**CLOSED** Skinny Chics & A Rooster **CLOSED**

KnottyNCrotchety

Ok, I am trying this picture thing out again. Here I am (on the right) with the other Pi-Girls!



Yay! I got the picture to work...and I am loving this picture! This is the first picture I have taken in a long time that I actually like! And I am next to 2 really skinny minnies...so I am feeling great right now!:bigsmile:

That is such a cute picture, you should love it! I love your braids!

Are you going to all dress up in those outfits again on March 14th?

simplysara9

Ok, I know I have been MIA for a few days... I am in the process of changing positions at work and getting back into my old job. It's definitely going to be a change. I will be waking up at 2:30 am 3x a week and it just screws with my system and my eating habits. I will be doing it all this week and then starting on October 1 - October 8 I will be on vacation. Then I am back into transitioning again. It will take me a few weeks to get back into the swing of things and during that time I am not sure how much I am going to be on the forums etc until I get a schedule down.

I would love to join the October Challenge. I will be out of town for 5 days while on vacation and will not have access to fitness equipment other than my own two feet. Since we are not having individual goals I think I should still be able to participate and make an impact for the group as a whole.

I also have a question -- are we going to have a separate thread for the challenge like we did this time? I just think it might get confusing if we don't ... I am assuming we will have participants from both this thread and the 100+ thread?

I am also joining a blog contest that will run from September 30 - December 30 (I believe are the dates). It will be 12 weeks of healthy eating and exercising as well as blogging about the struggles and successes of losing weight. We are all setting individual goals for the 12 weeks and hopefully in the end we will all meet our goals. I will post the link to my blog next week after we get started with the contest. It is going to be me, a nice young lady I met on The Nest and one of her high school friends. I have been e-mailing the lady from The Nest for about 6 months now and have learned a lot from her so I am really looking forward to this contest.

cherubcrnp

I am up for the challenge. I have been MIA most of the week....too busy and not enough time. I have been falling asleep on the love seat as I sit down to relax. I have a new laptop and have to set it up before I can use it. I just got home from work and want to decorate a little for Fall. I will finish on Wednesday when I am off.

Hope that everyone is having a good weekend. Back later, I hope

Pam aka Cherubcrnp

erh20000plus

I'm alive.... well sort of... Just poppin' in to let you all know that I am still here. Just got back from 10 days at WDW, 1 day of airline issues and work tomorrow. I will read up and give you all a long write up later!!

Happy Losing!

StaciO

Yay!!! Biking! You know I am so excited for the biking. JJ, I love you!

KnottyNCrotchety

Yay!!! Biking! You know I am so excited for the biking. JJ, I love you!

I am glad someone is excited about the biking. And yes...I am looking at you K2Q.

k2quiere

Love you too, boo

KnottyNCrotchety

I would love to join the October Challenge. I will be out of town for 5 days while on vacation and will not have access to fitness equipment other than my own two feet. Since we are not having individual goals I think I should still be able to participate and make an impact for the group as a whole.

I also have a question -- are we going to have a separate thread for the challenge like we did this time? I just think it might get confusing if we don't ... I am assuming we will have participants from both this thread and the 100+ thread?

I do not currently belong to a gym, so I wanted to make sure you could do something on every mountain that did not require the gym, so you will be fine, even on vaca.

I will absolutely start another thread for the challenge. I just wanted to post about the mountains and activities here in the main thread so everyone would have a chance to learn about them and realize they would totally be missing out if they did not join. I also, possibly, might have been thinking I was too lazy to try to keep up with four different threads on a daily basis. Maybe. Probably.

I am actually thinking that this challenge will be open for only this thread and anyone from the triathalon thread that wants to participate. You can also...we will call it nominate I guess....someone to join from the 100+ thread if you like and they are a regular poster, but I want to avoid what happened with your challenge and have tons of people join and then bail and we have to scramble to make it in the end. My hope is that with this being a group challenge that it will also be a bonding thing for us, and having regular, active participants is a big part of that. I have calculated the value of each activity to work best for between 20 and 25 participants. If we have too many more than that, we will be up those mountains in a week, and there is no challenge in that.

