The OFFICIAL University/College Challenge

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  • LittleMissAlx
    LittleMissAlx Posts: 291 Member
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    At least you have a good week in between the bad weeks :)

    I had really good intentions to make last week healthy - brought all my running stuff with me, but in the end I might as well not have bothered since I only did a 5km run. No excuses - I was being lazy. The weather was lovely if a bit cold most days. My bad. Ah well.

    I'm home now. Announced my engagement last night, and let's just say it wasn't received very positively. Can't say I expected squeals of joy, but I'm pretty disgusted with how my mother has behaved over it. Shame, but everyone else is excited! Just have to tolerate her for a couple of weeks :)
  • andforpoise
    andforpoise Posts: 185
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    OOOh, please let me know if you make it to the one in San Diego!! I'll totally come out and cheer you on! Or maybe run it too?

    Will do! How far are you from San Diego? You should run it! Google Dodge Rock and Roll Marathon San Diego... it should come up!

    And don't worry about the slip up! I've been gorging myself with goodies too! And feel like I want to do even more since exams didn't go so well for me... I'm glad you guys did well!!

    I'm sorry to hear about your mom's reaction to the engagement Alex! I'm sure she'll learn to accept it...she really has no choice right? As long as you're happy!!

    I'm going out to run tomorrow morning ... no excuses! I'll be running the area that I used to run when I started running for the very first time in 2010 :) Easy route, and I can probably do it all in one shot now! Gotta keep active so I'm not out of shape when group training starts! I think it would be quite terrible for my self esteem if I was the slowest one in the bunch!

    All the best to everyone with family over the holidays and trying to keep on track! It will be difficult, but we can do it! :)
  • LittleMissAlx
    LittleMissAlx Posts: 291 Member
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    She's chilling out a lot now, thankfully. Think she just doesn't react well to surprises!

    Because I've no access to gym etc over hols, I've downloaded a lot of apps for my phone and ipad on strength training type stuff (by daniel miller I think) and yoga, and am doing those in the morning (makes the start of my day feel really positive and my goals for next year are a lot to do with weights and flexibility anyway), then random running around doing householdy things for the rest of the day, and hopefully that will be enough.

    How did the run go? :)

    Happy Christmas everyone!
  • andforpoise
    andforpoise Posts: 185
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    The run didn't end up happening :P But I walked to the place I was meeting a friend for coffee ... it was about half an hour so at least I got some sort of exercise! After Christmas my brother in law is going to take me to his gym and show me the ropes of the weight systems and strength training... he was also lecturing me on eating more protein! (apparently I don't eat enough...) Except for last night and all this week really... I'm a mindless eating machine for some reason! Might have something to do with the lovely Christmas Eve appie feast that my aunt put on for the family this year - WOW... I actually felt sick because I overate. At least my stomach tells me when it's done now! Today is Christmas dinner at my sister's so it should be a little lighter (she and the bro in law are somewhat health nuts) so I'll just have a small plate of food and a little dessert and be done with it! NO MORE FOOD COMA! After today I'm going to try and get back to as normal as possible - so hard when my family always has snacks laying around! haha. How's everyone else's Christmas meals fairing?

    I need to get on the Iphone train so I can get some of those apps! They sound good and if it makes you feel good then awesome!!

    Hope everyone is having an AWESOME Christmas!! Any Christmas traditions that you'd like to share?
  • swinginchandra
    swinginchandra Posts: 418 Member
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    OOOh, please let me know if you make it to the one in San Diego!! I'll totally come out and cheer you on! Or maybe run it too?

    Will do! How far are you from San Diego? You should run it! Google Dodge Rock and Roll Marathon San Diego... it should come up!

    And don't worry about the slip up! I've been gorging myself with goodies too! And feel like I want to do even more since exams didn't go so well for me... I'm glad you guys did well!!

    I'm sorry to hear about your mom's reaction to the engagement Alex! I'm sure she'll learn to accept it...she really has no choice right? As long as you're happy!!

    I'm going out to run tomorrow morning ... no excuses! I'll be running the area that I used to run when I started running for the very first time in 2010 :) Easy route, and I can probably do it all in one shot now! Gotta keep active so I'm not out of shape when group training starts! I think it would be quite terrible for my self esteem if I was the slowest one in the bunch!

    All the best to everyone with family over the holidays and trying to keep on track! It will be difficult, but we can do it! :)

    I live in San Diego, go to UCSD! Actually, I really want to do / have been planning on doing the rock & roll marathon!!

