2 week challenge

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  • Had a GREAT workout yesterday, despite not wanting to do it. Did a bodyrock workout, 16 minutes and I was sweating like a pig. New favorite exercise: Ninja Jumps!! Right after did my 5k W3D2 interval workout and I completely shocked myself, in just two weeks since I last did 400m sprints I went from 1:44 at best to 1:37.

    Today to satisfy a friend I am trying out her Dukan diet that she's raving about. I don't think it's the right diet for me but who knows, maybe a little system shock will be good thing. It's all protein and by planning ahead I can see how it would work for someone with a large amount of weight to lose, because I am having a hard time thinking of ways to eat all my calories today, but long term the diet recommends not doing vigorous exercise so for me I can imagine most of my weightloss would be musclemass lost. Right now at 129lbs I am an inch smaller in the waist and hips than I was two years ago at 120lbs.
  • Beeps2011
    Beeps2011 Posts: 12,140 Member
    Hey Beeps, when you do your DB rows, are you doing single arm? bending over? lifting heavy enough? That would be targeting your mid back. Switching to the lat pull down is going to target more of your side back muscles (hence your lats). If you'd like to target the mid back, maybe you can try a seated cable row? Instead of putting your feet on the foot rest, put your feet on the floor, engage your core, pull straight back with your elbows brushing alongside your ribs and squeeze between your shoulder blades, releasing with a 4 count. Or on a freemotion machine, you can combine squats with cable rows or even hold a squat while you row, or incorporate single arm rows...
    I used to have a weak back and lot of lower back pain. As my core has strengthened and as I've stretched my hamstrings more, my back pain has disappeared. But I suppose it depends on each individual, the cause for the pain and other factors. But increased core strength has definitely improved my back all around.

    And lastly, on the squatting with a barbell and not having a spot...I know there has been controversy on using the Smith machine or not, but I've incorporated it in my workouts and I feel really comfortable doing it on my own using it. I am able to go deep and a little heavier.

    Ok, I'm done! Just some of my thoughts, lol!! :happy:

    oh my gosh - this is EXCELLENT ADVICE!! Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much. I should incorporate some "seated rows" with a machine - this I can do.
  • Beeps2011
    Beeps2011 Posts: 12,140 Member
    Down to my last 1lb and my calorie goal is now 1500 NET. Trying to stick to that and not weighing myself for 2 weeks, that is my challenge at the moment :)

    Hopefully by Dec 16th I will be at my target weight- fingers crossed!

    Good luck kierav. I'm kind of in a similar boat (at least on the "weighing" thing) - I shouldn't weigh. I did last night. I'd dropped 1 lb....the lb. I gained for my TOM, I suspect, lol!
  • Beeps2011
    Beeps2011 Posts: 12,140 Member
    nadine, I don't think you should do the Dukan diet - you've already posted all the reasons WHY it is NOT the right nutrition plan for you. I have "friends" on it - for SURE they are losing muscle mass. And, for SURE they have a ton of weight to lose. Keep up the good nutriton, here, and make sure you keep your strength-training - a whittled body is SO WORTH IT! (Remember, the number on the scale is only ONE type of measurement of "health" - there are 3,214 others.)

    chloe - I'm glad you CELEBRATED on your birthday. Now, cut OUT the guilt and move forward. ONE day (and YOUR special day) IS JUST FINE! You won't make it a "habit", which is ALL that matters!

    asjerven - I'm with you about indulging in alcohol every now and then. I enjoy cocktails, myself - I'm allergic to wine!
  • Beeps2011
    Beeps2011 Posts: 12,140 Member
    I did 2 work-outs on Monday (lower-body strength-training at lunch and cardio after work). I did 2 work-outs yesterday (Wednesday) (upper-body strength-training at lunch and cardio after work).

    I am tired today. But, I think I want to squish in another lower-body strength-train because I won't have ANY work-out time on Friday, and Saturday is my cardio day. So, we shall see what today brings - it is in my calendar, but my muscles are still sore from Monday, so I'm unsure.

    I did step on the (stupid) scale yesterday. I am down 1 lb. But, I was up (more than) that last week with TOM. I know I shouldn't be weighing, at all...given that I'm trying to strength-train. But, I AM running a calorie deficit, so, logically, I want the scale to go down. It isn't.

