PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION: OCTOBER

Okay I feel a little weird starting the thread since I"m new but I guess everyone else is busy.

I think my goal for this month will be to keep my sanity.

My sinus/allergies are going nuts, its that time of year, most meds for this put me to sleep in under 30min so I'm kinda on my own.

Work is sending Hubby out of town again next week, this time to train his replacement. Wed the company is having a meeting here in Memphis to annouce that they will be out of work, long after everyone else knows.

My Bible study is on Fall break this week, this is the first time we've had a fall break so that's interesting.

I'm doing kettlebells and cardio this week.
 
Thanks for starting the thread! I've been checking in on my phone for the past few days since our internet at work SUCKS since they haven't updated the browsers and I'm not sure how to start new one on my phone.

THIS IS MY LAST WEEK OF BEING A BEGINNER! :) SO, I've decided to follow the final week of Cathe's beginner rotation to the letter and not sub in something more advanced, I think my bod hurt bad enough at the end of last week it was telling me to slow it down before ramping it up in the future. Yesterday I did Low Impact Step before work, today it's the lower body tubing add-on from the basic DVD (yep, I'm doin' the tubing!).

The rest of my week (this seems so easy!):
Wed: Body Fusion
Thurs: 40 min walk (not a problem, thanks doggies!) and the abs add on from Basic Step
Fri: Total Body Sculpting
Sat: Stretch Max
Sun: Rest

I'm going to visit my mom and watch my nephew's football game Thursday but will get my workout in before leaving (they are three hours away) and will get my Fri workout in when I get back into town Fri afternoon.

Good luck on keeping your sanity, Peng! We'll be rooting for you. My goal is to get through football season and my 12 hour shift weekends with somewhat of an adequate amount of sleep. I found out I get off of the 12 hour shifts Dec. 2nd (that's my last one). KSU's last regular season football game is Dec. 1st. Crud! It's hard to get enough sleep when I have to watch football in the evening and get up for work at 2:30 in the morning, so I just have to get lots of sleep the rest of the week I guess.

Stacy, hope you are coming back to us soon! We miss you!

FnV- you too!
 
I did Kettlebell Way 1. I used my new 20# for the single arm moves then dropped to the 15# for the abs. We had the heat on last night but I've got the windows open instead of turning on the AC. The high is supposed to be 70* but its already up to 74*. Since I'm already snuffly I dusted the ceiling fans, which I try to do spring/fall before and after we use them. I have no idea how things that are moving constantly get dusty!

Andrea, congratulations on your new status and the end of the beginner rotation.
 
So this is traditionally my early morning, but since we have Fall Break from Bible study I expected to be able to sleep late, but no, here I am wide awake!

Yesterday, I made some banana-oatmeal muffins for breakfasts this week. After I put the batter in the tins I realized I forgot to add the sugar, so I sprinkled a bit of brown sugar on top of each muffin and as it baked it created a crunchy top! I'll have to remember that, but I think I'd rather just put everything in the batter in the first place.

Cardio and a CS for today. My parents are taking me to lunch today.
 
mmmmm, my sister taught me that sugar-on-top trick! she does it on fresh peach and blueberry muffins in the summer. so, so good.

just got home from a wonderful hour long walk with my dogs, got three compliments on how pretty and well behaved they are! makes me proud :)

headed downstairs to tackle body fusion and then cleaning and shopping is on tap for today. Hubby's choice for dinner tonight, i think it's Church's chicken so I'm eating right the first part of the day. Had scrambled eggs with black beans, salsa, and a little avocado for breakfast and plan on one of my salmon salads for lunch.

Peng, you said you did one arm exercises with a 20# kettlebell? that's impressive! enjoy your lunch!
 
The meeting at Hubby's work went better than we expected. The are saying the hanger will close in January {which is better than the previous 'before Dec'}, but they are still closing. Since Hubby has seniority he may be able to transfer to 'the line' to at least keep a paycheck coming in past January.

I checked out a bunch of recipe books at the library to keep me busy next week when Hubby is out of town {again}; it seems every Fall I get interested in cooking again. I got my bread dowgh formed into loaves to bake off later.

I keep the AC set at 78 in the summer, right now its 75 in the house with the fans going but it feels hot. Perception is a funny thing.
 
