Phyliss, you are doing so great! Keep on going girl!!! Congrats on your 1 pound! hugs, Britt

CeCe, How are you feeling? Have you gotten your drains out yet? I hope everything is going well for you. I have missed you this week but understand that you probably haven't felt like holding your arms out to type. I had 20 sessions with the PT and I spaced them 2 per week. I am on my own now and really trying to develope a plan that works for me. I normally do 10 mins of cardio to warm up then stretch for 5 minutes. I work abs every time I am at the gym and have been doing a bit of everything every time. I think I need to change to do only 1 muscle group per session like you say. That is what I am trying to establish. I go to The Rush Gym, not sure if you are familiar but they are a mega- huge gym and half of the equipment I have never seen before much less know how to use. The good thing is that their equipment is color coded. Like yellow for arm, purple for lats, green for legs. What I have been doing is going from 1 color machine to a different color machine- like yellow to purple to orange to green then abs then a second round in the same order. Usually if I complete 2 rounds, I have accomplished 1 hour of exercise. What I really need to know is: should I shoot for more than 1 hour sessions or is that sufficient? Is it ok to do abs every time? WHat groups or muscles should be worked together? I know I have a lot of questions. I appreciate your help if you have time to explain some of this to me. My main thing is that I want to get the max results for the time I invest. Hugs, Valorie

Valorie, If you are talking strength training five days a week, then it is best to divide up body parts and concentrate on certain areas so you don't get overuse injuries and the muscles worked have at least 48 hours rest to repair the tiny tears and actually build up. Muscle tissue is actually built during the repair phase, not the work out phase. Regarding your personal trainer following the whole body each session, I think that if a person only has a limited number of sessions with a trainer and is just getting back into exercise or is a newbie, the whole body method allows the trainer to give their client an overview of what they can do on their own, provide them with the proper form for numerous types of exercises and give them a good basic workout. Then, the client can learn to develop their own programs which can concentrate on certain muscles or muscle groups on alternating days. I personally like to do cardio as many times per week as I can but I vary the intensity, time or the activity so I don't get too worn out, injured or bored. I like to do a little cardio warm up to get the blood flowing in the muscles, then strength train, then do a more strenuous session of cardio and I always stretch because of my various joint/tendon issues! When I teach I always do abs at the end of the session but in my own workouts, I tend to wait to do abs when I'm watching tv. I have to confess that working abs isn't my favorite thing to do! That's probably because before my LBL, I never saw any return for my effort!!! Now with the muscle repair, working abs is HARD! If you aren't as satisfied as you'd like with your training sessions, talk with your trainer. You could let her know that you would like to do the majority of your cardio after your session - on your time! Remember, you hired her! It's your money and your time. She may have the knowledge but you need to be happy. However, as far as not being drop dead sore after sessions, I've seen trainers work people to the point that they throw up!!! I think there's a balance! People want to get the best bang for their buck but I hate to see people get tortured too!! I know you had sessions prior to your traffic accident and you had started back but I don't remember how many sessions a week you have with her or how long you have or are going to work with her. As a trainer, I know she knows that the body needs change to stimulate it and doing the same thing over and over won't get continued results. She'll mix it up and, like I said, if she doesn't, talk to her! I love the fact that you are so into working out now!!! The exercise part quickly became addictive to me 10-11 years ago. Too bad eating healthy consistently and in the right portions wasn't as easy to do! Oh, well! We're hard at it now, huh? CeCe

Wooo Hooo... I am sure you are so excited to have that thing gone.... I am so happy for you... Sorry it took me so long to post but I have been sooo busy this past week.... Make sure you are careful about exercising too much so early on... we don't want you losing weight again.... I am sure it felt good to get out and move a bit though.... Congrats... You are looking so good!!!!! HUGs, Shawn M.

I've been trying to post all week but I just haven't had a chance. It was a great week personally but I put on a little weight over the weekend. I did all the cooking for the family Easter dinner at my Mom's house, which meant I had to make sure everything tasted good! lol. I didn't do too bad but I could have done a lot better. I'm also working out quite a bit so I probably have a little extra weight from that as well. Plus that olive juice in my martinis really dehydrates me! Gotta get more water in when I drink. Starting: 233+ Last week: 138.4 This week: 140.0 Gain: 1.6!! Current BMI: 21.9 I have a feeling it won't be a very good weigh in on Monday either. Mark and I are going to Savannah for a romantic weekend getaway. I plan on indulging but not overeating. Does that make sense? Everyone try to stay focused (I'm trying too!!!) and we will get there. We have a great support system here! Susan