Mihani! I am in awe of how much you work.. I just couldn't do it. I'd be so outta there!!! ;P You are a gem - I hope your boss realizes that!!!


This week is my last week of my strength training class - I can't believe I've finished 15 weeks already!! Time has flown by. I know I'm much stronger. My arms are becoming more shapely, I can see biceps and triceps, my quads are also showing a lot more definition. Back in the beginning I may have done 20 lbs dumbell press (10 in each hand). Today I did 40. For curls, I probably started with 10 or maybe 12, and today it was 20's. My arms are *really* tired today after that, but I'm proud that I have clearly improved...

After this week, I'm gonna change my focus up a bit.
- burn some extra calories ---> MORE RUNNING!
- get even more upper body strength ---> 100 push-up challenge (starting with column #1)
- improve my flexibility ---> yoga 3x per week

Then on July 6th, I'm going to add in some more strength training with my TerraFit Challenge... 12 weeks of that and it will be the end of September.

On the food side of things, I really need to set aside time on the weekends to prep lunches and such. Even if I just wash and cut veggies and portion out some hummus. That would be a HUGE improvement over what I'm doing now... And there's no reason I shouldn't be able to measure out spinach and mango and bananas and slap that all in the freezer for quicker smoothies, too... GOTTA GET ON THE BALL HERE ALREADY!!!

OK. Rant over.

Your wedding is getting so close! I hope you get everything done this weekend like you want - good luck!!

Pretty quiet around here lately - people must be busy enjoying the summer. I know I am!!

Today I finally got my act together about food.
B: Green smoothie (coconut water, spinach, banana, mango, hemp seeds)
L: 1 lb of raw veggies with red roasted pepper hummus and 1/2 cup strawberries
S: roasted brussel sprouts and mushrooms on 3/4 cup rice

Now THAT is more like it!! Hopefully I can keep it going long-term, because I am quite frankly getting sick of all the carbs and how bloated it's all making me feel.

Only 1 more strength training day left. Today was a tough one again - she's really punishing us in this last week! 50 full body crunches, 50 straight leg sit ups, 40 shoulder press (15 lbs each arm), 90 incline arm raises (30 each front, side and back - only 8 lbs each arm - these are hard!!), 40 TRX rows (body weight), 30 burpies with the bosu(sp?) ball, and 60 renegade rows (30 reps each arm - 15 lbs in each hand). Go ahead, give it a try!!!

Today is ALSO another hula hoop class at lunch. I'm excited for it - my mom is coming this time too. So much fun!!

Alright, I've gotta run. Have a good one!!!

Good for you, Mihani! I already pooped out on day 2. I just didn't want to make a lunch today, so I went out with a friend. *sigh* I'll try again tomorrow...

Compromises are the stuff of life. It's a balance, always. Compromise and change. I guess that's what makes life interesting, though not always easy.
Wedding plans are stressful no matter what. Your own, especially. Somehow, though, it all comes together.
Balsamic on roasted beets... sounds delicious. Could I do that on a BBQ? We're having carnivores over for dinner tomorrow; hubby is grilling steaks so I'm thinking some nice vegetable kabobs for me. I'm making ETL cabbage slaw, too. Even carnivores like that!

I'm up 4 pounds -- fooey! I've been struggling with strong starch cravings for several days now. I wonder if it is because hubby and I have been doing a lot of yard work. We schedule yard work every other day because we are getting too old to take care of 5 acres. Thank goodness we only have 3 cats to add to the work. This is more work than my sedentary body is used to doing. I usually up my "daily" vitamins to 2 a week instead of 1 a week in case I'm low on something, and I eat more beans as they satisfy starchy cravings. In a pinch, I add potatoes. Tonight I will have to add a potato to my bean chili to keep from snacking on hubby's bread, crackers and cheese!

An MFP friend of an MFP friend posted this interesting link on figuring body fat percentages. It doesn't, interestingly enough, figure in age so I can't use the "But I'm an old lady!" excuse for my extra fat. Dr. F says the modern weight tables are too lenient and that the 1950s tables are better. But I digress. (Ugh! "Fat Mass" -- NOT a nice term LOL!) Here's my stats from the link: Body Fat 27%, Fat Mass 36 lbs, Lean Mass 98 lbs, Body Fat Category - Acceptable.

The link: http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

I had a moment to pop in and say hi to everyone. My life has pretty much fallen apart lately dealing with my dad's illness and the associated problems. After a lot of drama, anxiety and craziness over the last few weeks we are going to have to place him in a nursing home. We are trying to iron out all the details then figure out how the heck to pay for it. Crazy stressful. On the up side the Stress Diet made me drop 3.5 more pounds but I wouldn't recommend it, lol.

