*Bringing "Sexy Back" Motivation Club*

I want to start a group of motivating girls that have the intention of bringing nothing but their sexy back... I would love to motivate, work towards, congratulate, get tough love and throw pity parties whenever deemed necassary... Anyone want to join me?? I do belong to other groups with other wonderful women but those challenges seem to be ending and people are dwindling... anyone want to stick through it with me, until we get our sexy back??  

Special note: There are no weigh in days, no challenges, no scales, you are own challenge, whether you want to use measurements, scales or even a pair of jeans to measure your success, welcome, if you want to gain weight welcome, if you want to lose welcome, if you want to build up some curves welcome... we are all here to give one another positive reinforcements... 

Hey, just curious... any of you on Facebook?  If so, let me know if you want to be my friend on there.  =)

Kristal ~ A couple things here: sit ups/crunches/ab work will not shrink your belly. In fact, depending on how many you do, it can make your waist thicker. Crazy, right? There was an excellent post about this on the Fitness Forum awhile back. I will try to find it for you. The point of it was, don't not do abs because they will strengthen your core and give you a sexy stomach, but if you are doing 1000 a day, it really will make your abs so strong and kind of bulky I guess is what they said. So do your abs, but don't overdo it. Also, cardio is great but are you doing strength training as well? Building muscles helps burn calories so you may want to try that. Also, you definitely are eating way too few calories! Try eating a little more every day and see what your body likes. Right now you are probably over a 1000cal deficit every day and your body thinks it is starving so it's going to hold on to every single calorie it can. Once you start feeding it properly you should see some progress. But you are really eating well! That is excellent!

Edited to add: here is the link to the ab article I was talking about:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/s ports_body_training_performance/sexy_female_t raining

Karey ~ Hand/arm is getting better every day. I still feel it but definitely not as bad. Glad yours is doing better as well! Awesome job on the work out! I had no idea DVD workouts were so good. I've never done them because I feel like I'll go easy on myself and not work as hard as I am supposed to. Jillian's DVD's sound hard core though so maybe I should try it. Oh I am on Facebook. I will send you my email so you can find me!

Me ~ Thinking I might just go running outside today and go for a longer amount of time. Just have no desire to go to the gym today although I do need to get some strength training in. Had a great time with the Cali girls last night! The rest of you should come on out sometime, have a big Sexy reunion...it'd be tons of fun! When one of us wins the lottery we will fly all the others out :)

Hi girls. Went to the Dr. finally this am for my back (SI joints, sacral pain). He is sending me for an MRI tomorrow morning. It may be a bulging disc. When he hit my right knee with the little rubber mallet to check my reflexes my leg did not kick out the way it was supposed to. The left one does but not the right. it was really weird. The good news is I did get some decent pain meds and muscle relaxers to help me deal with the pain. He did say I can keep working out if I can but just to avoid doing anything that puts more strain on my back. Also, I haven't seen him since bf p90x and he said "man, Gina, you are really getting buff". Even with all my pain, that still made my day! lol. I will let you know what the MRI shows when I get the results. I need to cut back on running for a while. i think I'm gonna try one of the new rowing machines today and see how that feels.

Oh man, first exam today, we're officially entering panic zone. So I may not appear for another 37 days (Yes me and my friends are counting down XD). But yeah, 2 hour RE exam today, immediately followed by another 2 hours of drama rehearsal.  I think RE went okay but there were a few questions where I was just sat there staring at the paper blankly.

Urgh, French on Friday and then my first maths paper on Monday and English Lit on the Tuesday  Eep.

Gina- Hope they find out what's behind it. And yay for the doc's comment :D
Karen- If you went for your run, I hope you had fun!  I hope your arm/hand thingy is better properly soon!!

