Weekly Workout Thread 11th Dec till 17th Dec

[galeteia]

Mara, I braved the site again and slogged through all the customizations. The key was apparently to remove all their suggestions and just put in my own.

I was right, I was way low on my cal intake. I was barely squeaking 1000. I added in some chocolate (oh darn!

) which helped and I''ll see what sort of fruit I can pack in there... maybe some of my fruit supplement shake.

I also switched all the exercises and added several days'' elliptical workouts, which it overestimated (unless my machine is off) which I will compensate for in the future by shaving the time off.

So it was just a matter of getting rid of all of the stuff they were trying to suggest for me. Their suggestions made sense, they just weren''t the right thing for me.

The calorie tracker is very handy, seeing as you can search for what you ate and it will give you an estimate. I ended up having to add a bunch of things that weren''t on the list, but since they ask for all of the Nutrition information on the backs of the products anyway, it still gives a record.

Mara, I didn''t mean to disparage the site you recommended, I just get frustrated with computer transactions that don''t allow for my ''quirks'' like being Canadian, my back issues, or being allergic to wheat and milk. Need I mention I utterly failed Home Ec because I treated dairy products like rat poision?

 

[Rod]

Hey All..........It was a super long day. I managed to start my new job just in time for the annual two day planning session for the coming year at the bosses house. Quite a house too. 15,000 square feet on 7 acres with enough splendor to write a book. But they wanted to start at 8 sharp and we didn''t finish until 6 PM. We''re starting at 8 again tomorrow morning which means I have to get up at 6 two days in a row. Rod is not a morning person. Then I went to the nice gym, bought our one month membership and here it is 9:30 and we''re just getting home from our workout. It was a good workout. The usual machines, free weights and 45 minutes on the elliptical. We''ll go again tomorrow after work. Things are so much more spread out in Raleigh. We do miss the convenience of the gym in Tampa and how close it was to work and home. But the benefits of working out outweigh the inconvenience of getting to the gym, so I''m glad we''re still working just as hard here as we did there.

Asscherisme: Good to see you on this side of the forum. The general rule is that a person should do cardio at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes. I''m a bit excessive at nearly 6 cardio sessions a week for 45 minutes each session, but it had done wonders for my health and wellbeing. Anyway.....welcome to our healthy family.

Have a great night everyone

Glad to hear you''re feeling better Mara!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Oh now this all makes more sense about replacing the defaults with real input on the Sparkpeople site--I wondered what the hell was going on there!!

So today I had:
- cup of decaf w/ whole milk and splenda
- 1/2 cut fiber one w/ 1/2 cup skim and a banana
- 20 peanuts
- ham sandwich (brought from home so it wasn't one of those huge deli monstrosities) and baked lays
- orange
- 3 oz of whole wheat pasta w/ meat and vegetable sauce made by the happy hubby
- ONE double dipped dark chocolate covered malted milk ball (

)
- and one *hefty* glass of wine (this client is KILLING me... )

I wonder if this thread will turn into "true confessions" from a food standpoint for me, LOL. But I figure if I make myself disclose what I eat in "public" I might be more compelled to be good. If I had to tell the world that I sat down and at 6 carmel Ghiradelli squares in ten minutes I might be less inclined to do it!

Starting next week I will try to stick to the WW core plan, which I have done before and it works really well for me--if I PLAN. I promise when I get to that point I will stop posting every thing I eat...

BTW, Mara, thanks for clarifiying the size thing in my "bigger pants" thread. When I thought you went from a ten to a two I was like--WOAH!!!

 

[galeteia]

DeeJay, I admit that I keep in mind that I will have to ''report'' on my daily exercise and food intake, so I take advantage of that when it comes to being tempted. "Do I want to admit I ate this to the WWT? Eep!"

And yes, once you ditch the defaults and put things in yourself, it all makes sense!

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Been so busy this week....gotta get to the gym PRONTO

KEEP ON TRACKin

 

[Tybee]

I did fifty minutes on the elliptical,
followed up an upper body free weight session.
Then I cleaned up and went to DH''s office Christmas party.
I made sure to eat a healthy snack before leaving. I think that was key. Wasn''t too hungry there, and not too
excited about their food options. Yes, I did drink a lot of wine, but that''s me, that''s what I do!
I''m looking forward to having time off work so that I can spend more time at the gym!