    Glad to hear your mom is chilling out about the engagement!!! Hopefully she'll swing around to full scale support? Too much to hope for?

    Yeah the last couple of days have been filled with the "ate so much I'm literally sick to my stomach" full feeling. Can't wait to get back on the band wagon and hopefully shed the bloat by new years.

    So I had a really hard Christmas. I stupidly accepted an invitation to spend the day with my ex (who I've been still occasionally sleeping with, and telling myself I had no feelings for) 's amazing family. They truly are wonderful, and actually, he's a sweetheart too. A little upset tonight, and guess I have to make the decision that I really can't have the on-again off-again relationship with him that I've had over the past few months. Mainly because it's on-again off-again on his schedule, and as much as I've tried to do the whole "I'm just chilling, whatever you want" thing, I've realized it's unfair to me. I'm either crazy mad at him, or ridiculously euphoric when we hang out, depending on his mood. That's not fair. Anyway, rant over... had to say that someplace.
    His family is truly amazing though, all made me so welcome. I'd met his extended family before when we weren't dating before, and I'm not sure if they were aware we had broken up. It makes perfect sense that they wouldn't treat me as anything other than his girlfriend... but it just made today that much harder.
    Good, I guess, because making the decision to change the nature of our relationship was a decision it was taking me too long to get around to.
  • andforpoise
    andforpoise Posts: 185
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    Oh! I didn't know! That's awesome!! Now I want to do the marathon even more! I don't know what's happening... I may be moving back home first, so I don't know if I can still stay part of the team that is fundraising or not ... we shall see :)

    Oh and exes! Blah...always a sticky situation...but you're right, that's not fair to you, even if you were pretending it was... eventually you hit that moment when you realize it actually isn't, and sounds like you have! So that's good! Maybe it's time to have a talk with him? I wish you luck and hope you find peace with the situation in some way or another!

    I've agreed to spend time with my ex this holiday... Actually, for some odd reason I was the one that asked! We're supposed to go for a jog - his suggestion - tomorrow (both of us have been on a weight loss/fitness journey and now we apparently share some of the same interests!) He even invited me skating today...but I already had plans (which I was going to drop for him - am I losing my mind?! Kind of feels like I could fall into old habits... unrelated to physical health and fitness!) Anyhow... exes... they always end up being a sticky situation... because even though I told myself not to, I'm already getting my hopes up a little bit for something that probably won't even come about... eeep!
  • swinginchandra
    swinginchandra Posts: 418 Member
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    I hope your time with your ex turns out well! Maybe it will be better than expected! I guess it depends why he's an ex...

    Had my conversation with mine this morning, went fairly well, as things with him usually do. Will probably try to take a few months without seeing him so much... go on a flirting rampage, y'know.

    You guys have any fun plans for new years?? I'm desperately eating healthily (and low carb) this week to try and nock some of the christmas bloat off... although now I think I may not have plans anymore. lol.
  • LittleMissAlx
    LittleMissAlx Posts: 291 Member
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    No plans as such for me. Just chilling really.

    Managing to get in some exercise, mostly in the form of wandering round shops in the sales lol, but also doing a bit of weights and yoga. Was amazed how quickly the yoga had an effect on my balance, though still a very long way to go with the flexibility... Might ask my man to go to a yoga class with me when am back at uni, then he can give me the kick through the door I might need. Because I think a class would be better than just learning off apps.

    Th food however, not going quite so well. Over calories most days, think my mum is trying to feed me up. And I'm drinking less than I would at uni as well. Can't weigh in, no scales, so will see what harm has been done when I get back, but as long as my clothes still feel fine, I'm not going to freak out about it quite yet.

    Hope you all had a good Christmas! Exciting presents?
  • andforpoise
    andforpoise Posts: 185
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    I hope your time with your ex turns out well! Maybe it will be better than expected! I guess it depends why he's an ex...

    Had my conversation with mine this morning, went fairly well, as things with him usually do. Will probably try to take a few months without seeing him so much... go on a flirting rampage, y'know.

    You guys have any fun plans for new years?? I'm desperately eating healthily (and low carb) this week to try and nock some of the christmas bloat off... although now I think I may not have plans anymore. lol.

