 3 weeks that the grass was sufficiently dry to mow. The good news is that I mowed the grass at 7 in the evening. That would have been totally unthinkable even 3 months ago. My energy problem is definitely clearing up !!!

Have a great day all,
rabbit

I am glad to report that my gym workouts have been successful, with all my boat bottom scraping, painting and hauling of said boats around the yard along with the picnic tables (2 solid wood ones), I had not ill affects the next day, no soreness at all. That is real motivation to keep it up.

SARAH - Maybe the bike needs a lube job?? Good for you on keeping to the BFL workout. I like it a lot as it keeps me focused but allows a lot of variety. I am with you working for the day I can be just overweight. Maybe I will have to settle for getting taller.

NELIE - I used psyllium husk powder in capsules and it was fine and easy to swallow.

Successful grocery shopping yesterday and made some whole wheat waffles, so if I am going to splurge, I will know what I am having. I just hope DD doesn't take mine, she probably wouldn't know the difference and I may just start substituting in some more whole wheat for everyone.

I actually FELT my back workout today! I almost never ever ever end up with sore back muscles - I can feel little twinges, I hope that's a good sign! I did more DB rows with 20kg weights than I did last time, so that's a plus - and some of the machines were feeling easier, so I'm upping more weight next time

I don't know if I posted this on this bit of board, but on Saturday I had my green belt grading, with all sorts of other kiddie winkies doing theirs too. I nailed it! Plus I was awarded a trophy for being "Student of the Year" how cool is that? I think it's a bit strange as well, being rewarded for something you want to do... I mean I wouldn't go if I didn't want to, so here's a trophy for doing stuff you like doing!

Liza! How's that working for you?? When you get the kinks worked out, let me know. I'm barely 5'4" and DH is shorter (he used to be 5'9" but compression fracture in his spine took lots of inches off). I'd like to be back in the "overweight" category too and it's a good probability for my 62nd birthday! That 3# is now official. : I don't know if it's the increased consistency in exercise, or the sometimes cleaner food, but I'm going to keep on doing what I'm doing. I suspect my body has finally figured out it can release some fat, it's going to get food regularly.

Rabbit - glad to hear you had a fun weekend camping - though how rough could be it if you were using electric appliances? And I'm glad to hear that your energy level is better.

I had a good bike ride last night, and tonight I'll probably do a full body workout and some light cardio since the rest of my week is screwy and I don't know when I'll get the exercise fit in.

Oh, and happy happy day - IT'S RAINING!! First time in over 2 months! My lawn and garden are soooo happy!

Liza, let me know how you manage that, too! I once (in a slightly anaesthetized haze) asked a surgeon to insert two more vertebrae into my spine He was a little nervous about the procedure.

Hot, hot, hot here. Food and exercise on track, but the gym has been torture. One out of the three AC units was vandalized over last weekend and still isn't working. Tuesday and Wed it was 95 by 3pm. The weight room is horrible. I have a new client who is originally from Cuba, then lived in Miami for 25 years. She loves it, but the rest of us are dying!

Back and cardio for me today, and lots of water!

Fru- Congratulations on the green belt!
Pat- Enjoy that rain
Rabbit- Glad your energy is back!

OK- off to the gym before the temp rises any further!

Mel

Hi LWL,

Pat - I consider camping with electric appliances still to be rough....Even if I only have to carry my stuff from the car to where I pitch the tent! But seriously, I heard meteorologically the summer has started, and I still have the central heating on. Some days ago we still had frost at night, and today it was 13 C. (that would be around 55 F).

No excercise today and yesterday due to a deadline at work. But the end is in sight, and I look forward to a long weekend with excercise, and getting my house & garden in order.

Energywise looks fairly OK, my levels are slowly creeping up. Maybe I revved up my metabolism with the healthier lifestyle and it took like 2 years to get hold ??

Have a great day all,
Rabbit

Rabbit! It's still raining here - yay! - and about 47F, which my handy-dandy temperature converter tells me is 8C. Quite a change from the weekend when it was over 70F (21C). So glad to hear your energy is returning!

Mel - our gym has no AC at all (and yes, we do use it in AK! in fact the library does have AC, and I'm freezing in here this morning - see my note above re: outside temp! ) It's one reason I take my cardio outdoors when it's warm, besides the fact it's much less boring We have several weight areas, and fortunately everything I need is in one of the 2 downstairs areas. Upstairs gets really stifling, even with the windows open. That's where the cardio machines, the aerobics/spinning room, and some of the weirder weight machines are.

Had a good UBWO last night and a so-so but I did it! Gotta keep those 3# from coming back you know.

Have a great day everyone!

I am so not with it these days, all I can think about is vacation! I’m not going to bother with any planned exercise till I get back. I’ll have my daily walks with the dog of course, but other than that I have packing, laundry, apartment cleaning, and sunscreen hoarding to contend with. Weather has been just lovely here all week, too bad I’m spending most of it in a gray cube with florescent lighting :/

Hi LWL,

Pat - 8C !!! Yuck, you must be livingin Alaska or something!!!
The weather here is supposed to become OK. Just some more work to finish, and then ....3 day weekend!!! My energy is certainly returning and I feel like I am roaring to go and tackle that backlog of things-that-need-to-be-done...cleaning house, tending garden, getting rid of junk (including XH!), administration etc.etc.

I am currently reading a book about happiness and economics. it seems that, amazingly, the dutch are somewhere on the top of the list for that. I must be contributing a lot these days. It is like the weather..in between rainshowers, the sun is shining for me.

I'm getting to start my day.
Have a great day all,
rabbit