Dee* Jay, 20 peanuts? That made me laugh, not in a mocking way, but in a sweet way!

 

[Mara]

so went to the gym today...it's been kind of hard for me this week because i am not as motivated mentally to work out since i'm tired but i'm glad i went yesterday and today. and today i went 20 minutes longer than i intended to so that was good. i didn't want to totally push it today but i felt pretty good. so i went 50 minutes on the elliptical and burned 460 calories.

for dinner tonite we had TJ's pizzas and split a salad. dessert was a 10 cal jello cup, i love these things, hahhaa. lunch i had singaporean food with a girlfriend but i had a veggie dish with snap peas, mushrooms and rice and an iced tea. the roti prata was a little greasy but i tried to dab most of the oil off, lol. and no dessert. for snacks today i solely had some of the fiber cereal i'm currently obsessed with. that stuff is good by the handful. hahaa.

so after lunch today i went to loehmanns and i tried on some jeans. my new obsession is jeans...haha. maybe because it seems like i can try on almost any pair and it looks good. and my jean size went down once again. so it was pretty positive to get yet another smaller size, and have it fit perfectly and look super cute. of course is my christmas shopping done? no! hehee. but i got jeans! anyway...that was a mental perk for sure...since typically jeans shopping is the ultimate in depression for gals, right up there with swimsuit shopping!! but not for me today. i was pretty happy. my wallet...not so happy. haha.

anyhow, the other perk of my day is that i found these awesome muffins at TJ's. they are mango, cranberry, blueberry BRAN muffins!!! i actually have been craving them mentally since i had that one at starbucks earlier this week, it was SO yummy and it filled me up big time due to the fiber. so i was thinking well i should find a recipe on cooking light and make it at home and then i can have muffins all the time. so i got the ingredients for the muffins (flax seed, oat bran, lowfat buttermilk, honey, raisins, cranberries and wheat flour) but then i saw the TJ muffins which were super healthy actually...so i got the container of 4 as well as the ingredients to make my own. the TJ muffins are 220 cals, 5g of fat and 10g of fiber per muffin, woo hoo. perfect for a breakfast or a lunch/afternoon snack.

so that's my day in a nutshell! no workout tomorrow, we are going to a girlfriend's house for dinner, she's making us homemade chicken pot pies, yum and some horribly yummy unhealthy dessert we plan to enjoy. it should be a fab time. then back to the gym on friday for me.

rod, congrats on signing up for the cool gym...hehe.

deejay, you are doing wonderfully!! stick with it gal. just make sure you are not getting too hungry in between meals. and i agree that thinking mentally that you have to 'check in' with the gang and kind of recap your day and eating does help keep you honest...hehee. i totally do that too. not so much about the gang (though sometimes i do think about the gang now) but more about myself and answering to myself. originally it is harder to answer to yourself but i think over time you will come to find yourself the harshest critic. like someone else said in another thread, thinking about 'hmm is this worth the extra 30 minutes on the elliptical' or whatever...definitely makes a difference in snacking.

kudos tybee, jeff, gala! oh and gala no worries re; the sp website, i just was confused as to why the site was presenting itself as such confusion...but i never used the food tracker in it or anything. fitday.com has a great food tracker too which i think works similarly to sp's. but i just use sparkpeople for the calorie thing really.

welcome asscherisme!

 

[Dee*Jay]

OK, I have to confess that I had 1/4 cup fiber one w/ 1/4 cup skim milk last night about 9:30. I had "dinner" about about 5:00 so I could accommodate the schedule of my crazy client and I thought if I ate before I went out with her it would be better than starving while we were out and then coming home and being hungry enough to eat whatever was closest at hand. Oh well, now I know.

I walked to work with the happy hubby this morning. His stride is longer than mine and so even just him walking normally forced me to walk faster. Too bad we only walk together about once every few weeks or else I could consider THAT exercise, LOL.

 

[Lorelei]

Wondered where you were Jeff - glad to see you check in and I look forward to hearing about your ''ellipticising'' really soon!

