Weekly Workout Thread 18th Feb till 24th Feb

[marcy]

I Just came across this exercise suggested for beginning exercisers to build muscle strength in the arms and shoulders. I know this is way too easy for most of you but there are some beginners here.

It seems so easy, so I thought I''d pass it on to some of my friends. The article suggested doing it three days a week.

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5-lb potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, then relax.

Each day, you''ll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato sacks. Then 50-lb potato sacks and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb potato sack in each hand and hold your arm straight for more than a full minute. (I''m at this level).

After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each of the sacks.

 

[Rod]

CJ, I do some pretty hard squats, but here goes. I use a barbell, with at least 35 pounds of weight on each side and the barbell weighs 45 pounds alone, so that''s 115 pounds total. The barbell rests on the back of my neck and shoulders and I do 2 - 3 sets of 15 repetions. My feet are not spread far apart and my feet are as straight out (no curves to the right or left) as possible. I''m not sure if this helps you at all, but this is what our trainer taught us and it does work really well for us. I''m glad the allergy patches are off, BTW.

Marcy, LOL, you really had me going for a second. You joker, you!!!

I''m glad you''ve stopped beating yourself up somethingshiny. Like I said before, I''m betting you''re a terific mommy.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Marcy -- that seriously cracked me up!!! When I read the part where you could do it with the 100lb sack I was like WOAH--you go girl! Then I got to the end--Too funny!

Rod, big buckets of fairy dust coming your way!

Mara, I''ve been following your saga and I hope you feel better soon!

Anyhow, just checking in to say I have nothing to say... Haven''t worked out for literally 2 weeks and in looking at my calendar it ain''t gonna happen any time soon. The good news is I''m too busy to *eat* either so I''ve actually lost a few pounds LOL. The HH is off skiing for a week so I''m on my own foodwise, which also helps because I won''t have a big meal or open a bottle of wine myself, so those are all calories saved.

Gotta go take the pooches out for one last walk. Damn it''s cold here!

 

[Rod]

Date: 2/21/2008 10:49:27 PM
Author: Dee*Jay

Marcy -- that seriously cracked me up!!! When I read the part where you could do it with the 100lb sack I was like WOAH--you go girl! Then I got to the end--Too funny!

Rod, big buckets of fairy dust coming your way!

Mara, I''ve been following your saga and I hope you feel better soon!

Anyhow, just checking in to say I have nothing to say... Haven''t worked out for literally 2 weeks and in looking at my calendar it ain''t gonna happen any time soon. The good news is I''m too busy to *eat* either so I''ve actually lost a few pounds LOL. The HH is off skiing for a week so I''m on my own foodwise, which also helps because I won''t have a big meal or open a bottle of wine myself, so those are all calories saved.

Gotta go take the pooches out for one last walk. Damn it''s cold here!

Hey DeeJay, I thought you''d forgotten your old friends here. Glad your so busy as that must mean making big wads of $$$$$. So, Bill got to go skiing without you? How''d you let him manage that? Sorry it''s so cold up there. Come on back to Tampa, it''s absolutely delightful this time of year!

 

[marcy]

