Over 200 New Year New Me Part 22

cris20056

I was getting really irritated with the bike at the gym the other day because I was biking at over 100RPMs and my heart rate would not reach the target HR of 154....I was pushing myself harder than ever and I couldnt get to 154!!! It kept raising the level, making it harder to pedal and it kicked my *kitten* but it eventually got me to 154...I was so mad thinking the machine was broken and wasnt reading my HR properly and almost killed me with the extra work...but then the TM did the same thing....lol!! Then it finally dawned on me that duh, my fitness has imrpved and I have to work harder to get to a higher HR. It is also getting tougher to get my 600-700 burns in. I think 700 burns would kill me, 600 are waaay harder than ever before.

Anyway, I went off on a tangent....I try to get my HR as high as it will go without dying, thats when I feel like Im pushing my body the most.

cris20056

cogirl- I would love a massage right now....my headache feels like a sinus one, its right on the bridge of my nose and between my eyes. I took 4 advil tabs last night and even that didnt work.

Bobby did rub my feet last night and it was the best thing in the world, I dont normally like him or anyone touching my feet but I was just so pooped and it felt so awesome.....**sigh** I love him

So I was reading another thread where someone asked everyone to name their favorite guilt free snack. I thought we could do the same thing and maybe it will give us more yummy health food ideas! So what food do you find yourself eating repeatedly that just tastes sooo good and isnt unhealthy?!

Mine is an egg sandwich. It fills me up ...to the point where I feel stuffed almost and is only 400 calories
I hard boil 2 eggs - use a egg cutter thing to make it into slices, put it on two pieces of bread with 0 calorie butter spray and 2 slices of mozzarella cheese...soooo good and filling!!

awestfall

No more crappy food for me for a while.Summer is totally killing me.I am still on my period and apparently I have gained 10 pounds over the course of a week.I was 216 a week ago before I started my period and then boom today 226,224,228.What gives??I know I didn't actually gain that much weight but I have been eating sodium high foods and not really watching what I have eaten either so I am back on track tomorrow and oh my poor tummy is paying for it today.I know my weight will go back to normal and I am going to have to sweat and really watch myself but I just feel myself slipping and giving up because I am burnt out on exercise.SOMEONE PLEASE help me find my MOJO again.I managed to exercise for 45minutes today and I am going to do it again later.I will not eat past 6pm today and I am not eating anymore crappy foods for awhile.I should edit that it wasn't really crappy it was just too much and my tummy was telling me it was too much but I had and awlful headache and thought it was because I was hungry.BOY was I wrong!! I am sure you gals are tired of hearing me whine and complain about my weight fluctuations and I promise I will try not to complain anymore but what do you do when you are burnt out ???Lesson learned that crappy food is just in moderation on occasion and not everyday for a week either.BLAH I feel horrible!! OK I AM READY FOR YOU GALS TO BE BRUTALLY HONEST WITH ME NOW.I think I am going to grab a laxative by the way I changed my ticker to reflect my 10 pound gain lol.

LittleSpy

Anyway, I went off on a tangent....I try to get my HR as high as it will go without dying, thats when I feel like Im pushing my body the most.

:laugh: Yep. That's how I feel. Death is the limit.

Also, I definitely have a hard time getting my HR up on a bike. It's like my leg muscles give out long before my HR goes up. I gotta do the elliptical or treadmill to get my HR up where I like it. Arc Trainer does it for me, too, as I recall. With the bike, my feet go flying off the pedals I'm trying to go so fast. Even with the straps. I've just given up on stationary bikes for now. :laugh: It's too much for me to concentrate on keeping my feet on the pedals and trying to get my HR up and trying ot keep my legs from falling off all at the same time. I'm not that coordinated.

I'm not in the headache club today but I was on Sunday. It was a sinus headache and a tension headache all in one. I felt like major crap. I think it's allergies and atmospheric pressure changes and temperature changes for me.

As far as healthyish indulgences go, I'm on a huge sweet potato kick. I've even been eating them with brown sugar or salt plus butter and sour cream (yep, brown sugar and sour cream!). Oh, so good! I try to limit the size of the potato to 150g or less, then use 1/2tbs light butter and 2tbs reduced fat sour cream or full-fat sour cream. It's 200 cals for a 135g potato with the light butter & reduced fat sour cream. YUM!

