Challenge: Unwrap your abs for Christmas

[atray87]

So when do you guys want to take the next updated pics.. Nov 10 or Nov 17?

[12weekhardbody]

I have read everybody's replies and so far a lot of people have already had one of their two cheat meals. I, honestly, am not trying to be a bitch about sticking to the rules of the challenge- I want everybody to reach their goal.

Since February of 2007 I have tried to reach MY goal of 15% body fat. Unfortunately I have NOT done it yet. I would eat clean for a few days and then life would get in the way. I'd tell myself, "Oh, I'll eat this (fill in the blank) and workout extra tomorrow". Eventually, this once in a blue moon treat would turn into a few times week and then everyday and then all day.

Since February of last year I hired a personal trainer (48 sessions) . I hired a dietician (2 months). I hired a transformation expert (12 weeks- hence the name 12weekhardbody). I did have some success at first with all three but then I'd let my diet "go" and I was at a stand-still. I was not really committed.

Well, guess what people? Even working out twice a day MY BODY HAS NOT TRANSFORMED. I HAVE NOT REACHED MY GOAL (yet). Why is this? EATING CLEAN WAS NOT A PRIORITY for me at the time.

I believe that the challenge is 9 weeks and each person is allowed to have two cheat meals per week. Some of you have already had one. That means you've only got one left. DO NOT do what I did. Make clean eating a priority. Do it every day (except for either the one or the two cheat days you have left).

I have finally made it a priority. How did I change my mindset? I looked at chickentuna's website- bunklers.com. She has a body similar to the one I want. She said that she'd loved to eat junk but she knows it will not get her the body she wants. She chooses to "eat the boring food to have the exciting body".

I am very sorry if I have offended any of you. I do want you ALL to succeed and not waste two years of your life like I have.

I don't know who said this but remember it:
"IF YOU DO WHAT YOU'VE ALWAYS DONE, THEN YOU WILL ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU'VE ALWAYS GOTTEN."

I have eaten **** on and off for the past...well, all my life....and I have had the same body for a long time. I know that what I have done in the past WILL NOT work to get me the results I want.

I am eating clean.

[bodybytwa]

You said it! When I did Body for Life, the program "gives" you a free day - eat anything you want and I did! I planned those days - what I was going to eat - what fast food places I would hit. I didn't get the transformation like the ones in the book. Why? Supps? Maybe. But I'm betting it was the free days. They didn't take them like I did. Early 2007 I got IT! I ate clean and worked out almost religiously. It was my life. And I lost the belly and was a size 8. Then I had surgery and summer hit, then the kids went back to school and I was working 2 part-time jobs while running the household and then.... blah! I wasn't heading towards the flat tummy I've wanted for so long. You are right, you think you can have than one cheat meal and work it off the next day. Then life gets in the way. Eating clean has to be the biggest part of the program. And plan for it! I made a batch of steamed brown rice today and crocked 5 chicken breasts. Now I'm back to making my hubby and kids their dinner and I make mine - chicken veggies rice "stir fried" That's how I have to do it. My evening snacking can no longer be a white flour tortilla and string cheese. No, it's cottage cheese with a good carb. I did the BFL enough that the nutrition part if it is 2nd nature to me (so's the fitness part).

Is this too much "preaching?" I hope not. I want to be an inspiration and example.

So what did you eat today?

[atray87]

Well 12weeks and Bodybytwa.... speak the truth shame the devil...hahahaha I love saying this !

You both are right and we have to get on ball because one cheat day does turn into alot of cheat days and if you where able to exercise it off then most of us would not be in the situations we are in. Your posts opened my eyes and made me take a long look at myself and what I want!! Some people might be offended but they must look at why they are offended... Im not and I make a pledge to not screw up anymore... the only cheat day in the future I can have is on thanksgiving day and that is all.. I commit to eating clean and not looking back.. thanks for putting this out there!!

Keep moving!!!!

[GivemeSIX]

Would that be too early for people to get up pictures?? I've actually put on some 2 or 3 pounds in the passed week lol... Been really picking up the workouts and eating pretty clean.... who knows... its what I get in the end that matters thoguh

[atray87]

hahahaha I think maybe nov 24 would be good then we can post our final pics on dec 24/25 and start the New Year Challenge after that !!!