Hi everyone. I ate a piece of homemade chocolate cake today that was divine. Too bad it was so rich it kind of made me sick for awhile. That’ll teach me, eh? I did walk on the TM for 20 minutes tonight so I hope that helps burn off a few of those calories.
DD, I like your theory that sparkly things reduce stress.
Steph, glad to hear everyone is well and you got a good night’s sleep. I did see the moon rise tonight and it looked pretty orange so I enjoyed seeing that.
Appletini, good idea to get in some exercise during lunch. I am glad you enjoyed your personal trainer today.
Julianna, yay for getting time on the treddy this week. Taking a long lunch on company time is fun – too bad I can’t get away with long lunches all the time. Rats.
Mara, that''s great to hear you are feeling better. I have been enjoying Clementines for Bfast this week.
Lorelei, sorry to hear your weights weren’t fun this morning. I hope tonight’s session went better.
Somethingshiny, I am delighted to hear your little guy is doing better. I hope he had a great birthday. I’m with Rod, I am sure you’re a great mother.
Rod, sorry to hear about your headache. I am glad you were able to enjoy the eclipse for awhile. Congratulations for being called in for a long interview next week. Good luck! That''s good to hear Charlie is feeling better. Glad you liked my joke.
Shortblonde, sorry to hear about the medicine making your sick. That''s good though you were able to eat today.
PhoenixGirl, yay for an intense workout. I hope you aren’t getting another cold.
CJ, that''s nice you were able to see the eclipse. I also teach astronomy at my local college. I am sure you are excited that the patches are off. Those tests are miserable.
DeeJay, maybe you can work in some potato sacks in your busy schedule. Ha Ha. My DH is leaving for about 8 days too so I will be able to eat more low cal food. Woo hoo for loosing a few pounds.
Well, take care and have a great evening. Tomorrow is FINALLY Friday.

Marcy

 

[ladypirate]

Hi all,

Still under the weather here.

It''s moved out of my throat and into my sinuses, though, so it''s mainly just a stuffy nose at this point.

Foodwise, we just got our new tortilla press in the mail today, so we made enchiladas tonight. Yum! Fresh homemade corn tortillas are delicious! Our next plan is to try making our own baked tortilla chips. We tried flour tortillas, too, but we figured out that we actually need to roll those out with a rolling pin to make them thin enough (otherwise they''re too doughy).

On the work front, I''m still freelancing for the same company doing marketing work (I''ve also somehow been roped into reorganizing the entire office) and I''ve picked up a temp job for a few weeks as a legal receptionist, so I''m staying busy.

I''m off to bed--have a great night everyone.

 

[monarch64]

Hey WWT friends! Lots going on in life right now and I am just guilty of not making time for working out or posting here. SIL finally delivered the baby (yesterday)...I have a thread going titled "She''s Here! She''s Here!!" in Family, Home and Health if you are interested and want to read about it and see a really cute newborn pic...now that THAT is out of the way...I hope to get back to focusing on my own health again! Sadly, I weighed myself two days ago and I have gained 7 lbs. Surely part of it was water weight, as it is TTOTM, but seriously! I was priding myself all this time since I lost my job on the fact that I had maintained my weight.

I guess I have some work to do. It''s not all that surprising since it is verrrrry typical for me to put on 5-10 lbs. in the winter months (genetic? geographic? who knows?)...it''s been a problem for me since puberty. Anywho, I''m coming back to this thread with more resolve than ever to shed those extra pounds again. Two months of being jobless and basically broke and not eating well enough hasn''t helped...

we''ve been total shut-ins for the past month at least. Our health insurance ran out last month and I am very worried that if I go out I will either catch some horrible flu bug or I will fall on snow or ice (don''t laugh, it happened once when my insurance lapsed in the past and I shattered both ankle bones and wound up paying for it for three years). Fortunately DH and I have both been very diligent about sending resumes and we have both gotten calls and have scheduled interviews. DH''s last interview turned out to be b.s. which is common in the sales field. But he has another scheduled for tomorrow afternoon and he is hoping to hear back from his ideal job tomorrow as well. I got a call from a national jewelry store chain this afternoon, and although it has gotten terrible reviews on PS I just may have to go for it for the time being in order to generate my share of income for our household, plus they offer really great benefits. Who knows, maybe I''ll be the one to offer insight (gained from PS) and help the company in the end. Other than that, not much is going on here aside from new babies, lunar eclipses, and frigid cold!

I would love to respond to everyone but will generalize because it''s very late...take care all, hope you are all feeling healthy and have a great day!!!

