Flights of Fantasy discussion
Randomnessosity
>
Diet and Exercise
c.o.lleen ± (... never stop fighting) ± wrote: "So, I'm still going with the buns, guns and abs challenge - though I can't say I've seen any kind of change.I'm now at the point where I'm ok with the squats, and generally ok with the leg lifts ..."
You're better than me - I just go straight girly push ups and call it a day. Maybe when my bench gets to 75lbs I'll try again, lol.
Push ups are HARD.
For dieting, I had surgery which wrecked my appetite and medication that causes nearly chronic nausea, so I have to struggle to make 800 calories a day. I'm supposed to be eating 1,500. I use Control My Weight by Calorie King (free) to keep track. So, great for weight loss without exercise, but given I pretty much can only eat 2 food groups (old style), it's a bit of a problem.I'm limited on exercise yet, but have started lifting light weights when sitting. Walking is still limited to what I can do in big box stores at a reasonably fast pace.
Stephanie wrote: "For dieting, I had surgery which wrecked my appetite and medication that causes nearly chronic nausea, so I have to struggle to make 800 calories a day. I'm supposed to be eating 1,500. I use Con..."I'm so sorry about the nausea. :(
But at least you're doing something to help!
Have you tried protein shakes? Maybe they can stay down and you can put a lot of calories in them if you like.
When I was having issues with nausea back in my early 20's (dropped about 20 pounds because I wasn't eating) I drank a lot of vanilla ensure. It was the only thing I could keep down reasonably well, it it helped pack in necessary calories.
Wow dawn youre a gorgeous bride. I know you don't think insanity worked but you look amazing.I'm stuck in a rut but trying to get out walking with the dog more lately. I'm doing tough girl challenge in a few weeks, 6km obstacle course through thick mud in middle of winter, that's my insanity :)
Thought I should update on my diet / exercise status :)I gained a few pounds on my honeymoon, which I fully expected and planned on. I also didn't work out at all, which I also fully planned on.
So now that I'm back, I'm working on losing the all inclusive resort pounds and getting back into working out. It's hard though! I worked out on Tuesday, did a T25 workout I had done many times before the honeymoon with no issues.. I made it through 16 minutes of the 25 minutes workout before I had to quit, my heart hurt from being so worn out. Two days later and I'm horribly sore, it's ridiculous. I didn't realize taking 2 weeks off would have such an impact! It's going to take some time to get back into the shape I was in before I left.. But at least this is showing me that I had made progress and I was in better shape than when it all started.
I'm watching what I eat, but not mega dieting or anything. I had 6 months of dieting and constantly worrying about what I ate before the wedding. On a daily basis I'm tracking food and dieting (I'm doing Weight Watchers, my old fall back), but if I feel like Pizza or Chinese on a Friday night I let myself have it. So far I haven't lost any weight though.. So that may have to stop for a week or two. We'll see.
I need to get back into wearing my Fitbit, I just need to remember to charge it. Haven't worn it since before the wedding.
So yeah. I'm taking today off from working out, hoping to recover a little more and then work out tomorrow. Will gradually get back to 5-6 days a week. I'm a little over 130 lbs now and I want to get to 126 maximum, ideally more like 124 or 125. But really, if my jeans just get easier to squeeze into I'll be happy. I'm getting sick of having to do squats to loosen them up before I can button them :)
You know, this sounds like you made a ton of progress before the wedding!I got sick then I was bitten by a poisonous spider (I think) so I haven't worked out in...going on 3 weeks now! O_O
The worst part about taking time off from working out is just not being able to do the things you were able to before. Losing that progress is so hard.I went to Cuba in March, and I didn't go back to working out until JULY because I was so afraid of knowing how much weaker I'd be, so kudos to you for getting back into it and still being motivated even after the wedding!
Annoyance of the day.. I bought a 20 pack of Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps individual bags from Costco yesterday. So I'm sitting here today, munching them, marveling at how many I get for just 100 calories. And then I look at the back and see that one Individual size bag is two servings. Wtf.. Stupid. It's an individual serving, it should be one serving. They tricked me! What am I supposed to do, eat half of a bag a day? That's a pain in the ass. I bought individual because I wanted individual! Bull shit flat pretzels :P
Dawn wrote: "Annoyance of the day.. I bought a 20 pack of Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps individual bags from Costco yesterday. So I'm sitting here today, munching them, marveling at how many I get for just 100 c...":(
I know those feels.