    My husband is going to "measure me up" this weekend. Let's see what the tape measure says everywhere. And then, whether weekly or every 2 weeks, I can have him measure me up again, and see som OTHER signs of "success" - because it sure AIN'T gonna come from the SCALE!
  • seesaey
    seesaey Posts: 231
    Hi! Can I join? I am in my ideal weight range (actually lower than my goal weight) but want to tone up. I had three kids in 3 1/2 years and would love to have my abs show thru! I am doing TurboFire and training for a half marathon in February. I am a cardio girl but know I need to add weights in to the mix to see results! I am really trying to focus on eating clean also. Off to read some of the thread!
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
    welcome seesaey! everyone is welcome. Wow and congrats on 3 babies in 3.5 years!
  • Beeps2011
    Beeps2011 Posts: 12,140 Member
    I dunno...I kinda want to cry for seesaey - 3 BABIES IN 3.5 YEARS??!!!????

    omg
  • seesaey
    seesaey Posts: 231
    Lol Beeps, sometimes I want to cry too! Haha, no, its great having them so close together although can be hectic at times! All 3 get along great and play really well. I am just glad that I have found something to do for "me time". Working out really does keep me sane! For the next to weeks I will focus on drinking more water and eating cleaner (like not eating a piece of cake after a days worth of eating healthy food!.... sigh)
  • GingerBroad
    GingerBroad Posts: 45 Member
    Hi! I am within about 5-10lbs of what I like to weigh and need some holiday accountability! I was doing well before turkey day bit got all off schedule and am having a hard time getting back in the groove.

    What does the 2 wk challenge entail exactly???
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member

    What does the 2 wk challenge entail exactly???

    It's not, exactly:tongue:
    You can pick your own 2-week challenge, tell us what it is and check in with your progress. It can be exercise and/or nutrition and you can pick something new every two weeks, or try the same thing again, or add something extra.
  • arwensb
    arwensb Posts: 275 Member
    Well. Day Four not quite a success. I was so bored in my training class yesterday that I went and got a big bowl of frozen yogurt from across the street. Because the class went long, didn't have time to work out at all. Then it turned out that the venison we were supposed to cook for dinner had never thawed, so went to the Mexican place. I behaved ok at dinner but had blown the calories so badly with the yogurt that I ended up WAY over for the day. :-(
    Today is going to be bad too. Both lunch and dinner are out and even if I try to behave I will be over on calories with no time to work out today at all either. Boo!
  • arwensb
    arwensb Posts: 275 Member
    oops
  • Asil76
    Asil76 Posts: 477 Member
    I joined this group just over a week ago and have been meaning to post but just haven't done so...so here it is

    I am 5'4" and as of this morning weigh 127.5 :bigsmile: goal weight being 125 which I think might change to 120 once I get there.
    I plan on pushing myself harder in the month of December then I have done, I am currently doing week 4 of Ripped In 30 and when I finish I plan to do a combination of RI30 and P90 - ab ripper 100/200. The challenge that I have set for myself is for the month of December and I will be adding 100 Jjacks & 100 crunches to my daily exercise.

    Good luck to all of you on reaching your goal

    Lisa
  • So Dukan Diet 1 day trial was an epic fail, I feel awful! -3.8lbs on the scale (in one day WTF??) so despite the 2 liters of water I drank I know all that water just went straight through me. I feel so severely dehydrated my stomache is cramping up like crazy. I even had to go back to bed for an hour after breakfast because it hurt so much! Not really sure the best way to counter act the damage but my plan is to eat lots of water heavy fruits and veggies today and I am actually hoping to see the numbers go back up on the scale tomorrow!
  • abigail1977
    abigail1977 Posts: 544 Member
    No excercise today. I have something going on with my ankle and I was very sore this morning from a ballet class last night. I need to be careful as I have three Nutcracker performances this weekend, although if I feel better tomorrow I'll pop into a cross training class in the am.
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
    Day 5 of JELF was a rest day from exercise, food was ok, mostly. I do have a hard time getting enough protein and I should have more vegetables, but there's only so many I like and I don't even want a salad with every meal.
    No exercise til Sunday now, for the plan, so I am just going to try to not make a big mess of things with the eating, although I don't know where we are going for dinner tonight and going out with friends it is hard to not drink beer! but likely I will be drinking wine or vodka soda tonight and tomorrow, but I am going to try the moderation thing!
  • GingerBroad
    GingerBroad Posts: 45 Member
    I am a little behind in joining so today Was my day 1. iwanted to focusing my eating and I am starting a new gym trial tomorrow. I am super pumped about the gym b/c with my recent promotion I will have west coat hours (even though I live on the east coat) so I am looking forward to early classes...like 9am. I can't do 7 or 730! I hate mornings.