 

[Mara]

evening all!!

monnie, so sorry to hear that you guys don't have health insurance...did you guys qualify for cobra??? it's scary to be without insurance i would think. hang in there, and good luck on the job front.

rod, oh i totally missed your pizza response before, can't wait to hear if you guys try that place and what you think.

re: squats with the barbell, my trainer would have me do ones on the sliding barbell (where it goes up and down on the vertical so that you don't need spotting) and he'd put 15 on each side and then the weight of the barbell for me. painful yet so effective on the bootie! we'd do the same for lunges as well. i also do squats with the ball against the back on the wall. both are effective i think. lunges are what kill me, walking lunges, 3 sets of them with a 5 or 8 lb weight and i swear my butt is junk the next day!

i so miss working out! wah. it's only been a week since i did cardio but 2 weeks since i did muscle resistance. i feel like a blob of jelly. that could also be that i had a bday dinner out tonite for my sister and we ate at maggianos. which i like overall but man that place just contributes to the obesity problem in the US. we got a full spaghetti and meatballs as well as some other stuff, 3 of us ate the s/m and my dad had TWO big servings and my sister and i had 1 small one each and it looked like we'd only eaten 1/2 of it total. for $14. crazy. we also had salad and some apps and shared some desserts. woops, i was forgoing because of lent right? i was kind of bad today about that, also had 1/2 a cream puff earlier to commemorate a coworker's last day. hehee.

anyway almost time for bed. i still feel better but i feel like my muscles are hurting me now. it could be because i literally am not using them. it's hard to know what's the joint pain and what's something else. so hopefully a few more nights of good sleep and i'll be able to do a little workout and at least get the blood pumping a bit. i hate being stationary!

oh and i have to tell you guys, we just had our first visit from our new cleaning help today and they were so amazing. the house is spotless! they even did our blinds, our baseboards, our doors. they even reorganized portia's treat basket in the kitchen. so fab. they are going to come every 2 weeks and i am so jazzed our house will basically always be clean. i have been meaning to get someone for the longest time and finally our neighbor's gal had an opening so we jumped in.

oh almost forgot. DJ good to see you checking in, good on being busy...!! nite all.

 

[monarch64]

Mara, yes we qualify for cobra, unfortunately it is very expensive (like ungodly expensive) and we are barely covering the mortgage, car payment (DH lost his co. car so we are down to one), and other expenses...there is just not enough to pay for insurance right now. It is definitely scary...we just have to stay positive and keep our fingers crossed that our luck will change soon.

Glad to hear you''re feeling better! That post-flu arthritis is something I''ve never heard of...and did not sound fun at all from your descriptions! Big hugs to you.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 2/20/2008 11:12:10 AM
Author: shortblonde
hehe, lorelei, your little sick face made me laugh!

Hee! That is a handy little hurlicon isn''t it?? Thanks for that also Marcy!

 

[steph72276]

Hey, Monnie....When I read your post about your hubby's job search, I thought about Adam's company. I don't really want to say what it is on a public board, but I don't know how to contact you off the board. Anyway his company is all over the US and is pretty big in the Chicago area (although I think they are more in the burbs). It is one of Fortune's top 100 companies to work for and they always have sales positions open (my hubby is on the operations side though). Anyway, they have fab. benefits...great healthplan, company car for senior managment, stock options and lots of room for growth (Adam has worked there since he was in college at 21 and has had promotions every year since he started and is now a senior manager). You might want to have him do a search on Fortune's website for the top 100 companies (they were in the 40's this year) and if you know a way to communicate that is not so public, I will give you the info....Anyway, have a great day!

 

[Rod]

Morning.........

Monnie, I'm right there with you on the insurance front. Charlie still has health insurance, but mine ran out a few weeks ago and YIKES, Cobra is as you say, ungodly expensive. Either I'll get hired soon, or I'll have to take the cobra option (yuck) or find some lower cost insurance to get me through. I too feel like a walking time bomb without any insurance. I think it's a serious problem in our country and one reason I support Hillary. She believes in universal health care for all Americans and SO DO I! I'm glad that you are both seeing interest in your resumes. Even if you work for a jewelery chain not loved on PS, you will ALWAYS BE LOVED by us. And like you said, maybe the knowledge you've gained can benefit this company. Surely it would benefit customers you deal with and that's a GREAT THING! Sorry to hear about the weight gain. But you can take off 7 pounds quickly. I'm glad you'll be here more often anyway!! I think of you both often and I truly believe you, Mr. Monnie, me and Charlie will all be OK.

