6-week Challenge: Week #4 (2/22)

[lindrusso]

Ugh. After two great weeks, last week was a bit dismal, I'm afraid. I'm posting this now so that I can get back into a healthier mindset! :)

I got in 3 workouts - the good news is that I met my minimum, the bad news is that I could have used those extra two days because I ate so badly!

It's a bit of a busy week this week, but if I'm diligent, I can get in 5 workouts fairly easily.

Most of all, I must get back to counting calories!

Hope all of you had a good week. :)

Alysha

[SueK]

Don't feel bad Alysa - I had a bad one, too. Only two workouts in last week, and they weren't as intense as I would have like for them to be, either. But, we did more than zero, right?!

I'm fighting a bad sinus infection, it's TOM and I have not eaten well the past two days, so I'm determined to do better this week. If the baby decides she's going to do another week of no naps, then we'll just schlep to the mall and I'll do a power walk while she's in the stroller. :)

[cniles]

Alysha and Sue - I hear ya! I only got in 1 workout before my ear blew! And with us moving on Wed the only workout I'll be getting in is carrying boxes up and downstairs (not too shabby though!) I must drink more water and I know we'll be ordering out this week so I have to stay away from my favorite fried foods:eek:

Alysha - I'll be thinking of you tomorrow - do what you need to do to get through this!

Sue - hang in there - I keep telling myself I'm getting better with baby steps! Your sinus infection is on the way out!!:p

Everyone else - have a great week!!

[lhall]

Well, I just made my 4 workouts last week.

DD1 had a friend sleep over Friday night and they got up before 6am. I just stayed in bed and 'listened' to what they were up to. Then we left the house at 10am, and were gone 12 hours. WHEW. So, I missed my workout on Saturday. BUT, I took DD1 and her friend on a bike ride Sunday afternoon. I rode around the school parking lot while they played on the playgrounds. I probably rode for 45 minutes, and my butt is sore today. :rolleyes:

Leigh

[pbutterfly]

Count me in among the people who were short on workouts last week. I had the best intentions of getting one in on my weekend trip to a family function (even picked up the guest passes to a local gym at the hotel's front desk and drove by the gym to make note of the hours it was open!)... but it didn't happen.

Food-wise, I'm hanging in there. I can still stay on track with my no-sugar-days if I only have one sugar-day this week. That's do-able, if I focus!

I'm headed to the gym today, so hopefully that will help with the re-focusing....

lynne

[RebeccaT]

Can I join in the middle? Or do I need to wait for a new 6-week challenge?

I have been slacking off on my strength-training workouts, and I am starting to be able to tell. I want to regain muscle tone that I have lost before sleevless shirt and shorts season begins!

So what's the protocol? :D

[SueK]

Hi Rebecca! We are just doing these threads as a motivation to maintain a personal goal for each week, whether it be a certain number of workouts, eating better, etc.

Since the past two weeks have not been good ones for me, I was mulling over joining Weight Watchers. I definitely need to workout more, but also need to not munch so much while I'm at home. With DH's travel schedule and the kids, though, I don't know how successful I'd be at attending the meetings. So...I ordered their WW At Home kit today and should have it by the end of the week. I did it before about 5 years ago and did pretty well on it. I'm hoping I can do okay this time, too. I need some discipline with my eating habits, and this will make me more accountable, I feel. Here's hoping it does!

[lindrusso]

Sue - Definitely hit the mall if you need to! I remember those days! Hope this week shapes up (uh, no pun intended) to be a better one for both of us!

Charisse - What did I miss about your ear? Hope everything is okay now!

Leigh - Great job with the 4 workouts! I think it's great when we can be flexible and just do something, anything, even if it's not exactly what we planned or what we had hoped to be able to do.

Lynne - Good job with the no sugar days. I could definitely use more of those.....and Lent is just around the corner...hmmmm... Nah. Better not. Chuck has lost weight again and I need to bake things to keep his weight on - not a good time for me to abstain completely.

Rebecca - We'd love to have you join us! The 6-week thing is to make sure that we readdress everything regularly and change things up if we need to - especially workout routines which can get very boring after a while.

