Right on Beeps!!
Do NOT judge your success by the scale alone. Your results may or may not shock you. "Wait how come I'm smaller but I haven'y lost hat much weight" is a common reaction in these parts.

Rest day for me. And a NOT hungry day. Weird day of the month for that.

I'm a perfect example. I have not lost weight - I actually gain 5 lbs in the first stages and now have lost those 5-ish pounds BUT I am a full size smaller than I was when I started the program. Weight REALLY isn't a very good indicator of anything except weight and that doesn't mean you're fit!

(I actually ate more calories because I didn't want to risk losing any muscle during the first part of this program - I'd not done any real exercse at all for too many years and I wanted to give myself a chance to really build some strength before I cut cals again.)


Beeps, maybe have a doc check it out? It would be so not good if you caused more injury! Hope it heals quickly!

@ethieman- I am just appalled to hear you had such a rough time at the gym. I have been lucky because I have only encountered very nice people who are more than willing to answer any question I have or to help me in any way. I am glad to hear there was a woman who was not afraid to help you. I hope this was just a fluke and the rest of your experiences are better!.

Beeps, you're hurt?

Sam, would his job allow him to be the bread winner and ins carrier? I hate it that you have all that stress.

the herniated discs are acting up. I can barely move. so that means no lifting. We go on vacation next week. It seems like everything is against me.

ethie! Yikes on "haters" - GO AWAY HATERS! Glad you got your lifting in, anyway.

Sue - I'm glad to read that, a FULL year later, you're still down a size! Remember, THAT'S WHAT COUNTS!

Nah, I'm not "injured"....there is something going on, and as soon as I up my weights in shoulders/chest flyes, etc, I can REALLY FEEL that "twinge". But, if I keep my weights lower, I can work through it.

I try, as much as possible, NOT to use advil because it means I'll retain water - so then scale weight is wonky. But, I really SHOULD be icing it! I just forget - and, frankly, I"m home for like 10 minutes before I go to bed...

Hubby wants me to go see dr. Um, no...dr will say, "here's some drugs and stop weight-lifting". But, I don't want the inflammation (which has been there 6- or 8- weeks at this point) to turn into scar tissue. So, I think I"ll just take a week off in the near future and try and rest my whole body.

And drink alcohol!

I am with you on the drink alcohol part! I hope you do take a break soon because I would hate to see it turn into a major injury!

sam, was the offer he had good?

No details. No that I have more information it sounds more like, "Heck yeah we're hiring come on down." Sounds like a cool company though. Hubby understands that I have to have a job first. So he won't accept anything until that happens.

I skipped the gym. Damn migraine. I'm hanging on the sofa in a pain reliever induced fog. On thebright side I'm almost 500 under today. I think I need to take Friday off my schedule.
Ethieman, let me tell you, nothing has built my confidence and self-esteem like doing this program. Roar baby roar!

I think he just wanted to prove how easy it would be for him to get a job in that area to get me to wrap my head around moving. It's nine hours away. No commuting. Not at his pay rate anyway.

Hi all! I keep forgetting to check in here, because I'm in research mode... Stage 2 is going a bit rough! I feel like I'm doing everything wrong, and I'm EXHAUSTED all the time. These workouts are wiping me out! And it's almost done and I need to move onto Stage 3. This feels a bit nuts right now!

Today, my husband decided to commit to working out regularly, and wants to do weight stuff... which means I get to buy weight stuff! I've been scouring Craigslist since I started NROL4W in February, but never doing any "real" shopping. Well, now I can! He can't get to the gym, and these workouts are taking too long for me (I run out of babysitting time). I'd like to start doing them at home. Also maybe if I do the workouts later in the day, it won't matter so much that I'm wiped out for hours afterward. He's doing the Nerd Fitness strength guide. He liked that one because part of it is just bodyweight with little or no equipment. Yay!

Forced myself to go to the gym. I need to stay on schedule this week. Even though my work shcedule has changed I can't pick up my kids at school until 5 on Mon and Wed and a girl at work is doing free Zumba classes. Bonus! So I MUST lift on Sunday and Tuesday with an option for Friday. My workout tonight was half-a$$ed. I was so tired for some reason. I maintained my weights, but felt like I was struggling the entire time. I felt supper winded and sloppy and I skipped metabolic. My clothes were soaked through. What's up with that? I had a really lazy weekend, maybe my energy reserves were just low. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Memorial Day and the unofficial start of Summer is around the corner

Cowgirl, I hope you love your trainer like I love mine. He's always pushing me to do more. He listens to me, makes suggestions but also doesn't get stupid about any of it. He knows I push myself, so if I say I can't he knows I mean it. I'm really glad I picked this guy!
Saturday I worked with him and did other lifts etc to strengthen my pecs and shoulders, and then did walking lunges, abs, and core.

This morning I did my 4th Stage 6B workout and bumped all the weights. 40 on the reverse lunge - I have to use my other hand to stabilize the weight at my shoulder, 35 on the 2pt row and 22.5 on the push press which is the best I've ever done. I was happy, I felt like I'd worked hard. I tried moving the incline higher on the reverse crunch and could do 1 set that way but failed when I was too fatigued. All in all, I'm happy with the whole workout.

CP I too am happy your hubs is joining you - so wish mine would lift with me. I think we'd have fun! Re Stage 2, I think i hated that Stage more than any of the others. I really felt clumsy and even though I was working with the trainer, just felt as if I wasn't getting anything accomplished. I loved Stage 3! When Stage 4 rolled around I was anxious, since it's a repeat of 2, but wonder of wonders it was fun. I was that much stronger, more experienced etc. and really felt great about it. I hope you'll continue but I understand that this program doesn't suit everyone. Good luck!!

Sam, hope you two can work things out so you're both happy, whatever way that is! Doncha hate it when a workout feels like that. I had a couple that were just completely depleting - I actually gave up on one of them, thankfully that wasn't recently but it's discouraging when it happens. I know, happens to everyone occassionally, best thing to do is chalk it up and move on.

Mary how are you feeling? And you too Beeps? You're the one who reminds me (us) that form is what counts and that the weight comes when it's supposed to. My trainer says exactly the same thing! "People are too worried about the #s and are slack on form. Better to do a perfect lower number - use isometric holds etc to challenge yourself"

Hope you all have a great Monday!!

Must be Monday, things are pretty quiet on the board today.

Apparently I suck at math...miscalculated my weight to set on the barbell for the front squat/overhead press. I increased my weight from my last lift by 30 lbs. I thought I was doggin it from the weekend celebration...turns out I was just in beast mode.

The sexism in the dudetastic weight room continues. Today it was in the form of surveillance by an employee of the rec center. I had two of my female coworkers with me (I got another one on the lifting bandwagon!!!), and within minutes of us entering the weight room there appeared an employee. He lurked in the corner of the room and kept his eyes glued on us...then left shortly after we did, I'm sure he was there to make sure we didn't hurt ourselves. Fortunately we only had one lift that required being in that room today. Me and the ladies are hell bent to keep going to that room now until women become a regular feature and these guys quit flipping out on us.

Ethie and Chuckels, RIGHT ON!!

Chuckels: Get it girl!!! and thanks

Suelegal: thanks!

Samntha: way to get back at it!

I'll be taking a break on the lifting (unles I have a pleasant surprise in my hotel fitness center when I arrive) for the week while I'm away at conference. Going to try to keep up with the calorie counting and fitting some sort of exercise in.

I'm going to check out supplements next week when I return, have been referred to a Complete Nutrition store by a friend who lost a bunch of weight and recently began lifting. What are you ladies using and loving?