Steph, perhaps you could email Andre and ask him to pass on Adam's contact information at his company to Monnie, so Mr. Monnie could send Adam his resume directly and Adam could forward it for him. Internal referrals are often a great way to get an introduction into a company. Anyway, just a thought that maybe Andre would be willing to help with communications.

Mara, I'm so NOT a fan Maggiano's. And yes, they are surely major contributor's to the fattening of America. The portions are HUGE and to me the food, just so-so. My motto is any restaurant that people are often lined up to get into and that gives you a vibrator to let you know when they can feed you, is just not the place for us.

Sorry you're still under the weather LP. Feel better soon.

I'm sorry the chocolate cake made you sick Marcy. I'm sure you burned at least a few of those calories on the TM

I don't really have any plans for the day. I'm sure I'll get into something. I'm meeting Charlie for lunch, then we're doing our normal Friday night Sushi, Fro-Yo and Coffee. It's warm today and will be in the low 80s - WOO HOO!! Sorry if it's cold in your neck of the woods.

Have a great day all!

 

[steph72276]

Rod, great idea...Monnie, if you are interested I will do that, if not...no problem, just thought of your hubby since you said he was in sales!

 

[Patiently_Waiting]

Good morning all! Well, we finally got some significant (i.e. several inches) of snow. It looks so beautiful - as I sit here working from the comforts of my home! Ah, the beauty of technology

I''ve been having a bit of trouble either getting to sleep or staying asleep lately, and I''m not really sure why. I''ve been doing the same things I always do week in and week out, and not even drinking any caffeine past maybe 9am? So by the time I got to yesterday, I was just beat from not sleeping well all week. I felt like going right home after work, but I persevered and went to the gym for weekly kickboxing. I wasn''t 100% but did pretty well considering - she really worked us hard! I took something to help me sleep, which I really hate to do unless it''s an emergency. Well, I slept well - until about 3:30, when I was wide awake for about an hour or so before finally falling back to sleep. I do feel more refreshed today, so hopefully sleeping will improve now.

Steph - The smoothies sound like a great idea! I usually get on a smoothie kick more in the summer but it is a great idea for the winter months too, especially with some added protein. Hope your men feel better soon!
RoseRed - Sorry to hear about the fibromyalgia. Someone else on here already said something similar, but I too believe that after some time working out and strengthening up your leg muscles, it will help to ease the pressure/pain in your joints. I have been working on weight training in addition to cardio, and my leg muscles are getting stronger and my knees aren''t hurting nearly as bad as they used to. Good luck and keep up the good work!
Haven - Congrats on finishing the thesis - way to go!

DD - Great job with getting back into the swing of things.
Rod - Way to go with the long workouts! I''m sure you are really looking great these days! Hope your headache is better. Sending lots of PS dust for your in-person interview!
marcyc - I saw the eclipse here - pretty cool! I didn''t think we''d see anything since it was snowing earlier that day, but it cleared up quite nicely (and quickly too). So cool that you belong to an astronomy club! Keep up the good work with the TM - exercise can only improve the strength in your legs/joints - it''s been working for me so far. Can''t wait for the new ring photos!
Mara - Glad you''re feeling better.
appletini - Great job with the PT sessions! And I completely understand your thoughts on not opening those wines just for random weeknight drinks - I''m the same way with my "babies"

phoenix - Yeah for four workouts this week - great job!
CJ - Glad the allergy patches are finally off. Wish I could help you more with the squat suggestions, but I really don''t do them, as my knees have been weakened over the years.
ladypirate - Hope you''re feeling better soon!
Monarch - Congrats on the new niece! Good luck to you and DH on the job hunt. Stay positive and know that plenty of PS dust is being sent your way for things to turn around soon *dust dust dust*

Hello to everyone else - time to get back to work. Have a great day, everyone!!

