Metal Tes

Great job! You're pushing through your obstacles and any slip-ups without letting them bog you down, that's awesome! Even more awesome that you've quit smoking!! It's a rough road but totally worth it...it's been a couple years for me now, and wow, can I ever taste and smell so much better now! I love my crockpot too!! It's great to make breakfast and put stuff in the crockpot for dinner at the same time...mess up the kitchen once, eat twice and have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow! Super win!! Check out some yummies here: http://yourlighterside.com/low-carb-crock-pot-recipes I love this girl's recipes!!

Hi!! Welcome back!! Your diet and exercise ideas sound like a great start! I have read all over the place that you should not take weight training advice from a novice, so I'm not even going to attempt to give you any..LOL! I know what works for ME, but that may be the ass-opposite of what will work for you! I will tell you this, though, I also lift 3 days a week, and it really is only about 20 minutes of lifting, followed by 10-15 minutes of stretching, and it is definitely making a difference!! I have lost weight, lost inches around my waist, and gained muscle and strength. It really doesn't take a lot of lifting, if what you do is working your whole body...it's pretty darn awesome! Definitely check the links that allirep posted, that's exactly how I started, then if you want to adapt things to suit you, go for it! Nice to have you back!!

Holy cow, have I really not been here in 11 days?? Guess I'm technically out of the challenge then...oops...that's OK, I'm not here for prizes anyway, the prize is a healthier me, and I already decided I will treat myself to an NF shirt once I decide that I will look good in it! Burpees before yoga...I like that idea! I might just steal that, thank you very much! Here are the yummy cookies... http://yourlighterside.com/low-carb-iced-pumpkin-cookies Only I used xylitol, as it's the only sweetener that doesn't taste like chemical crap to me...I HATE artificial sweeteners, but xylitol I could eat right out of the bag! LOL So, an update - This challenge is going WAY better than the last! - I am weight training according to plan, and loving every minute of it! It ROCKS to be getting my strength back! I called my Mom to see how heavy her dumbbells go, so I can continue my progress during our visit, she has everything we need and said we can workout together every day, and also, she's gone low-carb also, which is GREAT, this is going to be the healthiest vacation ever! - The veggie station in the fridge is fully stocked, we've taken to buying a ton of veggies every monday, and whatever is left from the last batch gets made into a big pot of veggie soup! YUM!! - The road trip planning is going well, I have found some delicious recipes for a few take-along snacks, like crackers made from bananas, flax meal & chia seeds! Also got a bulk-size box of small ziptop bags for pre-portioning snacks for the road. - The Christmas list is freakin brilliant, if I do say so myself (oh, I just did! hahaha) Everyone is getting the same thing this year, which is a basket full of healthy, homemade goodies! Several jars of mixes I will make like sugar free chai tea mix, taco seasoning (it's ridiculous how many people still buy the little chemical-laden envelopes!) a nice spice rub, low carb banana bread mix (just add banana & egg) things like that, along with some tasty healthy cookies and maybe a mini loaf of the banana bread to sample...what better gift than the gift of good healthy eating?! I LOVE this idea! One trip to the bulk store for spices and jars, I can assemble all the mixes in one day & have the baskets ready, then just do one giant batch of baking and be good to go! Hmm...that won't work, I won't see everybody at once, so it won't be fresh...Oohh...I just thought, even better, I'll bake things I can freeze, so everything can be done ahead of time...that way, the day before I'm set to see someone, I take one set of goodies out of the freezer and THEN I'm good to go! Yes! I'm a freakin genius!! LOL!