Glad you are feeling better Mara! Great that you are settling in so well by the sound of it Rod!

Everyone is doing well this week! Got in a couple of my usual cardio workouts this week, I am really able to push harder now which is another improvement. I have been working out now for 6 months, amazing how time flies and I have been smoke free for 4 and a half months now! Trouble is, I spend the money I save on perfume now, Chanel must be having a bumper year!

Keep it up everyone

 

[Mara]

go lorelei, you are such a rock for us !! hehee.

deejay, girlfriend do not ''confess'' to having had fiber cereal and skim milk, that is HARDLY a cheat!!! haha. and honestly i was looking at your list going okay who eats 3 oz of pasta and gets full? hahah. not me that''s for sure! so i am not surprised you were hungry last nite. it''s awesome that instead of reaching for the chips or pie or whatever you ate the cereal. that''s progress. so kudos.

this morning i had my own fiber cereal with milk and coffee. i''m going with my boss to sushi for lunch which i love EXCEPT i know that sushi has a fair amount of cals and we are doing chicken pot pie night tonite with our friends, so i think today might be a calorie heavy day. i am going to just have a sake (salmon) and a roll at lunch and that should be fine and not too crazy with the cals. at least sushi is healthy. cpp is not. lol!

hope everyone has a great day!!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 12/14/2006 11:16:40 AM
Author: Mara


and honestly i was looking at your list going okay who eats 3 oz of pasta and gets full? hahah. not me that''s for sure!

You want to know something TRULY sad? I misred the box and thought 3 oz was a serving. It wasn''t until I cooked it and put in the bowl and I was like, this is a big pile of food--can this be right? So I went back and looked at the info and really only 2 oz is a serving, so I ate 50% "too much."

Lorelei - GOOD FOR YOU! I didn''t know you were quitting smoking, and I''m so glad that you''re being successful at it. There is a thread right now titled "smoking for the holidays" (or something like that) and when I first saw the title I thought maybe the poster was considerding taking up smoking for the holidays so she wouldn''t eat as much because I''ve heard it curbs your appetite. Obviously I was way off base about the substance of the thread, but can you see how my whole world revolves around food right now since I''m trying to be good, LOL.

 

[lovelylulu]

and the thread moving along...


I''ve been absent most of this week. it seems that there are a flurry of last minute filings before the holidays...

quick update

food front: things are going alright considering. i have been so good/sensible/committed for so long that i''m down to a really great size. however, because of all the holiday parties, social engagements, traveling, and homemade macaroni and cheese

served up at my latest book club, i have definately done a lot more indulging than i have for probably over a year. i''m not too worried about this though, because while i''m currently experiencing a bit of a binge, i know that i can recover once my social life plateaus post-january 1st.

exercise: I''ve gotten in 2 cardio workouts this week and i''ll get in at least one or two more. I always push myself, so i typically burn 450-550 calories. keeping up a decent workout routine also helps keep the indulging from plumping up my de-plumped bits

lorelei!!! congratulations on your healthy lungs

that is a gigantic accomplishment

welcome deejay -- your posts always make me laugh! you''ve got a great wit. good luck with your most recent resolutions.

 

[Mara]

lol deejay...well when we eat pasta, its about 3 oz but we also have salads with them, as that amount of pasta is not enough to fill us up. actually greg has more like 6 oz probably. haha.

lulu...i read in two places recently that someone has to consume an extra 2000 calories a day to gain a pound. so i try to remember this when i am indulging sometimes and eating like 500 cals over my typical daily for a few days. typically that''s not going to derail you...and also if you continue to work out then you are keeping your metabolism up so that also should mean that you''ll be fine!! it''s easy to think, oh this cookie is going to make me gain a pound or something but in reality, as long as you don''t eat the whole package, i think you''re fine, esp with your workout regime and most likely higher metabolism from working out so diligently long term!

 

[lovelylulu]

thanks for the info mara -- i have to think that i''m not overeating to the tune of 2000!

having done well over the past year, i''ve learned that i don''t have to deprive myself to get results. i just have to moderate. I know that i can do that, because i''ve been successfully doing it all year. so, i''m letting myself get a little loose with the eating. plus, i think that i''m going to get my fill after a month and not want to back track on the progress made.

