Weekly Workout Thread 30th Oct till 5th November

[mrssalvo]

Happy Halloween gang. Congrats Lorelei, that is a huge accomplishment, keep it up gal.

I''ve been sticking to my workout schedule and feeling better each day. I''m taking my kids trick or treating tonight and then we''ll come home and pass out candy. I bought a ton of candy that I don''t really like, still good stuff just not my favorite so I won''t be tempted if we have any left. Those tiny bite size stuff are my downfall b/c I never can eat just one

. I did buy some fresh cranberries and am making some orange cranberry muffins from Cooking Light.

 

[lovelylulu]

ooh. i love cranberry muffins!! they are the best

welcome amber

my own rant (i try to be pretty upbeat in this thread):

I HATE THAT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME IS OVER.

 

[AmberWaves]

Thanks Lulu, I do, too. I hate it being dark when I''m on my way home. NOT fun.

 

[Mara]

Indie, I'm not sure how much you'd need to lose, because I think the scale is unreliable. It really depends on your weight and muscle tone and how much fat you have. For example, I have lost 10 lbs in the last 3-4 months but I have lost 4 clothing sizes. However, I have built up a ton of muscle so I have visually 'lost' more weight obviously if it's 4 clothing sizes (10 to a 6) but on the scale it's just 10 lbs. So it's hard to say 'lose 30 lbs and you will be 2 clothing sizes smaller'...it really depends on what you are doing to lose the weight. Just diet, or exercise too and what types. You might want to see a trainer at your gym (if you have a gym) as they most likely can kind off help you visuallize what you might need to do to get where.

Amber, just start slow...aka starting to cut out sugars or getting something like a nonfat pumpkin latte instead of a white mocha is a huge difference. Also drink more water, try to eat less fat...do a bit more walking. Small things really can add up esp if you have one or two bad habits you can end up breaking. I finally weaned myself off sugar in my coffee but it took me a year to be 'strong enough' to do it!! Now, I just have vanilla soy milk in it and it gives me that extra flavor I need.

Also Indie, for calorie estimates, I find that looking at Cooking Light recipes can get me pretty close to what I am eating for estimates.

This morning I had Kashi oatmeal for lunch and my coffee; then I had a granola bar for snack, and some hummus with multi-grain crackers for lunch. I haven't had any halloween candy yet but I already added it into my calorie count for today so at least I can be 'smart' about it..hehee. Dinner tonite is rosemary chicken and wild rice from TJ which is super yummy, and a big salad for each of us. SO addicted to salad lately since I found those yummy Marie vinaigrette dressings that are low-cal and super tasty as well.

Stay strong team!! Eating a little candy today is fine of course, hehee...but I'm trying not to go crazy. Last nite Greg was snacking while we did our pumpkins and candy just sounded so unappealing to me! Maybe cuz we have it all over the office too.

Nothing like getting sick of it!!

 

[appletini]

I''m not going to lie...I have eaten and enjoyed every bit of Halloween goodies today (plus 3 birthdays at work), so to balance it out I walked on the treadmill (elllipticals were taken) for 30 minutes during my lunch hour and then had a salad as my official lunch. Also DH and I making some sort of veggie pasta thing for dinner.

 

[anchor31]

Date: 10/31/2006 4:23:33 PM
Author: AmberWaves
Thanks Lulu, I do, too. I hate it being dark when I'm on my way home. NOT fun.

Ditto.

I can very proudly say that I didn't eat any sweets today... I live on my own (with 3 roommates) and I didn't buy any.

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Today..I had a non-Halloween related Twix bar. I didn''t really enjoy the sugar, chocolate, wafer, fat or texture.

Happy Halloween Everyone

It''s okay to have just ONE small treat...but that''s it

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Date: 10/31/2006 3:59:53 PM
Author: lovelylulu
ooh. i love cranberry muffins!! they are the best

welcome amber

my own rant (i try to be pretty upbeat in this thread):

I HATE THAT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME IS OVER.

I also detest the darkness at 4:45 pm. It''s downright depressing.

The fall and winter months are sooooooo long here in Massachusetts.

 

[KimberlyH]

I was watching my DVRed show that I turn on at the same time every day (4:30-5:45) yesterday and I flew off the couch when I looked outside and saw how dark it was because I thought I was WAY late making dinner and then I saw it was only 5:15 p.m. STUPID! And to top it off the sun comes up too early and I hate it shining in my bedroom window. Grrr!

