Accountability and Motivational Thread - June 9 - 15
 

I can't believe it's already mid-June! Another week is upon us and another chance to keep pushing towards our goals. There's was a lot of accountability, motivation and cheering each other on last week. I love the positivity here! Let's keep up the positive vibes and make this week count!

http://www.johncammish.co.uk/wp-cont...ncy-Quote1.jpg

Here's the 30 Day Challenge that some of us are doing. Bea is on day 9 and Aimee and I are on day 8 (Phew! We get a rest today!). Never too late to join in on the fun!!! I believe Libby is joining in this week! Any other takers? ;)

I've put up the challenge here again so we don't have to go back to last week's thread to see the challenge breakdown. Going to be an interesting week!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EBoXDnqOBb...bchallenge.jpg

I'm not joining in the ab challenge until I have enough core strength to do the exercises properly, but I am cheering on all you doing it! Woohoo!!

Aunt Flo is visiting me at the moment, so my weight can't be trusted (I checked the scale this morning, and it said 184, which is poppycock!). I also have very sore trap and biceps muscles probably causing a tad of inflammation.

On Sunday DH, myself, and two friends did a 15 mile canoe trip down a local river, which accounts for the soreness of my muscles :D It was a lot of fun and we only capsized once. A tree had it in for us, lol. I did not do my regularly scheduled turbo workout on Sunday because I felt quite confident that the canoeing trip was a good substitute for exercise. It might not have been high-intensity, but we were on the river and paddling for 4+ hours.

This will be my last full week on the thread for a bit as next week I travel to visit family for about 9 days, so I want to make it a good hard week! I am most assuredly sore, but that doesn't mean I can't get in a cardio workout today and go easy on my arms. I'm feeling all messed up because I got up at 3:00 am to take a friend to the airport and got back to my apartment at 5:30 and went back to bed. I'm hoping a slow breakfast and some warm-up moving around will get me feeling pumped up for exercise. I just hope my arms feel better by tomorrow, because I have a strength conditioning workout day planned!

Let's have a great week of motivation and accountability, folks! Woohoo!!

Week Goals:
1) Calorie deficit of 4,000+
2) Protein > 20% of intake every day
3) Water 64 oz. or more daily
4) Exercise 6x this week: Turbo schedule
5) Eat veggies with lunch and dinner
6) Weigh in and report on Friday

I'm back and motivated. No weight gain from my 8 days in Paris. Could be the walking that kept me in check. Now to get some serious exercise going - but not the 30 day Challenge. I'm looking to get in more walking and back to the Y for workouts on rainy days. Have a good week everyone.

Debbie, thanks for starting!!! Great quote!!!!

Terri, I will miss you when you are gone!!! You've mentioned inflammation number of times, do you suffer from something with it?

Mary (Kumochi) 8 days in Paris!!! Wow!!! Did you have a fabulous time? Welcome back!!!!

I am not joining in the challenge (still can't manage that full sit up lol) but I am DEFINITELY cheering you all on!!!

Goals:
1) walk or gym 3x at least this week
2) water, 6 glasses min
3) meditate
4) Do not have serious talks before work
5) No meds for sleep, pain, etc.
6) weigh in on Friday only
7) get rid of 5 papers or 3 items

Mary- nice to see you back with us and congrats on no weight gain while on vacation!
Teri- that canoe trip sounds like so much fun and even better to get in some good exercise as well.
Debbie- thanks for getting us started out and I'm glad we have our rest day today too, lol.

Goals:
1) Drink 5-6 glasses H20 per day
2) Eat 4-5 meals per day
3) workout 5x week
4)Do Ab Challenge
5) Lose 1-2 lbs for Friday weigh in

Hope: I don't suffer from RA or anything like that (thank goodness!), but I have a tendency to hold water in my joints more than the average bear.