ColoradoGirl

sinus headache....

#1 Get comfortable. Lie back on a reclining chair or sofa.
# 2 Dim the lights. Bright light can intensify a headache.
# Begin your massage with the areas above and around your ears. Place your hands on either side of your head; using the pads of your fingers, press down gently and move the skin back and forth about 1 inch.
# 4 Move your scalp rather than sliding your fingers across the skin.
# 5 Place the pads of your fingers on your temples. Press down gently and move your fingers in small circles.
# 6 Repeat this technique on the back of your neck. Pay particular attention to the area at the base of the skull.
# 7 Continue to massage your scalp in this way until you've covered your entire head. For areas that feel tense, try this acupressure technique: Grasp your skin between your thumb and forefinger and squeeze for 20 seconds. Release pressure for 10 seconds but do not remove your hand. Repeat this four times.

You can also use a Netti Pot and wash the sinuses. In addition both peppermint (do not use directly on skin, it can burn the skin by itself) and eucalyptus are bronchial dilators. Thus placing a small amount 2-3 drops)of either essential oil (not both) on a cotton ball and breathing it in deeply through your nose will help open the sinuses if they are plugged. However the good ol standby Lavender is perfect for a sinus headache and is quite calming.

Hope that helps!

RedneckWmn

I did it I did it!! I bought the boots!!:bigsmile: We have jeans day on Friday and I'm trying to decide how to wear them. They are so cute they shouldn't be hid by jeans but I can't decide if I'm going to suck it up and wear skinny jeans and just tuck them into the boots. :laugh:

Favorite snack for me is the sugar free jello with some light whip cream. It hits my sweet tooth craving and it's like 30 calories! LOVE IT!! I also saw a recipe for low fat graham crackers or something and whip cream you freeze them and it's like an ice cream sancwhich for under 50 calories. I haven't tried it but it sounds so tasty to me!

ColoradoGril-The headache was mostly hurting on the sides of my head the worst. Was so bad I wanted to throw up. Thinking about it I haven't had much water yesterday or today so I'm giong to start downing some water. Probably dehydrated.

Cris-I'm with you on the calorie burns. If I want 700 calorie burn now I'm spending at least an hour and a half in the gym. The bike I can't get much passed 135 unless I'm in SPIN class. I've started using the stair master. That blows my heartrate up like no other! Those of you who have gym memberships, try it out!

awestfall-You go through some serious weight flucations during your TOM, you know you do. Don't let it beat you up. Just sounds like you need to control what you are eating during that time. Try and surround yourself with healthier snacks. If you like the crunch try celery or something. I love bell peppers. I could eat a million of those. You will get to a point where you don't snack like you use to during TOM. That's what I have been working on. I hardly notice myself snacking anymore. However, my night time snacking seems to be creeping back.


I'm pretty proud of myself. I have been slammed at work this morning dealing with drama and I came back from picking up my boots to find that I did not have a healthy choice dinner like I thought. So instead of blowing it and going to Wendys right next drove I sucked it up and drove all the way to Subway. If I would of gone to Wendys I would of ended up with a Spicy chicken sandwhich! I don't have control to pick a more healthy item, yet!

cris20056

Awestfall- I completely burned myself out. Sad part of it was that I didnt even realize thats what had happened until you guys all pointed it out to me. I was working out so hard, and eating so strictly that I felt like my life had become consumed by this....and thats not what I wanted at all. I am very big on making this a lifestyle change, and I will NEVER keep up with the level of excercise I was doing before and I will NEVER anally control my portions and calories for the rest of my life.

I sat back and re-evaluated, maybe you need to do the same. It sounds like you are sabotaging yourself. You eat well and excercise til you drop, then you have had enough and you go an a binge (healthy food or not its still binging). I think you really need to maybe excercise at lower level that you can continue to do daily or every other day without over exhausting yourself. I also think you need to put the scale away. I am a scale junkie as everyone knows but I dont let it impact me as much as you do. It seems like the slightest fluctuations makes you panic, and thats not good! TOM, sodium, daily fluctuations could all lead to a 10lbs gain.