[bodybytwa]

No I haven't cheated, but it is 12:40 here in unnaturally warm Michigan and I just got out of my pj's. Hubby came home for lunch after he said he wasn't going to. I ran like hell upstairs and quickly changed into a workout bra (inside out!) and t-shirt. Damn that Wii Bowling! time to get it in gear!

I made some yummy pumpkin protien pancakes from breakfast but added way too much protein pwd. Oops. They were still good. Gonna have a prot shake w/soy yogurt and fruit for lunch and almonds with dried cherries for snack. Dinner - probably chicken-veggies-brown rice sautee. Still trying to figure out what the family will have. Have to get my cardio in at some point. I have a hait appt at 2:30, pick up at school 3:30. Maybe then. Or something light right now and then cardio. That would be better. OK, that's the plan.

Did you vote yet? I absentee voted last week!

I vote the 24th for pix!

[GivemeSIX]

So the 24th ??? Sounds good to me... I need to kick my butt into gear anyways... got to the gym at 6:00 this morning and will be going again after work at 5 or so for some light cardio and lower back work out!

[competesomeday]

Count me in on the challenge. When do I need to post my first pics? Also, are we sticking to the two cheat meals per month or did we change to 2 per week?

If you eat 6 days a week for 7 days, that's 42 meals. Even at 3 cheat meals a week (a breakfast, a lunch, and a dinner), that's 93% of the time you're eating clean. It is hard to go from 2 clean meals a month to only 2 cheat meals a month.

Thoughts?

[atray87]

You can post the pics here or your own blog.. just let us know when the pics are posted..

Also we can only have 2 cheat meals from now until Dec 24 yes this is hard as you can see some of us already uses one of those meals up but this is the challenge.. check out 12weekhardbody post on this forum.. she breaks it down for all us that are a little slow to change.. me included

Keep on Moving everyone!!!

[bodybytwa]

I got it from Tom Venuto's blog site thru an email I get from "him."

Tom Venuto's "pumpcakes" (pumpkin pancakes)

7.5 oz (212 g) of canned pumpkin
1/3 cup (27 g) oatmeal dry
1/3 cup (40 g) multigrain or whole wheat pancake mix
1 scoop (26 g) vanilla (or plain) protein powder
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
Sweetener (brown sugar, stevia or splenda): Optional
Yield: makes 2 large (5 inch wide) pancakes

Nutrition information for 2 pancakes, unsweetened
Calories: 507
Protein: 44.1 g.
Carbs: 69.7 g.
Fat: 5 g.

http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archiv...umpkin_pan.php

[bodybytwa]

Here's how my day shook out:

Got in 22 minutes of cardio. Was looking for 30, but got a phone call regarding the school'd big auction Saturday night at which I'm volunteering. The cut my time. bummer. Had to get to a hair appt and do the mom taxi gig.

Clean eats! Although I wanted a glass of wine once my 10yo boy started in about school work crap. Enough already. But I didn't cave in. Trying to think of something to eat right now before bedy-by and while watching Comedy Central's coverage of the election. (Update: cottage cheese with some canned pumpkin with pie spice and splenda. OK. made it too sweet.)

Tomorrow will be upper body. Probably not too much time for extra cardio. I am concerned about by right shoiulder. Pain woke me up during the night. It feels like an impengement I had a few years ago. uh-oh. No un-clean eats in sight. Friday night and Saturday night -- non-clean eats/drinks in sight -- in MODERATION!

Have a great night!
Monica

[dawnr1101]

I got in my 30 min. of cardio yesterday and I ate well until last night ( I will update my blog with my boo boo) Today is a new day so I will clean the slate and be better. I will do weights a cardio tonight and post that later.

[lil-brat]

LOL...... Its been a little while since I have checked in so I thought I should do. My workouts have been great I have made it to the gym 6 days a week no prob. Things have been pretty busy so it has helped to keep me on track so I dont over eat. I pre plan my meals each day for work so I am on track with my nutrition. well just a quick check in and I am off lol........ everyone keep up the great work.

