July, July, July! Picnics, hot days, and as Fran already asked: Where do you want to be?

Personally, I need to take this life challenge in smaller chunks than 6 months. I'm still working on getting through each day and probably will be for the rest of my life. So today, I've dumped the goody food that's accumulated over the last week of my pity party, and am headed to the gym NOW for a leg workout. My shoulders and elbows are still bothering me, so guess my short answer to Fran's question is I want to be pain free and back to my regular eating and workouts!

Yesterday's workout was mowing the lawn--- not very intense but it took a while! My leg cramps didn't reappear last night, so I'll go trash 'em!

Have a good one,
Mel

Happy Canada Day!!

I just wanted to say a quick hello this morning. This wasn't the best workout week for me but I guess this all part of the rollercoaster. I like the fact that I can have a bad day or week and just get right back to it. To me that means that maybe this is for the long haul. It doesn't have to be all or nothing but that's a tough thing to remember sometimes.

I hope to get out for a run today and then enjoy some fireworks on the beach tonight. The weather is beautiful but a bit cool and I should really get out there and do a bit of gardening this morning.

Hi to everyone and I hope you're enjoying the day!

Hi maintainers,

Hi Mel - I can understand the gnashing of the teeth. It is very difficult to comprehend how you guys do it with the amount of summer vacation you have. OTOH a lot of companies compain because europe is typically shut for the summer. Like I take july off, but the french typically have august off. So in a multination, you more or less loose 2 months of business.

I hope to be less 6 kgs in 6 months. Surely this is doable ??

Have a great day,
rabbit

Hmmm, I missed Fran's question, but I've been thinking about the next six months anyway. I want to be strong again, and have my kneecap where it belongs - without surgery! Oh, and like Rabbit, 6 kgs (36 lbs?) would be great. Yes, Rabbit, it should be possible, though as we age, not as probable.

It rained here today - finally! We've been over 2 months without significant rain (though it's been cool and overcast, but dry). I let the cat out at 5 am, and about 6:30 DH let her in and the rain had started. She was soaked! I had to get up and towel her off, as she insists on sharing the bed. She wasn't at all bothered as the water hadn't soaked through her fur to the skin.

I'm making a lovely veggie pizza for dinner - homemade dough even. It'll have onions, peppers, zucchini and mushrooms, with a smattering of cheese. Yum. (DH will get more on his - i.e. pepperoni and more chees. The man is losing weight again. Grrrr. I feed him lots of things I'd love to have, and now I see his belt has been tightened in another notch and his pants are baggy. (I know it's the after effects of stem cell related problems, but still.... not fair)

Morning!
My legs are good and sore after yesterday's workout, and food is back to normal. Amazing how trying on pants and suits will get that sorted out in a hurry.

Last night I opened some of my dd's mail that has accumulated here (she hasn't lived here in years) and was appalled to find a love letter from the city of Columbus informing (her) me of the 5 parking tickets that I hadn't paid. The car is still registered in my name. When I went online, I discovered that the amount was DOUBLE what the letter said. Grrrrr...... So I've solved her birthday present dilemma! I don't want to have MY car impounded. Lydia, the city of Columbus should be buying a new firetruck or a snowplow soon! One more year...then it all goes in her name! I'll be returning some of the clothes and a purse that I bought mistakenly thinking I had a few extra dollars.

Off to work. I only get Wednesday off

Cardio done, gym at lunchtime

Mel

LYDIA - loved the painting saga, though DD's nursery colors were what I would call southwest orange. She has now gradauted to Barbie Pink, but it isn't too bad, small room, sloped ceiling painted white and windows, makes it manageable. congrats on the pound down.

MEL - I don't mind painting, I hate to pick colors, I really miss my dad since he had a great eye for color and light and what worked, I doubt I will ever paint my living room or dining room ever again.

RABBIT - Sounds like a great July. Good luck with your moments, I think that is a great idea.

Where do I want to be in 6 months? I want to be at my goal. What am I doing about it? Walking the reservoir, regaining my HIIT habit, more weights, bigger weights. and better portion control. Using my food scale is a big help. Just finished my CC and melon morning meal, though since I am working with a high school student as a summer intern, it was more than a little late.

Weather is great for walking today, cool and dry, the dog loved it especially after he found a rabbit, who got away.

Happy Canada Day to all up north, not sure what it is, I'll google it after I post.

I counted up the June workouts, 30 days in the month and I worked out 19 days, not counting my new walking as much as possible during the day habit.