My sports doctor in high school told me that in general, I have loose ligaments and tendons, which means I'm fairly flexible but also means that I have more synovial fluid between most of my joints than the average person. After a workout, where I'm bending and flexing a lot, I just tend to get inflammation because I have more synovial fluid between joints because it's stimulated from all the movement. I also have a tendency to work a little too hard or beyond my current conditioning, which I am always working on :)

What it means on a day-to-day basis is that I easily get swollen joints doing weight lifting and strength exercises. It's also possible that this runs in my family, as the same thing often happens to my mother and sister. My sister is diagnosed with RA.

Mary, it's awesome to see you back!!!! Glad you did all that walking in PARIS! My envy is palpable!

Aimee: The canoe trip was super fun! A couple of pictures:

This was at our first "pit stop" for lunch, a really nice rocky beach with a log for sitting on (that's DH on the extreme left)
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...140608_003.jpg

Here's me before the capsizing incident (hat, sunglasses, shirt...):
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...140608_005.jpg


Annnnnd..... after the capsizing incident (I lost the hat, which was DH's and he was a little upset about, but at least I was wearing a bathing suit! The shirt had to come off too, it was drenched). That's a girlfriend of mine in the background.
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...140608_019.jpg

Got my cardio in! My right elbow is yelling at me a bit, but overall I feel stretched out, which is good. It's nothing a little ice and heat won't fix.

Trying to get those images to link, but they won't. Weird. Still working on it; have the URLs for now

Day 9 - Ab Challenge Report

Done!

Situps
Stopped at 25
stopped at 30 (I dunno what to say other than, I HAD to, I just couldn't do another without it)
Stopped at 37
Then finished to 45

Crunches
Did the 30 with n stops or issues

Leg raises
UGHHHHH
stopped every 5 and the last 5 were likely total $hit, but they got done 30 leg raises!

Plank!
this was tough
I almost gave in at 30, but thought, seriously 5 more secs..and you can't do it?!?! SOOO I held on til 36 just cause!

I sooooooooooooo do not want to think about tomorrow. I think I am hitting the point where I dunno if I can keep increasing.

Bea - If it's too tough to do all the exercises at once, why not split them up throughout the day?

Good going Terri and Bea!

GOALS for the week
1. Keep within carb limit
2. 4 servings of fruit/veg
3. 6 glasses of water at least
4. Exercise 4X for 30 min

Personal goals
1. Clean out kitchen cabinet for pick-up
2. write

Jenn

because I am as stubborn as I am "old, grey, and cantankerous" and I wanna do them all at once, like a big girl :)

I did after all put on my big girl panties today

(I just refuse to let my size dictate my ability)

Debbie- I was looking at that Ab Challenge chart again and the numbers really increase significantly, lol. I like your idea of splitting them up. I will attempt to do them as I have, but if it gets to be too tough, I may try your idea. Enjoying your rest today??? lol

I was good today. Even though my neck is sore (don't know why?) and I feel like crap- I did get to the gym for 30 min elliptical and 10 min cooldown walking on treadmill.

Bea-You are superwoman!!!

GOALS for the week
1. Keep within carb limit yes
2. 4 servings of fruit/veg 5
3. 6 glasses of water at least yesup to 5 so far
4. Exercise 4X for 30 min no

Personal goals
1. Clean out kitchen cabinet for pick-up
2. write yes

Jenn

A good day. Up at 5:30 to take pictures of the sunrise. Did my sauna and yoga then 1.5 hours of lawn care and weeding when I got home from work. Calories below 1300 even with going out for lunch so all and all a good day.

Mary, glad you had a good day. Out to lunch and still under 1300 calories? Wow!

Aimee, if only I were as determined as you to exercise when I feel like crap. Good going!

Has anyone heard anything from Mern? Anyone know why she's been absent so long?

I have not been doing well at all. My nutrition is good. I'm staying between 1200-1500 calories and it's pretty balanced...maybe a little high in fat, but carbs and proteins are going well.

But my mood has been way down, and I don't feel like doing anything but staying in bed. Also, I've been nursing a pulled muscle in my neck and shoulder. It's almost better. I haven't got any exercise in for almost a week. When I do get back at it, I will redo a week of Start It Up in my Slim in 6 program to get back up to speed. I was doing so well, but then my motivation and can-do attitude took a dive straight off a cliff. I'll have to walk down the mountain and scrape it up off the ground and try to put it back together. lol

Great pix, Terri!!!