 

[turtledazzle]

Date: 10/31/2006 6:48:29 PM
Author: KimberlyH
I was watching my DVRed show that I turn on at the same time every day (4:30-5:45) yesterday and I flew off the couch when I looked outside and saw how dark it was because I thought I was WAY late making dinner and then I saw it was only 5:15 p.m. STUPID! And to top it off the sun comes up too early and I hate it shining in my bedroom window. Grrr!

I''m right there with you. I keep waking up too early b/c of the time change, and I feel extra tired when I leave work and it''s dark. I know I will adjust ~ but that doesn''t mean I have to like it!

Tonight was my favorite step aerobics class. 45 minutes of fast-paced, high-intensity, hard choreography step class. I love it! I''m a complete step aerobics junkie, and I always do whatever I can to make this particular class as I like the instructor so much. It is always a good workout. The class is followed by a 15-minute class of core/abs exercises. We do lots of crunches and such, as well as planks which I think I recall Rod mentioning in previous posts.

 

[Tybee]

I HATE the time change!!!

I also feel frustrated about Halloween.
This is our first real house! We just bought it this summer right before we got married, so we were super excited about Halloween.. but what a crazy Halloween it was!

Is this the same in other parts of the country?
Or are we just livin in the hood over here in the ATL?
So many kids showed up at my door out of costume. I also had several moms and dads who also carried their own candy bags!!!!

Am I crazy to think that''s a little out of line? One crazy dad in a superman costume actually gave me a look, like I was being stingy when I only gave him one piece of candy!!!!
My husband gave me dirty looks, but I told the kids who were out of costume that they needed to make more of an effort next year.
I guess that''s the teacher in me... but c''mon! You could put lipstick all over your face, and that''s a costume! What has happened to this holiday? LOL!

Anyhow, no workout today, other than a quick dog walk so that I could get home in time for trick or treaters. Dinner was wine. bread. cheese and fruit that we ate on our front porch while waiting for trick-or-treaters, not diet friendly at all, but that''s fine.

Tomorrow I am bringing the gym back into my life, and looking forward to it. Planning on a serious upper body work out after a cardio warm up. Hoping to post that I actually did this tomorrow.

Hope everyone is having a great Halloween! The leftover candy has been stored way high over shorty Tybee''s grasp! lol!

 

[Rod]

Sorry about the darkness up north ladies and Jeff. Yet another advantage to living in Florida. Even when the time changes it doesn''t get completely dark until after 6 PM and from December 21st forward, the days lengthen pretty quickly. It''s because we are closer to the equater.

I didn''t have any Holloween candy either. We live in a highrise condo and there are zero children in the building, plus with access only to the floor one lives on, even if there were kids, they couldn''t get to our front door.

So, I ended up going to the gym this afternoon. It was later than expected. I received three calls from companies today, and they all seemed to be very interested in my background. In each case, I was referred by someone to each company. I don''t know who''s spreading my name around, but I''d like to hug them. Anyway, I didn''t get to the gym until nearly 5 PM. I had forgotten had crowded it is from that time forward. I found myself having to wait for machines and ask to work in with people, which is actually a bit annoying. But, I did a really hard workout and since my back was initially hurting, I seem to have worked out the problem and I feel great. I also did my usual 45 intense minutes on the elliptical to boot. I love working out and what''s it''s done for me. Especially since being laid off. If I didn''t have fitness to help me through this tough time, I don''t know what I would have done. Thank god for fitness!!!

Since I didn''t get to run yesterday, I may get up tomorrow morning and run 6 miles and then do my normal gym routine in the afternoon. I did that one day last week and found running in the am, followed by going to the gym in the afternoon to be quite good.

I was alone for dinner tonight. Charlie''s in Orlando visiting his family who flew down from Buffalo. So, I probably overdid dinner, but I was craving a lobster roll. I''m sure you can relate to that Jeff, right?

And we have a terrific place in Tampa called Monstah Lobstah (to mimmick the Bahston accent!). They have steamers (soft shelled clams - so yummy) and they make the best seafood chowdah and their lobster rolls are as good as anything you can get in New England, so I had steamers, a big cup of chowdah and a lobster roll (which is lobster salad consisting of chunks of lobster meat, celery and mayo served on a hoagie rol)l!! I''m sure I went way over my calorie level for dinner, but man was it ever good, so I''m glad I gave into my craving. It''s a good thing to give into your cravings once in a while!!

Anyway, I hope everyone''s doing well. I''ll check in tomorrow.......

