luvmybentley Member

Not unless it's beyond the norm like moving furniture or painting the ceiling or something that would make me skip a workout. Regular housecleaning that I did before MFP I don't consider as exercise.

Listen to your body. Take a couple of days off from the gym and see how you feel. When you start back up have a healthy carb snack 1/2 hr before your workout and a protein snack after and see if you have more energy. You may need to tweak your calories, at about 1 month of hard core MFP, I was feeling like that too. I…

I cut out the side dishes (rice, pasta, potatoes) and substituted veggies on my plate instead. Try them roasted or grilled (grilled red, yellow, orange peppers, asparagus, zucchini are delicious...just spritz/toss with olive oil and sea salt). I always eat my salad first when I'm really hungry. Add 1 Tbsp chopped nuts,…

I agree, once I learned to calculate the calories in everything I'm eating, it's no wonder I put on the weight in the first place. I'm appalled at the amount of calories in some of the foods I used to enjoy, now they make me cringe. I've turned into the calorie police, I don't even bring many processed foods into the house…

and it shows! Your before/after profile pic is truly inspirational! Congratulaions man!

flavored creamer in my coffee, I finally was able to cut out the sugar, but I can't live without fat free french vanilla coffee creamer at 30 calories a tbsp (and I have at least 5-6 a day)

How much exercise are you really getting? I was walking 30-45 min. daily and nothing was happening, then I got a heart rate monitor to track my calories burned during exercise...learned I was only burning between150-200 calories. I've since ditched the walking and stepped it up to circuit training (cardio/weights) and step…

I have a friend whos mother and sister both battled breast cancer, only one survived. She can't get rid of her boobs soon enough, and has opted for an elective double mastectomy. If they are healthy, I say be happy with what you've got. They really don't matter.

Ditto on the circuit training...cardio and strength. The only way to get an accurate reading is with a heart rate monitor though. Others on here have said that they burn about 200-250 calories doing 30 Day Shred.

If you were just using your arms and you were breathing heavy, that sounds like a boxing/punching bag workout, under cardio.

I'm 5'7" too, if you are at 135 with only 16% body fat you must be sporting some nice muscles. See my goals in my signature? I want to be you! I would forget the scale numbers now, and work on maintaining what you've accomplished. When you set your goal for 120, you probably didn't account for muscle, which you obviously…

I typed b. i. t. c. h. y. and it bleeped me! Obviously his forum is not familiar with PMS!:laugh:

Good idea, would certainly help to see the pattern to avoid the frustration when we see the temporary blips on the scale, even though we are doing everything right. Don't need any extra triggers during that TOM, already *****y enough! I seem to have stalled at 9 lbs lost, was getting frustrated. Glad to see I'm not alone,…

1000 calories (even 1200) is really low if you are working out every day. Are you eating your exercise calories on top of that? You need some fuel girl! After several days/weeks of extreme calorie restriction you risk slowing down your metabolism. Try upping your calories to your BMR minimum with healthy nutrient-dense…

I'm 5'7" 150 lbs, and I used 5 lb dumbells, so 250 calories sounds about right then? Still, serious workout for such a small calorie burn. I'm used to logging 600-700 calories, so I did 40 min on the treadmill too. My legs are feeling it.

Push ups, lat pulls, rows, chest flys. Work both front and back. Work shoulders, arms and abs too...it all helps.

The diet in a nutshell promotes nutrient dense carbs, lean proteins and healthy fats, in a specific ratio, to stabilize blood sugar and hormones. You don't need to buy any special zone foods. Go to www.zonediet.com and join the site for free. You'll have access to the calculators and the basic diet and recipes. Choose the…

I think you look great! Another 10 lbs you will look too gaunt, you don't want to lose those curves. As the others have said, stop losing and start building some muscle if you feel you need to change something. I have always said that to look good on the beach all you have to do is find someone that looks worse than you…

I'm not eating any "diet" foods (sugar free, fat free, carb free), just more unprocessed stuff in smaller portions. Tip for salads: Use the regular better tasting dressing, but instead of pouring a smidge on your salad and choking back plain salad, measure a tablespoon into a condiment cup, and dip your fork into it before…

But the ingredient list is still full of chemicals and artificial junk. I like the ingredient list for water better :)

Do it NOW! If the photographer is experienced with these, the filtered lighting and poses will hide what you want hidden and highlight your best features. I have seen plus size boudoir photos that are absolutely beautiful...remember they can be touched up/airbrushed if you want (you think the models in Playboy really look…

who knew jumping jacks and push ups would be so hard???? After Day 1 my lats hurt so bad I could barely raise my arms, but I did day 2 and felt better after, then day 3 was a bit easier....I'm on day 8 now and actually could keep up today :) you'd think 2 minutes of cardio would be easy, but I still swear at those f#@$n…

I'm a 36DD, tried several sports bras, hated them all. Most sports bras for bigger cup sizes are made like armored tanks, and feel like that too. All seem to try to stop the bounce from the bottom, when what I really needed was more support on the top. One day out of jumping jack desperation I wrapped a tensor bandage on…

Search the web, body building sites/forums are full of supplement reviews. There are some effective ones, but bottom line is they are not a magic pill...you still need to do the work and follow a strict low carb/high protein diet. You can only stay on them a short time or your metabolism will build up a tolerance. The…

I used to lay in bed and hit the snooze button at least 4 times, then drag myself out of bed and into the shower. I've only been at this for 30 days, but now I'm wide awake before my alarm goes off (now set to 1 hour earlier so I can get in a workout before work), and I am soaking wet before I even get in the shower :) I…

bacon and cheese oh how I miss you

Do it every day for 30 days, 10 days at each level. I'm on week one, am noticing my stamina has increased already (could barely get through day one, but now able to keep up on day 5 :) I love this workout because it requires no special equipment (just dumbells), and not a whole lot of floor space (just enough room to do…

I have used my GOAL weight for my calorie requirements. I'm eating to just maintain my goal weight, and have been losing 3 lbs a week with only moderate exercise (30 min 6 days a week). Why would you want to eat enough calories to sustain an overweight body if you want that body to burn off the stored excess fuel? There…

I'm no expert, but some of the diet/goal weight research I've done advises that you should calculate the maintenance calories required for your GOAL weight, not your current weight. If you are only eating the calories required to sustain your ideal weight (before exercise), your body will burn off the excess through…

I schedule my cheat day for the day after I weigh in, if I lose weight then that's my reward, if the scale hasn't changed I skip the cheat day. Either way, I have the whole week to work it off before the next weigh in. If I've lost weight, then it's keep doing what I was doing, if not then I add an extra workout or two…