Good morning ladies!!

I'm with DNA...love that you guys lift and are awesome!!

Pudding-I forgot! I think if I Thanksgiving was earlier here in the us I'd decorate earlier myself...good point!

Dou-I'm still trying to lean out too!! We're on the right track...slow and steady wins the race!

BP-I've been missing Zumba lately.

Jo-that's a lot of leg work! Killer!

DNA-nice reflections and musings. The mental aspect to training is often overlooked. Being content and lifting because you like it is wonderful!

Pmag-good job losing! I know you were hoping for that heading into your competition. It's coming up!! You're doing great! I seem to lose better with less cardio...not logical, but it's me.

I'm doing well. Off to lift in a bit. Doing 6B. not sure I feel like its much of a workout...l may skip ahead to 7... Couldn't sleep so I got up early (5!!) and read for a while. I'm getting my hair done (again) later today. Bought a groupon and am still in pursuit of Carmel low lights and honey blonde highlights...I'm more red after my first attempt to go from platinum blonde to a more natural color. Hopefully this hairdresser can work some magic for me. I don't hate the red...it's just not what I really wanted.

Ali – I like to think of Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. as just a built-in cheat day, or at the very least a “no logging” day. I think it’s mostly there being so much yummy food around every single day during November and December that does the real damage. Don’t stress too much about one day

Love and Julie – sweet! I’m excited to do the 5x5, but not excited about starting with just the bar, it’ll just feel so silly

Dna – love it! I think that this program and getting into lifting in general has 100% been the best thing I’ve ever done for myself self-esteem wise. In college I ate nothing and ran miles and miles, and still hated my body. Funny thing is I weighed less than I do now, but I LOOK better now than I did then and my perception of myself is SO much better. Even with the limitations you have, you can see what your body is capable of!

Pudding – I’m in the US and I’ve been listening to Christmas music for about two weeks now. Only on my own though, hubby has a solid rule about no Christmas music/decorations in the house til after Thanksgiving lol

Pmag – crazy about the weight, so weird how things like that happen!

Jo - …I forgot what I was going to say because I’m too busy admiring your profile pic

Thanks for all the kind words ladies! I just did my final check-in for the challenge at my gym, too and they said I had a good shot because only like 15 other people even showed up to the final check-in, the rest of them dropped out!
This week is my unplanned rest week since hubby is traveling for work (more Christmas music for me!) and I’ll just be focusing on meal prep since there’s no slowing down for the next few weeks.

Pmag, you have a good point, has anyone heard from jamaica? Hope she's doing ok with the wedding plans & not getting over whelmed.

Dna, how did you guys do with the storm? I'm sure you didn't get your swin in, hope you didn't lose power. I love your persective on working out. I'd be really happy to get to that point one day, until then I'll keep working until I like what I see in the mirror.

Elsie, I love your new pic !! You look great.

Julie, you're not encouraging me to get to stage 6 lol. I hope your hair to get the right color. I hate it when I can picture the color I want & it just won't sit right. Mine is a bit darker than I'd like it to be, but its off my so little that only I notice.

Jo that's a lot of leg work. I'm not sure I could keep up.

Love, how far into stage 6 are you now? I'll be there next week, I've got just 2 more work outs in stage 5 to do.

Have a great ladies & keep lifting

Beeps-woot! You'll look sexy in Mexico!

Ali-nice! I hope your bf is serious. It's flattering and insulting all at the same time. I'm in a similar boat with dh. He's jealous of my fitness and weight loss, so I got him a gym membership. He goes occasionally then complains he doesn't see results. Uh, skip the fries and night time cereal and visit the gym more often and you'll see results. It's hard! Sacrifice and work for me. It's easy for him. Gr.


Elsie-love your pic! Hope you win! You need to start with the bar alone? I forgot that part...hmm. I guess I could use some form work anyway. It's not like I've progressed that far beyond the bar anyway...;)

Love-yes! Today's workout was more challenging to be sure! I still feel guilty getting out of the gym in 30 minutes! A didn't feel like much work. I should reread it. And I won't post the weights I used...not after you posted yours! the lunges were hard and the push press were awkward at first. I'll stick with it. Are you adding to it? I thought about some squats or lunges? Maybe some hip thrusts or glute bridges?