 

[firebirdgold]

My favorite part of halloween - a parent dressed as the Great Pumpkin gave me candy. I just ate the reese''s peanut butter cup!

Is the teenage thing some kinda wierd trend? We never trick-or-treated past 12, yet I''ve got kids taller than me at my door! There have been a couple of clusters of teenage girls with cat faces drawn on with eyeliner that makes you think they got the munchies and had the brilliant (and stoned) idea to go score candy. But some of the teenagers have really elaborate costumes on! I''ve been very impressed. And at least they don''t stand there holding their bag out waiting for more candy after you''ve already given them a regular sized bag of m&m''s with nary a thank you like the 11-7 yr olds do!

I''ve learned my lesson about letting them pick their candy from the bowl. I was always careful as a kid to only take one thing and these brats grab handfuls! I swear it''s enough to put you off kids!

Sorry for the OT rant but pms, quitting cigs, and halloween not such a great combo for me.

No actual exercise to report, but I''ve been good food-wise other than two pieces of candy which I did write down and counted as points. Oh and I''ve lost three pounds since last week!

 

[Mara]

lol i had to go and get more halloween candy, typically we have like 20 kids MAYBE and this year i was cleaned out within like 30 minutes! the local store up the street was almost cleaned out too...so i had to get things like wrapped Hersheys' Special Dark...haha. so i should be set for another hour maybe! kinda scary...i am really happy to see more kids showing up this year though, i always feel like the 'going to the mall' thing is so not the way halloween trick or treating should be!! it's just as fun for those of us handing out candy as those who are getting it. and it was just as 'unsafe' in my opinion when i was a kid...i remember all the same precautions that parents take today being in place then too. anyway so i am really happy to get more kids this year!!

we took portia to the local pet store parade which was a lot of fun, we saw some really cute costumes!! and then we got fresh caramel apples at this old candy store up the street from us, we LOVE caramel apples and what better time to have one?!?! so that's my splurge for tonite.

and yes tybee, we have gotten a few of the older not-even-dressed-up kids and it's like whaaa??!!? i asked one guy what he was and he was all 'uhhh' and didn't even have an answer and he WASN'T dressed up. i told him he should probably make something up before he visited the next house. greg only gave him one piece of candy too, and all the little kids got 2 pieces. hahaha. halloween drama. too funny. and what is up with kids not even saying trick or treat? they just hold out their bag. it's like come on kids! you have relatively little work to do here for an ample reward. hehe.

we kind of live in a transitional area, and i think the kids are just realizing that our townhouses and this community is a great place to get the good candy!! i had a few kids make comments about how big our townhouses were, and i felt like a few of the parents or whatever were almost like checking us out and checking out our house. does anyone else ever get the feeling like you might be getting 'cased' during halloween? i know that's so horrible to think that but i just had the weirdest feeling a few times. at least we have our vicious watchdog, hahah.

anyhow no workout for me tonite...all the running around today counts..hehe. and i'm having my caramel apple after dinner as well. happy halloween everyone!

oh and rod your dinner sounds DIVINE....!!! definitely worth the splurge!

 

[AmberWaves]

Okay, what the heck am I supposed to do? NO trick or treaters, but literally a tub of candy. Ugh. Kind of helpful is this strep throat I think I have, the sour candy (my fave, usually) burns like fire when I eat it. Yay?

 

[Lorelei]

Sounds like you all did great saying no to the Halloween candy! Not a problem for me here, well...candy is ALWAYS a problem hehehe...Used the new dumbells last night and they were really good, I think they are something we will use for a long time. I also did 50 mins cardio this morning and it went well, so I am back to it now and into the routine again.

 

[Tybee]

My Mantra for today (Wednesday)
"I am goint to the gym afterschool. I am going to the gym after school. I am going to the gym after school..."
I will not stay after to help any students learn to use quotation marks correctly...
I will not stay to talk to any parents about anything...
"I am going to the gym after school!"

Happy Wednesday all!