KnottyNCrotchety

***************OCTOBER CHALLENGE*********************
Aconcagua-South America
Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas at 22,841 ft (6,962 m). It is located in the Andes mountain range, in Argentina near the capital city of Mendoza and close to the border of Chile. Aconcagua is the highest peak in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres. The origin of the name is contested; it is either from the Arauca Aconca-Hue, which refers to the Aconcagua River and means 'comes from the other side', the Quechua Ackon Cahuak, meaning 'Sentinel of Stone, or Quechua Anco Cahuac, 'White Sentinel'. The mountain was created by the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American plate during the geologically recent Andean orogeny; however, it is not a volcano.
The first attempt on Aconcagua by a European was made in 1883 by a party led by the German geologist and explorer Paul Güssfeldt. The first recorded ascent was on January 14, 1897 by Matthia Zurbriggen, on a British expedition led by Edward FitzGerald. The youngest person to reach the summit of Aconcagua was Matthew Moniz of Boulder, Colorado. He was 11 years old when he reached the summit on December 16, 2008. The oldest person to climb it was Scott Lewis who reached the summit on November 26, 2007 when he was 87 years old. There is no definitive proof that the ancient Incas actually climbed to the summit of the White Sentinel [Aconcagua], but there is considerable evidence that they did climb very high on the mountain. Signs of Inca ascents have been found on summits throughout the Andes
Similar to Denali, Aconcagua is technically an easy mountain in mountaineering terms, if approached from the north, via the normal route. Aconcagua is arguably the tallest non-technical mountain in the world, since the northern route does not absolutely require ropes, axes, and pins. We will be taking this route up the mountain. The route includes the following camps: Plaza de Mulas, 4,370m (14,340 ft): Base camp, claimed to be the second largest in the world (after Everest). There are several meal tents, showers and internet access. Camp Canadá, 5,050 metres (16,570 ft): A large ledge overlooking Plaza de Mulas. Camp Alaska, 5,200 metres (17,060 ft): Called 'change of slope' in Spanish, a small site as the slope from Plaza de Mulas to Nido de Cóndores lessens. Nido de Cóndores, 5,570 metres (18,270 ft): A large plateau with beautiful views. Camp Berlín, 5,940 metres (19,490 ft): The classic high camp, offering reasonable wind protection. Camp Colera, 5,980 metres (19,620 ft): A larger while slightly more exposed camp situated directly at the north ridge near Camp Berlín, with growing popularity. Attempts on the summit are usually made from either Camp Colera or Camp Berlin.
Possible itinerary
Day one- End of Vacas valley-Pampa laina (8,200 ft) From the road to camp 4-5 hours
Day two- Casa Piedra (9,200 ft) 5-7 hours
Day three- Plaza Argentina (13,200 ft) 5-7 hours
Day four- Rest
Day five- Carry a load to camp 1 (16,200 ft) 4-6 hours
Day six- Move up to camp 1 4-6 hours
Day seven- Rest
Day eight- Carry to camp 2 (19,200 ft) (high camp) 4-6 hours
Day nine- Rest
Day ten- Move up to camp 2 (19,200 ft) 4-6 hours
Day eleven- walk to 21,500 feet Independencia to understand the route 2-3 hours
Day twelve- get up early 3:00am and start for the summit with headlamps and crampons this is a long day allow 10-12 hours or longer for the round trip. 7-12 hours
Day thirteen- decend to base camp then arrange mules with the rangers for you gear and walk out to Casa Piedra to spend the night. 3-7 hours
Day fourteen-walk out to the highway at mouth of the Rio Vacas and get picked up.

Our activity that will take us to the summit of Aconcagua will be….DANCING! This will include Zumba and aerobics. This will be our Celebration Summit and we will dance and have fun! Each minute that you dance will equal 1 foot up the mountain. However…if you dance WITH someone else it will count for double! So if you close the living room curtains and shake your groove thing alone in front of the couch, that is great. But if you boogie down in Zumba class at the gym….double points! If you dance with your child while you are making dinner….double points! If your hubby takes you out for dinner and a little dancing….double points! If you turn on the webcam and convince Bobbie to dance along to your favorite song….double points! I am hoping this mountain will remind us that burning calories can be FUN, but also to push us to share it with others in our lives. And yes. Cynthia, dancing while sitting on your bouncy ball totally counts.

lombrica

Woot! Woot! On the Seven Summits Challenge... can't wait to get it started, which means I better get my butt moving to finish the triathalon, huh?!?

