Cathe Fans Part 5

Hi ladies! Good to see you all here today! Tonight I had PT and the trainers at the gym were shocked that I was working out on my birthday! Redesigning my body is my top priority now because now I know it can be done. :drinker:
Since I worked legs last night tonight we focused on upper body which was good. Tomorrow night I'll do the Tabatacise DVD. I will just go for the entire DVD and hopefully I won't need an oxygen tank! :laugh:
I'm having a fat week because we ate some meals that were a little heavier this week so I think I'm going through a guilt trip.
Two Saturday's ago we went into a health food store to see if I could find low sodium foods. DH didn't want to go there but I dragged him in. Yesterday I found out that the store was all over the news because someone with measles in the contagious stage was there that weekend! So now we both have to go get booster shots just in case. I'm so paranoid about getting sick that all I had to do was read the symptoms to start feeling some of them. I hope I'm just a mental case right now! It's been 10 days since we were at the store and the symptoms can happen 8-12 days after exposure. What a terrible inconvenience! :mad:

Michelle - sorry you got sick too. Glad you're feeling better! Too bad about the internet issue but sounds like you took out your frustration on a good workout!
Thanks on the birthday wishes and clothes fit! I'm very short so I started to feel the difference within a couple of weeks. It didn't even take 6 weeks for me to feel that my clothes were fitting differently. I'm glad I'm not the only one with a sweet tooth around here. In El Salvador where I was born eating pastries is a way of life. People would just eat that for breakfast and OMG it is sooo good! My aunt is coming to visit us in August and she already told me that she wasn't going bring any pastries with her so I don't fall off the wagon. every year when she comes to visit her suitcases are full of food which include pastries and candy. Every year at that time I fall off the wagon and I can't recover.
Good for you for ignoring the scones! OMG Michelle! I don't know if I could resist thin mints! Those are my favorite Girl Scout cookies! It's been Girl Scout cookie time at work and one day my own boss had left 3 boxes of cookies in the kitchen for everyone to enjoy. I told asked him he was cruel! LOL

Laurel - What a great idea to do workouts you don't do often! I'm glad you're finding your next workout path! Great workouts today!
It really is such an amazing feeling when you realize your clothes are humungous on you and that you've gone down a couple of sizes. AMAZING! I was happy to not have had that sugarholic feeling I used to have after consuming it.
I love fruit but now with my diet I can only have so much due to the high sugar content in fruit. That part I do miss. I still have fruit every day but have to watch how much I eat.
My Achilles seems to be back to normal. I just knew that I had to keep stretching and it worked! Thanks for asking.

Tami - Thank you for the birthday wishes! Great workouts today. YOu totally made up for the workout you missed yesterday! :drinker: Glad you're having better weather. OMG! I know what it's like to shovel the snow! I owned a house before and had to hand shovel myself all the time. Hard work! Now DH does it all. I don't know how to start the blower either and I don't know if I could handle that thing. Shoveling snow is more than a bit of workout!
I have plenty of fuel in the motivation department with the changes I'm seeing. My Achilles seems to be OK now. Thank God!
I decided year when I lost weigh to not get rid of all my smaller clothes. I'm glad I actually followed my instinct.

Oh so your dogs have shelter! That is great to have those heated beds. We have kitty heated beds we bought years ago for our elderly cat. The young cats like them too.
I bet the dogs had a blast playing in the snow! It must've been fun to watch them play. Is Bernie older than Emma? I used to date someone who had two dogs. Every time he asked them: "Do you want to gooooo OUTSIDE?" the dogs got insanely excited. It was the cutest thing.'
We have an enclosed sun room and the door to that room is a slider. We had to get a special panel for the door which has a kitty door. We trained the cats to use the kitty door and now they go in and out even when it's freezing outside. The room is not heated so it gets pretty cold in there but they like to look out those windows. They can see lots of squirrels and birds.

Hi v70t5m - Good job on the pushups! I just started doing STS and I'm working my way through week 1. I intend to do each week twice for the first couple of weeks just so I can get used to the moves.

