Weekly Workout Thread 5th Feb till 11th Feb

[Ellen]

Date: 2/8/2007 12:39:54 PM
Author: Lorelei

I asked for that didn''t I ??????

Ellen, did you have any cakie with your non marshmallow Swiss Miss?

Blast - I am back to cake mongering again!

Yes, yes you did.

No, I was only half bad.

 

[Mara]

thanks for posting that link kimberly...now i am curious about how to modify recipes using yogurt and applesauce instead of other things it calls for.

i also read on some WW forum that people make 'diet cakes' with cake mixes and 'diet soda'...but no one really ever mentioned what kind of soda to use, is it ginger ale or like some sort of tonic soda? anway, that sounds intriguing for making cupcakes...i love yellow cake cupcakes and after my success with the devils food and pumpkin figure 'what else can i add into cake mixes that is healthy and will get me the primary flavor of the cake mix'...aka chocolate or yellow has a distinct flavor and maybe all that eggs and oil isn't necessary after all to still get the primary flavor? hmmmm. that could open up lots of avenues for even things like carrot cake (hint hint) mixes and german chocolate (cupcakes?!)...etc.

oh and it's 10am and i ate at 8am and i am already hungry..my stomch is starting to growl. what gives?!?!

 

[lovelylulu]

thanks. the pants are from ann taylor and i believe that they sized "generously" i'm basically now a 6/8 depending on a particular brand. it's a nice place to be.

 

[royalasscherlover]

mara, i''ve never made the cakes with diet soda myself but i had a friend who did...i think she used diet coke with chocolate cake mix and diet sprite with yellow cake mix. diet cream soda would probably be good with either too!

 

[appletini]

I feel like I haven''t as good lately...last week and I only two workouts and my workouts this week have beem wimpy--just walking on the treadmill. I''m going out of town for the weekend, but I am going to go to my Total Body Training class tomorrow during lunch before I leave the afternoon so that I can get in my 3 workouts this week.

 

[Dee*Jay]

When I was going to WW the people who made chocolate cakes used diet rootbeer. Everyone raved about the cakes but I never made one (or had the happy hubby make one, more accurately... ).

 

[Mara]

hmmm i am just trying to imagine how a chocolate cake might taste with coke or root beer flavor added into it with the soda? hmmm. has anyone tried one? i might need to experiment this wkd! yellow with cream soda sounds yummy!

 

[KimberlyH]

A CL Carrot Cake recipe (although it''s not so light at 304 cals and 9 grams of fat per serving).

http://food.cookinglight.com/cooking/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=221945

The search continues!

 

[Mara]

for the carrot cake coveters:

http://lindaontheweb.com/recipes/carrot%20cake.html

carrot cake a'la orange with just the cals from the cake mix!! tempting!
(eta according to calorie count betty crocker carrot cake mix is 10 servings for 200 cals each and 3g of fat)

 

[KimberlyH]

A few more for you:

Better at 269 calories and 3.3 grams of fat: http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/bakedgoods/r/carrotcake1104.htm

583 calories and 33 grams of fat! I''d hate to see what this person eats normally!!! http://allrecipes.com/recipe/carrot-cake---low-fat-version/detail.aspx

234 calories and 10 grams of fat, getting even better (but I can''t vouch for the taste!): http://www.foodfit.com/cooking/archive/recipeMakeover_carrotcake.asp

245 calories and less than a gram of fat: http://www.pastrywiz.com/dailyrecipes/recipes/061.htm

Or how about a muffin at 180 calories and 5.9 grams of fat: http://www.foodfit.com/cooking/archive/recipeMakeover_carrotcake.asp


DeeJay, these recipes could keep the HH busy in the kitchen for days trying to figure out which is the best!