[aka1034]

My eating has been in the toilet. Today I am starting a Keto diet. I am posting this so I can hold my self accountable. If anybody wants to share any recipes or keto meal plans, please chime in. I am a sales rep so if you have any meal ideas for a person on the go let me know.


Kim

[atray87]

Good Morning.. my pants are too big today.... I am still down 1 to 2lbs but maybe more inches around my belly.. I think that is what is going down fast right now.. not the legs,arms but my belly! I have on dress pants that I cannot wear a belt with.. a co worker commented on how these pants are slimming.. it's not the pants because it's me hahahahahaha.. seriously these pants use to cause friction between my thighs!! Hope all is well I had a business luncheon yesterday.. I said no to bread and only ate the fruit on top of my dessert YAY Amber and I skipped the pasta and chewed slowly... it is amazing how much less you eat when you go slow!!!

[dawnr1101]

Originally Posted by atray87

Good Morning.. my pants are too big today.... I am still down 1 to 2lbs but maybe more inches around my belly.. I think that is what is going down fast right now.. not the legs,arms but my belly! I have on dress pants that I cannot wear a belt with.. a co worker commented on how these pants are slimming.. it's not the pants because it's me hahahahahaha.. seriously these pants use to cause friction between my thighs!! Hope all is well I had a business luncheon yesterday.. I said no to bread and only ate the fruit on top of my dessert YAY Amber and I skipped the pasta and chewed slowly... it is amazing how much less you eat when you go slow!!!

Your doing a great job...small changes can even lead to be success. Keep up the good work. Business lunches can be hard but you handled it well.

[MrKleen73]

Okay so that had nothing to do with the challenge. I have had Dave Chappelle on the brain lately for some reason. Perhaps his irreverance.

I have been a rogue challenge participator. I am the guy see that has cheat meals once a week, and I will continue to do this. Sorry everyone but the challenge is our own challenge, and the only person challenging me is me. I completely believe in the cheat meal philosophy, however some people do not have the discipline to only have the cheat meals when they are scheduled. Also often times the person may be following the wrong type of diet so cheat meal or not there is minimal recomposition. I honor and encourage everyone to have as many or as few cheat days as you can responsibly and systematically incorporate into your "plan". However cheat meals are scheduled as part of a plan, anything else is not a cheat meal but a derailment from your plan. I have planned to eat completely unhindered with out any concern for caloric or nutritional content on Thanksgiving. Just gonna do it. I am also going to go lift weights for a good 30-45 minute before I eat that dinner. Why not make it an anabolic event right? SO I will do so without any concern or guilt. Now with that being said, you choose and plan your cheat meals accordingly. You gonna have a cheat meal do a weight workout either before, or an hour after your meal. I think it is awesome that some of you will only have 2 cheat meals from here until Christmas.

I also think it is very important that we all have our own path we are taking on the way to "Unwrapping our abs!" I support everyone here with anything they choose to do with this challenge. Also I recommend going to the Articles section of the site and search "cheat Meals" there are 4-5 good articles there explaining the reason why and why not these should exist. You can honestly make an educated decision where you stand on the subject. Ah what the heck, here is a link to a collection of them on the site. May not be clickable if not paste it into your browser. None of the articles are extremely long and give both pros and cons of the cheat meal.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbin...=CheatMealTips

Also just another side of the coin; if you look at my pictures of me from October of last year when I was at my leanest, I got down that way with eating high protien moderate carbs, and fat about a 50-25-25 ratio. I also ate "Normally" on the weekends IE I increased carbs more but did not go buck wild. However on the weekend I would eat 1 meal each day with anything I wanted. No guilt involved. I normally liked to eat the most Sunday so all that carb store was ready for my workout on Monday. Either way this shows that cheat meals do not hurt your progress at all as long as they are planned, and taken advantage of not abused. Remember it is not a cheat meal if it is not scheduled, then it is a derailment of your your plan. We can call that a WUSSY MEAL, because you are taking the Wussy way out by not sticking to your guns! I will indeed keep myself down to 2 Wussy Meals during the challenge.

