I just found this very cool Food Advisor (http://www.whfoods.com/foodadvisor.php) at World's Healthiest Foods. I plugged in the types of foods I regularly eat, and it spit out some food suggestions and recipes that I could add to my diet to make it healthier. Very cool! :tu:

According to the Food Advisor you are getting approximately 81% of your total day's calories from the World's Healthiest Foods. To keep your nutrient intake in a generally safe zone we recommend that this percentage be at least 75%.
Approximately 19% of your total day's calories appear to be coming from foods that are not as nutritionally dense as the World's Healthiest Foods. These other foods may include fast foods, pre-packaged foods, processed foods, fried foods and sweets. To keep your nutrient intake in a generally safe zone we recommend that this percentage be no more than 25%.

Nutrients numbers indicate probability of deficiency

94% vitamin e
90% vitamin d
76% iron
75% vitamin b12
64% zinc
60% omega 3 fatty acids
60% pantothenic acid
Here's my top recommended recipe: Venetian Calf's Liver With Onions (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=recipe&dbid=106) Anybody's mouth watering? I didn't think so. :d_tongue:

You can also use the Recipe Assistant (http://www.whfoods.com/recipestoc.php#recipes) to help you choose meals with specific nutrients.

My daughter is all set to play hockey. $550 later, I sure hope she enjoys it!

You cannot give to anybody in this world what you do not have. And therefore you must concentrate on getting. You must become the most beautiful sensitive, wondrous, magical, unique, fantastic person in the world to be able to have all of these things in order to give them away and share them. Think about it. If I don't have widsom I can only teach you my ignorance. If I don't have joy I can only teach you despair. If I don't have freedom I can only put you in cages. But everything that I have I can give away. That's the only reason for having it. But I've got to have it first. And so I dedicate myself to becoming the best Leo the world has ever known. ~ Leo Buscaglia

LOL on the Venetian Calf's Liver. :p

Oh, and don't be fooled -- American Thanksgiving is completely about food also -- and maybe some football. There aren't many of us dwelling on pilgrims that day. :lol:

Hope things are going great for you, Guava, and that your daughter turns out to be the next Wayne Gretzky. :D

While my older daughter may very well be the next Wayne Gretzky, I have my very own Nadia Comaneci on my hands as well. Perfect form, great balance, and she runs like lightning.

"If you race merely for the tributes from others, you will be at the mercy of their expectations."Scott Tinley

Yes, gymnastics! Start them early (and don't let them stop, heh)! :tucool:

Thanks a bunch for posting that Food Advisor link!

Awww, she looks so sweet! :) Have a great weekend!

It doesn't snow in the winter in South Africa.

This is my husband's stongest argument for why he should entertain the idea of accepting a job offer in another country. My counterargument is a whiny "But I don't wanna go." I really, really love living in Canada.

My hockey player is orange. She looks like a giant pumpkin. But she had a lot of fun. She is fortuitiously one of the largest players on the team. Her skating skills are a little rusty, so after her first game this morning, I took her public skating this afternoon. She'd like to go again tomorrow afternoon. I hope I can find my skates by then.

The past three or four days have been a little weird. After all of John's thoughts (http://www.johnstonefitness.com/news/oct_2005_news_archive.php) about making excuses and mental toughness, I started feeling a little substandard. Then I felt guilty about my "averageness". But that passed, then, while reminding myself of the many ways in which I'm so not average, I enjoyed some cake. :D Finally, I decided to be grateful that the world has so many different people in it, each as enthusiastic about their own personal and unique contributions to the world.

Then a couple of nights ago, I decided I needed to do a whole lot of pushups, to prove something or other. Pushups to failure; until I was lying with my nose to the tile and did not have an ounce of strength left to lift myself up. In the end, I believe it ultimately stimulated some muscle growth (my chest is still burning), which hasn't happened for a considerable time. It felt great, but I don't want to work that hard every time I work out. What did I learn? I know that I can really push myself at something when I make the commitment to push hard; I just happen to not want to make that commitment (especially in regards to muscular strength) all that often lately. (And who says that has to be a bad thing? :d_wink: If working out at half my potential pace pleases me, then so be it. :d_tongue: )

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. - Eleanor Roosevelt

I should not be allowed in Dairy Queen.

They can probably see me judging them. They look at me and know that I don't belong in there. I get meals for my kids, then order a cheeseburger and diet Coke for myself and quietly sit back enjoying my food. But I can't help but watch the other customers. Some come in after their lunch to have an ice cream treat, like the peanut buster parfait (730 calories, 31 g of fat). One girl insisted to her mother that she needed the Treatzza Pizza, and she would not share with her sister. When she finishes it off, she will have eaten over 1400 calories, and more than 24 g of saturated fat. Others are ordering the bacon double cheeseburger meal, which tops 1000 calories and 50 g of fat. Many people order an indulgent beverage with their meal. "The Moo-Latte now comes in Mega-Moo Size", my placemat tells me. In case you're wondering, 830 calories, 31 g of fat. I feel like it's my civic duty to inform people who order one "No, it's not a drink."

Moooo.........

:lol:

People who eat extreme foods - extreme salt, extreme fat, extreme sugar, extreme protein, extreme all of it - end up as people who are completely out of balance because they spend their entire day trying to balance themselves with a cup of coffee, a chocolate, a steak or whatever. ~Marilu Henner

Hi guava!
I've been meaning to thank you for the World's Healthiest Food link-- it's one of my favorite sites now, and I like to take the recipes and change them a little.

I was recommended the Venetian Calf's Liver With Onions too when I tried the Food Advisor. I would eat it if someone would make it for me. :lol: I get the heebie jeebies looking at raw liver, and have only cooked it once in my life. My mother made the best liver when I was a kid-- she covered it with mushroom soup, so it was moist and you couldn't see it.

I love Dairy Queen, but I shouldn't be allowed in either as I only like to eat soft vanilla ice cream and can't possibly provide much profit. The Moo-Latte sounds frightening.

It's so great that you've got both your daughters into sports at such a young age! :claplow:

My daughter really likes skating. She put on hockey skates for the first time on Saturday morning, then after her hockey game, I took her public skating Saturday afternoon, Sunday afternoon, and tonight too. She tells me now that "I don't want to play hockey next year", and when I asked for clarification, she said it was because she'd like to try figure skating. Anyway, she has dance class tomorrow night and swimming on Thursday, so she sure is getting a lot of exercise.

My four-year old, after her third time out this season is very near skating like a pro, as long as she has something to hang on to for support. We didn't get much past babysteps last year.

It's too quiet in here. My husband is gone away on business again. I should be getting to bed, but I feel a little stressed for some reason. So, I think I'll play some Popcap Games (http://www.popcap.com/index.php)

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires...courage."~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I suffer from learned helplessness. In other words, I let my husband do things for me. I'd been suffering with the thermostat at 19 degrees celcius, just piling on extra clothes to keep warm. I did fiddle with one of the buttons to see if I could heat it up, but it didn't do anything. My husband finally answered the message that I left on his service and told me what I needed to do to fix it, but by then I'd looked at it a little more closely and figured it out. 24 hours of freezing is enough. However, I still can't figure out how to play a CD on the DVD player upstairs. It somehow requires the use of two remotes and a very specific sequence. Whenever I ask him to help, he plays the CD for me instead of telling me how it works. What I need is an instruction manual.

Some of you may be laughing at my pathetic dependence, but I think there's a place for people like me who just smile and do what they can without cutting up a fuss. I'm reading Goldie Hawn's book right now, and she seems to have many of the same traits. She has her brave and ambitious moments, but mostly she just goes with the flow, and too often, she worries what people are thinking about her personal choices.

Popcap games didn't satisfy me last night, so I did a very brief pre-bed upper body workout. I've been up later than I should have been lately, so again I was really tired this morning. But after vacuuming and mopping the floor, packing lunches and sending the girls off to school, there wasn't much left to do other than go on my elliptical. I intended to do a brief 20 minute stint then have a shower, but once I got on the elliptical, I couldn't get off. Sometimes I just need a shove in the right direction to get started. What would be even better, if it had settings that forced me to go a certain speed; instead, I can only alter the resistance level. In the end, my monitor read 60 minutes, 10.6 km, 918.6 calories burned (though I doubt it's calibrated for someone of my weight). I did much of the workout at level 10. There's an indicator of watts on the display, which to me, makes me imagine little lightbulbs lighting up. At one point, I generated 314 W, which made me pictured 5 illuminated bulbs. If I knew anything about electronics, then, just for fun, I'd design some equipment that resulted in usable energy at the end, like pedalling to listen to music or watch tv or something.

I'm trying to always be conscious of what I'm consuming, and lately I've been going a little overboard on the artificial sweeteners. This morning I discovered that I don't need any artificial sweetener in my coffee if I add a generous amount of vanilla soy milk. However, the stuff is no nutritional superstar:

An excellent source of nutrition and contains 7 grams of soy protein and 308 mg of calcium (per 250 ml serving).

Low in saturated fat.

Fortified with 15 essential vitamins and minerals including vitamins A, D2, B12 and riboflavin.

Ingredients: Filtered Water, Soy Protein, Maltodextrin, Corn Syrup Solids, Cane Sugar, Sunflower Oil, Fructose, Rice Malt, Potassium Citrate, Natural Flavour, Tricalcium Phosphate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Mono- and Di-Glycerides, Carrageenan, Salt, Magnesium Phosphate, Zinc Gluconate, Ascorbic Acid, Niacin, Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin A, Thiamine, Folacin, Vitamin D2, Vitamin B12

In 250 ml, it has 180 calories, 26 g carbs, 9 g protein, and 5 g fat. Compared to 1% milk with 100 calories (half the amount of fat and carbs, with similar protein) it doesn't sound like a nutritional bargain. I'm not sure I'll be buying it again.

I am addicted to self help books. I'm sad to say that I'm finished Leo Buscaglia's book, because I couldn't read it without smiling. I searched my library's online catalog and found another book to put on hold, by Po Bronson (http://www.pobronson.com/). This book "What Should I do with my Life?" was actually used as a prop in the movie Bewitched, so I suppose it could become quite famous.

"Wouldn’t it be so much easier if you got a letter in the mail when you were seventeen, signed by someone who had a direct pipeline to Ultimate Meaning, telling you exactly who you are and what your true destiny is? Then you could carry this letter around in your pocket, and when you got confused or distracted and suddenly melted down, you’d reach for your wallet and grab the letter and read it again and go, “Oh, right.” ~ Po Bronson

I'm trying to always be conscious of what I'm consuming, and lately I've been going a little overboard on the artificial sweeteners. This morning I discovered that I don't need any artificial sweetener in my coffee if I add a generous amount of vanilla soy milk.

Just a suggestion, but lately I've been using protein powder to flavour my coffee and tea. Most of them do have artifical sweetners in them though, but it might overall be less then what you're currently using(?).

Not a bad way to reduce sugar, and add a bit of protein to the diet.

Would just need to find a flavour that works with your choice of coffee.

Creation excites me rather than destruction, so "burning fat" has never been a motivator for me. More encouraging is "building muscle" and "growing a strong heart". That's why I eat with the superfoods diet which is inclusive (eat as much of these things as you can), rather than exclusive (avoid fat, sugar, and other additives). I tried something new on the elliptical today. If I can't hook up lightbulbs to it, I can at least use visualization to push me forward. The speed and levels never really seemed to do it for me, but the wattage gives me something to shoot for. Thinking of 60 watt lightbulbs, I warmed up at one lightbulb for five minutes, went at 3 lightbulbs for 5 minutes, 2 lightbulbs for 5 minutes, then 3 lightbulbs for 5 minutes. After a water break (about 3 minutes, not timed) I did 5 minutes of 3 lightbulbs, 5 minutes of 2 lightbulbs, 3 minutes of 3 lightbulbs, 2 minutes of 2 lightbulbs, and 5 minutes of 1 lightbulb. In the end, the display read 38 minutes, 6.7 km 578 calories burned. Good timing because my Afro-Latin Party CD (http://www.putumayo.com/catalog/item.php?cat_id=00011&item_id=00198) was 37 minutes long.

Just a suggestion, but lately I've been using protein powder to flavour my coffee and tea. Most of them do have artifical sweetners in them though, but it might overall be less then what you're currently using(?).
Interesting idea, but I don't think I need any extra protein in my diet. However, I agree that flavor decreases the need for sweetness, so maybe I'll splash some generous amounts of vanilla in my coffee.

Today is the first day I've been completely pleased with the way my lower body looks. I'm not sure what exactly it is that I'm doing right, but it's working. I posted new photos this morning in my Private Media Gallery (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?p=217759&posted=1#post217759).

It's gonna be a good day. :D

La perfection est atteinte non quand il ne reste rien à ajouter, mais quand il ne reste rien à enlever. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

My music exploration led me down into the basement to look for my Queensryche album. (Anyone know of the origin of the "Dr. Davis, telephone please...."? This line appears in pretty much every movie that has a hospital scene. Queensryche was the first link that came up when I googled it, but I wonder if they originated it and make money whenever it's used.) I couldn't find the Queensryche tape, but I did locate the soundtrack to "Last Action Hero," which I haven't listened to in more than ten years. The title track is possibly the worst song written by anyone. The music is bad, but the lyrics are worse:
Now just like the big-time
Ya get to bang the ladies too
Cuz ya always pull through.
You're the true! :rolleyes:

The rest of the album has some good material in it, and, though it didn't suit the pace of my housecleaning, will be a good collection of songs to lift to. Or, if I did any aquatics, I'd be persuaded to
Just keep on swimming
Swim... swim... swim...

I have a babysitter booked for tonight, but I haven't decided where to go yet. I could meet my husband after work at a restaurant where he shares bruschetta and wings with his colleagues, or I could take him somewhere else for dinner, or I could eat at home with the kids first, then meet him later at a pool hall or something.... :confused:

Be dangerous and unpredictable and make a lot of noise ( http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=wIj9UOaBrLY%3D) ~Anthrax

Guava,

The Queensryche album you refer to is called Operation: Mindcrime. It tells the story of a drug addict, a drug lord, and a nun all caught up in a web of lies and deception based on money, power and addiction. I know this album backwards and forwards and is one of my top five all-time faves. If you have the opportunity, pick up a copy of the Operation: Livecrime video; they do a complete stage show that helps an uneducated Queensryche viewer understand the story better.

I was front-row-and-center in 1991 for the Mindcrime/Empire tour, which was the very last time that Queensryche played Mindcrime from start to finish, live. It was flawless. Just before they played Sweet Sister Mary, Geoff Tate (the lead singer) asked the crowd how Mary dies... I was screaming at the top of my lungs from the front row Geoff - he heard me, and pointed at me when he heard me, and gave me a thumbs up. I won't tell you how she died... that gives away a big piece of the puzzle.

Secondly, the Last Action Hero soundtrack had lots of big names on it from the 80's/early 90's metal movement: Def Leppard, Alice in Chains, Megadeth, Anthrax, Cypress Hill, Queensryche, and AC/DC.

-R

Guava,

The Queensryche album you refer to is called Operation: Mindcrime. It tells the story of a drug addict, a drug lord, and a nun all caught up in a web of lies and deception based on money, power and addiction. I know this album backwards and forwards and is one of my top five all-time faves. If you have the opportunity, pick up a copy of the Operation: Livecrime video; they do a complete stage show that helps an uneducated Queensryche viewer understand the story better.

I was front-row-and-center in 1991 for the Mindcrime/Empire tour, which was the very last time that Queensryche played Mindcrime from start to finish, live. It was flawless. Just before they played Sweet Sister Mary, Geoff Tate (the lead singer) asked the crowd how Mary dies... I was screaming at the top of my lungs from the front row Geoff - he heard me, and pointed at me when he heard me, and gave me a thumbs up. I won't tell you how she died... that gives away a big piece of the puzzle.

Secondly, the Last Action Hero soundtrack had lots of big names on it from the 80's/early 90's metal movement: Def Leppard, Alice in Chains, Megadeth, Anthrax, Cypress Hill, Queensryche, and AC/DC.

-R
I'm pretty sure I have it on tape, but I can't find it!

You'd think I'd know how she dies, but I never paid much attention to the lyrics when I was what? 15? I only remember the Dr. Davis part. :p

You'd think I'd know how she dies, but I never paid much attention to the lyrics when I was what? 15? I only remember the Dr. Davis part. :p
"... I remember now... I remember how it started... I can't remember yesterday... I just remember doing... what they told me..."

Mindcrime came out about the same time I first picked up a guitar, in late 1988 or so, if I remember correctly. It was ground-breaking in its day. At one point, I could play almost the entire album on guitar from beginning to end, most of the solos included. My buddies and I used to skip 6th/7th period in high school, walk to his house a couple miles away, and we'd sit on the back porch and drink his dad's Pabst Blue Ribbon and listen to Mindcrime at least once a day, if not twice. I have literally heard it thousands of times. Back in the day, it was quite the heated argument between metalheads as to how Mary died.

Oh how I pine for those much simpler days, when all we had to argue about was how Sister Mary died.

Religion and sex are power plays
Manipulate the people for the money they pay
They're selling skin, they're selling God
But the numbers look the same on their credit cards
Politicians say no to drugs
While we pay for wars in Saudi Arabia
Fighting fire with empty words
While the banks get fat
And the poor stay poor
And the rich get rich
And the cops get paid To look away
As the one percent rules America

From Spreading The Disease, Operation: Livecrime

I still listen in awe to this album. And this passage seems a smite prophetic from an album written 17 years ago by a group of men that society ignored at the time because they played loud music and wore long hair. The PMRC was on its rampage at the time, with Tipper Gore leading the charge.

-R

Okay, I have some questions.

I'm really curious about the "Dr. Davis, telephone please..." I don't know music but I am a big fan of movies. When you say this is in every movie with a hospital scene, do you mean recent movies too?

And I'm sorry to say that although I'm sure I've heard Queensryche, I wouldn't be able to tell you I did. Can you tell me how sister mary died, Bluestreak? You can pm it to me to not give it away for Guava.

Okay, I have some questions.

I'm really curious about the "Dr. Davis, telephone please..." I don't know music but I am a big fan of movies. When you say this is in every movie with a hospital scene, do you mean recent movies too?

And I'm sorry to say that although I'm sure I've heard Queensryche, I wouldn't be able to tell you I did. Can you tell me how sister mary died, Bluestreak? You can pm it to me to not give it away for Guava.
I'm not sure about MOVIES specifically, but I just heard it on a radio ad yesterday. It's all over the place. Scroll to the bottom of this Phish link (http://www.phish.com/letters/index.php?year=1993&month=6) and a review of the movie Coma (http://www.geocities.com/tyrannorabbit/coma.html).

I was never into deep poetry or lyric analysis, so if it's a puzzle to how she died, I'd probably never figured it out.

And I still need some ideas on how to spend my Friday evening.

And I still need some ideas on how to spend my Friday evening.


dinner and a movie sound good to me :D now I just have to talk Bluestreak into it :p :lol:

Here's a very indepth analysis of Mindcrime....wow a real blast from the past. Loved Queensryche back then.

http://www.apollowebworks.com/russell/mindcrime.html

If the weather holds up I'm taking my kids to boo at the zoo (Halloween stuff at the city zoo). Guava's zoo is a lot cooler than our zoo :( I've only seen it twice (you are in T.O, right?)

Here's a very indepth analysis of Mindcrime....wow a real blast from the past.

Dude! Shut up! They're supposed to go figure it out for themselves! That takes out all the fun! ;)

-R

Guava,

The Queensryche album you refer to is called Operation: Mindcrime. It tells the story of a drug addict, a drug lord, and a nun all caught up in a web of lies and deception based on money, power and addiction. I know this album backwards and forwards and is one of my top five all-time faves. If you have the opportunity, pick up a copy of the Operation: Livecrime video; they do a complete stage show that helps an uneducated Queensryche viewer understand the story better.

I was front-row-and-center in 1991 for the Mindcrime/Empire tour, which was the very last time that Queensryche played Mindcrime from start to finish, live. It was flawless. Just before they played Sweet Sister Mary, Geoff Tate (the lead singer) asked the crowd how Mary dies... I was screaming at the top of my lungs from the front row Geoff - he heard me, and pointed at me when he heard me, and gave me a thumbs up. I won't tell you how she died... that gives away a big piece of the puzzle.

Secondly, the Last Action Hero soundtrack had lots of big names on it from the 80's/early 90's metal movement: Def Leppard, Alice in Chains, Megadeth, Anthrax, Cypress Hill, Queensryche, and AC/DC.

-R


Wow! If it weren't for the fact that I am 6 years older than you, I swear we were seperated at birth, well, whatever.

I saw Queensryche a few times (once when they played MC whole), and at the last Day on the Green (Faith No More, Soundgarden, Queensryche and Metallica). I swear, I have NEVER in my life heard a cleaner band perform live (and outdoors to boot!). OOOOOPS, amend that, Radiohead live is as clean as it gets.

My Ipod is stuffed with Queensryche!

Here's a very indepth analysis of Mindcrime....wow a real blast from the past. Loved Queensryche back then.

http://www.apollowebworks.com/russell/mindcrime.html

If the weather holds up I'm taking my kids to boo at the zoo (Halloween stuff at the city zoo). Guava's zoo is a lot cooler than our zoo :( I've only seen it twice (you are in T.O, right?)

I didn't click! I still have to find my tape! I must have left it at my Mom's place 15 years ago. :lol:

I wanted to go to Boo at the Zoo, but my husband vetoed the idea. I might just have to take the kids myself. Funny, I've never been to the Toronto Zoo, but I've been to the Winnipeg Zoo more than a dozen times. Funny too, I know a guy named Gordo in Winnipeg that lifts weights. Tell me you didn't used to live on Kenaston Blvd.