 

[Mara]

hmmm found this on cooks.com

LITE CARROT CAKE
2 c. minus 2 tbsp. sifted white flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. shredded carrots
1 c. unsweetened applesauce
3/4 c. egg substitute (or 3 eggs)
1/4 c. oil
2 tsp. vanilla
Sift together flour, soda, spices and salt. Stir in sugar. Mix other ingredients together separately. Make a well in the dry ingredients and gradually stir in the carrot mixture. Don''t over mix. Pour into greased and floured bundt pan. Bake 40-45 minutes at 350. To store, wrap in foil after cooled, and refrigerate or freeze.

Serves 24. 87 calories, 2 gm protein, 2.7 gm fat, 13.5 gm carbohydrate, 134 mg sodium, 0 cholesterol, 0.5 mg fiber, 0.5 mg iron, 24 mg calcium.

Those look like yummy muffins too!!

 

[Mara]

lol okay i''m on a roll:

-Duncan Hines Vanilla Cake Mix
-Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke
Mixed together, poured into 8 or 10 inch square pan
Lightly oiled the pan (since it''s not a non-stick)
Baked for 30 minutes.

The person who made it said:
"I can''t believe it... this rocks...Verdict: Light, fluffy, incredibly flavourful, and it tastes incredible!"

Also someone else said they made the Yellow cake mix with Diet Sprite:
"Tastes...great! I used a yellow cake and there is just a HINT of lemon lime. I had mixed the batter with a diet 7up."

Someone else said German chocolate with sunkist orange soda was definitely good. And yet someone else said Chocolate cake mix with diet pepsi was ''not good or bad'' but they wouldn''t make it again.

So I am definitely trying ONE of these over the weekend. I think the yellow with either cream soda or sprite.

 

[KimberlyH]

I''m seeking reinforcement. I''m meeting up with two friends for drinks at 6, which means they''ll want to order apps, so I looked up the nutritional information for the restaurant and can I just say it''s all TERRIBLE with the exception of tortilla soup and a bowl of chile (they both are 350 cals, everything else is in the 1000-2000 range). How do I politely bow out of ordering plates to share and just order one of those two items that I think are reasonable to eat?

 

[Mara]

Date: 2/8/2007 3:09:06 PM
Author: KimberlyH
I''m seeking reinforcement. I''m meeting up with two friends for drinks at 6, which means they''ll want to order apps, so I looked up the nutritional information for the restaurant and can I just say it''s all TERRIBLE with the exception of tortilla soup and a bowl of chile (they both are 350 cals, everything else is in the 1000-2000 range). How do I politely bow out of ordering plates to share and just order one of those two items that I think are reasonable to eat?

how about saying your stomach has been kind of upset lately, and you prefer to just eat something light and on your own, aka tortilla soup (probably not chile lol)...typically if it''s something that is health related vs ''oh im dieting'' people are way more likely to leave you alone. don''t you hate that you have to have a justification though?!?!?

 

[KimberlyH]

Date: 2/8/2007 3:13:05 PM
Author: Mara

Date: 2/8/2007 3:09:06 PM
Author: KimberlyH
I''m seeking reinforcement. I''m meeting up with two friends for drinks at 6, which means they''ll want to order apps, so I looked up the nutritional information for the restaurant and can I just say it''s all TERRIBLE with the exception of tortilla soup and a bowl of chile (they both are 350 cals, everything else is in the 1000-2000 range). How do I politely bow out of ordering plates to share and just order one of those two items that I think are reasonable to eat?

how about saying your stomach has been kind of upset lately, and you prefer to just eat something light and on your own, aka tortilla soup (probably not chile lol)...typically if it''s something that is health related vs ''oh im dieting'' people are way more likely to leave you alone. don''t you hate that you have to have a justification though?!?!?

I do hate it; the ladies I''m meeting up with are ex-coworkers and while I like them a lot, we''re not particularly close so explaining things like "I''m counting calories" to people I haven''t seen in three months just seems odd. That''s a good idea, except that I planned on having a glass of wine and that doesn''t really mesh with not feeling well. But if I twist it a bit and say I''m getting over a cold and don''t want to share germs that might work. I''d be more apt to just splurge a bit tonight, but it''s sort of a fast food type Mexican restaurant, the food isn''t exceptional and it''s just not worth it to me. I need to chew on this.

