Daily Chat Thread

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  • jo_marnes
    jo_marnes Posts: 1,601 Member
    I completely disagree actually - I didn't teach my man to be that way.... his MOTHER did. Which is exactly why my kids do chores!
  • WillLift4Tats
    WillLift4Tats Posts: 1,699 Member
    Okay, gotta join in on this division of chores subject. My husband is very willing to help out...willing, yet, must be reminded a wee bit more often than I'd like. It's not that he doesn't want to help or is "spoiled", it's just not on the forefront of his mind like it is to me. Technically, he claims laundry and I claim dishes. However, for the past few weeks, I've helped with both. He's always apologetic and if he comes home while I'm doing what's supposed to be his chore, he helps. But I'd just wish he'd have the idea on his own, especially when it's SO apparent that something needs to be done; IE the laundry that's now piled on TOP of the hamper instead of IN it. :sick: He will do it if I ask, I just wish I didn't have to as often. With a full time job, plus coming home to not only mine, but additional chores, sometimes I can't justify going to the gym when I can't stand looking at the unkempt apartment. I HAVE to do something about it, then I'm just too exhausted for much else.

    vsbkn2.jpg

    Anyways. Pmagnanifit, that sounds like a lovely ride!

    Aww, hope you feel better Pudding, sometimes that stuff seems to pile up on the wrong day eh?

    Bepee, you have a hip hop abs class? I used to do the Shaun T videos and really enjoyed them :)

    Manic, haha I don't think I could ask her to stop either!

    Hair cut today--this will meet my pampering goal of the week. I just need to get a hang of those other two....
  • bepeejaye
    bepeejaye Posts: 775 Member
    Beeps...the monthly Body Composition Analysis that I go for recommends numbers, that vary, I guess depending on where I am when I go in....When doing cardio, I wear an HRM and always log the heart rate brackets, and track them...I have seen that on the great days, the max oscillates between 176 and 186....

    Will, aye we do. I love the class! Please take a pic...of the new haircut! :smile:
  • BarbellCowgirl
    BarbellCowgirl Posts: 1,271 Member
    Hi everyone, I first heard of nrolfw over the weekend and I've been reading a lot about it. I think I'm hooked so I am heading into town to purchase the book tomorrow. I am currently doing weights at the gym but need a more structured plan. I'm nervous but super excited. I would like to join the challenge as well.

    1. workout 5-6 days a week
    2. 10 military style push-ups
    3. One 10-12km run per week

    I've enjoyed reading all your posts, looks like a great group that really motivates each other

    Got it! And welcome!
  • BarbellCowgirl
    BarbellCowgirl Posts: 1,271 Member
    Been checking in a lot, but not posting. This week has become very busy.
    Regarding chores: DH's schedule is too erratic for me to plan on him doing much other than taking out trash. I do the majority of everything (which is why I have a huge pile of clean laundry that has been sitting in the laundry room for days). But I don't work full time- doing my "real job" anyway, homeschooling two Kindergarteners and trying to keep track of a two-year-old is definitely a job of sorts. If I did work more, we'd definitely split things differently.

    WillLift, I hope you enjoyed some pampering!

    I'm on track to keep all my goals this week. I've had two lifting sessions, an hour of Zumba, been under on cals, and my macros have been excellent with the exception of today. I decided to self-sabotage and made kettle corn this afternoon.

    Does anyone else go through periods where no matter what the scale, mirror, measuring tape, and progress pics tell you, you still feel like you're not making any progress and your body is actually changing for the worse? I've really been inside my own head lately and it's very demotivating. I think this challenge is just what I needed to get back on track.
  • dnamouse
    dnamouse Posts: 612 Member
    Re the chores thing, I'm home all day pretty much as I work from home, but I have fairly strict working hours or else I don't get anything done. The husband works full-time in the city and is doing two (yes, two) Masters degrees at the same time. The kids have had to step up LOL
    At the moment, I guess I do the majority of the chores around the house, but that's just the way it has to be for now. Although I don't iron - I taught DH how to iron within the first year of marriage and now he does it because he's more fastidious than I am :laugh:
    The husband is also more likely to cook on the weekends, so that's a plus. And he does the majority of the outside chores because he prefers that. We just sort of mesh it all together. The kids now have a chore schedule that includes the dishwasher, vacuuming, putting bins out and a couple of other small things + homework, swim training, footy training & music practice.
    Does anyone else go through periods where no matter what the scale, mirror, measuring tape, and progress pics tell you, you still feel like you're not making any progress and your body is actually changing for the worse? I've really been inside my own head lately and it's very demotivating. I think this challenge is just what I needed to get back on track.

