Chat and accountability Nov 15 - 21

MarkMcElvy

No weights on the squats, this was a beginner get started challenge sent via email from MFP.

Hmrjmr1

Wonderful Wednesday Folks! Hope all is well with all of you. Interesting stuff going on with the cold. My left knee is occasionally hyper-extending even on good terrain and at a normal to slow walk. I can generally feel the start of it and correct before full negative flexion. It's a clear reminder of why I live in Georgia. Would be locked in a temperature controlled box if I had to deal with this all the time for 3-5 months of the year. Have to go back to wearing a brace for the next few days. That's just the knees, have lost all my progress on shoulder mobility and chronic back pain is back up to a 5 on a 10 pt scale. The good news is none of this is new or even unexpected and within normal limits for me given the weather.
Have a great day Folks. and keep on Jammin'!

carolssalva

Circaidian rhythms! Thanks for bringing this up John. I know these are real and have a real effect on us. But I'm trying not to just throw in the towel & wait for our ancestral clock to make it easier to lose weight. It's good to know about so that I don't beat myself up too much. Interesting that I've had SO many people tell me they too are struggling. Might be our rhythms...might be Halloween candy!! Lol
Have a fantastic hump day!!

Hmrjmr1

Carol - I brought it up not for any one to throw in the towel, but to recognize losing say 0.3lbs in November is a bigger and more difficult victory than losing 2.0 in February. Keep on Jammin!

TJ_Gauthier

Carol, don't throw in the towel!

Slow progress is still progress!

carolssalva

I'm not throwing in the towel just yet! What I meant was that John is right, it's good to know these things so that you don't get frustrated and you don't throw in the towel if progress is slow in November.
but thank you for those words of encouragement!!
i'm going to need it: my has been just made us a reservation for my sons birthday and he picked an Italian restaurant with family-style dining. Bowls and bowls of pasta!!

heronh

John, have you ever consider that your hip is misaligned? My knee was sooo bad that I couldn't even run then by chance I met a Bowen practitioner and turns out its my pelvis. Due to years of injuries plus that my muscles have to overcompensate making it even worse. Long story short after less than a year of doing the prescribed exercises I can run and do Muay Thai without feeling intense pain on my back, knees and hips. No saying that you have that issue but look into it. My chronic pain are gone! It makes life so much easier. In the past I'd have to pass on activities that I know are going to cause pain and that include longer hikes. Here are some links to see if you do have a tilted pelvis
http://www.fix-knee-pain.com/basic-postural-problems-at-the-hip-anterior-pelvic-tilt/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vKDBmI7McM
This is a great resource for video for helping chronic pain http://www.egoscue.com/index.php

heronh

I was encouraged by Jef to write exercise notes on my MFP notes so I thought I'd share it here as well
Muay Thai
Warm up 10min jump rope, 5 min cardio.
60min partners Line Drills focusing on left side. punches, left kicks and knees.
Cool down -30 lunges and 20 side lunges on each side
I wasn't short of breathe doing jump ropes today and I was faster. Both surprising improvements.
Did short sparring with my instructor in front of the class. Usually I'd get all nervous and tense and would blank out on the simplest stuff and he would have to cut it short, but today I wasn't nervous when he called me out for the class demo. Was it the smoothest, no, but I reacted instead of think (put those training into use lol) had fun, landed shots and kicks and most importantly my confidence grew.

carolssalva

Awesome Heron!! What a fantastic workout! Your warmups are like my whole workout. Lol

carolssalva

MarkMcElvy wrote: »

No weights on the squats, this was a beginner get started challenge sent via email from MFP.

I like the idea of no weights but still wonder about the effectiveness if doing same exact muscles 2 days in a row.

heronh

Thanks Carol.
I think daily squats will still benefit us. For most of us, we sit on our *kitten* all day and we under use our glutes, so even using no weights and activating those muscle will help. I think...

heronh

So I'm feeling a little blue, I did what I'm supposed to do and yet I'm still no showing progress. I just feel very frustrated. Trying to find the right level of activities to help fat loss is also a challenge. I'm going to go back to working out 5 days a week.
I'm frustrated but I'm not giving up, so this is going to a lot harder it'll just make me appreciate my weight loss even more. For everybody that is having a hard time.. Hang in there push through the negative thoughts and we WILL get there!!!

heronh

Muay Thai 69min
7min jump rope 3 min cardio warm ups
Technique drills with a partner; slow and focusing on techniques and putting together different combinations
Timed drills with partner; left kick, right punch, left hook, right kick, 3 jabs backwards and right knee. Repeat till time's up then do it faster till time's up the repeat but do it with full power, last round focusing on clean shots.
followed by Speed drills left right punch and left, right knees. 3 sets 1 min each set.
Cool down- ab works 25 of each: straight knee sit ups. Bent knee sit ups, seated rows and twists