Have a great night!
Thelma

Hi Ladies ~ Last night’s Insane-X was TOUGH! I thought maybe it was just me and then at the end she did tell us she made it extra hard because she expects to have some “newbies” in next week’s class due to the Biggest Loser starting up & didn't want to scare them, plus make it up to us regulars :laugh: I think the warm-up was what really got me with full length of the gym running and sprints and lines and burpees. Then we went into our class format and right in the middle she threw in 90 second intervals instead of 45-60, which included half court suicide drills, mtn climbers and belt kicks! Today ended up being Cathe’s KPC and tomorrow will be DrillMax, (changed it up). Tonight is Spinning with Katy!!

Thelma: Great job getting in your workout last night . . . even on your Birthday! :drinker: :bigsmile: I’m sure your PT was impressed. Here’s hoping those measles missed both of you! :noway: Yikes That would be an eerie feeling forsure. So glad the Achilles pain is gone and was just temporary. Can’t wait to hear what you think of Tabatacise, such a fun one! Thanks for the kudos on the workouts! Bernie is younger than Emma by a couple years. We seem to always stagger the ages which is good for them growing up and I think for us too. He is a yellow lab; a bit stubborn at times, but it’s all good. They are all different and I love each one of them. I love that your cats are trained to just go outside. That’s so good. My BFF has a Jack Russell Terrier & it sounds like the same set-up. A sun room that he goes in and out of with a doggy door set up to go outside through that room.

Laurel: Outstanding job as usual on the workouts! :flowerforyou: I could actually feel some soreness in my forearms a bit from the shoveling. Using those muscles in different ways forsure with shoveling.
I’m with you on “parting with workouts” ~ it’s hard unless I absolutely know I won’t use them again. Some that I removed from my collection a long time ago was easy because I had outgrown the workouts and knew I wouldn’t be going back. Cathe’s would be my last to leave forsure, except for a few step workouts maybe :laugh: one of which I have still sealed in the wrapper and know I should never even attempt. Speaking of . . . . now with this “misc” factor going on, I really do want to try out her newest step workout that you love so much. Party Rockin Step. It’s mentioned in the margin of my calendar where I write down these ideas/rotations! So did you decide on doing a 4DS Rotation for now? So many workouts to choose from on that set, definitely can keep you busy for a while.

Talk to you ladies tomorrow ~ Tami

Hi Ladies! Tabacise tonight and NO oxygen was required! I did all 5 tabatas :drinker: . It elevated my heart rate for sure and gave me a beautiful 635 calorie burn. This workout is perfect for the eve of my weekly weigh in! I was really proud of myself for doing it. It wasn't really that hard except for the step moves I think on the 4th and 5th tabatas. I felt like I had two left feet but I kept jumping around. My problem is lack of space when she exits on either side of the step so I get stuck. On one side I have spinning bike and on the other is the wall! The step is too wide for cardio on it for me but I love it as a bench for chest work. Maybe I should just use the little step she uses for legs instead. I'll have to try it next time. PT tomorrow night.

Laurel, you crack me up. "my body wanted more". You're amazing! :flowerforyou: What is that 4 day split series like? I'm so glad you felt great after your daily killer workout! Good for you!
Thanks for the birthday wishes! I just felt that working out on my birthday was the best gift I could give myself. The other Thelma would've used her birthday as an excuse to get out of working out probably but not the new Thelma! :bigsmile:
I really did like the Tabatacise DVD. I'm glad I got it. I really thought it was going to be a lot harder than what it was. Of course now that my cardio endurance is 1000% better I'm saying this. 2 months ago I probably would've required an oxygen tank! :laugh:
I hope I don't have the measles or DH for that matter! I went and got the booster shot today. I hope DH goes in tomorrow.

Tami - Just when I thought your Insane-X workout couldn't get any tougher it did! Of course next week you'll be disappointed when she has to go easy on the newbies! Katy is funny! I can't believe you still went to your killer spinning class after you Insane-X workout! WOW! :drinker:

It felt really good to workout on my birthday. Thank God today I didn't feel like I was getting the measles.
I really thought the Tabatacise DVD was going to be a lot harder than it was because Cathe talks about the possibility of being able to just do one Tabata at first. Great workout. Liked it a lot.!

