Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Rise and shine! Show a leg! It's a new week.

Party report: fruit kebabs (what are a few vowels between friends?) were a big hit – thank you, Meg. (Robin – thanks for your beans and tuna idea too, have only just read your post. Next time, I reckon.) Bread eels were thought very cool by the under-10s. I spent most of the time in the back garden with the children – kept me moving and away from very unsuitable food and drink and wasps in the front garden. I think I had more fun too.

I’ve been to the gymn: legs and bottom and cardio. I have the endorphins to prove it!

Mel – fingers crossed that the antibiotics sort out your son, and he doesn’t get anything else because of them.

Have to go. £££ to earn. Off to London tomorrow for a few days. Hope to come back quite light-headed!

Good morning, LWL

Sb, glad you had a good time and the fruit kebabs were a hit.

Susanje! I saw you snuck in at the bottom of the old thread- welcome back!
How's life in the legal profession? Do you have time to breathe? Hope all is well for you and this year has been notably less exciting than last year. Stick around

I'm off to the gym in a few minutes. Clients spread through the day, and I'll sneak in chest and tri's and some cardio. A friend lent me Lance Armstrong's second book "Every Second Counts" on CD which I've been listening to while on the elliptical or cross-trainer. It's hard to complain about how tough 45 minute of cardio is when you are listening to him describe riding 5 hours in a rainstorms uphill both ways

Eating was OK this weekend. One great day, one not so great day. So on the whole, I'm just "ok".

New week, fresh slate, have a good one!

Mel

Good Morning Silver, Mel, Jack

Beaut of a Monday morning here~!! The weekend was good = food and exercise wise!

Welcome back Susan !!! Nice to see you here!!

Mel -- How's DS??

Jack -- Your posts always make me smile ...

Silver -- congrats on being so good at the party... Happy to hear that the kabobs where a hit! You know, I always appreciate the healthier foods when I go to a party now, most people do too, they just don't want to admit it!

Well off to bike to my Ma and Pa's for a visit... TTFN...

Thanks Mel and Lanaii1. It is so inspiring to see how many people are still here and how many new people have joined (this group is about 4 years old now? Karen? Help me out...). Anyway...

My first year in the legal profession (and in Texas) has been good. I was scheduled to take the February NY bar (I think I wrote that I passed Texas in November) but went to trial (we won a 5.6 million dollar judgment) and had to postpone the bar....then I went right from that to another trial in June (we settled out of court) and then in July I studied for the New York bar. Went up north, visited with friends and family (my first grandson was born June 28th!!!) and came back to Texas last Thursday. I joined a new gym here (Lifetime Fitness...the mother of all gyms) and am back in the fitness saddle.

Speaking of saddles...my daughter went to camp and discovered horse back riding...we're looking into riding lessons for her...she is completely non-athletic and yet took to the horses like she was born to it....so I may be asking for some horse back riding enlightenment (Karen!!)....

Anyway, I lost 80 lbs in 2003 (my accident helped with motivation because the weight stalled my progess in walking) and I just gained back 4 lbs. It scared the **** out of me so I'm back in training. I am lucky enough to have 2 personal trainers at work who give me freebie advice.

My food is packed and I'm off to litigate something.

woo hoo!!!

I haven't really replied to the "Week of" threads before (still sorta newbie-ish), but I thought I'd start this week. Hope nobody minds!

Last week was a great one for me. Stayed on plan with eating every day except Saturday (which was counteracted by tons of walking) and lost 4 pounds. Have no idea how the latter happened, but it may be just an after-plateau effect. I'm not gonna argue with it!

I've been trying to shake things up at the gym. Mel suggested drop sets for my lifting, which I did to great effect (and not insignificant pain the next day!!!). I've also been upping my cardio sessions to 40-45 minutes from 30, and added some interval training on the elliptical, which has been both fun and challenging.

Off to Boston on Thursday for my company's Annual Meeting, which goes through the weekend. There will, of course, be lots of temptations there (the hotel has a "Chocolate Bar" on Saturdays, with *50* chocolate desserts. I may need to be restrained!), but they also have a full-service gym with weights, so I should be good to go.

Have a great one, everybody!

p.s. Meg, sorry to hear about your son! I hope the Lyme Disease goes away quickly!

Happy Monday morning LWL!

Just popping in to say "Hi!" Spent the weekend in Michigan to celebrate my best friend's 40th b-day, and am now paying the price with sugar-hangover and lack of sleep! Did get my butt to the gym this morning though - less than great workout, but at least it was something!

Once I shake this fog I'm shooting for a perfect 4 weeks before our next shindig - a friend's husband's 50th surprise party over Labor Day weekend.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and is off to a great start this week!
Cindy

Hi Jennifer! I’m newish here at LWL too. I’m also fairly new to weightlifting in the gym; still on my introductory weeks there.

Did a combination set today which included squats, bench press, one arm dumbbell row, and stomach. Too hot in the gym – even though I did get there early.
I still get a kick out of the squats.

And I’m still being really careful with all my movements when I’m in the weightroom. I know I’m being watched (or maybe I’m just paranoid), and I'm a real klutz – so I concentrate hard on not dropping dumbbells, stumble and fall, fall off benches, walk into stuff, etc.

Hi all,

I had a pretty decent weekend, I actually got quite a few things accomplished which is good considering I don't get a break from work for the next 12 days at least. I will be able to fit in exercise after work this week (I hope) but I doubt this upcoming weekend that I will be able to get to the gym. I didn't go to the gym yesterday mostly because I was doing chores and various work things. I did manage to do a belly dancing cardio tape though for exercise.

Mette, I have also been known for being clumsy but I wouldn't worry about people watching you. Just do your own thing and who cares if they are watching you?

Teapot, Mette and Nellie.... If I haven't already done it WE LWLers are so happy you've decided to join us... sooooo WELCOME, WE LUVS NEWBIES!!! ....Your enthusiasm is infectious so keep coming back!

Susan! Glad to see you back! So your daughter is into riding now eh? TX is a mecca for horses of course...and it's a lot less expensive than here in the Bay Area! (well, pretty much EVERYTHING is less expensive than here... ) What kind of riding is she doing? Western, dressage, hunt seat? I just bought my *own* saddle a few months ago - a Barnsby Whitaker close-contact mode. VERY comfy

Even though we're not in TX, it was pretty HOT here this weekend - temps were in the 90's, with more of the same expected this week...had a really good weekend - the usual stuff - riding, horsing around, going to the gym, housework - also had my first Pilates Reformer session on Saturday afternoon. Am I becoming a Pilates nut or what?!? I'm finding that it's a great supplement to weight training, as well as horseback riding (which is the reason I got interested in Pilates in the first place).

On Friday, my sister gave me some really nice clothes (she's getting ready for her new fall purchases) - mostly J. Crew but also a pair of Lucky jeans which were really cute! She had a pair of Seven jeans, which I guess are the HOT jeans (or were...brands change on a dime these days) but unfortunately I don't have the kind of butt that looks good in Sevens, so gave those back to her...

Gotta run - our AM meeting starts in less than 5 minutes! Whoosh!

I have been beyond busy...going and going
Food was ...OK... this weekend. I am maintaining. so... better than gaining for sure.

Teapot: 50 CHOCOLATE DESSERTS!!!! Um.... That could be very dangerous!! (for the people standing between me and the Chocolate!!!!)
No way I could handle that... Can you say RELAPSE!! I have to completely avoid that kind of thing...
Lordy be....

I am feeling spry and on=target and hoping to do little better with the diet this week.
Blessings all!
XOXO
L2L

Happy Wednesday LWL!

Where is everyone? Is there a party somewhere else that I don't know about?

Just wanted to pop in and say "Hi!". Things are going fairly well for me this week - workouts on track, and food on track yesterday. Had a big blow-out weekend in Michigan which was for a birthday party, so you can just imagine what the food was like...

But, back on track this week - the next shindig is Labor Day weekend, and if I'm good for this month, I'll let myself have another free weekend while I'm there.

A comment about getting back to basics - I've been very schedule challenged lately, which usually means I'm not planning meals as well. Well, last night it occurred to me that just because I didn't have an entree prepared and waiting for me in the fridge, that I don't have to eat junk. Instead I took a cup of cottage cheese, dumped about 1/3 cup of salsa in it, and ate it with 1 oz. of baked Tostitos. It was a quick, easy and pretty clean meal. And it was instant gratification. I used to eat this meal often last year (summer), and had pretty much forgotten all about it. I think I'll go back and look at my food diaries from last year and revisit some of those old favorites. Back to basics instead of trying to make it so exotic all the time!

How is everyone else doing?
Cindy

Cindy, thanks for the salsa/cottage cheese recipe. I was just wondering last night about ways to add protein to chips and salsa, and there you are w/ a good idea! I guess it's true, you can add cottage cheese to anything!

I've been ok, running again but not lifting yet. I'm trying to decide between two gyms in my area, both of which have their good and bad points. I suppose I should just pick. Hope everyone else's Wednesday goes well.

Hi everyone
Just got back from a grueling leg day. My hamstrings already ache, so I know the next two days are going to be even worse. Mixed in a lot of plyometric jumps, supersetted with heavy lifts for a total sipe-out workout. I've finally gotten then jumping to the point where I don't feel like I'm going to crash, fall, or make such a racket that everyone in the gym comes running. I was pretty pleased with how nice and quietly I was jumping onto the high platform when my boss yelled across the gym "Hey Mel! You're getting good at that!" and had everyone staring at me anyway I think I'm going to go soak in the hot tub for a bit before I eat again, then head back to the gym for a new evening client. Ugh- why do these people have day jobs and expect ME to work at night? I'll probably be so sore by then I won't be able to demo anything.

Cindy-Welcome back from your travels. You're right, no need to constantly be experimenting with food and exotic recipes. Tho that's fun, too. My staple shen I just don't feel like being bothered is the good old oatmeal/eggwhite pancake. You can add fruit, vegies, herbs or sf syrup. No bother, quick to make.

L2L- lol, I'll arm wrestle you for who gets to the buffet first!

Hi Nelie, Mette and Teapot! Stick around with us! The more the merrier.

Susan- Glad you've lost the weight and feel better. I remember you really had a string of disasters to contend with. Sounds like you've been super busy- duh, you're an attorney! Did you ever take the NY bar? My dd is in the process of gathering info and applying to law schools....sigh...more tuition.

Gotta go jump in the hot tub before the thunderstorms hit and I become the local lightening rod! Hi Karen, Jack, Ilene, Tiki, DIP (are you there?), Robin, and every one of you wonderful folks!

Mel

Hi all,

CRAZY week for me here. DD got to ride ponies this weekend and I thought about you Karen. She LOVED it. Asked why we didn't have a horse? Like I could just go out buy one, and stash it on the sun porch. Her friend lives on a farm west of the metrodetroit area so I foresee more trips out there.

No lifting this weekend or this week so far. PLENTY of cardio on Saturday and Sunday in the form of relay races on Saturday and swimming laps on Sunday. I hit my bed like a ton of bricks both nights.

Did anyone see the article in the Wall Street Journal today about fat making a comeback - healthy fats that is? It's pretty interesting. I'll look for an electronic link and post it.

whoops, here comes the bossman.

more later.

Tiki