Ella1882

Ishtar: Eh. I'm American, so to me 5'2 and 140 lbs is normal. :) Not ideal, maybe, but normal. Regardless, I'm happy to hear you're not blaming yourself for your husband's issues.

Ishatar: If your husband is sending messages to his girlfriends, I think the problem is with him, not with you. Every relationship is complicated, but, still, if your husband has girlfriends I'd say he's bailed out. If he were a good man, a little extra weight on his wife would never lead him to cheat. And, unless you are…

Sam - may be a day or two before I get in front of a full-length mirror, but will check that out and report back. :)

Sam - what should I look for when I do this?

Sam: I don't hyper extend. There are two issues: (1)an MRI told me that the grooves in my patella zig-zag when they should go straight. This is structural and cannot be corrected without surgery. However, I'm told that it's not terribly uncommon. (2) the muscles on the front of the knee on the inner side (sorry, don't…

Got on the library list for Strong Curves. Thanks all for the suggestion. Holly: I do foam roll! It feels terrible, but I think it does help. :) I do it on my IT band only. Dreadful stuff, but feels worth it.

bump

Oy. How much of the grocery shopping/child rearing/house cleaning is he doing? Are you able to get 7-9 uninterrupted hours of sleep a night (necessary for weight loss)? Does he pay for gym membership and ensure that you are able to get to the gym every day? You had 4 kids. That's a lot of trauma on the body. I know that…

Yes, you can. I don't, however, have much to offer in the way of details. I've never shot beyond generalized fitness, so I don't have a lot of knowledge about the more extreme edges of fitness.

When I could run (before my knees stopped me) I used to run exclusively to the Ramones. Of course, I ran slowly, so maybe the pace wouldn't work for you. "Beat on the Brat" in particular was great for me for hitting the right pace!

bump! I know the knee thing might scare some people off of offering advice, but would love some ideas on putting together a workout!

There's some truth to that, and I obviously know the history of winter solstice --> Xmas = Christian invaders/conquerors attempting to supplant existing pagan holy days with new ones. I'm not as informed about Indian/Hindu religious history. The details would be intriguing, if anyone knows them.

Lol. Genau. *Edited to fix quotation function.

Is this a Wicca + Hinduism fusion then? (I'm not being snide; I'm really asking.) Is summer solstice a significant date in Hinduism? 108 sun salutations sounds like a great goal, and doing them with a community on summer solstice sounds like a wonderful (and triceps-exhausting) bonding experience. I'm just curious about…

Is that a thing? Why 108?

I love the elliptical, but, even though it's supposed to be low impact, when I used the elliptical daily I wrecked my knees. I will say, though, that it was really easy to get my heart-rate up to around 180 on the elliptical while keeping my perceived exertion level low. On the treadmill, I feel like I'm working really…

She can get plenty of potassium from beans, potatoes, spinach, fish, etc. Bananas are a good source of potassium, but not the best source. I think bananas get all the attention because they are convenient and because most people like them. Spinach and mushrooms are harder to carry around in your bag and much less sweet,…

Everyone here had great advice, especially ^^^^, I'd also note that replacing your evil bananas with other fruits -- especially mangos, apricots, strawberries, plums -- might help. Most fruits have a slight, natural laxative effect. (I hadn't heard of the banana's constipating effect, but I'll believe the anecdotes!) And I…

Walking: Re your latter point: Oy! I wasn't aware that the thinking had changed about that. Doesn't change much for me (I'd still like to be stronger, and muscle is much more attractive than fat), but that is sad, sad news. jmangini, sam, and wolfman: thanks!

Niner: That's why I was asking, actually. I'm untrained, and my goals are modest (I don't need to look muscular, I just want to be stronger, have sufficient muscle to bump up my metabolism, and, if possible, develop a butt so that I have something to put in the back of my jeans). But there seems to be unanimous agreement…

hmadrone: I'm inspired by your profile photo! You look gorgeous and so strong! I'm definitely not headed toward bodybuilding....I'm not nearly disciplined enough for that! I'm just tired of slowly putting on weight and losing muscle. Good to know from your personal experience that you can, in fact, lose weight and gain…

Thanks! Untrained would definitely describe me. :) I've been lifting and eating normally for about a month, and have seen tiny improvements in strength, but nothing to write home about yet. I feel like I should start cutting back calories a little, but I didn't want to nix the benefits of my strength training by doing so.…

I'm not sure I believe in it, but some people swear by intermittent fasting for stubborn fat (and insulin normalization). E.g., http://www.leangains.com/2010/06/intermittent-fasting-and-stubborn-body.html Can't speak from personal experience, though, because I've never motivated myself to try it and because I'm not yet fit…

I used to love/hate The Firm videos. They're old fashioned, but hard work and good for small spaces and ok on my knees. They have an "Express" set with 20 minute workouts. I haven't tried those Express workouts (so this post isn't quite as helpful as it could be, I know!), but I have had good experiences with all their…

Not directly responsive, but....I was tested at about 11 (the OP's daughter was at 16) 2 years ago and have been taking 2,000 IUs daily to get my levels up to the minimum medically recommended levels. I'm pretty close to "normal" now, but I don't feel any different. Not that vitamin D isn't important (I'm convinced that it…