May 08 Check in Monday 12th

ShyWolf

Cathlete
Good Morning Ladies!

Just getting us started today.

GS BBS along with cardio scheduled today for me .

Couldn't get in my early am run as I had a horrible run in with just 1 alcoholic beverage, it tore my stomach up and I had major heartburn while I was trying to sleep

[font color=#6960EC] Chris:[/font]

Sorry to hear you and your family are sick with a nasty bug; here's hoping you guys start feeling better soon!



[font color=#6960EC] Beth:[/font]

If you are in pain I would skip the workout and just rest those muscles.

DOMs is fine , pain is not.




I'll be back later once I'm done with my workouts

Dh is wanting to go to IHOP but I just can't as I'm still dealing with this stupid heart burn and just took some prescription meds for for it :/


Have a great day everyone!
 
Happy Monday!

Good advice for me, Vilma, thanks! I woke up and felt fine, but read your post. I did do biceps, but I think it was good I didn't attempt back or shoulders, and then did the 4DS double cardio step -- it was fun. I still haven't done those cardio portions very much, but have finally gotten the LIS one down. I don't know if I'll ever get the whole thing for HIS!

Ok, now I really need help controlling my sweet tooth -- anyone have any hints for me? Usually I just have to go cold turkey -- I'm not good at having just a little. It's been way out of control lately and I've got to reel it back in somehow...

have a great day!

-Beth
 
Good Monday Morning!!

Soooo glad this was a short-lived virus! 2 of my 3 boys are in school today, my husband never got it 'full force', just an upset tummy, and I'm feeling SOOO much better too!! The aches are gone, my stomach is NOT queasy, just a tiny bit finicky. My 12 year old son, with diabetes, ended up staying home today. He still had a bit of ketones in his urine, so we wanted him to recover one more day. But he's back to his normal feeling self..which is a HUGE relief. I fought all day on him taking liquids so he wouldn't have to go to the ER!!!

I'm planning on doing the rotation workout, or maybe a version of it, this afternoon. Going to eat regular, and get some fuel going in this body.

Beth...good decision not to do the shoulders/back portion. I've found that if I have a sore spot, even though it feels better, it needs to be rested longer. I love HIS and LIS on 4DS too! I got the moves mostly down, but that was MONTHS ago , when I did them last . They are fun! I have an article to post for you about sweets. It's very enlightening, really.

~Chris
 
I got this from "Women's Health" magazine!

~Chris

Sugar Overload
…are you high? Our irresistible desire for sweets may be our biggest diet downfall
Jane Di Leo; Additional Reporting By Amber J. Adams


Before you say no, consider what you've put in your mouth lately. If it includes anything from rainbow-colored cereal and caramel Frappuccinos to cold cuts and ketchup, there's a decent chance you're riding a sugar rush right now. Don't feel bad--just about every person in America is buzzed. Research shows that nearly a quarter of our daily caloric intake--325 calories on average--comes from sweets like baked goods, desserts, soda, and fruit juices. In other words, from sugar. (Listen to your good side for a sec and check out the best foods for women.)


Now feel the rush…

Sweet treats are bad news because they typically deliver a load of calories with little to no nutrition. A more troubling fact: As our consumption of the white stuff rises, so do the numbers on our scales. A study published in the Annual Review of Nutrition analyzed American diets and found that from 1970 through 2000, daily caloric intake among women ages 20 to 39 jumped from 1,652 to 2,028. But get this: Over the same period, the percentage of calories we were getting from fats and protein decreased. Only the amount of carbs--particularly sugar--shot up. On average, each of us scarfs 25 pounds more sugar annually than women did back when American Bandstand started airing in color. There's no dancing around it: Sugar is a huge part of what's making us fat.

Now brace yourself for two more nasty news flashes: (1) Eating sugar can stoke your appetite rather than satisfy it, and (2) it can even become addictive--no surprise to those of us who have a daily 3 p.m. Snickers jones so strong we might be tempted to hurl an office chair at the vending machine if we ever ran out of change.

But don't despair, gummy-bear lovers: There's light at the end of this frosted, candy-coated tunnel. With a little determination, you can train yourself to stop craving sugar. And when you do, you'll experience something truly sweet: weight-loss success.

