jen_092 Member

Thank you for all your helpful insights on the thread (and everyone!) I truly appreciate it! My dad has high cholesterol. His brother died of a heart attack in his 40s. Cholesterol. I will absolutely ask my insurance if they cover this test.

The faces! I'm just discovering the different ones I make. Overhead presses make my lip move involuntarily (apparently this is common and has some scientific explanation). And now that my squats are feeling really heavy I make a kind of grimacing face sometimes. No sounds from me, though.

Oh, I see. Both HDL and LDL were high she said.

Ahh, thank you! (and everyone!) My macros are pretty balanced but my daily saturated fat seems to be about 20-25g per day. Woops.

Oh, should have mentioned I started exercising, too. Yes, that was my last bloodwork. I guess I'm just assuming that as I age, I might have to keep doing more and more to control my cholesterol since clearly I have some genetics stacked against me at least a little bit. It was so disappointing to hear that result at my age…

Not only a fellow grad student, but a fellow health psychology grad student! Cool! It's always a struggle trying to practice what we preach. Since taking up skin health behaviors I've been making a better effort to wear sunscreen :)

Chatted with a guy in the gym today who said the reason Wednesdays are so busy is because it's "leg day". Ahh, university gym. There were like 100 men in that weight room tonight. Squat 2x5 @ 45, 5x5 @ 90 Bench 5,5,5,4,5 @ 55. Grabbed a spot for my last set and crushed it. Must have been an adrenaline spike from talking to…

So sorry, I hope you feel better soon.

When hobbies conflict: last night the conditions were good for photographing the Milky Way.. At 4am. It's quite the endeavor and I love doing it. So I slept pretty poorly and was worried about my workout. Turned out I felt fine! I won't count on that for next time, though. Squat 2x5 @ 45, 5x5 @ 85 Adding 5 per workout…

Nice loss! Congrats!

Squat 2x5 @ 45 5x5 @ 80 Bench 5x5 @ 50 Row 5x5 @ 55 I managed to finally average 103g protein this calendar week! I still don't think that's quite enough since I weigh 160, but it's better than the 60-80 grams I was averaging before. I hope I can keep it up and maybe it'll make a difference in my success.

Something I can recommend based on my experience as a psychological scientist researching self-affirmation: don't forget to affirm other areas of your life. Are you a good sister, brother, partner, etc? Doing well at work? Feeling spiritual? Write in a journal whenever you can think of these positive things. It can help…

Thank you so much, everyone!

What exactly do genetically modified ingredients do to destroy your health?

Yes, yes, yes to all of this. Saved me some typing ;) The employee at GNC the other day saw me reading labels on protein bars (I was checking for nuts because I'm allergic). He assumed I was checking for GMO and pure ingredients and all that, and tried to sell me a bunch of special products. I had to try hard to convince…

My weight loss slowed after starting, which happens to lots of people from water weight. I'm eating 1650 calories to lose weight and kept doing that. Our muscles retain water for a while after starting (I've read maybe a month) so please don't be discouraged by the scale if that happens!

Squat 1x5 @ 45, 5x5 @ 75. Starting to pay attention to the safety bar height before starting because I might need that soon... OHP 5/5/5/4/5 @ 45. Heavy! DL 1x5 @ 85.

:D :D

I'm spending the same, I think. I didn't have a lot of weight to lose, so volume hasn't really changed noticeably. But I started buying more protein supplements, like protein cookies and Quest bars, which end up being really expensive (but worth it to me). Also, I didn't cut fast food by very much. But I think I am…

Thanks I appreciate it! :)

You make an excellent point. Thanks! I did want to mention that in my OP, that I'm not even sure if I want to do it, and just because it's free is not a good reason to me lol. Maybe I should find out more... Since it's the university gym, I'm not sure if their personal training looks different than a commercial gym's would.

Thank you!

If you can find it and fit it in your budget, weight watchers bread is low calorie. I'm not on ww and never was, but I liked it when I could find it. Now I go for sandwich thins, I find them to be the best bet for me.

So, this caught my attention because I worked on a clinical trial for Victoza a couple years back. You may have been told about the mechanism behind how it helps you lose weight - it cues your brain to reduce hunger the same way certain hormones do. Here's an article that nicely summarized the study I worked on.…

Way to go, you made it work! I'm going to a conference in San Diego soon :) I think I'll only have to do one workout over there. Hopefully it's not hard to find a gym.

First workout in a week since being sick! Was expecting to feel too weak, but I decided not to deload, and push forward. Guess what? Felt perfectly great! Squat 1x5 @ 45, 1x5 @ 55, 5x5 @ 70 Bench 5x5 @ 45 -- my first time using the actual bench press! A super nice couple worked in with me and helped me make sure my form…

I had to label them in case you can't tell the difference, lol. This was my first month on the program. Bearing in mind that I started very low, like 15lb on squats low. Now I'm squatting 75, so I think the real progress will start to happen soon.

My two cents - I agree with looking at calories over the week, and it totally makes sense that you want to eat more on your long day. Just mentally, you're used to eating at certain intervals so your extra morning hunger totally makes sense. Shift things a bit so you can eat a little extra that day if you feel like it.…

In high school I was a 3 sport athlete, but one time my boyfriend at the time took me to the weight room, and I couldn't even bench press the empty bar. Today... After being out of shape every single day since high school, I can bench the bar plus (a tiny bit of) weight on it! And should be able to do more next week!

I was thinking of buying 1.25lb ones, or maybe lower? Also bumping in hopes of seeing more inspiring photos!