    Yep, and it drives me up the wall. I have weeks where all I that goes through my head is "What the hell am I doing this all for?" because nothing seems to be changing or it seems to be going backwards. I snap out of it eventually, but it's pretty depressing while going through it.

    No workouts for me today, so just the two this week (not counting PLP). Had the kid's school swimming carnival today, and my feet are killing me lol walking kids around the pool and carrying my Canon 7D camera (very heavy after a while lol) around taking pictures for the school. But the kids had a good time and did very well. The girl is in the 11yo age group now and had to swim 50m, 1st in butterfly & backstroke and 2nd in breaststroke & freestyle :smile: And the boy was one of only about three or four 7yo's to compete and came 1st in all strokes over 25m. They are pretty chuffed with all their ribbons and the girl is particularly pleased with her times - she smashed the butterfly :heart:
  • Nice2BFitAgain
    Nice2BFitAgain Posts: 319 Member
    Nice2BFit - have you googled?? maybe that's the best way to find a solution and an image. Sounds "dangerous" to me, what you are proposing.

    Thanks Beeps... that's what I thought
  • Beeps2011
    Beeps2011 Posts: 12,158 Member

    Does anyone else go through periods where no matter what the scale, mirror, measuring tape, and progress pics tell you, you still feel like you're not making any progress and your body is actually changing for the worse? I've really been inside my own head lately and it's very demotivating. I think this challenge is just what I needed to get back on track.

    yes, i go through periods where I figure "what is the point?!?!?" and the changes, if any, are S-L-O-W. I vacillate, quite frequently, on whether what I am doing is "working" or needs to be tweaked!

    I do find, right now however, that I am in a "patient place" and seem to be able to simply be very happy that I have kept my hard-body for going on 18 months, now, that I have actually been lifting heavy for 2.5 years, now, and that, as each month goes by, my body is better off for all of the things that I do!

    I had to ELIMINATE thoughts about "the bikini" from my thinking....in truth, I might spend 20 hours or 40 hours a YEAR in a bathing suit. That is NOT significant enough to account for any sort of PERMANENT motivation, for me. Instead, I keep liking, more and more, how my clothes fit, how much better I am at posing for a camera, and how, overall, I KNOW I "look good" and I KNOW I "feel good" and these are all points in the "W" column!
  • Beeps2011
    Beeps2011 Posts: 12,158 Member
    ....and, today is a gym day and I get to LIFT!

    COLOUR ME EXCITED!!
  • suelegal
    suelegal Posts: 1,282 Member
    Hey everyone, my week improved on the food end, but not so much on workouts. I've lifted 2x this week but won't get the 3rd one in. I'm decent on macros and only 1 day of fast food. So I say I am getting better, but not as good as I'll be next week.

    Chiming in on the division of chores... I just don't clean up behind him anymore. He works from home, and now does his lunch dishes (most of the time) instead of leaving them for me. I honestly am not a great housekeeper and just don't have time to keep a super clean home, so I hire a house cleaning service once a month or so to do the really deep cleaning. I do the other inside stuff, and he does all the outstide stuff including taking care of the vehicles (my motorcycle included) It works for us, I have more day to day stuff but his stuff is more time consuming even though it tends to be more weekly or bi-monthly.
    This may sound stupid but...

    Still looking for a solution to squats without a squat rack...can a flat bench press work? Can the bar be used from the head end and step forward for squat? Load from the back?

    When I lifted at home, we had a bench with 2 extensions at the head end with moveable pegs for chest press and squats. Is that how yours is set up? I would step into my rack, duck under the bar and stand up and step back the bar in position. I had very little room, but this worked without any fear of falling over or knocking myself off balance in anyway. If I needed to drop the bar, I could without breaking myself or any stuff, but I also could step back and get support from the shelf of boxes that were 2 feet or so behind the rack. That worked until I moved to state 2 - just wasn't enough room to do front squats and not enough ceiling space to do push presses. Do you have enough room to do box squats? Those are good too!

