So I look like a chipmunk now but thank god those wisdom teeth are gone. The bottom two were impacted so it was a bit more of a procedure than I had thought it would be but oh well... I now have a wonderfully square jaw just like the govornator :)

Ugh, sorry to hear about the restless leg syndrome you're going through Ilene...do you think it is possible to have restless butt syndrome? :) When ever I lie down I kind of flutter my butt muscles really fast...maybe I'm getting a workout out of it :P What do you think... hehehehe

MrsJim - you would recommend turbotax? I've always done them by hand but I'm thinking of breaking down and getting it this year. The only thing is that with my husband being Irish and still not having a green card it's a little complicated. I've even thought about going to an attorney but I hate to spend the money! I'm as cheap as they get :)

JC - I wouldn't worry too much about the heart rate. Firstly those machines are questionable and secondly...Greg LaMonde 28bpm resting...now there is an athlete!

I've always been the short one out of my group of friends but around you guys I positively feel like a long legged goddess at 5'6"!! Woo hoo! :)

Well hello to everyone and hope you're all having great days!

Melissa

excuse me but ... um who is Greg LaMonde?

JC

Only the world's best cyclist :) 6 time tour de france winner and world champion 7 times. Absolutly amazing! I'm a bit of a cycling fiend if you can't tell :)

Couldn't go to bed tonight without a huge thank you to everyone. You guys pulled me through another day. I was within 50 calories of my daily goal, and when dinner was done, so I was I. My bu**'s been dragging, so I'm off to get a good night's sleep. I think if I can do that, and get up in time to rack up some quality treadmill time, I can get myself turned around. But in a funny way, this was a red letter day!

As you noted, we learn a lot in the tough times. I MADE SURE I ate enough real food today, and as a result, I simply couldn't eat junk. I was just too full, and thanks to our many conversations about really listening to oneself, I simply KNEW I was full. (Quite a revelation in itself :) )

Can't turn in without urging you all to check out yesterday's Skinny Daily Post on "automating good health." Julie talks about changing habits, which is one of my pet projects (see my signature).

She says: "The hardest part of losing a big chunk of weight and keeping it off has been remembering to work at it every day. The longer I keep my weight off, the harder this is, for some reason. When I'm most myself, I'm completely immersed in my work and hobbies and family and friends. Time flies by, and I haven't attended to my body at all. I haven't eaten well, and I haven't exercised." That's me in the last week, and I can sure tell the difference. So, tomorrow it's back to consciousness.

Thanks again everyone.

I have a friend, who happens to be from New Zealand, who is a runner and has a resting heart rate of 38! He also has very low blood pressure... He runs at least 10 miles a day and is in great shape.
Cindy

hmmm my blood pressure is 110/65 so damn it I may actually be fit!

It's amazing how you see yourself as unhealthy and fat even though things have changed! Self perception is a crazy thing....

JC

Robin, hang in there. I am having that kind intense week at work as well. I'm organizing and hanging a competive student art exhibition-it's intense. Hope you got your workout in this a.m. I won't get to workout until this evening but it's yoga class tonight and good food all day. I hope your day is good too. Good morning to everyone.

Melissa - I have used turbotax for the past 3 years and absolutely LOVE it. You can also do it on the web without installing the software on your PC. and fluttering buttcheeks? makes me think of those dern near R-rated music videos.

Robin - welcome back to consciousness. I am looking for your post about how well your treadmill session this AM went.

I almost had a bad food night. I made a pot of spaghetti for the crew w/ ground turkey but I didn't buy the Jennie-o brand, I got another brand and forgot to read the label. This brand had twice as much fat but only 1 gram more of protein. I really wanted spaghetti and did eat two bites, but then opted for two healthier turkey burger patties with lettuce, grilled onions and fat free cheese. Then I chased me out the kitchen. Whew!

Today starts the lifting part of the week. Abs and shoulders are today, followed by 40 minutes on the tread. The gym bag is packed and in the car and I'm ready to get down!

Peace. Tiki.

Ilene- interesting, about the restless leg syndrome,never heard of it before. it's strange your doc would tell you to take calcium AND magnesium, they are actually andicdotes of each other. On the maternity floor, we gave magnesium to moms who were in danger of preeclampsia because it's a nervous system deppressor (prevents seizures rt preeclampsia) and the anticdote for overdose was calcium- which in high doses has the opposite effect of magnesium, causing hyper reflexes, seizure, etc. i wonder why he said to take both, that's interesting.

well, was doing so good yesterday with my eating. then after a healthy dinner, i blew it! i had made SF jello the night before, ate half and saved the rest for the next night. but last night instead of going for the leftover SF jello, i went for the CCCD ice cream :s: :mad: i didnt' have that much but i felt like crap afterwards, like i blew the whole day. after i just finally broke under my 175 plateau! well, off to the gym today for an intense leg workout, hopefully that will take care of it! ;)
tootaloo!
-E

Sgt Airegrrrl reporting for duty! 45 minutes on the treadmill, done! Clean lunch packed and in the frig. Remembered to bring in extra protein bars; I save them for absolute emergencies. This week qualifies. Have myoplex PP at the ready. Absolutely no reason to go astray. Brain feels better.

Ledom, hang in there. Everyone hang in there.

As for tank top weather. Now, would I wear that top under or over my long silk underwear :lol:

And we're off and running for another day!

Good morning LWL!