Quick update: Very busy weekend, not much time to post and such, but have kept making time to workout, actually fit in more sprints than I thought I would, and then almost forgot to log them! I had them jotted down on paper, woke up at 4 this morning & remembered, and got them all logged in under the wire! LOL...then I went back to bed... This week is going to be busy and hectic, lots of things going on, so I will do tomorrow's workout tonight, and today's workout tomorrow morning, as I prefer to do my lifting in the morning and we've been meeting with people all morning. We have stuff going on every single day this week, so it will be a good mini challenge for me to make sure I fit everything in, and still eat right also. Speaking of eating right, I'm quite pleased with what we had yesterday! To celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, I made an awesome feast, and made it all healthy! We had roasted turkey & ham, mashed "fauxtatoes" (cauliflower), mashed sweet potatoes mixed with pumpkin and baked, roasted brussels sprouts, gravy thickened with chia seeds, and the only thing that was not carb-reduced was the stuffing...damn we love stuffing...but I only made a small amount so we couldn't have too much of it, put a LOT of celery in it, and we both had to do 20 minutes of sprints on the treadmill to be allowed to eat it...LOL! It was delicious and we didn't feel like we missed anything at all! I also made low-carb pumpkin cookies with coconut flour...so tasty! I will post links to recipes and even a few pictures when I have more time, right now gotta run...later nerds!!

Definitely try them, so crunchy and tasty! (We put snow peas in our turkey sandwiches the other day...surprisingly good!!) I think we both did pretty darn good with the burpees, considering! Are you still doing them? I'm actually enjoying them, especially now that they're not killing me! LOL

Update time! Well, the burpee challenge was definitely interesting, I would have NEVER thought I would do 71 of those things in a couple of days! My shoulder is still a bit tender from whatever crunched at the end there, but by today it wasn't really affecting anything, so that's good. I am adding burpees to my monday workout, and may just do them randomly throughout the week too. The latest challenge is great for me, I JUST added intervals to my schedule last week, so I'm ready for it! At the moment, I just ate, so I'll do some sprints a little later in the evening. I'm really pleased with how my lifting is progressing...I think I have a good schedule worked out now: Mondays - Deadlift, Squat, Lunge & Burpees Tuesdays - Sprints & Fluidity Wednesdays - rest Thursdays - Pullups, Tricep Kickbacks, Flyes & Rows Fridays - rest Saturdays - Curls, Pushups, Bench Press & Plank Sundays - rest I've been doing 5 x 5, adding on weight slowly, now I add on a little for the last set of 5, then when I do that exercise again the next week, that's the weight I start with, & add a little more for the last set again, and so on...and I've really been surprising myself with how well that works! 30 lb. goblet squats?! Hellyeah! If someone had told me a few months ago that I would be lifting 30 lbs AT ALL, let alone repeatedly, and never mind enjoying it! I would have been preparing the advil, flexeril, vodka cocktail, plugging in the heating pad and the tens unit, and still being prepared to not be able to move my left arm for a week afterwards. So, needless to say, getting my strength back, the RIGHT way, is feeling pretty damn awesome!! In other goals, my fridge is fully stocked with fresh veggies, prepped, ready for snacking, and at eye level, including my new favorite, which is snow peas, they are my new "chip", and my boyfriend's choice, which is raw green beans! Both are great dipped in homemade hummus, let me tell you! I have a few recipes to test out this weekend to see if they are worthy of being road trip snacks, will let you know how that goes. Haven't gotten anywhere on the Christmas list yet, but I did finish my website from the last challenge! If anyone is interested in what I do when I'm not here or making graphics for iOs games, check out my side business at tinytes.com

Thank you and yeah, if they ran a shelter or something that would be another story! But nope...12 ct x one dog = uh...12 ct. LOL! So...you have time...you're gonna rock that bikini! Do some of these darn burpees...holy crap, I did 71 in the last 2 days and I can feel it from my shoulders to my knees!! I'm definitely going to add them into my workouts, they'll scare the fat off ya!! I've been pretty steadily losing a half pound to a pound a week, and I know I could lose more if I could stay away from the carbs, but I LOVE them! I made a menu plan where I only eat carbs on my workout days, and EARLY in the day. We'll see A) if I can stick to it and if it works! hee hee...little ball bearing butt! It's so interesting to watch how kids arrange themselves to play, as there is no notion of how it's "supposed" to be done.I doubt if I'll ever go back to regular squats now, I like these SO much better...for one, the weight doesn't seem to be in my way, whereas before it seemed I was always paranoid I was going to clonk myself in the knee or something. (I never actually DID, but it just felt awkward.) Also, I feel like my form is so much better with the goblet squats...it's much more natural to me. I'm glad you're trying them too! I like the sound of that side to side stretch, I will try that tomorrow after my workout, I have squats on the menu. So thanks for mentioning that too, perfect timing!

haha...awesome!!

