Great post, Lydia. So much hits home with me. I need to string a few good days together again, and I will feel so much better. I haven't gained anything, but I'm certainly not feeling good about how I've eaten. On the plus side, however, I brought my own breakfasts with me to the hotel, and have not partaken of the muffins at the meeting. Luckily, they also have grapes and tangerines. :) Much too much sitting however. I got out of today's session and went for a walk (okay, I needed to find an ATM :lol: ) and it felt realy good to move. We also have walked to/from dinner both nights. I'll be glad to be home to my own environment tomorrow night.

It's been really good to spend time with people who do the same thing I do, and compare stories/notes/whatever. Lots of times I fell like I'm out there all alone. Meetings like this really help.

:wave:

Hello all!

Well what a lovely bunch of posts to read this morning! I'm so glad that I've got you all! :D

Mel - you're right about the ab-fab girl. I think she works at the gym but I've only seen her once before on a lunch time and she was wearing more clothes! :lol: If I see her again, maybe I should say hello. I think she was watching me too and wondering about my squats! :lol: She used the vibroplate to do her legs and they didn't look as muscular as her top half - maybe she was just exercising her bar muscles ;)

Just for a laugh, here's my menu for the day

Brekky
soy milk, banana, 2 sc protein powder whipped into a shake
whole wheat toast with honey

Snack
cottage cheese pancakes
plum

Gym - dips, pull-ups and HIIT on the dreadmill

Lunch
3.5oz turkey "deli meat" (as fitday puts it) on one slice of whole wheat bread
apple

Snack
0% greek yoghurt (14g pro, 6g carb), oats, dried cranberries and pecans

Dinner
egg whites scrambled with one egg and 3.5oz turkey deli meat, perhaps some toast too.

Comments - it's low in veggies since I have yet to go out and buy any this week :o but the fruit is ok. I think I've probably got too much bread since I try to aim for 2 slices max, but again, it's not too bad considering the protein comes in at 160g for the day. :)

I had a nice class last night, not too burdensome on my tired leggies! Surprisingly I am not sore today (probably waiting for tomorrow!), even though I was sore yesterday straight after those squats. :D I still haven't tried the squat video thingy, it's a toss-up between looking stupid in the gym timing myself on the mobile phone (the clock in there is miles away from any mats or mirrors) or waiting till the weekend to do it at home. I might have a go at the weekend :)

Ooooh oooh ooh! I'm going to book a wrestling class for Friday night! There was an offer in the paper for a free class at a new Chrome n Fern boxing gym in the city, so I will go to the free class, but I'm not doing membership! I would if I lived or worked nearby I would :love: the place!!! I'm seriously considering taking a holiday day from work and getting a day membership and just doing lots of classes and workouts for a day! Frus's day of boxing torture! :lol: Imagine the food I could eat :drool: :lol3:

ELISA: OMG I had a similiar experience this summer. Last June I met with a sports doc for my hip. While I sat on his table he asked which race I was training for this summer. Probably a standard question for him, but I was dumbstruck. "Excuse me? Training for...what...?" Then it occurred to me, this guy has no idea that I lost 50 lbs this past year and thinks that I've always looked this way. That was a real eye opening experience for me. :dizzy: :lol3:

FRUS: Hey, enjoy your class at the new boxing gym. Taking a holiday from work to spend at a new gym is certainly a fitness freak kind of thing to do. You go girl. By the way, wish I could find some greek yogurt here. Love the stuff. But I really have to go out of my way to find it and I can't find the lowfat nonfat variety so there's all this guilt when I do partake. But yeah, that and some cucumbers and I'm in heaven. :drool:

PAT: Glad to hear your conference was enjoyable. It is good to surround yourself with others in your field. :yes:

SUSAN: Where are you girl? Did I catch you in the shower today? ;)
Let's see here's what I'm eating today since you asked last night:

.25 cup dry oats nuked in water
1/2 cup nonfat cottage cheese
1 scp of protein powder
Water

BFL Beef Barley Soup
Mandarin orange (if they haven't frozen in my garage)
Green Tea

1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 dannon fruit on the bottom yogurt
blueberries
almond slivers
cinnamon
Green Tea

BFL Green Chili
Whole Wheat Low Carb Tortilla
Grapes, Apple slices
Green salad w hard boiled egg whites
No dressing
Milk

Stress Tamer Tea before bed and a good book.

Okay. Off to make salt dough for our AM project with the boys today. Yep they're home today too. We got three inches of snow and I'm not going anywhere. Miss my gym though....

