Happy New Year!

Our weekly threads are getting shorter and the BFL thread seems to be duplication for some of LWL, so I thought I'd do a monthly thread. We'll see how it goes- maybe there will be a huge influx here and I'll break the thread if it gets too big. Please join in! I'd love to have so many posts that we need a daily!

It was back to clean eats and lifting for me today. LEGS One of the wimpiest workouts I've ever done, but my legs are already screaming. Take a week off, eat crappy and I fall apart I couldn't even finish some of my super-sets. I was toppling over doing one legged kettlebell deadlifts, and usually my balance is not an issue. Tomorrow is chest and cardio- if I can walk. Also a heavy client load.

So...what are you all up to?

Mel

Wow Mel, good lesson for all of us to learn by, the difference a week can make.

I bumped up legs yet again today (last time was 2 workouts ago, but felt no pain, so did it again!) My knees were a little sore on the first set (but not 2 or 3), so I will take it easy and not go up again for awhile until I make sure this is cool with my knees. But as I'm grunting them out and feeling my CARDIO weight lifting working (yes, heart pumping my friends!) I realized that I'm doing my squats and plies with more weight than what I've lost! So I'm making gains quite nicely with 25 lbs in each hand on my squats!

Yeah, the last week & a half was a total wash for me, sigh.

Today, did UBWO (had not lost any progress due to my time off, amazingly!) and walked 15 minutes with the dog. Poor doggy, last week & a half has been a wash for him too! 100% clean eats, yay.

My goal is to get back on track w/ exercise and keep the eats totally clean. . .and not to weigh until Friday, when at least maybe it won't be QUITE so bad as, say, today!

I started pretty well for the year. I did an upper body workout plus the elliptical. Food was pretty decent as well which dinner being chicken breast, green beans, black bean/tomato mix and whole wheat couscous. I think I want to lose 60 lbs this year so I'm making that my goal. I can do 5 lbs a month if I try. I was majorly slacking in the last month but I need to kick some booty.

Oh DC is having its restaurant week in 2 weeks and I just made reservations at my favorite restaurant for DH's birthday. We went last year and they had a special menu that was awesome, I can't wait to see what they have this year. Their portions are very reasonable too so I know that I won't have to be rolled out of there after dinner. Depending on the weather, we will also spend the day walking around DC.

Happy New Years LWL!!!!

Real quick post here. I still have guests in my home today. I just wanted to check in and say Good Morning.

Looking forward to a good gym workout tomorrow though.

MEL: I hear you with the legs. I'm slowly recovering from this stress fracture. I felt brave last Friday and attempted to do squats for the first time since last August. OMG. My hamstrings and inner thighs didn't quiet down for three days. Whew. I don't think I'm ready for that yet. I forgot what serious DOMS were like. It even kept me awake the second night. Anyway, be careful out there. You'll be back in you perfectly balanced form before the month is out.

FRAN: Nice job with your weighted squats too. 50 lb squats with dumbbells. You go girl.

Thanks Lydia - I never knew what REAL leg workouts were til I got off the machine and into the free weights. Makes ALL the difference in how the jeans fit!

20 min HIIT this morning, followed by an aerobics class. And I've gotten in about 40 minutes of walking today so far - over 3 sessions - and will walk home from work tonight too, add in a dog walk and I'll be over an hour easy!

And my eating, so far this year, remains clean...

to you all. Happy New Year!

I'm back to the gym tonight for cardio and UBWO. We're leaving on vacation on the 14th so I want to get in as much exercise as possible between now and then. Plus I'm going to start a beginners/returning yoga class on Thurs. It's at 4:30 which means I'll need to leave work at 4, but since I seldom take my whole lunch hour anyway, I think there's no problem there. I've noticed lately with irregular exercise over the holidays how stiff I've gotten, so I'm hoping this will help, plus I enjoy the balance and relaxation parts of it.

On the weather note - the forecast is for another 10" between now and tomorrow. Sigh. We're running out of space to store the shoveled stuff.