    I am still struggling to get back into the swing of things.
  • WillLift4Tats
    WillLift4Tats Posts: 1,699 Member
    Bepeejaye, well color me jealous. Hehe, I happen to have a pic I sent my husband of the new cut that he took the liberty of editing, and I gotta say, I like it much better that way. Maybe I'll set it as my new profile pic :)

    Barbell, yes. Happens too often and is frustrating and very de-motivating. Then, for some odd reason I'll have the opposite happen. Like this morning. This week hasn't been great calorie-wise and I really need to reign it in. But for some reason, this morning, I felt I looked skinnier and my tummy was flatter than it had been in a while...wth. This side of the coin can be just as unproductive! BTW, great job this week :)

    Beeps, kill it!

    Dnamouse, that's awesome, congrats to the kiddos!

    Sue, progress is progress. :smile:

    I have failed on 2/3 of my goals, but my over-calorie goals were not as high as they would have been a few weeks ago, so I'm glad I've been making some sort of progress. It's laundry and tidying the apartment tonight. I'm hoping I can squeeze in a light jog or something. The sun is finally out and I'd love to soak some up in a pair of running shorts :)
  • Pmagnanifit
    Pmagnanifit Posts: 665 Member
    I definitely have times when I feel absolutely frustrated by my lack of progress. Especially when my belly is bulging or my pants are tight. I think alot of progress is happening behiond my back- I mean in my back- and so I don't notice it-but pictures help- I think need to work legs heavier to see more progress.

    This week though I am pretty on top of the world because I rode my bike. I am on track for lifting workouts but I am working the weekend which always makes it tough. I really hate missing my kids soccer games because I am working.

    BEEPS- your focus is amazing
    DNA mouse- swimming is fun to watch- do you ever feel that your cheering helps them swim faster- I don't know even if my kids don't do well I somehow feel like I particiapted by cheering. I love watching my kids swim.

    One beef about chores- my husband is very neat and clean so I am lucky because I would be a slob if I lived alone. But he leaves folded laundry on top of his dresser- which bugs me because it is sooo close being put away!
  • Beeps2011
    Beeps2011 Posts: 12,158 Member
    had a good work-out...

    I feel like I am getting to a "place" where I can simply acknowledge that I am looking good, feeling good, and not needing some MAJOR overhaul - which is actually its OWN type of SUCCESS! BOOM!
  • dnamouse
    dnamouse Posts: 612 Member
    I am really sleepy today lol which is good because it's Saturday and the first day of our school holidays, but I have stuff to do and would rather crawl back into bed :wink: The 5am swim squad didn't help lol

    Someone mentioned bikinis... they are pretty much a never, ever for me now. I had a major stomach separation during both pregnancies that can only be fixed with surgery. So no matter what I do, I will never again have a flat stomach :grumble: So it's one-pieces all the way for me! Although I have to admit that losing the weight and doing strength training has helped the muscles I do have left in that area immensely. So I pretty much have to accept that that area will always be a little dodgy looking. I might look at surgery later down the track, but it's not a priority.

    I think I will stick with bodyweight routines for this next week with the kids at home. It's a little hairy trying to get lifting done with them floating around - ever tried barbell squats while there are children chasing each other around the house trying to kill each other? Yeah, not great for the concentration LOL

    But then they go to their grandparents next Saturday for 5 nights - woot! hehe... then I'll smash some weights while they're away :bigsmile:

    Still doing well with the food. Had our usual post-swimming pancakes for breakfast this morning, which was nice. The husband and kids made me a special dinner last night as a thank you for all the running around I do for swimming, so that was lovely :heart: If only they had cleaned up too.... oh well :wink:
  • bepeejaye
    bepeejaye Posts: 775 Member
    Dnamouse...aaawww, that is great! Soon the little ones will be bona fide "fish" and will swim non stop!!!