On another note, I have been sick as a dog with bronchitis all week. I felt it coming on Monday and went for a 3 mile run anyway finished it up, and BAM my chest closed in on me like a trash compactor in a Star Wars movie. I get VERY bad bronchitis due to a lot of scarring from having Chronic bronchitis as an infant. I increased my calories this week to allow my immune system to really ramp up and I don't think I gained or lost weight. I weighed 199 at the Dr's in street clothes so who knows if I am up or down at the moment. Either way pics go up this weekend improved same or worse does not matter they are going up. I am documenting mine in 2 week intervals I just feel it is easier for me to view what is goin on and make adjustments as needed.

Remember cheat meals are tools to make a diet a little easier for you, it is only there as planned reward for being good all week. If you have a wussy meal then you foregoe your planned cheat meal for the week. If you don't then you are a Wussy! NANA-NANA-BOO-BOO! Just Kidding, but not really. If cheat meals increase your cravings for the foods you should not eat thenmaybe they are not for you but others with different mndsets these are the ONLY thing that makes a diet possible to stick to. It is kind of an Taype A Type B personality thing you are really dealing with I think. So no matter what, Stick to your plan MAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!!!! Unless it isn't working then holla and I will try to help you with a new one. Oh Yeah... DON"T BE A WUSSY!!!!

[atray87]

Okay I thought maybe it was election anxiety but I am still not hungry... I am eating my small meals but on meal 4 today instead of tuna and apple I just at my apple.. what is going on???

[MrKleen73]

Originally Posted by aka1034

My eating has been in the toilet. Today I am starting a Keto diet. I am posting this so I can hold my self accountable. If anybody wants to share any recipes or keto meal plans, please chime in. I am a sales rep so if you have any meal ideas for a person on the go let me know.


Kim

AKA I got your back! Busy eating 101

First and foremost... STOP EATING BAD FOOD CHOICES!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok now that the obvious part is out of the way how about a little bit of information that could help you with your diet. I will say that a Keto diet is probably not the best way to lose weight and keep it off. You have to be very careful when you reintroduce carbs to your life or it will be a bad bad thing. I wouild recomend something a little more balanced. Perhaps in the 50-25-25 nutrient ratio, with the 50 coming from protien. Eat legumes for your carbs whenever possible as they are very high in fiber content, and often have protien and healthy fats in them. You will find that you are not getting cravings as bad eating this way. I love the ease of the Keto diet until it blows up in my face when I crash and go carb crazy and regain everything back and then some. Just my $.02 However, if you do choose to go the way of the Keto diet I can only recomend 3 diets to follow. One is the South Beach Diet, yeah I know it is trendy, and starts out as a keto diet but they also have a system for gradually re-introducing the carbs back into your diet. So does the New Dr. Atkins diet. There is another diet called the CKD or Cyclical Ketosis Diet, it has a workout to follow with it. This one is scientifically based works like crazy but it is a lot of discipline and hard work.

A few hints regarding busy eating. Of course you will get everyone here saying Whole food, whole food, whole food. Well come cook for me! If not I will always have a container of low carb protien powder stored at work for those days I dont have time for whole foods. No really I cook on Sundays and Wednesdays for the rest of the week normally. I buy ziploc freezer bags and put the cooked meat in serving size portions into the ziploc bag while still hot and steaming then I sqeeze the air out of it and seal it up. This keeps it from drying out as the steam from the meat moisturizes itself as it can not escape the bag. I also heat the meat up in the bag so it once again steams itself staying nice and moist. Just open the end of the bag slightly to allow it to breathe so the bag doesn't pop. Make enough servings for a couple meals a day for at work. Hard boil a dozen eggs on the same days and keep them at work and at home for snacking on. The fats and cholesterol that are in egg yolks are actually good for you and assist in weight loss. Also if you are doing keto diet, sharp cheddar cheese can be a good snack as well. Cut into 1 oz cubes and keep as a snack. Cottage cheese is also a great source of convenient protien that is low carb. Another good snack, celery and fat free cream cheese, I like to dice up a fresh jalapeno and a little picante in my fat free cream cheese mix it up and use it as a veggie dip.