 

[Mara]

okay so calculating daily calorie needs. i did that RMR thing yesterday and read a bit more on it today....so apparently RMR and BMR are basically (though not exactly, this is what i am unclear on) the same thing and it''s ''resting''...yes. not with any activity. both are ''basic'' and don''t include activities or workouts.

so i found this other site today, that lets you calc it 2 ways. the first easiest way is to take your RMR and then add into it an ''average'' daily activity. OR you can write out what your 24 hour day entails...and then use their little activity calculator to estimate what your body spends doing things all day long. so i did it both ways! hehe.

okay so i basically sleep for 9 hours (or 8.5), am in the office either sitting or typing or doing ''light office'' work for about 7.5 hours a day. the rest of my day is made up of getting ready/showering, light kitchen work/food prep, driving to and from work/gym/store, tidying/cleaning/folding laundry, shopping (aka groceries), and watching TV/sitting quietly on the couch. oh and on the days i work out, one less TV/couch hour basically.

so according to calculating out my entire 24 hour day...for my height and weight, i need 1737 cals per day + a workout (on workout days) aka 2137 for a 400 cal workout day OR on non-workout days 1839 cals. to maintain my weight.

using their little BMR/RMR ''multiply your average activity level'' thing it came out to 1821ish for a ''sedentary'' activity level (not counting workouts) for my age, weight, and height. see attached image for the chart thing with my height weight etc and their ''general'' calcs.

so here is the link:
http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_need.html

if anyone wants to try it. writing out my day and entering each item into the calc and adding them only took like 20 minutes. so it might be worth it if you really want to see what your day entails and how it calcs out. or use the little easy BMR/RMR calc thing to get a ''close'' estimate.

so kinda interesting, apparently i should be eating more to maintain? i dunno. i am going to try to stick to 1700ish average with my workouts and see what happens.

_____________________

on a funny note, the office ordered in pizza today instead of tomorrow (pizza fridays which i never attend!!) and i looked up the pizza online and found nutritional info...so i am having 2 slices of veggie pizza...minus the crusts because that is where all the cals hide! the thin crust version is 210 cals and the regular is 280 per slice. so i figure by discarding the big fat end of the crust that it should be closer to the thin crust version (the bottom crusts on these are tiny)...and they are loaded with veggies and relatively little cheese, so that''s good. and it''s yummy. so i''m having a higher calorie lunch and decided for us to have TJ''s gnocchi with tomato sauce tonite for a lower calorie dinner than originally planned to make up for the pizza splurge, lol. snacks today will be bran apple muffin and a fiber one bar then a workout after work!!

 

[nejarb]

kim, maybe you can say that you''re just not that hungry b/c you had a huge lunch, or birthday cake in the afternoon at the office--or something like that, and so you''d rather have something light.

question about the rmr & burning calories doing cardio. are the calories burned at gym in addition to the ones you would have been burning if you weren''t exercising? like if at my rmr i burn 60 cal/hr, and the elliptical machine says i burned 550 in an hr, did i really burn 610? or just 550? i think someone already asked this a while ago, but i never saw the answer if there was one.

 

[Mara]

Date: 2/8/2007 4:39:20 PM
Author: nejarb
kim, maybe you can say that you're just not that hungry b/c you had a huge lunch, or birthday cake in the afternoon at the office--or something like that, and so you'd rather have something light.

question about the rmr & burning calories doing cardio. are the calories burned at gym in addition to the ones you would have been burning if you weren't exercising? like if at my rmr i burn 60 cal/hr, and the elliptical machine says i burned 550 in an hr, did i really burn 610? or just 550? i think someone already asked this a while ago, but i never saw the answer if there was one.

oh i dunno, i just took 1 hour out of my day and calc'd it at 400 (though sometimes i do 500 in a workout) and added that in. really for me i don't care as much about 50 cals leeway range.

for the calc if i wanted to lose weight, i would take 550 just to be a bit conservative. and i'd be more conservative on the #'s too in general.