Tybee

 

[lovelylulu]

Good morning,

Yesterday was a fine eating day. kashi oatmeal for breakfast, hummus for lunch and a "healthy" homemade mexican delight -- chicken, black beans and yellow peppers with a bit of cheese and guac. i

avocados.

we don''t get any halloween visitors -- live in an apartment and there are heaps of swank proper houses in the neighborhood -- so i went to the gym. I ran three miles. It felt excellent and because I hadn''t been running in about a week, it was fairly easy. However, that is basically my maxium. I''m not a distance runner. never have been. so i can pretty much only manage 3-3.5 miles before i stop. i wonder if it''s in my head. i have run longer distances, but maybe i get bored...anyway. i walked for an additional 10 minutes just for kicks.

tybee -- you WILL make it to the gym today

I''m sorry you''re having such a tough year. i have tons of teacher friends and it''s such a demanding job!

amber -- hope your strep clears soon.

rod -- lobster is so darn tasty! I made sure to have a roll when i was up in maine this summer

indie -- how did the stew turn out? we got an enormous crockpot for a wedding present and haven''t put it to good use yet. i''m not so much for stew (too much was forced on me as a child) but i wonder what else we could whip up. congrats on the weight loss! I''ve lost about 25 pounds in the last year or so, but oddly enough, only one dress size from a 10 to an 8. I think that i carried the extra weight fairly evenly and lost it the same way? I really thought that it would losing so much would be more dramatic in terms of size shrinkage, but in my case, apparently not.

turtle -- good work with the step aerobics. i had to do that once for high school gym class? and i was hopeless. plain hopeless

 

[KimberlyH]

Morning All!

I actually like the older kids trick-or-treating as they could be out doing worse things like smashing pumpkins and torturing the little guys. We went to MILs and were through 4 bags of candy in 1.5 hours, I don't want left overs in the house so we went home at 7:30.

I ate two pieces of candy but figured out that even w/ the pizza and salad for dinner I still only ate about 1600 calories yesterday so I don't feel guilty considering I burned 550 on the elliptical. I ate way more than my usual amount of fat but it's not the end of the world, I could have stuffed my face with candy and been done passing it out at 7.

John and I are talking about going apple picking in Julian today so I'm not sure if I'll work out or not, depends on school and when we leave and get home.

Rod: Great news that more companies are courting you and so glad the back is feeling better.

Tybee: You will make it to the gym today!

turtle: awesome workout! Good for you.

ETA: Mara, your busy day earlier this week inspired me. I just spent an hour on the elliptical! Thanks for being such a great motivation.

 

[Mara]

aww thanks kimberly, it's good to know i inspire someone other than myself at times, LOL! you go girl! an hour on the ellip is awesome.

last nite we only had about 1/4 of our caramel apple because we remembered it was in the bag late at night. i also brought the other one i bought to work today and am going to split it with my 3 gal coworkers so we'll each just have a bit...hehe. there's so much candy around here now that everyone brought theirs in too! at my desk i have a personal kitkat, and a reeses pb cup. hehee. we'll see what i eat. i think i will just eat one today.

breakfast was 2 multigrain waffles with fat-free and low-cal syrup yet a pat of real butter (altogether very yummy and only 220 cals total) and my coffee. then i had a power-c vitamin water drink with a emergen-c packet in it since my boss thinks she is getting sick and we don't want to get sick right before our big group trip to NYC. then for lunch right now i am having some sushi...YUM...i am close here at work to my fave place so i went and got 3 rolls for takeout for us to all share. def less than i eat at dinner which is good...plus i can have a protein/luna bar right before my workout at 4pm. workout tonite at the gym, hoping to do the 750 cals again since i have a full hour and a half to work out tonite! then dinner is TJ's mushroom raviolis with a big fresh salad for each of us. and some caramel apple ... hehee.

sounds like everyone is doing great, hope people are having a wonderful day!! good luck getting to the gym tybee hehee.

 

[Rod]

Hey Everyone,

Quite a day to say the least. I accepted the offer in Raleigh around 1 PM today. It''s a great opportunity and even though we have turn our lives upside down, should ultimately be worth the effort. I''m sad to be leaving such a wonderful lifestyle in FL., but have to believe we can recreate the most important aspects of it in NC. We''ll be heading up there the end of next week for a house hunting trip. We''re all scheduled with a realtor and am meeting with one here tomorrow to list our condo.

At least I know where my future is and can stop dwelling on my past. Charlie''s OK with this, but of course it''s a lot to ask when he''s very happy here. But, after 27 years we go together and that''s a really good thing. I think he''ll like the weather in Raleigh a bit better than Florida. He''s a 4 seasons kind of guy. I''m not a 4 seasons guy though, so adding winter to the mix is going to be tough. But hey.......we''re both from D.C., so we spent the first years of our lives in a winter climate, so I''m accustomed to cold and gloom a portion of the year.

Anyway, we''re about to turn everything upside down.