I am a bit sore this evening - forgive my bad anatomy - but I am most sore where my shoulders and neck meet. I also was helping take something up the stairs (recliner, I think) and screwed up my rotator cuff again. It doesn't really feel "too" bad... will have the Physical Therapist from work throw the e-stim on it tomorrow and that should help! Will be looking at re-financing my home mortgage tomorrow -- rates have dropped, again! I have held off but am gonna take advantage... sounds like I am looking at possibly 1% less! Which would be fabulous! We'll see though... all that stuff can change in a second and I don't know just how much is involved in all of it!

I am happy to report that I like PB2... that's right Cyndi -- it's not bad at all! Tastes like peanut butter, unsweetened peanut butter, but peanut butter. Expensive as all get-out... but when 2 TBSP is only 45 calories, 1 g sugar and 2 TBSP of Jif/Skippy peanut butter is 190 calories, 7 g sugar... well, I am gonna go with the PB2. I tried it with a couple dark chocolate (72% dark) squares and it was... OK. Dark chocolate just wasn't meant to go with peanut butter. :ohwell: Better than a 220 calorie, 21 g sugar Reese's PB Cup though! I did read that you can do easy 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies... using PB2, Spenda and an egg. I'm curious about this... but, will have to figure out how I could do a smaller batch when it only takes 1 egg to begin with! Found a protein peanut butter cup recipe also... but would need to look at what the carb content is. Anyway... PB2 verdict -- good, a solid... B+ I think... :laugh:

Welp, I didn't post goals for the week and I should have... err... forget you saw that word. Anyway - I am gonna set some goals for the next few days ('cause my week "ends" on Thursday). Here goes:
1) Stay under on Calories
2) Walk the 14+ miles needed for the Triathalon to be complete
3) Water, Water, Water... minimum of 10 cups of actual water each day!
4) In bed by 10 PM... tonight, by 10:30 PM. (It's already 10:22 PM)

I think that's a good start... but means I gotta get to bed! Night ya'all! :yawn:

stephaniezoundi

***************OCTOBER CHALLENGE*********************
Our activity that will take us to the summit of Aconcagua will be….DANCING! This will include Zumba and aerobics. This will be our Celebration Summit and we will dance and have fun! Each minute that you dance will equal 1 foot up the mountain. However…if you dance WITH someone else it will count for double! So if you close the living room curtains and shake your groove thing alone in front of the couch, that is great. But if you boogie down in Zumba class at the gym….double points! If you dance with your child while you are making dinner….double points! If your hubby takes you out for dinner and a little dancing….double points! If you turn on the webcam and convince Bobbie to dance along to your favorite song….double points! I am hoping this mountain will remind us that burning calories can be FUN, but also to push us to share it with others in our lives. And yes. Cynthia, dancing while sitting on your bouncy ball totally counts.

WOOT WOOT!!! Even more incentive for my zumbathon on the 16th!!! (really must get off backside and buy ticket!!~)

Icewolf_The

Okay for the record. I am a fat toad who didn't exercise at all today. Ordered the BBQ Atkins plate from L & L Hawaiian BBQ Shack, Drank the HITEST Lillikoi fruit punch. And am some how under calorie. I feel like a fat slug. I am a fat slug. I don't care who knows it. I am an un-repentant fat fat fat slug. There. I said it. Mock me if you dare.

So I'm down with teh PB2 Becks.. seriously. Shove over and gimme some.
I don't know if it's the boot, the lack of exercise...

TOM's arrival un-announced.

Or the fact that I have to sit in my office chair again while I have the boot on because balancing on the fitness ball & scooching in & out at my desk with the boot it tantamount to suicide.

But honest to god, for the first time in almost 6 months I couldnt' care less about diet, exercise or anything else. I just want to sleep, sleep, sleep. Now, this is all probably that evil ****ing thyroid I'd like to mention, because right now, (and most of today I'd like to point out) it has felt like I've been choked to death, ever since the cat kicked me full on hard yesterday right in the Thyroid gland with his hind food on exodus. Yeah. Thanks Loki. You ****ing putz.