 

[RoseRed]

Good morning all! I wrote a huge post last nite and it "disappeared" when I sent it. So, knowing the site was prolly busy I wrote it again and darn it the same thing happened! I was so disgusted I just logged off. Is this kinda of usual? When admin does the update will it help with this kind of thing? Are there tricks to help with posting?

Anyhoo..
Marcy, you crack me up! Thanks for a much needed chuckle

Rod, the diner food sounded scrumptious....I'm such a geek for soup. My hubby thinks I'm crazy because soup just isn't food to him but I loves it. Here's to setting up the job face-to-face...I'm sure you'll ace it. Oh, and I'll second the Mr Olympia Pics!

Julianna, Hi! and 'cause I'm still newbie what is your Treddy o'Doom workout like?

Steph, sorry to hear about the cell phone fracas...I guess I better stop sitting my phone on the tub too, huh?

DD, Yay, for 25 mins of heart pumping cardio! you are absolutely right about swimming. The doc said that swimming is really the only exercise I can do but I hate restricitions like that! But, I am looking to add swimming pretty soon. The problem is, and I know I know, vanity can be stupid, but I just hate the whole bathing suit thing. I'm so embarrassed! Hate this extra weight from being inactive.

Haven, congrats on completing your thesis! wow!

Mara, glad you are feeling somewhat better just in time for the weekend...maybe your muscles are sore as an after effect of being so sick? Hope it gets even better today!

shortblonde, hope you are feeling better.

CJ glad those allergy patches are gone...my sis has a ton of allergies so I know it's no fun.

Apple, please be careful with the reading on the treddy. I once saw someone doing that trip and fall face down. They had to get stitches in their chin. Kinda scary at the time! Since I worked at the gym I had to clean up all that blood..ick!

SShiny...wow. You are amazing to deal with a Pepto Pink bedroom for 2 years. I'm very impressed

And I think the toile will look nice.

DJ, Hi

Ladypirate, yay for the tortilla press! that sounds way too yummy!

Monarch, I'm feeling for you! I'm sure you'll drop those extra lbs no prob. I'm jobless too at the moment and I know how stressful that can be. Done the whole without insurance too and cobra is obscenely pricey. I don't see how that program helps anyone! I'm keeping fingers crossed for good changes soon.

Lorelei, hope you are feeling super strong pushing around the weights!

Patient, I hope your sleep gets back on track. Not sleeping well really affects everything.

Sorry if I left anyone out! I hope you all have a great day and kick @ss workouts!

 

[CrownJewel]

PW, do you have any caffeine in the afternoon? It can take 6 hours for the effects of coffee to wear off. I used to have mysterious problems sleeping, and then I decided to stop drinking coffee after 12 noon. Within a week I was back to sleeping like a baby and have not had any problems since then!

Monarch, I used to be uninsured also and couldn't do anything/go anywhere! I missed out on so many ski trips and white water rafting trips. It was so sad. I was in school part-time, but the university insurance plan was s*#$. So I took one of those retail jobs where you only have to work 20 hours a week to get health insurance. It was so important to me to have health insurance (I didn't have any health problems, but accidents happen!) that I just put in the required 20 hours. I ended up really enjoying my job too!! I'm pretty sure Starbucks, Barnes and Noble and the Container Store have similar policies. I don't know if that's something you'd like to do, but it could be fun.

Thanks for your squat advice Rod and Mara! I'll have to try walking lunges too.

DeeJay! I was wondering what you were up to!

Marcy, I LOVED that joke. I was cracking up!!

It looks like I won't get my 3 days of working out this week. Apparently there's an event that I have to go to with FI tonight. A wine and cheese party. Wine and cheese...two things I can't say no to.

