*** Supportive Friends -- Looking to Release 50+ Pounds ***

Welcome new posters!!

megblackburn - No beach for us so I did do Zumba and was SO tired afterwards!

sjo68 - WOW!!! Great job! Keep it going girl!

tnsumner - Don't you just love finals?! Let us know how you did tomorrow and good luck!

So, I started doing a fitness video hybrid called ChaLEAN Extreme and TurboFire. Oh. My. DOG. I did tons of research on it and have everything I need to do this hybrid and I can see now how people loose so much fat and tone up so fast. I did it for the first time today and was so weak that I was shaking for awhile after I finished the first video. Sweat was just pouring from my head and chest. Good Lord!! I had to do almost all the modified versions for what the trainer was doing. It really put into perspective just how weak my core and upper body are. Then I rested about a half hour and drank tons of water. Got the courage to do the next video and did it straight through. To be honest, I couldn't move as intensely as everyone in the vid did, so again, I did a lot of the modified postures and all that. It's a 12 week long program, so I'm excited to share my results with you!

Here is where I need some advice. These two programs aren't in the exercise database and I'm not sure what other exercises would compare to what I did. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how many calories are burned with both exercises but no one had a definite answer. All I came up with was that the TurboFire burns up to 500 or 600 calories in a half hour but that was for a woman that is about 5'9" and around 140-150 lbs.

I'm thinking I should get a heart rate monitor watch thing so I can accurately track calories burned accurately, right?

@tnsumner - congratulations on the results so far and way to end the semester with a wine tour - nice!

@meg - glad the zoo was a good trip. Sounds like the best thing is to rest the heel a bit but I do sympathise with your frustration. I'm finding I feel so much better with exercise.

@sjo68 - good effort with the 1000 calories burned each day. Sounds like you just need some nice weather them you can get the bike out!

@evdjohnson - great effort with the hybrid vid and you know what they say, if it doesn't hurt its not working I would definitely go for the hrm - I got one a year ago and it is far more effective than estimating on the database or finding that they don't have the exercise that you want.

@rdcphone572 - welcome! Know the feeling about being so tired after work. Sounds like you have the meal planning sorted well though - we plan our weeks meals out on Sunday. We don't always keep perfectly to the plan but it stops tired, unhealthy meal choices on the way home from work.

@danilooveidoo - welcome!

Well, I've had a busy couple of days. Housewarming on Saturday which was so nice and I didn't overeat! Although a glass of wine more than I should have done maybe! Sunday was spent in the garden and building Ikea office furniture for my husband. And somehow the scale claimed I had lost 1.6lbs - not sure I believe it but its the lowest for a while so I'll take it! Monitoring inches now as well as weight so we'll see how that goes.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Joining in here (once again). I lost 70lbs on MFP in 2011-12. I haven't felt well for a long period of time and it's kicked me in the butt. I've been mad at myself long enough so now that I'm feeling somewhat better I'm ready to do something about it. I know this works and everyone on this thread has motivated me already! You're all amazing.

I live in Maine and the long winter is finally OVER!! I'm back outside for long power walks and hope to feel like myself again soon. Just sharing on here makes me feel better already! I've always been active with my kids and I'm so looking forward to getting there again this summer.

Friend me if you could use another cheerleader:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

tnsumner - Thank you! I definitely will have to do a before and after picture! You did inspire me to take my measurements last night so I did do that and have yet to take a before picture. I'm so excited about my program! I will have to keep an eye out for those hrm's.

megblackburn - Wow girl! You are doing just awesome. AWESOME! And I sure invite you to look into those programs! It'd be nice to have a buddy doing this! And you were right on the money with the circuit training idea. My fitness instructor friend got back to me about switching out the exercises and she told me for one she chooses circuit training and the other aerobic high intensity. It's seriously been inspiring watching how you are really sticking to getting healthy.

renaejae - Well welcome back then! That's great you want to get back on the horse again!

So, I was able to figure out what exercises to switch out with the ChaLEAN Extreme and TurboFire hybrid workout as you saw in my response to Meg. I entered in the minutes of my workout from yesterday along with the suggested exchanges from my friend and for the first video I did (strength training) - ChaLEAN Extreme in 35 minutes I burned 482 calories. From the second video (cardio) - Turbofire in 30 minutes I burned 361 calories for a total of just over an hour of work I burned 1,084 calories. I was so shocked!!

I definitely had muscle pain today and was kind of on the fence as to whether or not I should continue the second day of the program or rest (this was before my friend got back to me with the exercise exchanges) and feeling inspired from my workout yesterday I did the second recommended video from the program.

Well, "did" might be the right word to use. I got ten minutes in and I was sweating just as bad as before and could barely keep up at all. Then I had some weird emotional reaction because I got upset that I couldn't even step to the beat of the music and started thinking about how upset I am that I'm apparently so weak and that spiraled into being upset that I've let myself go for the past almost 9 years now. Well, I started bawling my eyes out in frustration and got so upset that I turned off the video at about the twenty minute mark. I calmed down and felt a little better but tried to remind myself that I'm really just starting out on the exercise part of my journey.