Movie theatres feel like a waste of money to me, for some strange reason, when you can watch a movie at home for less than 1/4 the price, but I'm up for dinner. We're going to meet in a parking lot at a Shopper's Drug Mart halfway between his work and here and see what we can find near there.

This morning, I listened to Anthrax, Winger, and Extreme. I've got Ugly Kid Joe on now, but they only have one good song. I really don't want to buy new CDs, but tapes just don't cut it. Maybe I can download some songs from the past.

Wake Up, Got Another Day To Get,
Through Now, Got Another Man To See
Gotta Call Him On The Telephone Ay O
Gotta Find A Piece Of Paper
Sit Down, Got Another Letter To Write,
Think Hard, Gotta Get A Letter Just Right
Little Ringin' On The Telephone Oh No,
Gotta Write Another Letter
No Such Thing As Tomorrow
All We Want
Two, Three, Go!
Time, Got The Time Tick Tick Tickin' In My Head

Try and get THAT one out of your head now. :D

Kenaston Blvd...nope, not me :)

I looks like I lost my status. My bronze plaque has vanished. I cannot access the private forums anymore. :d_frown: A year goes so fast. :d_rolleye

It snowed yesterday. Winter is not my favorite time of year. My strategy is to keep so busy that I don't notice that it's so bloody cold. I need some clothes that are good for layering. For the last several years, it has been impossible to find any t-shirts that go down past the navel, or any pants that sit higher than the hip bone. This has been practically guaranteeing a chilly midsection. Thank goodness the trend is coming to an end. Wardrobe replacement time. :p

Yesterday at my daughter's hockey game, I decided on an English Toffee Cappuccino instead of a coffee. A large. Anyone know how much damage I did? I have no idea whether it's closer to 100 calories or 500. I am so bad at estimating calories. :o Then for lunch, we went to the food court. Nothing healthy there. The girls had pizza, but they were still hungry, so we went to the grocery store. The little one wanted a bagel, and the big one requested for a cookie. I didn't want to buy a dozen, so I told her to ask at the bakery counter if they sold singles. They didn't, but they said we could help ourselves to an oatmeal cookie they had on sample. So we each had one. Strange marketing strategy. :confused: I topped off my lunch (of leftover pizza crusts) with a few handfulls of cereal. Shrimp stir-fry for supper.

Finally, I have broken through on my chest strength. 15 consecutive push-ups. I haven't tried the bench press lately, because it's buried deep in the basement under construction material, but I'm expecting to be able to accomplish more now. My pull-ups have not progressed. It's still a struggle to get 5 done, so I need to look at alternate back-building moves, like the "weighted headbutts" that wh0areume posted. :lol: I did a few sets with 3.5 kg dumbbells, and I already feel stronger. I will need to look at changing around my exercises to strengthen all my body parts, instead of sticking with just the ones I like best.

Our Florida vacation plans have been put on hold. My husband seems to be the only one who knows what he's doing at work, and they say they may need him the first week of December. So, he asked about shifting our holiday to the end of January. I countered that the third week of February (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=21134&highlight=annual+cheat+meal) might be more fun. Still, I'm already getting stir-crazy. Perhaps we'll spend Christmas at Niagara Falls.

Forgot to mention the other part of my lunch: an Organic Fibre Bar (http://www.americannutrition.com/Categories/digestive/fiber_bars.htm), chocolate flavor. Crazy nutrition stats. No sugar or artificial ingredients (ie. no sweeteners). Just fruit and fibre and nuts. Taste is awesome, but the price is outrageous (nearly $4 for 50g, but I had a two-for-one coupon)

Totally off topic but After watching them play pool in a Redmond (Washington state) bar, Queensryche just isn't the same lol


QUOTE=Bluestreak]Guava,

The Queensryche album you refer to is called Operation: Mindcrime. It tells the story of a drug addict, a drug lord, and a nun all caught up in a web of lies and deception based on money, power and addiction. I know this album backwards and forwards and is one of my top five all-time faves. If you have the opportunity, pick up a copy of the Operation: Livecrime video; they do a complete stage show that helps an uneducated Queensryche viewer understand the story better.

I was front-row-and-center in 1991 for the Mindcrime/Empire tour, which was the very last time that Queensryche played Mindcrime from start to finish, live. It was flawless. Just before they played Sweet Sister Mary, Geoff Tate (the lead singer) asked the crowd how Mary dies... I was screaming at the top of my lungs from the front row Geoff - he heard me, and pointed at me when he heard me, and gave me a thumbs up. I won't tell you how she died... that gives away a big piece of the puzzle.

Secondly, the Last Action Hero soundtrack had lots of big names on it from the 80's/early 90's metal movement: Def Leppard, Alice in Chains, Megadeth, Anthrax, Cypress Hill, Queensryche, and AC/DC.

-R[/QUOTE]

Something has sucked all of the motivation out of me, and I think maybe that something is the upcoming winter. Below freezing is not my cup of tea.

I was so crabby last night that my husband sent me to bed at 6:30. I did not reappear until 7:10 this morning. I am not sick, just lazy.

I have edge painting to do in the basement. The laminate floor has been placed, and the wainscoting is up. After some trim and some edgework, then we can go table-shopping.

The meet-up with my husband on Friday did not go well. It was supposed to take us about 20 minutes for each of us to drive to the drug store, but I got held up doing the dishes, and he decided to stop at Home Depot on the way, and then got lost. :p After waiting 15 minutes in the cold, I made my way to a pay phone, and he came walking up behind me while I was waiting for him to answer. The restaurant didn't have the first dish I ordered, and their coffee was stale. But we had a lovely time regardless.

I'm determined to be positive today. Right after I run out and deliver some gloves and a toque to my poor little girl who went out uncovered in the cold blowing wind this morning.

We do not attract that which we want; we attract that which we are. ~James Allen

Guava, I LOVE your new avatar. Could you please see if you can tilt his head in the other direction? :rolleyes: :whistle: :D

Guava, I LOVE your new avatar. Could you please see if you can tilt his head in the other direction? :rolleyes: :whistle: :D
He's a pretty cute little guy. I'll see how well he listens. :d_biggrin

He's a pretty cute little guy. I'll see how well he listens. :d_biggrin


He seems pretty tame. God only knows what wh0 subjected the poor thing to. :d_eek: :whistle: He may need some counseling. :D

Better?

He's a pretty cute little guy. I'll see how well he listens. :d_biggrin


You change avatars more than me. I LOVE the little ducky!!!!!!! AWWWW! :nod: :d_smile: And his head is tilted in the opposite direction. Thanx.

what did i do? :confused:
i have harmed no duck - worst i've done is hit a goose with my car, but he flew into ME.

Better?

I see wh0's puppet went back home. Trouble was he? I'm not surprised. :whistle:

what did i do? :confused:
i have harmed no duck - worst i've done is hit a goose with my car, but he flew into ME.

I thought there was an agreement. (Costanza :D )

wh0areume, I am SO glad to see the sock puppet back. :)

However, I'm disappointed to see that chester has lost some of his vibrancy since you gave him the tilt. He was so happy and green before, now he looks a little faded and sad. :d_frown:

......the lengths i go for you people....... ;)

i even tilted his head the other way for doordude.

This morning, I've signed up to take my daughter on a tour of the grocery store. Sholezard and phillydude will know how excited this makes me. :D

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go grocery shopping on my own. Browsing the aisles at a leisurely pace, I purchased myself some "Ridiculously Healthy Cereal" (http://www.redrivercereal.com/index.html). Really, that's their slogan. I think they should change the official name, from Red River Cereal, which is pretty boring.

It all began around 1924 in Manitoba's Red River Valley. It was inspired by the natural, rugged beauty of the landscape. For 75 years Canadians from coast to coast have started off their day with the natural goodness found in every spoonful of Red River Cereal.
At home or at the cottage... cooking on the hearth or atop the wood stove... the nutty aroma perfuming the air calling you down to breakfast on cold, crisp winter mornings... Red River Cereal is more than a bowl of hot, steamy goodness. It's part of growing up.

I'm not too sure about the natural rugged beauty. On the Red River? I think they're lost. They fed this stuff to me in the hospital the morning after I produced my first born. I wasn't so excited about it then (enter LOTS of brown sugar), but the nutty flavor has grown on me. All it needs is a couple of raisins. However, it fails to say on the box Use a bowl larger than your head for one measly bowl, or else you'll be sure to be wiping the sticky stuff from your microwave surface for days. :lol:

Anyway, hot cereal is good for breakfast. And for lunch, Amy's organic soup (http://www.amys.com/products/category_view.php?prod_category=14) can't be beat. I had minestrone on Monday.

Yesterday's elliptical workout went smoothly. I couldn't stop after 20 minutes, so it ended up at a 40 minute workout, while watching Kill Bill. What a waste of tape. Whatever made me think I might actually enjoy a movie filled with blood and gore? I suppose there's no point me renting Fight Club either, is there?

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary. ~ Gandhi

Violence is one of the most fun things to watch ~ Quentin Tarantino

This morning, I've signed up to take my daughter on a tour of the grocery store. Sholezard and phillydude will know how excited this makes me. :D

How did the shopping spree go? I'm so envious! I actually stopped by the grocery store on my way home from the gym this morning (thank god it's a 24-hour grocery store!) and bought some rye bread, hummus (finally found a low-fat kind), and some nuts (even though it's on my "No" list).

Hope you have a great day!

Just got back from the shopping tour. They took us behind to the milk cooler, and let us touch a lobster. It was pretty cool.

My husband asked me to buy a lottery ticket the other night, but I refused to do so on the grounds that it's a waste of money. No one won the jackpot, so he's now decided that it's been "waiting for me". He, of course, can't buy the ticket because the jackpot is clearly mine. With not much to lose, I finally bought two tickets for the 40 million dollar draw. (The woman behind me bought six. :d_eek: ) I know so little about lotteries that I was surprised it was $2/play, rather than the $1 I expected it to be. Surprisingly, this page (http://www.lottolore.com/lotto649.html) is not that much help. When do they draw the winning numbers?

Since turning 18, I have purchased a lottery ticket one time, and that was because it was my turn to do the legwork for the office lottery pool. So that day, while at the counter, I pitched in $1 for myself that day. Normally I refuse to donate my hard earned money to help someone else become a millionaire. I work hard enough at my job so that other people can make millions while I make thousands... why would I then take the money I make and give it to the lottery commission? I've always called the lottery "the poor man's tax". That's all it'll ever be to me.

-R

I have similar feelings toward the lottery commission. It hurts me to see so many people spending hundreds of dollars on lottery tickets when they could get such better gains from any mutual fund. Sometimes I feel like staking out the lotto booths with a copy of The Wealthy Barber. "Please, take the money you'd donate to the lottery commission, and put it into your retirement savings."

Winning a pile of money would just give me a headache trying to think up ways to spend it. I asked my husband what we're going to do with all the money. He says he'll give $100,000 to me, then they'll vacation in Paris every weekend. Suits me okay; as long as I can afford to pay someone to clean my house, and get a better home gym, that's all I can think of that's lacking right now. (Hey, I know they'll miss me, and I'll miss them. Couldn't last long.)

I just won a "snapfish" something or other from the online McDonald's Monopoly game. I'm not sure if that increases or decreases my chances of becoming a millionaire tonight. :confused:

......the lengths i go for you people....... ;)

i even tilted his head the other way for doordude.

And don't think I haven't noticed. Thankyou. :D Now between the sock and the little ducky my neck will have a crick on the opposite side!!!! :p
One of those guys has got to switch!!!!!!

Okay, doordude, the ducky is not really my style. It'll be replaced soon. Most likely with some sort of food item.

(Not that duck isn't a food.)

And don't think I haven't noticed. Thankyou. :D Now between the sock and the little ducky my neck will have a crick on the opposite side!!!! :p
One of those guys has got to switch!!!!!!

Door dude just pick up your monitor and tilt it next time you need to look the sock or the duck in the eye. Now you dont have to tilt your head and you get to use your muscles for something other than impressing chicks. (pun not intended)

guava - you'd look good with a sock puppet avator!

http://christine.theajnetwork.com/hello/1865304/320/sifl%20and%20olly-2005.06.22-20.14.54.jpghttp://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/dale/971/pictures/new_wave.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bb/Sifl_and_Olly.jpg/180px-Sifl_and_Olly.jpg

Okay, doordude, the ducky is not really my style. It'll be replaced soon. Most likely with some sort of food item.

(Not that duck isn't a food.)


But I like the ducky! :nod:

Door dude just pick up your monitor and tilt it next time you need to look the sock or the duck in the eye. Now you dont have to tilt your head and you get to use your muscles for something other than impressing chicks. (pun not intended)


This must be "Bag on Doordude" week. :rolleyes: :D

I wasnt ragging on you man. Just screwing around. If you took it that way im sorry.

Do you realize you changed the entire dynamic of this forum in a good way. Everyone is now more open and honest and "tabu" topics that had only been touched upon are now talked about openly. Even Guava is in on it and I never thought I would see that from her. Thought I would mention you Guava since this is your journal afterall. I think its great.

Here have some ammunition on me.
I like to wear pink lacy thongs and parade around in front of the mirror while singing show tunes.

I wasnt ragging on you man. Just screwing around. If you took it that way im sorry.

Do you realize you changed the entire dynamic of this forum in a good way. Everyone is now more open and honest and "tabu" topics that had only been touched upon are now talked about openly. Even Guava is in on it and I never thought I would see that from her. Thought I would mention you Guava since this is your journal afterall. I think its great.

Here have some ammunition on me.
I like to wear pink lacy thongs and parade around in front of the mirror while singing show tunes.

Dude, I was only kidding! :tucool: Hey, i'm not taking responsibility for the current "freedom of speech" trend. :whistle: Hell no! I say it was all wh0's doing. I think Guava may have had a hand in it also!!!!!! :D
As for the pink lacey thongs, a few pix would be nice. :D

Ill try to blame it on wh0 tomorrow. Someone has to take the blame.

Pictures? Those are private moments and im very shy.

what did i do? :confused: (too lazy to read the other posts)
...but i guess since i'm the only troll on this forum, whatever it is that happened probably IS my doing :nod: :D

what did i do? :confused: (too lazy to read the other posts)
...but i guess since i'm the only troll on this forum, whatever it is that happened probably IS my doing :nod: :D

Im glad to see you admitted it. I bet you feel better after getting that off your chest.

anyway... back to Guava :D :o

Sheesh! I'm gone for a few hours, and come back, and you guys are having a party in my journal! :p

I love it. We could even designate this as the party thread, if you like.

Good call badgolfer. Freedom of speech I'm all for, but I get embarrassed WAY too easily. I can't seem to brush it off when it goes all wrong, as is inevitable. Sometimes I say too much. :o

Since I'm not in Paris, you may have deduced that I am not a millionaire. Thank goodness. I couldn't handle the stress.

I worked legs last night during The Manchurian Candidate, but it's uncomfortable strapping both ankle weights to one leg, then removing them to do the other. I'll be happier when the basement's cleared out so I can use my bench again.

It's coming close. I told him "Whoa, honey, it looks like a pool hall down here!" :cool:

I'm starting to clean out some stuff down there, but unfortunately there's nowhere to put it yet. So, instead of cleaning, I started a new project. I dragged out some old yarn and managed to knit the first four inches of a sweater.

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires...courage." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whew, I'm happy to have my plaque back. And my special status. And my access to the ultra secret forums. It's a relief to see they're not talking about me in there. They're not talking about you either badgolfer, but I could always start a thread about your lacy pink thong.

The duck is growing on me. I call him plucky ducky.

I spent more time on the forums last night than I should have, then when it was time for bed, it just didn't feel like the day was done. I had to hop on my elliptical for a few minutes; not because of guilt, just to give the day a sense of completeness. I haven't done enough if I haven't worked out.

According to my yarn ration, I've knitted 1/13 of my sweater, so if I keep up at this rate, it'll be done by the end of November.

Far away in the sunshine are my highest inspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead. - Louisa May Alcott

We bought the cabinets for the bar, which my husband is putting together as I type. We've selected the size, brand, and style of table, but I'm still concerned about the stain and the cloth color which we'll finalize tomorrow. The guy will try to work on delivery for next weekend. We need something to illuminate the playing surface, and the fixture I fell in love with is $1000 (http://www.hotshotscanada.com/item2445.htm). I'm going to take a few weeks to think it over before I make up my mind. That's a lot of cash to spend for a little bit of light.

I watched a bit of tv yesterday. I caught part of a show called "Taking it Off" There was a 440 pound man on there explaining to the camera about how he "can't" use a seasoning salt anymore because he finally read the label and saw that it has wheat in it. "They should put a warning on the label. I don't know how many pounds I could have lost if I hadn't been using it so much." :confused: :p

When I start feeling like screaming at the tv, it's time to stop watching.

Trading spaces was interesting, but there really wasn't a lot of decorating going on in the show that I watched. There were four lifeguards that were renovating each other's beach house, and two of them kept pulling girls off the beach to hold boards for them, or help them paint. :lol: Still, the show was not as much fun as it used to be with lovely host Paige Davis (http://www.happy-everything.com/paige_davis/index.asp), and over-the-top funny-guy carpenter Ty Pennington (http://www.tythehandyguy.com/).

I did a nice long upper body workout yesterday. I managed a set of 18 pushups followed by a set of 15. It seems that all it takes to make strength gains is the right frame of mind. I'm still pondering the mysterious rear lateral raise, which I seem to have a knack for. I have no problem doing 8 pound reps with a rear lateral raise, but I can't go any higher than 10 pounds for a side lateral, and no higher than 11 pounds for the front. In a recent thread, the consensus seemed to be that front and side should be stronger than that comparatively.

I'd still really like the select-tech dumbbells (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007IA4G0/103-1841933-0352631?v=glance), but I don't think I can justify that purchase for the amount of times I'd use them. I'm too lazy to change my weights during my workout, so I keep them at 22 pounds for everything. Too light for bicep curls, bench press, lunges, and upright rows, way too light for bent over rows, squats, and shrugs. I use my 3.5 kg set for lateral raises, but that's not enough of a challenge anymore, so my workouts are terribly inefficient. :d_frown: This versa bell (http://www.dealtime.com/xPC-Stamina_Products_Stamina_50lbs_Versa_Bell_Set) set is considerably cheaper, but I've never seen it in stores in Canada, so I don't know how the quality compares, and it's still more than I want to spend.Mine are similar to these ones (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00076SPYU/103-1841933-0352631?v=glance), but they're in metric, so 22 pounds instead of 18. I'm hopeful that if I buy another set, the plates would be interchangeable. With the metric and imperial mix, I'll have more options - 23.5 pounds, 27 pounds, etc.

My four-year-old was lifting with me yesterday, and she was using my 2kg set (green). No wimpy pink dumbbells for her. :lol:

I'm not sure what I've been teaching her at home. She said to me in the van today. "You know, in school, you're not allowed to pick your nose whenever you like." :p

Before bed last night, I hopped on the treadmill for 20 minutes. It's so cold in that bedroom I need to warm up before I can fall asleep. :p

My songs will pass and be forgotten. What counts, however, is that I sang them. ~Father Andrew Greeley

I'm still pondering the mysterious rear lateral raise, which I seem to have a knack for. I have no problem doing 8 pound reps with a rear lateral raise, but I can't go any higher than 10 pounds for a side lateral, and no higher than 11 pounds for the front. In a recent thread, the consensus seemed to be that front and side should be stronger than that comparatively.

Shoulders are complicated. Everyone is different. The actual geometry of the shoulder affects how much these different motions actually isolate and permit recruitment of other muscles. Shoulder flexibility is a huge variable.

Your everyday posture also affects how everyday life's lifts land on your different muscles, and how that develops the different deltoids.

You're getting a pool table? That's awesome. Just came back from playing pool at a billiards hall having a halloween party.

Cool. Not just a pool table but a pool hall. My parents have a pool table waiting for me at their house that they dont use. I just have to finish finishing the basement. Sure is a lot of work but it sure will pay off. I love shopping for lighting fixtures and anything related to houses. Ill poke around for you now that I know your taste.

What do you think Plucky Ducky? They would look better on me right?

YOW!!!!!! :drool: :D



Oh, I forgot to thank you for letting us play in your journal!!!!! :whistle:

A little cheaper light but still very cool. These are in american dollars.
here you go. (http://www.countrycritter.com/catalog/MD-28500-Pool-Table-Lights-Tiffany-Lighting-p-18773.html)

I dont know if you have already but include the word "tiffany" in your search. thats the style that you are looking at. you might find a lot more.

Party time! :claplow:

I brought peanuts and water. Very JSF-ish, don't you think?
Actually, I'm here at the computer while my wife is having to answer the door for all the trick-or-treaters. My nieces and nephew just came by and they looked so cute. Been getting a lot of older kids this year. But the rainy weather is keeping some away so we probably won't have 300 like most years.

Thanks for hosting the party, Guava. Clean up shouldn't be too bad. :lol:

Doordude was not kind enough to send me an invitation to the party in my journal, so here I am, a little late. Thanks for the protein and hydration carguy, but it IS Halloween, so I made pumpkin muffins.
A little cheaper light but still very cool. These are in american dollars.
here you go. (http://www.countrycritter.com/catalog/MD-28500-Pool-Table-Lights-Tiffany-Lighting-p-18773.html)

I dont know if you have already but include the word "tiffany" in your search. thats the style that you are looking at. you might find a lot more.
Very cool. But I went deluxe. I ordered the real deal. They had the same lamp in a catalog at the store where we bought the table, and the salesperson was kind enough to give me 30% off. I still can't believe we paid $700 for a lamp, but damn it's beautiful.

I actually came in here to mope a bit, but I refuse to be a party pooper. And I feel silly spewing quotes at a party, so instead of my quote of the day, I think we should play a party game instead. Maybe "name that tune" or something.

Here's the tune. Name it:
I took a ride with a one way ticket
I shot my arrow at the mark & hit it
When all the others only talked, i did it
Kept pushing everything beyond the limit
You play the game, you gotta play to win it

Here's the candy.

Hey, where is everybody? I heard there was a party in here!

Hey, where is everybody? I heard there was a party in here!
I was wondering that myself.

Hey, I was thinking about maybe changing my avatar. The back is aparently where it's at.

Or a lizard.

That duck is a little cutesy for my current mood.

I was wondering that myself.

Hey, I was thinking about maybe changing my avatar. The back is aparently where it's at.

The duck is cute.
Your back i'm assuming? Nice :tu: I like the second and third pics.

Kiss - Raise your glasses???

Also first time I've commented, but nice journal. Makes for a good read, and i like your daily quotes.

The duck is cute.
Your back i'm assuming? Nice :tu: I like the second and third pics.

Kiss - Raise your glasses???

Also first time I've commented, but nice journal. Makes for a good read, and i like your daily quotes.
Hey, just what we needed for our party! A dancer! :d_biggrin

Yes, that's my back. Thanks for the compliment. :d_smile:
The one in color was taken in April. The other ones I'm just playing with photo editing techniques with one of the shots I posted in the private media gallery.

You named the tune. Did you do it without cheating? Good job.

Well, this party is a little dull, so I'm off to rest. Night all.

The back, the back, the back! Go with the back avatar. Back avatars are all the rage.

You named the tune. Did you do it without cheating? Good job.


:whistle: perhaps..

Do a back avatar! I just joined the club too. The trend is now sweeping through the forums like wildfire!

Do a back avatar! I just joined the club too. The trend is now sweeping through the forums like wildfire!

Holy crap! Niiiiiiiiiiiice back avatar!

I was wondering that myself.

Hey, I was thinking about maybe changing my avatar. The back is aparently where it's at.
1st pic for sure. That is a GREAT picture of your back! :tucool: :tucool:

Do a back avatar! I just joined the club too. The trend is now sweeping through the forums like wildfire!
sounds like fun. And yes, that is a kick ass back!

sounds like fun. And yes, that is a kick ass back!
I'm tempted to do it, just to see all those backs lined up.

But I'm also tempted to just keep working out until my back is as impressive as chicanerous's. :eek:

:tu: :tu: :tu:

I'm tempted to do it, just to see all those backs lined up.

But I'm also tempted to just keep working out until my back is as impressive as chicanerous's. :eek:

:tu: :tu: :tu:

C'mon everybody's doing it... :lol: I need a JSF plaque to go with my back avatar and then I'll really have it made! :cool:

Good luck catching chicanerous' back- hey now that he's gone and tweaked the thing we might have a chance! (Sorry to bring it up chicanerous- I'm sure it's a sore subject with you!)

Awwwww, i'm gonna miss the little ducky. :(

I was wondering that myself.

Hey, I was thinking about maybe changing my avatar. The back is aparently where it's at.

My vote goes to the pink back shot...that is lookin good!

I'm tempted to do it, just to see all those backs lined up.

But I'm also tempted to just keep working out until my back is as impressive as chicanerous's. :eek:

:tu: :tu: :tu:


Thanks a lot, Guava. Now that you pointed out the back avatar thing (even though I am one of the culprits) and Chicanerous has changed his to a back avatar, it has ruined it for the rest of us. No way I can compare to back like that. At least you could be one of the few women with one. I agree, the pink one looks great. Now I gotta think of a different body part to feature. Mmmm, maybe the big toe. :lol:

Funny you mention it, carguy. I had toes as an avatar for a while. They're not my toes, but they're awfully cute.

I'm liking the duck again today.

My moping, that I postponed yesterday, has to do with the incredible mass of candy that we accumulated. Every time I let my kids eat junk food, there's a voice in the back of my head that says "Bad mommy." Every time I tell my kids they can't have junk food, there's a voice in the back of my head that says "Bad mommy." Today's task is to try to shut that voice up. It's not easy. I have a big problem throwing out things, but I think I can manage to slowly diminish their supply to donate some of it for kids to throw at the Santa Claus parade that's coming in a couple of weeks. I'm one of the people who's in charge of organizing the float for the school.

The multivitamin challenge has got me psyched, so that I may join pug's challenge as well. I tend to work well with a main body part improvement target, and since the leg phase was successful, I'm moving on to the back.

badgolfer,
The ducky says NO. Clearly, whoever makes lacy pink underwear designed them for a person exactly like the model in question. I don't see how you could possibly improve on that.

Go with the back!!! Shows all the great progress you've been making hun!

Pam

I'm tempted to do it, just to see all those backs lined up.

But I'm also tempted to just keep working out until my back is as impressive as chicanerous's. :eek:

:tu: :tu: :tu:

Go with the back!!! Shows all the great progress you've been making hun!

Pam

:claplow:

Hey Pam, you from B-More? (I noticed the hun...)

Go with the back!!! Shows all the great progress you've been making hun!

Pam

You're a member of the back club too!

The picture in the pink shirt is from April. It needs to be updated. I'll do ten days of intense back work, dehydrate myself for 12 hours, then I'll snap a shot that will blow everyone away. :lol: :lol: :lol:

The picture in the pink shirt is from April. It needs to be updated. I'll do ten days of intense back work, dehydrate myself for 12 hours, then I'll snap a shot that will blow everyone away.Yay! I can't wait to see your new avatar.

Now that you pointed out the back avatar thing (even though I am one of the culprits) and Chicanerous has changed his to a back avatar, it has ruined it for the rest of us.No, no. "Nate" ruined it for all of us a long time ago! http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=650

Good luck catching chicanerous' back- hey now that he's gone and tweaked the thing we might have a chance! (Sorry to bring it up chicanerous- I'm sure it's a sore subject with you!)Hahaha. Indeed! The only thing I'll be lifting is my shoes which are turning out to be quite challenging to pick up from the floor. I'll be trying hack squats today to pick them up. Stiff-legging them are out of the question.

Yes!

I'm in on the nutritional challenge (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=21940). Time to get my eating back on track. The last couple of months I've not been eating well. Usually, I'll eat whatever is left over in the fridge, and if there's nothing there, I'll have toast with peanut butter or Cinnamon Swirl Life with yogurt and a banana.

But I just got back from the grocery store. I bought

boneless skinless chicken breasts
frozen salmon fillets
silken tofu
fat free plain yogurt
fat free cottage cheese
a dozen eggs
oranges and tangerines
frozen brussels sprouts
broccoli
and a rutabaga. Anyone know what to do with a rutabaga?

:drool:

Workout this morning was 45 minutes on the elliptical. 697 calories? :confused: Last night, I achieved TWO sets of 18 pushups. :claplow: One set of 20 can't be far off now, then I'll go for 100. :p

It is time to break through the barriers that have held you back and held you down for such a long time. It is time to reach out and indelibly etch your place in history. ~ Greg Hickman

Yes!

I'm in on the nutritional challenge (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=21940).
Welcome aboard Guava.

My moping, that I postponed yesterday, has to do with the incredible mass of candy that we accumulated. Every time I let my kids eat junk food, there's a voice in the back of my head that says "Bad mommy." Every time I tell my kids they can't have junk food, there's a voice in the back of my head that says "Bad mommy." Today's task is to try to shut that voice up. It's not easy.

*sigh*

I hear you.. I have this dilemma constantly.
I reinforce the idea of 'sometimes food' and we have discussions about what's 'healthy'. Not all these conversations are initiated by me, the girls do bring it up often enough, but I do feel a little fear (though I knowthat's too strong a word) at the potential influence of outside sources- media, friends, etc. Fortunately we don't do trick-or-treating here, but there are still ocassions where the girls have what I'd consider to be *too much* of the wrong kinds of foods. Birthday parties, for example.

I don't know how to avoid it, except to make sure I get the fundamentals right at home. They eat whatever I eat, and I try to make sure I eat well.
I think it works- they eat a lot of vegies and fruit, and whinge when they don't get enough brocolli or salad.

But unforutunately, I have no clues as to how to relieve yourself (or myself) from the 'bad mommy' guilt.

I can tell you, however, that you have a great back! You're a great inspiration to me. :tu:

But unforutunately, I have no clues as to how to relieve yourself (or myself) from the 'bad mommy' guilt.
I'm working on it. It's just a matter of focus and/or distraction. I'm hoping they'll learn from my example. My younger daughter doesn't like milk all that much, and in a conversation with her doctor, he said there's no reason to limit the amount of cheese and ice cream I give her. Now, the doctor could be wrong, but still, I may sometimes go overboard. The girls ARE eating differently than they were two years ago. For example, if we go to McDonald's, we SHARE the fries, not get an order each, and the same thing with dessert in a restaurant, (and quite often the entree too).

My memory of last Halloween is pretty foggy, until it hit me today that we were on vacation and completely missed it. One of the girls friends collected candy for them and shared it. It was a reasonable amount of treats, for the first time ever. Maybe I should start planning my holidays around Halloween all the time.

I can tell you, however, that you have a great back! You're a great inspiration to me. :tu:
My updated back shot should be even better, because I'm stronger now than I was in April. I'm waiting to take the photo until I can squeeze in a few more days of bent over rows and lose a pound of weight. Silly, maybe, but it's motivating me to exercise well and carefully watch what I eat. Honestly, I'm sure I wouldn't look the same way that I look if I wasn't motivated to keep showing improvements in my progress photos.

The nutritional challenge went SO well yesterday. The first day on a "new diet" is so exciting. One of my favorite salads is simply spinach with pickled beets and pecans. I haven't had it in months, but I had some yesterday. The thing about the eating plan I'm following is that it leads me to weird snacks. Because I have MANDATED foods to eat, I could find myself at 8:00 with spinach and nuts left to eat. So I spread peanut butter on spinach leaves. In a way, I almost have a mandated dessert as well. I'm counting my black forest frozen yogurt as yogurt only (it has the same nutrition stats), and not as chocolate. And I can also mix up some sweet potato cranberry walnut bread, or a whipped pumpkin pudding that tastes SO yummy. I just have to be careful about how much added sugar there is in the things I make. I love eating like this.

The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch. ~Jim Rohn

Your halloween loot looks a lot like our house only 2x the amount and that's AFTER I shuffled a lot of it back out the door. I was laughing when one kids commented that we gave out some pretty 'sweet' candy at our house. I drew the line at big bars....If someone is giving my kids large sized candy bars....those are simply too good to fire back out the door. Man it's hard resisting all that damn chocolate but I've been so far perfect in resisting. It helps to be on a bulk....My meal spacing is pretty good and I'm full most times so 'just saying no' is pretty easy.

I've decided not to rule with an iron fist....they get a little sweet treat once a day....my boys are so freakin' high energy that they burn it off just breathing.

BTW I had WHF book-marked from before but your footer made me revisit that site. Thanks :)

I made the apple tart with walnut/date crust....hot damn that's a good dessert! High cal, but I made it fit. ;)


hmmm, I might have to try this back thing....seems to be the JSF thing to do.

How much should I pay for this?

I made a bid, but reserve has not been met. My husband says "We don't have room for that". I said "I'll MAKE room."

:db: :jumping: :drool:
http://i10.ebayimg.com/04/i/05/55/20/7a_12_sb.JPG
Like new gently used hexagonal solid dumbbell set with Rack. This set includes 2 x 10 lbs, 2 x 12 lbs, 2 x 15 lbs, 2 x 20 lbs, 2 x 25 lbs, 2 x 30 lbs, 2 x 35 lbs, 2 x 40 lbs, 2 x 45 lbs and 2 x 50 lbs barbells. The set is in excellent condition.

Guava, The new avatar REALLY makes me think of all sorts of "interesting" things but i'm gonna miss the little ducky!!!!! It was the Avian Flu thing huh? Damn you wh0!!!!!!

How much should I pay for this?[/I]

I dunno but shipping over 500 pounds from Toronto, Canada, sounds like it might be something to consider. The guy says buyer pays shipping.

On the other hand, it's a nice set of dumbells. Dumbells are great; you can never have too many dumbells.

I dunno but shipping over 500 pounds from Toronto, Canada, sounds like it might be something to consider. The guy says buyer pays shipping.

On the other hand, it's a nice set of dumbells. Dumbells are great; you can never have too many dumbells.
Na, the guy says he prefers a guy that will pick it up. I'm sure it's less than an hour from my house.

I thought about it overnight, and I would think he probably wants more for the set than a good pair of Select-Tech dumbbellls, so I'm thinking more seriously about that. Christmas wish list.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. ~ Epictetus

Never have I wasted as much time as I have in the last few days. My head is in a fog, and I can't get straightened around.

Neither of my girls ate anything for breakfast this morning, and there was a big fight about what to take for lunch too. Aparently the food I suggest is "weird" (Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Swirl Life, Vector, oatmeal, toast with peanut butter, ham sandwich, chicken stir fry) Not sure what I can do to compromise, and to keep it from getting to me so much.

I've gotta get back to reality instead of hiding in here so much. It's a nice cozy place, but a break from the forums would surely do me some good. I might have to hire someone to come and disable my computer.

:eek:

The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts. ~Booker T. Washington

Na, the guy says he prefers a guy that will pick it up.

Hey if you're in the area then it's way better than shipping. I didn't realize you were local to that seller.

Okay, so since Tuesday, I've been doing cardio every morning, and weights plus stretching every night.

Instead of pissing around on the forums yesterday afternoon, I wiped the baseboards and appliances, and scrubbed the dining room and kitchen floor on my hands and knees. As well, I cleaned all the grime off of the china cabinet that we moved into the dining room yesterday. It's been in storage for 7 years, and is in pretty bad shape, but we wanted to be able to put the car in the garage, so I said I'd use it as is. So now we have a rather rustic looking solid mahogany Gibbard china cabinet out on prominent display. We did try to get it refinished in the spring, but we thought the quote we got of $2,500 was pretty unreasonable, and when I tried doing it myself, it didn't work out too well. My husband is talking about sanding it and painting it, but that just seems so wrong.:d_eek: Today's task is to unpack the china that we've also had in storage for 7 years.

A good plan implemented today is better than a perfect plan implemented tomorrow. ~ George S. Patton

I bought a new pair of running shoes today. They seem to offer a lot more arch support than any of my other shoes, present and past included. They're not expensive shoes (Adidas SC2 W). Unfortunately, when I tried them on my elliptical tonight, my feet still went numb, so I'm going to look into alternate ways to lace them, and hopefully that will clear up my problem. If they're good, I'm going back to buy 2 more pair. They're on clearance for $89.99, which is a pretty good price for a pair that fits so well. On the other hand, if I can't get them to stop making my feet numb, I might see if I can get a different pair to do the trick.

Today, I did cardio only for the first time since Tuesday when I've been doubling up on cardio and weights. By Friday, I was starting to feel overwhelmed with the schedule, but kept it up anyway. Saturday's cardio consisted of a mile and a half walk to the video store and an hour and a half at the swimming pool (most of which was in the hot tub :d_tongue: )Today's elliptical workout went much better. I was able to do most of it at 180 watts (level 10 resistance and about 12 km/h, I think). In 30 minutes, I accomplished 4.9 km and 430.8 calories registered on the panel. Compared to Friday's 25 min with 4.6 km and 268 calories indicated. Might be worthwhile to hold off on my workouts until I'm actually willing to put some effort into it. :rolleyes:

On the bright side, Saturday's strength training included a set of 20 pushups for the first time ever. :claplow:

After that, I was pretty much too drained to even move my arms.:d_redface But next time will be easier. Two sets of 20, here we come.:flex:

Food is going well. One meal that suits most of my targets is a mock falafel type of thing. Spoon some chickpeas into a pita shell (mash them first if you like) with a generous amount of spinach and tomato slices. As a sauce, mix up a tablespoon of peanut butter with a tablespoon of lemon juice, a teaspoon of minced garlic, and a few tablespoons of fat free yogurt. Eat with carrot sticks or grapes alongside. Prepare to delight your taste buds.:eat:

One of the items on my Christmas wish list will be a watch, so I'm looking for options. What it has led me to is great disappointment in the inequality of the sexes. Men's watches are invariably water resistant, and women's are not. Are men assumed to be "sportier" while women stand by and look pretty? I might have to buy a men's watch just to get the features that I want. (My husband wore his watch at the pool, and I was annoyed that I simply didn't have that option.)

Wednesday afternoon, my younger daughter was asked to try out for the competitive gymnastics team. Then on Thursday, my other daughter was asked to try out for the swim team. They are both excited about the opportunity. My good example seems to be paying off. :)

We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction. ~ Bill Gates

One of the items on my Christmas wish list will be a watch, so I'm looking for options. What it has led me to is great disappointment in the inequality of the sexes. Men's watches are invariably water resistant, and women's are not. Are men assumed to be "sportier" while women stand by and look pretty? I might have to buy a men's watch just to get the features that I want. (My husband wore his watch at the pool, and I was annoyed that I simply didn't have that option.)
What style of watch are you looking for? Sporty, dressy, etc.

Here are some for females, but most look pretty corny to me:

http://shopping.msn.com/results/shp/?bCatID=5143,av=2720-4544990,av=2-120859

EDIT: :eek: - http://www.ashford.com/product/index.asp?pg=1&Ntt=TAG+Heuer+Aquaracer+Women%27s+Steel+Watch+&swr=n&formtype=sb&N=112&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchall&pf_id=40528&Ntk=OdimoSearch

Wednesday afternoon, my younger daughter was asked to try out for the competitive gymnastics team. Then on Thursday, my other daughter was asked to try out for the swim team. They are both excited about the opportunity. My good example seems to be paying off.

Fantastic! :D

Top work!

What style of watch are you looking for? Sporty, dressy, etc.
http://www.ashford.com/product/index.asp?pg=1&Ntt=TAG+Heuer+Aquaracer+Women%27s+Steel+Watch+&swr=n&formtype=sb&N=112&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchall&pf_id=40528&Ntk=OdimoSearch
That's not dissimilar from what I had in mind. But not the price range I'm looking in. I'm a "jeans and leather jacket" kind of girl, so, while not exactly sportly, I don't think you could call it "dressy" either. Sears is my retailer of choice. There are a few options for ladies, but in the style and functions that I'm looking for, there are more options for men.
Kenneth Cole Men's Stainless Steel Black Dial Watch $150 (http://www6.sears.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?categoryId=10547&catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=158303117&langId=-1)
Tommy Hilfiger Men's 'Narragansett' Watch $125 (http://www6.sears.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?categoryId=10547&catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=158303060&langId=-1)
Cardinal Men's Stainless Steel Calendar Watch $59.46 (http://www6.sears.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?categoryId=10545&catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=158299890&langId=-1)
Swiss Women's Watch with Date $250 (http://www6.sears.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?categoryId=10552&catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=158304663&langId=-1)
Of these options, I like the last one best, but it looks like I can find similar men's watches seem at nearly half that price.

Interesting thing about my shoes. I bought a size 6 1/2. I remember when I was pregnant I was sometimes buying my footwear in size 9. My feet may have shrunk a little bit from 190 pounds to 120, but I'm nost sure that's the answer. I have a wide foot, and my big toe sticks up. I think these shoes may actually have more width AND height in the toe box than other shoes I've tried.

If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, and in my heart he put other different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows. ~ Sitting Bull

I was playing around with my recipes again this evening. Here's what I came up with:
White Bean Energy Bar
1/2 can white beans, finely chopped
1/2 C prunes, finely chopped
4 dried apricots, finely chopped
1/2 C oats, ground in blender
1 C low fat granola
1 tsp cinnamon
3 T honey
2 T oil
4 packets sweetener
1/4 C raisins
1/4 C chopped nuts

Mix all ingredients together and spread into 8x8 pan. Bake about 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

It tastes really quite strange. The texture is a little odd for sure, but even the flavor is a little lacking. Some nutmeg might improve it. Next time, I think I'll use orange marmalade or apricot jam instead of the honey.

It's after 10:30 at night. I don't really feel like lifting weights, but I do sort of want to lift weights. Decisions, decisions.

It is always your next move. ~ Napoleon Hill

I wasn't very hungry today. For breakfast, I had a banana and a few bites of the bean bar. For snack, I had a few chunks of pomello. I ate my lunch 4 hours later than usual. It was 1 C spinach sprinkled with mixed spiced nuts plus bean bar plus half a chopped peach alongside 1 C fat free yogurt. For supper, I had about 3 oz chicken with 1/2 C each rutabaga, broccoli, and potato. Then I was hungry just before bed, so I had a bowl of kamut puffs with some milk and a cup of grapes.

It's odd. I thought I was gaining weight the last couple of days, but this morning, I weighed in at 53.2 kg at 17.2% bodyfat. I was pretty surprised by that reading, and so, I thought maybe it would be a good time to take pics. Unfortunately, the way the lighting turned out didn't show a big difference between today and April. I'll try again in a couple of days and see how it turns out.

Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action. ~William James

pic looks great to me. And I like the lighting. kind of dramatic with light coming from below.

Well shoot, the negative thoughts are creeping in again.

This time, it was after buying clothes for my daughter. I tend to feel like she "should" be a certain size, and when she doesn't fit that template, I feel like something's wrong with what I'm doing. According to her waist measurement, at nine years old, she has outgrown ALL of the children's clothing sizes up to 16, and needs to start shopping in the junior department. Is she overweight? I don't know. Does she have healthy eating habits? I don't know.

This conflicts me in so many ways. It's important for me to have her eat healthy foods, but more important to me is for her to enjoy mealtimes. I certainly don't want her to be counting calories or obsessing about what she weighs. But, I don't like to feel like I'm enabling her to develop unhealthy eating habits. When I was 11 years old, I wore plus-sized clothing and I was not one bit happy about it. I was overweight right up until I was 24 years old and learned how to cook properly for myself. Of course, I at least partly blame my mother.