I thought Bernie would be older than Emma because of what you said about him sleeping a lot on his heated bed. I like yellow labs! I totally understand how much you love your babies because we love our kitties so much. Our house is all about the cats. The kitty door we have is essentially a doggy door but smaller. Our sun room is enclosed but it has large windows and two screen doors. The cats can't go out beyond the sun room which is right off our kitchen. The kitty door was a great find for the cats because we were having to leave the slider open for them to go in/out during the summer time! Obviously we couldn't do that in the winter and Bella our youngest loves to go out there even when we have below zero temps!

Kira, I can just imagine how proud you were of yourself after doing all those push ups! I know that feeling!
Wow! Second time doing STS! Good for you! Can you explain why you didn't calculate 1RM? I didn't calculate 1RM because I'm lazy about doing but I am challenging myself.
I love Cathe. I was hooked on her workouts since I saw her TV show many years ago.

Good night!
Thelma

Hi Ladies ~ As planned, I did Spinning last night which was another great one :bigsmile: This a.m. was DrillMax! it. No workout tonight. Our office has an Awards/Appreciation Night that they do each year for the Realtors (staff is invited) in both offices that they own so I will attend with a couple ladies from the office. I haven’t been in like 6 years :ohwell: they kind of put the pressure on me to go.

Kira: The 1RM does help a lot when you record them all and then have an accurate idea of what you can do during the STS workouts! Great job going for it this time around. Cathe is impressive to say the least. I just love her style, techniques and her amazing strength!!

Thelma: Fabulous job on Tabatacise! :bigsmile: :drinker: That’s so great. Laurel offers a great suggestion on modifying during that section of step if it is just in the way. Another thought, not sure that this is helpful or not is turning the step in a way that you can maneuver; you would have to know what moves you are doing but then you might have more room?!? Not sure ~ just a thought. Tabatacise is definitely “doable” ~ I know when it first came out I wondered if it was going to be super intense but it’s not. A nice challenge but no dread factor there.:bigsmile:
Katy is pretty funny I think. She is TOUGH but I appreciate her style. Maybe all my years of having “coaches” I’m accustomed to that. Some people at the gym don’t appreciate her style or feel intimidated by it. Usually if she says things or yells I just smile/laugh, but do take her serious at the same time. Yes, Bernie likes his warm bed. I think because Emma is quite a bit “fluffier” (in hair length & stature:blushing: ) so she appreciates the elements and cooling off whereas he enjoys being cozy.

Laurel: Fantabulous work again today!!! :drinker: 4DS workouts sound perfect for this week. I wasn’t sure since there are SO many pre-mixes and workouts if you were going to make it into a little rotation for a while. OK, I remember trying the Higher Intensity Step last year (and I believe I mentioned it to you) the staring at the TV, rewinding, staring …:grumble: :blushing: etc. Choreography Frustration forsure for me. I believe that’s another one I left a note to myself on “NO” you don’t like the choreography on this one. :laugh: With that being said, thanks again for the reminder on PRS2 to try first.
The KB and BootCamp on 4DS are a couple of my favorites though & the strength training too … which I always have a tendency to forget about. Still filling in the blanks kind of day-by-day but hoping this weekend I will have something sorted out to move forward with.

Hope you ladies have a nice evening ~ talk to you tomorrow! TGIF
Tami

Morning Ladies,

I have not been feeling well all week and scary thoughts of it being something major has not helped the situation at all. The migraines are becoming a daily beast and then leg cramps at night, so I decided to add some salt or broth the other night to a really bad day and within 15 minutes I felt great.:huh: Maybe my potassium levels are off and I don't cook with salt so maybe the 3L of water and paleo style eating requires a supplement. I truly hope this is it as hubby has noticed and has started pushing a doctor visit. I have also opted for an earlier bedtime and resumed listening to my hypnosis audios for some quality sleep. This morning I woke up felling refreshed and started the day with TJ, for a great KB fun workout. I'm into a new program so I'm working California hours which is not as smooth to manage as my East coast schedule .:yawn:


Thelma- Glad to see you were able to do 3. I'm prior military and use to be able to do 55 in 2 minutes, then I started back last year and was only able to do 5 before collapsing. :blushing: After Bootcamp and spiderman pushups, walking push-ups, etc , eventually I was able to do 20 and I'm still trying to get stronger. It takes time but soon you will be knocking those out.