So what am I doing for revenge? Well my little pumpkin is going to get dressed up for Halloween this year. http://pet.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pPETS-9867253dt.jpg
Oh yah, I just tried it on him, but it's too small, gotta get the next size up. OH YES> YES I ****ING AM.

Lexie I love your photo. you look great, and you look happy And you should. You look great.

Welcome jane, it's about time you got your butt over here.
And for the rest of you. I'm going to go to bed now and be a crankapuss
G'bleah...
Love you all

-C

ps Stephanie... You can habs the box my boot came in Go buy a compression shirt for your bingo wings http://www.underarmour.com/shop/uk/en/ ... xo xo xo G 56!

meerkat70

Somebody promised me cheetos. Can't get them in the UK, so I was very excited....

(When I last visited my sister in Florida, I managed to consume nearly an entire bag in one sitting. All the while convincing myself they weren't *as* fattening as potato chips, so somehow were a kind of health food.....)

MrsRazor7

JJ – yes! We will wear them again on March 14th! But, probably not all the other capes and stuff. And I am pretty impressed that you knew that date! This challenge is sounding pretty good! I am super excited for it

Sara – I know it is stressful now, but I know that you will be glad to get back to your old position. And that is a great idea about the blogging. I am starting to journal (not food, but a dear diary type), and I think that it is going to help me a lot!

Eilieen! Yay! I am glad you are back I was thinking yesterday that you should be coming back to us soon. Make sure you give us details about your vacay! I am sure you guys had a blast!

Becky – those sound like great goals! I have to finish up my triatholan too! My pool is opening up again today, so I will be busy getting in the running and treadmill…but I have to get it done! We (Honey badgers) have to get this done!

Today is the college Fair at school, so I get to wear a hoodie and jeans to school! I love days like this. But, I only had 1 pair of jeans that started sagging on my butt (you know that ugly sag, that is NOT attractive). So, I went out on Saturday and bought a pair of cute and nice fitting jeans! Size 18 if I might say! They fit great, and my butt looks amazing

I had a sit down with my hubby this weekend. I had been feeling guilty about going to the gym after work, because then I had less time with him and he has been so busy, I didn't want to add more stress to him. He wants me to go the gym (which I knew), and I am going to stop making excuses and get my butt (in my cute jeans) down there! I have a little over 15 miles to walk/run and 1.34 miles to swim! I am going to finish it up though!!!! I might take a while at the gym, but I am going to get it done! I was thinking of running for an hour, then getting in the pool for 30 minutes, everyday until I finish! I have no idea how long it will take me to finish the swimming, but I know I can get it done in 3 days.

Thank you everyone for the compliments on the Pi picture...I am still feeling pretty good about it! I hope you all have a great monday! And I can't wait to check back in to see how all of you that weigh-in today did!

RENAEJAE

Morning - It sure feels like a Monday. Very un-Zen like weekend for me. Ran from one thing to the next - those damned kids! I nearly had Saturday afternoon to myself and was half way through cleaning my basement when DH called and asked me to help load wood into a dump truck. He cut a 60ft beech tree down for a friend. I ended up spending 5 hours tossing logs into the back of a dumptruck and chipping branches. It was hot, buggy and dirty. Probably the best workout I've had in weeks-- I could barely move when I dropped into bed Saturday night. Had to be up early Sunday to work a fundraiser at 99's restaurant for my daughters FH team. 99's donated all the food and the parents and players served breakfast. We raised $1400 so it was worth it but it was an early morning. I did some Fall decorating outside and carted the kids in 6 directions. Went to the hospital later afternoon to visit my father-in-law and then home to fry up some empanada's.

OK so the empanadas --- I really enjoyed making them although they were time consuming to put together. I did deep fry them (and some white and sweet potato fries too). DH tossed a big juicy steak on the grill and all of this was consumed at 8pm last night. The empanadas were devine - but I woke up with empanada regret this morning. Or it may have been the horrible smell of grease in my kitchen. Today I am sticking to a liquid diet as much as possible. I made protein shakes for breakfast and lunch and will snack on nuts and apples. My body hates me after last nights dinner so I owe it at least this much. Let's just say I didn't even look at the scales this morning. I think they ran and hid when I walked by them.