You guys sound like you're doing great!!!

I'm working on a big project so I might not be around much but I'll try to sneak on when I can.

Best to all!

Keep crunching, leg lifting, moving and motivating!!!

Bea: Awesome job on the ab challenge!!!! You got it done. I get being stubborn, but you want to make sure you're not going to hurt yourself or pull a muscle or something in the long run or you'll have to stop entirely! :D I don't think size dictates ability at all. But I do think one has to be true to their current conditioning (I should put my money where my mouth is, as I often push too hard).

Aimee: Great job on getting the exercise done, I think that nominates you for a BIDIA (But I Did It Anyway) award!

Jenn: Looks like you had a great Monday! Good job!

Jenai: I haven't heard from Mern, but I may shoot her a PM :) Do you think not exercising has something to do with your mood? I know that sometimes, once I get back in the swing, not exercising regularly has a bit of a depressant action on me. Is there something else bugging you mentally that doesn't have to directly do with your fitness? You're doing awesome if my two cents is worth anything :)

Hope: Mystery big project! Ooh! Good luck!!!

As for me:

Poor DH has blisters on his shoulders from sunburn. He forgot to re-apply sunscreen after we capsized and had taken his shirt off to dry. Silly rabbit. He's looking roughly medium-rare to medium in terms of pinkness and the blisters started to pop up last night. We're keeping moisturizer and aloe on him, and hopefully the pain subsides in a day or two. I wish I had noticed he didn't re-apply and I would have attacked him with the sunscreen. Blergh.

I had a good Monday overall. I kept my calories under 1300 and got a good cardio workout in. Knowing that my joints were already sore, I tried to take it down a little notch from my usual all-out and it seemed like it didn't make a difference in my overall burn, or at least not much of a noticeable one (I was at 14.9 kcal/min as opposed to 15.0, haha). I have been trying to be more mindful of the fact that while I CAN go all-out, my soreness later and my inflammation is not helping me on the scale. I know I'm doing good things, and the scale doesn't rule me, but I haven't seen a drop at all in over two weeks (only gains) and I'd like to have a little motivator on Friday if I can!

My traps are still sore today but better; I will use lighter weights when I do my military presses this morning so I don't completely destroy them. Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Week Goals:
1) Calorie deficit of 4,000+ M: -1,281 Total: -1,281
2) Protein > 20% of intake every day M: 23%
3) Water 64 oz. or more daily M: yes
4) Exercise 6x this week: Turbo schedule M: yes (40 mins cardio)
5) Eat veggies with lunch and dinner M: lunch yes, dinner no
6) Weigh in and report on Friday M-Th: N/A

Good job Terri.
Another bonus of eating more veggies yesterday (had salad and sandwich for lunch) my BG was lower.
Jenn

Hi ladies :) This laundry renovation has me injured again! I hurt my shoulder several weeks back and it was feeling better.....until yesterday that is! I should be able to keep up with the ab challenge but may have to forgo other exercise for a few days...hopefully not any longer. I simply don't lose weight if I don't exercise intensly on nearly a daily basis. Hopefully I can at least maintain while I'm out of commission.

Terri - Ooooooh....your poor dh! I've had some pretty bad burns in the past so I can sympathize! Have you tried using cortisone cream? I simply can't get over the cal burn you achieve!! Soooo jelly! ;)

Hope - What's your big project? Are you renovating a room too!

Jenai - Sorry to hear you're feeling down. Give yourself a break....I think it's very natural to have your motivation ebb and flow. After all, we can't be perfect all the time right. Just don't give up on yourself....that motivation will come back. :)

Mary - What a lovely way to start your day!

Aimee - I'm hella determined to do the whole ab challenge without any rest....and I've managed so far. But looking at what's to come, there may come a day where I need to split it up....time will tell ;)

Bea - Your sense of humor has me laughing out loud and your determination has me inspired!

Have a great day all!

Hi Everyone,

I think I am going to rest today.