Yuck no! Don't do them there!! blech...I'll be out & about for a good part of the day, but I'll try & match you!

We have had one or two chilly evenings, but it hasn't really set in yet...doesn't matter, I will drink hot coffee or tea in the middle of summer, 110 degrees, sitting in the sun...but then I'm a little weird like that. Your wild sweet orange does sound pretty darn tasty though!

Me too, I've learned a ton from just reading around here! I never thought anyone would learn something about lifting from me though, cool! Even a newbie has good ideas I guess, yay me! LOL! Seriously, I don't have a barbell either but I wanted to do deadlifts, so I just DID...then when you go to log it in Fitocracy you find out there's a bunch of different variations of them with dumbbells too! Who knew?! Lifting went well today, and I tacked on 25 more burpees too! I see you're right behind me...we've been pretty even, maybe we should both try to hit 100 before this thing is over!

Well that sounds a little more do-able! Still kind of intriguing to me though. It was my inner Picard that inclined me to come & read your thread in the first place, by the way...and with that I shall bid you goodnight, with a cup of tea...earl grey...hot.

So...I kicked my ass pretty good today...first day of intervals, I think I need something like that once a week, so saturday is the day! Then I followed it up with my sets of rows, bench presses & pushups...only there seems to be a challenge going on, do I did as many burpees as I could instead of the pushups! Then when I was done I knocked out as many more pushups as I could manage...I think I did a whole 3, then did the rest inverted Tomorrow is fun day...then monday I lift the heavy stuff! RAWR...it's funny cuz right now for me, 30 pounds is the heaviest of the heavy stuff..LOL! One day at a time!

Actually, it was life that did me in the last challenge...or death, rather...I was SO ready, and started off strong...and then two weeks into it, one of my best friends passed away. It just totally shook me. I was pretty much useless for the next two weeks and then kinda brain-drained after that...I still can't even believe it...it doesn't seem real. BUT, he would have wanted to see me DO this, so that's what I'm gonna do!! This one's for CC! *raises dumbbell* So, that said, I'm pretty much sick of people whining about their petty little crap...in life and on facebook...the kind of crap I'm sick of is when people post a status like.."OMG Why?!! I can't believe this is happening...we have the worst luck!!" and then they leave it at that, don't tell anyone anything for days, so everyone will pile on all the "OH Sweetie what's wrong?? What can I do?? We're here for you, whatever you need!!"...etc...only to find out that the BIG terrible news is that they raised the price of their brand of dog food by 12 cents or some crap...so annoying...THAT'S the kind crap I'm not even gonna deal with anymore...it's soul-sucking and I'm done with it! So there!! :-P OK, I think I'm done venting now! LOL... Two more exams? You're in the home stretch then...almost there!! I hope you do well on them...and then by all means, we're going to get you to 130!! When's your birthday?? I could be wrong, but I think crossfit is expensive EVERYWHERE...I have a weight bench, dumbbells, etc at home and we pretty much shoved all the furniture to one corner of the bedroom so all the exercise stuff could setup in the opposite corner. Treadmill is in the living room. It works for now! I'm completely done smoking, I quit something like 2 years ago, and I have an e-cig for those days when I feel like having one, so there's no going back now, that's a chapter from the past! LoseIt vs MFP ...I will let you know...today is my first full day with LoseIt, so we'll see if it's as good as I think...ask me again in a week!

Cool...I've gotcha there too...the whole levelling-up aspect really matches well with the vibes over here, I find. Also, when you're just a few more points from a new level, you tend to just do a little extra to push it over the edge, and that never hurts! Between that & the challenges over here, my ass will be back in shape in no time! haha