Hey, it's late but I'm back. I took a short vacation with hubby. No workouts, diet wasnt great but hard to eat on vacation when you're limited to what's around. I have errands and laundry to do tomorrow, but I do plan on working out.

Goal....I weighed myself before I left on vacation and I was up to 137 lbs, the highest I've ever been. I really havent been overeating too bad and I have been working out when I can. I really have to think some of this weight gain (especially around the middle, which has never been my problem area) has got to be hormonal. However, that is not an excuse but it does make things a bit tougher to tackle.

Healthy eating here I come!

I havent read all of your posts, but plan on catching up a bit more over the next few days!
 
I did Classical Stretch 609 ~ Shoulders & Stress Relief, then added on the cardio portion from Cathe's Slide and Glide. I have such fun with that one, today was the first time I didn't have to stop and put the 'cover' back on my disc because it had come off, however I did almost send one flying across the room, lol.

My bread turned out really well today but I'm not sure what I did differently.

Stacy, glad to have you back! Where did you go?
 
I ended up doing UB from Cathe's TB Trisets. I had written down this one as 40min but it ended up being 55. I thought it was almost over and Cathe annouces the second half! I used everything from my 3's-15's. Hubby said he wanted to go for a walk later so hopefully that will help thaw out my legs.

Hubby is coming home with a new-to-us car. He sold his Tarus for $300 to a friend and is coming home with a Jetta also for $300. I should prehaps point out that both cars run are the same age, but the Jetta is in better shape. I haven't seen it yet in person, but he's promised me a ride tonight. ;)

I made some mini cheese stuffed meatloaves for dinner earlier this week. I got the recipe from Krogers. They were really good. Basically you mix the meatloaf part, divide it in muffin tins, stick a cube of cheese in it, brush the top with ketcup/sugar/worchestshire sauce and bake. The cheese oozed out the top and Hubby called them Cheese Volcanos.
 
Well, I got my ride in the car. It is small, cramped, has those weird double seatbelts from the 90's, and every time Hubby shifts he elbows me, but its nicer than the one we had.

I'm snuffling and sneezing, but I think its just allergies/season change.
 
Finally got the laundry and most of the grocery shopping done. Today I want to clean the house a bit and have to take the doggies to the vet for their checkups.

Yesterday I did 2 miles on the treadmill varying the incline and then did abs. Today I did Muscle Max but omitted the lunges, bandwork and abs. I am out of shape! We did some hiking on vacation and I was astounded at how out of shape I had gotten. As I get older and eventually retire I want to be able to hike and bike still! I dont want to turn into my parents who cant walk up a flight of stairs without pausing to catch their breaths. It is sad.

In addition to eating better and smaller portions, I'm focusing my workouts more on strength training. I had been doing alot of "metabolic traning" and Cathe's LIS workouts and I have lost alot more strength and muscle tone which may also may be contributing to my increased body fat and weight gain.

I'm going to do at least 2-3 total body workouts each week for a few weeks and then I'm going to start the Gym Styles or STS Meso 2 and then 3. Meso 1 has too many pushups for me and seems more endurance oriented.
 
Since I couldn't seem to sleep late the past two days I made up for it by over-sleeping today but it was nice. My quads are still sore but its reduced to the 6 inches right above my knees. I was supposed to do Cathe's Triple Tabata premix but I'll look for something calmer.

Stacy, my parents weren't very active when I grew up, but they have changed their habits and are in much better health now that when I was a kid. My Gpa died of a heart attack at 55 while Gma lived to be almost 90 but had dementia for the last 8 years. Mom says these examples are what prompted the change.
 
I did 42min of cardio from Cathe's Low Impact Challenge ~ warm up, Circuit Blast, Bonus and stretch. I've had this step workout for over a year but haven't tried it until today. It will never be a favorite but its do-able. Step choreo confuses me, actually any choreo confuses me, I'm not very good at following along. I didn't use a step and modified out most of the lunges and squats to baby my sore legs. I really appreciate the addition of the extra 'non-dancy' portions of the workout.