Tami- Our weather dropped in the 20's later that night and the heat was back on again .:laugh: So here we go again with this strange weather pattern and bulky jackets. Drillmax always seems like so much fun.

Laurel- Way to rock those workouts of course.

Ok ladies my break is over. Have a great weekend!

Michelle

Can you explain why you didn't calculate 1RM? I didn't calculate 1RM because I'm lazy about doing but I am challenging myself.

Thelma,

I think laziness and time constraints cover why I didn't calculate 1RM for the first time through. :ohwell: I've been lifting for years and got serious about 3 years ago? I figured I knew what my "working" weight was for most of the lifts.

I started on the legs that first day, and I was sore for an entire week. Talk about DOMS from H-E-double hockeysticks!

When I finished with my first cycle through Meso2, I did some yoga poses ... headstand prep and crow. I could hold them for so much longer than before the 4 week program. My upper body strength obviously jumped with Cathe's focused program.

As a result, I ordered Meso3, and while waiting for it, decided to run through Meso2 again ... after working out my 1RM. I wasn't over on any weights, but I was under on a couple. I'm now doing plie squats with a 45 pound dumbbell and I think I was doing 30 before calculating 1RM.


Kira

Thelma,

I finally started the 1RM testing on the weekend, after my workouts. This way, I was mostly prepared during the week. I've found my 1RM is fairly accurate for the entire 4 week period. I might need to re-test before moving to Meso3 - I've been keeping notes on Cathe's printouts.

It has not been as time consumed as I expected. Mostly I grabbed weights that I knew I could only perform a couple reps with, and calculated from there. Of course, I grabbed a 50 for barbell curl ... did one agonizing rep and went "HA! No calculations needed here!!"

Tonight was disc 19 - and my triceps are just done.

Kira

Hi Ladies ~ Happy Monday! :flowerforyou: Sorry I missed you all on Friday. I ended up taking Friday as my REST day. Saturday I did a back-to-back action of STS Total Body followed by Kelley-Coffey Meyer Shape Up. Which is a tabata style workout of weights-cardio back and forth. Yesterday was Cathe’s Afterburn, which felt great! We were hit with some serious snow since Friday and yesterday I ended up just staying in finishing up laundry, cleaning and meal prepping for the week. It is supposed to now warm up again and get rainy . . . . which will be a mess. I think we acquired 8-10 inches since Friday so that will not be fun to slush around in, the rain has already started here. Today’s workout will be BootCamp after work.

Laurel: Great workouts with 4DS!!! Also with DrillMax and High Step Training! I might need to get that one out . . . I'm one of those crazy people that like the leg presses :blushing: (ok, like to HATE them!) I am hoping to get in a good leg and upper body workout this week forsure! :bigsmile: Kick Max too! Thanks for asking about work. Our new insurance program finally kicked in effective Feb. 1st. Kind of a big mess there and I will spare you the details but I am insured now and the employees are now paying 30% (better than 100). :frown: Have an appt to get my retirement rolled into something else now so that I can manage that, but they are not contributing anything anymore :sad: :mad: As far as my job it is the same and things are fine there but I have been throwing the idea around to at least meet with my longtime manager/owner to discuss things since I am just feeling un-easy. Unfortunately I don’t care for our new manager that came into place a couple months ago so don’t feel comfortable having that conversation with him.

Erika: So good to hear from you! I’m sorry things have been so crazy for you at work and the pet rescue has been set aside for now. As fulfilling as that is for you I am sure it is a huge bummer, but hopefully soon you will have the time again to work on that. :flowerforyou:

Michelle: I hope you are feeling better, but if not I’m with Laurel in hoping you might just get an opinion from the doctor for peace of mind if nothing else. :flowerforyou: Hope your weekend was good!