I am beat! But love it!

ohhheyyyheather

Heron, I'm curious if your macros need to be adjusted. I have no idea what you've tried and looked at but more exercise willl mostlikely not be he answer to working through the hurge of losing fat as fat loss is more aabout nutrition. Of course working out shapes our bodies and helps the process, but if your body isn't receiving what it is needing in form of protein, fat, carbohydrates then your body will hold on to that fat loss. There could be a variety of situations goingon. The more I lstudy the more I learn it truly is about working smarter, not always harder. If you're working out that much you definitely need plenty of protein even following CNS. Also, I'm curious as to if you've tried to do CN on day vs, day 7. Or if you've experimented with how you have your CN set up? I applaud you for getting out and sweating more, my point is that there is mostly like something that needs to be tweaked in your nutrition. It is definitely not all about calories in vs. Calories out. Just take care of yourself and journey on!

heronh

Hi Heather, I hire Jef Fry of Health nut anonymous http://www.jeffrynutrition.com/ to be my nutrition consultant. Before him I did CNS lost some weight but stalled and Jef helped me by tweaking my macros, giving me guidelines and advice me on food choices. I've lost about 8lb with him. I eat 1800-2200K a day I average 150g of fat, 70g protein and 25g net carbs.( Arturo and I both get hydrostatic analysis to track our fat loss as well.) My Diary is open to friends

Jef thinks my hormones and lack of sleep the last couple of weeks had affected my weight loss.
I've reduced my workouts based on Jef's recommendations, after trying out a few tweaks that included a small carb nite in the middle of the week and still not seeing much progress. I have a post workout shake using Kiefer's carb shock and protein powder. Trust me I'm all about working smarter not harder, but I am also trying to improve my craft. I'm not trying to be an MMA fighter but as a former athlete (and my competitive streak), I want to perform at the best of my abilities so if I'm not losing weight I might as well go back to improving and let the weight fall whenever it feels like. At least I will get stronger, faster, hit harder and with better technique. I'm not going to Muay Thai just to "workout" if that's the case I would have taken one of those cardio kickboxing class. I want to learn and have that skill set. And there is no smarter way or shortcut to achieve that. I have to put in the work and lots of repetitions.
Like I said I'm just feeling blue and was just venting. Knowing me, I'll probably work hella hard for a week- 2 weeks just to get it out of my system then scale it back to 4-5 days a week or who knows maybe I will take Jef's advice again and only working out 2-3 times a week.

To answer your questions, we have our carb nites on day 7 unless there is a social engagement that falls on the 6th day. We are experimenting with our CN right now. Jef thinks our Carb nites had been too "clean" and not enough junk food. We weren't tying to have clean carb nights lol. And yes, its not all about calories in Vs Calories out, I've been down that miserable road before. And I'm not forgetting all the other life improvements that I've achieved ever since I've been on CN. I'm just being a "girl" right now. Funny thing is I'm not even unhappy with the way I look now, I just want to be better.
Thank you for your encouragement :-)

aceronjr

John (Hmrjmr1): Nov 24 - Dec 24th?? I thought Carol wanted to start a December Challenge which would start and end during the month of December? It's not much of a challenge if you stop on the 24th when there's still the 25th and the days leading up to the 31st

Carol: Take control of your Challenge! Lol
It was your idea, so when do you want it to start and end?

aceronjr

Adding to what Heron has already said regarding our CNS journey and hiring Jef Fry. There is no silver bullet, and a lot of this is trial and error and experimentation on what works for YOU ... the individual. We don't have the luxury of doing blood work every week and monitoring hormones and blood sugar levels on a daily basis to get a clue on what's going on inside you. So I try to keep everything in perspective. I got fat over 20 years, so I can't expect to loose it all in one. I've lost over 30 lbs, and most of that is definitely fat, over the past 10 months ... and I'm not hungry while doing it like I use to be. I know that eating the way I do is sustainable, and all the latest "good" science says its how we all should eat.

aceronjr

Something else I've found from listening to podcasts about low carb eating is that many of us who are sensitive to carbs also end up being sensitive to protein. So eating to much protein can also derail your progress. And there's been some studies and research done to support this. What Jef and I have discussed is not only eating high fat but also eating only a moderate amount of protein. So my macro ratios in terms of total daily caloric intake is approximately 85 to 90% fat and the rest from protein. Usable carbs are still limited to 30g or less on non-CN days. Don't get me wrong, it's not easy. Finding carriers for that much fat is indeed difficult, and you have to be careful you don't leave any of that fat behind on your plate (yes, I often do lick my plates while at home). Having heaving cream in tea or coffee, eating macadamia nuts and tasty fat bombs definitely helps. I'm hoping that once I reach my goal and my body is normalized and healthy I'll be able to tolerate more protein and carb nights more often than only once a week.