Ok , so I hope I wasnt too harsh but its just my 2 cents

awestfall

Awestfall- I completely burned myself out. Sad part of it was that I didnt even realize thats what had happened until you guys all pointed it out to me. I was working out so hard, and eating so strictly that I felt like my life had become consumed by this....and thats not what I wanted at all. I am very big on making this a lifestyle change, and I will NEVER keep up with the level of excercise I was doing before and I will NEVER anally control my portions and calories for the rest of my life.

I sat back and re-evaluated, maybe you need to do the same. It sounds like you are sabotaging yourself. You eat well and excercise til you drop, then you have had enough and you go an a binge (healthy food or not its still binging). I think you really need to maybe excercise at lower level that you can continue to do daily or every other day without over exhausting yourself. I also think you need to put the scale away. I am a scale junkie as everyone knows but I dont let it impact me as much as you do. It seems like the slightest fluctuations makes you panic, and thats not good! TOM, sodium, daily fluctuations could all lead to a 10lbs gain.

Ok , so I hope I wasnt too harsh but its just my 2 cents

Not at all harsh its just what I needed to hear.I am reevaluting myself as I am typing.I don't want to have to be strict strict strict with myself forever.I want to be able to enjoy life and the changes I am making for the better.I want to be able to enjoy a slice of pizza and be satisfied with just the one or any other food I love to eat.I don't want to have a close relationship with food to make me feel better.Yes I am a scale junkie and I know I need to stop so I am vowing today to weigh myself once a week and not daily any more.I think this may help me.I am just so frustrated with seeing my mom and my sister taking pills to help them lose weight easily and they call me every other day to tell me how much they have lost and then they ask me how much I have lost and I have to say nothing.I just feel so bad !!I know its stupid to feel like your mom should be proud of you when your almost 30 and give you praise for it but it is nice for me. When it was just me trying to change my lifestyle they were so proud but now that they are losing weight too and quicker than I am its like a competition between us and I hate it.So I feel like I have to stress over food and exercise all the time.This is for ME and ME alone but when they got involved I feel like I am the failure and they are succeeding.I know I can do this without meds because I am I just need to find that balance.I think I am going to exercise every other day for now instead of everyday because I feel like I am taking away from spending quality time from my children since they are home now for the summer.Things are going to be fine for me.PLEASE SOMEONE HUNT ME down if I am not on here everyday logging food.THANKS again everyone and sorry for being so annnoying with my whines

awestfall

I did it I did it!! I bought the boots!!:bigsmile: We have jeans day on Friday and I'm trying to decide how to wear them. They are so cute they shouldn't be hid by jeans but I can't decide if I'm going to suck it up and wear skinny jeans and just tuck them into the boots. :laugh:

Favorite snack for me is the sugar free jello with some light whip cream. It hits my sweet tooth craving and it's like 30 calories! LOVE IT!! I also saw a recipe for low fat graham crackers or something and whip cream you freeze them and it's like an ice cream sancwhich for under 50 calories. I haven't tried it but it sounds so tasty to me!

ColoradoGril-The headache was mostly hurting on the sides of my head the worst. Was so bad I wanted to throw up. Thinking about it I haven't had much water yesterday or today so I'm giong to start downing some water. Probably dehydrated.

Cris-I'm with you on the calorie burns. If I want 700 calorie burn now I'm spending at least an hour and a half in the gym. The bike I can't get much passed 135 unless I'm in SPIN class. I've started using the stair master. That blows my heartrate up like no other! Those of you who have gym memberships, try it out!

awestfall-You go through some serious weight flucations during your TOM, you know you do. Don't let it beat you up. Just sounds like you need to control what you are eating during that time. Try and surround yourself with healthier snacks. If you like the crunch try celery or something. I love bell peppers. I could eat a million of those. You will get to a point where you don't snack like you use to during TOM. That's what I have been working on. I hardly notice myself snacking anymore. However, my night time snacking seems to be creeping back.


I'm pretty proud of myself. I have been slammed at work this morning dealing with drama and I came back from picking up my boots to find that I did not have a healthy choice dinner like I thought. So instead of blowing it and going to Wendys right next drove I sucked it up and drove all the way to Subway. If I would of gone to Wendys I would of ended up with a Spicy chicken sandwhich! I don't have control to pick a more healthy item, yet!

