PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION: Month 1

I did do S+G today. It had a lot of burpees and pushups, etc. I muddled thru to end but modified quite a bit. The cardio part is short at 25 min. : ) I will throw that into my quickie workout pile.

I hope Cathe responds to Paleo question in askcathe. I wonder if she will tho, for a few reasons...first of all, I think she's committed to using her power for good rather than evil and if she gives her stamp of approval on something, the cathe nation usually embraces it and sometimes treats it like gospel. (I'm walking proof, have you seen my video collection, skin care and hair care regimen?). So --she has to be careful. Also, Primal (and Paleo) workout philosophy is not similar to most of the Cathe workouts. Can she endorse the nutrition but not the exercise? (btw, Susan's treadmill workouts seem perfect primal)

I fixed grass fed ground beef patties for lunch and sauteed mushrooms and garlic (in butter and wine) and made a gargantuan salad for lunch that I didn't have room for so I saved it for dinner but still wasn't hungry so brunch salad is ready to go. I did finish off the candy my mom brought to my house (pisses me off that she does that, hmm, maybe I can gift her with a carton of cigs? ggrrrrr) So add 50 crap carbs to my total bringing me up to 75.

Susan good luck on your veggie plan, as you can see, I failed in mine today.
Deanna, maybe a doc visit is in order? I've heard mucinex is really helpful with congestion.
Stacy, your work is ongoing obstacle, I know. Maybe it is time to put some prayer energy into it and see what comes back?

Thanks for the support as always, ladies, good to see you.
 
Good morning my friends !!!

FnV - Good point about Cathe not responding to my Paleo questions. I hadn't thought about the points you brought up. She does have to be careful what she says.... I have seen how her word is taken as law. I was thinking more along the lines of a "this is what I'm doing, here's how it's working, here's how I'm going to tweak." Like we do here with each other.... but Cathe can't do that... as you say....

I guess it's time for me to get back to my reading.... still need to read The Primal Blueprint 21 Day Plan and Wheat Belly.... not sure which to read first..

FnV - what are your overall thoughts at this point? Saturated fat? Lean protein? Dairy or not? Rice, oats, beans? I know our thinking is evolving.. just curious as to your ponderings !!

Stacy - Sending lots of hugs for your long work hours this weekend.

Deanna - Sending lots of hugs for your cold getting better. Do you have a 3-day or a 4-day weekend????

I'm off to do treadmill to jump start my day... then.. I have Total Body on my schedule. I think I'll do my all-time favorite ... Muscle Max.... When in doubt, I do Muscle Max... lol

Breakfast
2 scrambled eggs mixed with 1 tsp olive oil butter
3 slices bacon
7 whole almonds
coffee with real 1/2 n 1/2

Make it a great day !!!

Progress, not Perfection..
 
Any thoughts on these DVDs that are on my Wish List :rolleyes:

1) Power Hour, Max Intensity Strength, Body Max

2) High Step Circuit

and.. if any of you have used a high step... how stable is it? I'm worried that if one did not center one's foot on the high step, that the step and I could go flying. Seems like a regular step with more risers would be more stable....

Thoughts????

off to the gym I go :D
 
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Good morning I was able to swing working from home part of the weekend, so at least I can check in more here!! :)

This morning for breakfast I had 2 whole eggs with some leftover beef brisket from dinner out the other night, so "steak and eggs", was going to add some veggies but all I have in the house at the moment is celery and green beans, didnt sound appealing this morning.

Although I havent read all of PB, I do think I'm going to continue with my lower carb yogurt and probably with oatmeal on occasion as well, just going to try pairing that up with a protein shake. My biggest obstacle will be rice, breads and general fried foods with my "quick" dinners after work. I will keep my weekly pizza night b/c that is our "date night" for hubby and I, so part of the PB 80%! I hope to read a little more PB this weekend if work allows! I also plan to try to sneak in some 20-25 minute short workouts. I'm craving some upper body strength, so maybe PUB just the "up" premix.

Susan, with regard to your wish list dvds....

Power Hour...love it!

MIS...also a goodie, short and sweet and divided into separate upper and lower body workouts, though dated in appearance if that bothers you. I'd describe it as a quicker total body version of the Pure Strength series.

BodyMax...one of my first Cathe's. The strength part I rarely do b/c I have so many other workouts. The step cardio is good and makes you sweat but moves a bit faster than most of her other step routines, so might be harder to catch on to, and this is the one workout that I've had some misfooting and almost sprained my ankle with when first doing!!

High Step...I had this one and I think I sold it (or I still have it and have forgotten about it!) My knees give me too many problems with the high step stuff. I never bought a high step but my Reebok step goes up to 10 inch height which for me at 5'1" was decent, but still hurt my knees. Some of the high step exercises involve doing fast alternating toe tap moves around the high step so I just would do those in place b/c I'd be facing the wrong direction by the time I moved all the way around my club step vs Cathe moving around the smaller high step.

So those are my two cents!

I hope to be back later with a short workout report!
 
Susan, I am totally, with ya, I hope she responds with her experiences regarding paleo. I think b/c diet is such a firey issue, too. She could offend masses of vegans or otoh, people might try her suggestions and but blame Cathe if they aren't successful.

re the PH DVD I would highly recommend. I've used all those workouts extensively in my previous fit life. You might not use the body max cardio as much (do you like step?), but the upper body conditioning is quick and effective if you just use that part. So lots to choose from. Oh and the BM cardio is pretty fast, you could prob do it w/o the step and have fun and get a good workout. Stacy, what do you think? Anyway, love that whole DVD.

We've got a new year new month and new thread coming up tomorrow so here are my previous results and recent pics here --> http://www.picturetrail.com/gid17179019
At the end are recent pics. I wonder how my "after" results will be on a different food plan?

FnV - what are your overall thoughts at this point? Saturated fat? Lean protein? Dairy or not? Rice, oats, beans? I know our thinking is evolving.. just curious as to your ponderings !! I would say that for me right now, the "GOAL" is veggies (6 servings a day and fruit 3 servings) and meat (mostly leanish) No grains legumes sugar. Cook with butter and coconut oil as needed add fish oil for supplement but don't add fat arbitrarily. Use cheese minimally as condiment, half and half OK and greek yogurt OK. a glass of wine OK, but unfortunately it leads to snacking. a few handfuls of nuts ok and seeds sprinkled on salads are good variety. Key words "right now" and "goal"


Re high step...I agree, I wanted to just get more risers for my long step, but I'll be darn if I could EVER find them at a cheap price. I looked at garage sales, thrift shops, craigslist, online...by the time you buy extra risers, you might as well just get a high step (amazon) and in the end it works out OK. The extra risers used on my long step make it more like a workout bench. The high step is very stable, too. When I've used in in Cathe dvd's we aren't flying around or anything. That has been my experience. OH! I forgot, I bought my high step on amazon, it came with a high step training cathe dvd THAT DID NOT WORK in any player or computer i own.

Re reading...I think that Primal will have more workout philosophy that will further inspire you on your fitness journey.

Well, all for now, bbl with workout and to see what everyone is up to this weekend.
 
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FnV....you look fabulous in all of your pics!!! Curious, any details on how you got that bod at 113lbs?? I've longed to achieve that lean look but even at a lower weight I was NEVER that lean! Very inspirational!
 
OK, I meant to go for a quickie on my bike but ended up doing 9 miles in 45 min.

When I was 113 - that pic was about 5? years ago- diet was probably less than 20 percent fat and about 95 percent vegan (rare dairy, eggs) with a very high fruit and veggie content.

I was probably doing up to 4 dance classes a week including pole, wt training 1-2 body parts a day most of the time using PH, MIS or BM1 or BM2, doing 4-6 mile run/home made circuits about twice a week at an outdoor park with a heart course (I just worked out for about an hour and half + or - 15 min while my kids were in some class). And LIC, DM, BM2 cardio premixes a couple of times a week.

While I'd like to LGN (look good naked- a primal term), I really like just feeling good in my skin, be lean and strong enough to be able to haul my ass up a dance pole (not that it would come up, but, wth) be a strong fit flexible dancer, healthy blood chemistry, capable of sprinting to the car or across the theme park to be first in line for the roller coaster...

Flexible... reminds me -- at taekwondo, my dd 18 broke a board being held behind her head with a front kick. : O

New Years dinner out is turning into a big deal- I don't have anything nice to wear...maybe I can suggest eating in....
 
Thank you both for the input on the DVDs and your thoughts on the evolving eating plan and the high step.

I think I will order those... with Power Hour, Maximum Intensity Strength and Body Max all on one DVD, it's a good deal... and I'll throw in High Step Circuit just because I can... lol I most likely won't use Body Max, but I really like the look of Power Hour and MIS. I like Cathe's older workout routines...

I do have the High Step top... when I bought my Troy Lite barbell set, they had the top for the High Step available by itself. I have 6 risers total for my regular step so I figured I just needed the High Step top without any additional risers.

Stacy - Great job on breakfast !!!! and on being able to work at home part of the weekend. Great news !!

FnV - Great job on your bike ride !!! and love all your photos... you've been on quite the journey. Loved the 1990 pre-kid photo... lol. I used to have some that looked like that...

Deanna - are you sleeping?????

I'm off to do all of Muscle Max..

Next week... on my 3 weight workout days... I'm going to do Pure Strength. I bought that a while ago.... on your recommendation Stacy... but I haven't done it yet. I can't wait to try it !! And... I still have Gym Styles and Slow and Heavy to try... haven't done those yet either..

bbl.....
 
My current thoughts on my eating plan:

Lean protein... some saturated fat in beef and bacon and moderate butter, but not looking to add saturated fat. I'm just not comfortable eating the amounts of saturated fat that some do on The Primal Blueprint. I'm not trying to go super low fat because I'm eating beef at least once a day.. sometimes twice. But my other protein is lean pork, boneless/skinless chicken breasts, tuna, shrimp and eggs. Healthy oils in avocados, olive oil and coconut oil (once I make it to Whole Foods.)

Lots of veggies... a good variety... mostly non-starchy, but a sweet potato every other day and occasional home fries (red potatoes) or peas or corn

2 fruit a day

FF Greek yogurt and 1/2 n 1/2

a few whole almonds

No wheat (absolutely none), no legumes, no sugar.

No on most other grains... except I might have some white rice once in a while.. just for the texture.....

All subject to tweaking, of course, as I read more and see how my body reacts to all this....
 
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Lovin' all the "food for thought" or rather "thoughts on food"!!

FnV...sounds like 113 lbs would take quite alot to maintain! Wondering what had more impact, the workouts the almost vegan diet or just the general combo...thoughts on that??

When I have some down time I want to give some thought to the direction of my January workouts. I really want to try hard to stick with some semblance of a rotation for about 6 weeks, even if it's just the same strength training set, ie. Pure Strength or Gym Styles, then be a little more free to vary the cardio. I'm thinking of diving right in with Gym Styles, maybe the Timesaver premixes of each upper body to have some time to add in some additional cardio and/or an extra day of floor work for legs. I'd do GS Legs on another separate day omitting what exercises bother my knees. Hmmm...

As I have mentioned, diet for me will be first trying to clean up what I eat for dinner, I think everything will start to fall into place once I tackle that beast. As it is, I rarely eat breakfast and I tend to bring fairly healthy items to work for lunch such as almonds, yogurt and raw veggies, finding time to eat them is the issue! I'm not much of a sweets eater or even a pasta person, I dont even buy bread so no issues there! It's avoiding that potato chip aisle and the eating out when I'm pressed for time and dont have anything planned.

