Panama Canal Weight Loss/Weight Maintenance Motivation Group

[carmie3377]

I was struggling to see the scale move at one point and someone told me a couple of things first, an hour of the same thing on the treadmill is not enough that I needed to vary the speed or the incline. Second, add a cheat day. Now I did both of those, but the cheat day I had was nothing like I really wanted. I would allow myself some french fries or.......no I guess I did not allow much else. Just french fries. Oh wait I thought of something Pizza from the neighborhood place. Not the stuff I make at home. I eventually lost, but I don't really know what started it.

Well, I do vary my elliptical workout. I usually choose between 3 different workouts:
1) I put the incline on 9 and do the variety with resistance of 6, 8, 10, and 12. It starts at 6, builds up to 12, then back down and repeat. Spends approx 20% on each resistance level.
2) Every 4 minutes changing between incline 4/resistance 8 and incline 10/resistance 12.
3) The same as #2 but in 2 minute intervals.

I want to start doing the stair climber again. That is the hardest cardio I've ever done. However, my workout buddy can't last longer than 5 minutes on it so we're building her endurance up on the elliptical and then we'll move over the stair climber.

Sometimes, I do the bike as a cool down. I haven't stepped on the treadmill. I don't know why, can't make myself do it.

I do the weights too but have been given conflicting information from 2 different personal trainers. Personal trainer #1 told me that if I could do 5 sets of 15, my weights were not heavy enough and I should up them to the point where I could barely finish 3 sets of 15. Personal trainer #2 told me to vary my weights to the point I could do 5 sets of 15.

Yesterday, I cheated big time.
Breakfast: Special K/skim milk
Lunch: Went to a place similar to Earl of Sandwich. I had a turkey and cheese sub with dressing, cranberry sauce, and mayo. I could have been good with just a turkey loaded up with veggies but I didn't. At least I was good with chips as I had baked chips.
Dinner: DH and I shared an appetizer platter from The Cheesecake Factory. It had corn cakes, quesadillas, dip and chips, spring rolls, fried wontons among other things. Then I finished it off with a turtle cheesecake with caramel, chocolate, and pecans. I did only eat half of it but brought the rest of it home with me.

I am heading back to the gym and in a couple of days I'll check to see if the cheat day helped me. Who am I'm kidding? I'm going to weigh today. But, if the cheat day did help me, I highly doubt I'll notice it today.

 

[LindaBabe]

That's one of the reasons I'm so happy with my Kathy Smith step work out. She's broken down to three stages beginning, intermediate and advanced. She follows up with a cool down, then abs, weight lifting and a through body stretch.

I've been doing it since 2008, and I still haven't made it to the advanced level. I can do the beg, int and the rest in 60 min. I feel so good after the workout, that it becomes a motivator to do it again!

Katherine

That sounds like a really good work out. what kind of weights do you use?

Well, I do vary my elliptical workout. I usually choose between 3 different workouts:
1) I put the incline on 9 and do the variety with resistance of 6, 8, 10, and 12. It starts at 6, builds up to 12, then back down and repeat. Spends approx 20% on each resistance level.
2) Every 4 minutes changing between incline 4/resistance 8 and incline 10/resistance 12.
3) The same as #2 but in 2 minute intervals.

I want to start doing the stair climber again. That is the hardest cardio I've ever done. However, my workout buddy can't last longer than 5 minutes on it so we're building her endurance up on the elliptical and then we'll move over the stair climber.

Sometimes, I do the bike as a cool down. I haven't stepped on the treadmill. I don't know why, can't make myself do it.

I do the weights too but have been given conflicting information from 2 different personal trainers. Personal trainer #1 told me that if I could do 5 sets of 15, my weights were not heavy enough and I should up them to the point where I could barely finish 3 sets of 15. Personal trainer #2 told me to vary my weights to the point I could do 5 sets of 15.