Thelma: Fantastic work with STS last Thursday! :drinker: When or "if" the day comes that you don’t have a big difference on the scale, try your best to not be overly frustrated! There are periods of time that you will stall out …. Just keep pushing on! You’ll have another spurt of weightloss in no time. Sometimes it is just changing things up a little bit. Either the food or workouts. I’m the same way on if I'm thinking of missing a workout. But usually when I don't, I feel way worse unless I have mentally told myself "it's ok" just REST today. Like Friday :laugh: Some days are just like that and you don’t feel like it but when you do the workout you feel fantastic and happy you pushed “play” Hope you had a great weekend.

Hope you ladies had a great weekend ~ Happy Monday :drinker:

Tami

Morning Ladies,

Lots of chaos on my end as budget issues has led to team leaders working both positions with less pay. Some of us are feeling like sacrificial lambs with hourly cuts as much as $15-25.:grumble: I have had headaches two days in a row and I see that some of it is because of this craziness that has surfaced recently along with potential hydration issues. Needless to say the camp has spoken and I'm trying to get a doctors apt but with such a small facility here, referrals are so sporadic and tend to get lost in the chain. :grumble: I have been enjoying some old TK workouts but in the process hurt my shoulder and it hurts to even lay on my back. My youngest gave me a massage last night and this morning I opted to lift weights in hopes of loosening up the muscles. So Kelly Meyers Split Sessions Total Body Premix followed by Zumba...some moves were difficult but going light on shoulders did work.


Erika- Glad to see you and hopefully more often.:flowerforyou:

Thelma- Sounds like a great weekend! What movie did you see? We are hoping to see Non-Stop this weekend or 300 but with scheduled Girl Scout training and birthday parties at Chuckie Cheese, we are not sure.:bigsmile:

Tami- How was Shape Up? Is that her group workout or her newest ones by herself? Woo-hoo on the Rest Day. Bummer on the manager but go with your instincts, as far as the IRA it stinks when companies no longer contribute to the funds. I just discussed this with my mom whose company does not contribute at all. :huh:

Laurel- Yowzer on the combination, was that a trifecta Enjoy your busy week.


Ok off to work.

Michelle

Hi Ladies.
OMG I'M SO EXCITED!!!! I was greeted by my trainer this afternoon and she handed me a white envelope with my name on it. I asked what it was and she said: "you've won the client of the month award" :bigsmile: :drinker: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:
The note from the owner on the card said that I'd won for my the hard work I've been doing and that Sarah (my PT) has been really impressed by my hard work and dedication lately and it looks like it's paying off. So my name will appear in this month's enewsletter! Apparently the winner was selected last week because Sarah had been asking me about the things I like to do on weekends. I honestly can't even remember this conversation! Anyway, I got $50 worth of AMC Theaters gift cards. I think they made this decision because they know that I should've won last month. I could've won two months in a row! That's OK. I won't even complain about to her anymore because in my heart I know I won last month too!.

My assessment went pretty well too. According to their scale I've lost 7 lbs. Of course this is after drinking 9 cups of water and 3 cups of coffee today! I just go by my scale when it comes to my weight. My heart rate 3 minute step ups test was great. I improved by 20 bpm's.
since I started 1/1/14 my body fat has gone down 3.9%, body fat - 1.4%, chest -1", waist -1.25", hips -1.75", thigh -.5", arm no change since 1/1/14 but last month I'd gone up .25" and this time I lost that.
My flexibility had improved and I was able to do more pushups since last month.
I also thought I was going to have a low calorie day due to the assessment but I burned 587 calories. I don't even know how I managed to contain myself from telling DH over the phone about my win at the gym. I waited till we sat at the table to have our dinner. I just handed him the card. I just watched him read, then smile from ear to ear. He gave me a big hug and a kiss and I could tell how proud of me he was. I just cried!

This totally made my week because I've had a horrible week at work so far. I'm leading a project and I have two people reporting to me. One of them is a problem child but he's more of a grumpy old man. I've been dragging him into the boss' office almost daily since last week because he refuses to take direction from me and won't accept feedback on his work without going crazy on us. Today he finally drove me to tears and the other woman in the team and I went to talk to my boss about the situation with this guy. Since I'm the lead I serve as a buffer to her because I take the bulk of the abuse. Thankfully I haven't been getting angry because my rationale on this issue is that it is a management issue. My boss is very supportive of the work this other woman and I do and we were assigned to this team to fix things up. Today this grumpy old man was going to be put on a PIP (performance improvement plan). I hope my boss had time to do the paperwork because he is going to our office in England next week and I'll be left alone to deal with this man.

