Well I almost always lurk around here but have so little to add I don't pop in to much BUT after the last couple of days I figured I probably should just say Hi to help keep the thread active.:p I was shocked to stop in yesterday and find that no one had posted. Wow.

Anyway, my food has been doing very well, finally. I've struggled and struggled and finally about the end of August everything clicked and I'm starting to loose again. Yippee for me.

Last night I got to bed at 130AM - earliest i've been to bed all week. I'm SO ready for the weekend. The Girl is going to her first homecoming dance, the boy has his first band performance free weekend in MONTHS!! And it's supposed to be gorgeous!

Tiki: 1:30am. :faint: That's three hours before I start my day. You must be exhausted! Go to bed early tonight. Oh, and tell your daughter to have a great time! I remember my first homecoming dance. :lol: By the way, are you feeling better with that cold?

EofZ: Nice to see you pop in. It is difficult to be 100 percent all of the time. I find that my enthusiasm cycles too. I don't exactly tank out where I don't want to work out at all or I'm ready to throw all caution to the wind with my eating but I have been known to ease back a little and then come back renewed with more focus in a month or two. I'm gearing up right now for that kind of focus as we head into the winter months. :yes:

So, I'm still sick. My neck is so stiff and sore I can hardly turn it. Bit of a sore throat and extreme fatigue. I took yesterday off but went in today for a quick run and some upper body lifting. Hey, at 4:30 in the morning I still don't really know that I don't feel unwell. I wasn't dizzy and there was no fever so I thought I would give it a go. ~sigh~ I'll be sleeping in tomorrow. I came home, got the kids to school, and spent the rest of the day in bed. I'm going to use this time to research some new workouts, look up some new food options and do a lot of catch up reading. Hopefully Monday will be better or else it's off to my friendly doc to see what I've got going on. As a side note, DS1 reported that five children in his classroom were out with whooping cough today. Folks there are only twenty children in his class...I truly hope that he doesn't bring this home too. ~shudder~

Whooping cough???? I thought that was part of the DPT shot! I thought it had been pretty much eradicated....

Food was not so good today. I had 5 days in a row clean. Ah well, tomorrow is a fresh chance. No workout tomorrow, tho, we are going college visiting:dizzy:

Tiki- get some sleep!

EofA :wave:

Lydia- what kind of food options are you researching? I' getting tired of chicken on top of salad for lunch, but it's the easiest option I can think of.

Mel

Well I started my day with some resistance training using a Swiss ball mostly hitting the legs and core. Every time I got up and walked around today I was reminded that I must have worked hard enough to have it count for something. I'm sure it was the squats and lunges that got me. I also got a 2 1/2 mile walk in during lunch. It was hot out there today and I looked like a wet rag by the time I got back. Food’s been spot on so life is good.

Mel, I usually rotate soups one week then salads the next. My salads I really try to mix up what veggies I put on them. I may have a salad with greens, sliced strawberries and a little lite feta and the next time I will have chickpeas, southwestern grilled chicken and red/yellow peppers. Some times I will use a salsa/cottage cheese combination instead of dressing and I usually keep frozen shrimp on hand because they are quick and can nicely replace chicken. (almost did that today but wanted to clean up the chicken). I always take the veggies to work with me and assemble the salad fresh just before I eat it. Don’t forget you can make it into a “taco” type salad too.

Originally Posted by Mel:
Lydia- what kind of food options are you researching? I' getting tired of chicken on top of salad for lunch, but it's the easiest option I can think of.

Mel

I know what you mean. I've got to mix it up, so I thinking of putting the lettuce on top of chicken instead of the other way around. Got to think out of the box.

{btw, this post is an example of what happens when Lydia walks away from her laptop and DH wanders by} :dance:

Originally Posted by :
{btw, this post is an example of what happens when Lydia walks away from her laptop and DH wanders by}

Sneaky man, this Lydia's DH...now how can I ever trust anything that "Lydia" has to say.

Lydia....is that you? Are you there...are you okay?? ;)

Hmmm...let's see about me. So-so food week, not great workout week. I too am sick. Well, not too bad, but not too good either. The cold seems to have stuck but it's still only a medium-grade cold I'd say. I'm hoping the whole thing is on it's way out but I do have little bit of a cough that I'm afraid could still get worse before it gets better. I'm really hoping that's not the case because it looks like a beautiful (and long) weekend here. I'm wishing a :thanks1: to all my fellow Canadians. So, it would be great to fit in one or two nice runs outside. Once October hits, I consider every outside run a treat!

tiki - wow...get some sleep! And have a great weekend...sounds like fun!

Mel - have you put down the PB? It's amazing how much of a weakness it is for so many of us. My PB is all natural but that doesn't reduce the calories does it! I love it just with a spoon and I prefer the chunky but if I'm reminiscing? Give me some Wonder Bread, Kraft smooth PB and a glass of milk. sigh. Or a nice big spoonful with some chocolate chips smooshed on top. Good times...no wonder I got fat!

Hi to everyone...have a great weekend!

:D

Sorry about that. He has been reprimanded :devil: and put back in his cage. Happy Thanksgiving Elisa! I hope you are feeling better this weekend. It really is beautiful here too. I would love to get out and ride my bike today but that's not happening. I'm still sick too. In fact, I took the morning off from the gym and went to the coffee shop with the boys (DH included) I felt pretty good walking around with my coffee but now it's hitting me again. Unfortunately, I have a hour long drive to attend DH grandmother's funeral (she was 98!) and then tromp around at the last county fair. ~sigh~ I'll nap most of the time in the car.

Mel: Yes! Whooping cough! Can you imagine. One of the parents is a chemist from OSU. Her theory is that the batch of vaccinations these fifth graders must have received may have been compromised in some way. :dunno: So far my sons are fine. I'm the one who's sick. Geez i hope it doesn't turn into this. I just can not imagine wheezing my way through a cardio session nor can I imagine being home for two weeks. It will drive me nuts!

Tiki: So...how was Homecoming? Have you gone to bed yet?

Good Morning Everyone :coffee:

Looks like it must have been quite the weekend for everyone here. It's rather quiet here in the land of lifting. Everyone is at the gym right? :s:

Still sick. Better but not good enough. You should be proud of me Tiki. This is like my third day off from the gym which is a dangerous point for me. I get a little antsy. But I am not going to infect anyone else.

On the bright side I'm holding out on the Halloween treats so far. Haven't brought them into the house like I promised myself last week. Just a couple more weeks and then I'll be further ahead than I was last year.

It's a beautiful day here. Great for biking. The mind is willing but the body unable to get past the couch. It's okay though, I have plenty of reading material to get through. Currently I am squeezing in a book by Pamela Peek "Fighting Fat after Forty" or something like that. Interesting material about the chemical forces that drive us to eat after a stressful event. Just reading the book caused me to get stressed and I had to walk away from it a few times. :lol: Good knowledge to have in the back of our heads though. I think it contains information that I would have "wished I knew that" about perimenopause if I would have found this ten years later. Knowledge is power.

Have a great morning everyone.

Good morning! I haven't been posting much but I'm trying to read. Still lifting weights. Still running. Still eating protein packed concoctions and lots of veggies. Squash is my new friend.

That's all! :)

OK, for lunch today I am having salad on top of turkey chili! :rofl:

Lydia, you can let him out of his cage.

Yes, I was at the gym! I have today off- it's a bank holiday :) I did a spinning class, something I haven't done in over two years. Good thing I could still find my gel padded shorts, because I'd be REALLY unhappy otherwise. My favorite instructor from so many years ago was teaching it. BTW, she always calls me MEG, so it's not just here on 3FC that I'm confused.

After spinning, I did a half-hearted chest and back workout. Spinning kind of depleted me :dizzy: The mind was willing, but there wasn't anything left in the tank.

The weekend was a workout drought. We visited colleges with DS. Yesterday I mowed the lawn and did 40 minutes of bike and treadmill trying NOT to sweat too profusely, because I had hair dye on my head :o

:wave: midwife!

Elissa-hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Get those last fall runs in while you can. I used to run in the snow but now think that was crazy.

have a good one,

Mel

Originally Posted by Mel:
40 minutes of bike and treadmill trying NOT to sweat too profusely, because I had hair dye on my head :o

I usually consider myself a powerful multi-tasker, but you have just put me to shame! Treadmilling while haircoloring! I think I would :faint: from the fumes, but you are truly wonder woman!

The weekend put a kink in my eating on plan, forgot we had planned on going to dinner with my SIL and my willpower was dismal. Of course Saturday I kept it to the one meal off plan but by Sunday I was craving carbs and not doing a very good job of getting the lid closed on Pandora’s box. Fortunately today is back to work and the structured eating, so far so good.

Had a distress call from my DD last night and then couldn’t get to sleep until after 1:00 am so I slept in until almost 6:00 this morning. Plenty of time to get ready for work but not enough time to fit in a resistance workout. Oh well, I did get my walk in during lunch and it was nice and cool (70’s) so added an extra trek around the block to at least get a few more steps in and burn a few more calories. I figured I better take the opportunity while it was there, by Friday we are suppose to be back up to 90 again and I’ll be pushing to just get a regular walk in (about 2 ½ miles). At least 90 is cool enough to get outside for a walk, any hire then that and I use the treadmill … with the AC on … and a fan blowing at me.

Hi :wave: I'm back from my mini-vacation/workshop/meeting 10 days. I had full intentions of keeping up my exercise routine. I did a lot of walking at my GFs house, but when I got to the first hotel, their workout room and pool were closed! Boo, hiss. THen I got a cold (is this a club?) and at the second hotel I could have cared less about exercise/swimming - I was asleep every spare minute. :lol: Feeling better, but still have a lot of fatigue. Was in bed before 9 last night. I have a swimming class tomorrow night I'm aiming for. Tonight is a City COuncil meeting, so no exercise time anyway.

FOod was moderately good - lots of salads and fruit, and for a nice change, protein for breakfast! The nasty sweet rolls were there, but so much easier to resist when there are eggs, oatmeal and yogurt. :)

So I'm back at work trying to catch up, both on my life and my office. You all will be dismayed to hear that we had 3" of sn** yesterday! And my appt to put my winter tires on isn't til 10/24. And of course it's cold and dark too - around 10.5 hours of daylight. So, I'm suffering serious "lower 48" envy.....

Originally Posted by :
So I'm back at work trying to catch up, both on my life and my office. You all will be dismayed to hear that we had 3" of sn** yesterday! And my appt to put my winter tires on isn't til 10/24. And of course it's cold and dark too - around 10.5 hours of daylight. So, I'm suffering serious "lower 48" envy.....

I was thrilled that it actually dipped down into the 70's for 2 days this week. It isn't suppose to last, back up to 90 by Friday but I made sure to get out and walk a little extra during lunch to enjoy as much of it as I can.

Evangeline :ziplip: :lol: I had hoped to hit some warmer weather in Oregon, and it was nice there - 70-80 and sunny - right up until the day I arrived! Then it was 50ish and rained the rest of the time I was there..... Here it's snowing again. Sigh.

Welcome back, Pat :wave: Sorry your trip was so sniffly. Please don't say the sn** word yet! I'm still gearing up to deal with leaves and garden debris.

Short but heavy leg workout yesterday. I think the spinning and staying up too late took more out of me than I thought it would I was a zombie all yesterday. A reasonable (for me) night's sleep, morning cardio and a bucket of coffee have me back to normal.

No gym today until maybe a home workout tonight. I have a lunch meeting that I can't wiggle out of.

Mel

I haven't been posting much but I have been reading.
Lydia, another vote for letting your DH outta the cage. The dude is SO cute!

I did not have much time last night but I did go to the gym (I was frustrated over something and I needed to get it out of my system). Aren't the weights the best tool for that? Oh I had to say hello to the Gravitron as well. :-)

Zumba tonight (Lydia, believe me, I have the leftist feet on the planet [and I am not talking politics LOL]) but I am very stubborn. And it is really fun, no matter whether my feet are doing the proper steps or not. THere was a class in progress when I finished my workout last night and I really really itched to jump in at least for a few songs but I had some work lined up at home that had to be done.

Originally Posted by Tomato:
Lydia, The dude is SO cute!

:o Oh thanks. ~sigh~ After twenty years he still makes me smile :goodvibes: I'll have to tell him you agree with me. :D

Oh he's since redeemed himself. He came home from work early the day before yesterday and spent all of yesterday home with me. I'm still trying to get over this flu virus and I'm pretty much spent. He spent the day being "me" with the boys. :^: One of my friends had this same bug and she said it layed her out for two weeks. Looks like Monday I should be good to go. :crossed:

Mel: Those spinning classes are tough. It's why I only did it two or three times last winter. I couldn't lift after the class and well, I just can't have any of that. Although, it maybe okay to do the cardio thing just one day a week. Maybe. :chin:

Pat: Welcome Home! :hug: I hope that you still had a nice visit with your friend even if you had the bug too. It is a bit of club here. I'm looking into what I can do to boost my immune system for this year. I'm taking just about everything they suggest, l-glutamine, mega vitamin C, plenty of water, outdoor time, exercise, lots of sleep, lots of fruits and vegetables. Geesh. I'm thinking of adding echinacea in there too. I'm soon to make a snack of all the vitamins...fish oil capsules, vitamin D, Calcium, Glucosamine Chondroitin, fiber tablets. Am I missing anything? :lol:

Sorry about the snow. We had a lovely day yesterday. A great day to drive north of the city and see the fall leaves. DS2 was unimpressed but it was nice to spend some time outdoors (kind of the sunroof was open) and get some fresh air. :lol:

Have a great day! I'm going back to bed.:faint:

I'm going to try spinning, if I can get the schedule for my gym. For some reason, they don't have their class schedule online. It makes me wonder if they are closing down or something...

Originally Posted by :
I'm still gearing up to deal with leaves and garden debris.

Ah, Mel, the flower box in front of the library has not yet been cleaned out and it's a sad looking thing these days. If the parks people haven't gotten here by the weekend, I'll probably do it myself. It's 90% annuals so there's nothing much to "save." I did get my own beds cleaned out just before I left, and DH did the raspberries and the last of the leaves while I was gone. He also finished the new greenhouse, put up a new garden gate, and with the help of a teen-aged boy, stacked up a lot of firewood. He was a busy little boy. :)

Tonight is swimming - yay! I'm enjoying it and it seems to be a good cardio workout - even the runners in the class find that. Of course, unlike other forms, you can't breathe whenever you want. :lol:

I need to fume on your collective shoulder, ladies!

I went to my Zumba class last night, all excited - it's quite a struggle for me to get there in time as it starts at 6 pm and I work till 5 pm on the opposite end of town (so it's get home in the snail pace rush hour, get the dogs pee'd and fed, change and off to the gym).
This is the time of the annual nonsense called Octoberfest and we share the parking lot with a Schwaben Club (a German club). Can you see what's coming? I got there and there was not a single parking spot left, and a bunch of other cars cruising in vain hope to leave the car somewhere. The gym is on a very busy strip sandwiched by a very road on one side and another busy road (one way) on the other side, so to get back means to drip around the block because there was not even enough space to turn around. AAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!! I tried the next door lot (Red Lobster, that is currently having some promotion - all you can eat or something), and a dealership on the other side, but everything was already taken by beer-guzzling and sausage-eating denizens.
What an insult! One can't get a workout because people stuff themselves with fatty sausages!!!!:tantrum::bomb::tantrum::bomb: :tantrum:

Aww Tomato, that sucks.

I stopped last night at the Ballys after my running class. The running class is across the street from the gym. I guess its funny to walk into a gym all sweaty and ask for a schedule of their classes. They have Zumba there but apparently their zumba instructor split because they said all the classes are cancelled. Anyway, I was interested in spinning. On the weekdays, the class is from 5:30am to 6:30am... Uhh well they have other hours too but that one is funny because I struggled this morning to get up at 7:30. Of course I did a hearty session of physical therapy and running yesterday so I was tired.

Tomato - add insult to injury already! THat's horrible! Soooo frustrating. I hope the O'fest is over soon and you can get back in there.

Nelie, I was thinking about that gorgeous exercise machine you bought last year this morning as I was reliving my equipment experiences from the last year. How is that thing working out for you? ARe you still in love? I remember that it was very cool. Has it helped in your lifting routine?

Fran - I do love my ProSpot and have been using it for NRLW workouts. It is great. One thing I haven't used at all are the leg extensions/curls but DH told me he tried leg curls on it the other day at 10 lbs and he couldn't do it. I may have to walk him through it :) I love the barbell and the fact that I can do squats without worrying about killing myself.

MILK -- THE PERFECT POST WORK-OUT SNACK

Thoughts? I was watching the Biggest Loser tuesday nite and bob harper said this. Since I'm always looking for new ideas to help with my protein, I tried this last nite after lifting. Was a nice change from the cup of yogurt I normally have. And latest research shows that upping calcium actually helps with stones prevention (contrary to recent advice about limiting calcium), so that could be a benefit for me as well.

(Fran: The cottage cheese/protein powder/fish hater)

Fran, I've read that chocolate milk is the ideal post workout meal. :D It was in a study out of the University of Pittsburgh -- let me see if I can find it.

My running coach says she drink chocolate milk as a recovery drink after long runs. So I went and bought some chocolate soy milk :)

Chocolate Milk as a Post-Exercise Recovery Aid: International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 2006, 16, 78-91

Apparently chocolate milk has the perfect ratio of protein and simple carbs for post-workout recovery. :T

Ahh good reason to play like a kid. (running outdoors free as the wind) so that we can eat like a kid.(:goodvibes: chocoloate milk) Reminds me about "Everything I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten."


All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:

* Share everything.
* Play fair.
* Don't hit people.
* Put things back where you found them.
* Clean up your own mess.
* Don't take things that aren't yours.
* Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
* Wash your hands before you eat.
* Flush.
* Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
* Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
* Take a nap every afternoon.
* When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
* Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
* Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
* And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Mmmmmm, chocolate milk. :drool: I may have to try this after swimming, which is the most exhausting exercise I do these days. I can tell when I've hit my limit - all of a sudden the water is cold, I'm cold, and my limbs feel 10 lbs heavier. :lol: All I want at that point is to haul myself out of the pool and into a hot shower. I get home ravenous and tired (not a bad thing) and chocolate milk would hit the spot. I know I worked hard last night, my arms are sore (nicely) and I can feel the muscles in my butt that get worked from kicking. :)

Love your list Lydia, and it's all so true.

I'm not getting the hyperlink on that Meg. Hmmm. Can someone give me the executive summary of why chocolate is superior to white fatfree milk? LIke, if I can't have chocolate, is white ff milk just as good, close, or inferior to chocolate?

Sorry, Fran, I didn't make a hyperlink, but try this: Chocolate Milk as a Post-Exercise Recovery Aid

The sugar in the chocolate milk is what differentiates it from white milk. The sugar is a simple carb, which is recommended post-workout for fast glycogen
resynthesis (getting glycogen back into depleted muscles). The study says that the best ratio for a post-workout drink is about 3:1 carbs to protein and the sugars in chocolate milk boost the carb count to close to this ratio.

OK, I thought that was a joke! Guess not. I'm afraid chocolate milk would be a huge trigger for me. Too many associations with other comfort foods.

Neli- I can't remember what it is you bought last year. What is theis wonderful machine?

We got rid of our bench with the leg attachments. It was cheaply made for one, but the angle was lousy for me (short) and the pads hit dh at a really uncomfortable spot. Neither of us liked it.

Steady state cardio done to the first show of "Life on Mars" recorded last week. It looks entertaining. I've done HIIT most days this week and just couldn't take another session of it.

Shoulders at the gym today- I'm all off schedule!

Mel

Warm chocolate chip cookies and milk ... :drool:

Glad to hear you didn't like the leg atch either Mel. I just figured it was me, cuz certainly they would have tested it and engineered it right! I'm not short and have most of my height in my legs with a short upper body, and I STILL couldn't get it to work! So uncomfortable. I guess I'm back to the floor looking at leg curls there, but those make me nervous as there's no real protection from a heavy weight landing on your spine. And if I can't go heavy enough to feel it, I'm like what's the point.

I think I'm going to try step-ups with dumbbells next. Barbell sets with plates that go high enough for me start at $300, with shipping at $125. No one really sells a nice set in store, they're pretty much those concrete vinyl covered weights. btdt So I have my FIRM fanny lifters (quit laughing!) that would be great for doing step-ups.

Mel - Its a prospot. It has an olympic sized bar on cables and uses electronics to stop/release the bar from a certain position. It also does have a non electrical stop you can set too for safety but the default is to be stopped.
http://prospotfitness.net/hg1.html

Fran- have you tried "ball pulls" for hamstrings? They are very effective, especially if you work up to doing them one leg at a time.

I'm off for a leg workout at the new Gold's Gym.

Mel

I second the ball pulls or hamstring ball exercises. I do deadlifts, cable exercises, lunges but the ball targets those hamstrings as well as my calves in a very surprising (exhausting) way.

So Mel, how was Gold's? Gold's opened a gym last spring on the other direction of my current gym. When I researched new places last month I found that they are no longer there. It may have been replaced with something else I'm not sure. I read about this while I was down with the flu so it's a little hazy.

Speaking of flu, I'm finally well again. :yay: This morning was my first real workout in two weeks. :dance: Wow that felt sooo good. But, :chin: the rest did too. I'm glad I didn't push myself and try to go back before I was really ready. (a first I know..) I had more stamina and a little more strength this morning than a couple of weeks ago so it was worth the rest. I also got to see a few other members who I haven't seen in months. Since I have begun my new 5:30am workouts there is a whole group of people I've missed. It was nice to see a few familiar faces today.

Of course with a two week rest I found myself rushing from all the endorphins by the time I got home. Poor DH. He just listened to me natter on about the benefits of 85% cocoa and why it's stored inside the vitamin cabinet of our kitchen and that anything less than that is considered candy and is in the deep recesses of the pantry...then I went off blathering about anything else that popped into my head just so that I could be annoying. :chin: There was a conversation about making "clean" chili for the neighborhood gathering instead of the Boilermaker Tailgating Chili...Kind of like I'm doing now.

Oooo, YES!, I have tried ball pulls. They are REALLY humbling aren't they? I didn't realize they were so good for the legs, I thought it was mainly a glute exercise. I will put them in the rotation! Thanks! Should I start with 10 and try to progress to 30? This is great because I felt like with "just" squats and ball on the wall sits, that only 2 lower body exercises was short changing myself (I don't wanna work calves). Never mind that I'm doing 70 lb squats and 60 reps total b/w the 2 exercises. I certainly FEEL worked out, but it just seemed proportionally short compared to my 10 upper body exercises.

I had a really great nsv today - out at 9 am for a freezing soccer game and I decided to visit the ladies at half time. I took off on a jog bc of the distance and the cold, and lo and behold found that I jogged all the way to the building. We were playing on a brand new turf field that was just finished and it had some awesome spring to it, so I think that helped me out a ton. I'm bad at measuring distance, so can't tell you how far I ran, but I was impressed with myself. That's new for me. Functional fitness - love it love it love it! This is why we do what we do - so we can sprint to the ladies', grab toddlers from the brink of death, or various other sprints on an as-needed basis!