40+ Club- I'm Dreaming Of A Light Christmas

Good morning everyone,

I am really doing better today. For breakfast, I had eggs with green peppers and onions. I put some low fat cheese in it also. I had two pieces of low calorie toast, dry. This actually was pretty high in calories. I need to go and get some yogurt. I love that and it seems to really help me lose weight.

I am planning on lifting some weights with my husband or maybe re-arrange the bedroom. Either way, I will be getting a workout.

:flowerforyou: zebras, I understand the screaming. I have been doing a lot of it myself. I have gained back five pounds. I think it is because my classes have stopped for the holidays and I haven't been drinking enough water.

Do you think that alf is eating low calorie foods on her cruise? I have always wanted to go on one of those just for the food.:laugh:

Has anyone noticed that after we are finished logging in everything we get a message telling us what we will weigh in five weeks if we continue as we are doing? I never reach that weight in five weeks.:grumble:

The only exercise I have been getting lately is delivering my daughter's newpapers while she is in Kansas City.

Just put your Heart Rate Monitor on when you put on your sports bra. put on the watch. dont forget to hit start.
Worry about the manual later. I have had mine for a year and still havent downloaded info to pc. I have a F11. what is your model? Some download to the computer for detailed analysis. all I do is make sure my heart rate is in the "range" and play with making it go below lowest level then "popping" it up again. Interesting to see what exercise makes your heart rate go up fastest, slowest, etc. Also amazing to see the weight training that will make your heart rate go up. I LOVE mine. Feel like I can do it without the HRM on some times when I forget to put it on because i can feel how my body is acting. LOVE it, did I say that yet?

Happy New Year eveyone!!! I know I'm a bit early, but I'm sure I'll be snoozing when the new year actually rolls around.......I live such an exciting life these days!:laugh:
Talked to the hubby a little while ago; he was on his way to breakfast (10 1/2 hours ahead of me). I haven't told him I'm down to 127lbs........I figure I'll just let him be surprised when he gets home in May!! Haven't worked out as much as I'd like to have during this break, but the weather just hasn't been cooperative, and of course everything else to take care of during the holidays.........but at least I've gotten to sleep in every day!!!:happy: :happy: :happy: Maintained 127 thru this week - yeah!!!

Bought a new pair of jeans today - I couldn't handle the way the "fat" jeans were looking on me, even with a belt.....yuck!!! So, was really surprised to find the same brand and style I was wearing before is still made, AND I could buy the smaller size of the two that I'd picked off the shelf. :bigsmile: :bigsmile: Now if I could only see some progress on this darn "muffin top"..........crunches on the AbLounger are helping, but oh, so slowly......:grumble: :grumble: That's always been my trouble area, probably comes from being so stretched out during pregnancies.......no place to carry a baby except out front when you're not quite 5'2" tall. I'm not complaining - I have two wonderful daughters to show for those stretch marks and flabby skin!:laugh:

Take care everyone; only a few more days of break before the real world of work comes back!!!

Happy New Year Everybody!!

Of course we are on day 2 of the new decade here in Korea, and I'm already on track with my New Year's Resolution. I've decided this year is going to be dedicated to 'balance', and what I'm going to try to learn most about this year is cooking good, clean, healthy foods that my husband and I enjoy. I started the latter during the last six months of 2009, but really want to get into it more this year. This is good for me since I've never been much of a cook.

The whole 'balance' thing is something I don't do very well. I have a bit of a black/white, all-or-nothing personality, but I really want to strike a better balance this year in every aspect of my life. I think I've learned enough over the last year that I can do this (especially when it comes to food).

I started out the New Year yesterday by starting STS (Cathe Friedrich's strength training system) again. Boy did that feel good!! I was curious how I'd feel about it after doing P90X, but I quickly was reminded why I believe STS is the best strength training system on the market. It was a great workout.

