OOHH Catherine how exciting. I was looking at the dealers page and it’s a beauty of a bike. Many happy miles of riding. Just have fun! Where will you be riding it? Great job on the work out today.

Denise

I love to bike.  I haven’t done that in years.  Congratulations!!!

I’m glad to hear the new program is working out for you.  Keep it up.  Consistency is always key.  That’ smy biggest problem.  believe me!!!

The row machine is an interesting one.  I’ve been meaning to try it.  It sounds like you like it a lot. 

right now I’m just trying to stay in the game, like we all are I guess.  Like you, I’ve been noticing the tightening of the muscles, and the trimming of fat, yet my body weight stays the same.  funny how that works, eh?

Keep it up!  I’m rooting for you!

Great work out week, but I am taking it easy today - I’m fighting something off in my throat again. It is a bit raw. I haven’t moved much yet today - it will be a light cardio day.

Workout updates.

Wednesday - Walktoberfest (fund-raiser event at the school - kids get to buy-out of class for a twoonie (Canadian $2) and we all go for a walk around the community - $1500+ raised - going to “Free the Children") ~ 1hr walk = warm-up for my workout. Day 1 of my program - came out with my hair totally drenched - had to wash it again before my last class of the day!!

Thursday - nothing exciting - 45 min straight on the elliptical (HR 145 - 150 throughout once I’d warmed up).
Still feeling sore and stiff all over. Had a hot bath in the evening to try to alleviate it some.

Friday - Awesome workout with my Trainer - he changed up a few of the exercises to make them a bit harder, and I will incorporate them into my workouts from now on. He had me do the leg press machine instead of squats though to give my knees a break since they have been more stiff and sore again (but no real pain and I want to keep it that way). For the last set he put 230lbs of plates on and had me do 30 reps! My butt hurts today in the good way. Followed up with a cardio session on my own. Managed 25 min on the elliptical (HR 150+) and was starting to feel tired so I switched over to the bike for the last 20 min (HR 130+). Went home and flaked with ice on my knees for good measure. Today they are at least happy if other body parts are not.



Update to post.

Got to the gym late this afternoon. I would have just gone outside for a walk but I had to go up to the drycleaner anyway to pick up the those new dress pants I had hemmed - I want to wear them tomorrow for my nephew’s christening.
Figgured I’d just have an easy 1/2 hr walk on the treadmill with a bit of an incline and I started out that way then decided to do the “Walktest” on my HR monitor to see if I’ve improved since I got it. Unfortunately I didn’t remember the correct distance to walk. I thought it was supposed to be 2 miles - but I just looked it up and it is actually 2 KM (or 1.24 miles) - big difference!! So my watch still says I’m in the very poor category. I’ll have to re-do the test very soon.

On another note - I had to do a bit of grocery shopping after my workout and discovered something that made me rather angry with the store. It’s one of those superstores that sells everything including a line of clothing. (The drycleaner and the gym are even all in the same building!) Well I’ve purchased several pair of black workout pants there in the last few months - I really like the fit of them (I’m now in a 1X ) and they are pretty cheep. But a few weeks ago I returned a pair because the stitching was coming out in the seat. (The last thing I want is to split my pants when working out… or worse yet at school in front of students!! ) Anyway despite telling myself I didn’t need any more I went to look at the clothing section again. Guess what?!! I found the pair of pants I had returned back out on the racks!! Can you imagine they are selling worn and defective clothing as new at full price!! I asked to speak to a manager and when I showed her the pants and explained I had returned this very pair she tried to convince me that “maybe it was a different pair that had a similar defect”. I told her she couldn’t convince me that this was not the pair I had returned. I didn’t want anything out of it when she asked what she could do for me. Someone needs to check their procedures at the customer service desk.

I’d be very angry about the pants too. That’s dishonest. Too bad you couldn’t safety pin a note to them somewhere where the clerks wouldn’t see it so that anyone who tried the pants on would see the note.