Loving all the weekend stories here. Welcome back Eileen, how was that vacation? Lexie - hot pix! Love it!!! Jane - glad you are here finally. JJ - I'll get excited about this challenge after MONDAY is over. Becky - sounds like you're making progress at the house - very nice. Cyndi - Nice boot. Can you do sit-ups in that thing? Sara - I like the blogging idea. I should try something like that. Greg - love the new pix! Big difference! Looking good!!

This week will be another crazy one with 6 FH games, dance classes, practices, homecoming and a wedding. I did buy some spanks to wear under my little black dress this weekend. I'll be ready for a few drinks by Saturday, but there these things are so tight I won't want to be running to the ladies room AT ALL while I'm wearing them!

~keep it skinny

KnottyNCrotchety

Whew! Today is my first day off in over 6 weeks that I do not have to get up at 6am and drive 4 hours somewhere. Lots to do, don't get me wrong, but I plan to have my zen weekend today and tomorrow since I work on Sat/Sun.

I have been riding my bike to work to get some of the bike miles for the triathalon. It has been really fun, and I plan to do it some more as weather allows. I need to figure out a way to take the dog with me (he is a bitty thing, only 9 pounds). I am picturing a secure basket for him to ride in and a pair of goggles as he faces into the wind. :bigsmile:

I went for a walk yesterday and if the weather will cooperate a little I will take one this afternoon before I head out to the gym for some miles on the recumbent bike. I have been a sloth most of this month, too busy and tired to get any real exercise in. But that is ridiculous and I am re-committed to making time for me and my exercise.

Eileen, I can't wait to hear about your trip to WDW! Share!

Jane.....mmmmmm Cheetos.

Renae, I do not miss the stockpiling of wood for the winter. I do miss my chain saw, I loved that thing, but the work afterwards to move and stack it all....nope.

Cynthia, I need to find the dogs each costumes for Halloween. Or make them some. Hmmmm.....how to make them look as silly as possible for my own amusement.

Ok, I am off to enjoy my zen-ness. While doing laundry. And maybe mopping the kitchen floor.

StaciO

Good morning and happy move more monday!

Eileen- welcome back! How was Disney?
Renae- sounds like you had a busy weekend and will have a busy week ahead too. There is something just so satisfying about cutting and stacking wood though. I always feel so pleased when it is done. We have two more trees down at our cabin that need to be cut, split and stacked but alas my hubby's chainsaw is broken and not fixable. He has had it longer than we've been married (over 21 years) so I think a new one is in order. Probably in the next month or so.
Becky- sounds like a very productive weekend for you. I seriously need to think about going through the storage closets in my laundry room. It is good to hear from someone that tried the PB2. I have heard lots of people talk about it but no one that has actually tried it. I may give it a try.
Ice- love the boot. They are a pain in the *kitten* but they work for all kinds of foot and ankle troubles.
JJ- great job on riding to work. I wish I lived a little closer to work and I would ride.

Hope everyone has a great day.
Jane- hi nice to see you here. Sorry I am fresh out of cheetos. But I will pass a chocolate fiber one bar if you want it.

KnottyNCrotchety

******************OCTOBER CHALLENGE****************************

Mt. Elbrus – Europe

Mount Elbrus is an inactive volcano located in the western Caucasus mountain range in Russia, near the border of Georgia. Mt. Elbrus's peak is the highest in the Caucasus, in Russia. While there are differing authorities on how the Caucasus are distributed between Europe and Asia, many sources agree that Elbrus is also the highest mountain in all of Europe. Mt. Elbrus' west summit stands at 18,510 ft (5,642 metres ); the east summit is slightly lower at 18,442 ft (5,621 metres).

The name is a metathesis of Alborz. The name Alborz is derived from that of Harā Bərəzaitī, a legendary mountain in Persian mythology. Elbrus sits on a moving tectonic area, and has been linked to a fault and has a "deep" supply of magma that resides underneath it. The ancients knew the mountain as Strobilus, Latin for 'pine cone', a direct loan from the ancient Greek strobilos, meaning 'a twisted object' – a long established botanical term that describes the shape of the volcano's summit. Myth held that here Zeus had chained Prometheus, the Titan who had stolen fire from the gods and given it to ancient man – likely a reference to historic volcanic activity.