    I have not reached where I look in the mirror and say, "By Jupiter, that is one gorgeous lass!!" :smile: But when it comes to strength, I can definitely see a lot of progress. Now that I can do full body push ups (and now trying to go lower, and trying different styles, i.e., military, diamond, fly, wide fly, side to side, etc), I decided to add pull ups/chin ups (I should have added these to my goals, but since I am giving myself time, I did not include them). I received the bar yester, so I no longer have to labour on an old one that did not really work with mi height (pygmy height lol)....I have been doing some assisted ones on the days that I lift, afore going to the gym....My target is to do some unassisted this year.

    Yester the gym was so empty! I had the squat and DD racks all to myself, and once I was tempted into extra lifts, I happily obliged. :laugh: I think the "New Year Resolutions" crowd (the one that pops in for the first two months of the year, then are gone), is beginning to fizzle out! I had a great workout, indeed!!

    Today is our monthly HOG Chapter meeting then a Chapter's/Director's ride...aaaah...Today I get to work on my other love....I get to ride! Live to ride, ride to live!! Vroom!!!

    Lift on ladies!!!
  • samntha14
    samntha14 Posts: 2,084 Member
    You ladies sure have been busy. These 50 hour weeks this past month is killing, and it's not even like I'm working that hard. Apparently administering exams is far more brain numbing than taking them. I want to jam my pen in my eye everyday. Then I get all sad and depressed on behalf of my students. :sad:

    ANyway, the gym has been hit or miss lately. I got in on WEdnesday. I decided to do a double day because I knew I wouldn't get there Thursday, my older son's birthday. I tried to do a half hour of lifting followed by zumba. WEll, there was this POS dude who camped out on the one working lat machine for the entire half hour I was there, so I didn't technically finish my workout. oh, and couldn't get on a power rack either. I just said, screw it and went into zumba. This is why I no longer lift on Wednesdays.

    Unfortunately, I went to class wearing my lifting shoes and the instructors, all three of them, were on a mission to kill us. I could no longer jump the last 15 minutes because my feet hurt that badly and I've had cramps in my calves ever since. It's a little better today. No gym Thursday and no gym Friday, hubby's meeting night and no gym today thanks to hubby's new schedule. NExt week I can add the child care back and get back on track.
  • manic4titans
    manic4titans Posts: 1,214 Member
    I don't need to clarify. I don't want anyone to think my hubs is a deadbeat. LOL He does all the outside stuff and I'll help occasionally just like the inside work, he'll help me if I ask. He works 2 jobs. I am a sahm so the housework has always been my job due to that. I've spoiled him and that's ok. I do get aggravated at the "man puddles" (dirty socks, a glass here or there, his pocket items) and he works on it.

    Lady neighbor brought more donuts today :sad: That was my breakfast and lunch. No workout for me on weekends but I am thinking with the donuts lately I need to workout as much as I can. I am only exercising to keep my weight stable at the moment and that is not intentional. I can NOT get back into the mode.

    I need advice for my knees. They ache. Would you buy knee braces? I take Lodine which is a NSAID for my bulging disc. It doesn't help the knee pains.
  • BarbellCowgirl
    BarbellCowgirl Posts: 1,271 Member
    I'm glad I'm not the only one who goes through these phases. You ladies are awesome!

    Beeps, I live for the day I can say that. When I can look at myself in the mirror and think,"If I don't get any skinnier/ripped/whatever, I will be perfectly fine." Unfortunately, since the age of 8(yes, I said 8), I have looked at myself as fat. It didn't help that I WAS chubby and was made fun of by kids and adults alike. But it will be a constant battle not to view myself as "chunky" for the rest of my life....

    Bepee, I have no. Doubt you will be doing those chin-ups in no time!

    Sam, I really hope you can get a break and get back to your routine. It's so hard to stick to a plan when you have little control over your schedule.

    Manic, I lost the battle with doughnuts today too. I had 2 doughnuts and a big sausage roll. And now my stomach is punishing me....
    I don't have any advice for knee pain. I do hope you can find the motivation to reach your goals!