Had a rough few days but things are getting back to normal now. I developed a sore throat over the weekend but it doesn’t seem to be turning into anything serious, though I’m not back to 100% yet. Dealt with a family crises Monday night and I’ve missed two days of training. Here’s the run down of the last 4 days.

Sunday was a great day - but I didn’t do any exercise. It was my nephew’s Christening. He was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO adorable while the priest was anointing him, smiling and cooing while the priest sang to him. (Ukranina Catholic Church - SIL’s family). Lots of family friends in town (who haven’t seen me in almost a year and noticed the drop in weight ) Big catored (sp?) lunch after. Enjoyed a hearty lunch by loading up on the salad and veggies. Also enjoyed 4 very small slices of cake. I kept them small so I could try the different choices that looked good. I’m not sure why we needed about 10 different cakes beyond the huge official “Christening” cake which was more than enough to feed everyone - but they were very good. I tried my best to stay away from the candy bowls scattered about the room, but I just couldn’t refuse when my 2 yr old nephew started serving them 1 by 1 to everyone in the room.

Monday - Woke up still nursing the sore throat I developed over the weekend and had a full day at work along with our first swim team practice, so it turned into the second rest day in a row. However, the way I was feeling I didn’t feel guilty about it. Ended up having a stressful evening and only got 3 hours sleep Monday night. (3am - 6am)

Tuesday - 7am swim practice. (For those newer to my thread - I coach a high school swim team. We have about 65 students trying out but will have to make some cuts - a school bus only holds 48 max!). Was feeling tired throughout the day, but had a good cup of tea to get me going. My throat felt better though. At the end of the day I could have easily gone home and gone straight to sleep, but I knew I needed to get some movement in so I headed to the gym. It should have been a weight session, but I just couldn’t get motivated to do that so I just did easy cardio for an hour. 45 min on the elliptical + 15 min on a recumbent bike (HR 125 - 130), followed by some stretching and abs. Fell asleep before 9 and slept through till my alarm went off at 6 this morning.

Today - felt better after a good nights sleep. At work early to speak to the athletic council to recruit timers to help out during our swim meets. Taught 2 morning classes, but had some free time this afternoon. After completing prep for tomorrow I headed to the weight room for a good workout. Warmed up with 5 min on the elliptical and it was easy to get my HR up to 150 so I knew I had energy to burn, and I challenged myself to see if I could improve my 2000 m time on the rower. Last time I did it in 9:48, today I did it in 9:13. Then I hit the weights and did day two of my weight program. It felt great, but I could still feel some rawness in my upper airway when I was breathing hard so I didn’t push it by doing a full cardio session after. Some more stretching. It is good when I know I don’t have a audience because I can stretch into positions I wouldn’t do if there were people watching. I got an awesome back stretch by lying on the ground and rolling my legs over my head with my toes to the floor. I haven’t been able to do that since I was a kid!!


While at the meeting this morning Bev (my best cheerleader) gave me a great compliment while telling me I looked sloppy!! I was wearing a fleece cardigan I purchased a year ago at my highest weight.  She told me it was “time to put it away”.
After work I had dinner with my parents and it was kinda significant to me in a way too. In one of my first posts on here I wrote about how becoming the biggest person in my family made me feel awful. My mom had been doing well losing weight, while I had gained in the previous year. Now the tables have turned. My mom has had a rough past year and has put some weight back on. Before she was offering me articles of clothes she had shrunk out of which made me feel bad. Today she proposed that we trade winter coats because mine is too big for me and hers is too small for her. I don’t like hers as much, but it is a good option so we don’t each have to buy new ones that we may (hopefully!!) not get several years use out of. So then I told her about the fleece comment Bev made this morning and she wanted to try on the fleece. I’m giving it to her along with 3 others I got last year and she is going to buy me 3 new ones!! (She gets 4 for the price of 3 and I get new ones that fit better )

My mom has been getting out for her morning walks, but she hasn’t focused on diet. When she lost 50 lbs before, diet was a key factor. She was seeing Dr. A (who is now my chiropractor) for nutritional counseling and that sense of accountability and regular weigh-ins contributed to her success. When she “fell off the wagon” she stopped seeing him. She wants to get back to feeling better and loosing again. I keep encouraging her to go back to Dr. A. Maybe she will now.  She has been much better at cheering my success than I was at hers before I started my own journey.  I hope we can both continue down the scale together and be a support for each other even though we have chosen different methods to get there. 

Sorry that was so long.  Thanks for reading if you made it all the way through!!

Kudos to the person who told you your clothes are too big. And a big congratulations to you for sticking to your program so your clothes ARE too big. Trading with your mother seems like a reasonable approach. I hope she does go back to Dr. A. since she was successful with him earlier.

Scott has talked about getting appropriate clothes to work out in and feel good in. I’d add that it’s important to wear clothes to work that actually fit also. My weight loss was very slow but as I dropped in size, I “shopped” first in my closets and then at the store. I tried to buy at least one whole outfit (pants and top) at least every time I shrunk. That way I always had one outfit that I felt good in. Each season the “good” outfit was worn often enough that I didn’t feel guilty getting rid of it when it was no longer appropriate.

See . . . You don’t have a patent on long posts!

Thanks Joan.  I feel so much better when my clothes look good.  I actually almost headed to the mall after work today to see if the fleeces had arrived for the season, but that would have required a shower so I just went to dinner at home with my parents.  Now that I’ve got my mom to agree to pay for 3 new ones I will surely go shopping soon!!!! 

I’ve had to get a few new dress pants so I’d have them ready when the occasion calls.  And I’ve relpaced most of my athletic pants too.  Tops seem to get a bit more life, but anything I got last fall at my highest has pretty much been retired.  Some of the T-shirts I am still wearing are quite baggy, but I can get away with it for now. 

I’m actually down to where I was about 5 years ago, and will soon run out of old clothes that are still in style enough to wear except for a few select more clasic styles I have packed away somewhere in storage.  I’ll have to dig out those boxes soon.  I know there are some really nice sweaters and a dress I bought because I really liked it but never got to wear.

oh - I almost forgot another story from today.  Reading Joan’s thread about her bathroom reminded me of it!! 

I’ll try to keep it short.

This morning when I was getting ready for the day I was washing my hands in my bathroom when my ring slipped off my finger and went down the drain!!  I used to wear the ring on my right ring finger but had to move it over the the index finger a while ago.  I’ve run out of fingers to move it to!! 

I didn’t have time to fish it out this morning so I taped a big X over the sink to remind myself not to use it when I got home.  The ring got hung up on the little lever that is supposed to raise and lower the plug but since it no longer works I just place the plug in when I need it.  Obviously it was out at the time.  I was able to fish the ring out when I got home using a coat hanger.  (That was actually the 3rd plan I came up with - crochet hooks and gum stuck to a knitting needle did not work!!)

You certainly were inventive in your attempts to get the ring back and congratulations on both having it fall off and getting it back. Are you going to put it away for a while until it’s appropriate to have it resized?

I didn’t wear my wedding and engagement rings for much of the year before I started exercising. They had become too small. Someone asked me why I didn’t have them resized and I told them because I had no intention of hanging on to the weight I had gained and I intended for them to fit again. I’ve now been wearing them again most of the time for about the past two years. (Every once in a while an overload of sodium makes them not fit but it’s not actual weight.)

So here’s to rings that are too big

Thanks again Joan - that particular ring is not worth getting sized - but I have some others that I have to be careful will now too. My SIL mentioned little beads or something that you could stick on the inside to make them tighter - I’ll have to look into that.


Update needed - have not been doing great in the gym department.

Friday - PA day - felt sluggish after sitting and listening to speakers all day - skipped out on my gym session

Saturday - got up, showered, ate, put on my gym clothes with every intension of getting to the gym earlier in the day. BUT proceeded to putt about the house all day organising and cleaning. (First time in ages I’ve had the house all to myself.... so much easier to re-organise without the others in my hair ). So no official exercise - but was on my feet and moving all day.