Well, today was not a very good one. I take that back - it was a great one since Chuck's tests came back normal. :D It was just not a good one for eating - but that's something I have control over and something that can be fixed. How can I whine when Chuck's life is taken over by things he CAN'T control???? A little perspective is in order here! :)

I can't wait to exercise tomorrow! When I don't exercise, I automatically feel heavier! :rolleyes: :D

Alysha

[SueK]

Alysha - I'm so glad to hear about Chuck's test - that's great news!

Our temps are supposed to be above 50 by the end of this week. Yippee!! I am looking forward to getting out the jogging stroller and zooming around the neighborhood with Sammy! :) (The funny thing is today's paper had a type on the weather forecast and the high for Thursday said 75 instead of 45. I had to do a double take and thought for sure I just hadn't drank enough coffee yet!)

[cniles]

Leigh - how's your butt today:p

Alysha - it was so good to hear the news - I think you're right if you can at least exercise the eating (not eating) may fall into place!

Sue - 50's for us too but today it's supposed to SNOW (1-3 inches)! Have you started the weight watchers yet? I did it half heartedly 2 years ago and did lose some weight.

Rebecca - welcome!!!

Lynne - how's your week going?

I'm starting to feel paunchy:( - I haven't worked out since last Tuesday. I was just starting to get in a groove too!! My ear is still clogged although the ache has lessened. (My eardrum ruptured Alysha ) I have a follow up appt next Friday. One more day till the closing!!!!:p

[lhall]

Charisse,
LOL! My butt is much better today. Although, I had a PMS attack last night AND remembered I had some Almond Roca in the freezer. I now have less Almond Roca in the Freezer. :rolleyes: I didn't workout last night either. I had an errand to run after work and didn't get home until 6.

I hope your ear is better soon.

I think I'm going to try to the healthrider and maybe get DH to help me with weights. We have a weight bench, but I don't have much experience using and don't want to hurt myself. I have very little upper body strength. I don't seem to be losing much weight (and haven't been on the scale), but I feel I need to up my workouts. I'd like to do my Firm tapes again, but since I stopped working out for so long I didn't want to jump right into those and over do it.

Sue,
Good luck with WW

Alysha,
I'm so glad to hear about Chuck's test results!!!


Leigh

[pbutterfly]

Alysha - I am so glad to hear Chuck's tests are good (even though I don't know what they were for!). Sounds like with the baking you'll be doing for him, this probably isn't the right time for NO sweets for you. I'm doing pretty well with limiting the number of days -- knowing that I can choose to have something if I really want it helps take some of that pressure off. Maybe something similar would work for you? (One sweet a day, or every other day, or something like that?)

Charisse - The ear thing sounds like a painful, hard thing to go through. You're hanging in there, which is success in itself! Ouch.

Leigh - At least today's a new day, right? ;)

My week is going pretty well so far. I checked on my home scale and my weekend with the family seems to have not caused any damage. Yippee! (Of course, the real weigh-in is tomorrow, but I check in on my home scale daily just for a check-in and focus for the day.) I made it to the gym yesterday, which felt GREAT! And no sugar yesterday. Yay. :)

The hardest part of being away was trying to do my normal things (journal, drink all my water). It's hard to keep track when the glasses aren't mine (and I don't have my normal cues to remind me to refill!). It's interesting to learn new things, though, and now I know what to plan ahead on next trip!

:)
lynne

[RebeccaT]

Thanks for the welcome, everyone. I need something to keep me accountable while I get my rear-end back in gear!!

My plan for this week is to work out 4x during the week, and do something active over the weekend (walking, frisbee outside if it's nice, etc.). I worked out last night, 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer and about 20 minutes of upper body weights. That has been the biggest issue - I have gotten into the habit of doing 40-60 minutes of cardio, and am completely ignoring strength training (maybe doing something once a week, at most).

Today's goal is 30 minutes of cardio again, this time on the stationary bike, and 20-30 minutes of lower body weights. I'd like to get in 2x upper body and 2x lower body this week.