GREAT JOB JESS on the BIG 50 pounds lost

bluenote

awestfall - I completely agree with cris. You tend to really work out hard, and I think you need to lessen it. You need balance, sweetpea. I am no workoutmeister or anything, but I do know frustration when I see it.

Interesting you gals are talking about the bike because my PT and I had this same discussion yesterday at my session. My therapist is also a personal trainer, and I was asking him about the stationary bike. I bought one of the Polar F6's that Julie tipped us off about at Sears (thanks, Julie - it is fantastic AND it goes up to my weight!) and I told him that I am noticing that I am not making my target heart rate and I am pedaling like a madwoman. He told me some things that surprised me:
1.) bike riding is weight independent. This means that no matter what weight you are, everyone burns the same amount of calories at the same intensity.
2.) bike riding is not the best tool for burning calories. He said it's just not enough, and that most people will not reach aerobic heart rates on them.
Well, blow me and Old Bessie away with a feather! We discussed that at my weight and health status, that yes, Bessie the bike was the way to go 82 pounds ago. Now I need more, and he is going to work with me on Friday to set up an exercise plan.

With that said, off I go to sign up at the fitness center. Eeeek! Four more pounds to threederville!!!

awestfall

awestfall - I completely agree with cris. You tend to really work out hard, and I think you need to lessen it. You need balance, sweetpea. I am no workoutmeister or anything, but I do know frustration when I see it.

Interesting you gals are talking about the bike because my PT and I had this same discussion yesterday at my session. My therapist is also a personal trainer, and I was asking him about the stationary bike. I bought one of the Polar F6's that Julie tipped us off about at Sears (thanks, Julie - it is fantastic AND it goes up to my weight!) and I told him that I am noticing that I am not making my target heart rate and I am pedaling like a madwoman. He told me some things that surprised me:
1.) bike riding is weight independent. This means that no matter what weight you are, everyone burns the same amount of calories at the same intensity.
2.) bike riding is not the best tool for burning calories. He said it's just not enough, and that most people will not reach aerobic heart rates on them.
Well, blow me and Old Bessie away with a feather! We discussed that at my weight and health status, that yes, Bessie the bike was the way to go 82 pounds ago. Now I need more, and he is going to work with me on Friday to set up an exercise plan.

With that said, off I go to sign up at the fitness center. Eeeek! Four more pounds to threederville!!!

Thanks Bluenote!! I think I just need a HUG from you gals!! I am an emotional wreck these past few days.My grandfather is sick ,my father is having test done for his diabetes and high blood pressure ad heart.I don't want the health issues that my family members have .I want to be healthy and happy and live along time but I feel like if I keep at it with pushing myself so hard I am going to go crazy.My friend up the rode said I could go walking with her in the evenings with my children and hers and I think I am going to do it just to unwind.I can't believe I am crying like a baby right nowe but frustration has set in and I am upset with myself for letting myself eat like crap for a week now.I am stronger than this and I need to REFOCUS!! Thanks again I love you strong bunch of women.YOU GALS ARE THE BEST

cris20056

ann- I know how frustrating it must be to see them dropping the lbs, maybe it would help you to think about it long term. They wont be able to sustain their weight loss, and statistics show that they are likely to re-gain the weight loss PLUS some. Its not something I am wishing upon your mom and sister, jsut the reality. Whereas you may be losing slower you are going to be able to maintain it for the rest of your life, you are learning valuable lessons on what works and what doesnt for your body, you a learning portion control, you are learning to excercise ...etc.

