Reporting for the Day

OK, I did pretty well today. 1,000 leg lifts 500 crunches 30 minutes on the Elliptical Trainer Worked the legs on the weight machines for 1/2 an hour. 915 calories 70 grams of protein I sent every last scrap of bad for me food home with my son. The one thing I could have done better was drink more water. I only got in about 80 ounces. Need to up that tomorrow. Probably need to add another protein shake to get more protein also. It really helped me get through the day and make wise choices with the intent of publishing here. How'd you guys do? Connie

Happy New Year Connie! It sounds like you are off to a great start for 2005! I can't match your efforts, but I feel like I broke away from the Holiday beartrap: 1100 Calories 92 grams Protein 72 oz. liquid 3 mile power walk 20 minutes of situps, toe-touching and other general stretching exercise. Back to work last night for the first time since before Christmas. That wasn't fun.... I really enjoyed my vacation (sometimes a bit too much calorie- wise!). After an hour or so back at work, it seemed like the vacation never happened. Oh well...... maybe the old grind will keep me on track for a while. Take care and be well. Mike

ok...so today... I had 910 calories 89g of protein 80+ ounces of liquids since I am still drinking exercise...not so much since i was home with a sick kiddo! not a bad day anyway! Nic 291/169/145

I made it back to Curves--they had given up on me! They can't figure out how I have lost so much weight with so little exercise! (I left them guessing) Joy

Well...I worked a 10 hour day, but I did drink alot, had a protein bar for breakfast, 4 oz of cottage cheese and 4 oz of low carb yogurt for lunch, another protein bar around 3, then a small salad and 1/2 cup of soup for dinner. I feel better going back to that routine. Probably not enough protein, but I see here that you guys get way more protein in than I do. I thought we were supposed to get in between 40 and 60 grams. What's the average for you guys?

Joan I am supposed to get at least 72g of protein a day. some days Iblow past that and other days I struggle to get there! Nic 291/169/145

Joan, My doctor said between 70 and 90 grams of protein. It's a struggle some days. Connie

Connie, you're workout is staggering, how do you do it??? I'm back on track with the eating, guess I really needed to get back to work and back into my routine. What a dull dud I am to have to be so structured!!! Still struggling with the exercise, though. You are such a great souce of inspiration!! Maureen

Hi Reenie, I have an advantage here that many people don't. My time is my own. My son is on his own and as long as I feed the dogs and cats, they don't care where I go or what I do. Well, the dogs might miss me, but the cats could care less. That makes it easy to dedicate time to working out. I earn my living as a Project Manager. I used those skills to make me into my own project and this has helped me to stay focused on getting to my goals. I didn't think about putting project management techniques to wor****il about November, but since then, things have become easier for me. Let me know if you want me to expand on this and I will. Good Lord, don't feel bad about needing structure. We all need stucture of some sort. Getting into a routine is what will keep you on track. The last couple of days have been a no go for exercise because of the flu. I'm starting to feel better so may walk tonight, but I won't do my regular workout. Hang in there! Hugs, Connie

Well, today I got in a mile on the treadmill before my knees started to scream ( I ran two yesterday) and then I headed to the eliptical where I put in 20 minutes of keeping my heart rate at 150. Then off to do abs on the machine. After that I did incline press, biceps, pull ups and legs, and finishing with decline abs and streching. I not a big calorie counter, I'm more into limiting carbs and getting in my protein. As far as the excercise goes, it is a progression. I got a great running program off of runningplanet.com. It was the walk/run program and it gets you to the point where you can run 2 miles. I'm now on a program to run a 10K in April. The problem is that it is so dang cold out, I can't run outside, and running on the treadmill too much hurts my knees ( it changes my gait) Anyway, just doing something is important, and then you can keep doing more. The body is an amazing thing. The more lean you become, the more efficent your body becomes and you actually burn more calories in all things you do. In other words, ball that keeps on rolling. Don't be worried about what you can't do, just get going and you will enjoy your progress. Don't beat yourself up if you miss a day, just don't stop. Also, at one of my support group meetings it talked about going the extra mile. The point was to do little things to get in extra excercise like parking at the end of a parking lot for work or at the store. Using the stairs instead of the elevator. I'll give you two examples of how this works for me. When I go to use the bathroom in my office complex, I run up two flights of stairs and then down to the bathroom. I repeat the same thing on my way back. In addition, rather then parking next to the building, I park about a block away. It isn't much, but it is the extra. Finally, I share a story. My mother-in-law is currently in the hospital and on the eighth floor. We go to visit her daily and I take the stairs, and it is kinda fun for my kids because we "race" to see if they make it first or if I do. Anyway, on Sunday after church we went up to visit and our Parish Priest was there and he asked me why I took the stairs. He knows I had the surgery and blessed me prior, but anyway I looked him straight in the eye and said, "Because I can. Eight months ago I may not have been able to go up eight flights of stairs to save my life, now I can run up them. " He said it was a great response and one to remind all of the able body folks that maybe they shouldn't take it for granted and maybe they should use the stairs more often.