The lower of the two summits was first ascended on 10 July 1829 by Khillar Khachirov, a Karachay guide for an Imperial Russian army scientific expedition led by General Emmanuel, and the higher in 1874 by an English expedition led by F. Crauford Grove and including Frederick Gardner, Horace Walker, and Swiss climber Peter Knubel. From 1959 through 1976, a cable car system was built in stages that can take visitors as high as 12,500 ft (3,800 metres).

There is a wide variety of routes up the mountain, but the normal route, which is free of crevasses, continues more or less straight up the slope from the end of the cable car system. During the summer, it is not uncommon for 100 people to be attempting the summit via this route each day. The Normal Route is the easiest, safest and fastest on account of the cable car and chairlift system which operates from about 9am till 3pm. Briefly put, this route starts at either the Barrels Hut at 3900 meters (12,795 feet) or Azau Valley at 2350 meters (7,700 feet), climbs up to the Diesel Hut at 4157 meters (13,638 feet), climbs up past the Pashtuhova Rocks at 4670 meters (15,321 feet), up to the Saddle between the peaks at 5,416 meters (17,769 feet), and to the West summit at 5642.7 meters (18,513 feet). The route is pretty straight forward in good weather and is usually marked with wands. There are no real crevasses provided you don't wander off the standard route. The climb can still be a trial in bad weather, so go well prepared. Total elevation gain from the Barrels hut is 1743 meters (5718 feet), and the climb usually takes 6-9 hours up. Descent usually takes 3-6 hours. By number of deaths, Elbrus is one of the World's deadliest mountains.

Our activity that will take us to the top of Mt. Elbrus' west summit is…….Exercises! This will include push-ups, sit-ups, lunges, jumping jacks, squats, and/or climbing stairs with 1 exercise equaling 1 foot up the mountain. Since this is our Exploration Summit, it is my hope that you will use this opportunity to explore new and quick ways to add a little exercise to your daily routine. Do a few wall push-ups while you are waiting for the toaster in the morning. Sneak in a few sit-ups during the commercials breaks when you are watching tv at night. Take the stairs instead of the elevator when you head to work. Squeeze in a few jumping jacks while you wait for the shower to warm up. You can of course do your 100 push-up challenge all at once when you first get up in the morning, but I would like to think you will also try to fit in a few other exercises in the course of your day.

daylitemag

Happy Monday (that just sounds wrong) everyone.

@Renae: from your post I think you had the mother of all weekends. I don't think the scale can be too bad to you given the amount of activity. The big dinner was probably badly needed by your sore tired muscles! Congrats on raising all that $$$ for charity. It's great when people get involved in community building!

@Cynthia: I know if probably wasn't meant to, but your post made me LOL! It sounds like you are having an absolute crap time, but you have a really funny way of spinning everything. That sense of humur is priceless!

I wish I could read and comment on everyone's posts, but it's just overwhelming for my pea-sized male brain. I do hope that all of you are doing well and enjoying life.

Not much to report on my end. Yesterday I went for my longest walk yet (5 miles) and was pretty exhausted by the end, but in a good way. I also ran for a little part of the way, but I still need to lose some more weight before I can really start doing that much more. It hurts my knees and feet and I don't want to injure myself and de-rail the progress I've made. So, baby steps.

Fall is nearly here and that means winter can't be far away. I'm setting a mini goal for myself to strap on some ice skates and do a bit of skating this winter. I haven't skated in years and years, but if I continue with the way I am going then I think I should be able to add that activity in to my routine. By next summer I hope to add tennis and cycling. Wow, just writing it down makes me feel good about myself! Good for me! LOL

For "Move Monday" I am going to go out for a walk after supper. I normally can't seem to find the energy, but I will push myself and get out there tonight! Peace.

StaciO

Yay Greg for walking after dinner. You can do it. I will too. I love the new pic by the way

JJ- I love that you are challenging us to do some different exercises next month. I am all about changing things up so I don't get bored. This challenge is going to be fun.

I just had a really good lunch. It didn't seem like much when I packed it and I have to admit that I did throw an extra snack in just in case I was still hungry but I don't think I will need it. I had a tomato (yes just a tomato, a roma from my garden and it was yummy), a cup of grapes (because I have not been eating enough fruits & veggies lately), 7 low fat tricuits and a wedge of laughing cow cheese (the garlic and her one yummy). So, we will see if I am hungry by snack time in a couple hours.