The worst is, like, those small individual sized pot pies. Like, theoretically, you could eat half a bag of pretzels but who the hell is eating half a pot pie?
Michelle wrote: "The worst is, like, those small individual sized pot pies. Like, theoretically, you could eat half a bag of pretzels but who the hell is eating half a pot pie?"Not me, lol.
I miss frozen pot pie. It's just one of those things I can never eat again :(
Alright, so I'm working on getting back on track. I've worked out (T25) two days in a row (woo!) and am planning on trying to complete the whole program. Also, I've done a complete diet overhall. I'm actually following the T25 clean eating recipes (with some Insanity recipes thrown in for variety) every day, every meal. The reason I previously couldn't do it was my husband.. He would never eat the stuff I'm eating. But I basically told him I'm doing this thing for at least a few weeks to see what happens, to see how I feel, and during that time he just has to worry about his own dinner.So my meals are basically a lot of health crap. Last night for dinner it was quinoa with spinach and red bell peppers. That's all! No bread :( Today it will be brown rice and lentils with roasted red peppers. Lunch is usually some form of chicken.. I cooked three pounds on Saturday and portion it out for the week. Today, dijon chicken whole wheat pita. Yesterday, chicken waldorf salad. Which.. Isn't really waldorf. I don't know, it's just cold chicken with apples and grapes and walnuts, but no creamy sauce. Sort of plain, but that's fine.
I am allowing myself one cheat meal a week. This week, burgers on Thursday at a friends house.
So yeah. Been doing the eating since Saturday, haven't weighed myself yet, weigh in in Thursday. We'll see how it goes!
Congrats!I'm trying to catch up to the wagon so I can get back on it. O_O
I started modifying my meals:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with dehydrated strawberries, chia seeds, almond milk, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Lunch: Open faced sandwich. This week is crab and next week is tuna.
Dinner: tonight will be this Latin Beef Stew from SkinnyTaste http://www.skinnytaste.com/2014/03/cr...
but with no rice and I cut the potatoes.
Later in the week will be fish. We have both salmon and cod. I want to stop by Trader Joe's so I can get some Barramundi fish to make this recipe: Thai Coconut Curry Poached Barramundi + Sautéed Spinach
http://www.simplyscratch.com/2014/01/...
Do you like pumpkin? If so, I recommend adding a few tablespoons of pure pumpkin (the canned stuff, but NOT pie filling) you your oatmeal. It makes it SO much more filling and is super low calories and good fiber. I do oatmeal every weekday morning with a splenda packet, cinnamon, and canned pumpkin. On weekends I usually do some sort of eggs for a nice protein kick. Lately I've been loving this combo:1 whole egg
6 egg whites
3 tbsp tomatillo salsa
1/4 diced avocado
salt and pepper
Beat eggs together and scramble those suckers (I use egg beaters whites because it's easier than cracking and separating 6 eggs). Salt and pepper them. Top with salsa and diced avocado. About 300 calories and super filling and spicy and yummy.
Dawn wrote: "Do you like pumpkin? If so, I recommend adding a few tablespoons of pure pumpkin (the canned stuff, but NOT pie filling) you your oatmeal. It makes it SO much more filling and is super low calories..."I do like pumpkin. I'm not sure if I'll like it cold - I'm just adding the almond milk and letting it soak - not heating it up (or adding sugar).
Hmm, yeah, not sure how it would be cold... It would be mixed in, but I've never done cold oatmeal so I don't know how that would go.
Dawn wrote: "Hmm, yeah, not sure how it would be cold... It would be mixed in, but I've never done cold oatmeal so I don't know how that would go."I was surprised by how much I liked it.
(view spoiler)
I don't think I would like that. I like my oatmeal really thick, like if you turn the container over it will just sit there, plastered in place. I tried an overnight version before and it was way too runny. Plus, for me, why fix what ain't broken. I like mine made with water and sweetened with splenda, so it's 150 calories for a serving, or 4 Weight Watchers Points+. Add 2 tbsp of pumpkin and some cinnamon, that's like 20-30 calories, and still 4 PP+. I eat that and some fruit and I'm good until lunch.
I like my oatmeal both ways. I prefer it hot with butter, brown sugar, raisins and cranberries! But that's waaaay not in the diet plan so I had to do a revamp or I wouldn't change it at all. *Sigh* I love butter.