Well today I finally resisted the lure of the cardio (probably because I actually am trying to avoid shin splints this time around) and did back/chest/shoulders. I was, again, kind of disappointed at how far backwards I've had to go on weight BUT I quickly moved out of that into the here and now and did my thing. And it must have been a fairly decent thing because I could barely hold my arms up to wash my hair or even enough to type comments in the journals this morning without them being all wibbledy and quivery and wanting to fall down to my sides. Saturday will be cardio and biceps/triceps, Sunday will be legs.

Elasky - I agree with you completely about the calorie counters being off. I've learned to disregard them as any indicator of much of anything I just know that if I work out regularly, watch my intake, and drink my water, the fat goes away. Good enough for me. :D I will admit to being slightly obsessive about other numbers, but not that one.

JC - I'm low on the pulse and blood pressure, too. Always have been. As a matter of fact, after I had my first child, they took my resting BP at 80/50. It's a mixed blessing, I have cold hands and feet when the temperature dips, so everyone teases me about being a weenie when it gets cold. Genetics is a big part of all this, as my Doc is always quick to point out. I guess I got good genes!

Airegrrrl - I've been slowly learning to identify "real" hunger over the last year or so. Just a couple weeks ago I had an interesting experience where I sat down to dinner late.. I hadn't been able to have a snack, and I was simply ravenous. I ate a little too fast, and the strangest thing happened. My tummy was saying "ok, I'm full" but I was still getting all those "eat, eat, EAT!" signals from my brain. I wonder how many times in the past I would have let the "eat" signals override the "full" feeling and just kept going. This time, of course, I just gave myself a few minutes to catch up, and I was fine. And something else.. I've found that slowly, certain things are starting to be more second nature than something I have to think about constantly. That's been a long time coming.

Today is a good day, it's PAYDAY! :D :D :D Hope everyone else is having a great day, too!

Good morning ladies! I had a great cardio this morning - in fact, I was planning on doing two intervals at a faster pace, only to realize I was already on my last one! Usually I am aware of every single minute, so I see that as a good sign.

I also did do a couple of minutes of treadmill lunges today. I'll need to ease into it - believe me, I was feeling even those few! 1 mph at a 6% incline seems to work well for me, and even then, my back leg is hitting the edge of the treadmill just as I'm lifting it. Guess I should wear the saftely thing just in case! One of my coworkers actually got thrown against the wall the other day - I didn't see it, but heard about it! Funny to think about in hindsight, since he's ok, but not really if it were to happen to me!

Mel - question for you - after the t-lunges, my ITB on the left leg was very tight and slightly painful. Any ideas why? I have problems with tightness on that side - part of what causes my knee problem, and I do stretch it after cardio, 3x/week.

Robin - glad to hear you're well prepared for the day - upward and onward!

Tiki - good for you on avoiding the bad food night!

Elasky - the good thing about your slip is that it will help with negative reinforcement - who wants to eat things that make you feel like that? Eventually that will outweigh the perceived pleasure of eating the sugary thing. That's why I won't touch anything with sugar in it anymore! I just wish that bread and crackers would make me feel that badly!

Well, back to work - have a great day!
Cindy

Cindy- Do you have problems with your ITB doing regular lunges or squats? If not, I don't know why the t-mill should be any different. My only suggestion would be to do a 5 minute warmup walk, then stretch it with the crossed leg bend at the waist stretch, then do the lunges. Or try them with less of a gradient and see if that makes the difference.

Elasky- Calcium and magnesium are usually given togther because 1 increases the uptake of the other. That's why they are used as antidotes if there is too much of one or the other in a patient's system.

Ilene- I've also heard of potassium and tryptophan used for restless leg, and mild-antidepressants as a sleep aid if nothing else works.

I'm suffering from very sore legs :D Very heavy leg workout yesterday, then a racquetball game. Feels good to be sore again! I've been doing higher volume, lower weights on legs for the last few weeks because my quads were getting huge. Yesterday was fun- it's nice to know I can still push the poundage.

Mel

Goooood morning y'all! :)

Melissa - about Turbotax - I LOVE it. This year I used the online version - you might want to try it as you don't have to pay for it unless you actually file your taxes. It's pretty cool for someone who is 'mathmatically challenged' like yours truly :lol: - it's done on a question-and-answer format and breaks everything down quite nicely. I'm no CPA but I HIGHLY recommend it.

Robin - I'll have to read that Skinny Daily about automating good health. That's pretty much what I've (unwittingly) done all along. You wouldn't believe how many people at work ask me "HOW on earth do you haul your butt out of bed at 4 am every morning??" and well...at this point my eyes just pop open, I look at my clock and it's generally around 4:00. (of course having a demanding boy-cat biting my arm asking for his morning breakfast doesn't hurt either). Same for grocery shopping - unless I'm planning on making a certain recipe, I don't use a shopping list - I just go to Safeway and get my staples...eggs, oatmeal, chicken breast (if it's on sale I buy a ton of 'em and freeze them!), veggies, fruits, etc. (Also a couple of big bags of carrots for Dakota and his buddies!) It's just force of habit at this point.

Had an awesome cardio session this morning - 45 minutes - and looking forward to a great day! (except for the fact that I have a dentist appointment this afternoon to have a couple fillings replaced - ugh).

Where's Miz Dip?
 

Hey Dip -- are you around? Most mornings you're up as early as I am and I missed seeing you this AM. I know you were having a few tough days and hope today's a little better for you. :) You know if you ever need a helping hand, we're here for you. :grouphug: