I found maddy's 1.5 pounds. I'm up exactly that from my weigh-in on Friday. Now, mind you, I KNOW I haven't eaten an extra 5,000 calories or so, so I'm going to assume that I'm getting ready to go into the Hut a bit early. I'm trying not to be depressed by the scale, but you all know how it goes.

((((IAKG)))) -- water weight sucks

maddy -- look at the treadmill as a valuable stress-relieving tool. Sounds like you need that. :) And good luck getting through the week.

fzzy -- You've been so disciplined and I know this week will be no exception.

Lil -- continue to post and report what progress you do have...we're here to be supportive.


As for me...I ended yesterday under 1700 calories, partially balancing out the "bad" vacation days. I did avoid some of my common pitfalls though -- no dessert or appetizers while on vacation. While we did eat well, I kept myself kinda in check. And I think I mentioned that we were very active.

Today I head back to the gym for a more "traditional" work out

Awesome to hear you had a great bike ride!

I'll be posting to your bicycle thread in the near future. :)

I'm down 3 this week, still 5 to go to get back to where I was before my lapse in good judgement.

Maybe so Lil... but you will get there. And beyond.

Thanks! I'm trying to get my shit back together but it's hard.

how's the eliptical going Lil? It was incredibly motivating for me to hear of your progress. It's almost a guilt thing for me to read about how active everyone else is while I choose to sit my butt on the couch.

osuche and IAKG - I'm curious about your gym workouts - what are you doing at the gym? I'm considering joining one that would be highly convenient to me as a something different to be doing other than just the treadmill. Of course, I first need to develop a consistent pattern of using the treadmill first.

osuche - I'm glad you had a good vacation get-away. I miss biking! As a kid it was my only means of transportation and I went EVERYWHERE by bike. I also had huge calves thanks to my bike, but they were solid.

fzzy - your attitude never falters and that speaks to your success. Remember this is a life change and occassionally life happens we just need to remember how to stear ourselves back on path - and I'm confident you will do that this week.

As for me - well no complaints from me today. I'm just getting through some high stress events. I'm eating my dinner and will be hitting the treadmill shortly after I'm done.

I refuse to excercise in the hut.

fair enough... I thought you were holding out on the stamina increases ;)

yeah well I suck :(
























but I swallow too :D

LOL Lil! I don't refuse to exercise while in the hut so much as I just can't seem to motivate myself to it ... gratefully that's over for another 3 weeks or so again and I'm feeling more motivated and more in control again ... thank heavens!!! :)

Lil .. congrats on the loss ... great to hear (even when it's catch-up pounds) I've been doing catch up pounds for years now! :)

way to keep at it maddy!!

Lil...if you have cramps you might try exercise. They help mine...gentle stretching followed by some time on a recumbent bike or pilates works well for me. Just be sure to wear tampons :D Pads slip. :p

Maddy, I love the bike too (I had to rent one to remember why) and thanks for the advice on my thread.

fzzy -- you were feeling unmotivated last week while in the Hut? Seemed pretty motivated to me! Keep up the inspiration.

Aqua -- Progress report, please. :p :D

To answer maddy's question....
* I work out 4-5 days a week in the gym
* Cardio -- Done every time I visit, 30-40 minutes and I alternate between recumbent bike (level 7 -- 120 watts), elliptical (gluteal workout, level 8), and stairmaster (level 6, climbing mode)
* 5 minutes of stretching, including some ball exercises and some squats
* 200 situps (alternate between doing them on the balance ball and on the Abbench)
* 2 days a week I lift weights -- one day arms, and one day legs. On arms I do: shoulders, biceps, triceps, rows, and chess press (3 sets of 15 reps). On legs I do: inner and outer thigh, donkey calf lifts, squats, this "butt blaster" machine, leg extension, and leg curls.

I used to do weights more often, but I found that I was making my joints sore and irritated...so I have cut down the frequency.

My entire workout takes about 50 min on a non-weight day and about 1:15 on a weight day. :)

My order of operations is sit-ups, then stretching, then weights...followed by cardio. You must LAWAYS lift weights before the cardio, not after....burns more calories this way.

Hope this helps.

1600 calories today. Making up for a "bad" (but active!) weekend. I ate a late lunch and skipped dinner, save a glass of wine I had at a meeting this evening.

I even cooked dinner for Mr Osuche but didn't eat any myself -- realized I wasn't terribly hungry and I didn't need the extra calories. I'm now at a 7 day average calorie intake of 2000, and an average workout burn of 450 a day. :) Not too shabby, given three bad "vacation" days! (thank goodness for FitDay)

I went to the gym today -- 400 calories burned...elliptical, weights, sit-ups, and stretching.

Now I'm tired...night all!

I'm about to head for bed as well ... but reporting in ... ended up eating less than 1700 calories for the day, so I'm feeling good about that ... and also did my "gentle" workout for about 60 minutes this evening ... it's not aerobic and non impact, but one day, when my butt shrinks down, It's going to be a very tight one ... :D got to figure a way to do more arm and torso toning though. .... anyway, off to bed now! :)

osuche ... interesting to hear your schedule ... someday I'm going to work up to a much more active schedule, but for now, I'm slowly building more activity into my day to day stuff.

I was better yesterday calorie wise but I did drink a coke at the end of the work day. I really don't want to drink those. Hut days are winding down and the salt/chocolate cravings are subsiding.