 

[bee*]

hey all, I havent been around the last few days as Ive been doing my work experience on a farm. Its been good exercise though chasing after the animals!! I havent been to the gym since monday so I will have to wait until tomorrow to weigh myself. I got out the measuring tape though and Ive lost an inch on my waist and an inch on each thigh! Woohoo!!

3rd week 4th week
Height 5ft 4 1/2" 5ft 4 1/2"
Weight 191 lbs dont know yet!
Arm 13 1/2 " 13 1/2"
Bust 37" 37"
Waist 33 " 32"
Thigh 26" 25"
Lower waist 39" 39"
Hips 45" 45"

 

[Ellen]

Date: 2/8/2007 2:58:32 PM
Author: Mara

lol okay i''m on a roll:

-Duncan Hines Vanilla Cake Mix
-Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke
Mixed together, poured into 8 or 10 inch square pan
Lightly oiled the pan (since it''s not a non-stick)
Baked for 30 minutes.

Mara, is that it? no eggs or anything?

And I love cream soda, try that one.

 

[Mara]

Date: 2/8/2007 5:24:43 PM
Author: Ellen

Date: 2/8/2007 2:58:32 PM
Author: Mara


lol okay i''m on a roll:

-Duncan Hines Vanilla Cake Mix
-Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke
Mixed together, poured into 8 or 10 inch square pan
Lightly oiled the pan (since it''s not a non-stick)
Baked for 30 minutes.

Mara, is that it? no eggs or anything?

And I love cream soda, try that one.

Yep that''s it!! I read it online on the WW forum that people make it all the time so it got me intrigued.

I figured it was kind of like my pumpkin chocolate muffins, aka 2 ingredients and it comes out great. Totally want to try it tho. I love love love yellow cake.

 

[Ellen]

OK, thanks. I gotta try this!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Back from the accountant. I won't know how bad the damage is for a few days so I'm not in too bad a mood yet, LOL.

Today I've had 1331 cals (no workout) and I'm thinking about having a little something else. I stopped at Trader Joe's and got a bunch of frozen stuff for next week when the happy hubby is off skiing again, and I grabbed some ginger snaps that are 6 cookies for 140 cals so maybe I'll sample a few of those on my way past the kitchen.

As for the cakes, I know it's hard to belive, but at WW people would make them (literally just cake mix and soda) all the time and just RAVE about them. (Then again, maybe they were just on WW so long *anything* desserty tasted good

). Maybe I will have to try making one of these while the HH is gone. Note to self: Figure out how to turn on the oven...

Is the a cake mix for carrot cake? In this day and age there MUST be, right?

Oooh, I can feel a little Betty Crocker moment commin' on for Dee!!!

 

[Rod]

Date: 2/8/2007 9:36:06 AM
Author: Lorelei

Date: 2/8/2007 9:30:20 AM
Author: Modified Brilliant

Date: 2/7/2007 10:29:28 PM
Author: Rod
Hey........I have felt a little off this week and even had a day of feeling chilled. Of course the fact that I''m living in a climate that got really cold all of the sudden could have helped, but still, I have been a little off. But, I didn''t let it stop me from hitting the gym the past two nights like usual. In fact, after each workout, I felt better than before I went to the gym. I''m convinced the endorphens released in a wokout actually make you feel better, even if you''re not feeling 100%. Plus if there was something brewing in my system, working out at the gym seems to be keeping it at bay.

On the scale, we''ve both noticed we''ve each gained about 4 pounds over the last few weeks. Now, we know we''re not eating more. And we know we''re not working out less. In fact, we''re increasing the weights. And I''ve actually been working on unassisted chin ups. That may not sound like much, but believe me, unassisted chin ups are really really tough. And I can now do three sets of 5 alternating with 3 sets of 15 unassisted dips. It''s amazing at 52 that I''ve developed enough muscle to accomplish something like this!!!

Tomorrow, will be our third day in a row at the gym like normal. So, I''ll check in tomorrow night after our workout.

Take care Team PS!!

Folks...you gotta admire this man

Absolutely!!!!!!!