aceronjr

Dr. Steven Gundry has been interviewed by both Kiefer and Jef Fry. Kiefer has also interviewed Dr. Rhonda Patrick and Nina Teicholz about their research and Nina's book. Dr. Gundry also has a book - "Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution: Turn Off the Genes That Are Killing You and Your Waistline". I highly recommend listening to the following podcasts: Body IO FM #15, Body IO FM #22, Body IO FM #, Body IO FM #24, and Health Nuts Anonymous ep#23.

carolssalva

Arturo: the December Check In challenge is still on for Dec 1st thru Dec 31st. I have control of it!! LOL
John's challenge is a separate thing. He will be posting Daily Hammer Jammer challenges! They are things you can do in little bits of free time. We are starting on 24th if November because that's the Hammer Jammer's birthday! Can't wait!

carolssalva

Heron, Arturo & Heather: thanks for updating us on your CN journeys. I know quite a lot about CNS but hearing what's working for others is helpful!

carolssalva

Today is weigh-in and I'm down 4.9 lbs! I'm sure a great deal is water. I was so puffy with junk carbs all the time! Don't care if it's water. I'm going in the right direction. Gives me motivation!!!
Keep up the awesomeness everyone. Have a FANTASTIC Friday!!

Hmrjmr1

Happy Friday Folks! Hope all is well with all of you.

Heron - Thanks for the info. Will be looking into it. I should note that the x rays of my knees look like two snow-cones with one upside down on top of the other. Not sure how much it will help but I can see that getting pelvis and hips right may well improve the stability regardless of the missing components in the knee (cartilage), Good thinking. A big like on taking ownership of what you like to do. Be the best you can and Jam on!

Arturo - Good job on CNS and good ref's on the podcast's I listen to them as well guess great minds think alike.

Carol - So good to see ya here in the mornings. Great way to start the day.

Been a very busy and trying week for me, can't post about it now have to keep focused. One more day before I can decompress. It is I think a blessing that I have some folks that need what I do, and once in a while I get some confirmation that I'm doing it right. Yesterday at the end of her day my boss comes in our Therapy assistant's office and closes the door (this is unusual because its our evening shift lunch time and she is very protective of our break time). My evening shift co worker and fellow retired First Sergeant, was in the office as well. She says I wanted you to know I had a conversation with management, and he told me for the first time I had to get more people, that I should be "using 20% of my time in patient care 50 % in supervision, and 30% in thinking and working on the future. I've never been told that before." We both looked at her and I said Well, I already like that guy but "*kitten*" I've been telling you that for two years. Reply was "yes but never heard it from above, and by the way make some time tomorrow to talk to me about the personnel plan proposal you gave me 6 months ago." So for me a double edge sword since I feel more work coming and have no idea of how I'm gonna make the time but know that it will be worth the blood sweat to get it done.

Have a Funtastic Friday Folks!

carolssalva

It will TOTALLY be worth it John. Very exciting for you & those you support.
I had a really good weigh in today- I'm SURE it's directly related to this group/thread. You're right John. Starting the day like this sets my mind for the day...& has me ending my day knowing I'll be talking about it tomorrow!
- Thx all!!!!

imabizzybee

Hi everybody (or every body!). I've been avoiding working out for two weeks to try to let my shoulder heal - not a big injury but a niggling pain that never went away and that was always exacerbated by lifting weight even for leg work. I think it is the pulling down motion. Anyway, I miss it, and was hoping to run, but it has been too cold for me to be a happy runner. Several sub-freezing days in a row. Next week should be better, and I committed to a St. Jude's benefit workout on Thanksgiving morning.

I like that squat challenge Mark. I think it is much more sane than the ones where you do hundreds of something per day.

Maybe we can make up our own challenge with changing items to avoid the repetitive stress injuries - Monday is squats, Tuesday is pushups, Wednesday is lunges...etc.? What do you think Carol?

I'm in for the December check-in challenge! I'll be home the whole month so will have computer access. Maybe we can agree on a one-day-off skip for either Christmas or Chanukah so people can focus on their own family and not be pressured to spend time on the computer? But you have to acknowledge your skip the day before.