Sunday - headed out shopping for my new fleeces - but didn’t find any that I liked. A few stores are promising that they are getting them soon. Did buy one really nice sweater from Tabi though.
Got to the gym, but really had to force myself to workout. Felt ok while I doing it, but came home and flaked.

Today - felt good when I woke up. Ended up getting in a longer workout than anticipated today - a teacher cancelled his class with me last minute so I was able to add extra cardio. Started at lunch and warmed up with 20 min on the elliptical. I only planned to do the first two supersets from Day 1 of my program since I had done weights late yesterday. When I found out the class was cancelled I stayed in the weight room longer and did a 1/2 hour on the elliptical. (I may have tweaked my left knee again today. I re-adjusted my foot while doing a plie squat and felt a twinge - feels a bit off tonight - I should be icing it).
Ran a swim practice after school - got home about 6 - had dinner (tofu - blah) - and fell asleep from 7-9. I think I’m still battling a bug. I’ve just felt low energy too many days and workouts have been less energetic. My throat/chest still feel a bit raw and I’m having to clear my throat a lot. It hasn’t “got” me yet, but it is still lurking.

Hey there

Yesterday ended up as yet another rest day. I just didn’t have the will to get my butt into the gym. I could have gone after school, but stayed to watch the Jr. Boys Volleyball team play in a sudden death final. It was an excuse not to workout, but I was feeling very low energy. Didn’t make it through the evening again and was asleep on the couch well before bed time.


Today (Day 300!!) -up early to run a 7AM swim practice. The snow on my car was a surprise when I opened the front door - but I was prepared with my scarf and mitts!!
Got into the weight room at lunch, but still felt like I didn’t want to go all out. Did the “mountain” program on a recumbent bike for 20 minutes, then had a good stretching session. (When is my body going to get used to this new program? I am still sore in places I’d rather not be… to effectively stretch those spots I have to get into some odd positions - no audience is appreciated). Did some abs, and called it quits for that session.
Headed to the gym after school and did a shortened version of my weight program again. Warmed up first for 10 min on the crossramp and then did the first 2 sets of day 1. Actually felt good, but the short version enough for today. Finished up with 15 more minutes on the crossramp to get my quota of 45min of cardio for the day.

On to my 4th set of 100 days!!

It sounds like your body just needed to heal more. . . but I’m also glad to hear that you moved more today. Do you have a plan for tomorrow?

At minimum, a swim at lunch.  If I feel like more I may do an edited workout again - or get creative and do something off map of my program in the weight room .....or some yoga later in the day.  I’m taking Friday off so I can tire myself out tomorrow, but I have a session planned with my trainer late in the afternoon (Friday) so I don’t want to over do it.

Thanks for checking!

Enjoy the trainer session. I always do--although I feel a bit like a masochist!

Followed my plan as posted above. Went for a swim at lunch yesterday. Started to do my 1 km timed swim, but my lungs are still not entirely healthy and by my 6th lap (of 20) I was way behind my usual pace time, and my breathing was over laboured. So I switched it out to an easy swim for a bit, then once I’d recovered somewhat I tried an interval session. Fast 25 m free, followed by an easy 25 m breast - repeated several times. (It was similar to the workout set I gave the swim team in the morning. - I had them sprint each of the strokes and varied the distances more). Then put on my fins and did some kicking. I have no idea how many lengths/laps I did in the end - I gave up on counting. Followed up with some stretching in the pool.

Had my workout with my trainer today. Good workout - but he didn’t push me quit as hard today as I’ve been a bit under the weather. Switched out a few exercises today to give my legs a break - I may have a pulled muscle medially in my right hamstring - or some of the stabilizer muscles back there. I just looked it up in my anatomy text book - it is likely the gracilis. I have been feeling it since I started this program and doing Plie squats (legs wide, toes out) hurts. The first set always feels like I am having to really stretch it out. I’m going to stay away from those for a while until if feels better. What is the best way to treat a pulled muscle anyway? Complete rest? Light stretching? RICE (it is not a place I really want to put an ice pack). So I did regular squats instead of plie squats, machine leg curls instead of hamstring curls on a swiss ball, and leg raises (abs) in place of lateral squats on the BOSU ball. Tonight I’ll do some yoga and maybe a walk. I’ll just have to watch out for the goblins and vampires.