    Got my lift in today. It would've been nice to have a spotter. It was bench press day (with dumbbells). I can do 3-4 reps with 35lb DBs and I was supposed to do a 5/3/1 workout. But I can't get the 37.5lb DBs up to get started. I know I could do 1 rep if I could get them positioned, but my shoulders are really fussy and won't cooperate. Grrr. Only 2 more workouts and I'm officially finished with Supercharged!
  • BarbellCowgirl
    BarbellCowgirl Posts: 1,271 Member
    I am really sleepy today lol which is good because it's Saturday and the first day of our school holidays, but I have stuff to do and would rather crawl back into bed :wink: The 5am swim squad didn't help lol

    Someone mentioned bikinis... they are pretty much a never, ever for me now. I had a major stomach separation during both pregnancies that can only be fixed with surgery. So no matter what I do, I will never again have a flat stomach :grumble: So it's one-pieces all the way for me! Although I have to admit that losing the weight and doing strength training has helped the muscles I do have left in that area immensely. So I pretty much have to accept that that area will always be a little dodgy looking. I might look at surgery later down the track, but it's not a priority.

    I think I will stick with bodyweight routines for this next week with the kids at home. It's a little hairy trying to get lifting done with them floating around - ever tried barbell squats while there are children chasing each other around the house trying to kill each other? Yeah, not great for the concentration LOL

    But then they go to their grandparents next Saturday for 5 nights - woot! hehe... then I'll smash some weights while they're away :bigsmile:

    Still doing well with the food. Had our usual post-swimming pancakes for breakfast this morning, which was nice. The husband and kids made me a special dinner last night as a thank you for all the running around I do for swimming, so that was lovely :heart: If only they had cleaned up too.... oh well :wink:

    That's great! Sounds like a wonderful weekend for you and your family.
  • BarbellCowgirl
    BarbellCowgirl Posts: 1,271 Member
    I definitely have times when I feel absolutely frustrated by my lack of progress. Especially when my belly is bulging or my pants are tight. I think alot of progress is happening behiond my back- I mean in my back- and so I don't notice it-but pictures help- I think need to work legs heavier to see more progress.

    This week though I am pretty on top of the world because I rode my bike. I am on track for lifting workouts but I am working the weekend which always makes it tough.

    Woohoo! Great job riding that bike!
  • BarbellCowgirl
    BarbellCowgirl Posts: 1,271 Member
    Bepeejaye, well color me jealous. Hehe, I happen to have a pic I sent my husband of the new cut that he took the liberty of editing, and I gotta say, I like it much better that way. Maybe I'll set it as my new profile pic :)

    Barbell, yes. Happens too often and is frustrating and very de-motivating. Then, for some odd reason I'll have the opposite happen. Like this morning. This week hasn't been great calorie-wise and I really need to reign it in. But for some reason, this morning, I felt I looked skinnier and my tummy was flatter than it had been in a while...wth. This side of the coin can be just as unproductive!

    Yes! And hormones play such a huge role in how I view myself and how I actually do look. Oddly enough, my leanest days are right before TOM. I swear I look ripped for 3 days. Then it hits and I look like a pufferfish for five days. Then it abates and I look very normal again. Then 10 days later my entire body swells(fingers, ankles,etc). A week of that and I start the Leaning out again. It's a constant cycle that I KNOW comes, but it still affects my psyche. And the scale reflects these crazy fluctuations which leads to more distress....
  • jo_marnes
    jo_marnes Posts: 1,601 Member

    Yes! And hormones play such a huge role in how I view myself and how I actually do look. Oddly enough, my leanest days are right before TOM. I swear I look ripped for 3 days. Then it hits and I look like a pufferfish for five days. Then it abates and I look very normal again. Then 10 days later my entire body swells(fingers, ankles,etc). A week of that and I start the Leaning out again. It's a constant cycle that I KNOW comes, but it still affects my psyche. And the scale reflects these crazy fluctuations which leads to more distress....

    This is exactly me too! Except now I have the implanon it is driving me crazy.... I have cycles like this every 10 days at the moment..... horrid. On the plus side, I am slightly less psychotic. I'll ride it out for a bit longer.

    Got my workouts in this weekend, had to get ahead as next 3 days at Uni and will be mentally exhausted.... and have relatives visiting this week. Can't see any lifting session happening for a good few days. Will keep active though. Have a great week ladies xxx
  • samntha14
    samntha14 Posts: 2,084 Member
    Manic, my husband does very little, but he's a great dad and I don't for much more. we;d both rather just hang out with the kids than clean. He doesn't complain either. He complains that I'm not much of a cook, but he could not give a crap that the house is dirty. I went on strike and he never noticed until he ran out of clean clothes. But then he'll wear the same jeans for two weeks straight. ewwww.

    I too am a slave to my hormones and it just gets worse as I get older. It's akin to being manic depressive. One week of the month I am full of pep and vigor. Boundless energy and joy. By the end of the month I'm just depressed and unmotivated and have a VERY bad attitude. I also feel fat and ugly and telling myself it isn't true only helps so much. I can't button my pants when I ovulate and before my period.

    Hoping to get to the gym today.
  • BarbellCowgirl
    BarbellCowgirl Posts: 1,271 Member
    Aw, Jo, you've got such a full plate- my hat's off to you for getting it all done!

    Sam, the energy issue drives me just as crazy as the bloat. I feel like a totally different person depending upon the time of month! Hope you can get to the gym!

    So I've hit the gym portion of my goals this week. If I can stay on course today, I'll have hit my macros and cals too.
  • BarbellCowgirl
    BarbellCowgirl Posts: 1,271 Member
    So I went into Old Navy this afternoon looking for capris. Grabbed a size 6 to try on- they looked big, so I took a size 4 too just in case. Seriously, why do they make their clothes so ridiculously big? I'm not complaining about being able to wear a size 4. But are they simply catering to a "growing" population? Vanity sizing is one thing, but when I was a size 4 in high school, my waist and hips were at least 2" smaller than they are now. According to today's sizing, I'd be a size 0 at 5'5" and 125lbs. That's just ridiculous.
  • runzalot81
    runzalot81 Posts: 782 Member
    Barbell, that is ridiculous. I need some capris.

    I finished Stage 1 today. I'll spend the rest of the week doing AMRAPs and running.
  • samntha14
    samntha14 Posts: 2,084 Member
    Did not in fact make it to the gym. I got to drive my hubby's new car for three hours on a trip upstate to high point state park to fetch him from a 7 hour ride day. LOVED IT! BEst therapy in the world, driving a harmonious piece of German engineering. It's a total driver's car and with the new suspension it corners on rails. ahhh.

    Vanity sizing is just stupid. However, I busted a pair of old navy pants today and they were 10 years old. Just wish their new pants were higher rise. Not everybody wants to show off their pubic bone, or in my case, stretch marks. Some women really need to be taught how to dress their bodies.
  • Pmagnanifit
    Pmagnanifit Posts: 665 Member
    Capri are cool. They are very spring.
    I am having a hard weekend work wise - lots of tough situations and stress. It was my birthday but not fun. My kids tried hard - they made lots of colorful paper animals and a zebra striped cake. I ate cake and chocolate chocolate chip muffins this weekend. So I'm not meeting my protein goals this week.

    I lifted last night at ten pm because I couldn't sleep. The gym is fairly empty..
    Not my best workout but another one is in the can.

    Does Ramp take twenty minutes for anyone else? I still have to look at the book. And I add in some of hip flexor strengthening pt moves.
    Tomorrow I am off but working anyway.
  • suelegal
    suelegal Posts: 1,282 Member
    My biggest objection to Old Navy pant is exactly that, Sam - I don't wear low-rise, I look awful in them and I feel as if my *kitten* is hanging out all the time! Gloria Vanderbilt fit me best, sit just below my waist and are as comfy as can be.

    Got my lifting in this morning - bench, DB shoulder press, bent over rows, tricep extensions and 7s. I had food poisoning over the weekend, so it was not a stellar performance but it's done!

    I missed everything this week, sadly. I think though this week will be better since my schedule will be more normal.
  • fitKT2B
    fitKT2B Posts: 39 Member
    Alright so I picked up the book yesterday-it is great. I am going to transition from my 5X5 stronglift program to Stage 1-which should be an easy transition. I am nervous about increasing my calories so much (at 173 lbs) I should be eating 2000 on non-lifting days and 2300 on lifting days. I will take some photos today and track my progress that way.

    Any words of advice?