While I didn't lose any weight this month, well one pound, I am feeling more toned. I figure if I can hang on, boost it up a notch or two in July - I have to lose some weight, I can't get just toned.

Reminds me - I want to order a new bathing suit before DH and I go off to New Hampshire.

Off to Farmer's market, back later to catch up, see walking some more today.

Hi all, well after DAYS of being locked up after writing a long post, I finally saw the heads-up about using the reply button instead, so it looks like I'm back in business (if you see this message that is!) Oh, the words of wisdom I have pounded out only to have them poof before my eyes.

Looks like I got dh on the bandwagon (the July 1 thread), as he woke me yesterday to get him weighed in on my fancy gizmo scale (a new tanita that even tells you when to go potty ). He's got a goal for his September b'day that seems reasonable and is using that as his half-way point. I like that he's putting some thought into this. I freaked out when the scale showed his visceral fat rating to be a 12, when mine is only a 6! Clearly, all that weight that he holds in his belly, is harming him. But it gets better from here. He is approaching 50 in another year, and I told him he better take advantage of that year before he loses the advantage of being in his 40's!

So for me, today is fbwo for 90 minutes and 30 minutes on treadmill, 15 min stretching to watching an old RemingtonSteele dvd. Does anyone remember that series? I love to get the old 80's shows like that and Hart to Hart and watch them while I work out. Will try to eek out 20 minutes on the elliptical later today as well. I finding myself very motivated by watching Nelie's ticker (she was dropping a pound a day there for awhile!) and listening to the maintainers discuss their summer shopping.

Okay, as been pointed out to me several places (mostly by ME), my math skills are severely limited. 6 kgs is indeed 13.2 lbs! A very doable goal for 6 months, even for those of us in the upper age groups.

We went to Lowe's after church yesterday and brought home paint chips to choose a color for the interior of our new back door (which is in the bedroom - goes out to the deck). I'm pushing for a really nice goldish color (call gourd - but what can you tell from a name?) which will go with the walls (cream) and is also a minor color in the curtains and the area rug. Let's hope it looks as good on the door as I hope.

It's another cool, showery day, and already the lawns are looking better. We had just a long dry spell, and most of it wasn't even warm! I didn't of course get the lawn mowed before it started raining yesterday, so it'll be too long when I do get to it, and likely I'll end up mowing it wet. Oh well.....

I'm really focusing on my food this week. I know I've been creeping up on portion size (and flat ignoring it a couple of times!) so I'm measuring everything again for a least a week to retrain my poor brain. Also now that the half-marathon is over, I'll be back at the gym more, and doing other kinds of cardio. Looks like my LBWO's will continue to be dictated by the physical therapist. When I finished the last session, he had me doing some shallow squats using the ball against the wall. I'm thinking I should invest in one for home, since the gym ones are often unavailable. (I don't know where they go - they appear and disappear. I do occasionally see people using them, but often they're just nowhere to be found.)

I'm looking foward to having Wednesday off, though we'll be participating with our church on a float in the local parade (dressed in colonial garb - ).

Hope you all have a good Monday.

Well, I didn't get my run in yesterday but I made sure to do it first thing this morning and finished my 5k in just under 31 minutes So close to breaking the 30 minute mark!!

Sugar - Canada Day is Canada's birthday and we turned 140 yesterday! It's a national holiday so no work today...yay!! And we saw some amazing fireworks last night so it's been a good weekend.

I'm hoping for a much better workout week this week. Food's been much better today and my workout plan for the week is one ab class, one power, one spinning and one fbwo with maybe one more run. I'm not sure if I can squeeze that all in but I'm going to give it a try!

Pat - your parade sounds like fun. Hey, can you find/bump that thread with the webcam? I love checking out how your weather is looking. What's your sunrise/sunset times these days?

Fran - I absolutely remember Remington Steele. Many of my friends were hooked although I was never a huge fan...how about Moonlighting? I loved that show and had a huge Bruce Willis crush. I even bought his album...yes, that's an album, not a CD! And I think my husband has also decided that it's time to lose a few pounds so it should all help me stay on the straight and narrow.

I did some closet cleaning today and found about 6 or 8 pants in size 12 that, while I loved, are big on me now. I'm not complaining...I'm thrilled that they're too big but I was sad to see them go. I decided that if I never want to grow back into them, then I should give them away. Now I have more room for new stuff.

Ok, read up on Canada Day, I love any excuse for a celebration.