 

[galeteia]

Feeling a little frustrated

I work nights, so getting to sleep is a real challenge. Most people don''t have to go to bed at 9, which is what 3am feels like to me. So when people call me at 10:30 in the morning, not only is it ''in the middle of the night'' for me, it also costs me up to two hours of sleep as I struggle to get back to sleep. This is what happened today, and I had lots of things to get done before leaving for work.

(I''m chewing lunch and waiting for laundry to stop spinning while typing this)

I hauled my asleep self onto my elliptical, and for the first time, it was HARD to work out. My legs were so tired and leaden, and it was a heroic effort just to finish 15 mins on it at 187 cals.

Worse, my *bleep bleep*ing machine is creaking AGAIN! I lost 30 minutes of time I couldn''t spare to trying to tighten the bolts, and eventually called the store AGAIN and left a message for the owner. I''m getting a bit fed up; the creaking is so loud it overpowers my music, drilling into my head "tedious working out, tedious work out, ugh ugh ugh" with every "creak creak creak". At this rate, soon my neighbors are going to complain.

And I was a little shocked at how healthy I ate yesterday (removed the chocolate and salad I never ate, added the soymilk fruit smoothie I had instead) and I STILL barely made it under my 1,670 cap. WTH? Most people would have seen what I ate as ''crunchy granola weight-obsessed health freak'' food, and I''m only going for 1lb of loss a week.

Oh well... back to laundry. I wonder if I am even going to be able to shower before work. Gross. But I used up that time on my stupid machine.

 

[Mara]

gala...yep the whole calorie thing is tricky. i love eating granola but it's super high in calories. so for me having something like the bran fiber muffin is 1/2 the calories of granola and just as 'beneficial' from a nutritional standpoint. for me i make a lot of choices on what to eat. aka how much nutritional value is this going to give me and how many calories is it eating up. i hardly eat bagels anymore or anything like that because they are so calorie heavy, they eat up a good portion of my day's values when i could be eating something else that's more 'beneficial' to my body.

just as an example, this is kind of how a typical weekday goes for me if i have no 'events' or lunches to attend:

cup of coffee w/skim milk: 40 cals
high fiber cereal w/skim milk: 200 cals
short starbucks nonfat gingerbread latte: 100 cals
turkey and cheese sandwich with dijon mustard, lettuce and tomatoes on sourdough roll OR lean cuisine frozen meal: 320 cals
3/4c fiber cereal for snacky crunchy time OR 1/2 luna bar: 80 cals
sugar free jello cup: 10 cals
TJ's chicken and artichoke pizza OR dreamfields pasta with vodka cream sauce OR rosemary chicken with rice: 440 cals
salad with cucumber, tomato and onions with homemade dressing: 110 cals
sugar free jello cup: 10 cals
total: 1310 cals

that's a GOOD day for me. i have those days maybe 2-3 times during the week. but some nights we eat more for dinner like instead off 550 cals it's more like 700. these are typically workout days. or we go to a friend's house for dinner and it's more like 900 cals. or we eat out on the weekends and it's more like 1000-1200 cals for dinner (yikes!)

so anyway...it can be hard to stay under calories for the day depending on if i go to lunch with someone or we go out to dinner. but when i control my food during the week when we don't have events i can do really well. but working out just makes the splurges fine basically. lol!

 

[jas]

Mara and everyone on this thread, I just want to let you know you really inspired me...

I''m not overweight, but I am terribly unfit and just starting to get at that point where my clothes are a leeeeeetle snug...

I checked out Sparkpeople and believe I am hooked...I''ve worked out twice in the last two days, and am now so much more aware of what I''m putting into my mouth!

I hear all of your successes (big, small and otherwise) and know that I will make it to being fit and healthy and treating my body more like a temple than a toxic waste facility!

Thanks all!