 

[monarch64]

Steph, if you ever go on TPF you can find me there, same screenname minus the digits.

 

[Rod]

Hey There........it''s been a beautiful day in Tampa. It was in the low 80''s and low humidity, blue skies, just terrific. I wound up just goofing off today. I couldn''t handle sitting at my PC combing the job boards, so I just blew the day off for the most part. I met Charlie for lunch, then had my car washed and just sat under the oak and had a couple cups of coffee. I''ve got a coffee buzz going on........LOL Charlie will be home soon, then we''re heading out for Sushi. Just our normal Friday night thing. That''s about all I have to report. The life of leisure...........

RoseRed, we''ve all lost long posts. What I do and I''m sure others as well is to highlight the entire post and do a Ctrl C (copy), before you hit the Submit button. That way, if you lose the post, you have it saved and can just do a Ctrl V (paste) in a new post and everything you copied will be pasted. It''s a good habit to get into for long posts.

PW, glad you got the snow you''ve been hoping for. I''ll enjoy it through you, from a SIGNIFICANT distance.......LOL I''m not a great sleeper myself. Glad you took something to help you and I hope your sleep improves!

CJ, enjoy the wine and cheese event!!

I''ll check in again later. I hope your Friday is going well.

 

[steph72276]

Date: 2/22/2008 1:15:26 PM
Author: monarch64
Steph, if you ever go on TPF you can find me there, same screenname minus the digits.

Monnie, I''ve been on there, but don''t have an account b/c I don''t want to fuel another obsession

. Anyway, I will register this weekend and find you on there!

 

[steph72276]

Hey, guys. Well, it has been a productive day. I got all of our utlities scheduled to be turned off at the old house and turned on at the new house, had our mail forwarded and have gotten most everything organized for the movers who wil be here first thing in the morning on Monday. I stopped working on house things in the middle of the day to go up to the mall for a bit....Andrew was invited to our neighbor's bday party but he will miss it since we're moving, but I wanted to get him a little something anyway. So while we were there, we passed the food court and Andrew asked for a cookie. I said yes since the poor thing hasn't eaten much in about a week with being sick. Well, I had a couple of bites and really almost felt sick instantly. It was sooo sweet to me, I guess b/c I haven't really been having sweets. The next thing I knew, I was going into a full-blown miagrain headache. I came home and took some medicine and laid down and convinced Andrew to lay down with me and watch some cartoons, b/c the pain was so bad I couldn't even look up....ick, that will teach me to eat that junk again! My body just can't handle that stuff! Anyway, I am feeling better, but I just decided to have a protein smoothie for dinner. May have something else light later if I feel like it. Hope everyone is having a great night!

 

[monarch64]

Thanks Steph! Since PS will be down on Sunday you can look at purses instead, LOL!

Here''s a pic of my new niece...I have a couple more posted on my other thread but I thought I''d share one here as well.

 

[Mara]

evening all!!! well today my lent partner told me she had cheesecake last nite and ummm i said well i did too (at my sisters bday dinner) so we laughed and were like ''we are sucking at this!!''. it''s been about 2 weeks so we haven''t done TOO badly. and it''s not like i feel like i can''t continue, but it feels kind of like we are cheating here and there...so not sure what we''re going to do but it was pretty funny when she was like ''i have to tell you i had cheesecake'' and i was like ''well i wasn''t GOING to tell you but i did too!''

i am so glad it''s friday. my joint thing is still kind of intermittent. now it''s in my jaw and it''s not TOO bad but it''s not fun and i am really tired. i think my body just must be doing all sorts of overtime on itself..because i am sleeping like 8 and 9 hours a night and still could sleep more. i did read that you should be resting a lot with this post-viral thing, so i am trying to. and tomorrow i amd ef going to sleep in. i really miss working out, i''m so sad about it, but i just can''t think about it now with trying to get better. greg''s dad and stepmom are visiting next wkd and i want to be totally better for the visit.

