Home Exercise Enthusiasts - Week of June 29th

[srahndennis]

Happy Monday, everyone! Today started off lazy -- didn't get up to workout but did Turbo Jam Cardio Party & Ab Jam this afternoon.

I saw the dietitian last week. She said I need to eat 1300 - 1400 calories/day -- even with all the exercise. I was a little surprised but when I think about how many calories in a pound, I guess it makes sense. She has me on an "old fashioned" exchange diet. Anyone remember weight watchers 20+ years ago?? :eek: I don't mind, really, except it's a lot easier to track ; there's so much stuff that you don't really know how to count. I have a feeling I'll "modify" some along the way. The one thing I know I don't like is there no incentive to eat better: white or brown rice; ww pasta or white flour pasta; fish, cheese or steak all count the same....even when I know they are *not* always the same. We also talked about wine. Sigh. One glass counts for two fat exchanges and I only get five for the whole day. Again, probably nothing I didn't already know but it helps to hear someone else say it!

Busy week coming up....DS's birthday is Sunday so we're doing a family party for him at my Dad's house on the lake. He'll take the kids tubing & we'll go see fireworks.

What are you all up to?

[cniles]

Hey Stacy!

Thanks for getting us started yesterday. We're back from a wonderful trip to NYC - had a blast!!

Needed to get some weight work in yesterday so I did Time Crunch from the FIRM. I really need to be more consistent with my weights!!!

Today I need to mow the lawn and pull weeds!! YUCK.

Stacy - my downfall is the wine... one glass leads to two.... and I know it's full of calories! Ugh. Let us know how the diet is going.

My nephew is here for 2 weeks so we're gonna keep pretty busy. We're hosting a 4th of July pool party (hopefully the sun will make an appearance!)

The birthday party sounds like a lot of fun!!:)

[Valerie226]

Good morning everyone.. We did a hike saturday and took sunday off. did minimal yard work and sat in the sun after reading the paper. soaked in the hot tub. Had plenty of that nasty devil wine. How can anything that pleasant be such a diet killer?? I make good food choices wine or no wine. I know it's caloric so I watch the quantity and the frequency.
I've read in more than one place it's hard to lose weight if you drink alcohol. Stacy you can get a lot of food in 1300-1400 calories if you choose wisely but with all the exercise that may not be enough. Try it for a while and see if you're hungry all the time. If the dietitian is not an "exercise person" herself, she may not be aware of what running 4 miles or regularly doing Cathe workouts is like. most people lie about how much they exercise ...not any of us, of course... but she's probably used to people amping up their exercise history to impress her. people are not (generally) honest about how much they eat or how much they work out. obviously if you want to lose weight you need to cut back somewhere though.

We're going out to dinner with another couple friday and then trying to ignore the 4th. I don't like the noise or fireworks. I'm a crank, it's my least favorite holiday and I just get through it without killing the morons blowing off M-80's at all hours of the day and night for weeks. yes, this holiday does get my ornery side going.

monday it was back to work. I've cut back somewhat on my home cardio to be sure I get weights in. I was getting too tired. if we do two hikes or a bike that's minimal 4-6 hours of cardio "per". good enough.
I did the next leg disk... 17?... used the 25's and made liberal use of the 20's. I do better with dumbbells than a barbell. I can handle the weight much easier when it's in my hand versus across my shoulders.

[Valerie226]

Not trying to be 'diet coach" here but I have read more than once, that you can't exercise your way out of a poor diet.

I eat 'good food" but I tend to eat too much good food. I don't eat junk but my metabolism does not let extra calories go easily. Ohhh to be an 18 year old boy for a week... Instead of trying to count calories, I go from the other end. if I'm gaining weight I trim back something specific, like eliminating a morning piece of toast. I reduced bread to once a day.... unless we're hiking. I'm experimenting and trying to divide my food up into more small meals without eating more. Counting calories made me think about food even more than I already do...

Charisse... glad to hear you had a great time in NYC. I'm quite pleased with how much change I'm getting with regular weight work. my arms don't look the same and even my legs are changing. Hang in there and keep it up.

[srahndennis]

Ha, Valerie!! Never fear being thought of as a diet coach! The dialog is helpful to me. I've battled weight issues most of my life. I'll get it together, then slide back although I have to say I've made vast improvements over time; it's just not quite enough! With the on-line applications available now, calorie counting isn't hard at all. I really don't mind doing it. I even prefer it to counting weight watcher points or something like that. 1300 - 1400 can be a lot of food if it's done right. I'm getting more comfortable with the exchange diet, too. It's all good. I totally agree with you that exercise alone won't solve the problem. It's always more diet than anything. I sensed, too, that the dietitian has some doubts about the exercise so I brought my workout list with durations and calorie burns for the last months to show her I really wasn't exaggerating!

I did lose 2 pounds last week so something is starting to work! :D

Great job on the 25 pounders! I do better with the dumbells than a barbell for leg work, too. Hope you get through the 4th without too much trouble!