Leigh, have you ever been to Shape magazine's website? They have some very good strength training workouts outlined there, and it might be a place to start. http://www.shape.com/workouts/?action=workoutfinder&bodypart=Arms

Alysha, I read on the other thread about Chuck's great test results. Yay yay yay!! What a relief that must have been for you both! And the way you are keeping things in perspective is so inspiring.

cniles, I am so sorry about your eardrum! HOw painful! I hope you feel better soon!

Sue, here's hoping you get some good walking weather soon! :)

Lynne, it's good to "see" you! Your no-sugar days sound like they are really working for you... I should really consider something like that.

[lhall]

Whew!

Ok, I made a big giant puddle of sweat on the floor today. I did the Firm Cardio Sculpt, and I did it all (barely). :D I also used the Health Rider (it was a tad dusty) :o for 24 minutes last night. I feel really good getting in some cardio & strength training, especially after skipping Monday. Oh, and the incident with the Almond Roca. :o Two workouts down, two to go.


Lynne,
Good for you maintaining at your family weekend. I hope the scale is nice to you at weigh in.

Charisse,
How is your ear today?

Rebecca,
I did print some things off from the Shape Magazine site yesterday. Most of it I can't do since we don't have a gym membership so our equipment is rather limited.

Hey, If I can do strength training so can you, now get to it! :D :D

Sue,
Is it nice enough to get out yet? Ginger has been wanting to go back to the Silver Comet Trail, but I think she needs to get a little better riding her bike first. I'm afraid that most adults won't have the patience to deal with her erratic riding. For a change we're getting the bad weather.

Leigh

[cniles]

Oh Leigh I'm so jealous! I just packed up all of my tapes/DVD's - won't see The Firm till next week!!

My ear is better thanks! I went back to the Dr's today for a follow up b/c it just didn't seem like it was healing.... He flushed it - ugh!! A little painful and lots of crud:rolleyes: came out - he said he didn't think the ear drops were doing any good before b/c of this stuff. So hopefully I'm finally on my way - still clogged but not so achey right now.

Our closing is this afternoon and we move tomorrow!:D So I'm probably out of here till next week!!

Good luck everyone with the week and I'll talk to you all on Monday:D

[RebeccaT]

Good luck with your move, Charisse! Hope it all goes smoothly!

Leigh, I saw that many of those exercises on Shape.com require gym equipment. But some of them just require dumbells or one of those ball thingys... hope you found some stuff that might work for you!

Last night was 20 minutes on the stationary bike and 30 minutes of lower body strength training. Ouch. My tookus hurts! :D Those squats and lunges get me every time.

I feel kind of puny today b/c I didn't sleep well last night. :( But I am still planning to get to the gym, because tomorrow (Thurs) I won't be able to go. I'll do cardio (stairmaster/elliptical combo maybe) and upper body again.

Hope everyone is doing well!

[Kay Henderson]

I'll try again. Our electricity went out as I was typing!

I just got back from our southern California vacation (major storm here -- welcome back to winter). The good news is that I didn't gain weight. The bad news is that I got very little exercise and therefore didn't lose one ounce.

Sooo--- back to Curves this morning! I'm hoping to recapture the motivation I had in January. Hopefully, thanks to the accountability of this thread, I will be more pleased by the end of the six weeks than I am now.

Good luck to everyone the rest of the week!

[pbutterfly]

I maintained at my official WI, so that's fine with me! :) (Well, I'd LIKE to lose, but wouldn't most of us??) ;)

The bad news is that on my nice long walk on Tuesday I somehow twisted my knee so that it hurts to walk too much (and especially going up stairs). :( It's getting a little better each day, so I'm planning on going back to the gym tomorrow and doing what I can... at least upper body weights and something else!

The no-sugar days are working pretty well - not in terms of weight loss, so much, but in terms of reminding me to make healthier choices with what I eat - fewer empty calories.

Charisse - glad to hear that the ear is maybe on the road to recovery. I can't imagine how painful this must be! I don't know much about ruptured eardrums - do they eventually heal completely? Will it affect your hearing? Is it now more likely to happen again? Ouchie.

You exercisers are inspiring me! Keep up the GREAT work!! :)

lynne

[lhall]

Lynne,
Good news that you maintained. I know that's hard to do on vacation. It also sounds like your no sugar days are working well for you. I hope your knee is better soon.

