I had a terrible weekend I worked and had abdominal pain. My physical therapist and my massage therapist think I have SIBO- small intestine bacterial overgrowth. I am seeing my dr tomorrow.

I had a good workout tonight. I am going to give bt3 another week I think-I am increasing some weights and want to stick with this mix of exercises a little longer.

I am 2/3 for the week- I didn't make my protein. I don't really have an appetite and thought if I stopped the protein bars and shakes I would feel better.

Nice job Jamaica
DNA can I have your recipe?

Sounds like everyone is doing really well. jamacianlady, congrats on sticking to your goals and seeing a loss. I have gotten a bit more used to the calorie amount and I think I like having the same amount to eat everyday, it stops me from trying to convince myself that the two hours I spent wandering around shops counts as exercise and therefore allows me to eat more. I am 5'8'' and weight about 145lbs (according to my inaccurate scale, other scales put me as heavier) but because I have such low muscle mass my TDEE is really low.

For squats, I try to place the bar on the shelf on my back created by muscles when I pull my arms back (if that makes any sense) but I have seen people in my gym wrapping a yoga mat around the bar to act as cushioning.

Re. crossfit: someone on my friend list was giving out about it one day and I asked her why people hated it so much because from what I had heard it seemed like a really good workout. This was her response
'My personal opinion is that Crossfit is the Jazzercize of lifting. I'm not a fan of their business model, and I think most of their trainers are under-certified. I also think that unless you're already fit when you start, the likelihood of getting hurt is probably pretty high. (High intensity + "constantly varied" movements + a competitive atmosphere = probably not paying as much attention to form and individual capacity as you'd like to see). I'm in pretty good shape but I also have wonky knees, unbalanced hips and a messed-up shoulder, so I think it's really important to take each person's body into consideration and tailor workouts to each person, and I wouldn't trust a Crossfit environment to be safe for me, let alone a new person who doesn't know how their body reacts. /rant'
So having heard that I have decided that it is not something that i want to do and I am happy to stick with lifting.

Last week I lifted three times but on Friday I didn't have much time so I rushed through 3B and skipped the intervals. This week I will finish stage 3 and I will have more focus while working out! 2/3 for me last week, I missed my protein goal but about 20 grams for the week.

Tell me more about these foam pads for squats. Is this something that is in the gym or is it something you bring with you? I did put a towel between the bar and my back but it was one of those really thin hand towels (just the towel my gym makes you bring so I just end up bringing it and aimlessly carrying it around with me but never using it.) The only place I am feeling it is along the bone of my spine where the bar was pressing. It's not like it's terrible but if there's some pad sitting around the gym that I didn't know was for that purpose I'll pick it up and use it for sure next time.

Good morning and "happy" Monday to all! I've been very lackadaisical in the past week but am recommitting again. What I need to do is come in here any time I'm feeling apathetic. Ya'll are always kicking *kitten*!

Re: the crossfit discussion. I think it's very glamorous and "in" right now and was tempted to try. But after looking more into it, the popularity seems to have worked against it in the fact that there are too many coaches with not enough training or experience. Safety does seem to go by the wayside all too often. And me being extremely unlucky/uncoordinated/prone to injury, I decided it just wasn't worth the risk. Plus, why so expensive?!?

0/3 I weighed last week! EEEK but I was down in weight! LOL I haven't been to the gym in over a week. I have noticed more definition in my arms. Yay for loss of water retention in muscles.


I realized why I am in a funk! The new med I am taking. It makes me sleepy and decreases my appetite (hence the weight loss).

I will be MIA for the next 2 weeks. I'll be traveling. Summer is a busy time for us. Things won't slow down for us until mid September.

Welcome to all the newbies if I missed you.

Thanks for the lifting pad info. I brought a heavier towel that I was going to roll up and stick under the bar but I ended up discovering THE busiest time I've ever seen my gym, so I stuck with my dumbell squats (the ones from the book with heels under 10# plates) instead. Noon on a Monday -- I am thinking this is the time when young guys on school break and meeting each other to work out. It was all groups of 2-3 guys ages about 16-28 just packed into Golds. Total testosterone scene. So I pretty much got in there, got my workout done as quick as I could without getting crushed then got back out.

What do most folks end up doing with travel? Do you try to stick to usual preferred days and work out as you can at hotel gyms or makeshift/make do, or do you try to adjust your schedule? We travel kind of a lot and I'm trying to plan what I want to do.

Everybody is lifting eating and learning, I love it!
I spent my day putting together diploma folders and tearing down my classroom. Almost at the end of the year.
I just finished make chocolate chunk brownies for my eighth graders and only ate two of the damaged ones. I think that's pretty darn good.

My workout schedule is strange because I'm a slave to my cycle. Week one four-five days at the gym. Week 2, 3-4 workouts, Week 3, just 3 lifting days, and week 4 I'm lucky to get in two because I get the worst PMS fatigue. Whatever your schedule is, make it work for you.

>>>Handing Jo some coffee :drinker:

Checking in at 2/3. I under-ate this past Sunday...and then for dessert, I had sugar free piece of lemon cake. I did have a glass of Moscato too, and Kahlua with sparkling flavoured water...yum!! I also had homemade whole wheat lasagna (one of my challenges is not to eat "visible" carbs)...I did not meet my protein macros this past weekend..but today? Am standing at 114g!! Wohoo!!

Lifting today was half-hearted...hoping for a better work out come Wednesday.