If on moderate carb intake all of the above applies but like I said get your carbs from legumes when possible except your post workout meal. Easy way is to replace rice, potatoes, pasta with say Ranch Style beans, or black beans. They taste great and are so much better nutritionally. BAKED BEANS are a BIG NONO!!!! Also another great convenience food is Beef Jerky, unless you have major issue where sodium is a health concern for you is a GREAT snack, high in protien, low in fat and low to moderate in carbs.

Summary -
1- Keto diets work, be careful of increased insulin sensitivty when reintroducing carbs! If not you WILL be sorry.
2- Your best bet is to teach yourself to eat balanced now, and stay that way it really becomes relatively easy. I stay leaner than I used to because of this. I know I am not cut but I am not trying to be except for right now. ;0) I used to average around 20% before adopting this way of eating.
3- Cook your meals for the week in 1 or 2 cooking sessions, bag them for convenience, have a carb portion and a protien portion bagged, and you can mix and match through out the week. Do not be afraid to improvise. I have come up with a few high protien ghoulash type of things that taste great just by adding things that I know to be healthy together. I can post some of that up if anyone is interested. This was just to make a quick reference for AKA.

[MrKleen73]

Originally Posted by atray87

Okay I thought maybe it was election anxiety but I am still not hungry... I am eating my small meals but on meal 4 today instead of tuna and apple I just at my apple.. what is going on???

How much have you increased your training? Overtraining can effect your energy levels, ability to rest, and your appetite. If you have increased it quite a bit, back of a bit for a day or two and see if that helps. Don't stop what you are doing just do it a little easier, instead of a level 6 on treadmill to a 4 or a 5 for a day or two. If you normally do free weights go to the machines for your next wiehgt work out. Machines will work the muscles but tax your CNS less which could help you recover from possible overtraining.

Also, nutrient wise you might be better off shoving down the tuna than the apple if you can only do one. Also this is another great place where supplementation can be good. A serving of chocolate protien powder in skim milk would have given you the almost the same nutritional value as the planned meal and would have probably went down easier for you. That is what supplementation is all about.

Look into your workout and make sure you haven't thrown too much into the mix all at once, if so back down a bit and give your body and especially your central nevous system a chance to catch up. Hope that helps in some way.

[aka1034]

Originally Posted by MrKleen73

AKA I got your back! Busy eating 101

First and foremost... STOP EATING BAD FOOD CHOICES!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok now that the obvious part is out of the way how about a little bit of information that could help you with your diet. I will say that a Keto diet is probably not the best way to lose weight and keep it off. You have to be very careful when you reintroduce carbs to your life or it will be a bad bad thing. I wouild recomend something a little more balanced. Perhaps in the 50-25-25 nutrient ratio, with the 50 coming from protien. Eat legumes for your carbs whenever possible as they are very high in fiber content, and often have protien and healthy fats in them. You will find that you are not getting cravings as bad eating this way. I love the ease of the Keto diet until it blows up in my face when I crash and go carb crazy and regain everything back and then some. Just my $.02 However, if you do choose to go the way of the Keto diet I can only recomend 3 diets to follow. One is the South Beach Diet, yeah I know it is trendy, and starts out as a keto diet but they also have a system for gradually re-introducing the carbs back into your diet. So does the New Dr. Atkins diet. There is another diet called the CKD or Cyclical Ketosis Diet, it has a workout to follow with it. This one is scientifically based works like crazy but it is a lot of discipline and hard work.

A few hints regarding busy eating. Of course you will get everyone here saying Whole food, whole food, whole food. Well come cook for me! If not I will always have a container of low carb protien powder stored at work for those days I dont have time for whole foods. No really I cook on Sundays and Wednesdays for the rest of the week normally. I buy ziploc freezer bags and put the cooked meat in serving size portions into the ziploc bag while still hot and steaming then I sqeeze the air out of it and seal it up. This keeps it from drying out as the steam from the meat moisturizes itself as it can not escape the bag. I also heat the meat up in the bag so it once again steams itself staying nice and moist. Just open the end of the bag slightly to allow it to breathe so the bag doesn't pop. Make enough servings for a couple meals a day for at work. Hard boil a dozen eggs on the same days and keep them at work and at home for snacking on. The fats and cholesterol that are in egg yolks are actually good for you and assist in weight loss. Also if you are doing keto diet, sharp cheddar cheese can be a good snack as well. Cut into 1 oz cubes and keep as a snack. Cottage cheese is also a great source of convenient protien that is low carb. Another good snack, celery and fat free cream cheese, I like to dice up a fresh jalapeno and a little picante in my fat free cream cheese mix it up and use it as a veggie dip.

If on moderate carb intake all of the above applies but like I said get your carbs from legumes when possible except your post workout meal. Easy way is to replace rice, potatoes, pasta with say Ranch Style beans, or black beans. They taste great and are so much better nutritionally. BAKED BEANS are a BIG NONO!!!! Also another great convenience food is Beef Jerky, unless you have major issue where sodium is a health concern for you is a GREAT snack, high in protien, low in fat and low to moderate in carbs.

Summary -
1- Keto diets work, be careful of increased insulin sensitivty when reintroducing carbs! If not you WILL be sorry.
2- Your best bet is to teach yourself to eat balanced now, and stay that way it really becomes relatively easy. I stay leaner than I used to because of this. I know I am not cut but I am not trying to be except for right now. ;0) I used to average around 20% before adopting this way of eating.
3- Cook your meals for the week in 1 or 2 cooking sessions, bag them for convenience, have a carb portion and a protien portion bagged, and you can mix and match through out the week. Do not be afraid to improvise. I have come up with a few high protien ghoulash type of things that taste great just by adding things that I know to be healthy together. I can post some of that up if anyone is interested. This was just to make a quick reference for AKA.

Thanks for your help. You seem to know a lot about nutrition so I am going to ask you a few questions.

What is carb cycling and what is it used for?

What happens if you dont eat carbs after you work out? Are you talking weights, cardio or both?

Kim

[MrKleen73]

Originally Posted by aka1034

Thanks for your help. You seem to know a lot about nutrition so I am going to ask you a few questions.

What is carb cycling and what is it used for?

What happens if you dont eat carbs after you work out? Are you talking weights, cardio or both?

Kim

Well first carb cycling is the method of carb depleting and then controlled carb refeeding. This link explains in detail including the workout I believe.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=36497 This is the Cyclical Ketogenic Diet and is very effective at sparing muscle while burning fat.

Well for cardio you may want to hold of on carbs a little bit to allow for more fat burn. However after lifting you want to have carbs to create an insulin spike which helps shuttle the nutrients into your muscles this is the only time that an insulin spike or surge is preferred as the muscles need the nutrients so they are not stored as fat.

[MrKleen73]

Hey guys, you see me on here a lot the past day or two, I am jonesing for my work outs. Being ill is really frustrating me. I am still trying to keep up my motivation via this thread, and am hoping to be able to get a good one in tomorrow with out throwing myself into a hack attack.. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well and keeping up on the challenge. I have a minor setback but ABS are still getting unwrapped dang it!

[i_m2much4u]

Ok- So I'm one who sorta cheats once a week too... but I usually make up for it at the gym- so it all evens out... The day I started the challenge I weighed myself at 136lbs, but a few hrs later- I was up to 139lbs... (Water weight- I'm sure!)... However- it has hoovered there for the last few weeks. I don't considered it a loss until I've maintained that weight for at least a week.... Good news.. down to 135 today! Yay!! But.. I'm starting to see the changes more and like MrKleen- I start "jonesing" for my workouts. I like the way I feel in the gym and even more so after my workouts! If I can just make it through this challenge.... Maybe the next phase will be easier...!! I've got such a long way to go!
I just wanted to check on everyone else. I'm going to post new pics and a short blog...
Keep up the good work everyone!! We can do it together! Thanks for being a supportive group! Love and Kisses!