I'm not sure what workout I'll do tomorrow but it will definitely include cardio. I'm thinking CrossFire or Tabatacise.

Michelle, sorry about the budget issues with your job and your health. That is a big pay cut you had to take and on top of that more work! I'm so glad you're finally going to see a doctor. I hope you're able to get an appointment soon. Where do you live that you don't have easy access to doctors?
Given the stress you're under with work it is so good that you're finding time to workout because it will help with the stress. Continue to go easy on that shoulder!
We went to see Non-Stop and we liked it a lot. Did you see movie The Heat with Sandra Bullock? If you're offended by profanity this movie was hilarious. I was laughing so hard that I had tears rolling down my face. DH loved it too. We've seen it 4 times! It is not a girly movie at all.

Tami - That BC abwork sounds like a killer workout! I'll have to check out that Kick Punch & Crunch DVD. The name alone sounds like something I'd love. I'm sure you'll love your Insane-X class tonight! I'm always in awe of your killer workouts. Thank you for inspiring me and for cheering me on!
Can you believe that huge burn from the STS leg workout! That was HUGE! I found out last Friday that finally a decision was made to bring a new gym to the town next door. There will be a Boston Sports club just 10 minutes from my house. I used to be a member of that club about 15 years ago. I will check it out whenever it opens up but my joining will depend on their class schedule fitting my schedule. I'll try to get my act together and do the 1RM test one of these days!

Geez! You also have problems at work! It really stinks when companies merge and you end up with less benefits. Hopefully you'll be able to max out your contribution. Is the merger the reason why you didn't have insurance earlier in the year?

Good night!
Thelma

Hi Ladies!
Tonight was Tabatacise and I found it harder than last week but that is because I'm really tired. I've been going to bed late. My fault! I saw my rheumatologist today and was really happy with my workouts and progress. PT tomorrow for me.

Laurel, we missed you too! I'm glad you're getting your killer and amazing workouts in! :flowerforyou: I think you'll have a blast with the STrain rotation. I see a P90 rotation in your future! I like that program.

Thank you about the award! It was really good to receive the award as a reward for my hard work. almost 2" hips Laurel I need to lose at least 4 inches there! If Meso 2 Legs is hard I can only imagine that anything after Meso 2 gets ever harder. I was able to walk after that workout and I thought I was not going to be able to move the next day. All that stretching pays off!

Erika - Good to see you again! Love your doggie! Can't wait to read the stories about your foster dog! I'm glad you're looking at the positive side of things now that you're going through. I hope you find a new job soon. Congrats on the re-fi approval!

Tami - I'm glad your enjoyed your Insane-X class. I can't believe the class was still hard this week. Didn't Katy say she was going to go easy on the newbies? Were there any newbies there last night? I hope tonight's Spin was a good one!

Thank you so much for your comments on the award. It really has increased my motivation level. I have no idea how I was able to contain myself from telling my husband about the award on my way home. My body is changing and that is a big motivator. I still have a long way to go and I'm happy to have had such a good start!
I had my one-on-one with my boss today and he was going to write the the grumpy guy today and will read him the riot act tomorrow.
I took a quick look at the Kick Punch Crunch workout and was wondering if the legs part is another DVD?

Those mergers can cause so much chaos! At least you still have your job. I was once laid off as a result of a merger. I'm glad you have your insurance again. I had no idea you'd been at your current job that long. I can totally understand now why the retirement contribution issue is so upsetting!
The Heat was insanely funny. I dragged DH in there and he didn't really want to go but since I always go see the movies he likes I made him go. He loved it too, then we went to see it again with another couple and the guy there didn't want to go and he loved it, then we saw it months later on cable with my brother-in-law and his wife. We laughed each time we saw the movie.

Good night everyone!
Thelma

Hi Ladies ~ Last night’s Spinning did not disappoint, we did tabata drills and Big Kahunas! So that’s a lot of climbing, sprinting, sprinting on hills and more climbing and sprinting! :laugh: It was great. No workout yet today,:grumble: I had planned on Abs class at noon but was interrupted with a very last minute deadline of designing a half page ad and off to the printer so no lunch break for me. Hoping tonight after work I will get in something!