i picked up some ''arthritis hot'' creme at the drugstore, interesting, it''s kind of like bengay. seems to be kind of working but i smell like an old man. fun times!!

it''s sushi with the neighbors tonite then a nice long sleep. this wkd we mostly just have maintenance stuff planned, like errands and getting ready for the visit next wkd. i have a mani/pedi tomorrow with the girls then we are all going to a big crab feed, so exciting, i love these things. i got our tickets today.

hey monnie by the way, i tried that on TPF when i was going to minneapolis, but never got anything back so figured i had it wrong!!

sounds like everyone is having a good enough friday. have a fabulous evening!!!

 

[monarch64]

Mara, I did contact you on tpf...maybe it didn''t go through or something...all this time (since your MN trip) I''ve been wondering why I didn''t get a response! LOL! Communication breakdown! I''ll try again tonight!

 

[Maisie]

Hello everyone...

I hope you are all having a fun weekend.

I haven''t managed to get back to the gym at all this week. I have had the worst cold! I have a dry cough which is keeping me awake and headaches pretty much all of the time.

My tongue went sort of numb down one side last night and I had a really bad panic attack. I haven''t had one for about a year and it was awful. Lots of hyperventilating and crying. I put the numb tongue down to migraine as I had eaten rather a lot of chocolate yesterday afternoon.

I am really hoping to start exercising this week!

 

[steph72276]

Ok, I should have knocked on wood....the stomach flu has now passed on to me

. I thought I had managed to escape from it, but no...I was up all night and have a fever right now. Perfect timing since the movers will be here in 2 days. Oh well, I had most everything ready. Going to lay down now. Have a great weekend everyone.

 

[Mara]

aww steph so sorry to hear that you are feeling badly!! maisie you too, feel better you both.

so for me on the evil health front, i have an appt at the dr in an hour and a half. while the rest of my joints feel basically normal, my jaw is hurting when i chew and even more freaky is that my hands and fingers and wrists are STILL not really better. they got better for a day but then one finger on each was hurting and now my wrist BONES are swollen like visibly sticking out from my wrists. and last nite my right hand started going numb in the fingers while sleeping. so i am like maybe i do or maybe i don''t have this post-viral thing but i need to see someone else to confirm or deny and also ask about the numbness, it''s driving me crazy and it''s got me convinced that my fingers are not getting blood supply which means poor circ in that hand, possibly due to swelling but it can''t stay like that. i''m all freaked out my fingers are going to die then fall off.

the rain is intermittent here so i am hoping to get out and do some gardening, sore wrists bedarned, i need to get my patio in order for greg''s parents visit next week. and this stupid sore hand thing is really hindering me doing any sort of indoor guest room cleaning, there''s a bunch of stuff that has to be moved and folded and put away and i just don''t have the hand strength for it. so bummed but i''ll do what i can.

also i am sure that this sore wrist thing is going to hamper my crab cracking tonite at the cioppino fest, wah!! oh well will have to soldier on through!!

happy saturday all...hope everyone who is illin feels better, me included!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Hello all! Well I didn''t get to the gym on Thursday but we went last night and I kept my promise to myself and increased by 10 minutes to 36min and increased to level 9! I typically do the recumbent bicycle on the rolling hills function. It is a great workout for the tushy and thighs and I think my HR is at least 160-170 the whole time. And I took Rod''s advice to another poster and I put my book down! I was indeed working out too hard to read! So it was good. Then did 10 minutes of stretching. My goal is to get up to doing 50 mins of cardio each time plus situps + pushups + stretching. I usually do about 100 situps on the excercise ball and three sets of 20 girl push ups.

I have noticed such an improvement in my fitness level, it feels really good. When I started working out I was on level 3 on the bike and now I am at level 9 and its only been 7 weeks! Crazy! And my pants are very loose now. I think I am almost a size smaller but I don''t want to buy new clothing yet.

