Posts by laura42

Hmmm, I thought I posted today, but it's not here.  I must have gotten up from the computer without hitting "post reply".

Sounds like some people are doing well, and others are struggling.  Supersized - I think you need to celebrate.  You're doing well.  Looks like you're losing 2 lbs a week just like you are supposed to.  Dovelette, you're looking good.  Dothehokiepokey - welcome.  Figurethefat - hope you're feeling better.  An icky bug went through our house a few weeks ago.  Not fun.  Carryonandon - 79 is very respectable.  I'd take that right about now.  Msmeg - good for you!!!  Hope the quad feels better.  Raven - hope your headaches clear up.  Cawilder - sorry to hear you're struggling.  We all go through those times.  Hopefully you can put the past where it belongs - in the past - and start in the right direction tomorrow.  We're all pulling for you.

Let's see- how am I doing?  Not so great.  I fell off the wagon when I went to London and couldn't get back on when I got home.  I ate terribly the rest of the week.  When I first got home I was only 1 lb up on the scale.  After this weekend, I am up 3.  I find that discouraging.  Overall, I'd say I'm about 50% on my goal of sticking to my nutritional plan on the weekends, and about 75% on lifting 3 times a week.  So....not so good.  But today was a new day and I did well.  I lifted, went for a short walk, and finished the day in a caloric deficit.  I am trying to take it one day at a time and finish the last 3 weeks 12 week goal period on a positive note.

I have not been 100% successful.  I wanted to stick to my nutritional plan 3 out of 4 weekends, and I have done that only 2 out of 4.  While that wasn't stellar, it was an improvement over what I acheived over the summer.  So I am going to stay positive and try to build on that limited improvement.

Even my maintenance goal of lifting 3 times a week did not go well.  Usually I have no problem with that because I enjoy it.  But the kids were sick and I didn't go to the gym. I also missed some gym time several weeks ago when I pulled a muscle in my back.  The pulled musle had to heal - there was nothing I could really do about that.  But we talked about excuses last week, and I could have worked out at home while the kids were sick.  I did not find the motivation to make that happen. 

So......

I still think my goals are achievable.  I did not unreasonable goals and I should be able to do accomplish them.

I am going to recommit and work hard to be on target for the last half of this goal period.  As far as lifting is concerned: the kids are healthy and my back is healed.  I should not have impediments to working out.  I have incorporated 10 minutes of deep stretching and foam rolling into my lifting routine to avoid more injuries.  I have been doing that consistently so it should not be difficult to continue.

I will be traveling to London Nov 6 thru 10.  I am giving myself a free pass to enjoy myself.  I will also allow a free day for Thanksgiving day.  The remainder of the time, I will try to stick to my nutritional plan. I am going to include more maintenance days than deficit days so that should help too.

Bigbitty - congratulations!!!!  Yay!

Checkin:

My parents were visiting this weekend and I managed to stick to maintenance calories.   That is an improvement over my usual large weekend overindulgences.  Now that their visit and my cycle is behind me, I can seriously concentrate on running a deficit for the next two weeks.  Wish me luck.

I will post a recipe a little later.  Right now I have to get dinner on the table for the kids.

Bigbitty, I hope that baby comes soon!  What are your doctors saying?

Checkin:

This weekend was a holiday weekend.  My daughter had a soccer tournament and I was on the road and outdoors a lot.  It felt great.  I stuck to calorie maintenance on Sat and Sun, and went over maintenance on Fri.  All in all, not bad for a holiday weekend, complicated by huge PMS cravings for carbs, carbs, carbs!!!  

I only lifted twice last week, and because the kids are home from school today, I will most likely lift only twice this week as well.  but I think dropping back on the lifting a little is helping to keep my appetite in check.  That works well since I am still focusing on fat loss.  I have been very active even without the lifting, so hopefully fat loss is progressing.  I want to get to the point where I say, OK - I am done with fat loss, now let me try to add muscle and to do that, let me eat a little above maintenance.  I'm not sure when that will happen, but I keep trying!

3 weeks into our 12 week challenge, I would have to say I have been about 75% on track.  I could be doing better, but I my weekends have improved significantly, so I am pleased with my progress.  I am going to keep trying to do better.

I have been a member of this group for three months now and I am happy I joined.  I have especially enjoyed the last 3 weeks being a part of the challenge.  Sarah's encouragement to state specific small goals helped me identify my worst trouble spot and focus on that area.  I think it has made a difference.  I look forward to working with this group for a long time to come.

Hi everyone.  Hope you had a good weekend.

The introductions so far have been wonderful.

I had a successful weekend!!  I stayed on plan which is currently is to run a small  300 calorie deficit.  A major success for me.  It helped that we had no social engagments so there wasn't a lot of temptation.  But I'm one step closer to my goal of 3 out 4 weekends staying on plan. 

One thing I did that helped was buy my husband single serving size bottles of wine. He has a nice wine collection and likes a glass of wine with dinner.  Usually he opens a lovely bottle and I have a lot of trouble turning down a glass.  That can ruin your deficit when you're at the end of the day and you have a finite number of calories left for dinner.  The wine in the single serving bottle is not the best, but my husband endured I was able to forgo the extra calories and stay on target.

Good work with your goals everyone.  Even if you didn't so as well as you would have liked, you are in there fighting every day.  I am looking forward to setting some goals next week and trying to stay accountable.

Supersized PM'ed me and asked me to share my thoughts now that I have been a member of the group for 2 months.  I have been enjoying the comaraderie, encouragement and accountablility.  Kudos to supersized for starting and maintaining this great group, and to all members who struggle to attain their goals and help each other along the way.  I am still struggling with my biggest challenge, which is sabotaging my weekly hard work during the weekends.  Hopefully when I set some goals next week, I can work harder to break that bad habit.  Ultimately, Im the one who must make the changes no matter how many support groups I join.  I'm hoping I can do that!!!

Checking in - did well for most of last week.  Good amount of exercise and clean eating.  I spent the holiday weekend at the beach though with lots of house guests, so of course, I blew it over the weekend.

I am back on track now and involved in a 4 month challenge on a fitness forum.  Maybe that will help with my motivation. 

I have been thinking about the assignment.  My most superficial reasons for wanting to achieve fitness involve vanity and fighting the aging process.  I am in my forties and right before my 40th birthday I took stock and did not like how my body was sliding into midding age.  I have been able to slow the trend over the past few years and am happy with my progress.  I actually look pretty good for a 43 year old lady right now.  I am also at a healthy weight and don't have any health issues.

So I have been asking myself why I want to push it further and decrease body fat while increasing muscle mass.  What am I after?  Why am I working so hard on body recomposition?  I haven't really come up with the answers yet.  I have always been a goal oriented person and recently I have put my career on the back burner so I can concentrate on my family.  Maybe it has something to do with that.  Maybe I am just enjoying lifting weights and the results I am seeing.  Maybe I am looking for recongnition.  Maybe I still have a few self esteem issues left over from my younger years and this is my way of proving I am OK.  I don't really know at this point.  I need to think on it some more. 

Great question though!  I am busy this week with the kids getting back to school and lots of volunteer responsiblities there, but I want to get back to this when I have time.  I want to slowly read the answers others have given and think more about my own answers.

Keep up the good work everyone!

Here is my recipe for a Kale Smoothie:

(Makes 1 serving)
1 TBS flax seed
1 banana
2 c. kale leaves
1/3 c. orange juice
1/4 c. milk

can also add:
1 scoop banana-flavored protein powder
1/2 tray ice

Last week was great - 3 good lifting days and 3 good long walks.  Calories between 1400-1500 calories except for one 2500 cal day. 

Saturday I arrived at the beach with a large family group and I am having trouble again.  I'm drinking a lot of water and walking as much as I can, but overeating and no lifting.  I can't seem to stick to my routine at all unless I am at home in my usual routine.

Welcome Zora. 

Merimeriqcontrary - the dark chocolate in your almonds are probably what is keeping you awake at night.  Dark chocolate is a weakness of mine, so I feel your pain.  But if you want a good night's sleep, have your treats early in the day.

Hi Everyone.

I'm trying to cut and paste the information from my "getting to know you buddy" and am having a little difficulty with it.  I will give it a try again later.

As far as goals for this week, I did very well.  It was helpful that it was a quiet week at home - no traveing or social functions.  I lifted 3 times and walked 3 times and took one off day where I did nothing.  I bowled one day and played tennis one day with the kids for extra activity.  Calories were on target.  I am very hungry right now, but sticking with it.  I ran only a small deficit and ate maintenance on Saturday so I'm not sure why I'm this hungry.  I didn't drink enough water but that is always a challenge for me.  I have to try harder next week. 

I have been part of Wagon Jumpers for 1 month now and I am enjoying it.  I was vacationing the first two weeks of my involvement, so I don't think I enjoyed the full benefit of the group at that time.  I was just hanging on trying not to do too much damage.  Now that I am back and able to concentrate more fully on my goals, I find this group very helpful.  I like the accountability.  I like hearing about the successes of all the members and I like the encouragement offered by the whole group when we struggle.  I think I'll stick around a while!

Have a good week everyone.

The past two weeks were fun but very hard on the fitness front.  I spent July 25 through Aug 1 on the beach and overate during that time.  I was in California Mon thru Thurs this past week and returned to participate in a 3 day extravaganza family reunion through the weekend.  My husband and I hosted a BBQ on Fri night, we attended a dinner on Sat night and a brunch today.  Results were mixed.  I exercised heavily in CA but overate.  I did not exercise this weekend but ate very well.  I avoided drinks and desserts and stuck to lean protein, fruits, veggies and water at all the events.   That was a victory for me.  I can't remember the last time I was able to maintain control at a big eating event.

I feel strong going into a new week.  I enjoyed myself recently but missed my routine. I want to recommitt to logging food, drink more water, complete three workouts a week in NROL Hypertrophy II and walk twice a week.  By Sept 19 I would like to be done with fat loss so I can start a bulk. 

In that past, the main obstacle to achieving that goal has been my eating habits.  I love NROL so exercising is not the challenge.  I find it difficult to run a caloric deficit when lifting heavy.  To achieve success this time around I am going to try to keep the deficit small - no more than 300 calories, throw in some maintenance days for sanity and try visualization techniques.  I used that technique this weekend before each big food event.  I pictured myself enjoying cold sparkling water, crispy fresh vegetables, colorful sweet summer fruit and lean protein.  It worked!  I am going to try more of that. 

I did speak to one of our members for last week's assignment.  I will share my findings with the group in the next few days.  She is a delightful and interesting person.

Figurethefat: Good job with the exericse.  I hear you on the eating difficulties.  I struggle with the same thing.  The visualization technique I spoke about was covered in the Daily Blog a few days ago right here on CalorieCount.  It sounds hoakie, but it worked for me this weekend.  Not sure if it will continue to work, but at least it helped this weekend.

Sara, congrats on the move.  Moving is always a gargantuan effort.  So is being the primary care giver for an elderly parent.  It is difficult to take care of yourself when you have so much else going on.  I know you both can do it.

I am at the beach this week hosting a large group.  I managed to eat well and go for a long walk on Sat.  Yesterday was a disaster.  Today, being Monday, I am determined to do better.  Realistically, I cannot work on fat loss this week.  My goal is damage control, lots of water and a few long walks.  Hopefully I can do it.

Supersized, thanks for the tip about weekly averages.  I will give that a try.  I don't think I am going too low during the week.  It's just that I see a giant buffet full of gorgeous food and I have no will power. 

I won't have a problem posting once a week as I peruse the site all the time anyway.   I think I just little guidance with goal setting because I see that people have new goals and maintenance goals and they have stated where they would like to be by September. Should I organize my goals in that way? 

Julie - good to catch up with you.  I am currently doing hypertrophy II in NROL.  I just did my firt workout in that stage this morning.  It was challenging and fun.  I finished Stage 6 in NROLFW on Thurs last week.  I skipped that stage when I initially did NROLFW so I went back and completed it.  I made some good progress with the chinups.  I am hoping this group will help me stop sabotaging myself because I think I can make some serious improvements if I can get my nutrition under control while doing Hyp II.  I am sorry you have the blah's.  Keep your chin up. 

I just recovered from feeling like that for about a week.  I lift 3 days a week and eat about 1600 cal/day.   I took 7 days off from lifting and had a few days where I ate 2300-2500 cal.  I am feeling a lot better.  You may want to take a break while you are waiting to see your doc.

I have a beagle.  He has many annoying hound dog traits but he is also loving and very protective of his peeps.  I often sing to him: "You ain't nuttin but a hound dog, cryin' all the time.  You ain't never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine"  Although he has caught a few squirrels and one woodchuck.

Your body may be sitting at 126 because it is healthy there.  Maybe continuing to workout and toning what you have will help.  Or maybe setting a mini goal of 122 may be the ticket.  You might look great once you achieve that goal and move into maintenance. Good luck.