Also, being larger than she "should" be at her age doesn't necessarily mean that she is less healthy than she could be. I'm probably more hung up about nutrition and activity than anyone else I know, and so, it stresses me out more than it should. I checked with my doctor, and he said she is NOT overweight, but I still worry.

Coincidentally, I attended a presentation the other morning by a public health nurse on "Healthy Lifestyles for Children". The main focus of the nutrition segment was eating by Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating (http://www.nms.on.ca/Elementary/canada.htm). I'm not sure it was all good advice. When she advised moms who had trouble with certain food groups, the response was rather simplistic. Don't like fish? No problem, eat chicken. Can't stand broccoli? That's okay, carrrot sticks are good for you. Won't drink milk? Have some ice cream and cheese. Doesn't like eating breakfast? Have you tried frozen waffles with syrup? When one mom commented that the only meat her daughter ate was hotdogs, this was met by a positive response "That's fine. At least she's getting her protein."

So I'm sort of lost. Mommy guilt is back again full force. I don't have all the answers.

:d_frown:

More die in the United States of too much food than of too little. ~John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society

I like your new avatar...your back looks super!:tucool:

I like your new avatar...your back looks super!:tucool:
Thanks Devery. There's a whole thread (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=22301) devoted to it.:lol:

*****This post will self destruct in 24 hours*****

:bang: story strarts here

:nono: big sulky whine

:spaz: :eat: :eek: this is where it gets ugly

:cry: continue rant here

:spank:

:whistle: okay, I think I'd better chill

Surrender to the chocolate addiction. Resistance is futile.

*****This post will self destruct in 24 hours (or thereabouts)*****

wow.. those pictures are powerful.... :drool:

oh that's just wrong lol:spaz:

Life IS weird.

My husband had arranged for one of the neighbors to hook up the electrical in our basement, so he came buy this morning. He said it would probably take him about half an hour, but after about 15 minutes of work, he came upstairs asking for a band-aid and told me he was going to go to the hospital.:eek:

So I kept his son for him for a few hours while he went to get four stitches in his finger.

For fun, we baked gingerbread cookies and decorated them. But of course, regular gingerbread cookies just would not do. I had to make reduced sugar, lower fat, whole wheat gingerbread cookies with tofu.:p

Poor kid. Not only has he never made cookies before, he's never even SEEN anyone do it before. We're raising a whole generation of people that think that food comes in a box.:rolleyes:

One of my sister's best friends died in a car accident this morning. She has two kids, maybe 6 and 8 years old.:(

Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. ~Wayne Dyer

reduced sugar, lower fat, whole wheat gingerbread cookies with tofu??????
YAK!! :eek:

gingerbread cookies should be illegal to ruin with healthyness :nono:


sorry to hear about your sister's friend. i feel for her those kids especially...
one of my brother's best friends died recently in a motorcycle crash.
21 yrs old, going to college, etc, etc..

all we can do is be glad the bird flu hasnt hit yet, and keep livin' :nod:
that reminds me... i have to start living...i think im procrastinating tho.

This is the title of one of the articles from Shape magazine that ended up on my pillow last night.

It seems to be working okay for me. That's why my neighbor was working in my basement all morning, even after he hurt himself so badly yesterday that he needed to spend the whole afternoon at the hospital! Anyway, I promised him several games of pool when everything is all set up. We're expecting delivery of the table this Friday.

I've noticed that the downtime I spend consists of considerably different activities than what it did several years ago.

Last night, "I'm bored" led to
"I should go for a walk/lift weights/stretch/go on the elliptical/waste time on JSF Forums." I made a few posts, then did the elliptical and a whole lot of stretching.

A few years ago, it would have been
"I could make a cake/go shopping/watch tv/play Rollercoaster Tycoon"

My habits are more in line with my priorities and goals. Still not completely in tune, but much closer.

I think I overdid it a couple of weeks ago with cardio and weights everyday, so I'm finding that I need a slowdown week. I'm not too worried. My stretching last night went further than it's ever gone, and I expect the same from my lifting which I will embark on tonight.:tu:

Now I have to go mop the floor.:(

"Luck isn't random. It's about doing things that create an impression that you are someone worth helping." ~ Marc Myers, author of How to Make Luck: 7 Secrets Lucky People use to Succeed

I bought a new pair of running shoes today. They seem to offer a lot more arch support than any of my other shoes, present and past included. They're not expensive shoes (Adidas SC2 W). Unfortunately, when I tried them on my elliptical tonight, my feet still went numb, so I'm going to look into alternate ways to lace them, and hopefully that will clear up my problem. If they're good, I'm going back to buy 2 more pair. They're on clearance for $89.99, which is a pretty good price for a pair that fits so well. On the other hand, if I can't get them to stop making my feet numb, I might see if I can get a different pair to do the trick.


hey.. I know it's been a while since you posted this but I thought I'd reply anyway... it's not your shoes that make your feet go numb... it's the fact that you are not lifting or moving your feet that does it... it happens to me too... as soon as I start feeling any numbness I make sure to shift my feet some so that blood can return to them... for example, if my weight had been primarily in my heels I make sure to shift my weight to my toes for a few minutes, or rock your feet front to back as you move on the eliptical, ie mimic walking without actually lifting your feet up all the way... hope this helps :tu:

Thanks Chameleon. The shoes really haven't helped all that much, but several people commented to me that this could be the problem. The guy that sold me the elliptical told me to pedal backwards once in a while. I thought I'd have had it figured out by now, but it's still a big pain. Do your heels lift up when you use the elliptical? One salesperson told me the flatter the feet, the better. I wonder if the LifeFitness or Precor would have been worth the extra $1300.

As part of last night's workout, I pumped out a set of 20, 20, 12 pushups, but afterwards, felt so nauseous I went looking for the thermometer to check if I was sick. I felt better about 5 minutes after I did all the pushups. So well that I completed three sets each of pullups, bench press on stability ball, bent over rows, reverse shrugs and bent over lateral raises. I don't think I'm targeting the right part of my back. My upper back and chest seem to be growing, but not much is going on in the middle and lower back. I've so far been too lazy to check whether I'm doing a good balance of exercises with the equipment I have available.

Today, we had a huge fight at dinnertime. My girls didn't feel like eating the spaghetti and meat sauce that I made, so my husband kindly :rolleyes: offered to make them quesadillas. It's frustrating to have the meals that I plan undermined.

My daughter hates me now for not letting her eat any of the foods she likes.:nope: A bit of an exaggeration, but for lunch, all she had was two little slices of cantaloupe and a half a dozen grapes. She would not take a sandwich or stir fry, didn't eat her bagel, and now tells me she doesn't like yogurt.:evil: For supper, she wouldn't eat a soft taco, or a bowl of oatmeal, or a peanut butter sandwich, or eggs, or a salad.:(

So I'm at a loss again. Bad mommy no matter what.:cry:

The ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where the stand in times of challenge and controversy. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

I'm thinking about doing the 8x8 routine from txitalian's sig (http://www.alamofitness.com/8x8/). I saw it in Bluestreak's sig as well. The "very little rest" and "no cardio required" parts really appeal to me. Actually, the real reason I'm considering it is just because it's the first one I came across, and it's very little to remember.

....lazy....:whistle:

:cry:
The day will get better. Tomorrow will be even better. Next week will be even better yet.

I intended to go to bed at a reasonable time last night, but I couldn't set my head on the pillow till I'd done a few squats, bridges, crunches, and stretching.

I couldn't find my daughter's schoolwork or library book this morning. I don't know if it's a problem of too many or too few storage spaces in our house. I'm trying to clean up the boxes we have lying around. I have receipts for every single loaf of bread I purchased in 1998. :rolleyes: Anyway, I need to get cleaned up for delivery of our pool table tomorrow. Pics will be added to my private media gallery.

Swimming lessons for the girls will be over in a couple of weeks. I could possibly sign them up for another session at the next level; alternately, we'll be looking into new activities. The latest they've mentioned is martial arts. There's Jiu Jitsu and Karate in town, and Kung Fu and Tae Kwan Do a few miles away. I know nothing about any of them.

I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately triumph than to triumph in a cause that will ultimately fail. ~ Woodrow Wilson

Anyway, I need to get cleaned up for delivery of our pool table tomorrow. Pics will be added to my private media gallery.
I still can't believe you are getting a pull table. That is so awesome. An hour practice a day, I would be awesome. right now I just play once a week. I'm so so.

I'm thinking about doing the 8x8 routine from txitalian's sig (http://www.alamofitness.com/8x8/). I saw it in Bluestreak's sig as well. The "very little rest" and "no cardio required" parts really appeal to me. Actually, the real reason I'm considering it is just because it's the first one I came across, and it's very little to remember.

I strongly recommend this style of working out be cycled into peoples' routines from time to time as it is a wonderful change of pace. It allows great results utilizing much lighter weights, which as you probably know, is my preference due to my body's more fragile joint/ligament structure. Any way I can get away with a great workout and not have to subject my frame to heavy weight is fine with me. I'm not in this game for strength; I'm in it for the aesthetically pleasing physique and to feel good about myself.

I suggest starting out by using 1/2 of your normal lifting weight for each body part exercised. Concentration is key to keep the proper tempo in the workout; it's super-easy to slip up and let those 30-second rest periods go too long unless you're very mentally focused. I wear a stop-watch in the gym and keep a close eye on the timer so I never go over my rest period length. I also use a slower tempo in the exercises themselves; since there's only 8 reps per set and less weight to work with, I try to make each of them count by keeping the muscle under tension throughout a tight range of motion with careful form, squeezing at the top of each rep as well. It is a serious challenge for me to power through an 8x8 leg workout - I suggest starting with a less strenuous body part to target with 8x8's!

A single exercise on 8x8's lasts about 8 minutes, so five or six exercises constitutes and entire workout for me lasting about 40~50 minutes, up to an hour including warmup, so allot plenty of time on your first attempt - even though that hour will fly by because you're focused and constantly moving along.

Good luck! It's a very enjoyable and fast-paced workout.

-R

Hey guava, don't fret, it's going to get better. It has to. :nod:


I'm intrigued by this 8 x 8 thing. I wonder if I am 'too amateur' to do it, or not? Sounds like a really different method to everything else I have ever read. :confused: I'd like to try it though. Let me know what you think.

I'm intrigued by this 8 x 8 thing. I wonder if I am 'too amateur' to do it, or not? Sounds like a really different method to everything else I have ever read. :confused: I'd like to try it though. Let me know what you think.

It's not just for beginners. It's for anyone. Try it. Just keep the weights very light, concentrate on keeping up the tempo/pace required by the workout.

-R

It's not just for beginners. It's for anyone. Try it. Just keep the weights very light, concentrate on keeping up the tempo/pace required by the workout.

-R

:D thanks! I read the sample routine here (http://www.fitren.com/res3artp.cfm?artid=90) and I'm a little aprehensive, though I read in the article As far as how many exercises, Vince recommend anywhere from one to four exercises per muscle group, depending on the circumstances. For this particular variation of the program, you will perform 8 sets of 8 reps on two to four exercises per body part. Generally, you will aim for three or four exercises for large muscle groups and two or three exercises for small muscle groups. This is the way Vince had Makkawy do it when he was training for the Olympia.

So I *assume* this means that I would not necessarily need to do all the exercises in his sample (some of them I'm unfamiliar with, or require machines I don't have) but the crux of it seems to be the 8 x 8. I'm awash with a mixture of intrigue, excitement, and fatigue!




(sorry for all this being in your journal, guava! ;) )

(sorry for all this being in your journal, guava! ;) )
All good, because I know very little about this, so the more I can learn the better. I never really follow anything to the letter, but I'm excited about trying less rest, and I think splitting my body parts into four days, I should be able to do fewer exercises per day than the three day split I'm doing now.

I'm still in a bit much of a rut to think about changing my routine. I'm pretty habit oriented and resistant to change, but by Monday, I'll be a little more relaxed. It's also hard to come up with a routine based just on the equipment that I have. One reason I liked this routine is because it means I can hold off on buying more weight.

If you fail on the sixth or seventh rep on the last set or two, that's fine, but if your reps drop below 8 by your 4th or 5th set, the weight you selected is too heavy.
It's going to be hard to accept this because it's so backwards from everything I've learned so far. It'll be hard initially to PURPOSELY drop my weight.

The routine on that link you gave is pretty intense compared to txitalian's. Is that the one your follow Bluestreak? I think I'm better off with only five or six exercises per session.

Today is a much better day, by the way. I went to bed last night at 9:30 instead of midnight, and my husband is home with me, just waiting for the pool table to come. :D Might be a while yet, and the kids are both at school.... :cool:

"You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there."~ Edwin Louis Cole

Pool table is in, so we can play all weekend. However, there's still a lot of work to do in the basement. Pictures are here (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=21874).

I made an awesome fritatta for supper. This was my recipe guideline

5 eggs
1 C cottage cheese
5 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced

In a medium bowl, beat eggs lightly. Stir in cottage cheese, and half the Parmesan cheese.
In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, lightly sauté tomatoes and zucchini in the olive oil until zucchini is lightly browned.
Pour in egg mixture, and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Cook over medium-low heat until eggs are well set on bottom of pan, about 15 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve hot.

Per serving: 240 calories; 17.5 grams protein; 17 grams fat; 5.2 grams saturated fat; 4.2 grams carbohydrates; 406.6 milligrams sodium; 160.4 milligrams calcium; 0.5 gram fiber

I left out the parmesan, used spinach instead of tomato and zucchini, and added a can of crab meat. It was very good. :eat:

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

My husband made supper for the family both days on the weekend. That was so sweet of him. It was awesome to not have to stress about the food. Except that he expected me to eat what he cooked. I politely took a small serving of pasta carbonara on Saturday with a generous side dish of plain broccoli, then had a small slice of olive and chicken pizza last night with a large salad and an apple. He didn't intentionally make things to ruin my diet. He left the butter out of the pasta recipe, and poached the chicken in water, so I was pretty pleased with the attempt. Still, nothing will beat the pasta he made for me by surprise once last year when I arrived home late. Evaporated milk, garlic, broccoli....:eat:

He's flying out for work again tonight. I'd like to get some things done in the basement to surprise him while he's gone. He's been working so hard on it, and he has so much less time to devote to it than I do.

The girls and I were in the Santa Claus parade on Saturday. I helped to decorate the float as well. It was sort of fun, but we didn't really get to see the parade. Next year I think it will be more fun to watch. I took the girls skating on Sunday. The little one is really coming along well, and the older one has finally learned to stop and to skate backwards. This is the last week of swimming lessons, so I'll have to decide soon on whether to replace it with skiing, snowboarding, martial arts, or something different.

I'm out of the nutrition challenge. I'll still have the goals in the back of my head, but when I try to focus on them exclusively, it makes it harder to manage the other parts of keeping a varied diet and dealing with emotional eating. I'm getting tired of the huge quantities of broccoli and spinach and looking forward to increasing my flax seed and apple intake.

As for training, I think I'll just to stick with something very similar to what I'm doing. Because my goal is to gain two to five pounds of muscle and zero ounces of fat for each of the next five YEARS, I have a lot of leeway on how to go about it. I'll call it the GuavaTraining flexible plan. Pick up the heaviest weight available and lift until you can't lift any more. Repeat as desired. :cool: Zellers (http://68.179.25.196/wps-portal/zellers-storelocator/largepreview.jsp?imageid=4585) has their 50 pound dumbells on sale for $30, so I'll probably pick them up, at least to check if the plates are interchangeable with the ones I have. I need to rotate in some exercises I've been neglecting - deadlifts, good mornings, supermans. My weight bench is still covered in dust against one of the basement walls. It's time to dig it out again too.

Savyart had an interesting question on her blog a couple of weeks ago. If you were struck blind, would that affect how you eat, how you train, and how you dress? For me it would, in a variety of ways. It surely would be an interesting experiment to live a weekend as if I'm blind.

This quote kind of reflects my mood today. Feeble light indeed, but at least it's light.:)

Begin today! No matter how feeble the light, let it shine as best it may. The world may need just that quality of light which you have. ~Henry C.Blinn

Maybe it's SAD. I always get nasty crabby at the beginning of winter. I'm somewhat in a good mood right now, but something still feels a little bit off. No motivation.

Last night, the time just flew while I pedalled away on the elliptical for 40 minutes while watching the "Escape from Affluenza" video that I borrowed from the library. They profiled a few people's jobs, and it was pretty interesting. Like Po Bronson's book, several of the featured people had taken new directions which resulted in a drastic income rreduction in order to achieve a more fulfilling life. A lawyer who quit to work for a non-profit organization, a businessman who used to make $100,000 and quit to earn $20,000 as a massage therapist. A manager of Microsoft who now puts in less than half as many paid work hours, but has time to sit on several boards, volunteer with AIDS victims and set a good example as a Big Brother for an underprivileged boy. There was a man featured on there that kayaked to work every day. Very cool. They also profiled a team of Consumer Credit Counsellors who visited schools to teach students about budgeting and managing debt. That's something I'd really like to get involved in, but I don't think there are any current programs like that in my area.

I have a fear of beef. Meat is not my favorite part of my diet, so it's pretty much on the back burner. When I do have choices, it just makes sense to choose chicken or fish over beef. I picked up a couple of pounds of extra lean ground beef at the grocery store, but I can't shut up the voice that says opening a can of tuna or beans for lunch would be better for my health. Not that I don't occasionally treat myself (who am I kidding? I treat myself more than occasionally); it's just that I don't consider beef a treat. I'd rather consume my surplus calories on dairy products or cereal. So, I'm trying to think of the healthiest option to throw together with ground sirloin and tomatoes.

I need to go and get a couple more videos to convince me to do my cardio. I haven't found anything to buy yet that I would watch more than once. I probably need this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000066726/002-3931169-6880058?v=glance&n=130&%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance).

Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.~ Jack Canfield

Maybe it's SAD. I always get nasty crabby at the beginning of winter. I'm somewhat in a good mood right now, but something still feels a little bit off. No motivation.

.... ....

I have a fear of beef. Meat is not my favorite part of my diet, so it's pretty much on the back burner. When I do have choices, it just makes sense to choose chicken or fish over beef. I picked up a couple of pounds of extra lean ground beef at the grocery store, but I can't shut up the voice that says opening a can of tuna or beans for lunch would be better for my health. Not that I don't occasionally treat myself (who am I kidding? I treat myself more than occasionally); it's just that I don't consider beef a treat. I'd rather consume my surplus calories on dairy products or cereal. So, I'm trying to think of the healthiest option to throw together with ground sirloin and tomatoes.

I need to go and get a couple more videos to convince me to do my cardio. I haven't found anything to buy yet that I would watch more than once. I probably need this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000066726/002-3931169-6880058?v=glance&n=130&%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance).

Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.~ Jack Canfield

why are you afraid of beef? just wondering and I don't have time to read through all of the MANY pages of your journal :p

I don't have much motivation right now either, but I know that for me it's not SAD... it's more that I know I have a short week ahead and for some reason that makes me want to slack :p

how come you need something to 'convince you' to do cardio? do you mean motivate? just wondering... right now I'm re-reading the 4th Harry Potter book during my cardio (mostly the bike since I sprained my ankle and can't do anything else right now), the book keeps my mind off the task at hand (cardio) and makes the time FLY :tu:

My beef fear is irrational. Don't know what it is. Not a fear, just a "beef doesn't have enough benefits for it's calorie density". I think it's the "limit red meat consumption to three times a week" recommendation I've heard several times is the culprit.

I don't need convincing to do cardio, but the elliptical is set up right underneath a tv, and if there's nothing on the screen, the workout seems twice as long and twice as hard. I don't mind doing the cardio, but if I have a video to watch, it changes that into "I'm excited about doing cardio," a big difference.:) Anything that makes it seem easier and shorter is a bonus. Reading during cardio would not work for me. Trying to focus on small letters while in motion makes me disoriented. What kind of cardio can you manage while turning pages?

I've never understood how anyone could read unless you are on a recumbent bike or something....personally I'd get carsick. :p

(take the following with a grain of salt)....
Life's too short.....I'd say eat your husbands dinner....especially if it doesn't happen too often....I initially went through this with my wife and trust me....it creates WAY too much tension (because in a small way it offends the good intentions of the other)....especially if they don't have the same outlook or goals. One thing I've learned along the way is that one meal will not derail anything....period. Just my opinion of course.


Definitely change direction occasionally on the elliptical....try it barefoot as well....that's more comfortable for me. For an extra challenge....don't hold on to the bars....you incorporate your stabilizing muscles and makes the session WAY more challenging (don't do this for HIIT sessions though.....you'll fly off the machine).

I have this cardio quirk where I so prefer to be outdoors that I will go out in just about any weather, except thunderstorms and high winds. I have a reflective vest I wear over my coats in the evenings, and one day I will buy rain pants. I have snow pants for when the temp drops below 15 F.

I bet I'd be in a lot of trouble with this cardio quirk where *you* live, guava! Brrrrr.

I also fear the beef. I think I always have Mad Cow Disease in the back of my brain.

And this reminds me...
When reading that daily shower thread the other day, I remembered that my father told me that people didn't bathe every day when he was a kid. He said they didn't smell bad either, and he thinks it's because people ate less meat-- they couldn't afford meat all the time, and it was used more as a flavoring in dishes than the main course. When I learned to make tacos and enchiladas as a child, actually, meat was really just sprinkled in. Each taco had maybe a little over a tablespoon of meat.

Then again, he says, it could just be that everyone's noses were accustomed to the way people smelled without bathing.:lol: But his theory was that meat got cheaper and McDonald's came along, so people got stinkier. :lol: I like my dad's theories.