I did lots yesterday and may have overdone it.

I did some lightweight dumbbell work
my ab work
and a walk on the boardwalk last night (where the scare happened)
Not to mention a <cough> High intensity romp <cough> during lunch hour

Anyway, back to the boardwalk........it was HOT!! not breeze to speak of, and in truth I may just gotten very overheated, but when I finished the walk, I was weak, light headed, and apparently slurred in speech when I called my bff to see if she wanted a coffee after.

I know heart attack symptoms are different in women and am consciously aware of it when I am working out.

When I got to my friends I was ok in about an hour other than being bone weary tired... I know that can also be heat stroke, but these are also signs of imminent heart trouble.

I'm going to see how the day progresses. It was likely heat induced, but I am just not comfortable testing it out today

Bea

Wow Bea, a good idea to take it easy today. Drink lots of water.

I also want to add for goals...lose 1lb and post in fri weigh in

Ate too many calories today but did get active on my yard cleanup. My house is benefiting from my ban on tv and desire to move more. Back to food control tomorrow. No excuses as I have healthy leftovers ready for a couple days.

Mary, I commend you for putting a ban on the TV. Your house is probably sparkling.
Bea, be careful...don't work too hard. You don't want to strain yourself. Or get too weak and take a fall or something.
Debbie, I'm just coming off a shoulder injury myself. It hurt for a good 4 days (and still doesn't feel quite right). Be careful. Keep going on the ab work. :)
Jenn, eat healthy and you see the benefits like that. Keep it up!
Hope...ooooh what's the project? anything fun and interesting?
Terri, hope dh is feeling better. I think for everyone this week it seems is "don't over do it". You know when you your body has had too much, so listen to it. Sometimes less is more.


I'm still not feeling completely bright and happy yet, but a smidge better today. I went back to the first workout, Start It Up, in the Slim in 6 series since I missed 5 days of exercise. It went well, got through the whole thing, worked hard and got up a good sweat. Then I took a nice cool bath and that was refreshing.

Debbie: OUCH on the shoulder! That laundry room is out to get you. I think it's a good call to take it easy; I agree that this seems to be a theme this week. Hope you still kill those ab workouts, though! DH feels a little better today, although the burn is starting to itch him on the edges. We're still on aloe and moisturizer; thanks for the empathy! And hey, like I said before, you're little and I'm quite a bit bigger than you, it's easier for me to get a high burn. I remember when I was closer to 150 my burn was more like 12 kcal/min. You just keep doing you!!

Bea: That MUST have been scary! I agree with you that it was probably just the heat, but you've gotta listen to your body when it tells you to take it easy. I'm glad you had friends around you who noted your condition too and let you know about the slurred speech. I hope you feel better after a rest, I'll be sending you good juju!

Mary: A ban on TV is so smart. I have it on during the day for noise and am sure I plop down for "only ten minutes" far too often.

Jenai: Thanks for the good wishes for DH :) I'll be really curious to see what the scale says on Friday since I'm consciously trying to be more steady this week. I think you're right, all of us are taking a bit of a step back and re-assessing! We'll see! Great job getting your Start It Up in. I hope every day finds you feeling better and better!

As for me -

Another pretty good day today! I really worked on form today when I was going through my stretch conditioning DVD. There are some exercises where I just don't feel the muscle contraction where I think I'm supposed to. I didn't get them all, but I think I overall did better. Turbo Jam really makes my muscles shaky at the end of those workouts, my legs look like gumby, so I know I'm getting to muscular fatigue, which is good.

After my 40 minutes conditioning I waited an hour before I popped in the Ab workout CD to give my legs a break - otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the standing ab work in, because I need to use my legs for that, too. I usually try to do it all at once, but it seems the theme this week is to be mindful of not going too hard. As a reward, I was able to balance on some of the harder one-legged moves, which is a first for me!

It's weird, the scale hasn't been rewarding me at all, but this week I really FEEL a little lighter/thinner. It's really hard to describe and I don't notice anything in the mirror, but there's just this sensation I have as I get up in the morning and move around every now and then of being a smidge lighter. It's helping!