I've never tried butter in oatmeal, but that's the only way Jon will eat it. I'm glad I haven't tried it.. Then I can't crave it! I do like brown sugar and dried cherries or cranberries though.... But splenda will do.
Dawn wrote: "I've never tried butter in oatmeal, but that's the only way Jon will eat it. I'm glad I haven't tried it.. Then I can't crave it! I do like brown sugar and dried cherries or cranberries though......"
OMG. It's delish! And sooo bad for you. 1tbsp of butter is what? 100cal?
Random update... I've been working out pretty regularly again for the past two weeks. I'm not nearly where I was before the wedding / break from my routine... Arm strength is down, and I can only get through T25 routines by using the modified versions of any jumping exercises. But whatever, I'm working out again. That's good enough for now!My weight is pretty much the same, haven't lost much. But again... Whatever. I'm starting to think this is just how much I weigh in my 30's. I used to be 122 without starving myself, now it's more like 127/128. I went ahead and bought some new pants... Size 6 instead of 4... Boo hoo, I know. 6 is still awesome and I'm thinking I just need to accept this as my baseline and work on toning up from here.
Right food wise, I'm trying to work on eliminating trigger foods from my diet. I do this thing where I eat great all day, perfectly on plan (I'm doing weight watchers), everything accounted for. But then after dinner I blow it. I'll have a small ice cream snack (budgeted in) but then when that's gone I always end up eat a little of this or a little of that and all of the little's add up. And sometimes it's not a little.. Yesterday I ended up eating way too many jalapeno potato chips after my ice cream. I blame my husband, he bought them.
Anyway... I think ice cream is a trigger. When I eat it, it leaves me wanting to eat more and more. Tonight I'm trying a different after dinner snack.. String cheese and freeze dried apples. A little salty, and little sweet, we'll see what happens. I know I can't eliminate my after dinner snack, I've tried that and end up starving at bed time. I eat dinner early (about 5:30pm), so I think that has a lot to do with the issue.
I'm rambling, I know. Just felt like unloading a general update. Hope everyone else is doing good with their goals / progress!
Great update, Dawn!I've been baaaaad. I've stopped working out for the most part - to be honest I got kind of depressed regarding my lack of progress which made it worse.
Lately I've been trying to get my eating under control. I've started packing a lunch that includes everything I need to eat for the day: breakfast, snacks and lunch. Normally I'd just bring 1 snack & lunch with the occasional breakfast. I'll see how this works.
Hubby wants to go paleo and so I'll do it with him. I've been checking out a lot of paleo cookbooks. The main thing I'm doing right now is trying to cut the total amount of sugar I consume per day AND to cut most (if not all) of the processed foods.
Good luck with paleo! I've considered it, but J refuses to try and I don't think I could live without bread :-/
Dawn wrote: "Good luck with paleo! I've considered it, but J refuses to try and I don't think I could live without bread :-/"Yeah, that and booze scare me, lol.
lololol! I love it!
LOL, yep, that's pretty much standard protocol.
This is why people can't have good http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...
It's a breakfast sandwich.
It looks delicious.
It has 2,232 calories, 25g Fat and 239g Carbs.
W.T.F.
I haven't been here in a while! I'm back on the diet and working out train after a 6 or so month hiatus.
What's my new wagon to ride?
Gluten free.
I'm reading Wheat Belly and decided to give it a try. That's not to say I believe it all, it sounds scientifical and all but I've read the counter view points out there and so do they. I'm just trying it for a few weeks to see how it goes.
I technically started last week, but started over yesterday. When I started last week I hadn't gotten to the point in the book where it talks specifically about the pre-made gluten free foods out there and why you should avoid them. So of course at first I went out and bought a bunch of them and had been eating those. Then, over the weekend, I got to the real core of the diet, which is basically low carb. Whatever, I'm going the Grand Cayman in 3 weeks, I try anything short term to lose some of my winter weight.
So I've been eating super low carb (but natural, no processed foods) for the past two day. I don't miss carbs yet, but I know I will. So far my food intake has been...
Yesterday: 3 eggs scrambled with olive oil and an ounce of raw mixed nuts for breakfast; spinach and romaine salad topped with grilled chicken, pecans, egg white from hard boiled egg, and dressed with lemon and olive oil; some cheese and mixed nuts for a snack; pork chop, spaghetti squash, and asparagus for dinner. For dessert I had a square of 90% dark chocolate with a little almond butter spread on top. So some carbs in there, but no bread or pasta of over processed crap.