Yesterday, I cheated big time.
Breakfast: Special K/skim milk
Lunch: Went to a place similar to Earl of Sandwich. I had a turkey and cheese sub with dressing, cranberry sauce, and mayo. I could have been good with just a turkey loaded up with veggies but I didn't. At least I was good with chips as I had baked chips.
Dinner: DH and I shared an appetizer platter from The Cheesecake Factory. It had corn cakes, quesadillas, dip and chips, spring rolls, fried wontons among other things. Then I finished it off with a turtle cheesecake with caramel, chocolate, and pecans. I did only eat half of it but brought the rest of it home with me.

I am heading back to the gym and in a couple of days I'll check to see if the cheat day helped me. Who am I'm kidding? I'm going to weigh today. But, if the cheat day did help me, I highly doubt I'll notice it today.

That sounds like a Killer workout! I would DEFINITELY die on the stair stepper. If you do go on the treadmill, please remember to wear the safety clip!

But OMG, you had an even MORE killer cheat day. The 'factory appetizer sampler' has 3218 calories and ~300 carbs (serves 4, but that's still 800+ and 90+ per person).
Calorie King website says one slice of Chocolate pecan turtle cheesecake has 870 calories and 75 carbs.

As for me, I haven't done anything but sleep for three days - not feeling quite the thing, my sugar's out of whack, and I don't care if I eat or not. The scale will probably rise.

The rest of you gals _ WHERE ARE YOU???

 

[Aunt KatKat]

I do the weights too but have been given conflicting information from 2 different personal trainers. Personal trainer #1 told me that if I could do 5 sets of 15, my weights were not heavy enough and I should up them to the point where I could barely finish 3 sets of 15. Personal trainer #2 told me to vary my weights to the point I could do 5 sets of 15.

Carmen the first trainer gave you the advice followed by competitive weight lifters, it's called training to failure.

I seriously doubt that is the advice you should follow. I would start you off with two lbs and increase to 5 lbs as you get stronger.

That sounds like a really good work out. what kind of weights do you use?

I use 5 lbs hand weights, I could go up, but I'm not looking build up too much muscle.

As for me, I haven't done anything but sleep for three days - not feeling quite the thing, my sugar's out of whack, and I don't care if I eat or not. The scale will probably rise.

I hope you feel better soon, get that sugar back in to the zone pronto!

The rest of you gals _ WHERE ARE YOU???

Um yeah, what she said!

Katherine

 

[JenKatt]

I'm in a self imposed hibernation after my week. Its been VERY hard not to go off the wagon. Between the car accident and bronchitis the week continued to spiral. My office mate was "let go due to buget cuts" on Friday. I consider her a good friend and it was a shock. However, she did the job of 2 people as did I. Now I'm doing the job of 4 people. And now I'm on steriods. That's gonna suck. The munchies I get on any dose of prednisone is pretty bad, and I'm on a big dose.
We're going to Epcot tomorrow. Not sure if I'm coming back!

 

[Aunt KatKat]

I missed you Holly, enjoy your holiday!

I was not good with food today, mostly bread, but I did eat some vegetable soup. I worked out on Monday, and will again Thursday.

Two steps forward, one step back.

Katherine

I did all three workouts which is good because later in the day I had a total blond moment.

I lost my balance, my shoe came off and I over stepped into blank air. If my dh hadn't caught me, I would be in a world of hurt right now instead of just having a twisted, bruised ankle.

Did I mention that I really AM a dizzy blond?

Katherine

 

[#1Yepod]

Y'all are making my having to sit on my you know what for three weeks sound like a walk in the park. I am really sorry that everyone is having rough times.
Hope this next week is better for all of us. I go to Dr on thursday, so hopefully will be back to the outside world and exercising again. Everyone take care of yourselves and all the bumps, bruises, aches and illnesses.

 

[mom4mad]

I am very proud of myself. I have exercised 12 of the last 13 days! (and I hate exercise) Started out doing 18 minutes on elliptical and have worked my way up to 30 minutes on the last 5 workouts. I am thinking about trying to do the Castaway Cay 5 k- anyone else doing it? I haven't done anything about my diet yet, but at least I am exercising.