    Time with the ex went great... surprisingly... it was comfortable... and then my sister invited me to watch UFC at her hubbie's friend's place last night and he ended up being there too (after we broke up he became part of their circle - AWKWARD). Anyways... we had amazing conversation for 3 hours after he chose to sit on the couch beside me... had this been a year ago he would've picked the spot across the room or I would've got up and moved across the room myself and sought out alcohol at the same time :P (we actually talked about this lol). Anyways... only two things really irked me about him last night. 1. my sister brought my niece with her (she's 6 months old) and when she handed her to me on the couch my ex wanted to play with her, so I let him take her... and she started babbling like babies do and he was bouncing her and saying "say uncle, say uncle." I was a little miffed but didn't say anything...I felt like saying "dude, you had your chance at being 'uncle.' " Second thing was that at the end of the night all I got was a non-chalant nod of the head and happy new year... I guess that's to be expected, because I shouldn't be expecting anything else...

    Yay for having the convo with your ex! And glad it turned out well... hopefully you will meet someone new and worthy of your presence on this flirting rampage?

    I'm probably just going to a party at one of the community centres here back home for New Years - don't know for sure since the friend that I'm supposed to be going with hasn't gotten back to me yet...

    As for Christmas gifts... I got a digital food scale, some new bras and money (which I bought new running shoes and lululemon shorts and tank with) How about everyone else?

    And as far as eating goes... I've been doing ok... lost all the Christmas weight I gained! From 153.8 to 151.4 this morning :) And that was with barely doing anything... I think the weight was mostly water gain...

    Also, does anyone know any great resources that talk about body fat percentage? My sister's scale approximates your body fat percentage based on your weight and what not and told me today that I was around 18%... then I found a calculator online that determines it from your weight and waist size in inches and it said I was 21%... which falls into the "low" range... I just don't know how credible the source was :P
  • swinginchandra
    swinginchandra Posts: 418 Member
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    ugh... boys are silly! Maybe he doesn't know where you stand either, and is trying to be cool / non-challant cause he doesn't think you want more? I've had that happen...

    I had been doing ok with the christmas weight bloat, lost it all back in time for new years... and then promptly ate my body weight in bad food again over the next two days... so I'm back to trying to be ungross again. Today was the beginning of p90x2 for me though, so that's cool! Also, treated myself to some new running shoes, they should be arriving soon. Nothing like new toys to motivate me to run! (I got saucony kinavara's... I've been wanting to try out the whole minimalist thing, but not as extreme as the five fingers, and I think these will work out well for that)

    I went to a rave/ electronic music festival for New Years. I kinda just did it for ****s and giggles, never done anything like that before. It was really great to just get away, and completely think about nothing other than just enjoying for a weekend. First *real* break I've felt like I've had all winter... getting back on track into normalcy is kinda odd, but I think I'll manage!
  • LittleMissAlx
    LittleMissAlx Posts: 291 Member
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    I don't know of any good resources, but if you found any, I'd be interested in reading them! I'd love to have my body fat percentage measured properly - the only way I've done it previously has been based on some online calculation - but I've read that there can be a lot of variety between measurements. It's something I'd like to reduce, though I'm saying that without knowing if I need to - is 25% acceptable?

    I'm back to uni on monday, but have family staying with me for the first week, so not likely to be managing much exercise. Which leaves me with 5weeks to train for my half marathon - was told yesterday that you're supposed to have 8! So am hoping that I won't have lost too much fitness, since I have an ambitious target time!
  • swinginchandra
    swinginchandra Posts: 418 Member
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    oh! As far as body fat percentage, from what I've read, the only really accurate way to get it checked is with an x-ray scanner, or something... That even calipers and impedance scanners are affected by too many variables. But the idea is if you use the same method consistently you can see a trend, even if it's not absolutely correct. I use the US Naval method -- just google for a calculator -- which uses a variety of different measurements. I've compared the numbers I've gotten from those measurements to pictures like this: http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages, and I think at least the range I'm looking at is fairly accurate. (A little above 20%)... my goal is around 18%.
    The above link is actually a pretty good one to read, in general.
  • swinginchandra
    swinginchandra Posts: 418 Member
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    oh! As far as body fat percentage, from what I've read, the only really accurate way to get it checked is with an x-ray scanner, or something... That even calipers and impedance scanners are affected by too many variables. But the idea is if you use the same method consistently you can see a trend, even if it's not absolutely correct. I use the US Naval method -- just google for a calculator -- which uses a variety of different measurements. I've compared the numbers I've gotten from those measurements to pictures like this: http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages, and I think at least the range I'm looking at is fairly accurate. (A little above 20%)... my goal is around 18%.
    The above link is actually a pretty good one to read, in general.
  • LittleMissAlx
    LittleMissAlx Posts: 291 Member
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    Ooh, thanks for that. Maybe it's me, but I would LOVE to have one of those scans and see what I'm like inside!