Week Goals:
1) Calorie deficit of 4,000+ M: -1,281 T: -926 Total: -2,207
2) Protein > 20% of intake every day M: 23% T: 23%
3) Water 64 oz. or more daily M: yes T: yes
4) Exercise 6x this week: Turbo schedule M: yes (40 mins cardio) T: yes (40 mins conditioning, 20 mins abs)
5) Eat veggies with lunch and dinner M: lunch yes, dinner no T: lunch yes, dinner does tomato sauce count?
6) Weigh in and report on Friday M-Th: N/A

Day 9 of Ab Challenge done:
45 situps (all at once)
30 crunches (paused at 15)
30 leg lifts (paused at 10 & 20)
35 sec plank (all at once)

Goals:
1) Drink 5-6 glasses H20 per day (M/Y, T/Y
2) Eat 4-5 meals per day (M/Y, T/N
3) workout 5x week (M/Y, T/Y
4)Do Ab Challenge (M/Y, T/Y
5) Lose 1-2 lbs for Friday weigh in

I got my lovely Aunt Flo today and that must be why I was feeling like crap yesterday. It was double that and with cramps today. I did go to the gym to do elliptical for 40min but that was all I could manage. Was feeling no energy at all. Super drained... On top of that I got some bad news about my eligibility for funding for school today. Found out I'm going to have to take out loans. Ugh. Upset about that. I only ate once today. Binged on Chinese.


Bea- Scary indeed. I am glad to hear you are taking it easy and listening to your body. You may also want to give your dr a call and mention what happened to see if they want to check you out. Better safe than sorry! Hope all is well.

Jenai- I'm sorry to hear you're in a funk here lately. Hopefully it will pass and you'll be back to yourself soon.

Terri- It sounds like breaking up the 2 videos really helped you get the most out of them after all. Congrats on your sense of lightness too.

Debbie- I'm sorry to hear you're hurt again. Hopefully you'll be ok?

Aimee, sorry to hear you aren't feeling well with Flo visiting, and that really sucks that you have to take out a loan. On the good side, good job on getting in the exercise you did despite everything!

Terri, I also don't always feel it where I'm supposed to! I don't know if I'm doing the exercises wrong or what. I mean, I feel it somewhere all the time, just not always where they say. And I completely understand what you mean about feeling thinner. I love those days. Turbo Jam and ab work? Great job!

I just wanted to say that throughout the day I was feeling better and better. I feel pretty good now. I think by morning, with a good night sleep, I will be back in the saddle.

Hi Everybody... I've been out on biz for the last week...

Mary, wow PARIS....that's my next big trip...I'm sure you had a wonderful time..

I see some of you are doing the AB challenge..I did it some months back...very good motivation..good luck :)

I have been really bad the last week :mad:....
You think the scales will forgive me one day????

Nice job everybody!!

Hi all. Last week I was cleaning the house for celebrations on Saturday. I have been eating badly for the last four days and feel sick from too much bad food. I have lots of things to do but I have no motivation or energy. My weight this morning was 184 and I am disgusted with my self for regaining so much weight. Yesterday I had blood tests taken and my doctor will see me next week. I am looking for my big girl panties.

The reno continues...but I'm getting closer to finishing. I just need to install the flooring now and then it's baseboards. I can't wait to have a washer/dryer again!! I actually ended up hand washing some stuff yesterday...NOT FUN! :rolleyes:

Bea - That's so scary!! Hope you're feeling better today!

Mary - Enjoy those healthy leftovers!

Jenai - Glad to hear you're feeling a bit better today. Awesome job jumping right back in and getting in a workout!!

Terri - Congrats on accomplishing some new moves in your workout! You're getting stronger! Sounds like you may have a whoosh on the scale soon since you're feeling lighter and staying on track!

Aimee - Sorry to hear about the funding. How many years is your program?

Becca - So hard to stay on track when travelling!

Have a great day all!

Calories good today. Still waking up early. Bea - let us know how you are feeling. I hope all is well and it was just the heat.