My beef fear is irrational. Don't know what it is. Not a fear, just a "beef doesn't have enough benefits for it's calorie density". I think it's the "limit red meat consumption to three times a week" recommendation I've heard several times is the culprit.

I don't need convincing to do cardio, but the elliptical is set up right underneath a tv, and if there's nothing on the screen, the workout seems twice as long and twice as hard. I don't mind doing the cardio, but if I have a video to watch, it changes that into "I'm excited about doing cardio," a big difference.:) Anything that makes it seem easier and shorter is a bonus. Reading during cardio would not work for me. Trying to focus on small letters while in motion makes me disoriented. What kind of cardio can you manage while turning pages?


I can read just about anywhere... one of things that makes this possible is that I do LISS.. and to keep my heartrate from bumping up too much I dont' alway swing my arms or use the arm grips on things like the eliptical machine... I can read on the treadmill (either holding the book or proping it up on the control panel), on the eliptical (same as on the treadmill) and on the bike (hoding it against the control panel)... I can completely imerse myself in a book, to where I don't notice ANYTHING around me.. I have found myself lengthening cardio sessions so that I can read for longer :p hehe

go rent some movies you've been wanting to see and watch them while you do your cardio... only watch for the 40 minutes you do your cardio (or however long you do cardio for) and don't watch more until you need to do more cardio.... you'll create cliff hangers for yourself and you'll WANT to get your cardio in so you can see the next part of the movie... just an idea :D :tucool:

Last night managed 20, 20, 15 pushups. I think that's better than before, and 55 is pretty close to 100, even if it's not all in a row. I'll set my goal to do 100 pushups in 30 minutes or less. No nausea this time, but strangely enough, I was wheezing for several minutes afterwards. Hmmm....:confused: Oh well, I have an appointment for a physical in a few weeks. I'll report all my strange findings to him.

My pullups are not advancing. Most nights I can't even do five anymore. I don't have a cable either, so I can't even be working up to bodyweight on pulldowns. Is there an exercise I can do with dumbbells that would work similar muscles? This lack of progress is really frustrating.

I have this cardio quirk where I so prefer to be outdoors that I will go out in just about any weather, except thunderstorms and high winds. I bet I'd be in a lot of trouble with this cardio quirk where *you* live, guava! Brrrrr.

I used to do cardio outside more, but people started questioning my going out in the dark. Aparently, it's not such a safe idea. The more I heard people say this, the more spooked I got. So even in the spring and summer, I rarely go out after dinner anymore, which rather limits my opportunities. I like working out before bed, so I'll usually choose the elliptical.

I remembered that my father told me that people didn't bathe every day when he was a kid. He said they didn't smell bad either, and he thinks it's because people ate less meat-- they couldn't afford meat all the time, and it was used more as a flavoring in dishes than the main course. But his theory was that meat got cheaper and McDonald's came along, so people got stinkier. :lol: I like my dad's theories.
Hey, it applies to babies. They smell great until they start eating meat. Breast fed babies smell a lot better than formula fed babies as well. No lie.

I realize now why the fear of beef. It's because it's not on the Superfoods diet. Same reason I feel deviant every time I eat apple, banana, pineapple, cheese, potatoes, bread, and rice. My fear of cheese is huge, stretching as far as to my children, maybe because I used to overindulge in it. (When I was first married, I aimed to serve one dinner per week that was vegetarian. Usually, it had so much cheddar piled on it, that it was twice as unhealthy as any meat dish I would have served. I realized this about six months after I started this practice.)

The best way you can predict your future is to create it. ~Stephen Covey

Hey, it applies to babies. They smell great until they start eating meat. Breast fed babies smell a lot better than formula fed babies as well. No lie.

Well their poop does any way.....sweeter smelling :lol:

I'm bored.

There's a vegetable market closing down in our area. Everything is 40% off today and tomorrow. I got

6 plums
6 apples
4 oranges
4 pounds of carrots
a bunch of broccoli
a head of cauliflower
a head of Romaine lettuce
a quarter of a watermelon
some sliced sweet peppers
half a pound of roasted soy nuts
a packet of lemon pepper seasoning
a couple of cans of pineapple

all for less than $20

That's a lot of food I have to eat. Better get busy :eat:

I remembered a couple of weeks ago someone mentioned we could vote for Body for Life winners, so I took a look at the link.

Something's not right.

These reported body fat percentage are not consistent with body fat percentages I've seen reported elsewhere.

This guy is NOT 5.5% body fat. (http://www.bodyforlife.com/challenge/vote.asp?voteId=1)

This woman is NOT 15.5% body fat. (http://www.bodyforlife.com/challenge/vote.asp?voteId=5)

Similar for all of the others. If I'd remembered to vote at the time, it would have been for the 62 year old woman at 12% body fat. (http://www.bodyforlife.com/challenge/vote.asp?voteId=6)

I'm not denying that these are phenomenal results, but based on comparison to other sources, I think the numbers are off.

This is why we have women coming on these boards saying "I want to get to 12% body fat", or guys saying "I won't be happy till I get to 8%" Come on guys, it's not HEALTHY to have numbers that low.

Is there a logical explanation for this?

This is why we have women coming on these boards saying "I want to get to 12% body fat", or guys saying "I won't be happy till I get to 8%" Come on guys, it's not HEALTHY to have numbers that low.

I agree. It looks great but to be that low for extended periods...maybe we are wrong. I personally just want to stay around 12%.

This is why we have women coming on these boards saying "I want to get to 12% body fat", or guys saying "I won't be happy till I get to 8%" Come on guys, it's not HEALTHY to have numbers that low.

Is there a logical explanation for this?



With all due respect Guava, who says 8% is unhealthy?
Logical explanation? Hell yeah, it looks good!!!!!

With all due respect Guava, who says 8% is unhealthy?
Oops.

Essential Body Fat -- For the body to function normally and healthily a certain amount of body fat is required. This is called essential fat. For women the average amount of essential fat is 12% of bodyweight and for men it is 3%. Trying to achieve a body fat percentage that is so low it affects your essential fat stores is NOT a good idea. Even some storage fat is required for good health to protect internal organs in the chest and abdomen.

This guy is NOT 5.5% body fat. (http://www.bodyforlife.com/challenge/vote.asp?voteId=1)

That guy could be around that figure. :nod:

That guy could be around that figure. :nod:
Really? Okay, ignore my last posts then. To me, he looked similar to what guys here are reporting at about 8%. And the woman at 12% looked like the women I've seen report 15%. I would have guessed that the woman listed at 15% was closer to about 19 or 20%. I understand now where those women are coming from that say they want to be 12% body fat. They want to look like the after pics in BFL. I think most women could look like most of those afters at 15% to 17%. Seems like false advertising to me.

My misery is unimaginable.

I can't stand this frigid weather. Even through ski gloves, my fingers got frozen solid while waiting for the girls to get off the school bus. (That's at only 10 below. What in the world will I do at 30 below?) The girls didn't seem to mind and had piles of fun playing in the snow. Ever tried to take a picture in the snow? It wasn't even snowing that hard, but with a flash, the photos turned out pretty interesting.

The other day, I made a chili with my ground sirloin. Turned out so well that I submitted a photo to allrecipes.com (http://maindish.allrecipes.com/az/BlckBnBrlyndTrkyChili.asp). Hopefully it will be posted soon.

Tonight, I'm taking the girls to a pantomime, Puss 'n Boots. Before the play, we'll go out to dinner. Probably to Casey's, to share a beef and broccoli stir fry and decadent chocolate peanut butter ice cream. Happy Friday!:guitar:

Really? Okay, ignore my last posts then. To me, he looked similar to what guys here are reporting at about 8%. And the woman at 12% looked like the women I've seen report 15%. I would have guessed that the woman listed at 15% was closer to about 19 or 20%. I understand now where those women are coming from that say they want to be 12% body fat. They want to look like the after pics in BFL. I think most women could look like most of those afters at 15% to 17%. Seems like false advertising to me.

She doesnt look 12% to me either, nearer maybe 15 as you say. I was reffering to the guy, who looks like he could be 6% BF. Its gotta be so hard to measure your BF when your that low. I know in my 8% days, i couldnt get a fold to measure when i dropped below about 9.5% :lol: , so i just went off looks really.

Man, 10 below !!! I cant even imagine that, never mind 30 !!! :eek: We might actually have some snow here, right now its hovering around 0, and thats too cold for me ! I envy these guys in southern America, and it makes me laugh when they moan about the "cold" there. ;)

She doesnt look 12% to me either, nearer maybe 15 as you say. I was reffering to the guy, who looks like he could be 6% BF. Its gotta be so hard to measure your BF when your that low. I know in my 8% days, i couldnt get a fold to measure when i dropped below about 9.5% :lol: , so i just went off looks really.

Man, 10 below !!! I cant even imagine that, never mind 30 !!! :eek: We might actually have some snow here, right now its hovering around 0, and thats too cold for me ! I envy these guys in southern America, and it makes me laugh when they moan about the "cold" there. ;)

im in the north east of england and its like siberia here (exagerating i know) i dont think i was made for cold weather

Yesterday it was -9C but with the wind it felt like -24C....you get used to it....it toughens you up to a degree....mostly because you can't feel you face ;)

Yeah you know it's cold when -39C = -38F....course anything past -30C is just fricken cold at that point.

Yeah, Reno_1ted, I laugh whenever Bluestreak and Chameleon complain about the weather. Send it over here where we know how to appreciate it! Though I know it's premature to complain about 10 below because it's only going to get worse.

When it's windy, it smells like KFC on our street. Interestingly, this neither tempts me nor annoys me.

Shopper's Drug Mart is taking all my money. At least once a month, they have an amazing deal "Spend at least $50, and get..." Today was a $10 gas card, a couple of months ago a $20 cosmetics card. It's such a great deal, I can't pass it up. So I went today and bought a tooth whitening kit. Of course, for fun, I'll be taking some before and after pics and posting them in the private media gallery. There's another promotion this Thursday at Shopper's Drug Mart which gives 20 times the "points" if you spend $50, which effectively makes every purchase 40% off. Does toothpaste keep forever?

Muscle overload seems to be the key. I was short on time the other night, so I just did two sets of lunges to failure with no rest, just alternating legs. The next day, I not only felt it, but my legs even looked bigger. I've done lunges before, but it never seemed to hit the muscles as hard as that little mini-workout did. So this is my new strategy for a couple of weeks is to leave little or no rest between sets. My cardio workout on Friday ended up being a "homemaker's circuit". 5 minute warmup and 5 minutes at level 10, then made toast for my daughter, then did 5 minutes at level 6, then made more toast for my daughter and grabbed some water, then did five minutes at level 10, then did a quick load of laundry, then 5 minutes at level 8, then cleaned a bit of the bathroom, then another 5 minutes and a cooldown.

In the last couple of weeks, my diet has been mainly oats, yogurt, apples, bagels, bananas, peanut butter, and coffee. Gotta snap out of it and get back to eating more tuna, tomatoes, spinach, and broccoli. That darn sweet tooth.

We're supposed to be having company tomorrow, so we finally get to show off our pool table. I'm excited about this, because that means I will actually have the whole house clean at the same time for a change. I decided to make a decadent dessert for them, so I flipped through my cookbooks and came up with a chocolate marzipan cake. I took some lovely pictures which I may post later. I haven't decided on the main dish yet. I'm not sure they'd enjoy tuna, tomatoes, spinach and broccoli. The other problem is, they haven't confirmed that they'll be able to make it, so I'm stuck with this cake if they don't show. My mom is coming to visit for a week on Thursday, but she's about as much into fancy desserts as I am. We both used to love them, but we're each a little more concerned about body image and health now than the perfect chocolate treat.

Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more & all good things are yours. — Swedish Proverb

Pool table is in, so we can play all weekend. However, there's still a lot of work to do in the basement. Pictures are here (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=21874).

I made an awesome fritatta for supper. This was my recipe guideline

5 eggs
1 C cottage cheese
5 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced

In a medium bowl, beat eggs lightly. Stir in cottage cheese, and half the Parmesan cheese.
In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, lightly sauté tomatoes and zucchini in the olive oil until zucchini is lightly browned.
Pour in egg mixture, and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Cook over medium-low heat until eggs are well set on bottom of pan, about 15 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve hot.

Per serving: 240 calories; 17.5 grams protein; 17 grams fat; 5.2 grams saturated fat; 4.2 grams carbohydrates; 406.6 milligrams sodium; 160.4 milligrams calcium; 0.5 gram fiber

I left out the parmesan, used spinach instead of tomato and zucchini, and added a can of crab meat. It was very good. :eat:

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good recepie, but you never say how many servings there are.

Yeah, Reno_1ted, I laugh whenever Bluestreak and Chameleon complain about the weather. Send it over here where we know how to appreciate it! Though I know it's premature to complain about 10 below because it's only going to get worse.



LOL... I used to live in Denver... I've been skiing in -30 degrees... that was REALLY damned cold... I LOVE Florida :D

oh... it's 72 degrees already today :whistle: :p

Sorry, that nutrition information was for 1/4 of the recipe. I forgot to include that. This recipe (http://www.favoritebrandrecipes.com/Recipes/060/0939001060.htm)looks better yet. More vegetables, less Parmesan, fewer egg yolks. Serving size is larger in volume for only 160 Calories, 5 g Total Fat with 16 g Protein and 3 g Fiber.

For lunch today, I'm eating a pita stuffed with lettuce, carrots, and sardines. I wouldn't say it's absolutely delicious, but it's good enough for me to make again some time.

The video store has a weird promotion, where every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, members get a free movie rental (new releases excluded). I didn't believe it until I went to pick up a copy of Blue's Clues for my daughter. No charge. No obligation. (Well, okay, I feel a little weird about going in there for free movies, but I'll get over it.) They have a copy of "Nude Yoga" that I'm contemplating for next weekend.:confused:

I can already see results from the teeth whitening, but it's a pain to brush on the silly gel every night. After I bought the kit, I went online to check the differences in the different products they offer. I bought the cheapest one, Night Effects Premium for Sensitive Teeth, for about $15. The whitestrips premium plus were $40.

Crest Night Effects Premium for Sensitive Teeth – whiter teeth for 6 months! Start to see results after 2 nights, full results in 14 nights.

Crest Night Effects – whiter teeth for 6 months! Start to see results after 2 nights, full results in 14 nights.

Crest Whitestrips – whiter teeth for 12 months! Results in 14 days.

Crest Whitestrips Premium – whiter teeth for 12 months! Start to see results after three days, full results in 10.

Crest Whitestrips Premium Plus – whiter teeth for 18 months!
Start to see results after three days, full results in 10.

Not sure why there's a difference in how long the results last. If it took 30 years for my teeth to get this yellow, how will they stain again in only six months?

I'm taking my daughter swimming this evening, and dreading the chill that I feel every time I'm not covered in warm clothing from head to toe.

It's raining, which at least means it's warm outside.

If doubt is challenging you and you do not act, doubts will grow. Challenge the doubts with action and you will grow. Doubt and action are incompatible. ~ John Kanary

I was going to skip weight training last night, considering I did cardio in the morning, but, as usual, bedtime came along and I just couldn't go to bed without doing it. 45 pushups, 12 pullups, 24 rows, and some stretching later, and I finally felt like I could call it a day.

I bought a bunch of cans of salmon yesterday, so I don't have to eat sardines any more. I'm really not crazy about the lingering smell every time I eat fish, but at least my family is not as vocal about their opposition anymore. "Mommy, you STINK like TUNA!"

My daughter's gymnastics coach talked to me today to try to organize a revised training schedule. He's encouraging her to come for two-hour classes twice a week. This will all cost $6/hour, which sounds pretty reasonable, until you realize it's $100/month. We'll have to consider whether this fits into our expectations. She still sometimes tells me "I don't want to go to gymnastics" so I don't want to push her too hard. She's a really shy little girl. On the other hand, she runs like lightning, has great balance and flexibility, and is emphatically proud of her strength.:flex:

I've called the local Karate and Jiu Jitsu clubs to call about beginner classes for my girls in the new year, but haven't heard back from them. I also called a guy who is selling a bundle of weights and a bench, but he wasn't interested in splitting up the dumbbells. I told him to give me a call back if he reconsiders.

Tomorrow is December 1st. This means a few things:
1) It commences my Mom's one week visit
2) We start opening the daily chocolates in the advent calendar
3) I officially begin my Christmas decorating. I bought a wreath and some pine garland for outside, and I'll bring the artificial tree up from a box in the basement tomorrow.

So, I'm eating some cake to celebrate. This is the picture I took of the one I made :lol:

I'm sorry for posting this on your journal but I thought it would be more visible.
I read somewhere a post where you said weight loss can be obtained with a 50/20/30 macro, I thought we needed more protein.
Could you explain it more please>?
Could you tell me what a typical day of eating would be like following this split?
Thanks and once again sorry for posting this here!

Hey, no problem. I love talking about how I eat.:D

:eat:

I don't follow any specific macronutrient ratio, and I don't keep track of my calories. I subscribe to the "mindful eating" strategy. That is, I keep eating until I'm full, and no longer. It works out great for me except for days like today when I'm feeling a little sick, so I can't tell whether or not I'm hungry. I honestly have no idea whether today's calories were closer to 1200 or 2200. Every once in a while, I input them into fitday just to check what my calories and macronutrients worked out to. It still sometimes surprises me. Quite often, I feel like I've been pigging out all day, but when I put it into fitday, it'll come up under 1500, so I'll get up and have a snack.:lol: I have found out that certain days I'll need more calories than other days (certain times of the month, or days I'm doing heavy lifting or long cardio), and other days I'll need less calories (days that I'm really busy away from the house or that I wake up late or go to bed early). It's nice to be able to adapt to that on a whim, and not feel like I have to eat what I've planned.

My eating strategy also extends to eating the foods that I enjoy most, as long as they are clean foods and I get a good variety. I don't worry about getting a certain percentage of protein, but I do make sure I meet my minimum recommended of 0.8 g per kg of body weight, (about 43 g for me, the amount in a six ounce can of tuna). If I'm craving a big bowl of fat free blueberry yogurt late at night, I eat it. I don't worry about whether I'm over my daily limit, or whether I'd be better off eating something higher in protein or lower in fat or whatever. To stay within a reasonable calorie range without feeling hungry, I've been tending to eat less meat and more fruits and vegetables, with grain and dairy somewhere in the middle. I don't restrict my fruit intake at all, as many people do, so it gives me a nice sweet treat to splurge on instead of having to invent wacky carrot cakes with protein powder in them, or consuming large amounts of protein shakes that are full of artificial sweeteners.

An example of my "ideal" diet would be:
for breakfast, a pancake made of oats, an egg, and yogurt or cottage cheese, eaten with a cup of blueberries
for snack 1/2 C fat free fruit yogurt
for lunch, a tuna sandwich with red pepper and carrot sticks or pita stuffed with chickpeas, tomato, and spinach plus tahini type dressing
for snack, an orange and another yogurt or some soy milk or almonds
for supper, a small serving of chicken with a large serving of broccoli, plus sweet potato or brown rice on the side

Usually, I'm nowhere near ideal, and quite often I'll swap the "good" lunch with a peanut butter sandwich or apple and granola with warm milk. I really do love my carbs.:)

If you check the nutritional challenge (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=21940)thread, there's some examples of what I was trying to eat, and what I ended up eating instead.

From what I've tracked, I'm guessing my protein intake is usually about 100 g, I eat about 250 g of carbs daily (or more), and possibly something like 30-50 g of fat. My fibre intake usually sits between 30 and 50 grams, which I'm pleased with.

:eat:

As for explaining, I don't know if there's any science behind what I do except for the fact that I like the way that I've been eating for the last couple of years, so it's simple to maintain my weight. I don't know if I'd be gaining more strength more quickly (or would have lost more fat more quickly) with more protein, but I know I wouldn't have been as excited about it, and therefore it wouldn't last.:tu:

I've been keeping my mom pretty busy since she arrived a few days ago.

Friday we went to a shopping mall that had an amusement park in it, then we went to the Royal Ontario Museum. My mom was sort of surprised that I actually drove through downtown Toronto, but we survived; it was pretty exciting actually to find my way on my own.

Saturday, we visited a farm to paint glass Christmas ornaments and decorate gingerbread cookies, then did a "Walk to Bethlehem" at a local park. My mom has exactly the same boots as me, but her toes were nice and warm and toasty while mine turned into ice cubes.

Sunday, we took a ride on a radial railway with Santa, and decorated a gingerbread house in the evening.

We've been eating out about twice a day since Friday, many of which include desserts. Saturday, I had an incredible ravioli with sundried tomatoes and garlic spinach sauce. I will have to figure out how to replicate that, but with not so much oil.

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered. ~ G. K. Chesterton

thank you so much for your long and helpful post!!!
you really shed some light in the subject
my thoughts exactly: to listen to my body, figure out when I'm really hunger and learn to eat healthy without counting calories!!!!

thanks once again!:tu:

Saturday, I ate so much that I was in absolute pain the rest of the evening. Hopefully that will teach me something for next time. We're already demolishing the gingerbread house, and it is unfortunately delicious.

Monday, I had a school council meeting to go to. Tuesday, my daughter had her last dance class, and afterwards, we went to a tree-lighting ceremony at the hospital, with refreshments and a magician. It was cold outside, but the magician was awesome, so that made up for it. Wednesday my daughter was proud to show her Grandma all she'd been learning at gymnastics. Last night we finished up the Christmas gift shopping for the gifts that my mom was buying on my sisters behalf and the ones I wanted her to take back to Manitoba for my sister. This morning, my husband took her to the airport. I finally now have some time to get the house vacuumed again and do some more laundry. I've backslid on the multivitamin challenge, but today I'm back on track.

Hopefully, I'll get the tickets booked to Florida tonight. I was all set to phone the travel agent last night to confirm, but then my husband said he hasn't checked with his boss yet to cofirm the time off.

I got an e-mail yesterday that my Picture Trail account has received 43 views in the last 7 days.:confused: Weird. I set up that account in March 2004 to show progress photos on this forum. I didn't give the link out to anyone other than posting it here, and I haven't accessed it since (other than today). Even if people are still viewing the thread, it couldn't possibly be getting that many hits. I'm not sure whether I'll take it down or not.

Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown

I was insanely hungry today. I don't know what that was all about.
Meal #1
canned apricots with yogurt and oats
Meal #2
banana, leftover toast crusts with peanut butter
Meal #3
apple
Meal #4
oatmeal with cooked apple and raisins
Meal #5
cup of tea, chunk of gingerbread house with Smarties, leftover pancakes with Nutella, graham cracker with Nutella
Meal #6
tortilla with falafel mix, cottage cheese, and red peppers
Meal #7
bowl of Cheerios with soy milk
bowl of Vector with milk
bowl of Shreddies with milk
Meal #8
mandarin orange
Meal #9
carrots, cup of coffee with a splash of egg nog

I estimate about 2200 calories with fitday, but only 20% of them are from fat, and I consumed 43 g of fibre. I still aparently did not meet my RDA for Vitamin D or Vitamin K, but I did drink four big glasses of water.:claplow:

I'm still hungry.:rolleyes: I think aliens must have invaded my body.

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible. ~ Arthur C. Clarke

I was insanely hungry today. I don't know what that was all about.
Meal #1
canned apricots with yogurt and oats
Meal #2
banana, leftover toast crusts with peanut butter
Meal #3
apple
Meal #4
oatmeal with cooked apple and raisins
Meal #5
cup of tea, chunk of gingerbread house with Smarties, leftover pancakes with Nutella, graham cracker with Nutella
Meal #6
tortilla with falafel mix, cottage cheese, and red peppers
Meal #7
bowl of Cheerios with soy milk
bowl of Vector with milk
bowl of Shreddies with milk
Meal #8
mandarin orange
Meal #9
carrots, cup of coffee with a splash of egg nog

I estimate about 2200 calories with fitday, but only 20% of them are from fat, and I consumed 43 g of fibre. I still aparently did not meet my RDA for Vitamin D or Vitamin K, but I did drink four big glasses of water.:claplow:

I'm still hungry.:rolleyes: I think aliens must have invaded my body.

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible. ~ Arthur C. Clarke

This is probably what an average day looks like for me. I am also 133lbs and supposedly cutting. I'd tell you your meals were low on protein and that's why you kept going, but I know you don't necessarily buy that. In all honesty, when I make a sencire effort to have at least 30% protein at every meal I end up eating way less, but that's also in part b/c I don't enjoy it as much and there is no incentive to keep going. I am a carb junkie like yourself.

Hi guava! That looks like a carb fest. :lol:

You should see my meals lately. :o It's awful!

Today, if I'm remembering correctly -- I had:

Meal 1: egg, plus 2 whites on wheat bread

Meal 2: 4 miniature chocolates :lol: -- festivally wrapped. :D

Meal 3: a slice of leftover pepperoni pizza -- processed -- supposedly healthy because of the wheat crust. LOL

Meal 4: movie popcorn

Meal 5: Chinese takeout -- boneless chicken, shrimp eggroll and shrimp fried rice -- yum, so healthy! :lol:

Meal 6: 2 glasses chardonnay

Good Lord! :eek:

Hope you're enjoying your moms visit and the Christmas season. :)

I borrowed Contact (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/) from the library this week. Matthew McConaughey has got to be the sexiest man in the world. It's not his physical beauty that attracts me to him but his playful intensity. I don't watch very many movies, and now I have several leads to go on. :D My next CD to rent or buy will be Sahara (http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/sahara/). I might also try to track down Making Sandwiches (1998) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119600/). Anything about food is potentially exciting to me. :) Some other options: Edtv (1999), (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131369/) Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001), (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268690/) Frailty (2001), (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264616/) and Two for the Money (2005) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417217/).
And six more movies on the way!:claplow:
Arrested Development (2006) (announced)
Dear Deliah (2005) (announced)
Hammer Down (2005) (announced)
The Loop (2006) (pre-production)
Tishomingo Blues (2005) (pre-production) .... Dennis Lenahan
Failure to Launch (2006) (post-production)

The free DVD I picked up from the video gallery yesterday was the first few episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Never seen the show, so I'm interested to see what it's all about.

As for my diet, I suppose if I had more protein earlier in the day, that might reduce my sugar/carb cravings. I should maybe start eating eggs for breakfast, and I need to eat either chicken breast, turkey breast, salmon or tuna for lunch. I got a sample protein powder from the natural food store. I might switch my breakfasts to that, and drink more apple cinnamon tea for the sweetness. Yesterday was better, but still a little weird. For lunch, I had a mixed bean salad with peppers, chicken breast, salsa, and chicken nibblers in it. (These are like a pepperoni stick, but with about 1/4 the fat.) We went to the swimming pool yesterday afternoon. It was nice and quiet because everybody else was at the shopping mall. :cool: My favorite part is the waterslide, but I'm still mad that I always get so cold at the pool that I end up spending half the time in the hot tub. :mad: Afterwards, we brought home pizza. I had a slice and a half with with a spinach, tomato, pepper, mushroom and carrot salad.:eat:

This afternoon, we're going to go skating, and I'm off now to make pancakes for my daughter's lunch.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak English." Dirk Pitt, Sahara

My protein powder is nasty. I don't know how people can drink that stuff as a shake. However, because I refuse to ever waste anything, I recalled a recipe where you add oats and pudding powder to it. I did those things, and now it's edible, but still not delicious.

Sometimes I get upset when I "cheat" and don't get bad results because of it. I'm the same weight and measurements as I've been for a long time, even though today's the first day I've been on my elliptical since November, I've been lifting at about half effort, and eating about twice as much junk as usual. So, why do I work so hard the rest of the time, when I do fine on this routine? I've got about 8 1/2 weeks to get in shape for my holiday, but if I start going full speed now, I'll burn out before then. I'll set December 26 as my start date to cut two pounds of fat before February 8th.

Watching "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is like watching a train wreck. It's a bad show, with poor acting, but it's interesting in a bizarre sort of way. And the resemblance between Larry David and wh0areume is uncanny.

Cheryl: [Larry discusses becoming a restaurant host] I thought you didn't like talking to people.
Larry David: I don't like talking to... to people I KNOW, but strangers, I have no problem with.

:D My next CD to rent or buy will be Sahara (http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/sahara/).

"I'm sorry, I don't speak English." Dirk Pitt, Sahara

My advice, for what it is worth, it to avoid 'Sahara' like the plague. It is completely implausible and not even remotely funny. It was kinda like the film was cropped together out of every other serial-style, adventure, action movie ever made.

Nevertheless, if you want to see McConaughey at his "playfully-intensity-iest" best I'd rent 'Dazed and Confused.'

:tucool:

Watching "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is like watching a train wreck. It's a bad show, with poor acting, but it's interesting in a bizarre sort of way. And the resemblance between Larry David and wh0areume is uncanny.



Ok, I apoligize if this is me taking you too literally, but you do know that wh0areume's avatar is not actually him, but a picture of Larry David?

Ok, I apoligize if this is me taking you too literally, but you do know that wh0areume's avatar is not actually him, but a picture of Larry David?

:lol: I hope she knows by now. :lol:

Nevertheless, if you want to see McConaughey at his "playfully-intensity-iest" best I'd rent 'Dazed and Confused.'
Is Dazed and Confused idiotic? I'm not fond of idiots. I just enjoy crazy fun, like Maverick. I'll read the review (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0783227361/002-0571609-5916068?v=glance&n=130) tomorrow.

I have to see Sahara just to see if Penelope Cruz looks as buff as she does on the poster.

Ok, I apoligize if this is me taking you too literally, but you do know that wh0areume's avatar is not actually him, but a picture of Larry David?
Yeah, wh0areume posted his pic once or twice on the forum. He would have had better luck with the girl if he'd picked the green shirt like I suggested. You listening, wh0?

Dammit, I am sitting here shivering so hard I'm stuttering while I type. 20.5 degrees should be plenty warm enough in jeans, a t-shirt AND a sweater. Tomorrow I finally go to the DOCTOR! It's about time.

In the mail today arrived a FreeRadical Monitor. I'm supposed to pee into a cup, then check what color my urine turns to find out if I am antioxidant deficient. I know I didn't BUY this kit, but I don't remember REQUESTING it either.:confused: Anyway, it's rather convenient that I got it when I had to collect my first morning's urine for the doctor anyway.

My travel plans are getting confusing. I was supposed to book tonight, but I had to compare prices online first. Then I read the fine print on the Sears site that I was going to book with that if I book with an agent, I have to pay an extra fee. Unfortunately, I can't find the packages that she quoted me online.:bang:

18 days is a LONG time. I'm getting tired of painting that gunk on my teeth. I think I'll skip tonight. I have two nights to go, but it's WAY past my bedtime.

Larry David: This is called a Swiss Army Knife. Do you know what Switzerland is?
Tara Michaelson: No, what's that?
Larry David: Switzerland is a place where they don't like to fight, so they get people to do their fighting for them while they ski and eat chocolate.

:mad: :mad: :mad: I could not get to sleep until 3:00 am because I was shivering so much. Even after adding ANOTHER sweater and sleeping under two blankets:mad: :mad: :mad:

:mad: :mad: :mad: I could not get to sleep until 3:00 am because I was shivering so much. Even after adding ANOTHER sweater and sleeping under two blankets:mad: :mad: :mad:

Shivering is often a sign of having a temperature. Even though you feel really cold, by adding blankets and sweaters, you are actually making it worse.

Paracetamol is a good OTC for regulating temperature. :)

Hey Guava, What the heck is toast crust???????:confused:

Paracetamol is a good OTC for regulating temperature. :)
Hey, alright, I'll check it out! Anything to make winter more pleasant.:cool:

The doctor thinks I may have hyperthyroidism (http://www.caringmedical.com/conditions/Hypothyroidism.htm). He detected a possible swelling in my neck, but he's not too sure about that. I don't have any of the typical symptoms, so he said it seems unlikely, but he's going to check the blood to confirm.

Doordude, leftover toast crusts are those edges of bread that four-year-olds won't eat.

Doordude, leftover toast crusts are those edges of bread that four-year-olds won't eat.


Oh, I know those!!!!
Hey, my X wife has hyperthyroidism. It makes her cockeyed once in a while. Seriously.

Oh, I know those!!!!
Hey, my X wife has hyperthyroidism. It makes her cockeyed once in a while. Seriously.
cockeyed? I thought it was supposed to make you fat?

Today's not a good day. I was hungry after supper last night at 8:00, so I went to bed.:rolleyes: Slept right through to 7 am.

Stupid me, I can't get around the fact that it's okay for me to gain weight. It's a GOOD thing to be hungry.

Anyway, I got upset over something this morning and had two breakfasts because of it, so I made up for it. :o Eating really does make me feel good. I'm not surprised that people who tend to be miserable are fatter, because I'm sure they eat more.

The wise don't expect to find life worth living... they make it that way. Author Unknown

I'm going to take a break from the forums for a while. There's too much going on here that doesn't sit right with me.

Also, I've been thinking about the cheat meal, and decided that I'm not going to go out of my way to make it there. If we move our vacation a week or two earlier, we can stay at a nicer hotel for an extra night for $600 cheaper.

I've been fighting acne now for 21 years with minimal success. Yesterday, I started a round of Accutane. The pharmacist says I have to avoid all Vitamin A supplementation, so I'm out of the Vitamin Challenge.

Stop trying to figure out what is ‘best’ for you (how you can win the most, lose the least, get what you want) and start going with what feels like Who You Are. ~Neale Donald Walsch

Some people need a strict 40/40/20, SGX, MAX-OT, LISS cardio program of eating the same meals day in and day out. If they are not strict with themselves, they will fail. I was also like this when i first started out. I ate the same foods, did MAX-OT to the letter, kept a spreadsheet of everthing i ate and worried when my macros were out. Now ? I guess. I guess my cals, my macros etc. I train how i want to train based on many different things ive read. I vary everything whereever possible. I dont follow a specific program. But i would not have been able to start out like that. I needed the strict approach in order to change my lifestyle, so that now years later fitness and healthy eating is simply part of who i am, not something i really need to spend a great deal of energy worrying about any more. Its the same with many of the people who have been here a while. And it is most certainly true of you as well i think. And Bluestreak etc.

So when we see people fretting about which type of cardio to do, which macro split to have, we forget that it took us time to realise that we could relax and do what feels natural. And we post "Dont worry about it, thats not healthy, thats not whats best for the body" because we know, we know that it is possible to get great results without it taking over your life. We just forget where we came from. Blue gets annoyed with people umming and ahhing over tiny details, and so do I. But both of us started off doing the same thing im sure. We should post the answers to the questions and in the back of our minds know that by helping people with a strict diet, eventually they will come to the position we are in where its all just a part of life and not something to fret over. And if they dont make it to there, well, i doubt anything we could have said would have changed that.

This is based on this journal and your posts, as i dont know you outside these forums, but sometimes i think you worry too much. By this i mean you read another thread with opinion X and then question yourself because of what you have read. Should i be stricter, follow a program, perhaps i should be bulking, should i drop to 15% BF, should i raise my protien etc etc. Its funny because your posts are always concearned with being healthy, and doing what is BEST for your body health wise. Yet worrying about things as much as you seem to is certainly not good for the body.

I think the best course of action is to chill out, dont get so involved and just do what feels right for you. Your body is amazing, really, amazing. I dont say that with any fakeness to make my point, i think countless people here would agree with me. And plenty of people read this journal and respond to your posts, your presence here is a much needed voice. I have noticed over these couple of years (yes, its been years!) that your best results seem to come when your relaxed and not concearned, but rather doing what feels best for you. When you worry about something and try and be stricter etc, you seem to feel low, at least around here. When your on that wavelength of just doing what feels best, your posts are happier, more enjoyable and you write a lot clearer and seem a lot more focussed, but again in a relaxed way. Do i see a difference in physical result when you differ between the two ? No. You acheived this body while also raising and looking after what appears to be a great family. What is there to worry about ??? Thats amazing in itself. What your doing is right for you, dont be too concearned with what is right or wrong for others. What you do works. You get results, physically and mentally. Just because someone posts that one needs more protien, dont let that make you think you need to change what your doing.

:)

Reno... that is one of the most beautiful posts I've ever read on JSF.

Guava, I hope you'll stay. And I certainly understand about the JSFCM.

Take a break if you need to, enjoy the holidays, and we'll see you soon.

I'm going to take a break from the forums for a while. There's too much going on here that doesn't sit right with me.

Please stay. :) We will miss you. :(

I think the best course of action is to chill out, dont get so involved and just do what feels right for you. Your body is amazing, really, amazing. I dont say that with any fakeness to make my point, i think countless people here would agree with me. And plenty of people read this journal and respond to your posts, your presence here is a much needed voice. I have noticed over these couple of years (yes, its been years!) that your best results seem to come when your relaxed and not concearned, but rather doing what feels best for you. When you worry about something and try and be stricter etc, you seem to feel low, at least around here. When your on that wavelength of just doing what feels best, your posts are happier, more enjoyable and you write a lot clearer and seem a lot more focussed, but again in a relaxed way. Do i see a difference in physical result when you differ between the two ? No. You acheived this body while also raising and looking after what appears to be a great family. What is there to worry about ??? Thats amazing in itself. What your doing is right for you, dont be too concearned with what is right or wrong for others. What you do works. You get results, physically and mentally. Just because someone posts that one needs more protien, dont let that make you think you need to change what your doing.
Wise words, sir.

G, I won't "convince" you to stay. I'll simply give you some food for thought.

Similar sentiments were expressed to me when I felt frustrated and considered leaving the forums. I still hold many of the same concerns now as I did then, however, by redefining how I participate, I have outgrown those things. Let the nit-pickers overanalyze to their heart's content; they're too interested in the "perfect plan" that they'll never put into action. Let the low-foreheads ask their silly questions; they're more interested in garnering attention, good or bad, than they are about the advice andinformation they'll receive. Let the thread crappers... well, thread-crap; they're interested in their post count and nary a second thought do I ever give any of them anymore. Let the people who can't find the search button ask the same questions over and over... someone who's truly interested in learning and improving will research, read and apply what's in this database, rather than be lazy and post the same question that's been proposed a hundred other times.

You know they're not the ones we're here for. They're the ones who will likely never see sustainable results. BUT... it's the folks who scour the good information we put out there - the ones who quietly watch in the background, perhaps never posting - the ones who research and employ the information we put forth... the ones who come back later to say, "Look what I did - and it's because of what you said..."

That's why we're here. That's why I'm here. It's a struggle for me, everyday, to balance the 800 things I do, but by sharing that, it does help other people.

And the rest of them? The ones that make the forums a little aggrevating at times? They shouldn't stop you from contributing when you feel you can. We don't have to respond to them. We don't have to read it... we don't even have to click on their threads. I don't. Not anymore. Three-quarters of the posts out there are redundant drivel, and I won't be a party to it, my 3,000+ posts notwithstanding.

Do what feels best for you and share that with others. When you feel like you're doing something that fits you well and is worthwhile, good results follow. Believe me, there are many less vocal people out there who take what we share with this forum to heart, and learn from it. They're just not the ones asking questions and posting useless threads - they're the ones who go out and USE the information we share.

Do what you feel is right, but as I learned... leaving wasn't the answer. An attitude adjustment and more judicious use of my time in the forums was the answer.

-R

Thanks, Reno_1ted. What you said isn't really related to why I want to take a break from the forums, but it's all true.

I like to waste time in the fluff threads, and they've really taken a nasty turn lately. There's an inner clique that's currently enjoying making fun of each other, and it's making me uneasy. It doesn't mean that the forums are a bad place, but the present environment doesn't give me any positive energy, which is my reason for visiting. I will of course keep coming back because of the FABULOUS people here that are incredibly supportive of me and help me to stay focused on my goals.:)

Bluestreak, positive energy, thank-you.

I'm not upset, just not in the right place right now. Must learn to NOT click on annoying threads.

I also keep coming back because I feel the need to clean up after some of those thread crappers that are being believed.

making fun of each other

Guilty as charged. I didnt realize it would make anyone uncomfortable. :o

Hey, Captain Sarcasm, I think you're hilarious, don't fret. I love doordude, wh0areume, all the other jokers too, but it's just too much for me right now. This forum break is probably more a result of my current mood than of any real change that the board has taken. I remember I thought Bluestreak was silly when he got in a huff, now's he's on me about the same thing.:whistle:

Sorry, I tried to quit the forum forever a couple days ago, but that only lasted 10 hours.
It's in my blood to do what I do.

I think I know the thread you're referring to, and the only reason it happened is because that topic has been beaten to death, so i didnt see it's importance.
Usually I don't hijack unless it's completly nessessary.

I will only post seriously from now on.



ps - this is all john's fault.
pss - the banana riding the green llama will remain, though.

I remember I thought Bluestreak was silly when he got in a huff, now's he's on me about the same thing.:whistle:
Turnabout's fair play? :lol: I have a tendency to let the rest of life creep into the forum. I let frustrations add up. It's a personal shortcoming, and one I am working on... I think I've done pretty darn good. And as such, it's time to share that lesson, as well.

I will only post seriously from now on.
To borrow a page from DD's book...

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

-R

Always take breaks from things! :jumping:
It keeps you happy. :D
Take care of YOU, guava!:nod:

I hope your thyroid is OK. If I could, I would send you some of the power to overheat that I have been in possession of for most of my life. That way we would both have better regulated temperatures!

:tu: Reno!!

You will be missed if you decide to go Guava! (((HUGS)))


Some people need a strict 40/40/20, SGX, MAX-OT, LISS cardio program of eating the same meals day in and day out. If they are not strict with themselves, they will fail. I was also like this when i first started out. I ate the same foods, did MAX-OT to the letter, kept a spreadsheet of everthing i ate and worried when my macros were out. Now ? I guess. I guess my cals, my macros etc. I train how i want to train based on many different things ive read. I vary everything whereever possible. I dont follow a specific program. But i would not have been able to start out like that. I needed the strict approach in order to change my lifestyle, so that now years later fitness and healthy eating is simply part of who i am, not something i really need to spend a great deal of energy worrying about any more. Its the same with many of the people who have been here a while. And it is most certainly true of you as well i think. And Bluestreak etc.

So when we see people fretting about which type of cardio to do, which macro split to have, we forget that it took us time to realise that we could relax and do what feels natural. And we post "Dont worry about it, thats not healthy, thats not whats best for the body" because we know, we know that it is possible to get great results without it taking over your life. We just forget where we came from. Blue gets annoyed with people umming and ahhing over tiny details, and so do I. But both of us started off doing the same thing im sure. We should post the answers to the questions and in the back of our minds know that by helping people with a strict diet, eventually they will come to the position we are in where its all just a part of life and not something to fret over. And if they dont make it to there, well, i doubt anything we could have said would have changed that.

This is based on this journal and your posts, as i dont know you outside these forums, but sometimes i think you worry too much. By this i mean you read another thread with opinion X and then question yourself because of what you have read. Should i be stricter, follow a program, perhaps i should be bulking, should i drop to 15% BF, should i raise my protien etc etc. Its funny because your posts are always concearned with being healthy, and doing what is BEST for your body health wise. Yet worrying about things as much as you seem to is certainly not good for the body.