I feel for you Zoot; we are just starting to go through this with my mom. None of us can agree on what to do. It's so hard. Try to take care of yourself amid the stress.
Except for a dental procedure coming up (which I try not to think about -- ugh!), life is good right now.
I'm wishing everyone a peaceful Sunday and Father's Day. Our dinner guests could not make it for dinner so hubby and I are going to the movies tomorrow, first time in about 2 months, date night!

Just checking in with a quick hello. My strength training class is done, so now I'm going to try to do the 100 push-up challenge and maybe the 30 day shred until I wait for my Terrafit challenge to begin (starts July 6). Gotta get on the treadmill every morning, too - will start that tomorrow.

This morning I still got up early, but I had to go to the hardware store and put in a giant order. My dad and I are going to build a treehouse and deck for my kiddos. They're gonna love it. And that's another activity that will hopefully give me some more upper body strength this summer!!

Gotta run - I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Hi you guys!!!!!!! How is everyone? Ahh I am sorry I haven't caught up either. It's so nice to see and hear from everyone though. Hope everyone is enjoying their June at least. I'm ready for the wedding and just want it to be here!! Work feels like such a nuisance lol, which is bad because it's busy. Back to it, but wanted to say hi and that I read everyone's updates and nice that we are sharing in the busy-ness together. Hope everyone can enjoy a minute or two of sunshine this week - it seems to help!

I just want to check in quickly to say that I'm going to be going out to the lake right away to build a treehouse at the cabin - I will be doing some workouts and I'll be trying to get rid of my starchy carbs. But I won't be checking in for a good 2 weeks, maybe even more. I'll have to catch up when we get back!!!

In the meantime, I wish you all a fantastic summer!!

Have a great two weeks Karrie!!! That sounds like so much fun. Send some treehouse pics when you're back!

I am also coming by to say I will probably not be around much til mid-July! Wedding is on Saturday (it's supposed to rain now, unfortunately), then family day on Sunday, and off to Hawaii on Monday morning!

Hope you guys have a great weekend and you all get some time to relax, especially you Mihani!

Hi everyone, I am so far behind! Mihani, I think my sugars are okay but I have not tested with all of the stress. Bad decision I know but I am distracted to the maximum. It has been craaaazy trying to deal with all of the parental care stuff for my dad. We finally had to admit him to a nursing home this week and didn't like the only one that had a bed so we spent time running hither and yon finding a better one and it looks like we did. Waiting on confirmation. My parents have to pay $5,500 a month and don't have the money for it. A friend kept saying to set up a Gofundme page which I don't like doing because we pay our way in our family but out of desperation I have set up a page to prevent the loss of their house that my mother still needs to live in. She has enough in savings to get him started but it won't last long at all. I am going to start job hunting as soon as possible to help pay for it plus start selling off things in their house, etc...to raise money. All of this is so sudden and everything is so complicated! We are going to start selling some of our own personal belongings as well. If any of you have any other ideas for raising funds, please suggest them! All I want is for them to be able to spend time together without worrying about paying for things or losing their home. Despite my dad being a career veteran, the VA home has a long waiting list and still is not free plus is a 40 mile drive away.

Be aware that you are absolutely on your own to pay for anything like this in the future. If you want to protect your children's inheritances or avoid losing your own home, get informed and take action early. You can get long term care insurance which is expensive and not available if you wait too long. Medicare won't pay for a dime. You have to pay 100% out of pocket or go on Medicaid and they quickly eat up your entire estate that you worked your whole life to accumulate. There is a 5-year "look back" where any gifts, loans, money from selling real estate, etc... are considered part of the estate and the loans/gifts become due in full immediately to the estate or you are assessed a stiff penalty. They assume you are hiding assets. My parents didn't know all of that and didn't get things out of their names and into ours to preserve the money and any inheritances so this is what we are facing now. The government evaluates all that you have and then starts subtracting the care costs from that until the person dies by "loaning" you the expenses while you receive care by paying the bills up front. They come after your home's value by placing a lien which becomes due in full when you sell the house (or when the surviving spouse dies if you file a Division of Assets form ), whole life insurance (they leave you $1,500.00 per policy), savings and checking accounts and certain personal belongings (you can keep one car) until you have nothing left then they pay for your care if you are still alive. This then repeats for your remaining parent or spouse. You pay taxes all your life and this is what they do. It is really just another estate tax in the form of a "sickness" tax.
All I am asking is if all of you would just share it around, please.
http://www.gofundme.com/xg8g85n2g#
Thank you

I got a call from the doctor saying that on closer inspection (CT vs X-ray), the module in my lung does NOT look cancerous. I can't even express how relieved I am. Based on the location and the rate of growth (tripled in 6 months) I was sure it was lung cancer, which still has a sub 20% 5 year survival rate.

Funny how finding out you aren't actually dying makes pretty much everything else seem easy. I probably will have to take prednisone for at least 6 months, and more likely a year, but there's a good chance that after that I will recover almost all my lung function (minus the permanent scarring) and I'll be able to start building my strength back up