    Calories are on par today. But I did eat some sushi today...oops.

    My challenge is going to be 5 days a week of working out and filling out my cals...even on the weekend. ESP before going out so I know how much each drink is.
  • seesaey
    seesaey Posts: 231
    Yumm sushi!!

    So clean eating wasn't too great today. I ended up getting my once a year Pumpkin Spice something-or- other from Starbucks... Clean eating fail! I skipped my afternoon snack too. Sigh. I did get my Shakeology again in the mail so I know that will help with the sweet cravings! I didn't bring a water bottle with me either- this is harder than I thought!!
  • jenomaha
    jenomaha Posts: 631 Member
    So I logged all week for the first time in a couple of weeks. I noticed I didn't net my cal goal all week (wasn't hungry) but I went over today (makes up for the lower days) and decided that since I naturally eat this way, I'm gonna base my caloric intake on a weekly basis. Less during the week and a bit more on the weekend, kind of sort of, lol! I just found myself forcing food down my throat to get closer to my cal goal when I wasn't even hungry, but then like today, I was hungry, ate more and went over.

    Xpost:

    So, I'm giving myself a range based on my BMR (1098) and some modified calculations from freedieting.com, looks like this:

    Weekly avg rangeGoal 7700-8504

    Cycling
    Mon 1215
    Tues 972
    Wed 1093
    Thurs 1215
    Fri 1458
    Sat 1336
    Sun 1215

    Or something like that. I'll see how it goes! Have a great weekend ladies!
  • So I don't know if my dukan diet experiment was the cause of or just coincidence but I seem to have the flu :( I've been trying to put back on the water weight I lost but its impossible when everything I consume is coming straight back out, so for now just trying to eat really clean, rest lots and hope to get better soon!

    PS. I remember pepto bismol tasting way better when I was a kid!
  • abigail1977
    abigail1977 Posts: 544 Member
    Day 8 - Three Nutcracker performances down, three more to go next weekend. Food choices not so great, excercise is good though. We had a pot luck supper - always tricky for me - between shows last night as well as a bake sale and I had Chinese food tonight. Yikes! I seem to have a lot more control over my diet during the week so I will get back on track tomorrow.
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
    I think i have the flu, but it is the brown-bottle flu, so much for moderation! Last night with friends I had a very reasonable supper of white fish, green beans but the wine kept flowing and I kept drinking it. I did my day 8 JELF workout but it was a pretty poor effort. I have not felt this bad for a long time, but maybe that will make it easier not to drink this week.
    I feel queasy and nothing seems to help. Food choices havevn't been great but I am no where near my calorie goals for the day, I did not get to the store so I am ill prepared for the week BUT I do have some pumkin protein bars, still, and a greek yogurt, and another serving of kung pao chicken for lunch so I just have to get to the store tomorrow. And to the gym, hopefully I don't get sick for real but sometimes I do when I drink this much, then I don't sleep well, and my immune system is affected. Lots of co-workers have been sick too, so I am hoping I don't catch anything.
  • monih10
    monih10 Posts: 577 Member
    Hey Girlies!!
    My 2 week challenge is to start the 30DS and STICK WITH IT!! I am also going to focus on staying within my calorie goal; logging everything I consume....and chugging the water!! =]....also going to try to work in more YOGA!! Have a great day everyone!!
  • shander7
    shander7 Posts: 613 Member
    Well this weekend was a bust! I made my spicy mac & cheese on Saturday (it is my biggest weakness and my bf loves it too... gotta eat what you love every now and then!!) and then went out and had 3 hard ciders (200 cals each at least... ouch!) so needless to say, I was WAY over! Then yesterday we had a family party with my bf's family and made gingerbread houses... Lets just say I probably at as much candy as what ended up on my house.. yikes! Along with the candy I had deli pizza, pie, chips, crackers, cheese, salted cashews, etc, etc, etc... I entered it in today and I was over by 1,200!! Crazy!! I don't know the last time I had a binge like that! This week is getting back on track again!

