ME0172 Member

http://www.staffsfitness.co.uk/images/products/V-Squat.jpg This is what the machine looks like.

I have to keep cookies in the house for my husband. If he doesn't have sugar a couple times a week he's unbearable. Just keep it in moderation and plan it out for your caloric intake. Don't completely deprive yourself of the things you love, unless they're like a doorway to a downward spiral. Treat yourself once a week or…

Awesome! Those people are keepers! There is a woman at the gym I barely know that tells me every single time she sees me that I look great and she calls me skinny too. I'm still making progress too, but there's just something special about people that are willing to unselfishly acknowledge your progress. Congratulations!

Honestly sounds like they're self conscious about not losing the weight you've been able to do. Sure, be a little sensitive, but I'm of the opinion I can be honest with my friends and they can be honest with me. If I say, "This makes me feel fat" and my friend got offended, I'd be shocked. Friends should still support you…

I don't let food get to me. You don't get fat from one meal, just like you don't get skinny from one meal either. I need treats (favorite food like pizza) every once and a while in order to stay on track without being completely miserable. So I eat it, with a smile on my face, and then just get right back on track the next…

braid and a hat. Or a low ponytail at the base of your neck and a hat. I love running in a hat - it keeps all the wispies away and my ponytail in place. I used to have hair halfway down my back and wore a low ponytail because braiding took too long and a hat.

Don't be scared of bulking from lifting. You won't bulk like a man does. Lift. Read this. http://www.xplosivegrowth.com/2012/09/20/girls-get-your-guns-why-women-should-lift-weights/

I shower at the gym 5 days a week. Yes hang your towel over the top of the door. It might get some splashes on it, but not enough to make it ineffective in drying you. As for your underwear or anything else - I just wear the towel to the shower. I change at my locker and yes sometimes there are other women standing right…

^^ This. The amount of caffein from the tea does not overtake the benefit of the water. Enjoy!

You just started tracking your calorie intake so you should give it some time. All I can say is what worked for me. I'm 42. I spent years "working out and eating right" and never lost weight so I told myself I never would. When I started using MFP and tracking everything I ate I started seeing a difference. Then I bought a…

I have a pulled hamstring that I just don't think will ever heal so I use the roller after every run and after leg day. If I forget I can feel the difference in that bad hammie. I roll my quads, glutes and hammies.

Yeah me too. I find other ways to cut calories but doing without mayo in my tuna isn't one of them. LOL.

I love Optimum Nutirtion (ON) Gold Standard Whey.

No. In fact I encourage it. It's your workout. I often teach to the lowest common denominator... meaning to the least fit person in the room or to the newbie. If you're more in shape and have experience with fitness classes then you already know how to ratchet up your workout to make it more intense. New people need to…

Cottage cheese, peanut butter, whole wheat bagels.... all good snacks. Have you tried Quinoa? We replaced rice with quinoa at dinner. We even cook it in the rice cooker and it's delicious. If you haven't tried it yet it's in the pasta section of the grocery store. Kale and broccoli are also good protein sources.

This is a VERY good point.

When I started a year ago and saw my goal was 1400 calories I thought I was going to starve. BUT... I bought everything low fat and "light". Most of it tastes ok and what i could deal with I kept and what I couldn't I went back to full flavor. I cut out regular sugar and started using Splenda... since I'm a coffee and tea…

I'm able to still do the same weight. It's whatever you can tolerate. If have any pain to the injured area then reduce the weight or stop. ;)

I always ate back my exercise calories but it was because I was hungry. If you're not hungry and the thought of eating those calories back makes you cringe, then don't eat them back. This is the thing about weight loss - do what works for you. You were seeing progress doing what you were doing but then you over thought it…

I have bad shoulders and when mine are bothering me I do machines instead of free weights. This helps me a lot because then I'm not having to stabilize the weight and can just do the range of motion with the weight. Works for me anyway.

I'm in the military and we have to do pushups for our fitness tests. Doing knee pushups with proper range of motion will strengthen the muscles that are too weak for you to do full range on your toes. You'll eventually work up the strength to do full range on your toes. By staying on your toes and going shallow you're…

My brother in law has been doing crossfit for a year. My husband and I have been doing cardio and weight lifting for a year. We've all reached our goals. All three of us continue to work out doing what we've been doing. All three of us had the same goal: to do workouts that we WILL do 5-6 days a week, keep us interested,…

It was for me. I eat back my cardio calories so I needed to use a HRM to know exactly how many calories I burned during my cardio. Without it I felt like I was guessing. It is what worked for me because I'm someone that will go right up to within 50 calories of my limit.

The most accurate way of knowing/logging your calories burned is to use a heart rate monitor and manually log what you burned for that workout. But if you're looking for an easy guage without one, you can use the talk test or perceived exertion scale. You can look them up online for the info on these if you don't use a HRM.

Stand up and do squats or lunges. You can also do modified pushups on the edge of your desk (so you don't have to get down on the floor). If you want to get your blood flowing a little, sometimes when I find myself yawning at my desk, I'll do deep squats with my arms to my side, when I squat down I bend my arms in and when…

You'll need to use a heart rate monitor to know how much you're burning. I recommend use it for every work out if you're eating back your exercise calories and trying to stay under your daily goal. Using a HRM is the only accurate way of knowing your burn for cardio workouts. Everything else is estimates and if you're like…

Yeah this. I am at a point where really the only "place" I "want" to lose fat is my abs but my body is laughing at me and I'm still losing in the bust too. So I replaced all my bras with good push up bras.

My husband has knee problems and can't do lunges or squats without pain. He does steps. Get the 2-3 foot height step and use it to step up and down. You can add dumbbells or a bar for added weight. Go to a higher step if it doesn't bother your knee.

I'm in the military and when I was in bootcamp I had the same thing. My tailbone actually bled from being rubbed so raw. All I could do was double a towel under my butt. I had to get permission to do it because normally we were doing situps on a bare floor or outside on cement. If you can try to fold over a towel a couple…

Stand in the back until you get used to the moves and queues, but you'll get used to it. Have fun with it. If you're lost then just do something else to keep moving and keep your heart rate up. I've been a step aerobics instructor and a couple pieces of advice: (1) Tell the instructor you're new. This is only so they'll…