Today: Mixed nut breakfast cereal (which I made from scratch) with coconut milk and mixed berries; lunch will be a tuna avocado salad dressed with lime juice; snack will be some cheese (if I'm hungry); dinner will be grilled chicken thigh, broccoli, and spaghetti squash.
I've also been working out.. Did 3 days of T25 last week, and did Insanity yesterday. I think I've determined that I just plain like the Insanity work outs better than T25, even though they are longer. They have breaks and stretching, those are my favorite parts, lol :)
Soooo tl;dr... 128.2 lbs currently, goal is 125 in 3 weeks. 1200 calories a day and working out at least 3-4 times a week, if not 5-6. We'll see how it goes!
That sounds great!I recently went to a conference for people interested in bodybuilding (me). It was soooo informative.
Dawn, you would have loved the sections on nutrition - they got all scientific-y on us and started pulling out equations on how to determine calories requirements and then how to break that down into macros. I tried to take some notes for you but math and I don't always mix. My eyes began to glaze over, lol.
What I did get was:
Calories: 12-15 calories per pound bodyweight to maintain current weight
You require at least 1/2g of fat for every 2.2lbs you weigh.
To determine Macros, the common split is: 40% Protein, 40% Carbs and 20% fat. This is adjusted depending on the person.
To lose weight they suggest:
- eat often (small meals/snacks every 2 hours or so)
- keep as much whole foods in your diet as possible (they dislike my Paleo and all forms of restrictive dieting - they say it causes binging [eventually])
- sleep! Get at least 8 hours or you might as well give up now
- Hydrate: most Americans are dehydrated. 8 glasses is ok but a gallon a day is much, much better.
- Hydrate! Water is the best appetite suppressant ever created
-Try not to workout on an empty stomach: the body uses carbs as their primary source of fuel. If there are no carbs the body actually cannibalizes muscles before fat (in most situations). So working out on an empty stomach leaves less muscles and more fat. (there are things to take/drink/eat that helps alleviate this)
-Steady state cardio burns a set amount of calories per hour but HIIT cardio burns more calories over a longer period of time. They suggest doing both.
*nudges thread*Has anyone heard of Insanity Max 30? It's very similar to Insanity but it's all 30 minute work outs. It's super intense, it's basically all 45-60 minutes of the original Insanity crammed into 30 minutes. BUT. The premise is pretty cool. You basically go as hard as you can for as long as you can. The first time you have to stop, you "max out", and write down how long you made it. Then you try to improve on that time each time you repeat the work out.
I really liked Insanity so I picked it up. I've done just over a week so far, and I really like it. It gives you an easy weekly measurable to see how you are improving. For instance... Week one day one I maxed out at 8:30. Week two day one (same work out) I made it to 18:15 before I maxed out! It's really nice having that instant show of improvement. I know I'll probably plateau at the 18 minute mark and have to work hard to get past it (damn you fast power knees!), but it gives me a goal to beat. Plus, I do it with J (my husband) so he's another motivator. My competitive side keeps me going so I can try and outlast him.
Also, unlike original Insanity, all of the exercises have low impact modifiers. You can even choose an option on the DVD menu so that the modifier person is always shown on the screen. It's nice for J because he has a bad knee and can't jump, and nice for me because I have high heart rate issues and need to keep it a little lower impact for now and slowly work my way up.
Anyway, long story short, so far I'm loving Max 30. Manageable length, 5 days a week, low impact modifiers, and measurable results. Pretty sweet. I think I might be able to stick it out for a while!
Dawn wrote: "*nudges thread*Has anyone heard of Insanity Max 30? It's very similar to Insanity but it's all 30 minute work outs. It's super intense, it's basically all 45-60 minutes of the original Insanity ..."
That sounds cool! How much is it?
I picked up a copy of Jillian Micheals kettle bell routine and I like it.
I'm still suffering with hamstring issues so I haven't done much lately. Went to the gym this weekend and almost died.
Do you mind telling me about your heart rate? Lately my heart rate has been speeding up and there's no (known) reason why. I'm currently wearing a heart monitor (week 2/3) because they don't quite trust me when I tell them its all fucked up.
