"TLFC" exercise and accountability support!

Strength: Upper Body, DB Day

DB Bench Press <<superset>> 1A DB Row 5x5
Incline Cable Fly 3x10
1A Pulldown 3x10
DB Shrugs 3x10
DB Arnold Press 3x10
DB Hammer Curl <<superset>> Lying DB Extend 3x10
Palloff Press 3x10 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec

Analysis: Replaced the DB front/lateral raises with the Arnold Press. Rough start to the workout, had to get my son to help get one of the DBs into position so I could complete the final set of DB Bench Presses. Don't know if my moment of weakness came from lack of sleep, lack of energy due to actively cutting weight, or was simply one of those low-energy days, so I won't make any changes yet. But I will be watching next week closely to see if I need to lower the weight. Hate to even think of doing it, but safety above all.

Food: Last night was steak with bulgogi[/quote]

What a whirlwind, exciting trip you had @ninerbuff !

TGIF: I've been doing my usual round of teaching lit. classes and chores at home / driving my kids around this week.

Calories this week: 1200-1600 avg; little to no desserts / extra snacks. For soda, I'm having Doc Pop -- the healthy version of Dr. Pepper.
Steps today so far: 12,000 (includes the treadmill, below)
Workout: 25 min. treadmill (20 min split at 3 mph @ 8% incline / 6% inc; 5 more min at 3.5 mph @ 1% inc.)
Then 20 min. freeweights, shoulder press, medicine ball exercises, battle ropes, planks.
Also 20 min. of walking outside. The high today was 46 F -- really nice after highs of 22 earlier in the week.

Exercise: 60 min. treadmill walk today, various inclines, mostly 3 mph speed. Also a short walk outside.

Food: Greek yogurt, berries, and granola twice. BBQ chicken and a baked potato, then homemade chili and another baked potato later.

Mindset: I'm staying under 1500 calories and doing okay but I feel mentally fatigued when I think about the week ahead. I'm telling myself I'm in weight loss mode for the next 12 or so weeks (really 3 down, 10 to go), then I'll shift to maintenance for the same amount of time. Big plus: my sugar cravings are gone. Plus/minus: I'm weighing my food, which looks problematic to my teen daughters so I try to hide it (and then that seems weird).

Besides the scale, how do I know I'm losing weight? People are suddenly really complimentary, not about weight loss, just the "you look so nice today" / "you look great" garden variety comment. This happens EVERY time I start a major weight loss initiative. Par for the course, I guess.