Well reply to everyone else when I have the time but it's gone 11 and I'm soooo tired. Time for the land of nod for me. Hope you have a good week and hopefully I'll get caught up soon (if my revision guides haven't eaten me that is)

xxx

Karey: I so agree with you! as long as you don't already have some sort of respiratory issues already I think you'd be fine. Not that i'm booking a trip to mexicao city or anything, but you know what I mean. Although i figure vacations to mexicao are dirt cheap at the moment, haha. I've been using 3's. I started with 5's and was dying half way through so I had to switch to 3's! Makes me feel kinda wimpy when normally I'm lifting 15-20lbs. As for your pup, gluocosamine to the rescue! You can double up the dose in the beginning and then lessen it as she feels better. Preventive measures help out alot for dogs with HD.  Try Nupro silver that stuff is awesome! chock full of every vitamin and mineral they could need plus amino and fatty acids if I'm not mistaken, don't have a bottle in front of me. And get her on a food that's high in glucosamine to as a double benefit. I use Chicken soup for dog lover's soul large breed formula. It has around 1000 mg per serving. Can you tell I worked 5 years at a doggy nutrition store?? hehe Oh and I'm on facebook I'll PM you my last name.

Karen: is that the articel with Britany?? If so it's really good! read that kristal it gives a really good workout at the end. We should all meet it's be so fun!  I have a lotto ticket I haven't checked yet, maybe I'll be flying everyone out! haha

Gina: See we told you it was working! hahaha

Helena: Good luck girlie! Keep us posted!!

~Sarah

Karen~  Glad the hand/arm is getting much better.  Mine doesn't seem to be bothering me at all today, I've forgotten all about it.  :)  Some of Jillian's workout dvds are awesome and some are wussy... I like HER workouts, but not the biggest loser ones she does.  So far, i really like the 30 Day Shred and the No More Trouble Zones... hoping to try out the Metabalism one next.  That's a great article that you refered Kristal to, I've seen it before on the forums.... very interesting.  A meeting for all the Sexy Back girls would be cool, but I don't think I'll be able to afford to fly out there anytime soon, unfortunately.  Hope you had a good run outside, that's what I did tonight too.

Gina~  Congrats on the buff comment from the Dr., yay!  That always great if a doctor compliments you, because they see so many people each day and that means you must have really looked good to stand out and get a compliment.  Good luck w/your MRI, I hope it all turns out okay!  Let us know how it goes.

Helena~  Wow, you're such a busy girl!  Good luck w/all your exams!!

Sarah~  LOL  Vacations to mexico probably ARE dirt cheap!  Not that I'd want to go right now either!  Yeah, the 5's are VERY challenging and have me dripping in sweat and my arms felt like they wanted to fall off, but I think I can handle it.  My other options are 2's, which are too light for me, or 8's, which are too heavy.  Guess I'm stuck w/the 5's, but that's okay, it'll get easier.  Yes, glucosamine is wonderful!  I've had her on some liquid stuff that I get at the feed store (for horses and dogs) and it seems to be good stuff.  I've tried the chewable ones, but they don't have as high of levels as the liquid one I use does.  She used to eat a food w/glucosamine in it, but now she's on an allergy food that only has a couple ingredients.  I may do some Adequain injections at the vet again, since those seem to really help lubricate the joints, but they're pricey.  I've never heard of Nupro Silver, but I'll check into it, thanks!!  =)

Me~  Ate healthy again today and even cooked dinner!  I made a chicken stew w/dumplings... pretty good and easy to make.  Went running outside tonight and just did a couple miles.  Tried to hurry back because it looked like it was going to storm and downpour... we really need the rain though, there have been so many brush fires around here since it's been so hot and dry.  There's one not too far from us that's burned over 3,000 acres already!  Some days you can step outside and smell the smoke... depends which way the wind is going.

Karey: found you on facebook! I tried to PM but it said message failed and that I could only send 2 a day. weird cuz you're the only message I would have sent today. anywhoo the 3's are getting easier so I think I'm gonna give the 5's another try. Good job eating well and cooking dinner! I love love love chicken and dumplings! this place by my grandmother's made the best chicken and dumplings ever! I could eat it all day long. That's so scary about the fires! My mom had one across the street from her shortly after she moved out to cali, the owner of the complex she lived in was on top of the building hosing down the embers so the roof wouldn't catch fire! Scary stuff!

Me: working out is falling to the curb since I've been doing last minute packing and prep for vacation. But I have been going for at least a 2 mile walk with the dog everyday, so at least it's something.

Oh my gosh, everyone seems to be doing really good! 