I can do one unassisted chin up....

And Miss Lorelei........That is quite an accomplishment!! Really, it is. Maybe kids and "uber" big boys can easily do unassisted chin ups, but we mere mortals and "older" folk will find them quite challenging, if not absolutely impossible. So, one will lead to two. And two, will lead to three. And according to a trainer at the gym, FIVE WILL QUALIFY YOU TO SERVE IN THE MILITARY!!!!! LOL

So, you go girl!!!

 

[Rod]

Date: 2/8/2007 9:42:48 AM
Author: merrijoy

Date: 2/8/2007 9:37:45 AM
Author: Dee*Jay
Well after my cold garage forage last night it was indeed hot chocolate and not pudding that I wanted! (Lorelei -- I tried to find a pic of the Swiss Miss girl to put in my post but instead of the innocent pigtailed cartoon girl I ended up on a bunch of **** sites. Is there NOTHING left in this world that can''t be made dirty?!?)

Today the happy hubby and I walked to work together and I decided that I deserved a coffee on the way in. I''m having grits and toast for breakfast. (Does anyone else like grits? My dad lives in North Carolina and when I visit him I make us go out for breakfast every morning so I can get a big bowl of real southern grits -- YUM! Every year with my Christmas presents he includes a couple of boxes of the instant variety [like we can''t buy them here in Chicago--but he means well] and a few times a year I remember that I have them and dig around in the pantry to locate them. Lorelei, sorry if you want grits now!)

No gym for me tonight because I''m visiting the accountant tonight. Frankly I would rather have a root canal without novacaine. Maybe if she just drags out our meeting for an hour my heart rate will be sustained at such a high rate while I wait for her to tell me what I owe the government I will get as much benefit as if I *had* worked out...

And I''m not sure I can do the 700 cal thing at the gym very time I must confess. It was indeed a challange (but maybe that''s the *point* LOL) and my heart rate was at 90-95% of my rate the whole time.

Which leads to Dee''s stupid question of the day: If you work really hard at the gym the next day your leg muscles (for instance) are sore. But, if you bring your heart rate up to a level that it rarely (maybe *never*) gets to, and the heart is a muscle, how come your heart doesn''t ache the next day too? (OK, everyone feel free to laugh now any my stupidity, but I''m really curious... )

I do not have an answer, but this made me smile and I find your question really cute and endearing (in a good way, of course

).
Thank you for the smile.
Meredith

It is actually a really good question. Did you know that if an adult exercises hard for 12 months and does cardio workouts consistently, they can double the size of their heart?? According to my reading, we can actually build a much stronger heart muscle and that''s a good good good thing. And perhaps not being able to feel our heart muscle ever feel sore is also a really good thing. Can you imagine how many excuses we could come up with to NOT exercise if our hearts hurt from working out??

 

[Rod]

Thanks for hoping I didn''t catch cold Mara. I wasn''t feeling like a cold was coming on. It was more achy with chills and I felt a little weak and tired. But I worked out and felt better. Then the next night I worked out and felt even better and today, I felt like my myself. And I had a fantastic workout tonight. Actually, I have to share this. Many of you know how committed I am to core training. While I do a lot of core strength work, I also alternate nights where in addition to using some machines (like crunch, back extension, roman candle) I do (really puts stress on your core) planks. So, tonight, there was no room available and I just decided I would do them in the open area. At some point, this nice young man comes over and says that his trainer wanted to know who taught me how to do planks so well and he wanted to know if he could use a mat next to me and mimic what I was doing. MAN, that made me feel good. He was in his 20s and in obvious good shape and health, but his core strength was nothing compared to mine. It definitely shows what an old fart can do if an old fart really wants to!!! Ok, self plug over. Back to your regularly schedule program, including cake talk (bad bad bad). LOL

So, tomorrow''s Friday. YAY!!! That means Sushi and no workout. Back to the gym on Saturday and Sunday, but tomorrows one of only two days off a week and we really really look forward to our Friday night away from the gym.

And Mara, I think I know what you mean about needing more Fiber. It does go through my system quickly (my natural body functions always have worked fast), and with my metabolism working harder because of all the exercise, I think I crave more fiber. I eat a really high fiber cereal with fresh fruit and fat free milk in the morning for breakfast. About 3 hours later, I''m absolutely famished and I can''t wait until lunch. I also tend to crave carbs more too.

I hope you all have a great Friday!!

 

[mrssalvo]

speaking of fiber

You guys might have already mentioned them before but I just found them at Target yesterday. Fiberone Oats and Peanut Butter Chewy Bars. They actually taste very good. Here''s the nutrition facts:

Calories per bar: 150
Total Fat: 4.5
sat. fat:2
Cholesterol: 0
Sodium: 105mg
Total Carbs: 28g
Fiber: 9g
Sugars: 9g
protein: 3g

I had one as a mid-morning snack today and they are very filling and I liked that I got a nice serving of fiber

they also make an Oats and Chocolate which I haven''t tried yet.

 

[Mara]

lol DJ yep there is a carrot cake mix. i posted a link up above where someone did a carrot cake mix with an orange soda i think and got some sort of orange carrot cake and they loved it. so maybe try that?! or even carrot cake with cream soda would probably be yummy. i think i am going to do yellow with sprite or cream soda.

so tonite we had the gnocchi from TJs'...and can i just say YUM YUM YUM?? we both LOVED it. it's the frozen gnocchi with tomato and cheese sauce...and it's kinda funky when you make it, you basically put a tbl of water in a frying pan and heat them up with the frozen sauce for 7 minutes or so..and whala!! they get nice and cheesy too. we made some of our lemon carrots we love and a lite caesar salad. yum. perfect amount too. definitely getting those again. dessert is going to be a pudding cup or a biscotti or maybe both.

i hit up the gym and did 350 cals on the elliptical then 100 on the treadmill...and then about 10 minutes of arm weights.

i think i might make the fat free krusteaz blueberry muffins tonite...we'll see. we finished off the bran applesauce muffins today and i really liked them, going to make them again at some point.

mrs salvo i LOVE the oats and chocolate fiber one bars. they are 140 cals. and since i love choco more than PB so i stick with these, lol...they taste like candy bars to me!! so awesome you found them, they are a total treasure.

rod glad to hear you are feeling a bit better! maybe low blood sugar? sometimes i feel like that too actually...and the other day i felt like that during the day, i think i mentioned it previously but i was getting cold and i also felt headachy and really tired and like my legs were filled with sand. really random! it went away after i ate lunch but i had breakfast and a snack before that so it wasn't like i was really hungry. kinda odd. i thought maybe a flu was trying to get me.

oh and Rod, the cake talk is not BAD cake talk, see you have those old mental roadblocks again...cake is not always bad!! we're talking about how to get a healthy version of cake. just like PIZZA is not always bad!! i had 2 pieces today for lunch, veggie, with only one crust, lol. and i looked them up online and they weren't bad at all really! tons of veggies and not too much cheese. the crust and bread is really where most of the cals are i would imagine. the crust puffy part was huge, that's what i tossed away. and its good to know that fiber isn't just going through me faster, lol...!

 

[Mara]

OH and i wanted to add my current find.... dannon fit n'' light smoothie yogurts!!! i got them last nite and had one this morning between breakfast and lunch and it kept me full for 2 hours on 60 calories and 0g of fat!! and really yum. definitely recommended for a snack between meals or if you have to grab and go kinda thing.

 

[Lorelei]

Thank you fellow cake mongers for the wonderful recipes you posted!! I shall be printing them out then a gathering the ingredients!!!

Out of interest I have a recipe for Coca Cola cake, but you have to use full fat, diet won't work. But I won't be making that recipe anytime soon, it is hugely fattening.

I didn't work out last night as it was so cold in our little gym due to the snow, I will try for later.

Rod - I guess one unassisted chin up isn't too bad for someone who has no upper body strength! Thanks for the encouragement and congrats on your technique being admired!