No, I'm sitting right here (with my belly hanging out of these cute little jammies) ... reading.
Did you know that fitday can tell you what you ate 3 1/2 years ago?
On a brighter note ... I'm waiting for my oatmeal to cool enough to whip it with egg whites.

OK, this thread is so good, but I'm going to come back and finish AFTER my treadmill. There's so much I want to respond to and I haven't even caught up, but I am making the choice to get on the treadmill before I lose another hour and mess up my breakfast timing.

How's THAT for motivation for those of you who need it? Passing the board by for some needed cardio! :)

Thanks much to everyone who posted such insightful posts this AM. :gossip: I'm in the dumps about exercising, eating right, etc. I want all the results RIGHT NOW! Why am I in the dumps? Because I had to go swim suit shopping last night with DD. It was so horrible I had to laugh to keep from crying. I tried on a brown one piece and when I looked in the mirror, I burst out laughing. DD opened the door and we had the exact same thought. All I needed was some knee high boots and a cape and I could be a new superhero "SUPER-TURD!!!! :moo:

Seriously though, I challenged myself to 21 straight days of working out and finished that. I didn't work out last night due to swimsuit torture but was up this AM for step aerobics. I guess what is most frustrating for me is that I have yet to figure out how to get in more gym time. I used to go in the early AM but can't do that anymore except on Sat and Sun. I could go in the evening but I feel so guilty subjecting DD to 1.5 hours either home by herself or in the daycare at Ballys. My mom thinks I'm nuts because I subject myself to hours waiting for her to finish cheer, gymnastics and goodness knows what else but don't think it's fair to make her wait for me to improve my health. She says that I won't ever succeed in getting to goal and staying there until I truly realize the value of good health and the importance of making sure I take good care of me. I hate it when she's right.:tantrum:

Oh well, at least I'm not alone in trying to get to a point to where food doesn't occupy my every thought. This sight is a Godsend.:hug:

My food for today?

2/3 cups Puffins corn cereal with .5 cup light soy milk

4 eggwhites, FF cheddar

shrimp stirfry with baja citrus seasoning
romaine lettuce, tomatoes, FF cheddar cheese salad w/ raspberry vinegar

nuked sweet potato with Splenda and cinnamon

Myoplex carb conscious shake w 4 oz light soy milk, 10 oz water

two garlic herb fish fillets
greenbeans

Have a great one today - and stay warm!!

Tiki

Tiki :coach: GET THAT BUTT TO THE GYM!!!!! I'm sure DD actually quite enjoys some time in the daycare at the gym ;) Why don't you ask her what she'd like to do while mummy's at the gym? Or could you gym-time while she's cheering?

:hug:

Fru, during winter she practices only on Friday nights so I do hit the gym on that day. On Wednesdays she has gymnastics which is about 40 minutes from home and nowhere near the gym so that is sit and wait time only. She's 12 and most of the kids in the daycare are 7 or under so she hates going there. She would prefer I leave her at home alone while I go, but I'm a little leary of doing that given the crime rate in our city. I am getting my cardio in during the week, but I'm bored with it already and I know I'm not putting in my best effort some days. I miss running, but am worried that I could injure my knee trying to run at my present weight. I also am limited to weight training only on Fri. Sat and Sun. which bites MAJOR. I don't know, we've got to figure something out that works for us both. I'm probably just feeling whiny about the whole swimsuit issue. That was pure torture.

Tiki

You mean you didn't like being "Super Turd"? :rofl: Man - I can't get anything brown to look good on me, don't sweat it!

How about DD joins you in the gym? Would they let her? You could sit her on a bike with a magazine, and she might quite like it... :dunno:

Oooh how about doing something while she's at gymnastics - like stair-sprints in the building or even perhaps some push-ups, burpees, squats etc while you're waiting. Or even a brisk walk round the block. C'mon, anything is better than sitting in the car for 40 minutes... Overcome.... Remember, where there's a will there's a way! I'm sure you could come up with something... Ooooh oh oh! How about resistance bands in the car? You could wrap them round the steering wheel and do bicep curls. You could also do CAR PUSHING if you get really really REALLY bored! You could take a skipping rope and skip for a few mins (now THAT is good cardio!) Seeeeeeee there really are NO excuses! ;)

You're never too old to listen to your mom, tiki :D

Where is cheer practice? I spent hours waiting through swim, lacrosse, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, baseball practices and eventually realized I didn't need to be in a gym to get a workout. Are there bleachers? Are most of the other moms sitting and watching? hike up and down those bleachers. Don't run now- it's hard on knees, but walking it is good exercise. Some people pay good money to use a stair climber ;) Are there long hallways? Powerwalk. At first I was the only mom doing this, then a few joined me, then it was the minority who sat in the stand munching and watching. Do crunches, wall pushups, bodyweight squats, etc. You don't need a gym, just no inhibitions.