Thelma: Great work with Tabatacise! :bigsmile: Funny how much sleep can affect our workouts isn’t it!??! There were a few “newbies” in class but they were “muscle beach” type guys … so I think she decided it would be ok to go full guns again. :laugh: Knowing Katy she has a back up plan if she sees a bunch of new people and will switch the format.
Good luck with PT tonight! I’m sure it will be a good workout. The legs section of KPC is another workout on the same DVD which is also great! :bigsmile: I meant to add that as a “p.s.” to my grumbling about the merger. I am VERY thankful to have a job forsure and not have a pay cut either. Both of which I do worry about at times as of late due to the new ownership and the people who don’t even know me. Again, that would be why I would love to sit down with my long time owner/manager and tell her those concerns to see her thoughts.

Michelle: Happy Happy Birthday!!!! :drinker: :drinker: Love that you are celebrating 36 again! Your hubby is so sweet to do that for you! Awesome stuff. I’m sure you have had a fantastic day of pampering and your girls/hubby will treat you to some fun family time and good eats later! Can’t wait to hear all about it. It should be a law, I agree. The day I found out they were doing it, back in the Fall I nearly burst out of the room. It was awful Me and two others who have been here the same time were just mouths wide open when the “new company” HR person told us. I made an appt today to meet with the financial investor to advise me on what to do and get me set up to make contributions on my own now.

Hi Laurel :flowerforyou:

Talk to you ladies tomorrow ~ Tami

Hi Ladies! Last day of a busy week.....thankfully. My tireds aren't being helped today by a drastic change in weather. We were 70 yesterday and today.....snow. My head is killing me.....as it always does when we get a big snow storm coming through. So I was a bit late starting my workout today and will be playing catch up for the rest of today. I started my workout with Gym Style Back, Shoulders and Biceps (I did Chest and Triceps yesterday) and followed it with Cathe's IMAX Extreme workout from her Terminator DVD. It felt good despite how I feel physically, which is always nice!

Erika, I am sorry to hear things are so bad on the job front, but, as you said, at least there are positives as well right now. Great job with the workouts!! I haven't bought the P90X3 workouts yet, though they really look good. Wouldn't be surprised to own them down the road, that's for sure.

Michelle, Happy Birthday!!!!!! I hope you had a great day. I love that you are 36.....again. I am trying not to stress over the upcoming move, but it is beginning to bother me a bit that we have no clue where we will be moving!! DH has applied for jobs here in Colorado as well as in Maryland and Florida. And it looks like he is going to apply for one in the UK as well. :noway: Not quite sure how I feel about going back overseas to be honest. Really mixed emotions there.

Tami, glad she didn't ease off too much in your insane X class!! Sounds fun! I am with you in floundering a bit with my workouts these past couple of weeks. But I think I have talked myself out of P90X/X2 for right now. I had a good look at my calendar over the next couple of months, and I really think I want a little more flexibility in my workouts than those programs allow. So, right now, I am looking a three weeks each of the following strength training 'programs': XTrain, Gym Styles/Muscle Max, Slow and Heavy, and Pyramids/Muscle Endurance. For the first nine weeks, I think my weeks will look very much like Meso 3 did for us (lower, upper, lower, upper, cardio, total body). That will change a bit for the last three weeks given the workouts. But this would be kind of like an STS rotation (endurance for three weeks, muscle building for three weeks, etc). And I will use the last three weeks of pure endurance after Slow and Heavy to 'shred out' (as Jillian Michaels would say). This also allows me to do whatever I want with my cardio. So that's the plan......for now. :blushing:

Thelma, I am glad to hear the smaller step works better for you and Tabatacise. Sometimes the first run-through of a workout can be the easiest one for me as when I get familiar with a workout, I tend to push it a little harder. So that could be one reason Tabatacise felt harder. But lack of sleep and stress can definitely have the same effect!! Just want to put a plug in for the KPC/legs and Glutes DVD. Love it!!!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Laurel