guardup

A most awesome day at the gym. 3 hours of back exercises... 625 calories earned. I've reached almost all of my nutrient goals and have 1245 calories left. I expect to eat about 600 more in chicken wings and popcorn tonight for the Patriots game. I'll take the rest as a deficit. I LOVE the weekend and long mornings of…

I would seriously look at how you are holding your head during your pushups. Many people thrust their head forward and this puts nasty stress on your neck muscles which can trigger terrible headaches. If you neck feels stiff at all tomorrow this might be what it is.

Why would you be laughed out of your gym? I hear of more and more pro body builders using BodyBugg and other calorie counters to help them achieve their desired body fat percentage. HRM simply isn't accurate enough when you get down into the teens (or lower for men).

It's the pub that gets me. Not the beer... I drink Stout which is rather low in calories. It's the INCREDIBLE food! And the fact that since I introduced me friends to this pub, everyone wants to go there all the time now. I find that its easy to not cheat for my first 3 meals of the day. It gets harder for the last 3…

I had done some research and came across this brand. It has pretty good reviews... and they sweeten with Stevia - my preferred sweetener since it is all natural (comes from a plant leaf) and 0 calories. I may try it out... but it is much more expensive than Jarrow: $22.50 for 28 servings of Dymatize as opposed to $16.89…

One thing to note is that you want to use Periodization with your weight lifting routine so that you do not reach Adaptation - which is where your body adapts to the load you are using and your gains level out. This means that you want to do heavy weights with low reps for 4-6 weeks and then swap out with higher rep loads…

I actually just started making myself consume red wine. I'm not worried about the alcohol sugar... it burns like anything else. My bigger concern is getting the antioxidants. There have been so many studies to show that red wine and green tea are HUGE in slowing mental decline as you get older. I'll take the extra calorie…

At the gym, I sometimes have women come over and ask me how they can get as much muscle and definition as I have. I try to give them some simple advice. But when they walk away, I feel like they don't really get it. Definition is simple: Lower Body Fat. Muscle is simple: Train to failure. It is very rare for me to see…

Finally over my injured shoulder/chest muscle. Did sets of 50 push ups and 15 chin ups as well as lots of oblique work. [/quote] SETS OF 50???? **** the bed Charlie Brown. I've just been proud to be able to do sets of 10. I have yet to be able to do a chin up. [/quote] Keep at it and you will get there. Build up slowly to…

Thank you. :smile: Had an awesome workout today. My friends from the fire dept. and police dept were there and we talked while lifting. We all ride motorcycles so its fun to complain about the New England weather while waiting for spring. Finally over my injured shoulder/chest muscle. Did sets of 50 push ups and 15 chin…

I should clarify that many people are not saying that you should NET 1200 calories... they (or at least me) are saying that you should CONSUME 1200 calories. You can net whatever you want. But if you don't consume at least 1200 calories a day, I cannot see how you can get the protein and nutrients you need to stay healthy.…

Keep in mind that you aren't just losing water in those first days/weeks... you are also EATING less. This means that there is less food in your digestive track. Less food in your body means less weight. Also, if you are adding more fiber to your diet, the fiber will be purging a lot of old residual food products from your…

Try adding raw cocoa and some cinnamon to your coffee... then sweeten with Stevia (a 0 calorie all natural sweetener). The cocoa and cinnamon add a small amount of calories (under 20) and add a very nice array of tastes for your palette.

Welcome aboard! I don't go by the MFP log amounts for my exercise. I use the function, but I enter the amount of calories burned based on what BodyBugg tells me. I find that often MFP way overstates the calorie burn or in some cases, understates it. IE: Yesterday I shoveled A LOT of snow for 1.5 hours. MFP wanted to give…

I found some excellent free weight training vids on YouTube with a woman who seems to know her stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO_CNYidOw0 When viewing the video, look over to the right and you will see a long list of other vids she made. From her body type, I bet she is a professional figure competitor.

That's great to hear! One bit of advice... when lifting or pulling from overhead... make sure you can see you hands in your peripheral vision while looking straight ahead. The shoulder is not designed to lift heavy loads directly over the head and can ruin your connective tissue over time. Unless you plan on competing in…

I've had a BodyBugg for about 8 months now. It has been HUGE for me for tracking my calories and simplifying the data process. However, I found the online program for BB to be insufficient... MFP is MUCH better. Fortunately, I have the wrist display. So I don't use the BB program anymore... I just track my calories on the…

On the topic... this is me at the gym yesterday. Photo snapped by my hubby. Not bad for a 40-something year old. Yes, I am pleased with my hard work and I have no issue with posting it. :smile:

Ew. Steroid shot. Have your tried ice, massage and ibuprofen first? I had lower back problems for many years. Then I found an excellent physical therapist who gave me exercises to do. I was able to bring myself back to a very good level of fitness. Still do the exercises today. I don't deadlift more than my body weight. I…

My own tagline: "On your tombstone there are two dates separated by a dash. That dash is your life. Make it mean something."

The first thing my husband and I did when we reached our fitness goals was call up our favorite photographer and book a photo session... some pics with clothes (as I have posted here and on facebook) and some without (hanging in our bedroom). It was an AMAZING experience... very fun... our photographer made us feel like we…

You would be surprised how many people don't know how to love themselves. It isn't as simple as "Just Do It". Most of the characteristics our society has come to accept as "normal" are actually signs of distrust, unprocessed emotions, defensive mechanisms and repressed trauma. Telling someone that they "just need to learn…

It can never hurt to see a therapist... and it could help more than you can imagine. The road to wellness starts in our mind/emotions. You would be surprised how many roadblocks our psyche can throw up and sabotage our efforts. Most therapists will give you a free initial consult. Shop around and find one who you connect…

Wow. That photo came out much larger than I intended. Sorry about that. I wanted to post it to make my point that you don't need to work arms more than once a week to get shredded arms. I do core exercises every day - which USE my arms. I only do arms once a week. I'd rather save my "juice" for my core exercises than blast…

This morning at the gym:

My goal is to hit 15% body fat this year. It's going to be interesting... I am at 18% right now and going from 18 to 15 is supposed to be quite a challenge to do while maintaining muscle mass. However, I don't compete, so if I don't make it, no big deal. I will go by how I feel. Right now, I am very happy with my body...…

Do you use lifting straps? Did it hurt on the inside of the wrist (the thumb side) or the outside (the pinkie side) or top (where you wear a watch) or the bottom (where you check your pulse)? What kind of pain? Sharp and sudden or dull and achey? Did you get any tingling? Now that its later in the day, do you still feel…

There are a limited number of scholarships available... if you apply early you might qualify. We also have specials for staff. So if you time off in the summer, put in an application. Thats how we got a number of our best counselors.

I don't go to ren fairs or cons because I live this stuff. Look up "Wizards & Warriors Camp" on Google. My company runs the camp. I get to do dress up all summer long. :) (yeah, I have a wicked cool job)

Just got back from the gym... 2.5 hours of lifting and stretching. Then I was going to leave but I saw motocross truck racing on TV and decided to do some elliptical. 3 hours later... feeling so very relaxed and spent. Time to curl up near the wood stove with a good book. There's only one word for the feeling:…