I just read Skinny Chicks Don't Eat Salad, so I'm trying the 'many mini meals a day with protein/carb balance' method. I've tried the mini meals but not the 'balance' part. One thing I like about this is I'm always eating, food addicts dream!
 
Good morning.

Not sure what's on the agenda today. I feel as if I should start raking leaves but our trees still have so many leaves on them I know I'd spend hours out there and wake up tomorrow with blisters on my hands and the yard covered again!

Peng, did you do the LIC from the LIS series or did you do Low Impact Circuit?? I love Low Impact Circuit, the workout from LIS series, I'm just so-so on. I usually just do the step bonus premix as an add-on, some of the choreography from the main workout still baffles me!

Andrea, I'm assuming you're working today?? If not, I hope you get to enjoy watching your game today. I see it's Kansas vs Kansas St. We've got tickets for tonight's Nebraska game, it's going to be only in the low 40's at game time so I've gotta bundle up!
 
I get to clean house today, but its the end of the week, so I"m looking forward to the weekend. Hubby is going on interviews Monday. I just realized its only 50* here!

Stacy, it was LI Challenge from LIS. I got confused in the warmup so I skipped straight to the more althletic parts that Cathe mentioned in the intro. We have two huge trees in the backyard so the first few years I lived here I spent a lot of time raking those stupid leaves, and as you said the next day there would be more. I read something about leaves making good mulch so I stopped raking the leaves and just let them die on the grass. Much easier.
 
yes i'm still alive! i completed my beginner rotation! woot woot for me!

i did have to work today, followed along online with my game but am now home on the couch watching it.

LIC (the older one) is on the docket for Monday morning before work. yikes. but i'm gonna do it :)

Stacy have fun at your game tonight, and i hope you beat those Nubbs! they used to be our nemesis, then Snyder started beating them and Pelini called him names for running up the score... lol. best of luck and stay warm.

Peng, enjoy the rest of your weekend! now back to my game :)
 
hmmmm....actually i think i might do a week of yoga before starting up with the intermediate rotation. that seems to be what my bid is telling me. might help me get back on track with eating better as well.
 
Andrea, our teams won :) Yay! Definitely listen to your body and do a week of yoga. It's definitely not a wasted week, stretching is good for the body and also yoga does have alot of isometric work.

Peng, I hope your hubby has good luck with his interviews!

I've come up with a tentative plan for my upcoming workouts, with focus more on strength and lower body, phasing in more lower body as I get stronger, giving my knees time to acclimate.

I'm planning on doing a split upper body, 2 days of cardio and one leg day so that's working out 5 days a week. My schedule and my body cant consistently do 6 days a week. On weeks I have more time I may do yoga on one of my rest days. I'm going to do this for 6-8 weeks depending on how I feel and then I may take out one cardio day and do another leg day. We'll see how it goes. I know from past experience that trying to follow a set rotation perfectly never works for me because I never know how long I"ll be at work, how tired I'll be etc etc and I dont want to fall into that "well I missed a day I might as well just forget it all" mentality.

I'm going to start out with Gym Styles, then move on to STS 2 and then STS 3. And of course, most importantly I'm putting a much better effort into clean eating and working on fighting the emotional cravings. I have always let that slide and it's no wonder I'm not where I want to be! It is going to be hard for me, that I know, but I'm up for the challenge. I havent been mentally in the game for awhile, but I'm ready to make a change as I cant continue on this path. From my parents' and family genetics I know it only leads to hypertension, early heart disease and diabetes. I dont want that. I've often wondered how people who smoke cant just quit since it is so bad for your body, but geez how good is eating processed foods and potato chips?? What a hypocrite I've been. I have no problem, not smoking, not drinking, staying out of the sun, those sorts of things, but giving up snack food...very difficult. It's not as simple as just not eating it. I get the addictive nature of things and the emotional aspect of eating. I need to think of those foods in terms of poison or even think of potato chips as cigarettes, anything that helps me get on the right path. Ok, I'm rambling! Help cheer me on, I'm going to need it!
 
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I've done by weigh-in and have my meals planned for the day. Wish me luck!

I've got GS Chest and Tri's planned for tonight after work.

My diet focus is what I know works when I stay consistent...lean protein, veggies, fruit and low fat dairy in moderation. The key for me is consistency.
 

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