    Just tried that calculation method and apparently I'm at 21%, which makes me feel a lot better! Didn't think 25% could be right, since I look more like the picture of the woman at 20%. Awesome! I think I'm happy with that.
  • swinginchandra
    swinginchandra Posts: 418 Member
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    cool! Yeah, I'd really like to do it too. I keep meaning to try and look into it, and see if my university has one.

    So school starts again on monday... which I think means it's time to re-evaluate goals again for this next quarter... wanted to share with you all some pictures I took for the beginning of p90x2. My goals for the quarter are going to be less focused on a number on the scale, and more on changing up my body composition... I'm looking to go for a more lithe, almost graceful look than the solid, amazonian look I have now... Probably knock 15lbs off, and get some good, whole body tone. Increasing muscle to fat ratio, and all.
    6660182047_ea308e7148.jpg
    IMAG0233 by swinginchandra, on Flickr
    6660175357_9505dd0a0d.jpg
    IMAG0232 by swinginchandra, on Flickr
    6660178867_a48aa39bcc.jpg
    IMAG0231 by swinginchandra, on Flickr
  • andforpoise
    andforpoise Posts: 185
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    Wow! Awesome job! Are you using P90x to reach this quarter's goals?

    My goals for the semester are sort of similar... I still need to axe some lbs on the scale and simultaneously (hopefully) build muscle. My bro in law has been lecturing me ever since I've been home for Christmas about not losing any more weight and instead, focusing on building muscle... saying to ignore the scale and use a measuring tape only for progress... but muscle building involves eating more... and I'm afraid that I will gain weight... though apparently it's okay if you do! I don't know...

    As far as muscle building goes... does anyone know if your muscles can become "immune" to a certain amount of weight? For example, if I bought two 10 lb weights and did exercises at home without ever increasing the weight, will I continue to tone and gain muscle or will I eventually just hit a toning "plateau?" I'm just not crazy about joining a gym (where they will have more of a variety of weights) for weight training because I feel intimidated by the people there and don't like being watched! lol
  • swinginchandra
    swinginchandra Posts: 418 Member
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    Unfortunately Id say more likely than not, yes, you will hit a plateau. Rather quickly, actually, with 10lb weights. But that's kinda only if u keep doing the same excercises. Id say you could beat the plateau I'd you work really hard at constantly changing it up. have you considered the 30 day shred? Perfect for 10 lb weights and a good intro to strength training. I recommend. If you're interested I can help you 'obtain' the dvd!
    Amy
    Ps, p90x2, Yup. I'm stoked about it, loving it so far. Like the first program but all on an unstable platform. "you thought that was hard? Try it on a yoga ball".
  • andforpoise
    andforpoise Posts: 185
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    So will doing the programs like the shred and the P90x equivalent to lifting weights at the gym? How can you "obtain" the dvd for 30DS? :P
  • swinginchandra
    swinginchandra Posts: 418 Member
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    P90X IS essentially lifting weights at the gym, it's just a specified program of how to do it... 30 day shred is circuits, and designed for people who have abt 30 mins a day to exercise at home, without access to all the fancy equipment. It progresses three levels, and the intensity increases over the 30 days. The free weight moves are combined with body weight moves so you get a good workout and decent calorie burn.
    I'll message you re; the other thing.
  • andforpoise
    andforpoise Posts: 185
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    Thanks!

    So both of them do help tone/build muscle right? That's what I need to focus on most now... well that and losing the 5 lbs I gained! Yuck! I ate like a slob the entire 3 and half weeks I spent visiting back home. Although, I was proud of myself for holding off on the drinking the night of my friends' wedding - so I guess that helps! I also need to put some miles on my new running shoes...kind of neglected them when I was home! And I'm moving back home in April! Gah! That's the new plan... but part of this plan is to NOT fall into old habits with old friends - Starbucks and junk food! I did it on my visit this time, but when I move home -NO. Man, I'm going to need support more than ever! Haha... at least some of my friends want to be gym partners and train for running events with me... and I also I have a plan to train for this event in support of MS called "Muckruckus" - it's an obstacle course in a giant puddle of mud! So the summer should go well...

    How has everyone's new year treating them so far?

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