mountaingirl1961 Member

Cycling is great for knees as it helps keep joints lubricated. Recumbent is easier on joints but the key is to get your legs going with the movement. Get your doc to prescribe a round of physical therapy, you likely have some muscle imbalances going that he/she can help you address. He/she can show you appropriate…

I'm on my third one, and used a Polar chest strap HRM before that. Ranked in order of usefulness- Fitbit Surge - newest and I love it more daily. It is a great motivator. And I thought the whole wrist vibration thing would be a very silly thing. I was wrong, it's very cool. Bodymedia Fit- discontinued and no longer…

INSANITY is a 60-day high-intensity workout program that focuses on bodyweight exercises with a very healthy dose of plyometrics. It is NOT for the joint-challenged, nor is it a place to start for the deconditioned. It IS extremely effective for those willing to do the work (dig deeper!) and who are very conscientious…

Search the forum, a while back somebody linked an article comparing the BodyMedia, FitBit, Body Bugg and one other metabolism measurement gizmo. Excellent write-up with some in-depth comparisons. His finding was that, of the four gizmos compared, the BodyMedia was the most accurate. I based my own purchase on his research…

Use the Bodymedia 24/7. The only time I take mine off is when I charge it every few days. It does a pretty respectable job of figuring out your calorie burn. It doesn't really matter where you think your metabolism should be set, the Bodymedia will adjust it for you. I have MFP set at "sedentary" and my Bodymedia disagrees…

No weights needed, and really you don't need a whole lot of space. Use your body weight. Squats, wall sits, c-sits, etc. You have all the weight you need and you take it with you wherever you go. Spend some time with a trainer - or pick up something like Insanity - and learn how to use your body to train. Extremely…

That's the depression. It took me meds to get past that point, but they REALLY made the difference. They weren't "happy pills". They sure as hell didn't make me happy. What they did was take enough of the depressive edge off so that my willpower was enough to get me moving.

FWIW - I've been to see four different counselors in my life. Only one of them was at all effective - and that guy saved my life. Counselors are a lot like clothes, in that you have to try them on until you find one that fits. If counseling has been ineffective for you in the past, don't dismiss the counseling experience,…

People need to exercise their brains as well as their bodies. CrossFit links to the BrandX forum, which has scaled versions of workouts for people who can't do the Rx WODs with good form. If you can't maintain form and do the Rx workout, do a scaled version until you can. It really is as simple as that. FWIW, if you're in…

Me too. Just did the Fit Test. Finished one round of Insanity in August. Second month kicked my *kitten* hard. Liked how I felt, though, and liked the structure, so here I am in Round 2. This time I took photos and am going to get the T-shirt!

I love ribeye. It's an awesome cut. But it's got higher fat content than some other cuts, like sirloin or flank steaks. You can work around it by eating grass-finished beef OR if you have to buy supermarket beef, getting "select" rather than "choice" grade and trimming all visible fat from the steak. It still won't be a…

Yep. Beef that you find in the little white trays at supermarkets comes nearly 100% of the time from CAFOs - concentrated animal feeding operations (feedlots) where they are fed a ground grain mixture laced with antibiotics to keep them from getting sick on a diet that they're NOT evolved to eat. Cattle evolved to eat…

Speaking as a member of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, they're full of **** on this point. Keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of their members have a very, very big dog in this hunt and are fully plugged into the CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) model.

There have been a lot of scientific studies showing that grass-finished vs. grain-finished beef (as well as pork and poultry) is both healthier for you and for the environment. That said, a LOT is going to depend on the cut and the % of fat that goes into a hamburger mix. Here's a nutrition label for "generic"…

I am sitting here wearing a girlie t-shirt that I haven't been able to wear since buying it about 10 years ago. Haven't lost a lot of weight but I sure have moved it around a bunch.

So, here's a question for you insane types... How did your energy levels hold up during the second month? I'll be honest... I was expecting it to go like the first month... first week was tough but after that the workouts weren't that much of a stretch to finish in style. The second month is absolutely kicking my *kitten*.…

Wish I'd taken before pictures. I DID take before measurements and BF%. Second to the last week (thank GOD) of the first time through. Really ready to move on to something more enjoyable, like novocaine-free dentistry. j/k. OK, j/k after the workout. During the workout, thumbs up for dentistry.

Like I said, I'm in local ag. Cooperative Extension is our friend. Good luck, and glad that was helpful.

Contact your local cooperative extension service. They'd be affiliated with your state university system. If there's an organization promoting CSAs or other entities facilitating sales and marketing of local ag products, they'd know about it.

Mother Earth News did a big write-up a while back about a gal with a 10' x 10' garden that produced hundreds of dollars worth of veggies for her. You'd be amazed what you can accomplish with some creativity and ingenuity in a very small space. Here:…

Not necessarily. If you buy organic stuff from a grocery store, there's little chance that it was locally sourced. It was likely trucked in from Timbuktu just like everything else they sell. If you want to buy from a local producer, seek out local farms and ranches as well as farmers' markets. There are some exceptions to…

If you haven't done so, you should read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollin. He does a great job looking into conventional vs. organic vs. locally produced food sourcing. Personally, I think buying local is a lot more important than buying organic, for a lot of reasons. One, you're reducing your carbon footprint…

Thanks for the respectful reply. They've been few and far between in this thread. It's annoying that you can't have a conversation with people online without drawing the jerks out of the woodwork. I missed your HuffPo reference, and will go online and read it. Thanks. As to the sugar is toxic claim - describe…

I went back through every post I've made in this thread, and not one time I have I referred to Lustig as a biochemist. He's not. He's spent a career researching and treating childhood obesity, and he's part of a large department at a very prestigious medical school working on just that. Now - why don't YOU do a little…

Yeah. Do what you can. It will eventually suck less. It'll still suck, but less. Two weeks from done. Congrats, you guys, on taking this huge step for yourself! Dig deep, stick it out, push play even when you don't want to. You'll be glad you did!

Thanks, all - and Ms. Flowers - I hope that one of the rare but wonderful compliments heads your way soon!

Addition and clarification to my above post (sorry, had to feed my husband and get him off to work) - He's obviously not the only one involved with this research, and while he's not a biochemist he clearly is working with researchers who are. He's the tip of that spearhead, as it were - the guy in public making the…

If people are arguing that his biochemistry is wrong, then perhaps they should have the chops to make a statement like that. Read the link I just posted. It's pretty interesting.

There are people all over this board advocating diets filled with all kinds of foods I would consider garbage - "diet" salad dressing and sugar-filled American yogurt and "fat free" snacks and on and on and on and on and on. OptiLean and SlimFast and meal replacement bars. Mass produced crap marketed to Joe Sixpack as THE…

1. Really focus on eating 5 300-calorie meals/day or 6 250-calorie meals/day. Try not to eat a big meal and then fast for hours. Hammer water. 2. Commit to eating no processed anything for a few weeks and see where that gets you. I see a lot of processed meats in your diet as well as ice cream and cookies, and that's not…