Anyhow, seeing how many calories burned in one sitting, doing this program and trying to keep up on calories I think I have to modify this program for myself, how much I eat and what kind of food I eat. First, seeing how much my muscles did hurt today, for the time being I'm going to do the program every other day until I feel myself getting stronger. My fitness instructor friend is going to get back to me on how I should change my caloric intake and I'm a little worried about it. My calories are at 1,700 a day and even doing the program every other day, in one week my burn would be around 4,000 calories. Because of the strength training part of the program, I need to be eating a lot of protein and feel unsure about how that it is going to fit my protein intake per day - if I'll go way over it and how that will affect the diet part of my "healthy" journey. Haha, guess I'm just being a big worry wart, huh?

Anyway, it looks like everyone is doing really well and I am honestly excited for all of you. Everyone that is just starting out, I'm glad you have the hope, will and drive to succeed. Everyone that is in the thick of your journey, I'm happy that you have been sticking with it and you have been an inspiration to me especially megblackburn, sjo68 and tnsumner.

Well, I am going to relax with some Modern Family and hopefully fall asleep a little early tonight! So, goodnight!

Hi everyone!

I've been doing MFP for about a month now, was doing WW before that.. Anyway I've been lurking for a while, and was wondering if I could join your group? (I've read some of your posts and you're so supportive of each other)!

Here's my story:

My name is Stacey, I'm a 38 year old SAHM of a 2 year old. I have been around the 200 pound mark for about 15 years, and after finally losing the baby weight, I'm right back where I started. This time, I ready to change my lifestyle, I'm completely committed.

Right now I'm focused on logging and working out. I'm doing 5-6 days a week of C25K and Jillian Michaels 30 day shred (3 days of each).

My struggle right now is that I'm scared to weigh in. I just don't FEEL like I've lost anything, and I don't think I could take the disappointment. I've never been so committed to exercising and yet the scale hasn't really budged. I've been reading a lot and I understand that it could be muscle gain, that time of the month, water retention, rarely going to the bathroom, etc., however, I really need the motivation that comes with a loss! Anyway, that's where I am today.

I'm going to try to post a before pic. I did take my measurements last week, so I'll be monitoring that too.

I'd love to join your group- I could use the support

@tnsumner, thanks!

@Renaejae, welcome! Glad the weather is being workout friendly for you. It's getting that way here in Washington State as well.

@evdjohnson, with a 4000 calorie burn, you'll be able to eat back some of them. I usually go for about half. I use this annoyingly complicated spreadsheet someone on MFP created that gets me into a good place with my calorie settings. Had to recalculate them this week because of losing more than 10 lbs since the last calculation. So at this point my daily calories are at 1691, was at 1722 before that. Not a big change, thank goodness. Hopefully your trainer friend will be helpful in your calorie setting.

@Penny, I hope work is less crazy for you soon. Good job choosing pineapple over chocolate! Let us know if you were able to get your run in.

@Stacey, welcome! If you're feeling nervous about the scale, just ignore it. Go with your measurements instead. I do that about once a month, and am seeing major differences. With the amount of exercise you're doing, you'll see the changes soon! It's not about the number anyway, it's about your body changing for the better.

@sjo68, I'll take that challenge on the water. However, that will make it 13 cups of water.... Although since I've been working on my water intake, I've noticed after the first couple weeks I haven't spent as much time in the bathroom, my body is getting used to. When I first started getting more than 8, I was in the bathroom every half hour!
Good job on taking that cake to work. But a little treat every now and then is ok. I'm going to be having cake this weekend (hubby's birthday!) but one small piece and I'm going to take the frosting off.

Well, I took two full days off from exercising, and even though I was itching to get out and move, I think it was smart. My heel is feeling better, and I lost two pounds! I did walk my son to school this morning (1.5 miles round trip) but I took it slow since I was with my kiddos. Still, it's a pretty good burn for me still. Over 300 calories. I'm going to start my monthly goal today which is a program to do 100 pushups in 6 weeks. Kind of scared about that, but I do need to work on strength as well as do cardio, so I'm going for it. I've almost got all my monthly goals laid out for 2013. The craziest one is in November I'm going to start training for a half marathon. I'll be working up to that throughout the year though, adding a mile to my distance each month.

Do any of you set monthly goals for yourselves that are not about your weight?

Hello all,

My name is Myles. I've been on MFP probably since late last summer. I had been trying to manually log my food, calculate intake, etc. Then someone in a class told me about MFP. I quickly ditched the log books for the online alternative. I had great progress over a couple months, ditching 20 something pounds, blood work all insanely improved, exercise ability was on a steady climb.

Then the HOLIDAYS came, and it seemed like a little bit of permissiveness around birthdays turned into Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years binging coupled with a "couple" weeks [4 months] break from workouts. Bleh. The 20 something came back, and brought a few friends.

I'm getting back on track. Tracked food today. That was a small step, still goobed it up with a pack of donettes [curse you little Debbie@!@!@] ;p

Had been interested in finding MFP pals who also need to blow 100 plus. I'm hoping to lose around another 150 where I am now. It seems so far away.

sjo68- thanks for the welcome! I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone, as soon as I can figure out how this all works! Lol

Megblackburn- right now my goal is to not give up- so far over the last several months, I've been easily convinced to have a cheat day (or a weekend) or stop exercising; so this month, unless an opportunity for a date night with my husband comes up, my goal is to stick with the plan!

What is this pushup challenge? I can only do girl pushups so far (started with 30DS a couple weeks ago), so I doubt I qualify...

Thank you, Penny. I have been having a really hard time working out. I think this week I am motivated.

janetay- rhubarb pie one of my favorites. When I was a kid my mom would make an upside-down rhubarb cake that was also delicious. I am sure neither is very diet friendly but yumm.