Sarah Barr

It's been a while since you updated, so I came here to say that I hope things aren't tough for you at the moment, Lemonbird! If you're struggling with your challenge, remember we're here and will do our best to help you troubleshoot any problems. We believe in you!

Autumn's going to be so good. Hope things have calmed down a bit at work since Tuesday.

Haha, the bit with the lift and the wetsuit and the bit with the cat made me chuckle heartily!

*hug* Hope it's over and done with soon so you can enjoy your new house. Since it's a new build, it might not be eternally draughty and mousy. Moving really sucks, though. May your cardboard boxes always stay taped together at the bottom.

I've never seen Last of the Summer Wine and I'm still getting tears in my eyes listening to that! XD

Same here! Things that make me feel more patriotic than hearing God Save the Queen or Flower of Scotland: That image; the Time Team theme tune.

Hope you feel better in the morning, Spooks. *hug* P.S.:

That's a shame, but it makes sense if you have limited funding like the NHS does.

Your kids are brave and you're a good mum, Terah! Good luck with the sugar monster - I had a case of the not-hungry food cravings yesterday too, it's a real pain in the neck. I remember you saying that chocolate flavoured protein shake mix tended to have a sickly aftertaste for you because of the sweeteners, and I found out that if you take plain powder and add low-calorie hot chocolate mix (I use the brand Options), the sweeteners used tend to be different and you don't get that aftertaste. It might take care of your sugar cravings!

So excited to see people, even if it's not for the whole weekend like I'd hoped!

Update for Wednesday: - Calories: 1593 + 188kcal shake - Gymmed as planned - 2 litres of water - 5 freggies - 1 can of Irn Bru and no more caffeine - Skincare on track = No Idiot Jar money. Rest day today, and it'll be a bit weird not going back to the gym until Monday, but it's not worth burning out for. Marine Thing: An interesting if sad article about strangely high levels of cancer in California sea lions and the work being done by the Marine Mammal Center to find out why. (Brace yourself, there's descriptions of dissection.) What's particularly sad is the evidence that the animals with cancer have higher levels of PCBs and DDT in their body tissues. DDT was a pesticide that was widely used until it was discovered to have a serious impact on the environment, and banned in the USA in 1972 for use in agriculture. There's a concept in biology called biomagnification - an accumulation of chemicals in predatory species that exceeds that in their prey species. Treating it very simplistically, say you have 1 unit of DDT in the bodies of a teaspoon of plankton, and a fish eats five teaspoons, that 5 units won't leave the fish's body. Then a larger fish eats five small fish, and ends up with 25 units. Then a tuna or a seal eats five larger fish, gets 125 units. Then a great white or a polar bear eats five seals, and gets royally screwed with 625 units. The higher up the food chain you get, the more of a harmful substance (like DDT, or mercury) you'll accumulate. It'll take a long time for all the DDT accumulated in marine animals right now to finally get buried in the sediment on the ocean floor. Incidentally, the point about bioaccumulation is one of the reasons why, for your own sake, you really shouldn't eat whale, dolphin or shark. Tuna's also pretty bad, and even herbivores like shellfish can end up with dangerously high toxic-substance levels because they filter so much water, and that can lead to mercury poisoning in humans, with tragic consequences. From what I can gather from the article, the cause of the cancer is likely to be a combination of factors (including genetics and the herpes virus*) but pollution levels are one thing we can exert some control over, so that might be the most important factor from a practical standpoint. The bright side is that the more we learn about the mechanisms behind these diseases, the better equipped we are to prevent outbreaks happening, and to help sufferers when/if they do happen. *P.S., since this is a site about fitness after all: Here's a reminder to get the human papillomavirus vaccine if you're able to. I left school about a month before it was introduced to all Scottish high school girls, so I should really ask my GP about it too when I remember. This herpes virus is responsible for around 70% of cervical cancer cases. That was a far longer ramble than I thought it would be, and it's a sad topic, so here's some light relief:

Thanks for the tip! Same.

Update for Tuesday: - Gymmed as planned - Calories: 1617 + 186kcal protein shake - 5 freggies - 2 litres of water - 1 cup of tea and no more caffeine - Skincare on track = No Idiot Jar money Gym today looked like: - DB Row: (20kg x 1) x 10 x 3 each side - DB Bench: (14kg x 2) x 10 x 1; 9 x 1; 4 x 1 (these were so hard today.) - Farmer carries: (16kg x 2) x 4 lengths x 2; 2 lengths x 2 (also hard as balls) - Leg press: 100kg x 10 x 3 (I can now leg press over my body weight. Heheheh.) - Bicep curls: (9kg x 2) x 5 x 2; 4 x 1 - Shoulder shrugs: (9kg x 2) x 10 x 2 (I forgot the last set because I'm an eejit.) - Ab work: Plank was 70 seconds Marine Thing: Article talking about why great white sharks swim towards ocean eddies, featuring tracking data from Mary Lee and Lydia, two of my favourite Ocearch-tagged sharks.