Sweet and Vicious

The newest threat to our waistlines actually has been decades in the making. In fact, we can pinpoint exactly when the sugar time bomb started ticking: 1967, the year high-fructose corn syrup, the first scientifically engineered sugar, was created. A combination of fructose and glucose, HFCS is a clear, sticky liquid with the consistency of maple syrup that can be cheaper to manufacture and sweeter than natural, cane-derived sugar (1.16 times sweeter, to be exact). That means food companies can use less (though they still use a lot) to achieve the same degree of sweetness, which translates to bigger profits. Beverage companies in particular started buying the stuff by the ton. Over the years HFCS also began replacing the sugar in cereals, granola bars, and even flavored yogurt. In 1970 HFCS accounted for less than 1 percent of all sweeteners consumed in America. By 2000, after countless fat-free products were pumped full of sugar to improve their taste, that figure had risen to 42 percent. Now, HFCS accounts for half of all sweeteners, and the United States is both the largest producer and consumer of HFCS in the world.

Manufacturers currently use the taste-bud-­pleasing stuff to flavor a huge variety of products, including foods that wouldn't normally contain sugar and that you probably wouldn't describe as sweet, like the sesame seed bun on a McDonald's hamburger, or the Saltine crackers you crumble into soup. Even if you vigilantly shun the sugar bowl and never let a piece of candy cross your lips, you could still be eating a diet loaded with sugar from stealth sources. According to a 2008 USDA report, more than 57 percent of all the sugar on the market is purchased by the food and beverage industry to flavor consumer products, and sweeteners (fructose, sucrose, glucose, and HFCS) are the No. 1 food additive. If you eat without carefully checking food labels and restaurant websites for nutrition information, you may inadvertently be pouring sugar down your throat. Where does it all end up? Yep, right in that jiggly jelly roll hanging over your jeans.

Take our sugar quiz-- and see if you can find where the white stuff may be lurking in your food.



Taking Our Lumps

Even when you're perfectly aware that your favorite brand of peanut butter is spiked with sugar, buying the unsweetened kind can feel like a major sacrifice of taste and texture. And that's just peanut butter--think of all the other sweet indulgences that are hard to resist: a croissant on the way to work, a handful of M&Ms, the candy-flavored cocktail in the sugar-rimmed glass at happy hour. There's a reason you keep coming back for more: You've got a habit.

In a 2005 study in Physiology & Behavior, a group of Princeton researchers led by psychology professor Bart Hoebel, Ph.D., found that eating sugar triggers the release of opioids, neuro­transmitters that activate the brain's pleasure receptors. Addictive drugs, including morphine, target the same opioid receptors. "Sugar stimulates receptors to activate the same pathways that are stimulated directly by drugs such as heroin or morphine," Hoebel says.

When this phenomenon was studied in lab rats, Hoebel's students found that after 21 days on a high-sugar liquid diet, one group, whose feeding was delayed by 12 hours, showed signs of withdrawal, including anxiety, teeth chattering, and depression. While no human trials have been conducted yet, researchers hypothesize that sugary drinks, especially those consumed on an empty stomach, are similarly addictive for some individuals. So if you regularly replace breakfast with a sweet coffee drink, you could be setting yourself up for a sugar addiction.

By constantly eating sugar, you also force your pancreas to work overtime. As you eat more, it pumps out massive amounts of insulin; eventually, your body may become less sensitive to sugar and, essentially, build up a resistance to it. Just as a frequent drinker needs to knock back more beers in order to feel their effects, you can begin to need more sugar to feel satisfied.

The Replacements

How hooked you get on sugar may depend largely on what kind you eat. Fructose, the natural sugar found in fruit and certain vegetables, doesn't make you immediately feel as if you need another sugar hit again, mainly because the fiber and other nutrients in those foods slow down the digestive process and help keep your blood sugar level stable. That's one reason nutritionists always advise that snacks consist of fruit and not candy.

And although it often gets all the blame, high-fructose corn syrup isn't the only problem sugar. The main issue is that ever since the creation of that particular sugar, increasingly higher amounts of all sugars have found their way into our diets--often in the least likely places. All that sugar can adversely affect the way we metabolize various foods (see Listen to Your Gut).

And if getting too many calories is what worries you, reaching for a Sprite Zero isn't the solution: Artificial sweeteners may be almost as bad for you as HFCS. In 2004, a study published in the International Journal of Obesity found that rats ate more after consuming an artificially sweetened drink than they did after sipping sugar water. Researchers speculate that calorie-free artificial sweeteners act like stomach teasers: As you swallow diet soda, your body anticipates the arrival of calories. When they don't show up, your body sends you looking elsewhere for them, often in a snack bowl. A 2005 study by researchers from the University of Texas found that people who drank a can of diet soda per day had a 37 percent greater incidence of obesity. And because artificial sweeteners are often many times sweeter than sugar, stirring a teaspoonful into your daily cup of joe may mean that when you do use real sugar, it just doesn't taste sweet enough for you, sending you grabbing extra sugar packets.