Ok keep up all the good work people! Sickies feel better soon! DH and I are going to Toronto to visit Linda Penwarden''s store to see her ring designs... I am going to be upgrading my side stones on the ring to a ~.80-.90ct RB this summer and I want to get a gorgeous custom setting either from her or from Greenlake! Woo hoo!

Ok, enough diamond talk on the workout thread!

DD

 

[Maisie]

Poor you Steph. Hopefully if you rest up over the next couple of days, you will recover enough to move without too much trouble.

Eeek Mara! Your joint thing sounds awful. It would really freak me out. Anything to do with numbness scares me silly. Get well soon.

 

[CrownJewel]

Hi Everyone!

Mara, as I read your last post, I was thinking, "oh yuck...still in pain? She''ll be fine though."

And then I read the part about not being able to eat your crab...I was like "OHHHHHHHH NOOOOO!!!! That is TEEEEEERRIBLE!!!!"

Haha...shows you where my priorities are. Seriously, tell the doc you''ve got to be able to crack those crabs tonight...maybe he can give you something. A quick fix, just for tonight.

Have fun at the crab festival. I would SO love to go to something like that.

On my end, for those who didn''t see my fragrance free life thread, my doctor says I''m allergic to a bunch of common household ingredients. So, I''ve been clearing the apartment of anything that might offend my skin situation. Everything is getting replaced with fragrance free stuff. I don''t even know where to go to get most of this...we''re taking a trip to Whole Foods later on to see if they have shampoos and whatnot. I have to do all of my laundry again with my new detergent. I can''t help but feel silly, just because my skin situation is not all that dire. It''s certainly not ideal, nor 100% comfortable...but it''s not something I ever thought to complain about.

Hopefully we''ll get in a nice long walk today. We''re having a small sushi lunch and then heading out for errands.

BTW, Steph...I''m sorry you got the bug. Bleh... Feel better soon!

 

[Mara]

lol CJ...seriously i felt the same way...priorities. i was like OH NO this is NOT going to affect my CRAB EATING!!! can''t have that! though the numbness did freak me out.

i just spent an hour and a half at the hospital. this doctor i saw today was pretty good. he said yes everything i am experiencing is normal for this thing...even jaw pain and some numbness. said that if my wrists are swollen that means they are going to be causing numbness to the fingers but that it''s not poor circulation and my fingers won''t fall off. he said that the other dr should have given me a stronger anti inflammatory and he prescribed me naprosyn which is like advil on steroids, i only have to take 2 a day which is great and he said that the advil i was taking might not have been enough to help with the inflammation which is why i am kind of still having such a hard time. i''m like FAB so the last 4 days of TORMENT could have been made easier with stronger drugs? ARGH. so it could take this a day or two to really kick in but he said i might feel better today. so i popped a pill when i came home and am like anything? anything? but during the day i feel better anyway due to movement. he also said aspercreme would help so i got some of that for topical. but really he just said more rest (he said sleeping 9 hours a night is normal for this) and really try not to overdo the hand and arm thing.

so here''s hoping that another few days on this new anti inflamm drug will help me out. he said if i don''t feel pretty much 90% better in a week then i should come back but to give it that time. pphhhbbt. anyhow, i want to do some gardening so we''ll see how far i can get with gimpy hand activity..and then i''m going to head out for my mani pedi soon where at least my hands can get some pampering before dinner. wish me luck on crab fest. i''m not going to go down without a fight!

i was like soo can i work out and he was like seriously just rest another week. argh! blobville here i come (oh and rod, i know you keep saying it takes a few weeks to lose muscle but everything i have ever read in my training mags and self/women''s health etc, and also my dad mentioned this too from his training sessions is that it takes as little as THREE DAYS for your muscle to start to go away...so my blob of jelly fears are not unfounded unforuntately!).

but oh well...i know someday i will be better and then i can throw myself back into it. i just have to relax for now.