Karey - congrats on eating healthy, I find when I eat a bit of junk my energy level goes down too! I can hear it in your tone :) woot woot

Sarah - you are still working out and a 2mile walk is nothing to shake a stick at! keep it up! can't wait to see vacation pix1

Helena - good luck on the exam! get A's for me ;) 

Gina - girl anytime I hear MRI I get freaked out, I come from family of hypochondriacs and I'm the opposite, I wait until the last minute and don't think anythings wrong! nothing chicken stock can't cure ;) Good luck and wow, I hope you are not in too much pain. Rowing machines is gonna give you a 'sexy back'! ;) good luck on the tests and let us know how it goes, we are pulling for you.

xo...sg

oh me... did kickboxing again and pilates today, had a GREAT meeting yesterday and keeping fingers crossed, eating really well, taking it slow with drinking, and keeps cals low, noticed I fit better in my jeans yesterday also, happy keeping motivated, want to see 137 by the end of week! Have a great day everyone, hugs and kisses ;) woohooo!!!!! 

Sarah~  yay, you found me!  :)  Don't know why I couldn't find you... hmm.  Anyways, I think taking a two mile walk is pretty good, better than nothing.  I think you can do the 5's... you can do it!  Can you believe that I am still sore?!  Mostly my legs (I ran last night too) and my butt!  LOL  Trying to decide if I should do the No More Trouble Zones again tonight, or take the night off and rest up.  I can only imagine how frazzled you're probably feeling w/preparing for your trip and everything.

Soraya~  Thanks!  Good job on the kickboxing and pilates!!  Glad your meeting went great and hoping it works out for you!  I'll cross my fingers too!!  :)

Me~  Still trying to keep it healthy... very sore today and trying to decide if I'm going to do the workout dvd or just chill.  TBD...

sexy chicas! happy hump day. as usual, poppin' in briefly.... y'all sound like you're doing well...although karey's sore...sarah swears she's not working out, but walking 2 miles...gina is "taking it slow", but kickin' major ass even with a back problem! y'all rock...

soraya - cool to finally meet you! short but sweet happy hour :)

mandy and karen - as usual, good times Monday night! the movie was whacky, but we laughed and talked smack to the screen for most of it lol did i seriously eat an entire bag of popcorn? i'm still paying for it and have been feeling quite hefferish.

so monday was mojitos and popcorn w/the cc cali girls, last night was sushi and champagne w/my longtime jr. high girls, and tonight it's back to Frida for mojitos w/ co workers... hectic week. wouldn't  mind just heading home and hopping on the treadmill! i've been feeling "puffy" since Monday. it won't last long.....i hope!

ok...back to work so i can sneak outta here by 6pm tonight!

luv u guys!

Zima

Original Post by zeema976:

sexy chicas! happy hump day. as usual, poppin' in briefly.... y'all sound like you're doing well...although karey's sore...sarah swears she's not working out, but walking 2 miles...gina is "taking it slow", but kickin' major ass even with a back problem! y'all rock...

Zima: wow it's so funny when you say it that way. We're all thinking we're doing nothing and we're actually doing lots! who knew! Hope you get out of work on time!

Soraya: 2 days til vacation! yay!! I'll cross my fingers for you too!

Karey: when I first searched you nothing came up but when I did it a second time you did, weird right? I was looking at all your cruise photos, they made me drool for saturday!!

Me: I really really didn't want to walk after work today! I was yawning the whole way home. Anyway I just walked inside put on my shoes and grabbed the dog. 1 hour and 3 miles later, I'm really glad i walked.

Sarah - 3 miles! badass! 2 days from cruise heaven, nice. The ex asked me to go to the Dominican Republic with him next month...all expenses paid. :) what is going on with him?!? I'm just enjoying the attention for now...

oh...i'm on facebook too!

Girls!

Gina ~ Hope the MRI went ok! Awesome that your doctor is complimenting you! That is like the ultimate...when the health professional notices a difference and tells you. I would've been floating on clouds after that :) Hope you enjoyed the rowing machine! They have one at my gym - unfortunately it's in the private training room - so I've only gotten to use it once but I loved it!

Helena ~ Good luck on your exams! I remember those days...take care of yourself!

Sarah ~ Yep that is the article with the Britney comparisons. I think it's great! Every woman should have to read it...I certainly learned from it. Your cruise is almost here!!! Hope you are getting packed and ready with no stress.

Karey ~ Chicken stew with dumplings? Mmmm that sounds yummy! What's the recipe and cals on that? I need to start adding some new foods into my dinner food repertoire. Great job on all the running!

