Mel: Thanks for the idea of baking the pancakes. I'm going to have to try that this weekend. It gets a little time consuming to stay and watch them.

Azure: I don't see people wipe off equipment nearly as often as they should either. Some do, some don't. Monday while I was bench pressing I could actually smell cheap perfume on what I though was the bench. As a rule I won't even wear scented hand lotion in the gym so I was mortified :othat anyone would think it was my perfume...After leaving the bench I could still smell it in my hands . Icckkk I think it was originally on the weights I was using as well. :rolleyes:

By the way Azure, congrats with the squats. It sounds like you are having a great time this semester becoming a gym goddess. :strong:

Elisa: Hey :wave: Good Morning to you too. :coffee: What a great thing that Wednesdays are your best workout days. Kind of gives you something to look forward to besides the weekend.:)

I have another packed day today so no workout for me again. I'm beginning to look like this as much as feel like this :rollpin: Saturday looks like my best bet at this point. Pathetic. Next week looks good so the end of all of these appointments/obligations are almost over. Fortunately the scale is holding steady. Maybe not a good thing if my body composition is changing for the negative...:dizzy:

Have a great morning everyone.

Mel - I also meant to say...baking the pancakes sounds genious! Can you give more details of exactly how & for how long etc??

Thanks!

:D

Morning ladies

Azure - Sounds like you're doing great. I also aspire to real push-ups and maybe even pull-ups some day. Right now I have to do girly push-ups on my knees, or I do them on a stability ball.

My hammies are real tired. Last night I was really not in to running, totally just doing it to get it over with. Made pretty good time, so I guess that's good. Getting pretty cold, I could have used some tights under my pants.

Made it through power class this morning, taking it easy tonight.

Food is getting a little better, but always room to improve.

Hi to everyone, have agreat day!

The baked pancakes are saving me about 2 hours on Sunday! How long you bake them probably depends on what you put in them. Here's my recipe for 6 serving- remember, I don't eat wheat.

20 egg whites
1 1/2 c. cottage cheese
1tbs. vanilla or more
lots of cinnamon (haha! very exact here)
8 tbs. ground flax
3 cups pumpkin puree
1 1/2 c. dry oatmeal
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder

Put about 10-12 of the egg whites in a blender. Puree the cottage cheese and oatmeal and flax with them. Add more eggs if it is too thick.
Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients (I use my trusty KitchenAid stand mixer which is now 25 years old and still going strong!). Pour it into a sprayed 11X13 roasting pan or sheet cake pan. Cook at 350 for 30-35 minutes until it isn't "jiggly" (more exact science here. I baked it a little longer this week and it was more cake like than the usually slightly mushy version. I've really cut down the oatmeal and substituted the pumpkin and flax for more bulk and good fats).

Cut into 6 pieces and place each on a paper plate and freeze in a 1 gallon zip loc. I take each one out the night before a refrigerate it overnight, then zap it in the microwave with some frozen blueberries, cherries or apple chunks for 2 minutes.

I don't know why I didn't think of this 5 years ago! it is so much easier, especially because I do sooooo much bulk cooking on the weekends.

Ds is headed to boy scout camp staff weekend again this weekend and taking every morsel of food that he will consume. Because of the wheat issues, I prepare ALL the food he eats anywhere, and all my food. My life revolves around food more than it did when I was a "foodie"!

I was moaning about how much food we eat tonight while preparing about 7 meals at once, and he actually reminded me that we don't eat more than other people but unlike almost everyone he knows, we eat at home and I make our lunches and snacks. I was surprised that he'd noticed that hardly anyone else does that.

Shan and Elisa- those runs must be getting pretty cold! I was telling my new workout buddy who was complaining about being cold when she runs at night now, that I ran year round when I lived in central Michigan and Toronto. OK, so I'm not real bright :dizzy:

Lydia- I have a client who always puts on scented hand cream before she lifts :p and then has to go wipe her hands because she can't hold anything :lol:

I'm looking for a new elliptical this week-end! I'll probably be moaning about how hard it is once I get one that isn't stuck on a light-middling resistance level! :o

Mel

Lydia- I'm trying to think of a place (restaurant type?) to have dd's graduation party/dinner in May (law school is on a different schedule, thank heavens!)
Any suggestions either downtown or in Grandview? So far my favorite places have been RJ Snappers and a Sushi place on the main drag in Grandview. I don't know how either would cope with 20-30 people.
Any good ideas?

Thanks!
Mel

Mel - thanks so much for the recipe! I love my protein pancakes (just the egg whites, oats and cottage cheese) but they are a pain to make. I have no problem with the "sort of" recipe...that's how I cook. I've never tried including the pumpkin puree but I know a lot people really like it. Is it hard to find in the grocery store?

I'm wondering what the calories are per breakfast and does it really keep you full for a while? I might just try some version of this on the weekend. I love the idea of having all of my work breakfasts just ready to go.

:D

And I love my Kitchen Aid mixer too!! It's only about 5 or so years old but it was a present from my DH one year and I remember some people thought it wasn't a very romantic gift. Maybe not but it's what I wanted and I use it all the time!

Hi Mel:

Wow! She's graduating soon! Fantastic!!

Last Christmas we used Thoms on Grandview to host a dinner for DH department. They have an upstairs banquet room with a private entrance, full service bar, and restrooms. The size of our group was about the same size as the one you describe. The food was excellent and they were very accommodating while I was planning the event. We were given the choice to allow the guests to order from the menu or we could prearrange for several choices ahead of time. Since our group was small enough we opted to allow each guest to order from the menu. For music they did have a sound system and played some type of CD mix. I'm certain that if you wanted to provide your own mix you could do that too.

http://www.thomsongrandview.com/

Another great restaurant is Spagio. Mmmmm, pumpkin soup. But you most likely won't be having that in May. I have had many meals sitting in their street view windows but usually just with DH. :cofdate:They do book large parties and you may want to check their site out as well.

http://spagio.com/spagio/index.html

If you want to head downtown you may want to check out Lindey's. I have not eaten there but DH has as well as my mom. DH says that their rooms are nice...

http://www.lindeys.com/

Several years ago one of my friends had her baby shower using Handke's Table when they were still in Dublin. I remember that the food was excellent. I don't think that they are still in Dublin but they are near German Village which may be fun.

http://www.chefhandke.com/abouthandkes.html

This should get you started. If not just let me know and I'll be happy to keep looking for you.

Happy planning.:D

Oh Geez. All this virtual dining....where's my gum and ice water. :dizzy: I knew I shouldn't have looked at those menus....:drool:

Morning, ladies & gents (if there are any here)!

Isn't it funny how much difference a day makes? Yesterday I was feeling sluggish and snuggish in the britches, and like I was losing my motivation. This morning I'm raring to go. Seriously, I'd be off to the gym Right Now if it wasn't for the other morning obligations (i.e., getting TB to school).

What changed? The arrival of a snazzy new gym outfit. I know, it's silly -- I'm perfectly happy working out in baggy shorts and one of my many free netrition.com tanks. But thanks to someone on 3FC I stumbled across a sale on Champion workout wear, and splurged on a form-fitting workout tank w/ a built-in bra that looks like it will survive chest/shoulder day. And, if I may say so myself, I look goooood. :D

May all your mornings start just as well!
Kim

Kim - I am with you on the motivation you can get from new clothes. When I joined the gym last year my goal was to wear this brand of clothing that's popular (though way overpriced) here called http://www.lululemon.com/ I don't know if I've lost a pound in the past year but I think my shape has changed and I do finally own some of their clothes (mostly bought on sale).

I always said that what you wear to workout shouldn't matter, and it doesn't but I do feel better when I think I look good. Their tops are amazing and they mostly have the built in bra. I thought that I wouldn't be able to wear them (being a 34DD) but I finally tried them, at the urging of my DH, and I love them!! I can't wear them to run but for spinning or yoga or weights, they're amazing. I feel so good in them that it makes me want to workout! Enjoy your new clothes.

:D

Lydia- thank you! We actually had her undergrad graduation dinner at Lindy's. Very good- but I don't think I want to do 20-30 people there. It's in a beautiful old brick German Village "house" but I don't remember any private rooms. I'll take a look at the others.

Cardio done, off to work.
I missed the gym yesterday because of a series of ongoing meeting and couldn't get out until about 4. I take 2 days off lifting, so yesterday was one of them. Back at it today! :strong:

Elisa- I loaded it all into fitday and got about 1600 calories for 6. 150 P/170C/33F. Divide by 6 :) With a 1/4 c of berries or other fruit and a heaping tablespoon of yogurt and a big :coffee: it keeps me full from 6:30 til about 10 am when I have cottage cheese and yogurt.

Mel

I'm with you girls on the nice gym clothes. I spent the entire summer wearing Old Navy ribbed tanks to the gym. They were fine (and considering the general quality of ON clothes, they held up really well with all the washing and sweating and washing), except that the sweat REALLY soaked through them and that I was always having to rearrange them to keep my bra and cleavage out of sight. I bought a couple of proper fitness shirts in the last couple of weeks and they don't get super sweaty and they don't shift all over the place and I feel like a tidy weight lifting girl. :)

For overpriced but gorgeous fitness clothes, I love athleta.com

Morning! I feel good this morning too. I had a great guilt-free hour+ at the gym last night and did a UBWO plus my PT knee exercises plus about 20 minutes split between the elliptial and treadmill. :) DH is much much better and is himself getting out and doing stuff again, though he still has a the headache and his affected nerves are "twitchy" (his word).

WO clothes: I have the same problem with tops as I do with all tops - they're often too short and so I'm always tugging them down. I have an addidas cool-max top I love, plus a long enough tank from - of all places - Wal-Mart. It's cotton though so I tend to wear it when I'm doing more weights than cardio (less sweaty days). I'm still hunting for the perfect socks though.

And for today's NSV - yesterday's pants and today's jeans are getting too loose! And that's with my t-shirt tucked in! :) Time to pull down the next size from the closet store and see what might fit.

Pat - Congrats!! I LOVE those days!! It is totally a national holiday in Pat's World!! lol

I just got my new Otomix catalog in the mail - expensive stuff, and some of it's too over the edge for me, but you all have me thinking I should order a yoga pant and short with the V waistline as a goal outfit. Hmmm..........

Good morning, everyone!

I posted a picture of my midsection in another thread, and thought to myself, "you've been jawing about posting pics on LWL for months now, so just butch up and show them, too." Besides, I don't think they're too bad, for a 39.5-year old!

These are "afters" only, because I haven't found a good before. The camera angles are also goofy, because I was taking these myself, sans timer. That's also why there are no back or arm shots... I almost hurt myself trying. :D

Kim!!! You look fantastic! Yours might be the flattest stomach I've ever seen on a real person! You look great for a 20 year old, never mind a 39 year old.