Charisse -- Glad you enjoyed your trip! Did you make it to the Lennon exhibit? Enjoy your nephew's visit! I'll bet your boys will have a ball!

Today I did Pyramids Upper Body without the abs & stretch then did Stretch Max #1. Felt really nice to stretch!

[cniles]

Yesterday I walked for an hour and then mowed the yard :) Today I mulched the front and side beds of the house. My back hurts!:cool: Tomorrow I must do weights again!!

Stacy - we did get to see the John Lennon exhibit. Amazing/emotional!!! Yoko put it together and it focused on the New York years of his life. The last part was a huge photo that Yoko took of John's glasses covered in blood. She set them on the windowsill of the Dakota and took the picture. It was chilling. My husband is a huge Beatles fan and he never knew of the picture. We both left there teary.

Yay - down 2 lbs!!! Good job!

Valerie - this is not my favorite holiday either. If the boys want to see fireworks, we try to find a spot to see them and avoid going to the fairgrounds - ugh. Crowds. Luckily, people around here have had some common sense and have not shot off fireworks here!!

Going to take the boys to see Transformers and then I'm taking them out to dinner. I really do enjoy my summer with the kids. I'm know I'm lucky.

[Valerie226]

tuesday I did disk approx #16, chest/triceps, the first one with the "back off" sets. those are interesting and I was pleased with how it went. for the 99.9% of the world who wouldn't know what that is ( including me until tuesday) you do a series of three sets of an exercise with fairly heavy weight, and then a 4th set with about half the amount , as many repetitions as you can do. It just feels like it's effective. Wed we hiked although not as far as planned. we took our ice axes but should have taken crampons. the snow was hard and icy, not safe without them. could have kicked ourselves.. thought we wouldn't need them but we did. lesson learned. Today I'll shoot for disk 18, already did #17. gotta change up the order of things so I don't do a leg disk right before a hike.

Just to clarify, most communities here don't allow private fireworks or greatly restrict when they can be set off. I live out in the county, less restrictions. we have a lot of indian reservations here where legal (and illegal) fireworks are sold. there are enough people who ignore restrictions and frankly law enforcement can't keep up. This year has been better than most but sometimes there are WEEKS when unexpected kabooms go off all hours of day and night. I never liked this holiday but I am TIRED of explosions long before the 4th.

Charisse, the Lennon display sounds moving. I was (am) a big beatle fan and am old enough to have some of their first record albums. My first albums. such a waste of a life. Congrats on getting right back into the routine. Mowing is probably a good upper body workout too.
Stacy. good thought documenting your workouts. All medical professionals get such a load of baloney from so many.... they automatically discount claims about diet , exercise, how much you drink, etc. People lie to themselves as well as to the professionals. not everyone is trying to mislead, often they say what they wish were true. it makes medical pros skeptical :rolleyes:of claims. I've worked with this myself when I was in the workplace, and DH is an M.D. so he hears plenty too. Someone telling the truth and being accurate about it is the exception. you need to prove you're a straight shooter. it's too bad it's that way, but that's reality for you. :(

[cniles]

Day off today - took Jack for his physical.... we waited almost an hour in the room - he in just his underwear - air conditioning cranked :mad: - I usually don't have Dr issues but this was a little ridiculous. After 30 mins I told him to put his shirt back on - the nurse apologized and said we were next... it would be another 15 mins!!! argh. The Dr is great just irritated at the wait. (Jack had to get 2 shots at the end too!! - all done until his next tetnus in 9 years!!)

Waiting for my new couch and chair to arrive for our basement. Very excited!! New HD TV comes next week - THEN I am back in the basement!!!

Weights and cardio tomorrow!:)

[srahndennis]

Charisse - Sounds like a very busy day! I hate getting stuck at the drs office, too. I used to just be quiet about it but now I come out and make sure they haven't forgotten about me. I've even left when it's been ridiculous but it's kind of a double whammy -- you just have to find another day to come back. My dr is great and I try to be flexible since I know he will give me the time I need as well. But an hour....that's crazy! Enjoy the new basement -- sounds fab! Did you get the TV from Amazon?

Valerie -- I really enjoyed the back-off sets in STS, too. It's so true that lots of folks feed their medical professionals loads of bull. That's why I printed my workouts and what I had eaten for a few days before my appointment. I figured I needed to be honest because she really can't help me if I'm not. Even though it wasn't in the documentation, I did talk to her about my trigger foods, bad times of the day, etc.

Well, today I did Squeeze Stronger Lower Body & Core Premix and Stretch Max with the band. I didn't feel like I worked very hard.

This afternoon I go back to the knee dr. Hopefully, I'll be stepping tomorrow! :)

[srahndennis]

Happy Friday, everyone! Checking in with KPC -- had a great workout! Lots to do today -- shopping, food prep, etc. before we head to the lake tomorrow. Hope you guys enjoy the weekend!

[Valerie226]

Did the plan, disk 18.... more back off sets.. Love those! this morning we did our regular bike ride for 34 miles in good time. We've got great weather this year, hope you all do too. have a great weekend & check in on monday.