Morning!

Just starting us off this week which is, I hope, going to be a good one for all of us.

Autumn has arrived here and that's most of my news.

Still too busy but managing to fit in the gymn. Just as well. Wouldn't be coping so well otherwise.

Be kind to yourselves!

Hello all!

I'm doing much better now, and I'll be back on plan this week. I didn't do any weightlifting over the weekend, but I did play a lot of volleyball on Saturday and I can feel it in my calves (probably because I was playing in heeled boots).

I'm going to design a new workout/split for myself, but for this week I'll keep on with what I've been doing. One of the things I need to do is to figure out when to put leg-day (in comparison to my cardio).

Best wishes!

Hi all,

Meg, I ran the racks on Saturday and got to failure on my biceps. I'm not achy sore, but I feel it and it feels good!

Also on Sunday, I decided to move up my weight on the lat pull down and was able to complete 9 reps. Then when I finished my first set I realized that there was a 7.5 lb add-on weight on the stack so I had actually lifted 25 lbs more than I had previously lifted. That made me want to jack up the weights on all my upperbody stuff to really test my limits. All I can say is my back is really sore today and I am sure that my chest will be the same way tomorrow.

Instead of going back to a split, I will do another week with just one body part per day, testing strength and form so I can tear down the muscle and build some nice new strong ones.

Food is also on plan. I had tried steel cut oats w/PP and hated it. I decided to make some w/o the powder and just added vanilla, cinnamon and splenda instead. It was awesome. That has been breakfast for the past three days along with a side of scrambled eggwhites to add protein.

Tiki

The chain saw outside my office is going to make me nuts, sometimes I have such a low tolerance, but it is really just one more little annoying thing to me. LOL.

Successfully back in the gym this morning, did a really good upper body workout. I have to keep working on form though with some equipment so the cards with the notes and pictures are helping a lot. I am in better shape than expected after two weeks out.

NELIE - I go in phases with magazines, I grab my husband's magazines sometimes and have to agree with you that Shape has some good routines, now I am keeping all my notes in one place on cards filed by exercise. I am getting so organized. Sounds like you HFH was a workout.

LAURA - My ab routine is floor work as well as my favorite Pilates for abs DVD. I do leg lifts and crunches in various forms to keep it going. Also the decline/incline bench for crunches to get some isolation.

MEG - Our datenights at the gym are on hold until my MIL gets out of the hospital from her knee replacement, but I definately see it in my future. Right now my poor husband is running ragged between work and the hospital and taking care of her house and his brother and the SIL issues, at least his office has been supportive and I try to pitch in too. I need to get back on track before he shows up again.

Had a very good snack this morning, either it is late morning or early lunch, grilled a bunch of thick porkchops with a little spice shaken over them and I have been munching my way past the hunger. The carbs are getting cleaned up at my house. The fridge, freezer and cabinets got purged this weekend. I am in a very serious mode.

MEL - Hoping you have a real swift recovery, the inactivity is going to get to you, just stay strong. and walk away from the trail mix.

JENNIFER - Great idea on the storage in the cars. Hopefully you can get the basement mold problems settled and your equipment set up.

ILENE - We saw a ton of Tim Horton's while in Nova Scotia, made me smile to remember our great vacation.

Liza

Sugar cube - what's the name of the Pilates for Abs tape that you use? I have an intro pilates tape that still kicks my butt, so I might be able to work up to yours someday!

Yesterday went for what ended up being a 5 mile hike with a friend, and very hilly too. The hip flexors and calves are a bit sore today! Food this weekend was not the best, but it was ok. Weights tonight at home, and taking my start-of-challenge pics and measurements.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Hi there!
Another quickie post.

LKTS- I see you are from the Bay are a like hiking. You probably have done it, but one of the most fun hikes that my dh and I did last year was to take the ferry to Angel Island and hike to the top and back. I think it was about a 7-8 mile trip, but well worth it for the fantastic 360 degree views!

Nelie- I hope you've recovered from your Habitat Weekend. What a worthy cause to sweat for

Tik- How are the arms today? Steel cut oats and pp ended up like roofing tar when I made them. I used to only eat the steel cut, but have developed a taste for the regular old-fashioned variety. I think it works better with the pp.

Still no lifting for me, other than racking client weights. I do up to 25 pounds. The 45'ers my clients have to do so far today I've mostly trained people with dumbbells and cables, so it hasn't been a big issue. Tonigh I'm training a guy who uses 100 pounders on the leg press and he always racks his own weights after the first session together when we spent nearly half the time loading as many 45 pounds plates as you can on a leg press. I think that's about 20 on the main part, then another 6 up top.

I did 1/2 hour very light cardio and am trying to be really, really good with food! Ok, back to the gym

Mel

Howdy doody chickies and chickeroos! Beautiful Monday here, made all the better by the prospect of a massage after work. Not much to report ... board was in last week and hovering, so no trips to the gym. The sugar shark got me at the meetings, but I'm back on track now and feeling much better. I was thunderstruck by how much different I felt when I fell of the clean-eats wagon. I think I'm much more aware now than before, and it's awesome. It actually makes clean eating easier.

Have read with great interest about all of you running the racks and trying various combinations. I don't think I'm quite there yet, but it's a great goal. And Meg, I read the health article that you posted at the end of last week, about the gains made by 50-somethings. In particular I noted the sentence, "You can maintain a very high performance standard into the sixth or seventh decade of life," said lead researcher Dr. Peter Jokl."

For me, those decades aren't all that far off anymore, and I'm delighted to read this. Thanks for posting.

Oops ... gotta run guys.

Hey all,

Sunday I was still sore from doing Habitat for humanity on Saturday but I did manage to drag my butt into the gym. I was doing upper body stuff (chest and tri's) and I was fine until I did the cable crossover, something I have never done before but the gym was empty and I didn't mind hogging the cable thingy (whatever that entire contraption is called). Well last week, I tweaked my shoulder in that I worked out legs on Thursday and on Friday I went to do shoulders and on the very first exercise, my left shoulder started to bother me. Since the previous day was a leg workout, the only thing I could think of was that my shoulders didn't like my elbows/shoulders supporting my weight when I tried the "chair without a seat" where you support your body weight with your arms and do reverse crunches. Well on Sunday when I was trying the cable crossovers, my should decided to let me know it didn't like those. Oh well, I guess I weigh too much to be trying to support my weight on that stupid chair thing. My shoulder isn't bothering me today but who knows when I start working out, it might.

Today when I go to the gym, I'm going to try to get my body fat measured, I asked the other day about it and they said they could do it for free but before my workout (I asked after my workout). I know an estimate of it because it was 49% when I was about 355, but I am curious what it is now.

Can someone cheer me up and say that when they got started, they had to use really low weights? I didn't realize I had so few muscles! Maybe one day it'll make a good story - "yeah, when I started, I had a hard time benchpressing 7 lb dumbbells" - but right now it's depressing!

Mel - thanks for the hiking recommendation. No, I never have done the Angel Island hike, but I'll have to try it now! One of the great things about this area is all the scenic hikes and well-kept trails - plus there's hills, unlike where I grew up which is flat as a board! =D

Nelie - I just learned that my employer has a deal where you can get a "fitness assessment" done with bf %, measurements, etc. for only $75. I'm going to sign up and use it as my baseline. The gym I've been considering joining doesn't do that sort of thing, they're more no-nonsense, no frills.

I'm kind of discouraged right now. I got my body fat measured at the gym using one of those hand held dealies, it came out to 48%, which is 1% less than when I weighed 40-45 lbs more. Well I'm kind of thinking that either the measurement I had done a couple years ago was wrong or the one today was wrong or I've lost a LOT of muscle in the past 4 months, like 27 lbs out of the 40 lbs lost. I kind of find that hard to believe considering I've gained some muscle definition as well as a lot of strength. I wish I had done the measurement when I started going to the gym again then at least I could've had a comparison point.

