MonteChristo~I live in Indiana>The Hoosier State. It is raining here today. No outside activity for me today. I will do stepping and stretches later, probably while a baseball game is on. I sneaked in a weigh in, if I can lose .9 pounds by Monday I will weigh 189 something for the first time in so long I cant remember. Exercise does work, it is just keeping the focus, the dream alive. Everyone have a wonderful good day. Snapless~Welcome to the group! Miriam~Please have a safe and healthy day!! Pat

Goooood Moorrnniinngg Everyone!

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, it's nice and cool out, my garden is growing, my cats are talking to me, and my husband woke me up with a smile. I'd say my morning is great. It's nice to count so many blessings so early! Miriam, I am sending all this positivity your way!

Welcome snapless! I'm sorry to hear about your gym! That must really suck!

Now, Dixiemae- I love the fact that your switching up the routine. I'm more of a repitition gal, and always loose track when I have to count.

"H&H starts the lead, but here comes Dixiemae pulling into the stretch!" (think of a horseracing anouncer saying this!)lol

H&H~You have made my day again! You made me giggle for quite awhile. ssssshhhhhhh Don't tell any one, but, I loose track of my counting too. I didn't know at the time why my joints were aching so much, until later when a storm came rumbling through. I won't always need to switch things around, it did work for me yesterday. Tomorrow I might try the water bottles with the stepping workout. Tomorrow is a critical day to do exercise of all the days this week. I will be sitting on my duff playing cards most of the day. I can't become a couch potato because it is a holiday. If the food I eat counts (and it does add up) then so does the exercise (as does the lack of exercise-plus the foods at a big family bbq). I could undo everything I have worked for in one day!! That is another reason I sneaked a weigh in this morning. I am less apt to go off program seeing the scale move downward.

THANK YOU EVERY ONE FOR YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPORT!!!!!!!!! You all came around at an important time in my life. kudos Pat

Miriam--I haven't been exercising so I haven't been around. Stupid I know. The whole purpose of starting this thread was to get support and be inspired. So I will visit more often. I will do the 3FC 5K at some point this weekend. My plan is to start with a 5 minute walk and then run until I can't anymore then walk again then repeat until I do the 5K. I also need to get on it with my 10K training program.

snapless--I need to get to my bottom right now ! I think going clothes shopping this weekend will definitely help me get there.

MonteCristo--Regarding geographical locations, I have people that live 30 minutes-3 hours away from me on my team for the "Just Beachy" challenge. 3FC can be a small world too. I definitely love the diversity here.

Hi Everyone. I just finished 1 hour phone book stepping. I feel good. We are going to go grocery shopping for the bbq tomorrow. I will get in a little walking too. H&H~It is working!!

Shay~A little slump is understandable. It is better to take a little time off than to crash and burn. You will catch fire again. You will be right back on the wagon. Chin up.

Catch ya all later. Pat

Whew! I just finished a 1.75 mile run (my longest ever). I'm going to try to make it to 2 tomorrow. Is anybody else in the July 4th 5K?

MonteCristo~Way to go!! I couldn't run half a block! Good luck in the 5k tomorrow. Let us know all about it. Pat

Hello all,

I made it to the gym this morning and it was blessedly cool. With the fans going it wasn't bad at all.

I'm in a hurry to get showered and get out to the July 4 festivities before it starts raining, so I'll post more later.

Hope you are all having a wonderful day!

MonteCristo--I'm doing the 5K. Its just a matter of when I may do it. It is July 4th so I may do it today.

Despite my best intentions, I didn't exercise yesterday. I worked 11-8 and I let the morning slip away doing household chores and making phone calls. After work it was raining and I was too tired. Excuses, excuses. I truly am a reluctant exerciser.

Today it's gray and overcast and rain looks imminent. But once I post this, I'm logging out and putting on my shoes and heading out the door for my walk.

Well, I did the 5K, but I wasn't up to running (allergy stuff, plus soreness from yesterday), so I just walked it. I finished in 57 minutes, which isn't note worthy, but I'm going to actually run part of it tomorrow, so it should be a lot better.

Wow! Way to Go Everyone!

Iv'e been in slump since I posted yesterday morning. We have guests comming tomorrow, and I've been in a tizzy trying to get the house clean and plan something for food. Thank God hubby's brother is vegan, so I can serve healthy foods. OH NO-did I get something for the meat eaters?!

And I have a confession, I asked mom to bring cheesecake. It came out of my mouth so fast....... You know how you have the angel on one shoulder and a little devil on the other? Even the angel needs cheesecake!

Needless to say, I have not done my steppin today like I should have, but I figure all the cleaning and mopping I did yesterday, made up for it.

Wish me luck!

Here's wishing you luck heavy!

Not going to the gym this morning. It's already 10 AM and the sun is in force today. Which means the gym is already hot hot hot.

I usually do yoga on Sunday but I think I'm going to do my yoga (at home) today (which is Saturday for me) and do weight training Sunday instead.

After the sugar spike yesterday I don't really feel up to weight training anyway right now...and especially not in a hot room with little ventilation.

Hope you all had a pleasant July 4!

Hi Everyone. I hope everyone had a fun, safe healthy day. I did okay. I am glad I planned ahead. I saved myself some calories that way. I went for a 50 minute walk 9ish this evening. I am happy with the day.

Snapless~forgive my lack of knowledge, I didn't think Japan was that hot of a place. I thought being an island with a volcano it would be more of a pleasant climate. Or is it the time of year? I hope they get the construction done soon so you can be comfortable doing your exercise at the gym.

MonteCristo~Way to go!! You walked almost 5 miles in 57 minutes!! That is hauling sneakers in my book!! I envy you for being able to run

H&H~Enjoy your company. Have a few bites of cheese cake if that is what you are hungry for. Because if you dont you will feel depraved, that could lead to binge eating. Here comes H&H down the home stretch headed for the finish line!! LOL

Catch ya all later. Pat

Japan has a very diverse climate. Okinawa, which is on a southern island, has a climate very similar to Hawaii.

North of where I live, on the northern island Hokkaido, they are directly across the sea from Siberia - it is just as cold and snows about 9 months a year.

Where I live in Misawa, it snows about 6 months a year. We only have a month to 6 weeks where it is really hot here. The problems with the gym having no AC are:

1. Extremely high humidity. We are sandwiched between the ocean (4 km from base) and a huge lake (butts up against the base on the other side).
2. Lots of sweaty bodies. This is a military community and everyone who is military has to stay fit, plus those dependants, retirees, contractors, etc. who want to use the gym must share the gym. There are warning signs everywhere saying you can only use x piece of equipment for x amount of time during peak hours.
3. Little or no ventilation. The gym is old. They are planning on starting construction on a new one next summer, but that doesn't help that the old one was designed poorly with little or no ventilation for most spaces in it. The weight machine room has no ventilation and no fans unless you count the single door upstairs in the stretching room. The cardio room and free weight room have fans and a little ventilation (windows), but not much. The racquetball courts have nothing. The yoga/aerobics room (shared) have nothing as it, like the parent/child room, were converted from racquetball courts.

So it's not so much that it is a hot climate (it's not, really), it's that it is humid and packed and no air. It might be 75 F outside but in the gym it feels like it is 110 F.