Aimee: Thanks! I'll try to remember the breaking things up in the future. I tend to want to do it all at once, but I think it really did help in the long run. Awesome job on your Ab challenge AND getting your gym workout in. I know when I have Aunt Flo all I want to do is sit around and eat chips ;) You're very inspiring! Sorry to hear about your financial situation. Working in higher education, I know how hard and frustrating it is. Big pixellated hugs for you.

Jenai: Glad to hear you're feeling better and better, and lol, glad I'm not the only one who sometimes feels the burn in mystery places! I usually assume my form is wrong, but sometimes on certain moves (especially ab moves) I just don't feel it. Don't know if I need to crunch harder or what. Ones where I'm laying on my side and lifting my legs? I always just feel it in the legs, never the abs.

Becca: The scale will forgive you one you forgive yourself ;) Welcome back!

Libby: You have nothing to be disgusted about. It happens. Four days is NOTHING and you will quickly lose what you've gained as long as you want to!

Debbie: I could use a whoosh! Thanks!! I hope you get your washer/dryer back soon, handwashing is a total chore!

Mary: Good job today!

Bea: I agree with Mary, eagerly looking forward to hearing from you again and knowing you're feeling better

As for me:

Cals around 1,450 today, which isn't bad, but isn't great either. It's okay, though! I know tomorrow should be a low-ish day and am looking forward to that. Sometimes you just gotta eat; I was hungry! DH is still feeling really sore in his back and we're trying to use Solarcaine to numb it out, but it doesn't seem to be working very well. Hopefully he learns his lesson. I've found myself sleeping a lot more this week, not sure if I'm catching up from a really active weekend or if I'm just needing a little bit of extra rest.

Week Goals:
1) Calorie deficit of 4,000+ M: -1,281 T: -926 W: -616 Total: -2,823
2) Protein > 20% of intake every day M: 23% T: 23% W: 19%
3) Water 64 oz. or more daily M: yes T: yes W: yes
4) Exercise 6x this week: Turbo schedule M: yes (40 mins cardio) T: yes (40 mins conditioning, 20 mins abs) W: yes (20 mins cardio)
5) Eat veggies with lunch and dinner M: lunch yes, dinner no T: lunch yes, dinner does tomato sauce count? W: lunch yes dinner no
6) Weigh in and report on Friday M-Th: N/A

~Terri

Mary, are you having problems sleeping?
Terri...oh I know! Tell me about it! Especially when I do standing ab work like standing side crunches. I feel it on the outside side of my standing leg, not my abs where it's getting crunched at all. :confused: A lot of moves are like that. I do them just like she says and shows. Weird. As far as the sleep goes, sometimes we just need a little extra rest.


My calories are high today. over 1600 (!!!) I had a piece of cake, an extra Tbsp of frosting and a big helping of the leftover creamy vegetables I made last night. They've got lite sour cream, some butter, Ritz and shredded cheese in them to make them nice and high in calories. The cream of celery soup was 98% fat free and was pretty low in calories, but all the dairy and crackers really did it. It was a big hit at dinner though. I'm glad my family likes vegetables the way they do.

I really don't think I'm going to show any loss this week come Friday. :( I'm up a lb and weigh in day is only a day and a half away. I've been staying within my calories all week except over by just 200 today. I don't know why I'm up.

Day 10 of Ab Challenge:
50 situps (paused at 25)
50 crunches (paused at 25)
30 leg lifts (paused at 15)
38 sec plank (all at once)

Did 25 min on the super hard open stride elliptical with arms. Shew...That thing is a beast. Then I did 10 min cooldown on reg treadmill walking.

Goals:
1) Drink 5-6 glasses H20 per day (M/Y, T/Y, W/Y
2) Eat 4-5 meals per day (M/Y, T/N, W/Y
3) workout 5x week (M/Y, T/Y, W/Y
4)Do Ab Challenge (M/Y, T/Y, W/Y
5) Lose 1-2 lbs for Friday weigh in

Thanks everyone for kind words about my school funding. Yeah...it sucks. I've been working with the financial aid department and making sure everything is filled out correctly as I'll have to take out a loan...sigh. The certificate won't take too long though- so not terribly expensive as opposed to when I got my bachelor's degree many years ago. Debbie- you'd asked how long? It's 40 credits. I think it will take 2-3 semesters depending on how much course load I take.