I was able to workout today! I had to do it in separate time chunks but still was better than nothing. I did abs from CTX, then the Up PreMix from PUB and then rode on my stationary bike for 25 minutes!

Tomorrow is the start of a new month....who would mind calling it Month 1 again?? I need a re-do!!

Deanna...hope you're getting some rest, check in if you feel up to it, we'll all start to worry!!
 
Hey Ladies :)

As you all know I have been under the weather. Then yesterday when I was about to go to work, the ignition switch broke in my Jeep. :mad: Thank god my son had just came home from work and I was able to use his car.

I am off work until Tuesday, so my goal is to try and get that fixed.

I am about the same as far as my cold is concerned. Some days I feel better than others. I will keep you all posted.

Have a Happy New Year.
Deanna

PS: Susan are you starting another Progress not Perfection thread tomorrow?
 
I like the idea of next month being month 1 again.

Stacy asked, FnV...sounds like 113 lbs would take quite alot to maintain! Wondering what had more impact, the workouts the almost vegan diet or just the general combo...thoughts on that??

I think it was the combo of diet with a lot of moderate cardio. Sometimes on Sundays I would be at dance for 3.5 hours straight. The long jogs during kids classes ... I dunno, we will see what this food plan brings. I've read about some interesting body changes on primal. Its hard to say...I just know that it involved eating a lot of plants, a low fat diet and probably fairly low calorie too, (I'm guessing about 20 ww points old plan?) and staying very active.

I think for me, I'd like to see if I can "primalize" some of my cathe workouts in Jan. Maybe jog, bike or walk more and use her workouts as my sprint time. Stacy, I hear you on trying to come up with a plan, but don't spend too much energy beating yourself up if you merely workout consistently and move your food in a positive direction. You are doing so much better than you give yourself credit for.

Good job on your workouts ladies.

I came home from bike ride and had protein shake and snacked on mini peppers.
Then DD tried to kill me by making bread in the bread machine ... so I had some greek yogurt and a cup of thawed frozen fruit. I am making dinner tonight and then we'll watch movies. I have smurfs and planet of the apes but want LOTR.

Deanna, don't make me stalk you on FB
 
I'll start our new thread either tonight before I go to bed or over morning coffee. I can sure use another Month 1 !!!! Great idea Stacy :D

I did Muscle Max... all the way through.. but with light weights. It always feels good to do weight workouts...

I'm happy with my 3 days a week of weights.. and then 3 days of moderate cardio on the treadmill or the step classes they have at the gym. And.. I do stretch after my weight workouts.. and do the ab sections of whatever workout I'm doing.

I'm looking forward to doing the Pure Strength series next week. A new workout for the new year.....

For lunch I had:

2 Hot Italian Turkey sausages (my supermarket sells good fresh ones.. never frozen.. not a lot of additives... just turkey and spices)

1 cup white rice... figured I'd give it a try.. no intestinal issues, so that's good.

1/2 cup Prego spaghetti sauce with 1/2 of a green pepper chopped up and simmered in the spag sauce

1 Cortland apple

I cooked the sausages in the microwave, then cut them up and put them in a saucepan with the warmed spaghetti sauce. When the white rice was done, I put the cup of white rice in a bowl and spooned the sausage / green pepper / spaghetti sauce mixture over it. Yummy!!

I won't make white rice a regular item in my plan, but "they" say.... of all the grains, white rice is the most benign. Won't spike insulin production as much as (it still will cause a spike, but not as bad as) other grains/legumes and does not give most people intestinal problems.

The thing I miss about carbs is the texture... the texture of bread, pasta, crackers.... so having white rice occasionally will, I hope, satisfy that need for a carby texture..... we shall see... lol And my red potatoes cut up and fried in olive oil... that's a good carb satisfier too.

But if the white rice makes me crave carbs more... then I won't eat it anymore.

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve my friends !!!!!!

See ya next year :p

We're going to make it a GREAT year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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