Alassonde Member

I have too many hobbies! I like drawing, painting, scrapbooking, photography and pretty much anything artistic. I also enjoy watching TV, movies, working out and playing computer games. There's not enough time in the day for it all!

My last vacation I indulged a lot, but we also walked all over the place (and sweated a lot, it was hot in Florida!). I also only went nuts for 1 meal a day instead of all 3. Managed to go a week without gaining weight.

I don't know what your back issues are, but I know that I had problems with my lower back that have gone away since starting yoga and strength training.

Awesome!

NSV's really are great. When I first started the strength training with the intention of recomping, I was at slightly over maintenance and gradually gained about 7 pounds. I dropped back to maintenance and the scale hasn't moved for months, yet this same co-worker also told me I look like I have lost weight. She was…

Ugh. I've got a family gathering coming up in a few months, and I feel like I need to wear a sign that says "Please don't comment on my body". My family loves to comment that I'm too skinny even though I'm not. I'm 5' 4" and 125 pounds, which is actually about an ideal weight. They think I'm trying to lose weight because I…

In my own experience, I tried and tried to gain weight because I was bullied unmercifully. I had people physically pushing me around, drawing stick people and labeling them with my name, following me into the bathroom to make sure I wasn't throwing up, and calling me every possible nasty name that you can associate with…

I log everything fairly accurately, but I also always try to eat 100-200 calories less than my maintenance goal to allow for error. That seems to be working for me....when I was getting too close to my maintenance goal, I was gaining.

My husband is supportive and doesn't criticize but my 15-year-old daughter sure does! She has been in dance since 1st grade and seems to think that makes her some kind of personal trainer. I finally had to tell her if she didn't stop giving me "advice" she was going to have to stay in her room while I work out because it's…

People tell me I'm underweight. I'm 5' 4" and currently 125 pounds. I have very little muscle mass (working on that!) so I do have more fat than most people probably would at that weight (all on the stomach). I do think it's a skewed image of "normal"....most of the people I know are overweight or obese and they all seem…

Skinny fat here. Almost all of my excess weight is on my stomach; I know I may or may not be able to do much about that. I have been doing the "you are your own gym" program for a few months now, and eating at maintenance or slightly over. I know I've gained some muscle, which is great, but my measurements haven't changed…

The book "strong curves" has a lot of glute exercises, in fact that's pretty much the focus of the whole book. Not sure how effective they are as I haven't tried them yet, but it definitely has more focus on glutes than any exercise program I've seen.....

I have been working on recomping for a few months now (profile pic is not current!) and I just have my goals set to maintain. It seems to be working for me.

We had to go without a stove for a few months we got by with the crock pot, electric frying pan and microwave. I don't know if you have those things, but the crock pot and electric frying pan really help if you don't have an oven/stovetop.

My mom has managed to convince herself that her weight problem is ALL genetics and that's just the way she's destined to be. It has nothing at all to do with the potato chips, pizza, ice cream, wine and beer that she consumes in large quantities regularly, so why should she stop? Exercise doesn't do any good either when…

Well, that list doesn't leave much.

You'll never be able to make other people happy. You should do what feels right to you, as long as it's healthy, and 114 sounds just fine for your height, especially with a small frame.

Dark chocolate is best calorie-wise, and if you get the quality stuff and really savor it, you don't need a lot of it. I just had a few squares of Lindt dark chocolate w/orange and it was amazing.

I wouldn't advise sacrificing sleep, that's not good for you at all. Maybe you could try home workouts so you don't have to find time to get to a gym. And with a baby, you need some sanity too so don't put too much pressure on yourself! Sounds like you've done great so far.

Quote: "I've had that type of feeling only once (I called it my Biggest Loser moment) and it was a few things that brought it on: first, I was borderline hypoglycemic (I sat down otherwise, I was going to puke, but it didn't help. Only when I took a couple of drinks of Gatorade did my feeling faint go away); second, I was…

Yoga is great for strength and flexibility. It doesn't burn a ton of calories. It's great for your body though, and if you combine it with a calorie deficit you will lose weight.

I've been gaining muscle with body weight only. Of course, I started out as a total weenie with NO muscle so not sure I could have picked up an actual weight anyway!

Been cold my whole life. My co-workers always joke that the air conditioning must be broken if I've had to take off my 2nd sweater. I'm sitting in my office right now with long underwear and a sweater on, with a space heater pointed right at my feet. I've had all the tests done, general consensus is it's just normal for me.

I got punished for not eating all my food. When I was a kid I thought I just hated almost all foods; turns out it was mostly that my mom was a REALLY lousy cook.

Eggs are good. I've been trying to add protein to my diet so I've been eating a lot more eggs. I have hard boiled eggs as snacks a lot, and of course there's lots of other ways to prepare them so I can add them to my meals also.

I second the hard boiled eggs idea. I eat those all the time. Also nuts are good. I usually try to have a sandwich for lunch with either tuna fish, peanut butter or lean chicken/turkey slices.

Never had the chance to see if a really cut guy is uncomfortable to snuggle. Somehow I don't think I would mind. My husband has just enough insulation over the muscle to soften him up, I guess.

Oh, and to answer your other question, I think you could go with just the app. It explains all the exercises so I don't think the book is necessary.

I got the book first, and then the app. I like both. The program seems really good. I got the book about 6 months ago, and was just sort of making up my own program. Then I felt like I kind of stalled in progress so I got the app. The workouts on the app push me much harder than I was pushing myself, so I'm definitely…

It depends a lot on your body fat percentage and how your body stores fat. I weigh 125 pounds and usually wear a 6, but in some brands I wear an 8. I tend to store all my fat around my waist so that increases my pants size. If you have a lot of muscle, you may weigh more but still fit into a smaller size.