    I have my 56 oz water jug in front of me so I'll drink that and then I had salad for lunch and my normal Kashi for breakfast.. dinners are planned by mom this week (lots of pasta... oyyyy) so I will have to watch the portion sizes! I am also going to Jazzercise 4 days this week, so that will be a burn of about 1200 cals overall, not bad!

    Saturday-Wednesday I will be in Florida visiting my grandparents, so hopefully they will have healthy options! I'm hoping for fruit bowls in the mornings and I'm not sure what they are planning for the other meals... I will be cooking some of the dinners since I am making meals to freeze for them, but we may end up going out too if they choose to. Fingers crossed that it will all work out though!

    Amy & Nadine - I hope you feel better! Being sick is not fun at all... rest up and eat well so you can get better!

    monih - that's a great goal, just make sure you set aside some time to do your work out!!

    abigail - I'm with you, the weekdays are so much easier than weekends! Good luck :)

    Jen - great job! You sound like you got it under control :) How did you calculate those goals? Any specific method?
  • Beeps2011
    Beeps2011 Posts: 12,140 Member
    I just read through the last 10 posts - LADIES WE NEED TO SMARTEN UP!!!!

    lol

    This is a "challenge", not a soiree!!

    Anyway, I'm into my 2nd week and am doing quite well. I have managed every work-out that I have planned and I have eaten correctly, with the exception of a tues supper out with my husband and about a handful of dark chocolate covered acai and blueberries (yesterday).

    I'm starting week 4 of the training-for-life program in BFL. And, I'm one week from my gala!! So, I am NOT down in weight, but I am DOWN in inches. And, the dress will be SMASHING!
  • jenomaha
    jenomaha Posts: 631 Member
    So week 1 challenge was a success. I hit 7952 cals for the week (range is 7700-8400). I got in 2 actual workouts, which I logged, and 3 active days (shopping for 3 hours 2 days and cleaning ALL day Saturday) but I didn't log those. The scale went up and down throughout the week but from my start last Mon to today, I'm down 5lbs. Honestly, I'll be happy to maintain over the holidays and then start a cut in January when I can kick my workouts into overdrive :devil:

    Shannon, I calculated my BMR on MFP in the tools section. so I multiplied my BMR (1098, rounded to 1100 and multiplied by 7 days =7700 and then multiplied the magic 1200 number by 7 days = 8400. Then the zig zag I figured out on freedieting.com.

    My plan is to continue the same goals this week.

    Oh, Nadine and Amy - hope you ladies get to feeling better!! Sending healthy vibes!!

    Shannon - sounds like you have a plan in place...tear it up!!

    Beeps - congrats on the inches lost, woot!!! keep it up and we wanna see pics of that smashing dress!

    Abigail - good luck with the remaining performances.

    OK...like BEEPS said...let's all get on track and stay there...EVEN on the WEEKEND!!! the holidays are coming quickly and we need to be smart and strong!! So let's do this!! Have a great week and good luck with your goals!!
  • GingerBroad
    GingerBroad Posts: 45 Member
    Beeps- you just got me to throw away my glass of wine I was going to have or dinner. No empty calories for me!

    Day 4 of the challenge and my food is going ok. I am on task but need to step it up on workouts. I jet joined a gym and am doing my first spin class tomorrow. Wish me luck!
  • chuisle
    chuisle Posts: 1,052 Member
    Goodness! Look at all these two week challenges I've been behind on! Way to go everyone..

    I am going to start a new personal 3 week challenge next week...sort of a "Holiday" challenge. I need to think up some good guidelines that will keep me on track for the holidays and ready to get back towards losing in the new year (I've been maintaining) without setting myself up to fail :)

    I'm Kate for all the new ladies on here! I'm a long time NTHG who's been a bit absentee (read: BUSY) lately! Welcome, excited to be back and posting again!

    What has everyone found to their best challenges so far?
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
    Nice to see you again, Kate, great pic, BTW!
    I haven't found that anything worked very well for me, but I am hopeful about the Jamie Eason Livefit trainer. Only strength training for a month, though, so I am trying to be good with the eating, but haven't been able to stick to her approved foods list on the weekend (re: drinking). The plan gets really strict and has carb cycling in the last phase, and I have never tried that, I think it was part of the sexy female plan but I ignored that part...
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