Jackie

 

[Mara]

yay for you jackie!! welcome to our thread..and glad to know it helped you...sparkpeople can be a lot of fun, the community there is REALLY motivated!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Time for food confessions (

). Today I had:

- decaf w/ whole milk and splenda
- 1/2 cut fiber one w/ 1/2 cup skim milk
- Progresso chicken and wild rice soup
- banana
- 20 peanuts
- and then I caved and had a bag of Corner Bakery potato chips (but my compromise is that I won''t eat anything tonight at the party)
- 2 oz whole wheat pasta w/ home meat and veggie sauce

We''re off to a cocktail party in about an hour and I will permit myself one glass (OK, *maybe* two glases) of wine, but the happy hubby has strict instructions not to even let me in the room with the food. If it''s like last year though they passed around big hunks of incredible chocolate cake later in the evening and I plan on being well out of there by then!

 

[Rod]

Night Ladies and Jeff,

Another really long day. We completed our business planning session a little early, so I came home to check on one of our kitties. I''m really concerned that she''s not eating or drinking and seems completely depressed. She''s the most beautiful Burmese cat and they are a very small breed. Healthy, she only weighs about 5.3 pounds, so if she loses weight, it''s tough. I made an appointment for her at a cat specialist early in the morning. But I did see her drink a little water and she is acting a bit more responsive this evening. She loved her Florida lifestyle. She lounged in the sun. She really baked in it and then we took her away from everying she knew and loved and moved her into a colder state and she doesn''t get her direct sun like she did at home. So, I think she''s depressed. Hopefully, the vet can help get her eating. We''d just fall apart if anything happened to her.

Then I went to the gym and I guess I was just feeling a bit down about our kitty, so I worked out really hard. Normal stuff, so I won''t go into anything about that.

As I type this, Charlie''s sitting on the couch and our Burmese (her name is Sakai) is sitting on his lap.

Have a great night everyone!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Home from the party and I was perfectly good! Not one bit of food and I had only one glass of wine (but it was so big it probably really counts as two glasses). I did just indulge in a 1/4 cup fiber one w/ 1/4 cup skim milk--I hope this doesn''t become a habit; I don''t think it''s good for me to eat right before I go to bed...

 

[Lorelei]

Jackie welcome to the thread

Mara thanks for your kind words and thanks to all praising me for quitting smoking! Rod you helped me greatly too!! I am sending positive vibes out for your kitty, it could just be the adjustment she is reacting too, but good thing to see the vet to be safe.

I did 50 mins again last night, noticing now my hip bones are really protruding so that is novel!! LOVE IT when I get results and even better as I am doing it sensibly!

Great job everyone

Jeff - GET THEE TO THE GYM AND DO SOME ELLIPTICISING!

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Hi Lorelei,

Thanks for looking out for me!
I''ve been super busy this week and hope to get back on schedule ASAP.

 

[KimberlyH]

Hi all,

Still in Chicago, just wanted to check in. Looks like everyone is having a great week, or at least making a valiant effort!

Did a lot of walking today. The weather couldn''t be better for this time of year, allowed us to spend most of the day outside. Tomorrow we''re going to the zoo, which means more walking!

Food-wise I''ve eaten more than usual (read dessert every night) but as I mentioned, we only have breakfast and dinner, no lunch, which helps balance out the day.

Have a great rest of your week and keep up the great work all!

 

[Mara]

hi sounds like everyone is doing great still! i didn''t work out last nite because we went to our friend''s for dinner which was YUMMY and VERY bad for me. one whole pastry crust used on one pot pie. but GOOD. and yesterday evening before we went over i actually did do some ''conditioning'' for my stomach and my legs in front of the TV...nothing i broke a sweat doing but it just got my blood up a bit. and yesterday for lunch i shared in 3 sushi rolls with my friend so that was not that bad for lunch.

today eating has been very good, fiber cereal for breakfast. 1/2 a bran cranberry muffin for snack. then i had a subway 6 inch turkey sandwich with cheese on wheat and no mayo for lunch. a snack i''m indulging in right now is a short sbucks nonfat gbread latte. i might eat the other half of the muffin before i go work out for some extra fuel...dinner tonite will be local but not sure what we''ll have. probably nothing ''healthy'' hehe but hopefully not too bad. workout should burn an hour of calories (500) on the elliptical.

anyway hope everyone has had a great day and has a great night and weekend!!

