Hello everyone!

I have not been able to read up on all of you, as I was away on holiday these past few weeks. I'm going to read up etc, but just wanted to say that I was back first.
First of all, I hope you are all OK, as I have closely followed Katrina and her devastating effects these past days. The destruction seems incredible!

Hope this finds you all well, I am going to read up some now...

Lieke

Just read up and saw that all of you are more or less OK!

Happy belated BD Susan!

Pookie, I saw your posts elsewhere and saw that you have came a long way. My cousin has just had WLS ( a few days ago), she has been 160 kilo for a long time (352 pounds) and nothing else worked for her. In the Netherlands they usually only permanently shrink the stomach in even more extreme cases, so she had an elastic band placed. I hope it works, as it will change her life.

I was in Greece these past weeks visiting my 8 months pregnant sister and grandmother. I had a wonderful relaxing time.
We had a great time going to the beach and swimming with my sister (who refused to wear a one-piece and flounted her big tummy in a nice new bikini). The only downside being all these ignorant ladies commenting on my sisters pregnancy and (God forbid) swimming while pregnant. You would not believe the weird things people still believe about being pregnant and exercising (it is "dangerous for the baby and did my sister consult her physician", the water is "too cold for pregnant women", my sister "should wear shoes in the water which would make it more easy to walk when getting out onto the stony beach", "she should stay out of any sun" etc etc ... Although we had a lot of fun telling them off, ha! As our stretch of beach is a "family beach", this was the main daily entertainment for everyone within earshot, too.

Exercise: 2 weeks of swimming 1 1/2 to 23 hours a day
Food: Greek traditional, portion controlled mostly
Weight: will tell you tomorrow

Glad to be back,

Lieke

Hi LWL,

Lieke welcome back ! I think you must have a great time in greece. I hope you did not gain too much. I would, on that diet. I really love greek food.

It is glorious weather overhere. warm and sunny, quite unlike our usual grey and rain. I ran outside for 1 hour today.

rabbit

I made it through the weekend!

Not entirely OP but closer than any other weekend! I had 1 slice of apple strudel on Saturday with an OP rest of day. Then had some crispy seaweed and prawn crackers (both deep fried) and some white pasta! Then I had apple crumble with custard and I reallly really enjoyed it and didn't get all huffy about it! Most of all, I stopped at 1 slice of crumble and on Saturday I recognised that I was wanting to eat for the sake of it (I've been on my own this weekend) and stopped! Hoorah for weekends!

LBW this evening and back kick practice. I even did back kicks on Sat, but forced myself to rest on Sunday!

Looking towards a healthy rest of week!

Hi all,

Spent last week lurking more or less cause I spent most of my PC time checking out all the info on Katrina. Un-freakin-believable is all I can say about the storm, the government response time, the poor people that were unable to evacuate, the reporting, etc. I'm having a clothing drive at my house today for 4 families that made it out and got to Memphis, but have nothing left but what they had on when they jumped in their cars.

I got to the gym this morning so will have very sore legs tomorrow to go with my very sore chest and tris. Yes, I'm back lifting again and it feels great.

Happy Labor Day to all. Stay OP and UPBEAT all week!!!

Tiki!

WHOOOOOO BABY! That were a crackin' workout gromit!

My legs will barely be able to drag my sorry self up the stairs to work tomorrow! It better be a desk day tomorrow, none of this roaming up and down to the workshop! Oh yeah, then I get to take them kickboxing! They are going to HATE me!

Did, 3x10 squats, 2x10 split squats . 3x10 stiff legged deadlifts and 3x10 calf raises! I it!

I promised myself some apple crumble if I did my back kicks (which I did), but I worked out so hard I feel a bit ill now! Think a nice long bath is required and then a lovely early night. Hmmmmmm bliss!

: Peace out everyone!

WTG, 2F. I hear ya about the stomach issues - mine rebelled after my 45 min lifting + 30 min on elliptical session today. Tis ok now tho.

Happy Labor Day to all 'muricans and happy monday (or tuesday probably now) to everyone else. My gym was open today which I was very psyched about. I took the weekend off, essentially, and it felt good to get back in the swing of things.

Oh, I have a topic: what does everyone take for vitamins/supplements? I recently started taking flaxseed pills, which seems to be going fine. I know you can get it as the oil and take it straight or w/ stuff, but that sounds a bit gag-worthy to me. I also take a multivitamin, Ca/Mg/Zn, and glucosamine/chondrotin. I was looking into glutamine to help w/ muscle strength, but it seems pretty pricey per volume.