I think the best course of action is to chill out, dont get so involved and just do what feels right for you. Your body is amazing, really, amazing. I dont say that with any fakeness to make my point, i think countless people here would agree with me. And plenty of people read this journal and respond to your posts, your presence here is a much needed voice. I have noticed over these couple of years (yes, its been years!) that your best results seem to come when your relaxed and not concearned, but rather doing what feels best for you. When you worry about something and try and be stricter etc, you seem to feel low, at least around here. When your on that wavelength of just doing what feels best, your posts are happier, more enjoyable and you write a lot clearer and seem a lot more focussed, but again in a relaxed way. Do i see a difference in physical result when you differ between the two ? No. You acheived this body while also raising and looking after what appears to be a great family. What is there to worry about ??? Thats amazing in itself. What your doing is right for you, dont be too concearned with what is right or wrong for others. What you do works. You get results, physically and mentally. Just because someone posts that one needs more protien, dont let that make you think you need to change what your doing.

:)

Guava... I know you have personal reasons for taking a break, but I also know that I usually smile when I read your posts, they are usually positive and supportive... if you do take a break, try to make it a short one because you will be missed *big hugs*

I was looking forward to getting a chance to meet you... maybe you could shoot me an e-mail and we could get together for dinner anyway while you're down here :tu: it woudn't be the 'official' get together.. but it would still be fun :D send me a PM if you might be interested in doing that :)

Hey Guava, I think a break is fine to take, just done forget to come back. I often step back from things in life that I am involved in and it is almost ALWAYS a good thing. Perhaps by the time you come back all the sarcasm will have run its course...ok I doubt that, but at least you will come back refreshed.

I will also try to post more constructively as well, because that IS the best thing about this site is the positive encouragement and good information that is shared. Please dont go for good, the pictures you share of your family are one of the things in life that I see that makes me really look forward to my wife and I having a family of my own someday!

Guava,
I'M SORRY!!!!!! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE!!!!!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!:(

Guava,
I'M SORRY!!!!!! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE!!!!!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!:(
http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/comfort.gif.......she's gone doordude...... she's gone..........

http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/comfort.gif.......she's gone doordude...... she's gone..........

You left once. Vowed not to come back making your 3000th post your llast. Quite a bit of comic relief you supplied there. Im not sure when you came back. All of a sunden you were back with little fanfare.

We could even designate this as the party thread, if you like.


Well just have to party in her journal until she comes back and turns the lights on again.

I am so incredibly indecisive that it's maddening. Now that we've decided to be more flexible about our travel dates, we can't decide when to go on holidays. We found some last minute travel sites that are offering great deals at Christmas time. This would be nice because the girls wouldn't have to miss any school, and because there are special events going on at the parks. However, I realize the parks will be busier as well. We could also go at certain times in January or February, as long as it fits around my husband's work schedule. (He has a business trip to Houston mid January.) This would be nice because the parks will be quieter, but their hours would be limited as well, and not as many fun stuff going on. Also, it would be a little easier to dig up some cash later rather than sooner. I'm not sure how much difference there will be in the weather around these times either.

The sports store where I bought my daughter's hockey equipment a couple of months ago is amazing! All of her equipment was purchased used, and she's been complaining about some of the pieces. The chest protector is too bulky, and also comes undone sometimes when struggling to put her jersey over top. The eyelets on her pants have sharp edges and have been scratching her occasionally, and a snap came off her helmet. So I went back to the store to try to get the problems corrected, and he fixed the helmet for me free of charge and did a straight exchange on the other pieces for more suitable used equipment. I was so impressed that I paid for skate sharpening, skate
guards, and wax for her stick that she insisted would make her happy.

Reno_1ted, you know, the harder a person tries to relax, the less relaxed they become. I'm probably not as stressed out in person as I seem on the boards. I'm a pretty calm, balanced person that rarely gets angry. Worried, yes, but not debilitatingly so. The fact of the matter is, things go better for me when I have a PLAN. When the plan is realized, or when I'm bored of the plan, that's when I start to worry. That's why it would be nice if I could commit to bulking, because then, later on I could commit to cutting. Right now, I can't figure out what direction I'm going in.

A message board can't please everyone all the time. Different message boards definitely have different dynamics. What kinds of behaviors are rewarded? Which posts and threads are celebrated, laughed at, frowned at, encouraged, ignored, closed? I can't control the content that is there, so instead, I control how much of it I participate in.

Guava,
I'M SORRY!!!!!! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE!!!!!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!:(
Guys, all this attention is going to make me pretend I'm leaving on a regular basis just so I can keep feeling the love!

Well just have to party in her journal until she comes back and turns the lights on again.
I snuck in here for ten minutes on Friday morning, then I left quickly when I read this before I could be spotted.:lol:

wh0areume, the banana riding the green llama is so incredibly random that it makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Butterflier, too bad we can't swap heat. Anyone else besides me looking forward to menopause?
Did I ever mention what a beautiful username you have?

You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass it will come and sit on your shoulder. --Unknown

Everyone is like a butterfly, they start out ugly and awkward and then morph into beautiful graceful butterflies that everyone loves. ~Drew Barrymore

I snuck in here for ten minutes on Friday morning, then I left quickly when I read this before I could be spotted.:lol:

[/I]


I knew you were here. I checked for your last activity!!!!:D I'm glad you're back.:bow:

Although I'm new around here I've appreciated the posts I've read from yourself and your knowledge about diets and nutrition.

So, I hope things get better for you and you stay on these forums. :)

hello! :)

Butterflier, too bad we can't swap heat. Anyone else besides me looking forward to menopause?
Did I ever mention what a beautiful username you have?

You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass it will come and sit on your shoulder. --Unknown

Everyone is like a butterfly, they start out ugly and awkward and then morph into beautiful graceful butterflies that everyone loves. ~Drew Barrymore

Aw shucks!:o :) Thanks! I picked it because I like butterflies and I like swimming butterfly. A fun stroke, and pretty to watch too. I like those butterfly quotes!:claplow: Especially the one about catching them-- my cat is like that, too!

My friends always joke that I'm going through menopause when I say I'm too hot. :lol: They've been saying that for over 10 years now. Sometimes I wonder if they're right...

I've got those freezy fingers and toes though, so that's kind of weird. The human body is a pretty mysterious thing, it's fascinating.

I'm with Happy Monster-- I've picked up a lot of nutrition information from you. I found that World's Healthiest Food link in your journal quite some time ago, which is so helpful. :tucool:

I knew you were here. I checked for your last activity!!!!:D I'm glad you're back.:bow:
:eek: Stalker!

I really hope I'm not the cause of all this weird mood stuff I've been seeing on the forum today. Everyone is just so darned sensitive! I'm leaving the men to their manly stuff, while I've decided to show my domestic side and partake in some Christmas baking and knitting.

Yesterday, I made a pumpkin gingerbread in a beautiful new mini-bundt pans that my mom gave me as an early Christmas present. It's something like this one, (http://www.solaeliving.com/soyproteinrecipes/recipes/spicedgingerbread.jsp) but if you know me at all, you know I didn't follow the recipe. I don't use protein powder, so I omitted that step. I had cottage cheese to use up, so I threw that in instead of the buttermilk. I used pumpkin instead of applesauce, I ran out of cinnamon, and I used Splenda instead of brown sugar. I KNOW I didn't put that much molasses. Maybe I used a different recipe as a guideline?Anyway, they were so good that I had one (2-muffin size) for breakfast with an apple and some yogurt, then had another for lunch with a big bowl of frozen mixed fruit and cottage cheese. They honestly taste better in the pretty pan. :) Attached photo is of the pan, but not the actual bread I made. However, I did drizzle mine in a pretty white (sugar) glaze like that.

I've started on the first sleeve of the sweater I'm knitting. Front and back are done other than the neck.

I watched Dazed and Confused last night while on the elliptical. It was a little idiotic, Matthew McConaughey wasn't in it nearly enough, and in the scenes he did have, he was smooooth as buttah, not at all intense. However, it was sufficiently interesting to keep me on the elliptical for 60 minutes at level 10, long enough with a five minute warmup and cooldown to wrap the calorie counter past 999. (We had a debate at dinner tonight about how close to that I actually burned versus theoretically.) Since I told my husband I'm in love with Matthew McConaughey, he bought me the movie Sahara, but it's on DVD and I can't figure out how to watch a DVD in my bedroom where the elliptical is. :cry:

My family is trying to ban me from carrots. They are so yummy and crunchy, and satisfy my sweet tooth. However, I am aparently turning orange yet again. :( I only eat a small bag every day.:p

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book

Contact is also one of my favourite films. But that's definately helped by having the yummy Jodie Foster in it for soo much of the screen time. :D

Good luck with the baking!

Jodie Foster is not one of my favorites. She seems guarded and distant in so many of her films. One exception of course is my all-time favorite Maverick.

I started watching Sahara. I'm not too crazy about the unfolding of the story, but the aesthetic value alone is reason enough to have bought it. The Wedding Planner would have been a great movie if Jennifer Lopez hadn't been in it.

If you're not Canadian, you might not know about Moritz Icy Squares. Known in Germany as Chocolate Ice Cubes (http://www.thechocolatestore.com/pd-17-4-chocolate-ice-cubes-moritz-4-7.aspx), they are only available around Christmas time. There seems to be a bit of a mixed reaction (http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=0308161428sbc)to their taste. In high school, I used to devour these sweet melt-in-your-mouth chocolates. The texture is somewhat like a chocolate truffle, and it leaves your mouth with a bit of a cool sensation. Ingredients: partially hydrogenated coconut oil, sugar, low fat cocoa, whey powder, soy flour, hazelnut paste, lecithin, spice, natural flavor
Per square (11 g): calories 65, fat 4.8 g, (sat 4.5) carb 4 g, protein 1gMy husband bought some last weekend, and has been eating a couple each night. I tried one a couple of nights ago, and it really turned me off. It tasted disgustingly sugary and greasy. My tastes have definitely changed. Milk chocolate is not even so much a treat for me anymore. I much prefer the stronger dark chocolate (though semisweet chocolate chips will always be tasty). I still enjoy brownies and cheesecake, but I don't like biscuits or croissants anymore. Never did like fudge, pastry, or shortcake.

I was going to make a plum tart (omitting the crust) with marzipan crumble topping. But I can't seem to find any plums. Aren't they supposed to be a Christmas fruit, or am I in the wrong country? Would I find them in packages like raisins, or would these be prunes? How would a prune tart taste?

My stupid addiction to Roller Coaster Tycoon is becoming a problem. I didn't get to bed until 1:30 because after constructing a log flume, several roller coasters, a swan pedal boat ride, fast food stalls, and toilets, and hiring maintenance workers, I still went upstairs to do a leg workout. To my leg workout last night, I tried adding some one leg squats (http://spidersport.com/pistol_en.php). Sort of. My form is not as good as that.:o This guy (http://www.dolfzine.com/page287.htm) does them hanging on to a bar for balance. Anyway, they seem to target my hamstrings and glutes better than the dumbbell squats I've been doing. I can't seem to get the right range of motion that's demonstrated here (http://spidersport.com/dumbbell-squat_en.php) without falling over or bumping into my hips. Also, the dumbbells make my arms do a lot of the work, which the pistol squats do not. I'll keep them in for ocassional changes in routine. As a last "warm-me-up" before bed, I did a set of pushups. I kept in mind PeteBDawg's theory (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=23409) that it's easier to just DO the last couple of reps than to think about how hard it is to do them.
When you let it all go and just do the push-ups, they're not nearly as hard as when you're forcing yourself not to stop doing the push-ups, if that makes any sense.
I wasn't nearly as hard to do 20 this time.:whistle:

To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goeth

In another thread, chicanerous pointed out these cool exercises at Beast Skills (http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials.htm). I'd really like to see if I can do "The Flag". I wonder if it's as hard as it looks. He describes the back lever as fairly easy, but I'm still too chicken to skin the cat, but I'll see if I can work up to it. I could do it 25 years ago. The L sit, I've been working on for a while, and I think it is weak abs that is holding me back. He recommends hanging leg raises to build strength for that move. My abs are certainly stronger than they were a year ago, but they could use some work.

Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/peek.gif

http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/peek.gif
Great, so I've got a stalker AND a peeping tom.:rolleyes:

:lol: At least you're not secretive about it.

December 24th, we went skating in the afternoon and watched The Polar Express in the evening. Christmas was nice; quiet and stress-free by ourselves. The girls opened presents from Santa first thing in the morning, then we had some breakfast, then we opened the rest of the gifts. It seems that each Christmas I spend is better than the next one. For supper I cooked three turkey legs and three chicken breasts for the four of us. Also made mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and steamed broccoli, and opened a can of creamed corn. One daughter ate only creamed corn, the other daughter ate only mashed potatoes. :rolleyes: I made a cherry cobbler for dessert too that neither of them touched. What upset me most however was that my husband yelled at them for not eating more. Anyway, he's sick, and he apologized for stressing me out.

Today, we took a trip to the Toronto zoo. Even though it was just below freezing, we were all shivering, and annoyed that many of the animals were not on display. I was not impressed with the layout of the paths - large hills that you have to backtrack on instead of moving around in new areas. I will not go back, even in the summer. Winnipeg zoo is much better.

We went to Perkins for lunch, and I ended up not ordering anything, which is not unusual for me. I brought leftover chicken and turkey with broccoli and stuffing, and ate in the car. Not that I'm phobic of restaurant food, but it doesn't make sense to eat french fries and cheesed up sandwiches when I prefer the taste of baked chicken and broccoli.

I'm getting sunburn because of my Accutane. I had sunscreen on today, but somehow the half hour or so that I was outside yesterday was must have been too much for me. :confused: My lips are drying out and my eyes are sore too. Maybe drinking more water will help out.

One of my Christmas presents was a cookbook (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/item.asp?Catalog=Books&Section=books&Lang=en&Item=978096806313&boutique=&N=35&zxac=1) by the authors of the bestselling lowfat cookbooks Looneyspoons (1996) and CrazyPlates (2002) . I have the first two cookbooks, but I find they are both quite high in refined flour and sugar. Greta Podleski has since become a nutritionist, so I'm hoping for better ingredients in this book, but, either way, it's a funny and educational read.

I didn't get an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas like I asked. :cry: Maybe for my birthday. I've wanted one since I was 10 years old.

More die in the United States of too much food than of too little. ~John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society

I'm getting sunburn because of my Accutane. I had sunscreen on today, but somehow the half hour or so that I was outside yesterday was must have been too much for me. :confused: My lips are drying out and my eyes are sore too. Maybe drinking more water will help out.

Tons of water helps.

Also, I don't know if they have it in Canada, but there's a lip balm called "Carmex" that is invaluable when on Accutane. At one point, I thought my lips were going to fall off they'd become so dry and cracked. A friend, and fellow Accutane "sufferer" told me about Carmex. It'll heal your lips in no time, just apply it conscientuously. And stay outta the sun! That was a big no-no for me. I had the worst headaches from any sun exposure - and it caused worse sunburns than I've ever had in my life - even from something as simple as driving with my arm on the door sill.

-R

Thank-you R. I'd been using Burt's Bees or petroleum jelly or an Avon lip balm three times a day, but they are nothing compared to the magic of Carmex. I don't usually think of sunburn when the temperature is below freezing, but I will be even more careful now that one could mistake me for a lobster. Sometimes you just don't quite believe a pharmacist until you find out the hard way.

I guess I've been sleeping in too much in the morning. I cannot fall asleep. Maybe it was that darned economics book I was reading before bed. Despite what this website (http://www.freakonomics.com/) might lead you to believe, the book is NOT primarily about sex (at least, I didn't get to any yet). But I know the secret of sumo wrestling. Given the available statistics, I can predict with 80% accuracy which wrestler will win selected fights. :tucool:

I have great plans for my abs. Specifically, my lower abs. And just so that I will be held accountable to make these great improvements, I will post my "before" photo. I set myself a four week challenge. Prepare to be amazed.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. ~Johann von Goethe

I have great plans for my abs. Specifically, my lower abs. And just so that I will be held accountable to make these great improvements, I will post my "before" photo. I set myself a four week challenge. Prepare to be amazed.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. ~Johann von Goethe


hell.. I'd be REALLY happy to have your abs, as they are now :D wow :bow:

I can't wait to see how they look in 4 weeks :tu:

Can't wait to see your amazing results in 4 weeks :)

Pam


I have great plans for my abs. Specifically, my lower abs. And just so that I will be held accountable to make these great improvements, I will post my "before" photo. I set myself a four week challenge. Prepare to be amazed.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. ~Johann von Goethe

Hi..........:D

Hi doordude. Thanks for visiting. Care for some tea?

The crazy things I come up with in the middle of the night. :rolleyes: :lol: I should think before I post stuff like that.

No, seriously, I am expecting great things for my abs in this next month, but I don't have any measurable objectives or set plan other than "a whole lot of hanging leg raises"! Oh well, my ten day back blitz went pretty well, so I'll hope for the same with my 30 day ab attack.

And now I'll 'fess up. I didn't want to make the effort to take a before picture, so the shot I posted above was from the set of pics I took in July. I look in the mirror, and it looks the same, but, just to be sure, I took some pics a few minutes ago, in the middle of the day full of water and food. So, in case it's different, here is a real before picture, for the sake of comparison. Tape measure says exactly 26 inches. Subtract 1/4 of an inch for the food and water in my system. I expect it to stay the same over the month.

Here's my attempt at goal-setting:
Present 53.3 kg (117 pounds?) 17.9% fat (21 pounds of fat?).
Target 53.8 kg (just over 118) 17% fat. (20 pounds of fat).
I hope to look less puffy in the belly button area and less droopy in the stretch mark area.

I just reread part of my journal and discovered that one year ago when I started this journal I measured myself to be 51.9 kg and 16% body fat. Based on my calculations, that means I've added 1.2kg of fat, and and .2 kg of lean mass. Funny, I thought I was making some progress.:confused: Small strength gains for sure, so I'm not sure why they didn't result in composition changes.

Yesterday, I went to one of my favorite places. I took my nine-year-old to The Ontario Science Centre. There is a special exhibit called Body Worlds 2, which is billed as a "not-to-be-missed" attraction, so I got tickets for the two of us, even though it was $10 more than general admission. The exhibit consists of real dead people (http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/pages/ausstellung_asien.asp) on display. While it wasn't disturbing, I really didn't think it was all that exciting. Once you've seen one dried out skinless body, you've seen them all. The guide told us the visit was 1 1/2 hours long; we breezed through it in 30 minutes. Everyone else seemed to be blown away by the display, but it really just wasn't my cup of tea.

At the museum, we went to a presentation of "fashion and health" where they talked about corsets, neck rings, foot binding, lip plates, ear plugs, scarring (http://www.adzstock.com/Upload/Stock/Previews/13394.jpg), and stillettos. They showed a photo of a woman who had a rib removed to reveal a 14 inch waist. :nono: She died shortly after.

The optical illusion section of the museum is usally my favorite, but since I've already seen it a couple of times, it wasn't that exciting anymore. We spent most of the time in the Sports Arcade, and a lot of time in the Human Body section because we didn't get to that part on our last visit. At one point, they have a "girl" that sneezes at you. Of all the museum areas, my daughter likes the Rainforest best, and Space. At the electricity presentation, they demonstrated a bike that powers lightbulbs. Most interesting was the "aging machine" (http://www.redshiftnow.ca/aging/default.aspx) that we didn't get a chance to try because of long lineups.

You really can't see the whole thing in one visit. We were there for 6 hours, and we didn't even have time to take a break at the food court. The lineup for pizza was too long, so I let her buy a bag of chips for lunch. 400 calories. Some people actually eat these as snacks? That's more than a whole meal.

The Rainforest Cafe (http://www.rainforestcafe.com/) is just a few miles away. Originally, I wanted to stop there on our way home, but my husband said we couldn't go because there's no way we could have kept quiet about it, and the little one would have been really disappointed that she missed out.

My training plan: I don't like to plan in advance, (cuz then I don't get to do what I'm in the mood to do) so my loose plan is to work out 6 days a week; either cardio or lifting. Abs will be incorporated every second day, or at least 3 days a week. Last night I did hanging leg raises, lunges, leg lifts, bridge, crunches, squats, fire hydrants (http://www.e-weightloss-fitness.com/glute_exercises/firehydrants.shtml), ball squats, sissy squats, and stretching. Today will be cardio, tomorrow will be biceps, triceps, shoulders and abs.

Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Yuck! :(

I'm too squeamish for those kind of exhibitions.. :eek: :cry:

My training plan: I don't like to plan in advance, (cuz then I don't get to do what I'm in the mood to do) so my loose plan is to work out 6 days a week; either cardio or lifting. Abs will be incorporated every second day, or at least 3 days a week. Last night I did hanging leg raises, lunges, leg lifts, bridge, crunches, squats, fire hydrants (http://www.e-weightloss-fitness.com/glute_exercises/firehydrants.shtml), ball squats, sissy squats, and stretching. Today will be cardio, tomorrow will be biceps, triceps, shoulders and abs.

Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

those fire hydrants look like they kill... I have some light dumbells at home.. I'll have to try those later

that museum sounds awesome... one of these day's I'll have to get up there... ummm.. well.. maybe in the summer... Roger doesn't like the cold... he'd never go in the winter... he's a wimp :p

Chameleon,
Come in the summer. I could maybe plan a Canadian JSF gathering around it. There's been some interest expressed.

My weight measurement appears to be statistically insignificant. Those amounts could be the difference between dehydration and a day of good solid nutrition (or even wet feet or some dust on the scale). After my shower today, I weighed 53.8 kg 17.6% body fat. I suppose I really couldn't tell my "real" weight unless I kept a graph of it. I don't remember under which conditions I took that recorded weight from last year.