 

[Rod]

Well, I didn''t sleep well last night. Our kitty got much worse and I noticed she tried to jump on the dryer and fell to the floor. She''s so weak and it just broke my heart. I don''t kow how a healthy happy cat could go downhill so quickly. She clung to me all night and I just laid awake and held her close to me all night long. We took her to the vet as scheduled first thing this morning. Turns out it may have been up to two weeks since she''s actually eaten any food and she was horribly dehydrated and her liver enzymes put her in the critical range. She''s spending the night at the hospital with an IV drip and they also had to put a tube in her little tummy to force feed her. I''m not sure I fully understand, but evidently after only a couple of days of not eating the liver begins to produce bad enzymes that destroy the appetite and begin to destroy the liver too. How hideous. And until we noticed she was losing weight, we had no idea. She''s in critical condition right now and we''ll be told in the morning if she was able to keep any food down and if she has a chance. If she dies, we will both be destroyed by this. It''s just too much. Losing my job. Leaving the home I love. Coming to an apartment filled with rented furniture and losing the pet that means the world to us, would just be too much.

So, I wasn''t good today foodwise. Our corporate attorney came to work this morning with a biscuit breakfast sandwich for the entire corporate office. Of course I had to have one. Then I met Charlie for lunch and I had a sandwich at Panera and a Tart Cherry Scone (really yummy). I didn''t have any snacks this afternoon which was hard because (Mara you can relate to this), there were no less than 3 cakes in the office kitchen, plus someone brought a large tray of homemade cookies and someone else brouht in about 5 pounds of homemade chocolates. They provide bottled water for everyone and it''s kept in the kitchen, so it''s really hard to walk past all the goodies to get a bottle of water and not have any of the homemade goodies. We had our usual sushi dinner (really really good), but we each had a chocolate chip cookie from Starbucks (and they''re not small) with coffee. I guess I was just feeling low about our kitty, so I ate more calories than I should have. They said that if we are able to bring her home, she will need to fed through her feeding tube no less than 5 times a day. We''ve already made plans for Charlie to work from home to make sure she get''s the care necessary to get her through this. So, I''m asking all my dear friends to say a prayer for Sakai (that''s her name).

We''re hoping that we can work out tomorrow (depending on what happens with Sakai), so hopefully my one day calorie-fest won''t have long lasting effects.

With the move and starting the new job, we haven''t had the time to buye a single gift for Christmas. So, sometime this weekend, we also need to do some shopping so we have something to open Christmas morning.

I hope you''re weekend is looking good.........

 

[hlmr]

I haven''t been participating in this thread lately, but oh Rod, I am so sorry about Sakai! I feel so badly for you all. I hope she will be okay. My thoughts and best wishes are with you and your sweet pet.

 

[Rod]

Date: 12/15/2006 9:05:33 PM
Author: hlmr
I haven''t been participating in this thread lately, but oh Rod, I am so sorry about Sakai! I feel so badly for you all. I hope she will be okay. My thoughts and best wishes are with you and your sweet pet.

Thank you so much for you kind thoughts and wishes Heather. She is the sweetest animal that has ever ''owned'' me and I''m praying for her to make it with ever fiber of my being. Knowing that wonderful friends like you are praying for her means a lot!

 

[Dee*Jay]

The day''s confessions (I was pretty good until I hit the office holiday party):
- 1 cup fiber one and 1 cup skim milk
- sloppy joes minus the buns, eaten with baked lays (think chips and dip, LOL)
- banana
- 20 peanuts

then...

- 1 glass of wine and two mango margaritas
- eggroll
- 2 crab rangoon
- mixed veggie and chicken stirfry
- so much brownies and ice cream that I''m embarresed in retrospect to even think about it...

Tomorrow starts the core diet plan. And exercise too!!! I am thinking that I will do some light weights at home (I have 2 and 5 pound dumbells) and on Sunday I will go to the gym and do as much time on the eliptical machine as I can bear. Not very exciting for those of you who are good about this, but that''s my plan at the moment.

Rod, my heart goes out to you right now and I am hoping for good news. I can only imagine what you must be feeling and I''m so sorry you''re going through this.

Kimberly, hope you''re enjoying the good weather. I hear it will be 60 tomorrow--the travel fairy is being very good to you; it''s never like this in December!

 

[Rod]

Thank you DeeJay!!