 

[Aunt KatKat]

I'm in a self imposed hibernation after my week. Its been VERY hard not to go off the wagon. Between the car accident and bronchitis the week continued to spiral. My office mate was "let go due to buget cuts" on Friday. I consider her a good friend and it was a shock. However, she did the job of 2 people as did I. Now I'm doing the job of 4 people. And now I'm on steriods. That's gonna suck. The munchies I get on any dose of prednisone is pretty bad, and I'm on a big dose.
We're going to Epcot tomorrow. Not sure if I'm coming back!

JenKatt,

I hope you are feeling well enough to enjoy Epcot! You had a rough week to be sure, but you have to come back from Epcot!

I've never been to Epcot, can you tell me what it's like?

Katherine

 

[Aunt KatKat]

I am very proud of myself. I have exercised 12 of the last 13 days! (and I hate exercise) Started out doing 18 minutes on elliptical and have worked my way up to 30 minutes on the last 5 workouts. I am thinking about trying to do the Castaway Cay 5 k- anyone else doing it? I haven't done anything about my diet yet, but at least I am exercising.

Good job with the exercise, but remember to give your body days of rest, to recuperate.

There are several people doing the 5k, look back on these pages for info.

Keep up the good work, and let us know more about you, if you want.

Katherine

 

[LindaBabe]

I do the weights too but have been given conflicting information from 2 different personal trainers. Personal trainer #1 told me that if I could do 5 sets of 15, my weights were not heavy enough and I should up them to the point where I could barely finish 3 sets of 15. Personal trainer #2 told me to vary my weights to the point I could do 5 sets of 15.

Carmen the first trainer gave you the advice followed by competitive weight lifters, it's called training to failure.

I seriously doubt that is the advice you should follow. I would start you off with two lbs and increase to 5 lbs as you get stronger.



Um yeah, what she said!

Katherine

THANK you! So, my weights are about right I just need to do more reps of them - using 3 pounders but can barely do ten reps. I had mental pictures of needing to do bench presses or dead lifts or something, and I'm SO not ready for that.

I'm in a self imposed hibernation after my week. Its been VERY hard not to go off the wagon. Between the car accident and bronchitis the week continued to spiral. My office mate was "let go due to buget cuts" on Friday. I consider her a good friend and it was a shock. However, she did the job of 2 people as did I. Now I'm doing the job of 4 people. And now I'm on steriods. That's gonna suck. The munchies I get on any dose of prednisone is pretty bad, and I'm on a big dose.
We're going to Epcot tomorrow. Not sure if I'm coming back!

You POOR baby!

Now putting on career coach hat.
Listen, you can only do what you can do, Jen.

Prioritize the most important things or get your BOSS to prioritize the most important things to be done and start at the top. Can someone else do it? Delegate. Can it be done more efficiently? Boss also needs to be kept in the loop of how long things take to do, etc. Get into trouble? Ask boss - I have x hours - each task takes x hours. What is your priority?

You can only do what you can do, while maintaining your health and your family life.

Meanwhile, eat right and drink your water, get some time on the hoof EVERY day. Hang tough, Babe!

I did all three workouts which is good because later in the day I had a total blond moment.

I lost my balance, my shoe came off and I over stepped into blank air. If my dh hadn't caught me, I would be in a world of hurt right now instead of just having a twisted, bruised ankle.

Did I mention that I really AM a dizzy blond?

Katherine

YOU poor baby! In my case, having gone straight from jet black hair to grey, I would call it an A.D.D moment. Glad the man saved you!!!

I am very proud of myself. I have exercised 12 of the last 13 days! (and I hate exercise) Started out doing 18 minutes on elliptical and have worked my way up to 30 minutes on the last 5 workouts. I am thinking about trying to do the Castaway Cay 5 k- anyone else doing it? I haven't done anything about my diet yet, but at least I am exercising.

VERY GOOD! You've made a GREAT start! And remember to drink lots of water!

STill ill here - do not know what is the trouble - blood sugar's been all over the place with no relation to what i'm eating (which isn't much). I'm missing the gym, but no energy to go. Maybe tomorrow.

had a waffle made with 1/4 almond meal. with 1T syrup for breakfast, bacon & an egg. We'll see what that does.