Elliptical workout is done for today, but the kids have asked to go skating, so I'll be getting a little more exercise later on.

It was RAINING yesterday, which doesn't bother me one little bit, because it indicates WARMTH. Today is aparently -1.8 (28.8 F). Still cold for any Floridians, but for us, that's a damn nice day.

Is the Miss Universe Pageant degrading to women (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1135985416000&call_pageid=970599119419)?

Toronto’s Natalie Glebova, left, reacts to winning the Miss Universe 2005 title as Jennifer Hawkins, Miss Universe 2004, holds her hand. The city barred Glebova from appearing at a cultural festival here, citing municipal guidelines that ban activities degrading to women.
Interesting. Not too sure about my thoughts on that.

I'm considering celebrating this year's New Year's Eve as an irresponsible adult. I haven't been drunk for about a year and a half, and haven't had more than one drink in about eight or ten months. The whole thing feels a little self-indulgent and not quite "me". I'm not sure I can manage to consume 4 rum and 7ups knowing the potential calorie damage it can do. (600 calories?)

Something's wacky with my mood, and has been for several days. I don't feel like myself. Maybe getting drunk will snap me out of the uncharacteristic behaviors that I've been subject to for the last week or so. Or maybe resisting it will break the cycle.:evil:

I watched some tv last night, so I did lateral raises, front raises, bent over lateral raises, overhead presses, and pushups at the the same time. I did some cardio this morning, but I have a movie to watch tonight, so I'll probably still work triceps, biceps and abs while that's playing. It feels a waste to "just" watch a movie when it's such an easy thing to multitask around.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. ~Kurt Vonnegut

Whether you decided to drink or not, I hope you had a good New Year's Eve. :)

New Year's Eve always has an element of sadness for me. Fresh starts aren't particularly motivating for me; I'm more inclined to focus on wasted opportunities. My resolution would be to focus on discovering and acting on that which I think is important instead of trying to make everyone else happy.

We're cutting out some paper snowflakes (http://www.papersnowflakes.com/) today. Something about the perfect symmetry in snowflakes make me smile.:)

The Christmas decorations are coming down today. My husband says I should wait until January 8th to take down the tree, but I neither of us is actually Ukrainian enough to want to celebrate it again on January 7th (http://209.82.14.226/culture/traditions/christmas/). However, it's a good excuse to eat perogies and cabbage rolls.

My ab attack is going well. More important to me than getting a six-pack is to get a stronger midsection. I should have set some performance goals rather than body composition goals. I haven't checked my improved time yet on the L-seat (http://www.beastskills.com/L%20Seat.htm), but I believe it would have been about 2 seconds maximum a couple of weeks ago.

I've been listening to Bon Jovi for most of the day while catching up on laundry. These Days is quite a sad CD, and must be followed up by Keep the Faith. Later on, I'll pull out the Tesla, then if things get really wild, I'll have to start hunting down Extreme.

Don't look up on your movie screens
In record stores or magazines.
Close your eyes and you will see
That you are all you really need.
(Jon Bon Jovi)

My daughter painted the paper snowflake that I made green, glued it on the end of a toilet paper tube, and glued it to a piece of paper. She drew an alligator beside it, and now it is a palm tree. I guess she'd rather be in Florida too. :D :lol: I took a picture of it, but I haven't uploaded the photos yet, so I can't post it here.

We installed the tiffany lamp above the pool table; it just needs a bit of adjusting to hide the wires. It is the most exotic thing I've ever owned. Pics will go up in the private media gallery in a couple of weeks. Maybe we'll even have carpet in the family room down there by then!:D

I applied online again for a job at a fitness club. I think I applied there already three months ago, but it won't hurt to remind them. Part of me would really rather not be working, but most of me feels like I'm wasting my talents. Next week I'll start back volunteering at the library at my daughter's school, and that is satisfying at least.

Who Moved My Cheese? (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=23758&)

Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly. ~ Robert Schuller

http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/bag.gif

Guess who.

How did you know I miss might your response to the cheese. OK maybe that wasnt for me but I did miss it.

How did you know I miss might your response to the cheese. OK maybe that wasnt for me but I did miss it.
I just added the response an hour ago. Had to see if my library had the book first. I thought you were being silly about the cheese when I first saw the thread title. Great name for a book!

I borrowed The Princess Bride from the library and we watched it early this evening. A lot of things in wh0areume's private fitness journal suddenly make a lot more sense; the inconceivable antics of Sicilians were confusing me. I did see it once before, but I suppose I was only 14 at the time. Anyway, we enjoyed it so much, I thought we might like to watch Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102798/) again. The library doesn't have it, so I'll have to check in with a couple of video rental places.

After the girls went to bed, I hopped on the elliptical to the viewing pleasure of Against the Ropes (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312329/). Nice movie, what I've seen up to now. I wasn't even tired when my counter came up at 40 minutes, 6.1 km, 620 estimated calories burned (level 10 for 30 of the minutes). A lot better than the 349 calories burned from Leaving Normal (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104697/) that I found a couple days ago recorded from television about a decade ago. :lol: I think from now on I'll rate my movies by how many calories they burn. I'm open to suggestions.

I haven't been effectively handling my food addictions. I've been compensating for excess snack calories by eating small meals. This just causes deprivation and prolongs the cravings. I was going to have a small lunch today so I could have a muffin later on as a snack, but instead I ended up ordering a large serving of grilled chicken and steamed broccoli. I didn't even WANT a muffin later on in the day. That would be the correct way to handle food cravings. :doh:

If you focus on what others expect of you, you'll continue to act on and attract more of what they desire for you. But when you can shift your inner thoughts to what you intend to create and attract into your life, you will no longer have to give mental energy to what others want for you. ~Dr. Wayne W. Dyer (The Power of Intention)

I haven't been effectively handling my food addictions. I've been compensating for excess snack calories by eating small meals. This just causes deprivation and prolongs the cravings. I was going to have a small lunch today so I could have a muffin later on as a snack, but instead I ended up ordering a large serving of grilled chicken and steamed broccoli. I didn't even WANT a muffin later on in the day. That would be the correct way to handle food cravings. :doh:

Good for you- I wish it worked that well for me! I find it difficult, if I have a large plate of healthy food in front of me, to actually get through it. I can start out quite hungry and end up not wanting anymore after a few bites- but if it was something I really like, I could happily stuff myself :mad:

My husband decided that we're sufficiently Ukrainian to celebrate Ukrainian Christmas, then he proceeded to invite five guests to join us for "Christmas Eve" on Friday night, and promised them an authentic ethnic dinner (http://pages.prodigy.net/l.hodges/xmas.htm). I told him he's cooking. I'm serving boiled perogies from frozen, baked cabbage rolls from frozen, and either a baked chicken or meatballs like my Grandma used to make. I might make the Kutya, just for something unique,(Kutya is a Christmas eve mixture of cooked wheat, poppyseed,and honey, served cold as a thick slightly liquid mixture.) and he's going to try to track down a braided bread. He might even be able to convince me to shape some frozen bread dough into interesting shapes.

I needed a birthday gift for a party my daughter is going to on Sunday, so I made it out to the mall yesterday. I have a black sweater that I never wear because I don't have the right pants to go with it. So part of yesterday's task was to find a new pair of black dress pants on the back end of the holiday sales. The smallest size they had at the Laura store was a 6. When I asked about smaller sizes, she explained that only their petite store carried those sizes. She didn't bother suggesting that I look there, because it's meant for women 5'3" and under, and I'm 5'5". So I have to gain 10 pounds or shrink by 2 inches. My husband keeps telling me to eat more, but I like how I look, (and didn't like how I looked 10 pounds heavier) so that seems silly. I think I need Rockenmama here to whip me into shape.

I'm also trying to find a bathing suit that fits my whole butt inside it without being baggy in all the other spots. I ordered three athletic type suits from the Sears catalog, and if they don't fit, I have no choice but to move back to Europe so I can wear a thong bikini without getting weird looks.

If you are still talking about what you did yesterday, you haven't done much today. ~Author Unknown

I'm also trying to find a bathing suit that fits my whole butt inside it without being baggy in all the other spots

Feel free to post pics and we will give you our professional opinion. :D

I'm also trying to find a bathing suit that fits my whole butt inside it without being baggy in all the other spots. I ordered three athletic type suits from the Sears catalog, and if they don't fit, I have no choice but to move back to Europe so I can wear a thong bikini without getting weird looks.



eh... just wear the thong :p I do... I don't care if people give me weird looks... it's thier problem, not mine :nod::evil::D

WARNING: Graphic description of ugliness. Do not read if you're squeamish, or if you'd like to pretend that I'm attractive.

The Accutane seems to be working very well for the most part. My complexion for the first time ever is a nice even color and is smooth and bump free. However, if you get really close up, you can see hundreds (thousands?) of tiny tiny little blackheads all over. It's like every blemish I ever had has returned and is preparing to erupt. :eek: Honestly, I'm more than just a little apprehensive. I'm tempted to buy some of those Biore pore strips and rip them right out, but that is NOT recommended. Heck, I'm not even allowed to wax my legs for 6 months! My husband has convinced me to stop snacking on carrots, at least for a few weeks. 3 oz of carrots apparently has 300% of my daily recommended intake for Vitamin A, which could increase my susceptibility to side effects (which include suicidal thoughts). The pharmacist advised me not to take a multivitamin, but he didn't mention avoiding foods rich in vitamin A. Nevertheless, I can go without carrots and sweet potatoes for another little while if it will help prevent me from wanting to kill myself.

Last night I worked chest, back, and abs. This morning some cardio. Tonight maybe some biceps and triceps, and tomorrow more cardio and abs. I'm on a roll.

A failure establishes only this, that our determination to succeed was not strong enough. ~ John Christian Bovee

:eek:

The Accutane seems to be working very well for the most part.

How long have you been on it? I did accutane for 2 sessions, before I got married 7 years ago. I had no troubles with it at all other than sensitivity to sun- no suicidal thoughts or anything else like that. My complexion did, however, get much worse before it got better. Good luck with it! :tu:

Hmmm...

HUGS! :spaz:

:gl:

How long have you been on it? I did accutane for 2 sessions, before I got married 7 years ago. I had no troubles with it at all other than sensitivity to sun- no suicidal thoughts or anything else like that. My complexion did, however, get much worse before it got better. Good luck with it! :tu:
3 weeks now. After another week, I'll be taking a 4 week break I think, then maybe go at it again.

No suicidal thoughts, thank goodness, but I had blurry vision for about ten minutes a couple of weeks ago. I didn't report it because it didn't bother me again.

I SAID GUESS WHO!!!!!
http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/bag.gif

I SAID GUESS WHO!!!!!
http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/bag.gif



Hello? Is anybody out there?
Um..... never mindhttp://smiley.onegreatguy.net/bolt.gif

http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/santa.gif http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/xmastree2.gif http://www.ifstudio-translations.com/img/free/v1/merrychristmas.gif
Um, yeah. I don't know how to say it either.

Veseloho Vam Rizdva i Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku!

That just makes it worse.

I had to get up at 6:30 am to simmer some wheat.

Meatballs are made, coleslaw ingredients are chopped, lettuce is washed, and the perogies and cabbage rolls are ready to put in the oven. Actually, that sounds a lot like what our wedding dinner. The caterer asked "What do you want as your main dish?" and we scratched our heads and said "Main dish? What's wrong with perogies, cabbage rolls, and meatballs?" So we picked the cheapest entree - breaded chicken breast, I think.

Ukrainian Christmas is easy to shop for because everything is half price. I bought some brandy-filled chocolates and another fruitcake. My husband got me a shorter pool cue to fit into any possible dead spots. I should go down there and practice so I can whip his butt tonight. Pictures of the new light are in the private media gallery.

Last night I did biceps, triceps, and abs. Does that make two days in a row for abs? I'm afraid I'm going to be paying for it later!
http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/bag.gif
How kind of you. It's not required yet, but I may need to wear it over the weekend, depending on how things progress. :confused:

Actually, doordude, you've provided me with mountains of entertainment. I'm killing myself laughing, and I thank you profusely. I don't know if you intended to lead me to this or not, but that site in the root of your smiley directory is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

Click here to join the fun! (http://www.onegreatguy.net/buff/photos/index.html#top) (I can't guarantee this is safe for work.)

Biff is one really hot dude. I'm playing a game where I match up his body parts. I'm quite impressed with the closeup of the six pack, but the back bicep shot with the party balloons in the background is pretty hot too. My favorite, however, is definitely the one where he's in the cowboy hat holding a gun. He's got his Christmas Wish list posted too. I'm thinking about buying him a copy of Fried Green Tomatoes, or the fourth season of Will and Grace. The best thing is, his links lead me to other sexy males (http://www.strengthnet.com/models.php). (I can't guarantee that's safe for work either, but I'm not complaining.:whistle: )

Sorry, was that all forbidden? Did I tap into your secret life?

Some of those smilies are really naughty. :nono: Those poor innocent bananas. http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/tease.gif

As long as you're going to think anyway, think big. ~ Donald Trump

I don't know if you intended to lead me to this or not, but that site in the root of your smiley directory is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.




Hey!!!!!! Hell no.

Your secret is out!
:eek: :neener:

Leave it to Guava to find that in my favorite smiley place.

Hey you had recommended a book to me a short time back. Now I cant remember what it was, where it was or even the context it was in. Im going to the library tomorrow and would like to check it out. Whatever it was. Thanks.

Your favorite smiley place, huh? Did you try the game? It's pretty fun.

I think the book I recommended was in the forbidden topic. "A man trapped in a millionaire's deadly game of political and sexual betrayal." Otherwise known as The Magus (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440351626/002-5580346-7299203?v=glance&n=283155) by John Fowles, or the 67th best-loved novel (http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100_2.shtml) of all time.

http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/biff.gif

http://onegreatguy.net/icons/bifflogo.gif


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

:doh:
What was I thinking?

For dinner last night, I had a bowl of kutya, 3 perogies, 1 cabbage roll, 4 meatballs, a cup of brussels sprouts, some wild rice casserole, a chunk of cheese onion bread, a slice of fruitcake, and a slice of orange cake. Then I finished off my older daughter's slice of cake. Then I finished off my younger daughter's slice of cake.

I felt bloated all day today.

I didn't so much feel guilty about what I'd eaten, but surprised with myself. And instead of having the "I must burn these calories" mentality, I have the "I must use these calories to build muscle" mentality. So even though it was 1 am when I got up to the bedroom, I did a leg workout.

This morning, a slice of cake jumped into my mouth. I don't know how it got there, except that I attempted my usual "make up for the extra calories by eating less today" and, as usual, it failed. If I'd had a little more than a banana and 1/2 C yogurt for breakfast, the cake wouldn't have been whispering my name.

Hopefully tomorrow I will feel a little better in balance and can focus on choosing healthy options instead of counting calories.

Workouts are going well. Before December, I was working out about 5 days, a week, and now I'm usally working out at least 8 days a week. :confused: I mean 8 times a week. About twice a week I'll manage to fit in cardio and lifting.

If you want to know your past - look into your present conditions. If you want to know your future - look into your present actions. ~ Chinese proverb

For dinner last night, I had a bowl of kutya, 3 perogies, 1 cabbage roll, 4 meatballs, a cup of brussels sprouts, some wild rice casserole, a chunk of cheese onion bread, a slice of fruitcake, and a slice of orange cake. Then I finished off my older daughter's slice of cake. Then I finished off my younger daughter's slice of cake.

DAMMIT GIRL! :lol:

DAMMIT GIRL! :lol:
I'm bulking.

:rolleyes: Yeah, sure, good excuse. :o

But, shoot, this morning I had to creep out of the house at 8:15 in the morning to take my daughter to her hockey game. I didn't crawl out of bed until 8:00 and didn't have time to gobble anything down, so I ended up eating a chocolate chip cookie for breakfast (they were free samples at the grocery store!) and a cinnamon raisin bagel, an apple, and a tofu2go for a later morning snack. For late lunch, I had a few slices of fat free ham on sourdough bread and a low fat cherry yogurt. Still not good.:bang: Supper should be salad or fish, I suppose, but I don't know yet if it will be.

Our video gallery is still giving out one free rental every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. I'm starting to feel just slightly guilty of taking advantage of them so much. From last January to November, I rented about 12 videos from them. In December, I took home about 12 movies for free. Weird promotion. Last night we watched In the Cut, which I didn't enjoy. The Dreamers was a little better, but pretty weird. Tonight we have One Night at McCool's (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203755/).

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. ~ Marcel Proust

I haven't seen anything as fun as One Night at McCool's in a long time. Great casting. Liv Tyler is such a gorgeous powerful woman; I can't picture anyone else who could have pulled off that role. The car wash scene was hilarious. And the music was wonderful, pulling it all together nicely.

Biff was my gift for those who like looking at men. For those who prefer pictures of beautiful women, I present Attack of the Clones (http://www.worth1000.com/cache/contest/contestcache.asp?contest_id=3249). (There's men there too, but mostly women. When you're done, check the other Attack of the Clones contests. Hilarious. There's a nice one of Harrison Ford on this page (http://www.worth1000.com/cache/contest/contestcache.asp?start=1&end=10&contest_id=2233&display=photoshop).)

I said no to the cake. It's still sitting on my kitchen counter. My husband had promised to take it to work this morning, but I guess he forgot. It was calling my name last night, and I told it a firm no, and instead opted to pour myself my third and fourth cup of coffee for the day.

It was late after the movie, so I had just enough time to work my abs and nothing else last night. I am very pleased with the way things are shaping up. Even with the bloat I'm carrying, my waist has never before been this firm.

Success is going from failure to failure with great enthusiasm. — Mark Twain

Normally, I'd post pics like this in my Things that Make me Smile thread in the private media gallery, but there's been a request for a photo of the sweater I've been knitting, so I'll post it here. It's a seed stitch cardigan with two rows of seed stitching alternated with 4 rows of stockinette stitch. It didn't look quite as "bumpy" while I was knitting it, nor did the photograph in the pattern book. It's made with bulky weight yarn, but that's what the pattern called for.

The knitting part is finished, but I'm having some trouble piecing it together. The instructions are not very detailed for that part. The sleeve edge is a little bit smaller than the armhole opening, so at first I sewed it on with the slack evenly distributed across the opening, but then I saw how it causes such big wrinkles under the arm. I took off one arm and reattached it (the side with the string peeking out the top) with most of the slack near the shoulder, but I'm still seeing gathering at the armpit. It looks like the answer is to put ALL of the extra fabric at the shoulder. (Or it could be that I just have huge shoulders and it'll never look quite right on me.) Also, in the correction, I attached it with right sides together then turned it inside out, and it doesn't look as neat this way. My original sewing with a flat seam looked better.

My husband said it looks too small, but other than the shoulders, I think it looks like a pretty good fit.

You're a pretty good knitter :)

I am impressed. Ya looks good except the shoulders are snug. Is it just that where the arm connects to the body of the sweater is too high up on your shoulder. Is there shoulder pads in there? Most woman would love to have that look naturally. They try to give themselves that look with pads anyway. You have it naturally.

I like blue. Ill be expecting my sweater in the mail. I have to have something to trade.

The cake is calling me. That's why I'm in front of the computer; it's the furthest thing away from the cake.

I'm thinking about doing what I've seen recommended in diet books - throwing it in the trash then dumping coffee grounds and eggshells over top of it.

I need an intervention.

I am impressed. Ya looks good except the shoulders are snug. Is it just that where the arm connects to the body of the sweater is too high up on your shoulder. Is there shoulder pads in there? Most woman would love to have that look naturally. They try to give themselves that look with pads anyway. You have it naturally.

I like blue. Ill be expecting my sweater in the mail. I have to have something to trade.

Some women got big boobs and long thin legs. I got oversized shoulders, calves, and butt. Oh well, I'm learning to love them.

Ha, it took me until 4:47 to check wh0's journal and figure out what you were talking about.

I must be half asleep. I am so easily manipulated.

Hey Guava.........how's the little ducky? I miss him.:(

I'm trying to make my avatar reflect how I feel. I don't feel like a duck. I just changed it to a big wedge of fudge cake to test my resistance.

I put a large portion of the cake in my husband's car, and a few slices in the freezer. It is taking a lot of willpower, a bowl of fat free chocolate pudding, and large amounts of coffee to keep me from digging in there to retrieve it.

And I'm not even hungry!!!

I don't feel like working out either. I think I'm going to play some pool.

Man, you guys have no idea what some women go through! What a nasty sugar craving!:evil: :mad:

:bang: :bang:

I'm trying to make my avatar reflect how I feel. I don't feel like a duck. I just changed it to a big wedge of fudge cake to test my resistance.

I put a large portion of the cake in my husband's car, and a few slices in the freezer. It is taking a lot of willpower, a bowl of fat free chocolate pudding, and large amounts of coffee to keep me from digging in there to retrieve it.

And I'm not even hungry!!!

I don't feel like working out either. I think I'm going to play some pool.

Man, you guys have no idea what some women go through! What a nasty sugar craving!:evil: :mad:

:bang: :bang:


I completely understand... the one thing that helps me, is to not even try it... not one bite... once I've had a bite it's like I turn into a sugar craving maniac and I NEED MORE.. it sucks... so I'm trying really hard to just say NO to anything with added sugar... I always do better when I deny it all together... you have the right idea with the fat free pudding... find something that tastes good that doesn't have sugar (or at least not much) and leave the sugary stuff for those who WANT a big belly :p

The coffee was not a good idea. :spaz:

I TOTALLY understand your sugar craving!! And coffee is completely out of my list for now unfortunately. I used to drink two expressos every week day and none during weekends. I ended up with tremendous headaches during weekends which made me decide to cut on coffee for a while.

When I crave for sweets usaully gelly does the trick...