[atray87]

Glad to see everyone is doing well.. I am enjoying my new meals and I brought my lunch everday this week to work with the exception of the business luncheon .. This is my week in review

Monday: morning 2 mile HIT evening legs
Tues: off
Wed: bootcamp
Thurs: 3 mile HIT and back/biceps
Friday: chest/triceps and 2 or 3 mile HIT
Sat: bootcamp or long run
Sunday: interval run

Friday food
Breakfast: eggs and 2 slices of low sodium natural bacon
snack: plain tuna and strawberries
lunch: homemade lentil soup, baked sweet potato and steamed spinanch
snack: protein bar
dinner: protein shake

[bodybytwa]

Hey everyone.

Like I mentioned earlier, Friday evening was going to be an off-program meal. Too much pizza! I felt like I had cement in my gut. Ugh. And I knew I should have stopped before that next piece but it was so damn good. Plus I had an egg mcmuffin for b'fast. Acknowledged. Moving On.

Friday's workout was OK. I forgot to grab my White Flood tabs before heading out the door for the afternoon. I wasn't geared up but got thru the lower body workout. I'm not a sore as I thought I would be today. Maybe tomorrow?

Today is cardio. Eliptical in the basement. Hubby and son are at a scout camp out until torrow. It is now cold and rainy in Michigan. Sucks to be them. My daughter and I are just hanging out today. Cartoons, computers, wii games and board games. I am volunteering at our school auction tonight. It's $75 a plate fancy deal. But I will have fun with a couple of glasses of wine and raising $$ for our private school. It is so much fun. There is a Wii Fit in the silent auction I have my eye on. Of course my son wants me to bid on the rip stick. Boys.

Clean eats for today. Made those pumpkin pancakes the right way this time. It was too much for me to eat. I am going to adjust the ingredients. Protien shake with fruit for post-workout eats. Dinner: shrimp or fish with veggies and brown rice.

I have to get things organized for my training business. I donated 3 sessions for the silent auction tonight. I can't wait to see who buys it!

Monica

[Jaded611]

Seems like everyone is doing well overall, good for you guys!

I had a very crappy week. I only managed to get to the gym on Sunday for an hour of cardio and strength training. Monday I woke up feeling sick but went to the gym anyway. I managed 10 minutes of cardio before throwing up. By the time I got home I had a full blown migraine...that lasted 4 days! Thursday my husband took me to the doctor where I was given 3 different types of medication (ugh!).

So long story short: One day of exercise, very little eating, and I feel like a thousand lbs (must be a mental thing). But I'm finally feeling better and looking forward to getting back to the gym tomorrow.

Those of you that are hustling, keep it up! It's very inspiring and just fuels me up more!

[Jaded611]

Does anyone have a recipe for sweet potato pancakes?

I tried a recipe that was in oxygen magazine but it...was...BAD! The egg whites and oatmeal for breakfast are getting a little old. Looking to change it up a bit.

Thanks!

[bodybytwa]

Jaded - sorry to hear about your cruddy week - glad to hear that you are feeling better.

I have some yummy recipes. I will get them posted here today. They mostly come from my Body for Life days.

I had a blast at the auction last night. It's fun to socialize with school peeps (principal included) when *beverages* are involved! I bought $500 in legal services for $250. The lawyer is a school dad and his wife is my daughter's kinder teacher assitant. He is so much fun - doesn't come across as the lawyer type. I'm going to use the services to LLC my personal training business. Yipee!!!

My donation of 3 PT sessions went for $95! Way cool. I think I also got some good leads too. This is starting to take off!!!

Today will be some light cardio. Wearing heels last night made most of my body sore! Plus getting only 6 hours of sleep didn't help. I stayed up until 1:30 watching "30 Days"on FX. The show was about a guy who took testasterone and HGH for 30 days to feel younger. It screwed up his liver functions and eliminated his sperm count! He stopped after 22 days. I love this show - it's done by Morgan Spurlock who made "Super-Size Me."

It is cold and raining in MI again today. I just want to crawl back into bed and watch some chick flicks! I feel bad for my guys who slept in a tent last night! They should be home soon.

Later Gator!