I am only excercising 3-4 times a week now. It makes me much less panicked about when I will have time to go. And yes, does give me more time with my fiance and kids...remember cogirls' emails...the golf balls are the most important things...the rest is jsut sand :flowerforyou:

Momma2four

Okay girls I just came in from mowing my backyard 2x and thought I would update my exercise because I put my usual time it takes then I thought I will see what everyone is doing started reading your post and I am sitting here like a little idiot crying because you guys are so sweet to me. You don't even know how deeply I appreciated all of your kindess


Ann, I agree with everyone else brutally being honest I have always felt that you push yourself extremely hard with exercise. I think it is wonderful that you are determined and I think that you should work out "hard" but just remember your body is going to need rest and the other thing to remember is are you going to do this forever(?).(for the teachers on here do love my long sentence with lots of ideas going on:laugh: )


Jess, glad you got your boots

cris20056

ANN- ****************H-U-G-E....H-U-G......***********************:flowerforyou:

RedneckWmn

I agree with Cris. If you really do think of this as a lifestyle change you have to find the balance. Sure we may have some weeks where we push ourself to the max and workout harder then others but you need to think about how you plan to maintain that kind of thing when you do hit your goal weight. Let's face it. You can't get to your goal weight and probably never workout. At least I don't plan to take that route. And she is right stastics show that they are more likely to gain it back. I really hope this does not happen to them!! But if it does, you will be there to share what you learned since you ARE successful with doing this. You ARE doing this. It's all trial and error. You don't want to cut yourself off from things that you love. Just have to learn how to enjoy them. I use to be a scale junke and it did affect my mood. I don't let it beat me up anymore. It's going to happen. I can fluxate with 5 pounds in a day or two! But I know it's going to go right back down. I think it's probably a good idea to back off from the exercise as well. Re evaulate your goals. You sound burnt out!


bluenote-I would of never thought that about the bike! That's craziness! Thanks for shareing that information with us. Now go sign up for the fitness center! You will love it! :drinker:

cris20056

Okay girls I just came in from mowing my backyard 2x and thought I would update my exercise because I put my usual time it takes then I thought I will see what everyone is doing started reading your post and I am sitting here like a little idiot crying because you guys are so sweet to me. You don't even know how deeply I appreciated all of your kindess


Ann, I agree with everyone else brutally being honest I have always felt that you push yourself extremely hard with exercise. I think it is wonderful that you are determined and I think that you should work out "hard" but just remember your body is going to need rest and the other thing to remember is are you going to do this forever(?).(for the teachers on here do love my long sentence with lots of ideas going on:laugh: )


Jess, glad you got your boots

Momma- you kill me, you always make me tear up ....oh and thanks for mentioning the teachers on the board, I never really thought about it ...all my grammar and spelling....ouch

RedneckWmn

Hugs for Momma and Ann today!! We you!!

raiderape

Ann - I completely agree with everyone else that has posted. You have been doing an amazing job and have seen results and are just feeling overwhelmed with trying to lose more than your mom and sister. They are not learning how to change their eating habits and make the lifestyle change. They seem to be shooting for the short term goal and that is very frustrating. I do think that you should re-evaluate and come up with a revised plan. You need to make time for your kids, they won't be that age forever.

blue - Thanks for that info. I always wondered why I could go so much longer on the bike than anything else.

I do have a question. How do you know what your target heart rate should be?

cris20056

I do have a question. How do you know what your target heart rate should be?

Finding your target heart rate:
Low end (220-age) x 0.5 High end (220-age) x 0.85

so here is mine..I'm 27
low end (220-27) x 0.5= 96.5 High end (220-27) x 0.85= 164

I aim for 150-160 most of the time...cool down try to stay in 120-130 (during spin class and some c25k runs I get up to 175-190 though!:noway: )

Hope that helps!

Positively_Me

Awestfall, I agree with everything these wonderful gals said. I do think you overdo it on your exercise. I think, maybe i am wrong, that eat eat too much food and you try to confiscate by exercising like a madwoman..then you find yourself in the same ongoing cycle. This has to stop..Ok you had one bad meal or too much of a good meal..it’s not the end of the world. Think of your next meal and make better choices. It is hard at first, but like everyone said this IS a lifestyle change not a Yo-Yo diet. I have totally mistake the two before, but now I know if I want to keep making right decision ( eating and exercising) My body will know I am doing it the right way and not the pop a pill kind of way.

sharing a story...I know a close relative who took some kind of diet pills. I think she was close to 300 pounds, ate like there was no tomorrow. But she started taking those pills, yea she lost weight, but she was having problems too. she looked terribly sick. I think she got down to 120 pounds in like 6 months. but She was administered 10 times to the hospital because of her health . When we would ask her what was wrong she would say too much exercising or I was sick..never telling anyone that she was actually taking pills. Well it was the twelfth time see was administer that the doctor told the family that she needed to STOP taking those pills because she was on her way to death. She was married and had 5 beautiful girls…but her problem was those pills were taking over her. Well she stop taking them after her family intervened, but that said part was she gain all her weight back and some because those pills didn’t tell you how to lose weight? How much to exercise? and how to counting calories???..And now she is doing it the healthier way..so don’t take the easy road and think those stupid pills are your only hope. THEY ARE NOT! A healthy diet and exercise is the only way to go.