OK - I’m definitely not feeling it.. my workouts have been less than stellar this weekend. I have doddled getting out of the house and had to settle for doing stuff at home.

Yesterday was suposed to be a cardio interval session at the gym. I kept putting it off and had to settle for a walk on the treadmill in the basement. About 50 min in total. Still trying to figure out the “Walktest” feature on my polar HR monitor. On my first attempt I didn’t press the start button a second time the watch never went into test mode so I had to start all over again after all ready walking the 1.24 km. The second time round my HR was higher and I was walking at a slightly slower pace. It still tells me I’m in the poor category .... I was hoping I’d improved more than that.

Today - same story - doddled and didn’t leave enough time to get to the gym, get a good workout in, clean up and then meet with some girl friends for dinner. Instead I got creative and did my workout at home. My current program doesn’t use a lot of “gym” equipment so I was able to improvise. Instead of doing incline bench press I did push ups using the edge of the couch. For Bosu step ups I used the stairs (2 up, 2 down), For cable rows I used my 10 + 8 lb dumb bells held in each hand. I ran out of steam for my last superset and and maybe got one good set of hip raises using the edge of the couch in. After that I stretched and lounged on the floor. Though I was distracted by two cats who were a bit bewildered at what the heck I was doing playing loud obnoxious dance music and running about the house doing weird things and getting all sweaty. Didn’t feel good but I did it. PMS sucks. I am achy and hurt in different spots. I will have to get in to see my chiro early this week.

Dinner with my girl friends was good (the company was at least - I wasn’t impressed with my dinner - my mixed vegetables turned out to be a big heap of sauteed onions - where are the bell peppers that usually come with this?) This was the second time we have all got together since I started this journey and they noticed the difference right away. We met a mall that was central to all of us so we walked past several clothing stores on the way to the restaurant. One of the girls is really tall and the other two are short. Tiia wanted to see what they had in the Tall Girl store, while Jodi and Amina wanted to check out the Laura Petit store. I thought it was funny because while none of them have a weight problem they were looking at speciality shops. I commented that for me it was great that I no longer only have the option of speciality shops!!

And aren’t multiple options fantastic????

Yah - it also shows how much I’ve learned that I can mix thing up while still sticking close to the plan.  But changing to incline push ups certainly works the muscles differently - I feel it today in the back just below my armpits.

Unfortunately I am forced or finally conceeding to the fact that I need to take a day or two off of training.

Today I was feeling off my game. I was foggy in the head when I was getting ready for work and forgot the bowl of eggs that I cook in the microwave every morning would be hot. I grabbed it with my hand and burnt my finger (not too bad though).
Thank-goodness today was an easy day at work.  I was still quite sore in my lower right back/hip and left upper back/shoulder so I called to get into my Chiro during lunch and since I didn’t have an class right after it was OK that I didn’t quite make it back on time. Dr. A. took one look at me, asked me about the symptoms I have been having (rawness in my throat and chest, some coughing and frogginess - but not painful) and recommended a homeopathic flu remedy. Of course he also worked on my body issues. My low back now feels much better- thanks to him digging his elbows into my butt cheek, but my left shoulder is still feels off. (I may go back to a PT to get a more thorough exam and exercises to correct any issues.)
I picked up the recommended remedy on my way back to school. I’ve taken two of the 3 doses and am actually feeling better - but I may call in sick tomorrow and give myself a day of full rest to really get better (I hope). I know I just took Friday off - but I still kept busy and didn’t really get extra rest. I may go for an easy walk if it is a nice day outside - but no serious exercise.

Catherine, if you’re sick, you’re sick and your first priority has to be to let your body get well. I didn’t exercise for almost a week because of my head cold. I just couldn’t do it.

So rest, take what’s been recommended to you, and drink lots of water.

Hope you feel better soon. Get plenty of rest, follow your script and you’ll be good as new!