It was $139 new I think. Pricey like Insanity, but well worth it so far (IMO).As for my heart rate, it's not a medical issue really. My heart rate just gets really high really quickly while exercising. For example.. J and I work out together. Say his max heart rate in the work out is 160 and he averages 130, mine is more like average 170 max 195. Not necessarily bad, but not necessarily good either. And that's with the lower impact moves. I mix in some higher impact, but if I do all high impact my heart rate gets dangerously high and I get chest pains.
It's probably due to sitting around and smoking for 10 years or so, lol. I just need to be slow and work my way up because chest pains are no fun. I figure once I get to modified (mostly) for 30 minutes without maxing out, I'll switch to alternating between modified and unmodified and work from there.
So.My birthday is in April.
We go on vaca in Sept.
I've GOT to lose some weight!!!
I haven't weighted myself in a few weeks (or month...) so based on my last weigh in I think I would feel most comfortable if I lost 8-13 lbs by Sept. I know that's not possible for April.
Ugh.
I already restrict my foods. :(
I thought I'd throw another Insanity Max 30 plug out there, because I'm loving it so much. My Monday workout, which is basically your weekly fit test, was awesome this week. My first day doing the work out I made it about 8 minutes before I "maxed out" and couldn't keep up. This week? I did the whole damn 30 minutes without maxing out. It was exhausting but really helped me to see the progress in my health, if not my weight.
This week is the last week of month one work outs.. Next week it's on to the more advanced month 2 work outs. I'm a little scared to see what's coming!
Dawn wrote: "I thought I'd throw another Insanity Max 30 plug out there, because I'm loving it so much. My Monday workout, which is basically your weekly fit test, was awesome this week. My first day doing th..."
Congrats!!!!!
I'm still suffering with a hamstring issue but its getting better and I'm pushing through.
MrsJ - have you heard about Beachdody on Demand yet? It's $99 per year, and you have access to all of the Beachbody videos ever made, and any new ones that come out, on any device. I got talked into trying it out and I'm actually glad I did. You can pay up to that much or more for one set of DVD's, so I figure I'll see how much use I get in a year.Thought you might be interested!
Dawn wrote: "MrsJ - have you heard about Beachdody on Demand yet? It's $99 per year, and you have access to all of the Beachbody videos ever made, and any new ones that come out, on any device. I got talked int..."That looks good...I might have to check it out.
But...
I became a personal trainer!! I finished my certification for national but I wanted to "specialize" in a group training aspect.
So I'm currently training for certification to teach Jillian Michael's BodyShred program: https://youtu.be/0ZG2IjN-a5U
BodyShred is...f'ing ridiculous. It kicks my butt all over the place - and I'm doing multiple rounds to get ready for my certification class...which they've guaranteed will kick my butt. I'm excited, however.
So I'm going to wait until my cert is over (17 days!!! O_O) before I try anything new.
Wow, that's amazing! I wish I could go to one of your classes!
Dawn wrote: "Wow, that's amazing! I wish I could go to one of your classes!"Thank you! And I wish you could, too. IDK what I was thinking - I'm pretty shy in person - so familiar faces would be so welcome. Plus bodies cause the other nightmare is hanging out 100% alone. O_O
MrsJ - Have you heard of plantoeat.com? I just started a 30 day free trial. It's the best meal planning / grocery list making / recipe storage site I've ever used! Better than Pepperplate which I remember you like! It's a subscription based service (like $30 a year) and I didn't think I was going to buy in... But I love it so much, I think I just might.
Dawn wrote: "MrsJ - Have you heard of plantoeat.com? I just started a 30 day free trial. It's the best meal planning / grocery list making / recipe storage site I've ever used! Better than Pepperplate which I r..."You know, I have heard of it but I haven't really looked at it since it has a subscription. But I'm going to go check it out!
Whoa! $40 a year! IDK about that...
MrsJoseph wrote: "Whoa! $40 a year! IDK about that..."I thought the same thing, but I tried it through a free 30 day trial and I LOVE it. And now $40 doesn't seem that much anymore!
I also just noticed you can have friends and share recipes that way... Now I like it more. They just need a phone app!
I'm now at the point where I'm ok with the squats, and generally ok with the leg lifts (if I do half regular and half modified) - but the pushups are killing.
I've started doing half real pushups and half girlie ones, 'cause I just can't do the whole set with regular pushups.