Take our sugar quiz-- and see if you can find where the white stuff may be lurking in your food.



Stopping the Domino Effect

Here comes the hard-to-swallow truth: The only way to curb a sugar habit is to cut back drastically. It will be rough in the beginning, but your body will crave sugar less as it regains its insulin sensitivity. In order to extract your sweet tooth, you first need to know how much sugar you're actually eating. There are plenty of hidden sources of sugar and, as Connie Bennett reports in her book, Sugar Shock!, more than 100 names for sweeteners. Take note of sugar's pseudonyms and look for red-flag ingredients like dextrose rice syrup, and cane juice. Read labels for a week and jot down how much sugar you're taking in--you'll probably find that it far exceeds the approximately 10 percent of your daily caloric intake the federal dietary guidelines recommend (that's about 20 grams, or five teaspoons, per 1,000 calories consumed).

You'll also realize that many products touted as healthy are still high in sugar. There are no laws regulating the use of the words "all natural" on food packaging, so manufacturers can label their products with abandon. "'All natural' is a really misleading term, and it does not necessarily imply that a product is low in sugar," Bennett says. Even if sweeteners do come from all-natural ingredients, they can be highly concentrated, as they are in dried fruit. One ounce of dried pineapple has about 21 grams of sugar, compared with 2.6 grams for the same amount of fresh pineapple. So watch your portions of trail mix.

Once you know how much sugar you're really eating, you can control your intake. Here are the pros' tips for cracking down on the most seductive tabletop substance known to man:

Eat breakfast "Ninety percent of sugar addicts skip breakfast," says Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D., author of Potatoes Not Prozac. "They wait and get a big hit of sugar at 10 a.m." When you eat breakfast, you prevent the drop in blood sugar that makes you crave sugar later.

Pick fruit Satisfy your sweet tooth with apples, bananas, and berries, which temper natural sugar with fiber and loads of antioxidants, says Elisa Zied, M.S., R.D., a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and the author of Feed Your Family Right! Dried fruit and 100 percent fruit juices will also do in a pinch, but they don't have nearly as much fiber and are more concentrated sources of calories, Zied says, so limit yourself to a quarter cup or less of dried fruit or one cup of 100 percent juice a day.

Think 100 When you simply must have a cupcake or a candy bar, stick to 100- to 150-calorie portions and 16 grams of sugar or less. Check out the Best Supermarket Foods for Women, to keep your fitness goals.

Indulge right after dinner Late-night ice cream fixes give you a pure, unadulterated sugar rush. Have a small scoop soon after dinner instead and you'll reduce (though not counter) the insulin-­spiking effect, DesMaisons says.

Cut out "overt" sugars Tackle the worst offenders first: sucrose-laden treats like candy, frappuccinos, ice cream, and soft drinks. If you drink a soda every day, try having one every other day, then once a week, then not at all.

Enter sugar rehab Like any addict, you need to detox before you can fully recover. According to DesMaisons, it takes five days to fully overcome your cravings for sugar, and you'll feel awful for three of them. Prepare to be edgy and irritable starting on day two; by day five, you'll feel like a whole new person. After you've recovered, you'll find that a little sugar goes a much longer way.
 
Back and my workout for today is a done deal!

I did GS BSB, along with 4DS Kickbox cardio and added on the core portion also.


I do miss my run though but I was not feeling up to it and since I didn't get a restful night getting up at 4 am this morning was a 'I dun wanna' type of thing. KWIM ;) lol

Thankfully my horrendous bout with heartburn is over for now and had a healthy breakfast of oatmeal with blackberries and a soft boiled egg along with my cup of coffee before I tackled today's workout.


[font color=#D16587]Beth:[/font color]

Glad you enjoyed doing your workout and held off on the back and shoulder work. Having pain is not a good thing and it's best to rest them and avoid major injury.

I have a really bad sweet tooth and what I do is when I find myself craving sweets I grab a water bottle and drink my water fast. That helps. I also keep some sugarless gum in my purse and use that when I need to.

Sometimes though I cave and use a tsp to measure out some honey and let it sit in my mouth; that is so sweet that it kills my cravings fast. :9


[font color=#D16587]Chris:[/font color]

So glad you all are doing fine; are you sure it wasn't a slight case of food poisoning?

I have that magazine and read the article on sugar; I am guilty of using splenda.

I have since tried to cut down on how many packets I use but goodness I'm trying to eat as clean as possible and I need a lil something sweet.

So I need to work on not using so much splenda its a road I need to conquer but so darned hard





Okay so who has a HRM?