Pat: Another 10'' of snow?! I would be trading in my car for a snowmobile by nightfall. I'm not a big fan of driving in the white stuff. I still remember spinning out with my Mustang while going up a hill and landing in a ditch when I was seventeen. I missed a drainage pipe by about three feet.

Happy new year all! Had a good holiday, espec since DS came in for 4 days; we had some real quality time together. Made sure I went to the gym everyday first thing to get my cardio in, no matter what, and while I didn't lose any weight over the week, my pants feel a teeny bit looser. I've decided that one of my new year's resolutions is to ditch the scale and go by my clothes...and if I'm going to do training I need to really trim down.

Found this great exercise for abs in the Feb Oxygen magazine, using a step. It was really tough (for me, anyhow), and a challenge, but I am determined to make it work. You get into plank position with your hands on the short end of the step (with about 2 risers underneath), then walk your hands off to the right onto the floor, then back on the step, then walk them off to the left and back onto the step. You're supposed to work your way up to 30...I managed 5 to each side before collapsing.

Pat, with all that snow forecast, hope it does all it's dumping early and that you make it out ok on the 14th.

Nelie, sounds like you are really getting your money's worth with the elliptical.

Mel, what weight kettleball do you use?

Susan

Hi Susan,
For the k'bell one legged deadlifts, I stand on the front of that step you are using for the ab walkovers, so I can get more height to the floor. I do pyramid sets using 12, 16 and 20 kilogram bells, then add 5 pounds of magnets for my fourth set. The next size up bell that we have is 24 kg and I just get stuck with it on the floor I touch the floor with the bell on each rep to completely take momentum out of the exercise. It's a hammie and butt killer!

I love the exercises in the new Oxygen too- I've been doing those barrel rolls with all (most) of my clients.

Another wrinkle to your step walk is to add a pushup on each side

Mel

Happy New Year everyone!

What, a new mag I didn't know anything about? Do tell more about the Oxygen mag - I've not ever seen in on the newstand that I can recall...

I've had a couple of bad months, due to work and the holiday, but now I'm back. I've decided to incorporate some of the food limitations of "You: On a Diet" into my combo BFL/BFFM plan - I want to see if there is anything to the biology they talk about in terms of eliminating high-fructose corn syrup from your diet. I can say that it's dang hard to do - very few packaged items don't have it!

DF has even agreed to give this a try with me, which is a small miracle. I guess the impending wedding is motivating him a bit as well. We have until the end of September, so let's hope we can both make some good progress.

I didn't make it to the gym this morning thanks to waking up with a nasty migraine. Still have it lingering, although I wish I knew what was causing it. Let's hope I can sleep it off tonight.

BF and I got snowshoes for Christmas, and now I can't wait for some snow to fall. It's supposed to be in the 40's here all week, so it won't be anytime soon!

Good luck to everyone with your new New Year's resolutions!
Cindy

Worked shoulders and abs today to failure. Then jumped on the treadmill and ran 3.6 miles.

Felt good!

Hello all!

I ate a bit while we were away in Cornwall. And lay on the sofa...

Yesterday I ate like a little angel - I had about 10 portions of fruit and veg, made new protein muffins (cranberry and orange) and turkey burgers and today I'm back at the gym

Don't know about damage done, I think I'll wait till Saturday to check, by then all the water should have gone

Hi LWL,

I'm back with new years resolutions... I need to loose the about 10 pounds that I gained in the last 2 months. I settled the divorce business at a cost to my waistline, so now it's time to get back to life !

I went ski-ing yesterday with my kids 7 some friends at an indoor facility in the next village, and my resolve is to get 1 - 2 hours movement everyday in the next months and to loose the 2 pounds that i gained in the past 2 weeks. By that speed, I should be back on track when I hit my next birthday in march. As a start, I'm going to print my log paper AND dig out my pedometer.

Have a great day all !

Rabbit