Sorry for all the rambling but I wanted to let a good friend think twice before taking anything. We are all in this journey together..no matter what.

** to all, You can vent, ramble, or chat about random things because I feel this thread is like talking to friend about our daily stuggles.

Love ya all

irandamay

That optimal fat burning heart rate range is misleading, IMO.

I agree.

My trainer at the gym, and the other trainer who did the nutrition classes for my BL contest both said that those ranges on the machines are somewhat stupid. When you are working out, you are always "burning" carbohydrates and fat for fuel. And it is true that you burn a little more fat than carbs when you're working out at a lower intensity. However, if you're working out at a higher intensity, you're burning more fat/carbs overall! Calories are calories to me... I don't care if the ratio is a little more skewed towards fat burning, if I'm only burning, say, 250 calories at low intensity but 500 at a higher intensity. I probably ended up burning more fat calories even though the ratio is not quite as good!

The trainers also told us to basically ignore the target upper limit on those little graphs. They said that they are mostly for people who never go to the gym and have no clue where they should even be working out, to give them some idea so they don't go too hard and end up hurting themselves. If you know what you are doing, it is good to push yourself up into an anaerobic range and do intervals, that's how you get stronger.

Positively_Me

Cris: favorite snack is Homemade hummus

I usually eat it on celery sticks, lettuce wraps, spread it on turkey sandwich ( instead of mayo), and my new fave way is on boiled eggs ,deviled eggs, ( take the yoke out and replace it with hummus) yum yum!!

That reminds me I need to make more hummus..and yogurt too..

LittleSpy

The trainers also told us to basically ignore the target upper limit on those little graphs. They said that they are mostly for people who never go to the gym and have no clue where they should even be working out, to give them some idea so they don't go too hard and end up hurting themselves. If you know what you are doing, it is good to push yourself up into an anaerobic range and do intervals, that's how you get stronger.

Glad to hear this. I've been ignoring the recommended max HR estimates and my age's "80% high intensity" HR range because what I'm comfortable doing is quite a lot higher.

I've even had a few well-meaning MFPers "advise" me that the heart rates I achieve regularly while exercising are "scary." :noway: Sure, maybe for someone else, but not for me. I would never advise anyone else on what their personal heart rate should be while exercising because I don't know their body and I'm not taking on that liability. But personally, if I'm not even out of breath, I'm really not concerned about the exercise being "too intense" for me. I'm someone who began considering herself an actual athlete a few months ago -- I'm training and conditioning my body so I have to push it. And I love seeing the improvement that comes with pushing myself. How else are you going to accomplish drastically increasing speed and distance? After all, I have a half-marathon to run next February (holy man, I better start training for that a little harder...)!

If I'm so not-winded that I can have a conversation with someone while my heart beats 195-200 times per minute, I really don't think that's an "unsafe" BPM for me. I really start getting winded above 205bpm so that's what' I think of as my personal "max." I try not to go over 205bpm whlie running interval sprints. With everything else, like I mentioned above, I just keep myself on the verge of being winded & occasionally sprint up to being winded, and then back down. As always, everyone is different!

RedneckWmn

Cris I'm sorry but I'm not going to be able to do c25k tonight for you. I feel like *kitten*. I feel like I'm going to just be sick. I'm going to go home and crawl in bed when I get off work. Let's hope for tomorrow morning!

raiderape

I do have a question. How do you know what your target heart rate should be?

Finding your target heart rate:
Low end (220-age) x 0.5 High end (220-age) x 0.85

so here is mine..I'm 27
low end (220-27) x 0.5= 96.5 High end (220-27) x 0.85= 164

I aim for 150-160 most of the time...cool down try to stay in 120-130 (during spin class and some c25k runs I get up to 175-190 though!:noway: )

Hope that helps!

