Whew! We were having some 'net connection probs, but looks like they've been resolved for now :)

The Smith machine is pretty controversial in some circles, but I use it on occasion - I like it for lunges and to try out different kind of squat positions (although I still prefer the squat cage). IMO it's just like any other piece of equipment - as long as you use caution, it can definitely be beneficial.

Audrey - forgot to add my WARM WELCOME to our group. It's always neat to have folks join us here! ;) I think I already said howdy-ho to Raven, but just in case...howdy ho! :lol:

Sel...Pumping Iron II is definitely on my to-watch list. About two-three months ago, Cinemax was showing it - but we didn't have Cinemax - now we do and I'm hoping they pull it out again so I can see it one of these days - or maybe ESPN Classics will decide to air it. I saw Rachel McLish' photos on the 'Net and recognized her from a film I saw on cable awhile back... :)

Right now I'm having Outlook issues - I think we have a gremlin in our servers somewhere - gotta run and see if I can fix it...

hey Guys and gals (esp. the newbies),

it's me the ghost it seems lately... I seem to finally be getting my life back on track and subsequently getting more net time. My Dad is still very ill and chemo is yet to prove any improvement yet so unfortunately we are just holding our breaths at the moment.

This week I got back on track food and exercise wise and decided that I am going to try and maintain my current loss (52 lbs) instead of trying to push my body further. I need to work out maintenance food anyways so now is as good a time as any. Soccer is going well and very enjoyable at the moment since it is light relief from the rest of my life! I started Grad school 2 weeks ago for my last trimester - YEAH!! Tax law and current issues are my final subjects.

I hope that everyone is doing well and working hard! I gave up my gym membership to save some money so the home gym is getting a good workout at the moment.

Karen - I realised that other day that french presses and skull crushers are the same thing so we share our love of triceps exercises.

Hopefully I can catch up with all the posts soon and be back on the replying wagon.

Hi to everyone new that I haven't met yet and especially the new Aussie! (I grew up in Melbourne)

Take care
JC

Oh no Meg...not to sound like a total suck up, but I should be your slave for all the inspiration you give me. I am trying to look like you for my 35th year of life! You rock!

Peace,
Paula

Hello everyone!
 

Took me forever to catch up reading posts- we are a wordy bunch. Hello to the newbies, aways nice to have fresh faces around. And JC! Have missed you, girl. Sorry to hear your Dad is still so sick. I know how hard that is.

I've been out of the gym all week, but did cardio Monday and today, and then a light weight workout. Almost total body in 30 minutes. kinda fun, didn't pick up a db heavier than 20 lbs. I just kept moving, and I'll probably feel it tomorrow. Eating stunk today, so it's a good thing I did a little moving.

Off work tomorrow and Monday, so I have a *real* long week-end. I have so many projects to finish up- I started dining room drapes a month ago and they're still in the infant stage- and my dd's home for the weekend with boyfriend in tow. It's going to be busy around here. Also I picked up a few more decorating/design jobs one of which is HUGE. I have no idea how I'm going to get all this done. I may have to join the really early morning workout crew when I start back to the gym next week.

I can't remember who asked- Paula maybe? no, I didn't grow up in Wisconsin, but went to college at Northwestern U. in Chicago. I used to escape urban living by heading north on the week-ends. I'm from Philadelphia, and after living all over the place in my teens and twenties, "came home" .

Have a good weekend all- I'm not sure I'll get to post or read tomorrow.

mel

I lost!!!
 

I got on the scale tonite at the gym, even though I am not supposed to until the end of C1 (BRx). But I could not resist. I was surprised.....I am down 5.5 lbs!! I realize the scale weight isn't overly important but that was still nice to see that.

Robin:cb:

Hidey Hey Mrs. Jim - yep, you gave me a nice noob hello a little while back. :) Hope you get your gremlins under control. If your family is like mine, the network being down or screwy can make everyone rather cranky. :eek: Welcome to geek central.

JC - I know I'm new, but I just wanted to say I'm so sorry your Dad is sick. I went through years of my mom having serious health problems before she passes away, though it wasn't cancer, it was hepatitis. It can be very emotionally exhausting when you care so much. I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers. I hope your Dad responds well to the chemo. :grouphug:

Robin- Congrats!! How long a period of time is C1, if you don't mind my asking?

Well I think I'm doing ok.. I blew off my aerobic interval yesterday (shame on me) because the night before I'd decided to spend some quality time with the BF - mostly talking about stuff which had been swept under the proverbial rug for a little too long in ye olde relationship. He loves those talks, yaknow? Anyway, ended up staying up past midnight, and since I have to get up at 5:30 just to make it to work on time, and 4:30 if I'm going to work out before I go.... well ... I figured I needed the sleep more than the cardio. Today, however, was a pretty decent lower body. I still feel like a dork doing lunges because of the balance issue, and the first set of squats always kills me, no matter how stretched or warmed up I am, and no matter how light the weight. Just the movement itself makes my body complain. But after I get through the first set, it feels very cool. ANYway... hope everyone is ready for the weekend, and has a great one!!

:)
 

Hey!! Whew… I am absent for a couple of days and I had a heap of catching up to do!!

Everyone seems to be talking about how much warmer it is getting, well…. For me it is pretty cool here!! And this is from a former Canadian ha ha ha!! I went to start the motorbike this morning to take to the WW meeting, and yep… 3 weeks of not being started, an almost empty tank and a cold morning meant she was NOT turning over. Oh well…. I am going to try again later today. Hubby had to run some errands, so I took the car and he went on his bike. Free day today… and I am enjoying it soooo much. Going to a cheapo Italian place for dinner tonight and I already had ice cream for lunch!! It just feels so naughty!!

Competition diets – I struggle enough with the BFL diet right now!! I am pretty confident that I am not going to head that direction. The thought of eating so restrictively to gain a moment of glory does not appeal to me. I have a great amount of admiration for those who have the discipline, but can’t see myself going to that extreme. I am too worried about the emotional reaction once I started eating normal again. Normal being the BFL style normal, not broccoli and brown rice all day!!


Matrix Movie – LOVED it…. Especially the Ducati’s, too bad it was the 996, would have been awesome if they had used the 999… just a technicality when you take 2 years to shoot a movie!! Ha ha ha…. I would have chosen the red one, but the whole bike scene was pretty amazing.

Pure BFL’er – Count me in!! Starting Week 5 of first challenge and I am so ‘by the book’ it is not funny. That darn books makes it’s way into the city with me to work at least 2 days a week!!! I also mentally copied the success journal into my head and use lots’ of the principles from there (3 good things about today, 1 thing to do better tomorrow) into my diary. I am really enjoying it and for now can’t see any changes, other than a new set of exercises starting for week 5 to shake things up.

Aussies – Hey JC!!! I am sure we will have to get some pm’s going about hints to do BFL aussie style!! Like the lack or non-existence of turkey??? I miss that so much from Canada!! My mom is sending a care package over with some sugar free jello (thanks Ilene for the suggestion) so hopefully that will help with the low fat cottage cheese intake. I have some friends coming over in October and will be meeting up with them in Sydney, so I might need some suggestions for accommodation and sight seeing, I have only ever been to the Sydney airport!! But I have made it to Canberra … it was… thrilling??

Well… hubby just got the bike going, so I am heading off for a ride. Have a good weekend everyone!!

Nola.

Hello Ladies and Gents :wave:

Well it's been a while since I have posted (don't worry if you don't remember me :lol: ) but I thought I'd just say hi.

Nola, I can't believe that you have been to Canberra but not seen Sydney. Oh you poor thing. :lol: When you do get to Sydney I totally reccomend doing the bridgeclimb I did it last Monday and it is absolutely amazing!!! :hyper: Check it out at www.bridgeclimb.com.au If you can arrange it, go up while the sun is setting so it will be dark by the time you get to the top. It's fantastic.

JC, I'm here for you, but you know that already. :)

I hope everyone is doing well. Have a great weekend. :D

Jayne

Good morning. gang! I hope everyone’s enjoying a long weekend (at least those of us in the US). I have a date with my weeds — if I don’t get them pulled, I think they’re going to start growing in the house. :D

As I opened the 3FC home page to get in here, I noticed this:

Guess what?! This is from the studies that Karen and I have been talking about regarding long-term weight-loss maintenance from the National Weight Control Registry, cited in Anne Fletcher’s Thin For Life. I thought it was very interesting — an average of 400 calories per day burned through exercise, the continued lower calorie intake, frequent small meals, frequent monitoring of weight — hey, it’s pretty much what I do. Really, the only difference I see is the low-fat, high-carb diet plan since I have found that I do better on higher protein and lower carbs. More “food for thought” regarding maintenance. I urge you to click on the link and read the whole article.

I made my trip to Ohio yesterday for my daughter’s 21st birthday — car loaded with balloons, presents, and cake. We went out to lunch at the local Ruby Tuesday’s, where there is NOTHING healthy on the menu, except the salad bar (and even there you have to be very careful). Everything was fried, with cheese, mayo, bacon etc. Even the soups were creamy and/or had cheese. So I did some serious damage to the salad bar and, of course, I had my cooler with me in the car.

I had an interesting experience when I stopped at the McDonald's that is half-way home. I went in for the bathroom (of course) and then got in line to get some coffee and a bottle of water. Up on the menu board were these huge colorful photos of desserts! It’s been a while since I’ve been in a McD’s and I didn’t realize that they had fudge brownie sundaes etc. So the :devil: voice starts whispering in my ear about ice cream and “no one will know”, “just this once”, “you can be good tomorrow” etc. As I stood there wrestling with the temptation, I began to look around at the restaurant and it suddenly dawned on me that EVERYONE in the place was enormous! Everywhere I looked were large people with huge amounts of food on their trays — multiple sandwiches, super sized fries and drinks. It stopped me cold. The ice cream temptation was GONE.

I’m going to run and do some cardio at the gym. Good to see the old faces and the new!

Meg

Hi Jayne and JC... Very Nice to see you again... I hope you get time to continue posting.... My prayers are with your father JC...

Meg -- Congrats on resisting the temptation... I have OFTEN been stopped in my tracks from ordering something in a restaurant, when looking over and seeing someone extremely overweight gobbling down fries and burgers or some kind of desert... OMG, I think, that will not be me!!
OR in the grocery store, have you ever looked at ppls carts?!! The overweight ppl have NO veggies of anykind, bags and bags of chips, and 5-6 loaves of white bread.... I'm very sorry if I'm offending any of the girls here that have ALOT of weight to loose, because I'm sure your carts are looking alot healtier these days.... Maybe this is a negative way of looking at things, but if this is for the rest of the family, I would think I'd see SOME type of veggie....Today when I go shopping I will look for an overweight person with healthy food in their cart....

This week I have not gone to the gym, and boy did I sleep.... I slept till 6am every morning, an extra 1.5 hours more!! Food was very good...And guess what I lost 2 lbs... go figure, no exercise, not even biking, and I lose weight I can't figure my body out...

Later all... I have some serious housework to do, I can't do it during the week because I'm working....

Ilene-

I had a similar experience yesterday at the grocery store. I've always been a "grocery cart ****"; yesterday I watched a severely overweight man standing for several minutes in front of the "Little Debbie/Hostess/Hoho" endcap display, trying to decide which one(s) to buy. I had the biggest urge to just say, "Don't buy any of them! Go to the gym!"

I don't say anything of course but it's a recurrent fantasy. ;)

Laura

hey all!

its been an OK week for me, despite missing LBWO and 1 cardio session. I've been watching my food and stuff as well, and tho I still slip up I am definately feeling that this is more of a lifestyle for me now than a plan :hyper:

Ilene, your body may just have relaxed and said "OK, we're not having to work like mad anymore, we can let that fat go"... the same thing happened to me over my rest week :)

Ive been enoying meals of veggies with CC dip and a carb of choice a few times this week... HEAVEN! I love summer/spring hehe Must go buy more carrots and cucumber and peppers :D

Even my SO who HATES CC loves my CC dip. I guess Im pretty lucky in that he isnt super picky :D

Even tho I have been missing a few WO's I am still losing weight (I cant believe it!) and its all down to the FOOD! I never would have believed it before starting BFL but it really is all about the food.. calorie counting and obsessing is no longer necessary! I am FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :dance:

Hope you are all meeting your goals :D

Tidey

Good morning everyone. :)

glad to see I'm not the only one who likes to "cart watch" in the supermarket. :lol: Then again I'm sure my cart raises a few eyebrows too, cause I'm often buying stage 1 babyfood meats for the cats. I hope the clerks at the checkout aren't paying attention cause those "babies" have been eating stage 1 for many years now <g>.

Meg, we noticed the same thing at the airport a few weeks ago... we had brought protein bars and whole wheat bagels with us for the trip and the long wait after getting thru security. We thought we'd see if there was anything healthy to buy at the airport (use up the Canadian change) and save the bagels for the flight (I had no hopes of wanting anything the airline would serve - gag).. and all the people in the Cinabun area were very large. Same for McDonalds. We found nothing healthy over there, except for the bottles of water. Congrats to you for fighting those demons. :)

Ilene, I've noticed that it often takes the scale some time to catch up to the rest of what's going on. Don't know why that happens. I'm happy if my clothes are looser first though... If Mr. Scale wants to be finicky and wait a few days to tell me the same thing that my jeans do, that's ok.

Well, I'm stalling. My last workout of the week is my least favorite. I opted for Sat instead of Fri, but I still have to get busy and get it done. My shoulders have to be babied, but they still need to work out. I will feel it for days if I use the 2# purple DB's instead of the 1# pink ones, so I know i have to go easy, but I stll feel quite like I'm not really working out with such wimpy weights. And I just hate to work the abs. I know how important they are, so I'll do em.. I just don't enjoy them. I'm taking suggestions for everyone's favorite ab routine. Maybe they'll grow on me. Calves, I don't mind.. that will make it bareable. I put this group last on purpose. Hoping the TGIF effect would help. Can you imagine dreading Monday morning's workout? I'd probably just want to rollover and go back to sleep.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone.