I've been looking at getting one for about 2 maybe 3 yrs now mainly the Polar F6 but not sure if I'll use it as much.


Off to shower and go out to run some errands.

Have a wonderful day, will try to check in later.
 
Great article on sugar. I do believe that HFCS is truly evil, and for once I wish some lawyers would get a huge gigantic class action lawsuit against the food industry for using it in everything. I really think banning HFCS would do this country a world of good. It'll never happen, but it's my little fantasy. So, that said, I do check labels pretty carefully, don't drink sodas of any kind, no sweet drinks at all really, except the occasional half ice-tea/half lemonade. The problem yesterday was that my husband decided to make chocolate chip cookies after dinner and I just couldn't stop -- with the dough, with the cookies. Ug. Felt awful after all that, of course! The teaspoon of honey is interesting -- never thought of that! I did read in some book about a teaspoon of something wiping out the cravings -- something not sweet -- now I cannot remember what it was! I'm going to try to get back on a cleaner bandwagon.....

HRM -- I have one -- got it just a couple of months ago. I have one of the Polar ones -- can't remember if it's the F6. I do use it every workout, just out of curiosity, but I often think that it's silly that I want to know that stuff. Where it has helped me the most is the cardio coach stuff, though even there, your body really does intuitively do what he guides you to do, it seems. I guess if you really want one, go for it, but if you're on the fence, I'll bet you're fine without one.....

-Beth
 
Vilma: I have been wanting a HRM too..Not sure about it. I may take Beth's advice and do without. Since I have for so long..But, you never know. Tomorrow I may get a whim and get one!! Glad to hear your heartburn is better...

Chris: Glad your family is feeling better too...I have that magazine too. Is that article in the new one? I haven't read it yet. It takes me a while sometimes!! Especially during the school year...

Beth: Good idea listening to your body!! Good luck with that sweet tooth. I have one too..

Checking in today with Gym Style Chest & Triceps. I am going to do some cardio later. I am off now to teach homeschool PE...

Have a great day and hello to everyone to follow!!
 
Hello all,

Kathy, sounds like the communion ceremony was very special, cograts!

Chris, glad you and your family are doing better. Was it some type of food poisioning?

Vilma, you are so dedicated, I love checking in and getting motivated from your post. Also, I have a HRM, had it for a while, like 6 years and I need to get a new one. After 6 years, the verdict is still out. If I really followed it, I would never get a really good heart thumping workout cause I get out of my target and the thing blinks till I get back into my target. In what it calls my target, I barely break a sweat.

Beth, I agree, sometimes we just need good ole rest.

As for me, I did some of KPC last night but nothing so far. This week is crazy busy so I must get my workouts done in the morning as the evenings are booked solid.

Someone asked what type of gloves/wrist support I bought, it is called performance and so far, so good.
 
Back from running errands :)

Hubby was off today so he took me out for a pre birthday lunch at our favorite sushi place, then off to do shop mid pay check food shopping and over to Target where he told me to get my birthday present from him lol.

So I picked up some nice running skorts and my very own Perfect Pushups along with the book 'The Host' :p

My oldest DD got me a Nintendo DS lite in my favorite color red and I have been learning how to finally play sudoku as she also got me the Brain Age game lol



[font color=#D16587]Beth:[/font color]

Thanks about the HRM info - I guess its a nice to have but not necessary for me as I have been doing ok without one for years ;)

If I have the extra money I may get one eventually. lol


[font color=#D16587]Kathy:[/font color]

Have fun teaching PE to the kidlets :)


[font color=#D16587]Carolyn:[/font color]

I need to be dedicated for myself cause if I don't do it for me nobody will :)

I know if I am not the way I am the weight and my laziness creeps up and its just harder for me to start again. Its not easy at all but having you all to check in with regularly helps tons!

I need check ins to stay motivated :)

It was me who asked what brand of wrist supports you got - thanks for the info! :)


Off I go to start on making an early dinner for my family.

Have a great day all!
 
Hi Again!

I did wait until afternoon to get my workout in. I felt pretty good, but didn't want to push it totally. So I did the BSB Premix, which was 36 minutes. Definitely moved faster, but hit EVERYTHING. Especially the bi's.

I did 4 DS Kickbox afterwards. Everytime I do this, I think Cathe is totally INTO it, she gets you movitvated to PUNCH and KICK, doesn't she?? wow! I went and did the ab section at the end too. A bit harder than usual. I'm not 100%. But got it done!

Oh... I don't think it was food poisoning. When my youngest got it on friday, the school said "yes, that bug has been going around here". And the way it moved through the house, it was definitely a contagious thing. I'm soooo glad it was done and over in 24 hours though. I could not feel like that for long!

Vilma.... I'm glad you're feeling better! Bad heartburn is a killer and makes EVERYTHING hard to do. I have 2 HRM's. The first one I got was a POLAR with the strap that goes around your ribs. It was accurate, but it slid alot of the time and lost contact with my skin, and to tell you the truth, i didn't like the feel of it around me. The one I currently use is a cheap version from MIO. It's ONLY a watchband. I *KNOW* it's not totally accurate, but it does take in account age, fitness level, and your resting HR. So there is SOME accuracy to it. It just gives me a general gist of where my HR is. Sometimes, I'm really making my heart race, and I need to slow it down. I find that especially when I'm running. So this helps me. it also gives me a general idea of how many calories I'm burning (I like numbers). I got the MIO from Walmart. I think for around $40.

Beth... Is that truly a sweets addiction? You don't sound THAT bad. There was a point where I was REALLY addicted. I was buying a bag of sugary candy on my way into work, and each and every week, I NEEDED it. I was addicted. I'd even do it during the week sometimes. It was out of control! The HFCS is ridiculous! I hate that it's in everything too! For me, I love baked goods, and I can't even bake a healthy version of something without eating too many of them. So I don't bake! LOL! One thing that helps me, though, is my "special oatmeal". For a snack, i will make a bowl of oatmeal (from quick cooking oats in the bucket, not instant) and then throw about 2 Tbsps of dark chocolate chips on top. And they MELT, And I'm all happy with that as a TREAT. Yet, it fills me up, so I don't eat too much of it!

Kathy... the article is in the APRIL magazine. Oh, I always have a stack of magazines to read too!

Vilma ... what a fun pre-birthday celebration! I love what you picked out for yourself.. I would pick out workout clothes in Target too! I love their stuff! What is "The Host" about? I'm also a book reader! Hope you like the Perfect Pushups! And that's too cute that your daughter got you a Nintendo DS lite! All 3 of my boys have one!!

Okay, off to get supper going too!

~Chris
 
Hello all!

Sorry I was MIA all weekend, it was crazy here: DS's birthday party, family issues, mother's day, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I missed both my weekend WO's and just decided to start this week fresh. I did CCV4 challenges 1&2 and then PS Back, Biceps and Abs. I have to say, I like the PS series so far because I can go heavier on my weights. My biceps were shaking after my WO.

Vilma, I have a HRM. The Polar F6. I like it a lot especially with Cardio Coach. I am a very left-brained, analytical person and I like knowing numbers, so it feeds my desire to know exactly how many calories I burned.

Chris, I am glad to hear you had a short lived bug in your house. In my quest to be like you (;) ) my daughter got the pukies over the weekend. UGH! At least it is only her and not the whole family. Very interesting article about sugar and HFCS. I believe HFCS=Satan sweat. I do need to be more aware of it, though.

Beth, I would not be able to resist Choc. Chip cookies and the dough, either. My poor kiddos never get homebaked cookies because Mommy has no self control!

Kathy, do you teach PE for a homeschool group? How fun!

Carolyn, glad to hear you like the wrist supports. I hope you are able to get your WO in tomorrow morning.

I'm off to feed the masses! Have a Marvelous Monday!
 
Vilma, I LOVE sushi, so I am green with envy right now. And I just bought some running skorts, too! I love them! Makes me feel more covered than just tight shorts.

Chris, I was posting the same time as you! Great WO. I love the 4DS KB, but I passesd on it today since I just did KPC on Friday. I was missing Coach Sean.}(
 
Hey Becca: Yes, I teach a group of homeschool kids..We meet once a week. Each week we do a sport and we do an aspect of the fitness challenge. The end of the month is it for this school year and I will test the kids on all the skills..I enjoy it and so do my kids.

Vilma: Great birthday presents...Hubby does the same thing. I buy whatever I may want!! Works well...

Carolyn: Thanks..The ceremony was great. I like doing my workouts in the morning too. I usually don't want to if it gets to late...

Just finished up with Kari Anderson's Go Step!!

Now, off to get dinner ready..
 
Just a quick note to Chris on the sweets (that maybe you won't even see since it's so late).....

I don't know if it's a full blown addiction or not, but I just know that I cannot resist it if it's available. As many have said, sometimes the more I think about how I shouldn't have it, the more I feel like I "need" something. And, unfortunately, I'm in that space now. Darn those chocolate chip cookies! I LOVE your idea about the oatmeal -- what a great idea! I'll try it tomorrow when those cookies are calling my name.....

-Beth
 

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