I've been a bit down on myself lately because I really did lose control of my eating over the holidays (another reason why 'balance' would be a good thing for me to learn as opposed to 'all or nothing' ), but yesterday as I was doing the STS workout (chest, shoulder, bicep) I was reminded that back in July, when I submitted my 'success story' to Cathe Friedrich's site, I wrote, "I’m planning on doing STS again early next year with STS Cardio. And by the time I get there, I plan on being able to do more with my left arm. My aim is to be able to complete at least one of the workouts in Mesocycle 1 doing all of the push-ups on my toes." I did all of the pushups on my toes yesterday! :drinker: So I am actually much stronger than I thought I would be even six months ago, and that was after this move to Korea and the holidays. So maybe I'm not doing so poorly after all.

Anyhow, I feel back on track now, both with regard to eating and fitness. It feels good.

mk, congrats on holding the weight through the holidays! You are amazing. I'm happy to hear you are keeping in good contact with your husband.

Swissmiss, I've never been to the Cracker Barrel. :frown: We were at dinner with friends on New Year's Eve and everybody was talking about the Cracker Barrel. I want to try it at least once!! I just need to get down south (well, and I need to spend more time in the US I suppose! :laugh: ) I hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully after the weekend your motivation for exercise will come back.

singfree, I'm so happy to hear you were able to spend time with your grandson!! I hope you don't have to wait another two months to see him. And just think.....your trip to Germany is now officially THIS year!

tlwonn, you raise an interesting question. I think the answer is based on a number of different factors such as: what your calorie allowance is; whether you are set to lose one or two pounds a week; how much fitness you are incorporating and whether you are eating your exercise calories.

I am going to address a couple of hypotheticals in hope they help answer your questions. If you have set your weight loss at one pound a week and are eating exercise calories (or aren't working out), then I would say you might want to monitor your calories and adjust them down with the weight loss UNTIL you are within about 10-15 pounds of your goal. When you get close to your goal (especially if your goal is on the light side for you), I think you will need to keep your calories up a bit higher AND exercise to lose that weight. But if your calorie deficit is 500 calories a day right now without fitness (or eating back all of your exercise calories), then you might want to adjust your calories to ensure you keep that 500 calorie deficit.

If you've opted to lose two pounds a week (1000 calorie deficit), I don't think adjusting your calories is as important since you've created quite a hefty deficit to begin with in choosing that option. The changes in your calories coming from being a lighter body weight wouldn't be as significant at that level.

If you are working out and not eating your exercise calories, then I wouldn't make any adjustments. That's how I lost my weight until I got to the final ten pounds. But I'm short (5'2") and even at my heaviest, I couldn't create a deficit from food alone to lose two pounds a week, so I relied on my fitness to create a larger deficit to make up for my low BMR/AMR. When I got within ten pounds of my goal, though, I actually upped my calories to my maintenance calories and lost all of the weight (plus some) through exercise alone.

A word of caution, though, about not eating exercise calories because singfree is dead-on right that not eating enough can sabotage weight loss AND negatively impact your workout regime. You have to listen to your body. My body was and is perfectly happy without eating exercise calories because my BMR is very low (about 1100 calories). But other people can't do that because their bodies are completely different. So, as always, I would suggest that you listen to your body. I believe it will tell you whether you are eating too much, too little, or are doing all right.

That's probably as clear as mud! :laugh: Please feel free to ask for clarification, and I'll try to be a little clearer.....if I can. :blushing: :happy:

Hope this finds you all well. I didn't check-in this week (intentionally), but I'll be back on the check-in wagon next week.

Happy New Year!!!!:flowerforyou:

The last of the crowd has just left and I'm slowly deflating air mattresses and preparing for quiet house. Stiring I love your resolution for balance what I great concept.

I'm stilling planning to try the Eat for Life plan and joined Dr. Fuhrman's new website for support with it. I know I need help getting more fruits and veggies in my diet and hopefully this program will help me in that regard. My neck is all ready to give ChaLeane Extreme another shot. I'm going to start modifying some of the push-ups and see if that helps.

Sorry I don't have more time but as usual my computer has been bogged down by teenagers home for the holidays. Will we be changing a thread name soon? Just wondering.