I did stage 6B1 today. I don't use as heavy weights as Love, but the workout was more challenging. The one shoulder squat things were surprisingly hard. I was winded and worked by the end, which was a pleasant surprise. I'll add more to the workouts next week. For this week I'm enjoying short ones.

I got my hair done, again! Third time I've had it foiled in the past month or so. I've been trying to get a bit softer, more natural look from my light blonde. I think I've finally gotten what I want!! Yay! I how it doesn't fade out!

Dou- I'm loving super charged! I'm especially loving RAMP since it keeps my back pain at bay. It's printed on the worksheet that I use to track my workouts so I remember the whole thing.
Dna- Your reasons are fantastic and I'm sure you would look killer in a bikini

Did my second A workout in Basic Training 1. I didn't do the intervals. Too tired. I'll do them Friday. Maybe. I do like the way I feel now that I've got three workouts down. DOMS aren't horrible and my chronic back pain is basically gone. I also like that the RAMP exercises are some of the flexibility exercises I used to do when I was dancing heavily. I like knowing that I'm not just building strength.

Ali, we made it through without getting too wet. Flooded the driveway and the back yard though!

Well, little update on my attempt to de-focus on food. I spent the first few days of the week feeling awfully bloated lol

But it's settling down. My tummy is still sticking out a little, but that's my issue, and I'll deal with it

I might stick with the "okay" eating for a bit I think.

Time to get these kids fed and then out to Swim Club evening.

Hello ladies,
I've got my last workout in stage 5 today and I've done the last stage of my killer buns & thighs workout all week so my buns are feeling it . I think I may have killer my HRM, its not reading my heart rate which sucks, I've only had it 8 months. I was hoping to replace it in Jan when the new fitbit with a HRM comes out, but Jan is too far away to wait. My son got accepted into the gifted program at school so I am a very proud momma. Of course my 3yr old spent the day with grandma and learned so new words too. While helping me make dinner he spilled some milk and told me how f**king angry he was. I was quite shocked & stupidly asked what did you say? So he repeated it and we had a chat about bad words that only grown ups can use. ( I need to chat with grandma too lol). It was a bit funny hearing my cute lil guy say that.

Beeps, I hope you're having fun & enjoying warm weather.

Bp, that is awesome. It has to feel great to finish the all the sets.

Red, I'm glad your back pain is better.

Dna, glad you didn't get completely flooded. Bloat sucks, but okay eating is a nice break. It sounds good right about now.

Have a great Friday everyone

Ellie, I have no idea, but I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will help
It's one of the main reasons why I swapped to TDEE only - I picked an activity level, got given a number and that's all I have to worry about. I log my workouts to keep a track of where I'm up to, but don't bother with trying to work out how many calories I may or may not burn.

When you get to the stages that require intervals etc done the end, it won't be just plain weight lifting either. It will be different for each individual, so play around with different things and find a way that suits you



Ali, I did have to lol just a little bit at your little one My children have been known to use the word "frak" in perfect context... while part of me is proud of my little geeks, I did have to have a discussion about appropriate use of language (particularly as they attend a Christian school lol)


Julie, good luck on the negs! You'll get there! I am a total meanie and make my walking buddy do negative chinups every Monday after our walk/run on the monkey bars at school. At first she was all like 'wtf???', now she's enjoying it and almost runs to the bars to see how long she can hold one lol (I do get some rather interesting texts the next day about soreness and something about a mean *kitten* PT or something I don't pay attention to those much, and make her work harder next time LOL)


I am loving the warm weather and am hitting the pool a lot more now - adore the fact that we have one in the backyard, makes going for a 30-40min swim so easy. I'm up to a little over 1km in that time, but I know I'll get more in as I keep going.