Kay,
Good to hear you didn't gain either. :D

Well,
It looks like I'll have time to makekup Monday's missed workout today. It's a snow day here so I'm at home with the kids. They are currently outside playing with the boy next door. The only problem is I'm just a tad bit sore/stiff from my Tuesday & Wednesday workouts. I think I'll just do some yoga today.

Editing to say:
I did my workout. Just 20 minutes of yoga, but I do feel a little better. Time for some tea and a good book. :D I've got 4 kids upstairs, and for the moment they are playing happily. :D

Leigh

[RebeccaT]

Leigh, yoga will be good if you are stiff. I love doing yoga b/c I feel so stretched out afterwards! I just saw last night that they are opening a yoga studio right around the corner from my house. I will have to look into it!

Kay, congrats on maintaining on vacation! That is no small feat. And you're getting right back into the swing of things, that's awesome.

Lynne, so sorry about your knee! Are you icing it a couple of times a day? That would really help with the swelling. Don't push yourself... you don't want to injure it even worse at the gym. </lecture> :o :p

Last night I did 30 minutes of cardio (stairmaster and treadmill) and 30 minutes of upper body again. I worked the same muscle groups as I did on Monday, but different exercises.

Tonight we are going to see "The Passion of the Christ," so I won't be able to workout. I am hoping to get a reasonably good dinner in beforehand, but we don't have many leftovers in the fridge so we'll have to see.

Hope all is well!

[pbutterfly]

The knee is much, much better today. I've been trying to remember to ice it, but... :o :rolleyes: I'll go do that as soon as I log off.

Ooh, yoga talk here as well (there's a new thread on it, as you've likely seen). Now I really feel like I have to make a point to get back to my class!

:)
lynne

[lhall]

Lynne,
I've seen the thread. Mostly I do the stretching type yoga, and even my 20 minute videos help with flexibility.

I'm glad you knee is better.

I soaked in the tub yesterday afternoon and am only a tiny bit sore today.

I got on the scale this AM, and even though it's still TOM the scale was way up! :( :( Although, I do realize I must be putting on muscle. I am smaller and my clothes are fitting better, but still. :(

Leigh

[pbutterfly]

Leigh - I know exactly how you feel with the measuring tape/scale frustration. Over the past several months, the scale's stayed pretty much the same for me... but I've lost lots of inches. I know it's because I added strength training and am more consistent about getting to the gym... and I love the appearance changes in my body.... but the scale is downright frustrating!!

:)
lynne

[lhall]

Lynne,

I haven't been measureing, although my pooch in front does look smaller. :D I guess I should get out the trusy old tape measure. :D

Leigh

[lindrusso]

Lynne - You are right - it's NOT really a good time to give up sweets which is why I haven't yet! However, for the next 6-week challenge I may try a no white flour, no sugar thing for 6 days a week - with a cheat day allowed once a week to allow for things like going out or going to parties, etc. It's just WAY too hard to go out and stick to that. Hope your knee is continuing to feel better. And don't let the scale frustrate you too much! It sounds like you are doing great!

Charisse - Glad your ear is better. Ouch! :eek:

Kay - Any time I don't gain weight on vacation is considered a victory in my eyes!! :)

I am psyching myself up to go on a nice long walk outside. It is a balmy 50º outside, ;) , so I'm not going to the gym! Tomorrow it's supposed to surpass 50º, so I'll likely get outside again.

So, looks like I'll make my 5 workouts this week - but more than a few were a bit uninspired. I keep feeling a cold coming on - my usual pattern is a day or two of fatigue and dry/scratchy throat, followed by a full-fledged cold/sinus with congestion and/or coughing. I keep getting the throat and fatigue thing but not the actual cold. I'm glad I'm not ending up with a major cold, but at the same time I'm really tired of feeling so tired! Still, I managed to drag myself to the gym and at least do something - that did seem to help give me a bit more pep - if it makes me feel more worn out, I usually skip it and rest instead.

Eating is still a problem this week. Help! I can't lose my focus this early in the challenge! It's never too late. It's never too late. It's never too late. :)

Have a great weekend everyone. :)

Alysha