a_stronger_steph Member

I was size US 12 (or very tight, in-denial, size 10), with some 13's and 14's thrown in there that I had convinced myself were "anomalies" (they weren't). Size M or L in shirts. I now fit comfortably in size 4-8 pants (6's are getting loose, but not quite at a standard 4 yet). I'm a 6-8 in dresses, and S/M in shirts. Sizes…

Happy to hear you're on the mend! :D

Congrats to everyone on your progress!!! :) I agree with Bees and TexasNana - running in the rain is quite lovely. I did so last night (after buying a nice, lightweight wind/rain shell and a cap to keep my glasses from getting too wet), and it was just fantastic. The not-so-fantastic part is this: my right knee swelled up…

Indeed - how did it go?? Was it a big race? Hope you had fun!

^^^ Agreed!!!! That's a 7.5 minute mile! That's incredible! Get up near the front for that 5k - you could have a chance of placing in your age group! :D

Week 1 seemed to go smoothly for me (with the exception of my first try at W1D3, wherein I just felt awful, and quit after 20 mins/2 miles...but I did it again two days later). I'm running inside on the treadmill again, mostly because it's been sorta rainy and icky here. And cold. It's been cold. I need to figure out…

I kinda jumped the gun and started a bit early, but I anticipate some days/weeks that'll be slower for me (this is a busy time of year), so I'm sure it'll even out. :)

Aw, well don't get discouraged! I still say go try some on, because some have lots of give to them, and some you can expand a bit. If the first few you try on aren't fitting, ask the clerk if they have any that are adjustable or have naturally wider widths. And if not... online shopping! (No need to even put on pants!…

I think the "standard" calf size for boots is around 14-15 inches, though I'm sure there's huge amounts of variation in that. I only recently have been able to fit into tall boots (I'm SO excited, I've been waiting for this, too! I have a pair shipping to me now, hehe). As with most things, every person's body is going to…

I have both an armband and a waist belt (little Spibelt). To be honest, I kind of hate both of them. The Spibelt is great for what it is, but having something around my waist hinders my breathing, and I have larger hips so if I push it down, it's just uncomfortable. The armband sort of squishes my arm (if I have it looser…

I just bought my first pair of skinny jeans a couple weeks ago from Forever XXI. I'm a 28 waist, and the size 28 jeans fit me (though they only had the "regular" length (32") and I'm a shortie who prefers the 30" inseam). I tried the 27s for fun, but they weren't very flattering. I find that whether jeans fit me depends on…

^^^ Precisely. I like Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard. Thus far I've had the Extreme Milk Chocolate, French Vanilla Creme, and Mocha Cappuccino flavours. They're all pretty good, though Mocha Cappuccino turned out to be my least favourite of the three. It's just not as versatile as the other two (which I end up putting in…

Congratulations, graduates!!

My thighs have definitely shrunk since losing weight, but they are by no means "tiny," and I don't think they will ever be. I love that there's a smaller amount of fat on them now, because I can poke them and feel the hard muscle underneath... that's totally new to me, and quite frankly, I love it. I would never want to…

If you usually eat breakfast and just skipped it this one time, I'm pretty sure you'll be just fine. :) I've no idea what the actual science says about eating breakfast and its effects on the metabolism - but as long as you keep eating at a caloric deficit, you should lose weight, regardless of when your calories are…

Were your flax seeds ground? (And if they weren't before you put them in, were they after you blended everything together?) I know flax + water is a vegan egg replacement, and it gets quite gelatinous when you mix them. I imagine the same sort of reaction would occur with other liquids as well, so it might've been that?

Hahaha, I was wondering when someone would chime in on Linux. ;) I've used both PCs and Macs (and a plethora of operating systems: Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Ubuntu, Red Hat, and OS X). It's curious that people are saying Mac, as an OS, doesn't have as much functionality. It's actually used quite extensively in…

:( Ack, that really sucks!! Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Another vote for strength training!! It's so key for all-around health, muscle maintenance, and body composition.

I was doing some reading last night and was reminded of a couple other funny astronomy terms: "Galaxy strangulation" (this is when a galaxy falls into a cluster environment and tidal forces strip the gas from the galaxy - stars need gas to form, so this process halts star formation, thereby "strangling" the galaxy).…

Right - I was talking 1430 before exercise. :) I also eat my exercise calories! So on days when I manage to get off my butt (I'm a student too), I earn an extra 300 some-odd calories to devour. Nom nom! :happy:

I don't know how tall you are, but if your goal weight is 130 lbs, I imagine you might be around my height (I'm 5'4"). When I first signed up for MFP, I picked the "2 lbs per week" loss rate, because who doesn't want to lose 2 lbs per week, right? When I saw that that option gave me only 1200 calories, I balked.…

...I have the sense of humour of a 13-year-old boy. I don't know if I could talk about that without giggling constantly.

Hehe, well, I recognized "fractal" in that (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal) and then did some googling... apparently fractalkine was named for its fractal-like geometry... of course, I couldn't find an actual photo of it. I don't really know what a cytokine is or if you can have photos of it, though. But someone…

http://www.runningtothekitchen.com/2011/11/pumpkin-cranberry-chocolate-chip-bars/ http://www.runningtothekitchen.com/2011/11/cranberry-almond-whole-wheat-pancakes/ Haven't tried either of those recipes, but they sound good!

Awesome - glad to hear that you're getting results! I think I may combine this idea of "faster c25k" with the "bridge to 10k" - do one or the other every other day and try to get faster as well as increase my endurance! Keep on letting us know how things are progressing!

Maybe an iPod Nano or Shuffle? I don't own either, but they're small and portable. The nano is getting pretty sophisticated, from the looks of things.

My mom almost wanted to call the hospital after she saw me finish a day of week 4 when she was visiting. She thought I was going to have a heart attack and die. I get BEET red in the face, really gross and sweaty, and yeah... my nose runs, too (if I'm running outside, it's not so bad when I'm inside). You're not alone!…

I almost always end up running around 9pm. I'm a grad student, so theoretically I could (should?) probably get up in the morning a bit earlier, but I am NOT a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not a fan of running while hungry, either, so if I'm hungry when I get home (and I usually am), I'll eat dinner…

I graduated sometime early/mid-September (around the 8th, I think). I kept on running 5k more or less two or three times a week, with times averaging around 28-30 minutes, depending on how energetic I felt. My first 5k race was on October 29th, and I completely blew myself away by coming in at 26:09. My next 5k will…