:flowerforyou: tlwonn, I never thought of keeping my exercise calories as a buffer. Great idea. I also eat a lot of homemade meals and yes, they can be hard to calculate

sing, I think that I am able to go so long without seeing my grandchildren much is the.fact that I still have three of my own kids living at home. They keep me busy. Especially one of them who is very involved in a lot of activities.

I am glad that I will be going back to work tomorrow. I will be eating better. I take to work my foods and I don't eat anything else. My classes at the YMCA also start back up tomorrow. Monday and Wednesday are my strength classes. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I am doing Zumba.

Happy Monday All!

duffy, great to see you! I'm so happy to hear your neck is doing better. Please let us know how the Eat for Life plan goes. I'm anxious to hear more about it. I'm most especially interested to hear if his plan is something you think you can sustain for a long time. Enjoy ChaLean!!

singfree, I'm really happy to hear that it sounds like you are going to be able to see your grandson more often. I just find it so sad that the courts have to be involved in things like this. And Cathe IS awesome (and looks awesome too....even I think so!) She has such a bright, vibrant personality and that makes her workouts seem so fun. Of course, about half way through some of her workouts, I'm left wondering why this very cheerful lady on my TV is trying to kill me.

Speaking of Cathe Friedrich, I've been making my way through her new workouts (her Shock Cardio System), and some are definitely too easy for me now that I've done Insanity (her MMA influenced workouts in particular). But I'm very impressed by her HiiT workouts as well as one called Core Cardio Circuits. They challenge me about as much as some of the Insanity workouts, and I love that! So, 2BLean, since I know you have also purchased these workouts, be aware that you are going to get a brief taste of an Insanity-like workout from Cathe. I hope you enjoy! :happy:

I'm doing much better now in terms of eating. I'm on my third day of eating clean again, and it is amazing how much better I feel already. I'm just left wondering why I let myself eat in such a way that I was left feeling poorly. It doesn't really make sense, does it? But, hopefully, I'll learn from this and, also hopefully, if I can truly find a good balance to my eating, then I won't ever binge quite like I did this holiday again. My workouts continue to be good, though I'm certainly feeling the effects of lifting weights again. I'm hungry and tired all the time! :noway: And I love it!!

tlwonn, I'm glad my answer was of some help to you. :flowerforyou: I also agree with your idea of using exercise as a 'buffer'. I think that is pretty much how I've always viewed it as well, though I never really put it in those terms. But, in essence, that is exactly how I see it.

Even though you didn't ask, here's my theory on exercise and eating the calories. On one hand, I think it is a good idea that MFP has come up with because they've managed to find a way to create a motivation for exercise. I know if faced with eating 1200 calories a day without exercise or eating 1700 calories a day with exercise, I'd probably opt for the latter. I mean....that's an additional meal; that's being able to eat a hamburger with a bun AND cheese; that's being able to eat a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter with an apple, etc. So I totally get the motivating factor there.

However, I also wonder if it doesn't create something of the mindset that people can eat what they want as long as they exercise. There have been too many articles coming out lately that say that exercise doesn't help with weight loss, and the primary reason given is (and this is a brief summary of a couple of studies) that people eat more when they exercise. And I think the notion of eating exercise calories, especially if somebody is new to exercise, might actually eventually support that premise in the long run if people are exercising simply so they can eat more.

I have slowly been learning to separate my reasons for working out from my weight and/or weight loss. I have been close to the weight I am before, but my body was never shaped like it is now. I'm much smaller than I've ever been. And I've learned THAT is the result of exercise. I could be this weight and a size 6 (as I was for many years) without exercise. Or I could be this weight and a size 0, as I am now. I like my body more now than I ever have, and that says ALOT coming from somebody who is 44! :laugh: And so my motivation for working out relies more on the impact it has on my body shape and how I feel (I feel so strong!!) than it does on my weight.

