Hi guys,

I'm still around. it feels good to read all your posts. In fact i just got inspired to go upstairs & get some much needed exercise on the threadmill. Thanks!

Rabbit
working my way back

Alena, thanks for the welcome! I certainly have missed lifting. I'm nervous about tomorrow, and hoping it will be alright if I start out light and ease into it.

Mel, we weren't playing hockey, but the kid that hit me was big enough, that's for sure! The roller derby girls tried to recruit me a few times, but I just told them I like all my body parts intact, lol.

Rabbit, I am with you there, working my way back. I quit running when I hurt my arm, because it irritated the arm, and now I'm having trouble getting back into that groove. I am so ready to just be back on track and injury-free!

So, back to the journey Lydia and Mel, it happened again today. Same but different.

I was sitting at lunch with dh, my food was grossing me out, dh was going on about something in politics and the IL gov, and I was tuning out. Between the food I didn't want to be eating and the conversation I didn't want to be hearing I left the room and went into my fitness world, thinking, if I don't get to jump out of this chair soon and break into a run out of here, I will lose my mind! It was very odd, left me feeling somewhat insane (talking to myself? Really? What's that about?) and kinda lonely. It's a world unto itself, but fun to visit.

So Fran, that "I have to get out of here feeling..." Did that occur before or after you had your workout for the day. I know that if I haven't had my workout or I skip one I can feel boxed in very easily.

I also think the workouts provide a mental escape long after they are completed. Some endorphins at work but also because of all of the ways the pursuit of fitness can challenge us. There are things to learn cognitively, neurologically and physically. When we are truly engaged it's difficult to tune it out. My mind drifts in the evening when I'm rushing to get through the last phase of: dinner, homework, kids in bed completed. I usually find myself smiling because I know when I wake up in the morning I get to go workout. : It's my quiet, alone, don't bother me time. When I'm feeling boxed in by all of the "must do's" of my day my mind drifts to my earlier morning workout and I begin to relax again.

Cheryl, I'm so glad you have not fallen under the Golden Arches. I had no idea you were mauled by a roller chick. I wish you the best of luck and an awesome workout. You must have been going stir crazy. Oh, and you aren't nervous. You are just really really excited! Just feels like nervous.

Hi Rabbit Any new home repairs while you were away?

Okay. Good night to everyone else. I have an early alarm for tomorrow.

Morning chickies. Haven't been around much, except in lurking mode. But, I'm still here, still lifting. My lifts have been going up, which is good. Unfortunately, my weight has also been going up, which isn't so good. And, although a smidge of it may be muscle, it can't all be!

I'm not going to make goal by my self-imposed D-day (Dec 18). I feel like such an idiot for (a) gaining some of the fat back, and (b) not getting my butt in gear this fall when I noticed the pudge returning. It's not like I didn't know that it would take time and discipline: at this point in my life, I'm an old hand at losing fat!

But, I suppose the only way to deal with it is to get my a** in gear. Today is a new day, and all that.

Glad to see some familiar avatars/screen names still here. Hope y'all are feeling better about yourselves than I am this morning!

Be strong ...

I so know what you mean. I was in a meeting yesterday (it's a weekly meeting that is actually quite productive and normally I enjoy it, it's to discuss purely technical issues so it's not the usual corporate BS and all that jazz); anyway, I sort of tuned out and I wished I could be doing Zumba right then, listening to funky music and wiggling my butt ....... then I returned to reality.

Lydia, it def was on a day when I had not yet worked out. That could be a big part of it, kind of a, 'instead of wasting time here I should be doing THIS', kind of thinking. But I think I get it on days I've worked out too, maybe. WIll have to watch for that. No, maybe on the workout days, I get that smug smile and the "I'm better than all this" floating attitude. You are right!

Hi all. Well, I did get an easy LB routine done today. Okay, it might not even qualify as a beginner routine, just one set of 10 of each exercise, plus abs, but I did it, then did 20 mins of walking and jogging after. I'm coming down with something since yesterday, all stuffed up, achy and have the chills, so even my mini workout was better than what I felt like doing, which was to crawl under a warm blanket and go to sleep. My goal for right now is just to not skip a workout, no matter how cruddy I feel, so I'm happy that I did it. I felt better as soon as I got through the first exercise and started to warm up.

Yay, Cheryl!
That was a great start! Since weekend is coming, maybe you should spend some time under a warm blankie and sleep the bugs off (that is, after exercise). Sleep recharges your immune system. Hope you will feel better soon.

Congrats Cheryl
Kim- good to "see" you again. I'm in exactly the same place as you are. My lift are going back up, but at this point I really don't care about that, and would rather the body fat went back down. It is...slowly. As you said, it's not like we don't know how and what to do

I've really been buckling down and it's beginning to show, just not as quickly as I'd like. I won't meet my self-imposed pre-Christmas goal without extreme measures, and I'm not going there, The two a day cardio was too much workout for me and I've cut it to two a day only twice a week. I was just exhausted and not recovering. Getting old stinks. I think our censor would delete the word I really want to use The key for me is to stay 100% on plan on weekends as weel- no free anythings

Have a good one.

Mel

Hi guys,

Just reporting in to keep in touch. I am bored out of my skull by a job related task, and I did not work out. I know if I work out i will not perform this boring task because my excuse will be to myself that I am too tired. And there is a reward associated with the boring job, so I'll have to bear this untill it is finished. The tricks you play on yourself ...

OTOH, I am now at day 7 of the beck diet solution, and a lot of CBT is coming back to me. I chose 3FC as one of my diet coaches, both this and the maintainers forum. I want to get back inside the groove so badly that i am not waiting for the holidays to be over because there will NEVER be a day when I will have the ideal circumstances to start again, so I can just as well do it now. I I hope to get as good as you again!

have a great day all,
rabbit

Hi mel,

We were posting at the same time!
I have been thinking of you a lot lately... my DD is currently trying glutenfree food. And she was really relieved when I told her this is not the end of the world at all, that a lady on the weightlifting forum on the internet eats glutenfree all the time, and that she makes muffins and pancakes glutenfree. i checked out some of your recipes, and once we have mastered glutenfree bread baking mix we are certainly going to try them!

DD might be on the glutenfree food for some time, because since she started this her mouth sores have healed really quickly and she also has much much less stomach aches.

Thanks for acting as a gluten free role model for DD,
Rabbit

Rabbit - there's several glutenfree websites around. glutenfreegirl blogspot come is one I read all the time, though I don't have a problem with gluten. She writes really well, and has a lot of posts about vegetables as well. Her website has links to other glutenfree sites as well.

Having a busy day here. to all of you.

So, Mel, what is the benefit of the 2x/day cardio days? Sorry, I probably missed it the first time around.

Tomato, I don't want to take a break right now, since I seem to be struggling with motivation already, mainly with cardio. I'm afraid I'd find an excuse not to get started again. So for now, my plan is just to do something each day, even if it's less of a workout than normal. We've got a storm blowing in, though, so cardio might be looking a lot better if the heat goes off, lol.

Rabbit, I'm glad you're going for it. It helps me to read what others are doing. One day at a time, that's my plan right now!

Pat, this is me waving back, since I don't remember the code for any waving smilies right now.

Cheryl, glad to hear that you felt better during your session! Moving just a little helps to dust off the cobwebs. Don't worry about going slow. Muscle memory, muscle memory...once you are feeling better you'll be back at without skipping a beat.

Kaw, I'm sorry that your feeling a little down about your body composition. I'm wondering though if your additional intake has a direct correlation with the strength gains in your lifts. I believe you may know more about this than I but I'm wondering if it's a trade off at some point. I also know that you were incredibly lean. It must be very difficult to maintain that level of body fat percentage for an extended period of time. It may be the difference between staying focused 85% of the time and more like 95%. I'm not sure I could stay at that level for more than several months. Heck, I'm having trouble just losing those last few pounds that would make a difference in my composition as well. But, it is much better than this time last year. Each year seems to present new challenges to work around. The best we can do is learn from them, anticipate them and move on. Enjoy the extra strength. I admire how much you can out bench and out squat me.

Mel: Wise decision to get some rest. Fatigue not only leads to slow recovery but for me a call for the carbs.

Okay. So my tree and the arrangement on my mantle as well as the weath on my wall do not match. (I must be in a state of transition again) AAAAAAAAHHHHHHGGGGG! I'm a week behind in the cookie baking, none of the gifts are wrapped and not all of the lights are on my tree outside. ~sigh~ Maybe the Christmas fairy will come and get it all done for me tonight. Not. Okay. Breathe...