Heading to the gym.........

 

[Kaleigh]

Congrats Rod!!! That''s great!! I bet you guys will love it there. Happy condo shopping!!

Sorry for the hijack guys and gals

 

[Mara]

yay Rod!!! CONGRATS. i am so excited for you. change is hard but i think if you have the right attitude that you''ll do just fine! and how exciting to kind of go there and build everything from scratch. keep us posted on the house hunting!

 

[KimberlyH]

Congratulations, Rod! So glad you've been offered something worth taking! As trite as it may sound, home is where you hang your hat, and I'm sure you and Charlie will find new great places to workout, eat and settle into your lives. Yippee!!

ETA: No no no, Mara, thank you! This thread really does keep me motivated.

We went to Julian to pick apples and all the places were closed down so we went in to town instead. There's this great old fashioned candy store that we always visit. I managed not to purchase anything again! John always buys things when we're there but I was totally restrained because if we don't have it I won't eat it and the things he chose are not things I crave. Works out well for me!

 

[Tybee]

Hurray Rod!
Hurray!
I am so very happy for you!
I don''t know much about Raleigh... but NC is a beautiful state with mountains and ocean.
My dad actually retired to Wilmington, NC. I guess it''s not that close to Raleigh, but it''s a GORGEOUS
beach!

Good luck condo hunting!

Tybee

 

[turtledazzle]

Rod ~ Congrats on the new job!!! Change is always a little scary, but I bet you and Charlie are going to love it. Good luck on the condo search.

Sounds like everyone is having a good week thus far. Workout for me today was a 1-hour DVD that I rented from the library because the class I normally go to at the gym was canceled. The DVD was pretty good ~ got my heart rate up for a while and got some toning exercises in as well.

Regarding the step classes, I first tried them in college and quickly gave up b/c I could not get the hang of it. I just figured I didn''t have the coordination. I stumbled into a step class again in grad school one year right after New Year''s because all of the machines were packed with New Year''s Resolutioners. I just decided to try the step class because I didn''t want to wait forever for a machine. At first, I again had no idea what I was doing ~ but most people looked like they were having fun. So I just kept trying it and, after a month or so, I got the hang of it. That was almost three years ago. Going to step classes really jump started my interest in regularly working out. Over the course of ~6 months or so I lost about 20 pounds.

Yay - the work week is more than half over!

 

[mrssalvo]

Congrats Rod. You''ve got such a great attidute I''ll bet the transition will be a smooth and easy one.

 

[Rod]

Thanks so much everyone. Smooth and easy transition? Probably not, but we'll just have to treat this like an adventure. We've got a realtor coming tomorrow to list our place and are looking (at least online for the moment) at places in NC. We suspect with the downturn in sales, that we're in for a long time to sell our new place down here. So, we may have to live in rented space in NC until our house sells. I guess it will all work out ultimately.

Must admit that I worked out so hard at the gym to blow away some of this stress. As much as I'm excited about the new job and the fact that I won't go without benefits or money (which in today's world is a great acheivement), I kept wondering how I managed to turn my life upside down and why did life have to be so complicated. So, I pushed on the weights. And I pushed on the elliptical and all of the sudden, three hours went by. I may not have resolved any of the conflict in my head, but I do feel more relaxed after such an intense workout.

Again, I so appreciate everyone's congratulations. To become employed in only 6 weeks at my level is something I'm pretty proud of.

And btw......Tybee......Wilmington, NC., is about 2 hours from Raleigh. It's supposed to be the closest beach on the outerbanks and lot's of people in Raleigh have weekend retreats there. Raleigh is also about 2 hours from the mountains, so we can get up high or low in a short time. Now, all we have to do is find something we can live in the rest of the time.

Night night everyone...........

 

[appletini]

I went to my Total Body Traing class after work today...and worked up a good sweat. DH and I had a date tonight at one of our favorite spots called the Raven Grill. Whenever we go there we get a side salad and then split the seafood enchiladas (they are so yummy, but spliiting is enough to be comfortably full).

And my allergies got really bad tongiht, so not sure when I''ll make it out again...I think a front is coming through and stirring everything up...I don''t know what I would do without benedryl, allegra d, and flonase.

Rod,
Congrats on the new job! Just think of all the fun new experiences you''ll have in Raliegh.

 

[qtiekiki]

How do you guys get motivated to exercise in the winter? It''s really hard for me to want to exercise when it''s cold. I just get all lazy in the winter.