ELISA - Good idea to get the gardening done before the sun hits, I love having my garden outside the back door, makes it even easier to harvest that lettuce.

PAT - The pizza sounds great, any anchovies??

MEL - Sorry to hear about the parking ticket surprise.

Up a few pounds from my ticker but I am going to see how tomorrow goes to see if my efforts to control myself work out. I spent an hour or so yesterday watching Big Medicine to see if I could motivate myself to avoid further complications. Doubt I will ever get the plastic surgery to get rid of excess skin, but sure as **** am not going to gain any more skin. Arggh.

HR - scale tells you when to go potty??? We were just talking about the old Remington Steele series.

Right now I am still juggling getting the food AND the exercise to mesh in one week. Last month I was at 63% exercise rate, when I get to 80%, I will feel satisfied. That and 80% should be a good lifestyle.

Off to the desk job. It is going to be so quiet here in the office this week. At least Wednesday I get a break.

Hi LWL,

Went OK on the food today up to 7 PM, when I succumbed for cookies. Very small ones (about 1.5 inch diameter) but still far to many of them. This 6 meals a day thing is HARD!

Mo exercise, as i\I am feeling vey unfit. Either hayfever or the flu. i popped some pills and will crawl into bed. I'm sneezing all over the place.

Pat - So you,re in for the 13 lbs as wll ? I'll be thinking of you when i try for another 6 meals day tomorrow.

Rabbit

Okay, Elisa, I bumped it. All you'll see today is clouds and rain. Since my office is in the middle of the building, I find myself looking at the webcam to see what the weather is outside.

Liza - sorry, no anchovies! My DH liked this one better than the last though. The last sauce I bought was too spicy for him. This time I used Boboli, which is btw fat-free! There was some left over, but I'm betting he ate it for lunch.

Yes, Rabbit, now that I know 6 kgs is 13 lbs, I'm in! Hoping you're feeling better. I'm also jealous you get all of July off! I get 32 days a year to take off with pay - whether it's for illness or vacation, all comes out of one "pot" of days. So I'll only have Wed off this week for Independence Day (July 4), but DH and I are going camping the next week, leave on Thurs, come bak on Monday.

So fun to read about all your painting plans. We are going to have to put off the master bedroom until we can make up our minds and can afford it. It’s a big room, and paint/primer is not too cheap. We still need to find renters, so we are scrambling to figure out how we’re covering rent and a mortgage for a few months if it comes to that.

Pat – You should definitely get a ball for home use. They’re pretty cheap, plus they’re versatile. You can do so many things with them.

Rabbit – Good luck with your 6 meals plan. It might take some time to adjust, but it’s good to have a plan. Hope you’re feeling better soon.

Run was cut short due to rain/thunder this morning, but I was glad I got out and did something.

Do any of you ever use those high rep/low weight type workout videos? I used to think that stuff was kind of silly but I just had to get myself out of this rut and do something. So I picked up a DVD at the library, SELF Bikini Ready Fast, from the SELF magazine people. I know it sounds ridiculous. At least it was kind of fun, and I wasn’t too bored, which has been a major problem lately. It does keep you moving and I was sweating something fierce so there’s probably some cardio benefit to the workout as well. I think all the plie and one-legged squats did a pretty good job for lower body, and I’m feeling a little in my back, but I don’t think the weights were heavy enough for the curls, overhead extensions, etc. I guess I could switch up my dumbbells for those. They suggest using 3 to 5 lb, and 5 was plenty heavy for some of the stuff, but curling 5 lbs doesn’t really seem do much for my biceps no matter how many reps. Anyway, just wanted to see if anyone else has used this type of a workout and see if you had opinions.

Happy (early) 4th!

Great News! Somehow I dropped another couple of pounds over the weekend. Yesterday and today I weighed in at 129. I think it maybe a combination of adding the 15 to 20 minutes of extra cardio to my workout as well as keeping the peanuts and chocolate chips out of the house. I guess I can still lose weight as long as I can keep it really clean. Otherwise all I am doing is maintaining.

Next week we are going to Hilton Head for a family vacation. I've seen the tourist books and the restaurant menus and I think I'm going to be okay. I'm focusing upon the seafood and planning upon eating in the condo for breakfast and lunch. I really don't see myself using it as an excuse to eat an differently but we'll see how that goes. I'm sure I'll be able to find a grocery that carries oatmeal, cottage cheese, and eggs.