Happy day, everybody.

 

[KayR]

Just a quick post today.

Saw this interesting report on a study relating to diet and genes. THought I would pass it on.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8550091.stm

Had a naughty day yesterday. Back on the wagon today!

--Kay

 

[carmie3377]

That sounds like a Killer workout! I would DEFINITELY die on the stair stepper. If you do go on the treadmill, please remember to wear the safety clip!

But OMG, you had an even MORE killer cheat day. The 'factory appetizer sampler' has 3218 calories and ~300 carbs (serves 4, but that's still 800+ and 90+ per person).
Calorie King website says one slice of Chocolate pecan turtle cheesecake has 870 calories and 75 carbs.

I knew the sampler was loaded with calories but didn't realize how much. Oh well, it was bday so I'm not going to fret on it. Also, as of yesterday morning, I was 1 pound down from Monday which is the same as the first two weeks combined. I guess that cheat day really can help . But I'm not going to get into the habit of eating like that once a week. DH and seldom go out to eat so that definitely helps. I'll just eat a bit more freely on one day/week.

As far as the weights, I think I'll lower a bit and do one or two more sets. I use the resistance machines at 24 hour fitness. I had someone tell me that I should move to the free weights after a couple of months on the resistance machines because I could add so much more weight on the free weights. I wanted to say "Do I look like I can handle 350lbs??????" I think the resistance machines are fine for me. They max out anywhere from 150-330 depending on the part they are working and I'm no where near the max.

Today is my day of rest as far as formal exercises. Yesterday, I did 70 minutes of cardio (48 elliptical/22 bike) and about 20 minutes on lower body resistance. I am sore this morning but feel good. I will start back at it tomorrow.

My laptop is down now so I'm using my super slow desktop. THis thing needs some major maintenace. Anyway, once I get my laptop back up and working, I'll be on here more. In the meantime, good luck to everyone and hope that everyone that is sick starts feeling better soon

 

[LindaBabe]

Just a quick post today.

Saw this interesting report on a study relating to diet and genes. THought I would pass it on.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8550091.stm

Had a naughty day yesterday. Back on the wagon today!

--Kay

That WAS interesting! Doesn't surprise me though - I mean a lot of metabolic illnesses/syndromes whatever you call them, like diabetes, - are hereditary - and guess what? That's DNA!

I knew the sampler was loaded with calories but didn't realize how much. Oh well, it was bday so I'm not going to fret on it. Also, as of yesterday morning, I was 1 pound down from Monday which is the same as the first two weeks combined. I guess that cheat day really can help . But I'm not going to get into the habit of eating like that once a week. DH and seldom go out to eat so that definitely helps. I'll just eat a bit more freely on one day/week.

As far as the weights, I think I'll lower a bit and do one or two more sets. I use the resistance machines at 24 hour fitness. I had someone tell me that I should move to the free weights after a couple of months on the resistance machines because I could add so much more weight on the free weights. I wanted to say "Do I look like I can handle 350lbs??????" I think the resistance machines are fine for me. They max out anywhere from 150-330 depending on the part they are working and I'm no where near the max.

Today is my day of rest as far as formal exercises. Yesterday, I did 70 minutes of cardio (48 elliptical/22 bike) and about 20 minutes on lower body resistance. I am sore this morning but feel good. I will start back at it tomorrow.

GOOD FOR you, Carmie! Glad you were rewarded with a pound gone.

We can't regret what's done, after it's done. We can only resolve to do better tomorrow.

You're going to get tired of hearing me say what I read, but here's another one. Did I say this already? AND I just read it a second place today. To vary the rate during your cardio exercise - say 2 minutes at normal pace 30 seconds faster and then back to normal, or whatever. The marathon girls call it 'interval training' and supposedly a shorter work out done at varying rates do more for weight loss than longer times at a steady pace. I can't WAIT to get back to the gym. Did I really say that?

 

[JenKatt]

I came back from Epcot.
I/ We had a great time. I was very good eating wise. I've told my mom and my husband that we as a family need to eat better. So it was healthy eating all day. Plus 16,000 steps. My feet hurt. I did splurge a little and had a Kir Royale.