My calories have not been very high. I just haven't been hungry. I'm a little depressed about my hiccup there in the road. Just trying to work through it though and not let it affect my exercise routine.

Jenai- the scale is a crazy thing. One day, up and one day down. Hopefully it will tilt for you the way it should Fri.

Terri- yeah. In the past, I've been tempted to lay in bed all day during this thing, but it's kind of odd actually. Since I've been working out through it? I haven't felt the horrible cramps I had normally gotten this time. Weird...

Bea- I hope you're ok???

Wow, Aimee! You are doing great on the ab challenge and especially on your goals for the week! Try to eat enough that your body is fueled properly for your exercise though.

Feeling motivated today. Jenai - I'm sleeping well - just waking up with the sun then fading out by late afternoon. I'm even considering starting to go to the Y in the morning if the early wake up continues.

I peeked at the scale this morning and I shouldn't have.

180.0. Exactly where I've been stuck the last three weeks. Extremely frustrating.

Hi all! I found some online stretches to try on my shoulder and self massaging with a tennis ball and it's feeling a little better today. A few weeks ago when it was bothering me, I went to the chiro and massage therapist and it did help somewhat. However, it's back so I know I need to figure out what I can do to help myself...I can't rely on chiro and massage indefinitely. I'm planning to keep doing the stretches and tennis ball massage on a daily basis and see if that helps. I haven't exercised all week...except for the reno work...:mad: I'm hoping to be done the reno this weekend and hopefully my shoulder improves enough that I can get back at it! I know I won't be down this week...but I will NEVER give up! :p

Terri - OMG! Your poor husband! In my experience, solarcaine eases the pain for mere seconds....not even minutes!! Have you tried something with cortisone in it? It won't necessarily help the pain, but it will help it heel faster. Also, cool compresses will help the pain temporarily. Tell him to soak a hand towel in water with ice, wring it out and drape it over his back. I'm probably not being very helpful....I'm sure you already know all these things! LOL! Plateaus suck and make it so hard to keep trying. I know all too well! But don't give up....the scale will eventually move!

Mary - I love early morning workouts...not the getting up part...but the getting it over with first thin in the morning part. You may start a new habit!

Aimee - You're doing great on the challenge! I'm keeping up with you on the ab challenge, but no cardio for me this week. Maybe next week!

Jenai - You're probably up from eating too much processed foods and you're retaining water. Canned soup and crackers are both really high in sodium...as I'm sure you already know. Drink lots of water today to shake the water weight and I bet you'll be down tomorrow!

Have a great day all!

Okay.

I took a deep breath and tried to think of things I've noticed that have nothing to do with the scale:

1) That feeling of "lightness" I had for most of the week
2) More strength during exercising - able to balance on one leg, ability to recover faster from high intensity intervals
3) My skin is nicer
4) I am cooking more now that I am focusing on trying to eat healthier foods


My workout today was a hard one to get through because I was feeling very unmotivated (but I DID get through it!!!!). I don't let the scale rule me (see lots of my previous posts) but it's difficult to be doing the right thing and see no number results for near an entire month.

I am trying to think of whatever might be putting me off track and the only thing I can think of is that the weekends are usually involving hamburgers/hot dogs and one or two beers. It could be the beers putting me off-track, even though my weekends have been active (canoeing/hiking). I always need to watch my sodium intake as well, as DH and I did have a (planned) chinese food day this week (I ate steamed dumplings, which as far as chinese food goes is pretty good). I am going to try to keep my day as low-cal and low-sodium today as possible to see if I can get the scale to budge for tomorrow. Need to pick myself up from the little slump. I shouldn't have peeked, haha!

I put on my big girl panties this morning and am logging all that I eat and drink today. I went for a short walk and didn't have any foot issues so all is well.
It's good to be back to feeling positive again. TY for caring.