Thanks, Cris!! When I do exercise I never know what the range should be so this helps.

So I am trying to think of a healthy snack that I eat and I am not really sure I have a good one. I have been doing well with the 100 calorie packs but those are necessarily healthy but they are helping keep the snacking to a smaller quantity. Right now I am actually having a problem with trying not to snack. I just had a 100 calorie oreo bar and now I am wanting something salty. I have been hungry a lot today and nothing seems to be satisfing it! ARGHHHHHH!!!!:explode: I am sure it has to deal with TOM but I should have been done with this 3 days ago so I am really on a rollercoaster! Hopefully, I can hold out until dinner tonight even though it won't be until almost 8. I might have to have something before then so that I don't over eat at the game.

lstpaul

jumping in on the HR and calorie burn conversation:
I'm glad to hear that everyone else's heartrate doesn't go as high on stationary bikes too ... I thought I just wasn't working hard enough. But I think as long as you feel like you are working your legs hard - then you are building muscle and it's important to do both muscle building and higher aerobic activity where you are burning more calories. They say the more muscle you have the more calories you just naturally burn all the time. When I do step aerobics my heart rate is typically between 145-170 for the hour, but for weight lifting it is typically 95-130 so I don't burn as many calories... but I try to get in some weight lifting classes every week although I've been slacking in that area - only doing 1 body pump class a week lately.

lildeb: I feel bad for you with no air conditioning! There are 3 things that make me really, really cranky - 1) PMS 2) being too hungry 3) being too hot! Good luck with getting that fixed soon!

awestfall: Don't beat yourself up! This is a loong process of trial and error, and you need to get to a place where you are making small lifelong changes that you can live with that will make the difference. ME TOO!

momma: I am the biggest crier I know ... especially when it comes to anything good, bad, or even marginally sentimental with my children. You are a good mom, hang in there - keep advocating for your son. He will be way better off in life because of your caring!

checking in:
calories: over by 190 including all my exercise calories, but I did log them all
exercise: good - step class
water: good but didn't keep track
proud: that I started keeping track of what I'm eating again and TRYING to get back on track

HeatherMN

Julie: Thanks for rescuing me on the last thread!

Mari: Awesome before and after pics! Thank you for sharing those.

Well, I'm back! I wrote on the last thread and Julie graciously gave me the link to this one. It was a bit difficult being away from home and eating fast food, but I didn't do too horribly and even worked out in the hotel gym a few days. I swam, too, and forgot how much of an arm workout it is. Whew!

My class went well and I am now officially a NARHA certified riding instructor. Yay!

I'll try to catch up tomorrow since I have the day off. On Tuesday of last week, my employer notified us that they were reducing our hours to 32 per week. That's a whole lot of money I can't afford to be out, but surprisingly I'm not freaking out about it yet. I probably will when I see the first tiny check, though. I keep telling myself that things happen for a reason and now I just need to find out the reason!

Have a great evening,
Heather

meokk

So the hair really isn't a drastic difference. No one has even noticed at work today (or maybe they have and it looks really bad so they don't want to say anything and I'm crazy for liking it :laugh:). I really think it's because I hardly lost any length in the back, though. It's still damp in this picture and you can't really see the layers.... so really, it's just a random picture of me.

Ummm Julie, time for another donation, your hair is so long !!!! I think you would look really cute with a pixie cut or some other short style, seriously !!!! BTW you look amazing, love the new photo :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

cris20056

Heather- WE MISSED YOU! WELCOME HOME!!!

meokk

So since I'm bored and trying to keep my mind off my headache thought I would share this with y'all. I found the cowboy boots I have spent 2 years looking for yesterday. I have never been able to wear cute cowboy boots because my calves were too big so I always had to buy ugly boots. And these fit like a glove! So...just for funzies here are some pics of the boots of my dreams. What are the chances I find them the day I hit my 50 pounds lost mark!? I think it's mean to be! Please excuse my white as a ghost legs in the bottom picture!

OMG....Soooo Texas, I love it !!!!!