Tidey -- What do you put in your CC dip?

McDonalds has Brownie Sundaes now?!?
 

Well...let me get my car keys... (just kidding!!!) :lol:

I still think that McD's was better in the 60's, but hey, everything tasted better back then...pizza...cookies...etc. I often think that for me anyway, overeating, or craving those kind of foods (Kraft Mac N Cheese, Peter Pan PB on Wonder Bread, Good Humor bars, etc) are from distant childhood memories - trying to recapture those times. Of course, those foods never seem to taste the same - a classic example for me was about 2 years ago, during my 2nd BFL challenge, on my Free Day when I was craving Kentucky Fried Chicken (thanks to those Jason Alexander commercials...) because a memory popped into my head at one point - remembering how occasionally (VERY occasionally!) Mom and Dad would buy a bucket of Original Recipe (actually that's all they had back then...) with the taters, cole slaw, gravy, and rolls (this was back before they introduced the biscuits - trust me the rolls were MUCH better - I suspect they went to biscuits because they were quicker to prepare - yeast rolls take longer) and all of us would sit around the kitchen table - usually this was on a Sunday afternoon. WELL, I don't seem to recall the chicken being QUITE so greasy back then...the taters tasted reconsituted and just blahhh, the gravy was too salty and not as spicy...the biscuits were salty and flavorless too...not to mention I was sick to my stomach for a day after eating just two pieces. :(

Oh well...live and learn...

This has been an awesome weekend so far and it's just Saturday! :) Thursday night after work, I had a lesson with Dee Dee - it was BEAUTIFUL in Woodside - even at 6:00-7:00 pm it was still warm and just perfect. After my lesson, I hung out and watched another lesson - you can learn a lot by watching as I'm sure y'all know ;) until about 8:00 pm.

Friday (yesterday) I woke up at 4 am - went to the gym feeling nice and peppy, had a great arm workout, then since I had the day off I treated myself to an ENTIRE Spinning class with Curt who is the most awesome Spin instructor on the face of the earth (that I know of :lol: ). After coming home and taking a shower, I got some carrots and high-tailed it back to Woodside. Dee Dee was there by herself with the grooms - so I lent a hand. Norman is still there - his owners :mad: are supposed to be taking him to another farm south of here near San Jose. I took him for a nice long graze and then put him in the outdoor paddock - we needed to take him out of the stall he's been occupying for another horse that's coming in (whose owners will actually PAY board!). Norman seemed happy in the paddock - he trotted around and talked to the horses surrounding him, and just looked so gorgeous. I need to remember to bring the camera out on Monday and take some photos of him if he's still there. I am really going to miss him, but I hope he gets a new, more attentive owner...fortunately I can keep track of his whereabouts as long as his registration papers are transferred through the Registry... :(

All in all, yesterday was awesome - no lesson today because Dee went to the Brooks & Dunn concert last night - but on Monday (my day off!) I have an afternoon lesson :) Actually Dee said yesterday I could tack up Freight and ride him around the trails, but it was so hot yesterday - I thought he would appreciate a rest since he works hard during the week!

Hey - I cart watch too! It's amazing - the crap that people put in their cart - most of the time it's "for the kids". IMO, Oreos and potato chips are the LAST thing kids 'need'. One of my sister's friends (who also has kids - ALL my sister's friends have kids) actually had the temerity to say that kids NEEDED to have cookies and sugared cereals - that this was the only time in their lives when they didn't need to worry about weight, and also her theory was that if she let them eat whatever they wanted (she takes her kids grocery shopping with her and they pretty much pick out what goes in the cart!!) then they wouldn't become anorexic... :?: What kind of reasoning is this??? All she has to do is look at the kids in school today - LOTS of FAT kids. I mean FAT. And I bet you dollars to donuts that they are FAT because THEIR parents have the very same reasoning - what I think of as the "baby fat" theory - that 'baby fat' will just burn off. Pardon me, but I think I smell BS... I just thank God that my nieces and nephews are active in sports and have fairly good diets, although my sister does still buy PB and Wonder bread...(I think mostly for Jim though - he LOVES the stuff and doesn't get it at home!).

Tidey - you are so right on...really...while trying to lose weight - 80% of it is DIET, pure and simple. Of course to MAINTAIN a weight loss - you need to exercise. I see soooo many people at the gym who are there every single day who have not lost a single pound - at least as far as I can see. I think it's safe to assume that most, if not all of them, are pretty much eating your standard American diet - thinking that the exercise will offset any excess calories that are taken in...

Gotta run - Jim wants to check Craigslist now :s: I think we need another computer at home!!! :lol: