PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION: Month 1

S

Stacy

Cathlete
Good morning, just a quick post to start us off as I have to leave for work in 20 minutes :(

Weigh-in was ugly as I knew it would be, however I expect to be able to drop a quick pound or two with drinking more water and eating clean. The higher carbs and sodium I've been poisoning my body with really adds to the bloat!

I've got my meals planned for today. I'm going to aim for 30 Weight Watchers points per day instead of counting calories.

I have STS Total Body planned for tonight.

Drink your water everyone!!

I'll check back later this evening!! We can do this!! We can pose for our bikini pics on June 1st, hehe.
 
oops..... I started a new thread too without looking first :eek:

I'll copy my intro to here..... sorry 'bout that..... :(
 
Our group mantra is "Progress, not Perfection"

We strive to eat healthy foods (non-processed as much as possible), do our workouts on a regular basis and drink 64 oz of water daily.

However, we know that we won't do it perfectly every day. Life gets in the way - work, school, family, injuries, stress and those days when we just plain struggle.

So we don't beat ourselves up if we don't do it perfectly. We work hard to do what we have set out to do, but we look at the long term progress we are making and forgive ourselves and support each other if we stumble along the way. The only thing that matters is that we are making progress in the right direction !!!

We also cheer each other on with our successes. Success for one is inspiration for all.

So here's to continued success my friends - Deanna, Stacy, FnV.

We CAN do this. We ARE doing this !!!

Water, Just Do It (exercise), STOP IT (reaching for junk food)
---------------------------

Today is Day 1 of Month # 1 of our new 6 month dedication to healthy living.

We each have individual goals for our progress in the next 6 months, but regardless of what the individual goals are, our team goal is to have fun and support each other along the way.

So... as Cathe would say.... let's get started !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Here's the meal plan site that Stacy posted in the old thread last night:

http://www.brighamandwomens.org/Pat...htforwomen/eating/mealPlans/1500_calorie.aspx

That looks really good Stacy. It's based on the Mediterranean Diet which I like.

and... it's uncomplicated... no fancy recipes.. I like plain food and I like that it takes very little time to prepare !!!

Thanks for the link...

And here's another heart healthy diet plan from Eatingwell.com. They have lots of different menu plans on their site.

Here's the 1500 calorie per day one (but this one sounds like a lot more time spent in meal prep)

http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition...ealthy_meal_plan?pC=1500&pT=hearthealthy&pD=1
 
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I did my Official Weigh-In. Sigh.....

I've been puttering around the house and had part of my breakfast i.e. a banana and a bowl of oatmeal.

I'm now heading to the gym to do 30 minutes on the treadmill.. then home to do Upper Body workout. I'm going to do the upper body premix of Muscle Max... one of my very most favorites of Cathe's weight training DVDs.

I'll check back later..

Have a great day !!!!

Jennifer.... are you ready to do this ???????

Water, Just Do It, STOP IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Progress, not Perfection

We CAN do this... we ARE doing this

Go Team. We ROCK !!! (tm FnV)
 
Midday report.

Did only 1 mile on the treadmill at the gym at a moderate walking pace. Just as a warmup (the gym is only 5 minutes from my house, so it's easy to run over there for a quick warmup.)

then I came home and did the Muscle Max Upper Body premix and my old 30 minute stretching routine.... my muscles are telling me that I haven't exercised in several weeks... lol But it feels good.

So far, so good on the eating. No processed food yet today and hopefully, none at all today. I can't say that I won't eat any processed food, but it's going to be the exception.. not the norm..

Have a great afternoon !!
 
okay.. here's where I get in trouble :p

It's 3:30. I had a healthy lunch at 12:30.

My mind is telling me that I "need" a snack. If I'm honest, I'm not Hungry with a capital H. It's just my mind saying that a snack would be nice.

So I have turned on the "tape" in my head to hear Bob Newhart screaming
" STOP IT " :p

Thanks FnV... that is really going to come in handy over the next 6 months... and it is the TRUTH.
I need to just STOP IT !!!!!!!

I'll have dinner in 3 hours... certainly I can go without food for THAT long :rolleyes:

ETA: Deanna - I've had 30 ounces of water so far today.... almost half way !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Susan, funny we both started new posts! ;)

I'm just getting home from work and winding down with a cup of coffee. Dinner soon...chicken stir fry with tons of veggies. I have to keep myself from the steamed rice my hubby has staying warm in our rice cooker!!

Food today was decent. I did get hungry mid-afternoon but did not goto work with any snacks so I had one of those cheese&cracker packs from the vending machine. It was either that or Doritos, or starving and binging when I got home!

B--protein shake
L--Fiber One cottage cheese and 1/2 cup of Northern beans
S--cheese&crackers

WW points at 13 of 30.

Only 16 oz of water so far....28 if you count the water in my 2 cups of coffee. I plan on having another bottle of water with dinner and another with STS Total Body which I will do after dinner. I feel too hungry to do it right now.

Check back later....
 
Hi yall,

I am so glad we are here together. : )

Susan and all-- posting here instead of open cuz I don't feel like proper public editing/grammar of my remarks-- I have an excel file and word file of Weight workouts and exercises. They include everything except up to 4DaySplit. There is a list of the exercises, reps and Cathe's benchmark. I print out the page of the file and note my own wt used, which is still valid reference point usually even if it is 10 weeks later. I keep this stuff in my binder along with other handy stuff.

This was a file that was passed around on cathe forums on various occasions. I don't know if it is the same one(s) referenced on open forum thread. Anyhoooo, other handy cathe files I use are premix times and workout rankings--again, both of mine are a little bit old.

Stacy, great sounding job on dinner, etc. I'm not living up to what I thought I would be doing food wise, but so far have had bowls of cereal when I am running on empty and vulnerable as a result of no time, no food prepared, instead of various other bad food choices.

Deanna, did you go back to the gym? I can't remember what days you said you were going , just that they were work days.

Susan, snack wise, what about a hard boiled egg and some water or something to keep your metabolism feeling ok? I have a friend who refers to his 330 pm protein bar as his metabolic...it may actually help you stay on track?
 
Evening Ladies :)

Well tomorrow I have to go back to work. :(

Last week before Thanksgiving I inivited 3 ladies from work to my house for lunch, to help me get rid of my Thanksgiving leftovers. I got up early this morning and cleaned my kitchen, guest bathroom (my son use this bath) livingroom, I cleaned base boards, window seals, and sliding patio door. I took all the leftovers out of the fridge (No Ham or Turkey), warmed up the Greens, fried some chicken and had it all on the table Hot ready to eat when they arrived. Needless to say I have no leftover in my fridge other than what I froze for Christmas. Whatever they did not eat I asked them to please take with them because I did not want anymore. They took the remainder of the potato salad, greens, better than sex cake and whatever else. :) My son came home and said I wanted some of that cake! LMBO I said so sorry son, we have had enough of that darn cake, I will make you another one in the future. I then told him that we could not continue to keep that food in the bottom of the fridge, it would go bad. The ladies from work said they would eat that food again tomorrow for breakfast and lunch. LOL Not me, I am going to have Salad, maybe grilled chicken and WATER. ;) My poor stomach is in shock from all the food I have eaten over this holiday.

I see you ladies got on the scale today. NOT me, I put my scale in the closet until after the new year... ROFL

I will see you all for breakfast in the AM, have a good night.

Deanna

PS: I am going to pack my bag for the gym tomorrow. My stomach has been upset and if it does not feel any better I may not go.
 
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Good evening all !!

It sounds like we are getting back on track. Yea team !!!

FnV - I've been working on my Excel spreadsheets this afternoon. I have one that has all the premixes for each DVD with times, what it is and what equipment is needed. That one is finished. Then I did a blank form to use for each DVD to list each exercise and what weight I used. I'll fill one of those in as I do each workout. I love doing spreadsheets, so it's not a chore... lol

I ended up having 7 whole almonds for a mid-afternoon snack. That was all I needed and they are nutritious so it worked out fine.

Stacy - good job on the food. Those crackers and cheese packs have saved me more times than I can count !!! I had stir fry shrimp with garlic, scallions, green pepper and pineapple chunks over brown rice. It was yummy....

Deanna - love that you put your scale away. I can't do that, but I probably would be better off if I did :D

See y'all for coffee in the morning..... I'm sore from my Muscle Max Upper Body workout this morning... not painfully sore.. but just "aware" that I haven't done weight training in weeks.

We CAN do this... we ARE doing this.

Water, Just Do It, STOP IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Deanna - I drank 50 oz of water today.... Couldn't get the last half of the 3rd bottle down.
 
Finally finished STS Total Body (omitted the gliding disc portion for legs).

Dinner went well but I did have about 3/4 cup of rice. I definitely see better results on the scale eating low carb, but I have to keep it in check, too low and I feel light headed and zero energy.

I have to run some errands tomorrow, one of which is going to the grocery store!

Susan, I often have about 6-7 almonds and Weight Watchers string cheese mid-afternoon, the cheese is 50 calories. Seems like 75-100 calories for a snack with some water would not be detrimental and it would keep your mind off NOT snacking!

Deanna...good job on pawning off your food!! Sorry your son missed his cake...maybe you should make him pay you to make another one, hehe ;)

FnV...cereal isnt so bad if you pick a good one, maybe add some fresh fruit to it. Kashi high protein cereal would be a good choice.

I drank 2 bottles of water and have gone to the bathroom about a dozen times!! My kidneys need to adjust a little!

See you all tomorrow!!
 
Stacy, how did you like the STS total body?

I completed Intensity premix Timesaver Hiit/Bootcamp...it was surprisingly not hard.

BBL to check in, have a good morning all

oh and I am thinking that circuits are growing on me...at least right now while I am just trying to keep it quick and dirty.
 
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FnV, I really enjoy STS, it is a no-nonsense workout. I went a bit heavier this time for one-arm rows and hope to increase the weight for barbell chest presses next time. If you are short on time, I find Jillian's Shred and her Ripped in 30 workouts to be the most deceptively hard workouts in 30 min or less that I've come across. I beieve Target carries them pretty cheap. Do you own any of KCM's 30 Minutes To Fitness workouts? Those are great too.

Deanna...good luck on your first day back to work! I found I didnt miss work one bit while I was on vacation! It's a paycheck though.

Susan...how are the spreadsheets going? I have mine written down old school style in a spiral notebook. I've never down a spreadsheet in my life and that task seems more grueling to me than a workout would be lol!!

Time for coffee....
 
Morning Ladies :)

Today will be my 1st day back to work. :(

I have my gym bag packed for after work. I am also online searching for a cushion that goes on the barbell for the back of your neck. When I took that Body Pump class last Monday, the back of my neck was extremely sore. I am going to check out Big 5 Sporting Goods at lunch to see if they have that Foam cushion.

Okay, I have to let this computer go. I want to stop at the store and get some lettuce and a tomato so I can make myself a Turkey salad for lunch today.

Will check in later, you ladies have a wonderful day.
Deanna
 
Good morning !!! Looks like Grandma is the last one in this morning :D

Stacy and FnV - the almonds were good for my mid-afternoon snack, but a bit of cheese with them would be good.... as well as at least half a bottle of water.

I'm not familiar with string cheese..... what is it????

I can't wait to get my new DVDs from Cathe.com. I ordered on the Daily Deal special Friday, so they probably shipped yesterday. Shouldn't be too long til they get here... sometime this week. I'm anxious to try STS Total Body.

I'm late getting going this morning... so I've missed step class at the gym .. which is starting right this minute. but I'll head over in a few minutes and do a combo of treadmill and elliptical for today's cardio.

I'm sore from yesterday's Muscle Max Upper Body.. but a good sore.

Deanna - are the classes at your gym Les Mills classes? My gym offers those and Body Pump is very very popular. I've only taken the step classes (which are not Les Mills classes.. just regular step classes) and one called Body Flow which is a mix of Yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi and surprisingly challenging, yet calming at the same time.

My food plan for today is tuna for lunch (with salad or something veggie) and chicken of some sort for supper (plus, of course, veggies and some brown rice)

Stacy - I agree.... some complex carbs are important for energy... I'm concentrating on oatmeal for breakfast and brown rice with either or both lunch and dinner...

off to the gym I go..... I'll check back later..

Make it a great day !!!

We CAN do this... we ARE doing this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Stacy, that brings me to next question, where do you research all your non cathe instructors/dvds? collage? other? You seem to find many that you enjoy. Thanks for the suggestions.

I did get a few workouts on cyber mon. too Susan. Oh and I have Muscle Max on download but haven't done it yet.

So many workouts, so little time...good thing I'm in it for long haul or I'd never get to them, right?

Deanna, also try rolling the bar a little farther back/down resting on top of back - keeping your hands wider grip on the bar if needed. Or hold bar in front under chin if you can. I hate that bunched up owie neck pain. Makes me grimace thinking of it.

I hear Sugar Sugar by the Archies on my Pandora /Rolling Stones station today...love it. Have a good one yall.
 
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