This is a good child. I nod approvingly. Glad he's okay!

Hope A feels better soon!

I won't be free on the Friday night or Saturday night any more but I could still do things during Saturday until about 4 or 5, and all day Sunday!

Morrrrrning. Update for Monday: - Calories: 1573 + 148kcal shake - Freggies: 5 - Water: 2l - Caffeine: 250ml Irn Bru and no more - Skincare on track - Gymmed as planned = No Idiot Jar money Gym today looked like: - OHP: 20kg x 10 x 1; 9 x 1; 7 x 1 - Squat: 27.5kg x 10 x 3 (The squat rack I can't figure out how to adjust was set way over my short, short head again today, so I was happy I managed to clean 27.5kg and even happier that I managed to get it back off over my head again, because it was touch and go and I really didn't want to ask the Gioker* for help.) - Deadlift: (20kg x 8) (40kg x 5) 55kg x 5 (attempted 57.5, couldn't get it off the ground.) - Lat pull down: (25kg x 10) 39kg x 10 x 3 Overslept, didn't have time to do good mornings or rows. I'm SO SAD about that. So sad. Yes. Totally. *A regular who wears a Gio-goi shirt and I couldn't think of a DC character that didn't involve a pun. Made a cloak last night - very nearly ruined it because I used my neck circumference as the neck hole radius instead of my neck radius, because I am an idiot. Added some pleats so it won't just fall immediately off, but it took me till about 12:15pm to get it done, so I didn't get so much sleep. Marine Thing: An article about doughnut shaped reefs found off the Great Barrier Reef. I could murder a doughnut right now.

Ooft. That really sucks, Def. <3

They're missing a trick by not making the cookie part out of goldfish crackers.

Sounds smart!

Sorry, forgot the catch of the day again! Marine Thing: The Russian Arctic National Park has been extended to include Franz Josef Land, a group of islands further north than any other group of islands in the world, which is great news for animals living both on these islands and in the seas around them. If you're a Nat Geo subscriber, you can also look at photos of the creatures living in the depths of this area. I'm not. So if you are, please describe them so I can live vicariously.

Ah good!

In all seriousness, should we send out a search party, or has Def been on chat and therefore definitely alive? Hope things are going well! <3

Hi everyone! Okay, so my weekend was a bit pants fitness-wise, since I had late nights and am really not used to them, and various other excuses. I don't have to pay a forfeit for not gymming due to new rules but I went over my calories on Saturday so that's £1 in the Jar. Everything else on track. Gym today looked like: - Ab work: 60 second plank! Woot! Nice to prove to myself that wasn't a fluke before. - DB Row: (1 x 20kg) x 10 x 3 each side - DB Bench: (2 x 12kg) x 10 x 3 (The 14s were all taken so I used the 12s to work on my depth) - Farmer carries: (2 x 16kg) x 4 lengths x 2; + 2 lengths x 2 (HARD, but I was happy I managed to get even one set of four lengths.) - Leg Press: 93kg x 10 x 3 - Bicep curls: (2 x 9kg) x 10 x 3 (just) - Shoulder shrugs: (2 x 9kg) x 10 x 3 GUYS GUYS GUYS THE SCALES THE SCALES SAID 99.9KG MAGIC BEANS! And even better, I got into the Samhuinn group I'd applied for! I think that's why I've got much more of a spring in my step today. ETA: Forgot to say my adult movie this week was Charlotte's Web (I know, it's a children's movie, but I really should have seen it by now so I'm counting it), and my prepped food is pretend-chicken-and-real-vegetable jalfrezi. Which consisted of sticking some frozen stuff in a pot with a jar of curry sauce. I enjoyed not having to clean my vegetable chopper.

Ugh, I woke up with sneezing fits this morning. No gym today either. I'm introducing my new rules now, then: - Practices for group are Fridays and Saturdays, so no gym on those days. - Cut lifting down to three days a week, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which gives me a full day to recover after group practice and another full day to recover after lifting training, and therefore I might remain alive. - 1600kcal on Thursdays and Sundays, 1600kcal + post-workout protein something (up to 200kcal) on other days. (Rest is the same.) If I don't get in to the group then I'll go back to Plan A. Everything on track for yesterday.