I carry nuts. I carry a Quest bar. In winter I even leave a string cheese in my glove compartment. So why am I often caught off guard? I think I need two flavors of Quest, because sometimes it is a chocolate craving that gets me and sometimes a non-chocolate one.

Anyone have a particularly good idea for a Thanksgiving dessert? I'm bringing baked sweet potatoes, and mashed cauliflower, but know that the usual culprits will be calling my name after the main meal. Maybe I'll just eat the pumpkin part of the pumpkin pie with a bit of whipped cream.

carolssalva

I like your challenge idea Cynthia! But Hammer Jammer John is starting one on Nov 24th. Different daily thing each day. I think I'll do that one.
But why not have multiple challenges going at once? Anyone who wants to start one, just open a thread. I love it!

heronh

Hi John,

I'm so glad that your boss is seeing your value to the team. I don't know anything about your boss, but make sure that your work get recognize and that she is not passing it off as her own or having you do stuff that is her responsibility. You seem like such a nice guy and I don't want people taking advantage of your kindness .
Ouch yeah I feel yeah, knees making grinding an crunching sounds? Difficulties with stairs? That was me a couple of years ago. You should definitely check out those website. Your body is probably compensating (without you realizing) for your knee by using wrong muscles. Human body is fascinating! However using wrong muscles is not a long term fix and your body is paying the price. From doing those exercise, I learned to strengthen those small muscle supporting my knee, Its so funny, a lot of those exercise looks simple, very small movements, but when you aren't using those muscles for a long time, doing those simple exercise can be difficult. So going to a Bowen Practitioner helped a whole lot and taking green lipped mussels is the missing link. I know I mentioned it before but I found out about Green lipped mussels based on studies on dogs and hey it works for human too!
"Although cartilage damage is, in itself, difficult to heal, there are certain elements that can help in its repair. One such are glycosaminoglycans, a type of complex carbohydrates that are abundant in green lipped mussels. They are not exactly a cure for damaged tissues, but they have been found to have the ability to strengthen and repair damages to this part of the human anatomy.
Green lipped mussels are more than just core ingredients in supplements for cartilage repair, they also aid in strengthening the bones and joint tissues of the body which can help prevent damage from occurring in the first place. A host of other health benefits have also been associated with GLM, including benefits to the skin, the circulatory system, the immune system and the nerve cells.

With its omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and minerals, green lipped mussels are also great sources of nutrients that can help promote overall health. Supplements made from this shellfish have become popular in terms of alleviating joint pain and in reducing inflammation that can cause arthritis and other bone-related problems.
What the Maoris can teach us

Green lipped mussels are a type of shellfish found in the waters of New Zealand. The Maoris, an indigenous people in this country, have a steady source of ready-made, natural supplements for cartilage repair in these mollusks as GLM is a big part of their daily diet.

Most Maoris attest to the efficacy of this shellfish. They have long claimed that their consumption of this shellfish in vast quantities is the main reason why arthritis is a rarity among the Maoris.
Choosing your GLM supplement

heronh

Carol it is nice to see you in our forum. And Congratulations on your loss!! You are off to a great start. And don't get discourage if you see a small or no progress on your next weigh in! Keep at it and the weight will come off.
Yes everybody's journey is different, look at Arturo, he lost over 30lbs and I'm having trouble just losing 10 lol But I am so happy for him and I'm happy for me too!

Cynthia, why don't you bake your own low carb pumpkin? I've made crust from almond meal and other nuts and they came out great. It won't be a flaky pie crust but it'll taste good. Use your favorite pumpkin recipe and substitute splenda.
Or just have fun on Thanksgiving! Its only one day, just make sure you don't have any dessert laying around the next day to tempt you

I'm in for the multiple challenge.

Muay Thai 75min + 40min walking Tough session today, kicking session are always harder because it takes a lot to kick than to punch.
10min jump rope, 2 min cardio.
Foot work
"Ladder" bag drills, focusing on power kicks. We did 220 kicks in that set of drills.
Followed with knockout combination drills (punch and kick hard). 2 punch 1 kick.
Ending with speed punches 30sec on 10 sec off. 5 rounds
Cool down is 50 push-ups.

I was the only chick in class and the dudes were all hella big! But I held my own and earned my high fives and "Damn girl, you work hard" I love that at the end no matter what skill and physical level we are, we were all drenched and there are puddles of sweat at where we were at. That feeling of being pushed to your absolute limit is awesome! My body probably pumps out a lot of endorphin and adrenaline to keep me from passing out lol. My hands were still shaking from the rush when I got home. Fun session!

carolssalva

You GO zher

carolssalva

(Ignore that last post.)

You GO Heron!! Kick some Muay Thai Butt Girl!!!