And another update on my eating experiment. My weight went up about 1kg over the week as of yesterday morning (water weight, I know, I know!).... but this morning it has dropped 500g. I was shocked standing there on the scales LOL

I've done nothing different, just keeping going with eating more and working out as per usual. I even ate later than usual last night due to swim club, and it was sausages, so not the most healthy option lol

My logical brain is all like, yes, you know this. This is all normal. Then my other half-a-brain just sits there and says 'seriously?'.

Today I am going to try on a bikini. The part of my brain that is telling me I'm still 'fat' can go frak itself. Whether or not I buy one will be down to if I can find one that fits. Yes, I can't find anything to fit me in a normal adult store (very little goes below a size AU8/US4 here, and I'm about a US2/AU6), and yet I still think I'm fat. It's a round-tummy infatuation thing. I'll work it out eventually.

In the meantime you all get to hear about my experimentation! Aren't you excited?? ROFLMAO

I'm going to assume an op shop is the same as our thrift shops here ( previously owned) in which great deal on the dress!. I've got the kid height with the woman hips so I'm just screwed all around. Pants & dress shopping suck. My mom actually told me I don't have the body for a dress ouch .

Ellie I got so frustrated with all that calorie stuff especially since Ive read so many ppl complain that this site over estimates on cardio type of stuff that I just got a heart beat monitor that I use for workouts. I find its more reliable ( at least to me). It may not be perfect but its better than nothing.

Ellie--I have gotten the impression from the nrol Facebook that their perspective on diet has changed since nrol4w was released. They have another book for women planned, but in the meantime I'd say take the recommendations for diet in the book with a grain of salt.

Hoping to go to the gym in a couple of hours. I only have the two amrap workouts to go in stage one! Super excited. And that puts my rest week almost perfectly around thanksgiving.

Dazed--I was just re-reading the part of the book abt the workouts at the end of stage one. I don't think the intent is a killer workout. I think it is more of a morale boost--see how far you have come since the beginning. I'm excited and nervous.

DNA--love your why. It got me thinking (even though I still have weight to lose and goals to reach) that I am starting to love this too. I love going to the gym. My daughter loves going with me. It has been a good change for both of us. It has also helped as I see all these different ideas and philosophies on mfp to accept that it's okay for me to pick a program I like and stick with it even if it is not the same program someone else picks or recommends. I have to do what I like and what will keep me going to the gym. And congrats on the bikini--I'm sure u look smashing in it.

changed my mind. Moving on

Congrats jo!

Did my first of the two special workouts at the end of Stage 1. I really hated it. I mean I am pretty sure I got out of it what I was supposed to (that I can do more now then I could at the beginning), but one set of a lot sucks. I ended up just getting through it and then going for a run, which meant I didn't technically do as many as I possibly could. But I also didn't feel like I wasted my gym time. So I am okay with that.

Of course this brings on the issue of what I will do tomorrow as I usually lift one day and then run the next day. I may go ahead and power through the second special workout at the end of stage one so I can just be done with them. I am kind of interested to see the change in deadlifts but otherwise not really excited about it. Or I may do a bodyweight training program that I have been wanting to test out and see if/when I could add it to my rotation. Decisions, decisions.

So sorry cala! And I too have times when I know that logically the weight gain is water weight but it still is a little deflating. Of course when the water weight goes away then I do celebrate that as a loss.

I officially finished Stage 1. I am excited to move on to Stage 2 but cautious as it looks hard (that is both a good and a bad thing I think). But I am determined. I may have to split the B workout over two sessions though--maybe to the interval work at lunch and the rest of it during my evening trip to the gym. But I shall see.

Julie--I would love to do a pull up one day (it is on my healthy bucket list), but I am not sure I would want to dedicate all of my workouts for an entire stage to the pursuit. It seems like that would get a little tedious. So I guess I have some thinking to do between now and Stage 6 about how important that is to me. Good luck with your progress to Stage 7.

DNA-ah leverage

Snb-good job!, enjoy 2!!

I decided to move on to stage 7 tomorrow looks painful!! I'm gonna drop my weight down substantially so I can do all the reps and sets. Decided my goal, for now, is to lose some more fat, and that's what this stage is for, so I'm doing it . Would love to SEE some progress at the end.