Shan: Don't be in any hurry to paint that big bedroom. It's such a messy job and yes, I think it is expensive too. I've done the whole house at this point and maybe I'm just a little burned out from it.

I've done high rep low weight vidoes before but it was a long time ago. I can't really offer any opinion but if you enjoy it and it gets you out of the rut you may be feeling then go for it.

Rabbit: Hang in there with the six meals approach. Seriously, breaking my peanuts, peanut butter, chocolate chip habit this winter was tough. Although it seems that the longer I work at this the easier it gets. Sometimes, digging in with the spoon seems almost like a reflex than a cognitive thought of I want that...once that's been removed it does get easier for me.

Sugar Cube: Keep trying to combine the food plan with the exercise. It'll happen and when it does you will have accomplished so much. I think 80% is a great goal to reach for because perfection is just not something that can be maintained in the long run.

Elisa: Yeah for you in the closet cleaning. I can really relate to the loss of the favorite pants. I've got a couple of pairs in there right now I can't part with even though they are becoming too big for me. Right now I rationalize they are my pant-o-meters. When they fit correctly, I know it's time to lose again.

Pat: Good luck with your paint job. I used a Laura Ashley gold and browns in my house, excepts DS's room. It looks pretty good. It's a warm color yet neutral enough that I can combine just about anything with it and it looks great. Anyway, I warn you, it's such a messy job...at least when I do it.

Fran: It's great that your DH is setting goals for himself as well. In our house the joke is that DH and I just trade the same weight back and forth. If one of use loses ten pounds the other one gains it...

Mel: Parking tickets huh? On behalf of the city of Columbus, I thank you for the new John Deere tractor that will be purchased this year. I'm requesting that my street be the first to be cleared....Just kidding. I took care of the snow plowing problem myself and purchased an AWD vehicle this summer. This was such a big deal for me because I haven't driven anything other than my 10 year old Accord for well, ten years. Hey, I'm not going to get snowed in again when I have to get to the gym on the otherside of the river.

Okay. Time to get ready here for the 4th. It's a big deal in our neighborhood. There's the parade at 8:30am(DS1 is a cubscout so we have to be there), an invitation to swim and picnic at neighbors's house who just moved, a block party (way too much fun) in the early evening, and community fireworks at dark. I need to get a workout in there somewhere between the parade and the first party.

Have a great week everyone.

Wow- I should have gone to Columbus for the 4th! Sounds fun, Lydia! Congratulations on dropping under 130 Yep, those peanut and chocolate chips will ruin it for you everytime. At least that my personal and too frequent experience!

Shan- If I had it to do again, I'd live in the house a bit before picking colors. Mine was truly unliveable when we bought it (even had to replace subflooring in places due to unhousebroken pets) so I had to do everything before we could even move in. But I wish I'd gotten a better "feel" for the way the light moved in the house before I picked colors. Almost everything is fairly light and neutral and I could have gotten away with a much stronger palette. On the other hand, it's a lot easier and cheaper to change throw pillows and some accessories rather than repaint large rooms when you decide you are sick of dark red!

I used to do those high rep/lighter weight workouts on TV a looong time ago. I enjoyed them, but didn't really see the kind of results that I see from a combo of heavy lifting and seperate cardio. One result that I did see was extreme tendonitis in my shoulders from repetive motion. I did them every day with increasingly heavier weights. I don't think I every used anything heavier than 10 pounds, but if you do about 50 shoulder presses or side raises while stepping up and down on a reebok step, you can do some damage after a few months. Get something heavier for curls

Pat- thanks for the webcam bump! Can you sleep when it is light? I have a terrible time HERE in the summer and have blackout shades. When I was in northern Norway many years ago, I doubt I got more than 3 hours of sleep each night.

Fran- Are you and dh working out at home together? If so, it's time to go buy an olympic bar and weights. They are on sale at Sports Authority or Dicks for $99.00 Quit hurting yourself using a curl bar for squats! My dh always jokes that he gains weight whenever I'm trying to lose more because I figure if I'm hungry, everyone else must be hungry too and they should eat more

Rabbit- Hope you are feeling better! You haven't been very healthy this year. Have you had a physical? Enjoy your vacation- I'm green with envy!

I have no plans at all for tomorrow. I have to clean the house some, and will go pick up the boys at the airport in the late afternoon. I hope the heightened security doesn't slow everything down! Both of them should be exhausted! Other than that, I'll do cardio and hit the gym. I may actually try a class....

Mel