I take 500mg glucosamine with a cod liver oil and multivitamin. Then another 500mg glucosamine in the evening. I thought it had helped with my creaky spine, but it came back with a vengence last night!

I also have some flaxseed oil in the fridge... I haven't used it yet!

hi LWL,

I take multivitamin, glucosamine + chondroite for the aching joints, and calcium + magnesium for the bohes.


Tiki, Glad to see you back !! Over here I find myself utterly amazed at the Katrina cathastrophe. Imagine that they had two whole days AFTER the storm and then the dikes broke and the city was flooded. We have special taxes that we pay for the water management as the country is mainly below sea level. So if there is a storm, the guarding of the dike is intensified: Normally the dike guards inspect every dike at certain intervals, but if a bad storm comes they are sent out to check every kilometer of risk dike more intensively so that action can be taken (sandbags, bulldozers, neighborhood volunteers, the army if needed) to repair the dike if there is a weak spot.

Today I did 30 mins stationary bike and 40 mins UBW. my arms are almost falling off.

Have a great day all,
rabbit

Hi LwL,

about vitamin supplements, I usually only take 1 big multivitamin a few times a week. I have not had any great results using 1 single supplement for a long period of time, so I currently leave it at that. I really don't know what to believe any more as most of the articles I read do not have any scientific data or research like double blind studies on a lot of people (hundreds in stead of say 20) attached to them.
I do not seem to miss out on anything...

Tiki, Katrina is a major topic around the world, nobody actually seems to be able to get how HUGE the loss of lives and damage really is, it sounds unreal. I have been checking the news every five minutes to keep up, too.

Exercize today:
housework and throwing heavily sarcastic comments at my colleagues...sigh

Lieke

And why are we throwing sarcastic comments at the co-workers, Lieke?

I was a mean mom this AM. My crew woke me up at 3AM (they haven't started school yet) even though they knew I was trying to get enough rest to get up at 5AM to workout. So...when I got home from the gym at 7AM, I woke THEM up and made them fold laundry, clean the stairs and take out the trash. I bet they won't bother me tonite.

I hit shoulders this AM, ran for about 6 minute (trying to ease back into it) and did 30 on the elliptical.

Tiki.

Your kids haven't started school yet, Tiki? Ds started this morning. Yeesh, that high school bus comes early. He should be home any minute now.

Suuplements- I take BUCKETS, but most of them I started taking because of my fibromylagia, rather than for nutrition or because of lifting. I feel better, so I keep taking them. I do take a scoop of L-glutamine per day in my 10 am shake. It really does make a difference in the soreness of my muscles and recovery time. I buy the 1000g cannister of powder which usually costs around $40, but it lasts forever. I also take a multi, glucosamine, coQ-10, omega 3-6 oils, calcium, magnesium and zinc, chromium polyniconante, and extra C.

Today was cardio and light chest. My tendonitis is still bad, so it's hard to lift heavy. Maybe stupid to lift at all....

Mel

Hey all,

Just hopped in to say howdy. I've been pretty busy lately but I had a lower back injury that's sidelined me for a while, so I decided to spend some time catching up here at 3FC.

I take glutamine, it helps soreness, and according to the book The Diet Cure, it also has the added benefit of reducing cravings. I have
no idea if this has anything scientific to back it up, so please don't quote me on this one! I haven't used it for that, just for the soreness, but I thought it was worth mentioning. In case it's true.

Mel, tendonitis is just no fun. I had it in my elbow last year, and a series of ultrasound, e-stim and acupuncture helped a lot. Hope you feel better soon.

Thanks all for staying out here & keeping everybody motivated.

Jennifa

Mel -- I feel for you with the tendonitis. I had it in my elbow and it still bothers me once in awhile -- like when I do biceps, or if I am doing lunges and holding DB. Does it ever completely go away?

Tiki -- You did what I have wanted to do many times!

Today was legs and cardio. I'm doing much better on squats.

Luanne

Poor Mel.

You know how I was saying I wasn't getting sore... Well I take it ALL back! All of it! Please just make it go away! I also understand the crane for the toilet! I feel well and truly worked out! Split squats RULE!

Did an hour kickboxing last night. Almost mastered the back kick. More practice tonight and tomorrow and the next day... Only 7 more lessons till my grading, when I should be an orange belt! YAY!