Katherine, Epcot is like nothing else. Half of it is a world trip. You can have pretty decent food from any of the countries and get a sampling (albeit small) of the culture. The other have is Future World which is an eclectic mix of current technology and future. It's hard to explain.

It is far and away my favorite park. My two year old loves it too. It's ALOT of walking which is great (you can burn off the booze) . There's something for everyone there. The food is the best overall of any park. It's just a great park.

I need to get back to reality tomorrow. Linda I am having a sit down with my boss tomorrow of what I need. I've already started to give bits of my coworkers job to other people (that should have been there's anyway). She's been very good about things thus far. I get my old office back (it's got a great window and a door, I've been in the "foyer" for my boss's office for the part year - it sucked.) I've spent the weekend working on a list of what I need help with. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

My car goes to the repair shop tomorrow. I'll find out how long I'll be without.

The bronchitis is still there. The steroids and antibiotic really haven't helped yet. Hopefully tomorrow....

Well back to the real world. Thank you everyone for your support and care. It's an amazing thing this internet, brings people who would never have met together providing support and friendship. Ya'll rock.

 

[LindaBabe]

I dunno what the HECK it is with bronchitus this last year. I got it last march and I swear, despite medication, it hung around until I had pneumonia in October. HOPE to heaven yours doesn't hang on that long, Jen.

You GO, Girl! Just remember, logic not emotion. You'll do GREAT!

I'm headed for the gym

 

[Aunt KatKat]

As far as the weights, I think I'll lower a bit and do one or two more sets. I use the resistance machines at 24 hour fitness. I had someone tell me that I should move to the free weights after a couple of months on the resistance machines because I could add so much more weight on the free weights. I wanted to say "Do I look like I can handle 350lbs??????" I think the resistance machines are fine for me. They max out anywhere from 150-330 depending on the part they are working and I'm no where near the max.

Carmen,

I think that is a good plan. I wouldn't be too quick to move over to free weights, because form becomes incredibly important.

If you are not using good form, it is very easy to do yourself an injury. I would stay with the machines as your body becomes stronger and the machine kind of forces good form on you, it will become second nature.

Katherine

 

[carmie3377]

Carmen,

I think that is a good plan. I wouldn't be too quick to move over to free weights, because form becomes incredibly important.

Yeah, I would be so afraid now to move over! I am so uncoordinated Plus, it's where all the body building guys work out so I'll just stay put for awhile .

Today, I decided to try the treadmill. Really didn't know what to expect because I've never ran/jogged. Well, I jogged .5 mile a couple of months ago as part of hte bootcamp but the trainer stopped us at .5 mile and I felt good but still didn't know how far I could actually go w/o stopping. I stayed on 4.5 speed with an incline of 1.5 and made it 2.25 miles w/o stopping. I was so proud as I would have been happy with a mile! Time wasn't great though as it took me 30 minutes to the 2.25mi. As soon as I can make it to 5K, I plan on working on the speed. When I first stated I wanted to try the CC 5K, I really didn't know if I could. Now, I know I CAN!!! I will do the treadmill every other day as training for the 5K and do the ellipital (with varying resistance/incline) on the other days. I will also run outside some as I read that treadmill running is easier than outdoor running.

 

[JenKatt]

WHOOOO HOOOOOO!!!! I broke 180 pounds. As of this morning I weigh 179.0 pounds! That's 9 pounds less from where I went back on WW!!!!

 

[carmie3377]

WHOOOO HOOOOOO!!!! I broke 180 pounds. As of this morning I weigh 179.0 pounds! That's 9 pounds less from where I went back on WW!!!!

Congrats!!!! Way to GO

Meeting those goals make it so worth it!!!!

 

[Aunt KatKat]

WHOOOO HOOOOOO!!!! I broke 180 pounds. As of this morning I weigh 179.0 pounds! That's 9 pounds less from where I went back on WW!!!!

Good job!!!!! Especially with everything else you've been dealing with!!!



Katherine