I had the same experience with a brown one piece bathing suit last year. Never again!

Mel

Ya know that last video? the one where the guy hung his feet in slings and did v-ups? Tried it ... couldn't get up on my hands. Did some off my elbows ... ended up doing them off my forehead. Didn't really look like a v at all. That's hard ... but I'll bet my abs are there tomorrow.

hi LWL,

So many great posts, i cannot react to all of them! I stand in awe of the clean eats & the cardio you all put in.

SusanB - Yiou tried the V-up thing ?? That is awesome! I watched the video in total awe, and did not contemplate to try this.

Tiki - I'm with you on the waiting on DD thing. Apart from triing to something while waiting, why is it that you can only lift in the weekend ? Are you lifting too heavvy to do some stuff at home? maybe do home stuff with light weights, but more bodyweight & one-legged, one-armed stuff?

Frus - You look horrible in brown? So that 's why you are training for black belt?


As for me, I have too much work at the moent, so no gym today, and food soso. Two more days of this and it'll be weekend!!Gym time!

Have a great day all,
Rabbit

Hey all, one hour of cardio later, I'm eventually back! Had problems all afternoon with the site loading, anyone else? It would just freeze, while my other fav sites were working. ah well

I used to walk around the icerink. At first it was a way to stay warm instead of sitting huddled on cold metal bleachers. Then I realized I was losing 1/2 hour of good time and started moving. Even just standing to watch cheer practice thru the windows and walking from end to end of the waiting room every few minutes is better than sitting I guess.

Elisa, I'm thinking the doc said that bc he saw no signs in you of having gained that much weight -- no loose skin, no saggy muscle tone (from those who lose by diet alone), etc. There was nothing "wrong" with you in other words!!

I also try to keep in mind when I'm feeling so great, the opposite, that people don't know I'm proud bc I've lost 30 lbs. SOmeone meeting me for the first time sees me as someone who needs to lose a good deal of weight, so I try to temper my enthusiasm sometimes that way. But believe me that when i'm done, I will have to fight the urge to hand out my before pictures and offer myself up as the salvation to those who are still struggling. How obnoxious would that be? Yet, I've had clerks in the library share their wl stories with me when I check out the latest greatest diet book. I am usually just beyond mortified to be called out, so try to remember to look at it from their perspective in that they just have a good story to tell.

Thanks to everyone for their information on what they're eating these days. So many of you are so "good" ;) that once again, I find inspiration here!

Eating clean - that's my goal. I still eat too many processed foods and all the bad "white stuff" but I'm trying for the baby steps.

Fran - I think you're right about what my doctor said and it's certainly nice to hear. Like so many of us, I think one of the hardest things is changing the way you see yourself. And even if everyone doesn't know it or see it, you definitely have to feel proud about what you've accomplished. That is one thing I have learned, hearing from other people that you look good is great, I won't deny that but I am definitely doing what I'm doing for me. That's the end of my self affirmations for the day!!

:D

Heyyyyy! Where is everyone this morning? :mag:

Just a real quick check in. DS1 finally returned to class this morning. Whew! Unfortunately it is only a half day today for all the students. Parent-Teacher Conferences. This is their lucky week.

Look's like Friday is my only day to get a workout in the gym this week. I've got a bad case of cabin fever. In spite of this I kept my diet clean yesterday. The crazy hunger hit me last night around 9:00pm but the only I reached for in my freezer was an icepack for me knee. Thankfully I was rewarded with a half pound loss this morning on the scale. Probably not "real" weight loss, I know better, but it's still nice to see.

SUSANB: How are those abs this morning? V-ups? I am impressed :yes: Even if you did do them off of your head. (Still trying to get a mental picture of that...) I should try these in the comfort and privacy of my own home first.

TIKI: I hear you with the swimsuit shopping. :censored: I hate shopping for swimsuits. It's so hard to find one that flatters our best features and yet subdues the ones we don't want to accentuate. I really don't think brown is a good color of a swimsuit on most people so don't lose heart.

I have a girlfriend with a drop dead figure who admits to having trouble finding a suit too. In desperation her DH ordered like ten different suits from Victoria Secret and had them delivered to her house. He said, "Here, find one and ship all the rest back!" She kept two. I didn't even know VS did swimsuits... Anyway, good luck. I haven't tried mine on yet from last year. It will probably still fit. I hope. I have a cubscout swim party to take DS1 to this Saturday. If it doesn't fit, DS2 and I will not be able to stay. I can tell you that will not go over well. :no:

Have a great morning everyone! :wave: