Happy Monday Yesterday I ate completely clean for the first day since Christmas Eve.... I can honestly say I feel better, and after doing my regular cardio this morning, I feel almost normal...fatter, but normal! Lifting at lunch
Cheryl- Hard to believe the snow is gone after seeing pictures of Washington state!
How are you Ontario chickies faring? Are the snow piles up to the car tops yet?
It has been warm and rainy here- I'll need to give it another week before I go back up to the Poconos to ski. It's probably slush there too.
We acquired a Wii Sport and I've become addicted to Wii tennis. The result is tennis shoulder and tennis elbow, but I'm getting pretty darn good at it! It beats sitting on the couch, but I do feel a little silly playing video games!
Well I'm trying for one of my few clean eating days this month! There's been a few, but not enough. I think I'm slowly getting back on track.
Mel - the snow is pretty much gone here! Depends where you live but, while we had a lot for December, the rain and warmer temperatures for the last few days, took care of most of it. I'm sure it will be back though!
I'm feeling a bit under the weather with a sudden cold hitting me yesterday. It's not too bad but I'd rather be at home, than one of the few working people today. I'm thinking I might skip the gym and get some soup for lunch. I hope to be back at the gym tomorrow and Friday and then back to a sort of normal schedule after that.
I hope all you not-working people are enjoying the time off!
Hi from the frozen north. We have both tons of snow and frigid weather. -20F at our house this morning, and it's supposed to be below zero all week, daytime included! On the up side, it's 1.5 minutes lighter today.
I'm working 3 days this week, with a skelton staff. I have a bunch of year-end stuff to get done. THen the 4 day weekend involves a lot of work at home - from taking down the tree to moving all the furniture out of our basement home office and tearing up the old carpet. DH is going to lay new carpet tiles which likely won't take as long as either taking out or putting back the furniture! After that we move onto the sewing/craft room which has much more "stuff" to move, but at least not the electronics that are in the office (computer, DSL modem, wireless modem, and the boxes that run our DTV system - which is delivered over the phone lines).
Anyway, I've been slacking on lifting, and tonight will again be cardio. I think I'll pull out my NROLW and get back on that. I've got a long stretch - 2.5 months - that I'm home with no traveling. And all of my evening work-related commitments are spread out well. I should be able to keep a decent routine going.
It looks like I'll have made it through the holidays with minimal or no weight gain. Yippee! My "official" weigh-in will be 1/5, but the parties are over, and except for my birthday next week and our anniversary on the 22nd (which will likely be combined in one dinner out) there are no food landmines waiting.
I'm determined to be back at my goal weight before the end of June when I'm going on a cruise with 4 GFs.... in - don't laugh - SE Alaska! We actually fly to Seattle, cruise for 7 days and end up back in Seattle. It's a quilting cruise, and SE Alaska is mosly inaccessible by car so this is not as outrageous as it sounds.
Pat: That is cold! Oh my. Enjoy all your at home projects. I'm dying to get all of this Christmas garb put away but the boys wig out if I take it down before New Years. I'm hanging on for just a few more days and then I get my house back.
After three days in bed I finally made it back to the gym. DH went with me as well. Lets just say I'm still not completely recovered and my workout was less than inspiring. Thirty minutes of cardio and my plan was to do a yoga podcast for another half hour. So I go over to the mats only to find that someone has set up a circuit with kettle bells on the mats. The only place for me to begin core work was between these two kettle bell swinging kids. Thankfully they didn't drop one and my sons still have a mother to say hello to each day. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
I had major fun shopping the past two days. Most stores are having a Boxing Day sales not only on Boxing Day but the entire week between Xmas and New Year (I keep forgetting that there is no Boxing Day in the US - in case you don't know, it is Dec 26th well all stores are having a major post-Xmas sale and the whole nation goes shopping).
I went to the mall and within some 15 minutes, I found myself in a very nice leather boots (that unfortunately were NOT on sale). I was so delighted that they had my size, that I could get into them (always a big issue with my high instep) and that for the FIRST time in history, my Slavic calves fit into North American boots. I didn't really plan on buying boots, but I am sure you will all understand that I simply had to.
Then, since I had such nice boots, I decided I may as well start wearing a skirt - so let's find a nice skirt. And indeedy, I did. I found a section with black skirts, selected one the cut of which I liked but I knew it would be a tad big for me (so that you know, I used to sew all my clothing so I can pretty much tell if something is too big/too small for me) and I asked the sales lady if they would have the same skirt in brown. She asked what size, and when I asked for size 4, she declared, "Wow, you are SO TINY!" LOL it was such a riot; I was thinking if only she knew how many hours at the gym that cost .....
So that was a skirt that I didn't plan to buy either, but it fits me like a glove and is quite long (a rare find if you are my height) - so I had to get it, too.
And then I stopped at a leather store that was having a massive sale. It did not take me very long to find a rather cute leather trench coat (3/4 length) that I liked, except, ummm, size L was too big for me and there was too much room in the hips. The sales lady said, "you need a Medium" and immediately fetched it from the back. I put it on and it was just my size. She says "You are so tall and SO SLIM!" At that point, I thought SOMEBODY PINCH ME - maybe this is just a dream.
Okaaay, so I was not planning on buying a leather jacket either - but really, would you have left it there (at 70% off)???
So there you have it. I don't dare to check out my credit card balance
I am pretty much on plan with exercise and eating, so that part is fine, but today, soon after I woke up I found that something is wrong with my back. I don't know if I somehow pulled a muscle at the gym yesterday, but I have pain on the left side of my lower back (not a pinched nerve, it is not radiating, I only feel it when I move a certain way). I drove to Toronto today to visit a friend and the almost 2 hour drive made it a lot worse. Getting in and out of the car (we went to some more stores but this time it was my friend spending money) was agony. I don't know what's wrong and it does not look like it will be ok tomorrow (I was planning on getting on the treadmill).
Pat - stay warm!!!
Elisa - thanks for the latke recipe, yes, it is pretty much the way we make them, although we often add finely chopped sausage or bacon, some crushed garlic and a very generous amount of dried marjoram (rubbed between your hands until it is powder-like). Back at home, typically fried in lard.
Our snow is gone, too - two days ago it was 11 degrees (Celsius) and overnight, most of the snow in my backyard disappeared. There are still piles of snow in the street (from shoveling) but they shrank in size considerably. We had major winds and tonight, the wind is back - I heard on the radio that it's doing 80 clicks an hour.
Lydia - thanks for the cookie recipe - of course I had no idea what you other recipe you compared it to but I found it. Copied and saved for future use.
I think it will be an early night for me today because my back does not hurt when I am horizontal.
Wishing you all a good night.
I was so delighted that they had my size, that I could get into them (always a big issue with my high instep) and that for the FIRST time in history, my Slavic calves fit into North American boots. I didn't really plan on buying boots, but I am sure you will all understand that I simply had to.
Oh, Elena! I understand perfectly for the opposite reason. I've wanted boots for years and finally found some that fit last fall at an exorbitant price. But they fit! I have chicken calves (really strong chicken, tho ) and look like Olivoyle ( how do you spell that??) in most boots.
Congratulations! Yeah, if people only knew all the gym time and food vigilance. The phrase "you're so lucky" makes me see red!
I'm off to work..blah. But I have another killer leg workout scheduled for lunch
Lydia, hope you are back to normal soon. You've really had a long bout this fall and winter.
Last night I think I lost 5 gallons of water Eating clean for 2 days after a carb and sugar fest will do that.
Hi all, ok, today it really IS 50 and sunny here! We'll be wrapping up our trip in a few more days and I'm hopeful that I will not show a gain on the scale when I get back. In fact, I think it would be fairly impossible, so maybe a loss even? But it's hard to predict these days what my body will do so who knows.........
Location: Lyin' in a puddle of sweat on the floor.
Posts: 2,296
S/C/G: 235/201/175
Height: 5'7"
Elisa, sorry to hear about the cold. Hope you're feeling better soon!
Pat, SE Alaska is great to see by boat! Will you get to stop along the way to soak in the hot springs?
Lydia, glad all your parts are still intact, lol. I've always wanted to try the kettlebells, but I haven't gotten that brave yet. Maybe I should buy one and practice at home first, so I don't embarrass myself.
Alena, love the shopping trip story! Boots! I could see getting sucked into that one myself...maybe this coming year.. I have the big calves, too, from skating.
Kitty,
Mel, yep, the snow was crazy, but a few warm days took care of it. I'm using the term "warm" loosely there. You never told us about your skiing adventure.. how'd it go? I've been reading some of the archives, and found some old BFL posts from 2002 when you were just a baby lifter! Even then, you were kickin' butt in the weight room, though!
As for me, I'm just trying to get back to a normal schedule. I've been staying up too late and not going to the gym, even though I could now that the weather is back to normal. I've still been working out at home, but I just need to get back to the daily routine. When I get up on time and get my workout first thing, I just feel like the rest of the day is a lot more productive, KWIM?
Location: Lyin' in a puddle of sweat on the floor.
Posts: 2,296
S/C/G: 235/201/175
Height: 5'7"
Well, tried the 5x5 for my new workout, and discovered the reason why the cookie cutter strength programs only have 3 lifts per workout. It's because you spend more time resting than lifting, with only 5 reps per set, lol. Oh well, I'm learning by trial and error...lots of error.
Seems like I may have to stick with lighter weights for the bench press or come up with an alternative. I was home using DBs tonight for it, and only had a pair of 20 pounders, but was having pain in my wrist/forearm even with that. I might try the chest press machine that takes regular plates...maybe that will be easier on my forearm/wrist until it gets back to normal, and will let me work my chest with heavier weights? I also might try wrapping the wrist...that one has always been the first to tweak because I've crunched it so many times either skating or crashing the dog scooter.
Mel as a baby lifter? LOL I have to hit the archives as well. :-)
I am in a state of enforced inactivity and I am not liking it. Monday morning, when I woke up, I realized I had some pain in my lower back on the left side, and it was getting progressively worse during the day (3+ hours of driving did not exactly help). Even worse yesterday morning, so I went to a walk-in clinic in the afternoon and the doc put me on some anti-inflammatory stuff and said to ice it. Not feeling any better today and there is snow to shovel! Eek.
I will hit the treadmill as he said I should not be immobile. Wish me luck. I will go crazy if it doesn't go away.
By the way, if you are spending New Year's Eve at home like myself, here are some recommendations of really good movies I saw this past week:
Burn After Reading / The Duchess / The Women (-> this one is a chick flick)
Best wishes of a Happy and STRONG New Year to you all, and let's hope all the pains and aches will go away and we can give our best to lifting.
I love you all, and thank you for being such good friends.
Yesterday I ate completely clean for the first day since Christmas Eve.... I can honestly say I feel better, and after doing my regular cardio this morning, I feel almost normal...fatter, but normal! Lifting at lunch 
Hi from the frozen north. We have both tons of snow and frigid weather. -20F at our house this morning, and it's supposed to be below zero all week, daytime included! On the up side, it's 1.5 minutes lighter today. 
Eating clean for 2 days after a carb and sugar fest will do that.
hopeful that I will not show a gain on the scale when I get back. In fact, I think it would be fairly impossible, so maybe a loss even? But it's hard to predict these days what my body will do so who knows.........
I have the big calves, too, from skating.