I've actually been kind of in a funk lately and I was hoping that getting my body fat measured would help me. I haven't been following my eating plan perfectly but most days it is pretty good. Also I'm on the verge of TOM and it doesn't help, its been giving me a lot of cravings, which I've mostly been fighting.

I'll keep chugging along anyway and hopefully I'll feel better next week.

Oh Nelie! Try not to let that BF reading discourage you! You should be very proud of what you’ve done so far — please don’t let that stupid little machine take away your sense of accomplishment. You KNOW that your scale is down 40 pounds and you’re establishing new exercise and eating habits. Don’t let a number derail you!

I can think of at least three reasons why your BF reading(s) might not have been accurate:

First, to have any kind of accurate BF reading to compare over time, you have to have your BF measured by the same person using the same technique. Otherwise it’s like comparing apples and oranges. You said you had yesterday’s done with a handheld, but what about the first time? If it was with calipers or something else, the numbers just aren’t comparable. And since it was a few years ago, I’m guessing it wasn’t the same person? My opinion is to forget about your old reading and start with the one you got yesterday for comparison purposes as you lose.

Second, those handheld BF analyzers are notoriously inaccurate (as are Tanita scales, which work on the same principle). They send a weak electrical current through your body and, depending on how fast it’s transmitted, decide how much of the tissue is fat and how much is lean body mass. There’s a lot of error depending on how muscular you are, your age, gender, degree of hydration, time of day, if you've eaten etc. I just about had a heart attack the first time I was checked with one of those until I was assured that they tend to underestimate muscle and are biased against the way women carry their fat. With a handheld, I’m consistently about 6-7% higher than with a nine-site calipers reading (which I consider the most accurate). However, they CAN be useful for tracking trends over time, even if the actual reading may be skewed. And they’re very easy to use.

Finally, I’ve read that when we’re over a certain weight or BF % (like 40%), the readings aren’t accurate no matter how they’re taken. There's just too much fat to measure with any kind of precision, unfortunately. My first BF reading came in at 57% , but it probably wasn’t very accurate — but I still use it as my starting point, for comparison purposes. So it’s possible that both of your BF readings might be wrong simply because of the high percentages. As you lose more weight, you’ll get into the range where it is possible to measure more accurately.

I don’t think that there’s any way that you possibly could have lost 27 pounds of muscle. You’re lifting weights and eating well and if anything, should be preserving muscle mass. If not building it. Like you said, you’re gaining strength and muscle definition, right? Nope, I’m betting that almost every pound of the 40 that you’ve lost has been F-A-T!!!

Keep up the excellent work, Nelie! You’re definitely on the right track!!

Just a quickie post for you Nelie .... Don't let that BF reading let you down... Keep on keeping on girl! YOU know how hard you've been working so keep it up, it WILL come together someday, don't you worry. TTFN

Nelie,

What Meg and Lanai said! In spades! Meg's right, you can't compare two different tests done different ways. She's right that the caliper tests are the most accurate, barring the water immersion test. And she's right, if you're going to have your BF measured at this gym again, just take this as your starting point. (Meg's right a lot, as a general rule.. )

You said it yourself:

Believe yourself! You've lost fat and gained muscle, not the other way around. You can see it in the mirror and in the weights. You're doing good things, and having a rocky time, it sounds like. Keep on keeping on, you're doing great.

Linda C.

Nelie- Just another quickie to reassure you on the body fat test. The Tanita's are not accurate for practically anyone, the hand helds are a little better, and other than immersion, calipers are the most accurate. But none of them are the least bit accurate (except for water immersion) for anyone over 40%. Just ignore it and know that you are on the right path!

Hi EquiTammy! Glad you came out of lurkdom Sounds like you are off to a great start. I'm sure you and MrsJim, our other resident equine lover will get to know each other. The Yukon?? Got snow yet?

Mel