Soraya ~ Cool that you are keeping up with your workouts! Remember the summer pool party to keep ya going! :)

Zima ~ Sushi!! Yum! You are a busy girl...I don't know how you do it! Hope tonight at Frida's is fun! Take some time for yourself though soon, whether on the treadmill or just by the pool. And there is no way you are "hefferish" LOL! You are freakin' gorgeous!

Me ~ Just got home from the gym. I was soo sweaty! I usually don't obviously sweat, like have it run down my forehead or anything but today I was having to stop in the middle of the workouts with trainer boy to wipe it out of my eyes. I have no idea what was different today, wasn't even a Crossfit day. I suppose that's good though! I did go running yesterday, extended my normal route which was good. I am such a creature of habit that I had to constantly tell myself that I was going to go farther but I did it, almost exactly 3 miles instead of my usual 2.1. Woo! That's good because sometimes it is so much nicer to run outside in nice weather instead of on a treadmill.

Hope everyone is having great weather and a good day!

Karey! omg, LOST is on later! I may not be able to see it tonight, a freind is on her way over for some sangria so I may miss it! but will try to see the episode online! ugh!!! we must discuss after I will pm you! ;) 

Zima - Yes! great meeting you guys as well ;) 

Karen - Yes pool party motivation! def. looking forward to it ;) 

Sarah - woooooo 3miles!!!!! 

zima: Damn girl I would take full advantage of that!!! As long as he understood that didn't mean you were back together, unless that's what you want. PM me with your full name so I can find you on facebook!

Karen: I am mostly packed, I just need to pack shoes and I'm trying to narrow down the options! haha I heart shoes! Was your workout routine different?? Maybe it was really challenging your body, or it was super hot where you were! haha. I hate sweating! I have a huge fan that I keep in my exercise room so I don't get too hot. I find if I'm running and get too warm I need to stop cuz I feel like I'm not getting enough air.

Soraya: I watched it!! it was so good! How could you miss the finale! lol!

Me: dreary in NY. It's cloudy and rainy.  I'm gonna go tanning during lunch to get some UV rays to make me happy!  OK not that this is really any reason to be mad but it's the straw that broke the camels back this week. Work has been ridic! Shouldn't really surprise me, isn't that always the way things happen, right before vacation you're swamped?? Anywhoo here's why I'm peeved. My job does casual fridays and we are allowed to wear jeans.  People in other depts take it to the extreme and wear sweatpants and velour sweatsuits to work, which is so inappropriate IMO. My dept is really good, we always get compliments for being the best dressed dept of the company. So this Friday we have some high profile clients coming to visit the office, and since others can't be trusted to dress respectfully they've revoked jeans this week! Ugh! I know it sounds so dumb to be annoyed by it, but i hate the whole "rotten apple spoiled the bunch" shiz.  I was looking forward to being super comfy on friday, knowing it's my last day. 

OH MY GOD SARAH! I saw the last hour and half! my head was spinning!!!! I just PM'd Karen, I think that's Whitdmore using Lockes body, Jacob said 'YOu found the LOOPHOLE" remember he was exiled, and vowed revenge and made the crazy guy Kill Jacob, breaking the rules again!!!!! ugh!!! obsessed!!!!!!!!! I can't believe they sucked me in like this, it's by far the best writing for fantasty sci fi around, I'm impressed! ugh! what you think pm me ;) 

Hey Sexies!!

Sarah: Haha, I'm glad you liked my cruise photos... gives you a little preview of what you're going to be enjoying.  I'm sure you're going to have a blast!  Can't wait to see your pics too!  Great job on getting the walks in!  That totally sucks about the casual Friday thing... I hate it when stupid people ruin it for everyone!  So not fair! 

Zima~  You are such a busy girl!  Miss popularity by the sound of it.  ;)  That's awesome about the ex asking you on an all expenses paid trip!  He must want you back pretty badly and that must feel great!  Enjoy it!

Karen~  If you want the recipe for the chicken stew w/dumplings, it's in the recipe section under "Savory Chicken Stew and Dumplings (for 2) Recipe" and ends up being about 440 cals/serving.  I got the recipe off of www.EatBetterAmerica.com and it was listed on there as being 3 servings, but was under the 2 person category... so, I just changed it to 2.  Good job at the gym!  It's a great thing when you're that sweaty... probably means your body worked extra hard and burned a lot more calories.  I am also a creature of habit and usually run the same route... boring!  I need to switch it up too...

Soraya~  I saw it!!!  It was great!  I Pm'd you back...  Boo, it's done until next year now.  :( 

Me:  It was so nice out (and hot) all day and now I finish working and a storm rolls in and it's pouring rain and thundering.  Bleh.  Guess I'll be working out inside tonight.  I ended up taking last night off... I was SO sore still in my legs/thighs/butt area and got about 10 minutes into my dvd workout and quit.  Just couldn't do any more last night.  Besides, I didn't want to miss LOST!  LOL  So, I'm still really sore, but going to try the dvd again... hopefully I'll make it this time.  :)

Hey Girls! Just read thru the posts to catch up! Wow! Everyone has been busy and doing great sounds like!

Normal- Hope your exams go well! I feel your pain! Hang in there.

Sarah- Have an awesome time on your trip! Good job on the 2-3 mile walks. Enjoy all those cruise buffets. There will be plenty of time to count cals when you get back. I'm with ya on the UV ray thing. I sometimes go tanning in the winter just to stave off seasonal effective disorder. It's light therapy.

Karey- Mmmm...chicken stew withdumplings sounds lovely right now.  Sounds like you are back on the healthy track you were on bf the trip.

For all you lost fans...Did you see the "Lost" cake they made on the Food Network show "Ace of Cakes"?

Zima- Ummm...my answer to the free vaca would be "hell yes!"...that is as long as he understood there's no strings attached. (that is unless you want strings) ;)

Karen- I do have to say I have been eating up the compliments I have gotten recently, since I went for a long time getting none. I ended up not doing the rowing machine yet. I am doing my p90x w/o's and using the elyptical for extra cardio for now until my back is pain free. You are kickin butt in the gym girl. i can definately relate to the sweat in the eyes issue. The airconditioner broke in our aerobics room at my gym and it's now like a sauna in there. But I would definately take sweating over freezing during a work out. I don't feel like I did anything if my clothes aren't drenched with sweat at the end of a w/o.

Soraya- You are doing so well being consistent with your workouts and eating. That is so great! But, don't get discouraged if the scale doesn't go down to 137 this week. Just focus on being consistent and the weight loss will come. For me, generally after a significant drop on the scale (like you had going from 142 to 139) and breaking a major plateau, I will usually maintain that weight for a week or soo before seeing another drop. I am holding steady between 126 and 127 now which I am ok with considering my back pain. But my goal for the end of p90x is to get down to 124-125#. It's really weird though...I never had such a body composition change before. i have definately gained pounds of muscle while losing fat this time bc my jeans that i used to only fit into when i was 122-123# now fit me easily at 126-127#.

Me...well the MRI was done on my spine only and not my SI joints and it came back ok! So the good news is I don't have any herniated discs in my spine, so there is not much danger of me doing any serious damage while continuing to work out with the back pain. The issue is what they call "Sacral-Ileac joint dysfunction". I went to a spine specialist this am and he dx that. He ordered physical therapy for the next 4 weeks, gave me some more happy pills, and told me not to run for a while. It's pretty much consensus at least between the chiro, the internal med MD and the spine Dr. that this is just a chronic issue with my SI joints and I just have to try to rest when i get an acute flareup and keep my core muscles strong to support the joints and avoid specific activity that exacerbates it. Went to the chiro today and he gave me an electric stim (TENS unit) unit that I can wear during the day to get some pain relief. I am not going to stop doing my p90x. We are on week 10, day 3 today. Yeah!

Gina:  Hey, I'm glad you don't have any serious damage and that the MRI came back okay!  :)  It sucks that you're still in pain, but I know you're tough and you'll get through it!  Doesn't sound like you plan on giving up anytime soon!!  You go girl!!  Just make sure to take care of yourself.  ;)

Me:  Just finished my Jillian Michaels "No More Trouble Zones" dvd.... still sore, but I made it.  Now I'll just be even more sore tomorrow, but that's okay, it's worth it!  It's all good!  :)  My HRM says I burned almost 400 calories doing that dvd, woot!!  I ate sooo healthy today and had lots of fruit, etc., but then for dinner we went out for Mexican - ugh!  I'm working it off though, and I'm not gonna let it get me down!