So, for me, the degree to which I eat my exercise calories depends only on how much I need to eat to effectively sustain the workouts. I don't view the workouts as a way to eat more. But I will let myself eat more if I don't feel I'm able to do the workouts I like with sustained energy and/or my results (especially in terms of strength training) are being negatively impacted by not eating enough. This is one of the reasons I think it is so important--more important than anything with regard to this issue, if I'm being honest--to listen to your body.

So....there you go....just a little philosophy sharing among friends. :flowerforyou:

Swissmiss, I hope getting back to your routine helps with your motivation. I know it has done me wonders in just a few days.

We are currently buried under snow here in Korea, and they are expecting more tonight. So I'm going to go finish my daily workout and then curl up under a blanket, read a book, and think about Los Angeles. :laugh: Just kidding. I enjoy the snow......as long as I don't have to go out too much.

Happy Monday All!

It is nice and quiet here and I finally feel able to get back on track. My exercise over the holidays was pretty limited but luckily we did spend some time at the local ski hill.

Stiring: Snow is no fun - We haven't had much snow here this winter but lots of cold. I'm missing my outdoor runs and seriously considering taking up snowshoeing or cross country skiing just to get me outside. I know for me exercise outdoors isn't just physical it is spiritual. Right now even the dog isn't cooperating because he hates the cold and has to be dragged around for any decent walks.

Sing: Good luck with the logging - I know I do better when I log my food. My HRM keeps track of my exercise calories so I don't worry too much about logging those.

This morning was my first day on the Eat to Live program - Stiring - I have found the old "Eat to Live" book was too much science for me and am enjoying the Two book set Eat for Health books. During the first week on the program, I only have to focus on making a few small changes. A fruit every breakfast and adding a large salad before dinner. Right now I think the program will be a great way for me to focus on incorporating more fruits and veggies in my diet. I'm not sure I will follow the program religiously especially when I'm running high mileage because it seems to limit even healthier whole grains to only one serving per day.

I'll let you know how my Day one on ChaLeane goes but I'm looking forward to it. Husband worked hard on weight room over the holidays and it will be a great place to do the program.

HOLA HOLA HOLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :happy: :flowerforyou: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :drinker: :drinker:

I am glad to see so many of you back on the thread. I want to apologize in advanced for not responding to your posts, too many to read and respond to.

We had a wonderful time on the cruise. I am a few lbs heavier, need to detox!!! :laugh: :laugh: OMG, I ate and drank for the whole year. :noway: :laugh: Time to get my act together!!!! But going back to the cruise. The weather was so perfect on all the islands we visited. Jamaica was lovely, we visited Negril and the beach at Margaritaville. The sand was so soft. I had some Red Stripe beer there. :laugh: NO PROBLEM, IRIE MON!!!! :laugh: :laugh: Grand Cayman was wonderful as well. We went to a sandbar by boat and swam with the stingrays. Some were huge!!! They are very soft. My son got startled a little bit at first but got comfortable after a while. I loved that experience. In Cozumel, we went to a beach club called Playa Mia. The excursion included an all you can eat buffet and drinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Detox anyone????? :laugh: :laugh: My son and I went on a pedal boat, he enjoyed that. He loves the beach so he had a wonderful time as well. All the activities on the ship were wonderful, great shows, great food. I used the gym twice. On my last day I had a massage at the spa. The therapist said I have a lot of knots on my lower back and need to take care of that. My back is sore from the massage but it felt soooo good. I will post some pictures this week.

Now, back to work. I started ChaLean Extreme this morning, burn 1/ab burner. I did not go very heavy, especially lower body. Still concerned about my leg. :grumble: :noway: Duffy, did you start today as well? I cannot find the guidebook. Can you tell me what I am supposed to do next? Mostly the circuits because I will be teaching Zumba twice a week starting tomorrow and I am hoping will start running soon. Speaking of Zumba, I did not practice at all and have not thought of all the routines so I am nervous about tomorrow. I am hoping today I can go over the entire routine.

Enough of me. Looking forward to catching up with all of you. New Year, New beginnings!!!! I can't believe it is 2010!!!! I feel we welcome the year 2000 just the other day!! :noway: Time flies!!!

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) :flowerforyou: