Seawrens Journey to a New Me

[Seawren]

Hello All,

I am new to bodybuilding.com and have just started a program to change my body. I have worked out sporadically in my adult life (currently 53), but never done it consistently.

Up until 3 years ago I weighted in the 120's (5'5", Female), but I was flabby. Due to some stressful life situations I ballooned up to 200 pounds.

I am serious about changing my body. I started working out with a trainer 3X a week in May which lasted until August (consistently). I gained some strength which I was sorely lacking, but didn't make any progress with the weight. From August until now I have worked out sporadically. Now I am recommitting to 3X a week with my trainer and 5X a week cardio (treadmill routine with a great deal of incline and speed variation set to music).

I have also started using the bodybuilding nutrition guide found in Rivera's and Villepigue's "The Body Sculpting Bible for Women". I am sticking to a 40/40/20 (P/C/F) diet of 1500 calories for two weeks then cycled with 1200 calories for 2 weeks. So far I have 2 (!) perfect days of eating (a journey of a thousand miles, etc. etc.)!!!!

Every meal has the 40/40/20 breakdown and each meal is 300 calories. Using lean protein, complex carbs and fibrous carbs. My main complex carbs are oats and brown rice. My only dairy is low fat cottage cheese. No fruit, with the exception of banana or apple right after weight work out if I can't get to a meal right away.

I am using Cenegenics formula Vitamin Supplements, Pure Encapsulation Fish Oil caps, Pure Encapsulation CLA, Pure Encapsulation DHEA, bio-identical hormones (estradiol, testosterone I'm at the hot flash point of life!).

I'm using ProLab Lean Mass Matrix meal replacements. The packets are 390 calories per packet so I adjust the amount to fit the 300 calories.

My trainer is having me do a 3X week full body circuit training with 3 sets of 15 - 20 reps using mainly free weights and my own body weight along with machines for leg press, leg extensions and some shoulder, tricep, back work.

I am absolutely commited to working out and eating this way. I'm giving myself a month to get used to the diet and then after that I will get one cheat meal each week.

My goal date for a "new" me is July 3, 2009.

Any and all input is appreciated. I have already found an enormous amount of useful information at this site. My goal is not to be a body builder (looking good in a bathing suit would be darn nice though) but after spending three years trying everything under the sun to lose weight, I've come to the conclusion that bodybuilders are the only one's who can lose weight "on command". You guys have this down to a science!!!!

Looking forward to being a part of your great community.

[Seawren]

Day 1

17% of the calories are from fat, 40% from protein, 43% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.
Daily Summary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Food Energy In: 1275 cals
Exercise Energy Out: 0 min, 0 cals
Net Energy: 1275 cals
Net Energy Budget: 1500 cals
End Result: 225 Calories Under


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Breakfast
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Item Calories Fat Saturated fat Cholesterol Protein Carbohydrate Sugar Fiber Sodium Calcium
1 1 packet of ProLab Lean Mass 390
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Morning Snack
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1 small, 6" to 6-7/8" long (3.6 oz) of Fruit, Fresh: Banana, edible portion 90

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Lunch
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Item Calories Fat Saturated fat Cholesterol Protein Carbohydrate Sugar Fiber Sodium Calcium
3 1/2 oz of Foster Farms: Turkey: Breasts, Cutlets, boneless skinless 106
1 serving, 1/2 cup (3.3 oz) of Rice: White, medium-grain, unenriched, cooked 121
1 cup (4.4 oz) of Vegetables, Fresh: Beans, green snap or string, boiled, drained, no salt added 44
4 almond of Nuts: Almonds, raw, unblanched, edible portion 28
Total 299

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Afternoon Snack
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Item Calories Fat Saturated fat Cholesterol Protein Carbohydrate Sugar Fiber Sodium Calcium
1/2 1 packet of ProLab Lean Mass 195
Total 195

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Dinner
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Item Calories Fat Saturated fat Cholesterol Protein Carbohydrate Sugar Fiber Sodium Calcium
1 serving (4 oz) of Cottage Cheese: Low-Fat (2%) 102
Total 102

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Evening Snack
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Item Calories Fat Saturated fat Cholesterol Protein Carbohydrate Sugar Fiber Sodium Calcium
1 1 packet of BSN Syntha-6 200
Total 200

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Exercise
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30 min of Walking, Treadmill / Uphill
45 min of Free Weights

[jtroster]

Welcome.

[Hibiscus09]

I have also started using the bodybuilding nutrition guide found in Rivera's and Villepigue's "The Body Sculpting Bible for Women". I am sticking to a 40/40/20 (P/C/F) diet of 1500 calories for two weeks then cycled with 1200 calories for 2 weeks. So far I have 2 (!) perfect days of eating (a journey of a thousand miles, etc. etc.)!!!!

Every meal has the 40/40/20 breakdown and each meal is 300 calories. Using lean protein, complex carbs and fibrous carbs. My main complex carbs are oats and brown rice. My only dairy is low fat cottage cheese. No fruit, with the exception of banana or apple right after weight work out if I can't get to a meal right away.

Do you currently weigh 200lbs? Your calories appear to be too low. If you start too low, you won't have anywhere to tweak when you plateau and there more than likely will be a plateau along the way.

Here's a good article and at the bottom there is a link to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that will help you determine caloric intake based on your activity level.

http://www.freedomfly.net/Articles/N...utrition14.htm

Also, I'm not sure from the way you listed it -- but if you are going to do your cardio and lift on the same day, it is better if your aim is fat loss to do the weight lifting first, unless you are doing the cardio pre-breakfast and then lifting later in the day.

Welcome and good luck to you!

[Seawren]

Do you currently weigh 200lbs? Your calories appear to be too low. If you start too low, you won't have anywhere to tweak when you plateau and there more than likely will be a plateau along the way.

Here's a good article and at the bottom there is a link to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that will help you determine caloric intake based on your activity level.

http://www.freedomfly.net/Articles/N...utrition14.htm

Also, I'm not sure from the way you listed it -- but if you are going to do your cardio and lift on the same day, it is better if your aim is fat loss to do the weight lifting first, unless you are doing the cardio pre-breakfast and then lifting later in the day.

Welcome and good luck to you!

Thanks for the input. Yes, I weigh 200 but am almost 50% bodyfat. I know - ugly situation to be in. So my LBM is only 100 lbs. I was using the formula of LBM X 12 for low calorie weeks and LBM X 15 for high calorie weeks.

I will definately read the link you gave me.

As far as the cardio - I am actually unsure how to go about doing it. I do a warm up on the treadmill for 10 minutes before doing the weight training. I walk and pump my arms.

I've only recently learned about cardio and glycogen depletion. I don't want to go to the gym twice. I figure I can do the warm-up, then the weight training and then the cardio. That way my glycogen is depleted and the cardio will burn fat. But I'm confused because I also thought it was important to get glycogen reserves back into the muscles after working out, so one was to drink whey isolate or some other higher glycemic meal after working out. I don't know if this means to wait until after the cardio to eat the meal/drink the drink or do it in between, but then the whole point of doing the cardio after the weight work out is lost.

Maybe the answer is cardio only on non-weight days?

I appreciate your input. Thanks!!!

[Hibiscus09]

In my opinion, you should limit your lifting sessions to no longer than an hour each session. Do the cardio after you lift when your glycogen levels are depleted. Have your post workout nutrition (shake plus carbs, no fat) immediately following your cardio.

If you are moderately active (workout 5 times per week), to lose weight -- even given your current weight and body fat, you need approximately 1,676 to 1,781 calories according to the calculator to lose weight. If you are lightly active (workout 1 to 3 times per week) you would need 1,486 to 1,580 calories to lose weight. That is according to the Katch-McArdle formula which takes into account lean mass. While I understand right now your goal is to lose weight and gain lean mass, as time goes on and your weight drops closer to where you want to be, you will start paying more attention to body fat percentage than scale weight. For me 120lbs at 20% is a far cry visually from 120lbs at 15% (where I ideally like to be.)

I don't understand why you would need to cycle calories two weeks high, then two weeks low. I've read some of Rivera's stuff and I have one of his e-books, but not the Body Sculpting series. I believe it's titled, "Body Re-engineering." In the book I have, he recommends five days at lower calories and two days higher, I believe. It's been a while since I read it.

As a beginner, I think you'd be better served to just go with a set number of calories to begin with and not bother with cycling. That's just my humble opinion. If I were you, I'd slowly work my way up to around 1,780 to 1,800 calories -- you can increase by 100 calories each week until you get there. If you do the activity you have listed -- 3 days lifting with a trainer -- five days cardio. Trying doing cardio after you lift and on the other two days before breakfast.

You may balk at the calories per day, but your body needs it and if you stick to it a month or so and workout regularly, your metabolism will increase. Right now I think you've slowed it to a crawl and severely limiting your caloric intake is only going to make the matter worse. If it makes you feel better, when I begin my contest prep I had 2,100 calories and did not go over 129lbs and my lean mass was just a bit higher than yours -- so I promise, unless you have some sort of thyroid problem or something -- your body can handle it.

You need to pay attention to the kind of foods you eat. I've always thought "Body for Life" has a good list of foods from which one should optimally choose:

http://bodyforlife.com/nutrition/foodlist.asp

A good way to structure your meals is:

Four meals (not including post workout): Lean Protein/healthy carb/healthy fat

Post workout meal: Whey shake, higher glycemic carb, no fat

Last meal: Lean protein/fibrous vegetables/healthy fat

A 40/40/20 (percentage protein/carbs/fat) split is fine in the beginning. I prefer a little bit more fat in my nutrition and shoot for 40/30/30 (percentageprotein/carbs/fat). Right now I'm including running in my plan, so I'll shoot for 30/45/25 or something along those lines when I set up my plan beginning tomorrow.

If you want a good resource that is full of just about any information you could need, you should google Tom Venuto's, "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle." It's a great read, full of information. I think Venuto's approach is pretty reasonable and makes sense. I'm really glad I purchased that e-book and out of all the e-books, hardbacks, paperbacks I've made my way through -- a lot -- I think it is most useful and covers everything someone could want to know about exercise and nutrition.

If you try the above, you could check your progress after a month and see what kind of progress you are making, then use the calculator to input your new stats and find out what your caloric intake needs to be for the next couple of weeks and continue to tweak as you go along. You may find as you increase lean mass and get in better shape that you will be able to eat even more while losing weight and body fat.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck to you!

Oh, and while I'm just blabbering away in your new journal -- -- it's probably best to do a progressive cardio plan. If you want to do cardio five times a week, start with 5 times a week X 20 minutes, the next week do 25, the next 30 and continue until you get to 45 minutes. When you do pre-breakfast cardio go with lower intensity (perhaps 120bpm (heart beats per minute) and post workout, pick it up to 140 to 160bpm.

Other than all that -- make sure you hydrate -- I shoot for five 24oz. bottles of water a day and generally go over that.

Good luck. I'll shut up now.

[Seawren]

Wow Hibiscus09 thanks for all the great input!!! I really appreciate the time you took to write all this out. I have lot's to learn. I will also check out the e-book you mention.

I am on day 3 of clean eating and am really jazzed and motivated. Day 2 and 3 looked pretty similar to day 1. The Day 1 doesn't say it, but I do drink over 100 ounces of water a day so I'm good on the hydration. Last March I quit drinking diet cokes - I used to drink 12 a day!!! Now it's only water.

I am going to look at the info you gave me and see how to incorporate it into my plan. I'll be posting my progress. Thanks again!

[Seawren]

Day 3 - 1425 calories - all "clean"!!

[The_Warhammer]

Grats on your great start Sea!!!

Looks like you've got a great start and plan. Now it's just a matter of staying consistent and disciplined. Keep it up and DON'T cheat yourself. They say your biggest changes are realized outside the gym. Diet and rest are very important tools that you need to have in place as well.

Keep it up!

[unimoose]

Welcome to the journals! Listen to Hibby she definitely knows her stuff. Other than that be consistent in your efforts and you will see results. Do yourself a couple of favors. Keep in mind your scale is not always accurate. As much as you probably do not want to do it take a picture standing in front of a mirror in a pair of shorts and a sports bra or something. Then hide the pictures from yourself. About a month later take another set in the same clothes standing in the same place with as close to the same lighting as possible. That is where you will see the changes. Keep doing that every month and your continued progress will fuel your desire to do more.

[Seawren]

Warhammer - you are right. Consistency has been the bane of my dieting and exercising up until now. After I finished Day 1, which included my weight workout, my trainer told me I had just done the entire program - now I just needed to repeat it over and over (not literally the same, you know what I mean!). So here's to both of us "CONSISTENCY"!

Unimoose - I am reading your mind! I actually had my husband give me a tripod for my birthday (today) so that I could take pictures by myself. I've seen where people have taken pictures of themselves at a regular interval and then when they meet their goals, they have this fabulous record of their achievement. It's so encouraging to see pictures like that over a period of time. You are darn right about "hiding" it right now though! I don't even want to look at that picture!

Thanks to both of you for the good input.

[unimoose]

A lot of us have been in a very similar situation as you are. Feel free to ask questions and visit other's journals. There is a lot that you can learn here.

By the way, Happy belated Birthday!

[Seawren]

Thank you unimoose.

This forum and website is an awesome repository of great information. The posts, BodySpaces, pictures of everyone here - they are incredibly motivating. I've been reading some older posts, working my way through some of them. There's just so many dedicated people who have awesome physiques.

[Seawren]

Day 4 - off to a good start.

Meal 1 - ProLab Lean Mass Complex
Workout - Back and Chest (trainer changed from a 3X week full body circuit to a M-Back and Chest, Wednesday-Legs, Friday-Arms and shoulders with calfs/abs on M F)
Meal 2 Post workout - 2 "pancakes" (egg whites, cottage cheese, protein powder, oatmeal, olive oil) and 1/2 ProLab Lean Mass
Meal 3 - 3.5 ounces shrimp, 1/2 c. brown rice, 1/3 c. corn (wondering if this is too carby?)
Meal 4 1 pancake, syntha-6 protein drink

I took pictures like Unimoose suggested. Boy was that depressing.

Up until now I've done full body workouts. It's kind of weird today because my upper body feels very "worked out" while my legs are just "hanging out". I guess it will feel the opposite on Wednesday.

My workout was (probably not using the correct names so I apologize in advance)

Bench press 3 X 15 X 20 where 3 = number of sets, 15 = reps, 20 = weight
Seated Rows 3 X 15 X 25
Incline press DB 3 X 12 X 10 (in each hand)
Front Lat pull down 3 X 12 X 25
Chest press 3 X 12 X 10 (I think 10) (where you put your arms on vertical pads on either side of you and push your arms together with your chest doing the work)
"Lawn Mowers" 3 X 15 X 10 (you lean over and "pull" the DB up like you are starting a lawn mower - I don't know the official name)
Ball crunches 3 X 25
I think this was it.

I warmed up for 10 minutes on the treadmill @ 120bpm and then after did 15 minutes at 130bpm (incline 3 - 4, speed 2.5 - 2.8 - I can't go much faster yet).

So Day 4 is almost over. 206 more to go!

[The_Warhammer]

Way to go!!!

Don't worry too much about what the exercises are called, just that you're doing them. ;-)

If you're curious, bb.com has a really good database of the exercises that you can search and find out the real name for those exercises.

Keep up the great work!!!!

[unimoose]

Please feel free to call me Joe.

Nice job on the workout and the clean eating. The "lawnmowers" sound like Dumbbell Rows which is a great exercise! You may want to check with your trainer about your post workout cardio. Your body will burn more fat at a lower BPM while you will increase your cardio endurance at a higher BPM but burn less fat. I believe you want it around 70% for optimal fat burning.

As for the pictures, don't worry, if you keep going like you have been soon you'll be looking at them wondering who the person in them is!

[Seawren]

Thanks guys! I will study the database and ask what the names of the exercises are that I'm doing. I can't go around calling things "lawn mowers" forever!!!!

I'll have to figure out what 70% of my maximum is. I can't believe I'm only know learning to do the cardio after the weight workout! All those pre-weight workout cardios I did from May until August. About the time I would peter out, the fat burning must of been kicking in. No wonder I lost like 2 lbs the whole time. Of course the nightly ice cream cones didn't have ANYTHING to do with it, did it guys?!!!

Well, no nightly ice cream cones for me! Although after 4 weeks my trainer says I can have a cheat meal once a week. I wonder if 4 Ice Cream cones count as 1 cheat meal?

Oh well, Day 4 done, so I'll forget about Ice Cream for now and look towards Day 5!!

Again, thanks for the encouragement.

[The_Warhammer]

I'll have to figure out what 70% of my maximum is.

We were actually talking about this in the chat room the other night.

One way is to take 220 and subtract your age. That number is your 100% Heart Rate Maximum. You don't want to be there. You will start doing damage to your heart at 90-95%. So if you are 30 years old, 220-30=190. 70% of that would be 133.

Also, there's a method based on your resting heart rate. I don't know that off the top of my head, but I'm sure it can be found somewhere or someone on these boards might know off the top of their head.

Then this leads to perceived effort vs. just the number of beats per minute.

For me, I don't feel like I am truly working till I am at 165-170 BPM. Doing the math, at 39 years old, that puts me into that 90% and above range. I shouldn't be there according to the 90% rule, but I don't feel bad when I am there. I feel just fine. This was when I was big into cardio and would ride a bike or spin for several hours at a time. Now, with lifting, I think I need to change how I think about heart rate.

They say you should strive for a level of exertion where you are JUST having difficulty carrying on a conversation. I've never tracked where my heart rate is when that is going on. Maybe something to look into in the future.

Good luck and keep up the GREAT work!

[Seawren]

We were actually talking about this in the chat room the other night.

One way is to take 220 and subtract your age. That number is your 100% Heart Rate Maximum. You don't want to be there. You will start doing damage to your heart at 90-95%. So if you are 30 years old, 220-30=190. 70% of that would be 133.

Also, there's a method based on your resting heart rate. I don't know that off the top of my head, but I'm sure it can be found somewhere or someone on these boards might know off the top of their head.

Then this leads to perceived effort vs. just the number of beats per minute.

For me, I don't feel like I am truly working till I am at 165-170 BPM. Doing the math, at 39 years old, that puts me into that 90% and above range. I shouldn't be there according to the 90% rule, but I don't feel bad when I am there. I feel just fine. This was when I was big into cardio and would ride a bike or spin for several hours at a time. Now, with lifting, I think I need to change how I think about heart rate.

They say you should strive for a level of exertion where you are JUST having difficulty carrying on a conversation. I've never tracked where my heart rate is when that is going on. Maybe something to look into in the future.

Good luck and keep up the GREAT work!

Great info. I am always seeing what my HR is when I do the treadmill, but I wasn't sure where it was SUPPOSED to be. Based on this formula, I am 53 years old (how DID that happen?) so 220 - 53 = 167

At 70% it is 117 which is fairly easy for me to get to.
At 75% it is 126 which is about what I'm at in a "reasonable" varied in speed and incline workout.
At 80% it is 134 which is when I'm really "zoning" if I have energy and I am listening to Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" which I love.
At 85% it is 142 and I am definately "working the treadmill".

I haven't gone any higher than mid-140's. I'd probably keel over if I did.

This is good info to have. I'll have to talk to my trainer about this. So far he's just said "Go and doeth thy cardio" but hasn't given me too much input on acutally doing it. A nutritionist/trainer who works for my doctor husband (I have the cobler's children syndrome - a husband who helps other people get in shape while I flounder - of course he says I'm a "compliance problem"!!!!) put together the treadmill routine so it has high intensity intervals built in with matching music.

Thanks Warhammer!!

Well, I should get off to bed or my body won't "recup" and make those lovely growth hormone's its supposed to make!

Hope all is well in your neck of the world. (Mixed metaphors - oh well)

[Seawren]

Quote from Hibbiscus09 "If you want a good resource that is full of just about any information you could need, you should google Tom Venuto's, "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle." It's a great read, full of information. I think Venuto's approach is pretty reasonable and makes sense. I'm really glad I purchased that e-book and out of all the e-books, hardbacks, paperbacks I've made my way through -- a lot -- I think it is most useful and covers everything someone could want to know about exercise and nutrition."

Hibiscus09 - I bought the ebook and now have it (and the 5!! free downloads for ordering the book!! now!! (LOL - I love well written copy it SO makes you feel you are getting all kinds of stuff for such a great price)). I am going to print it out and start on it tonight.

I think you are right on the calories. I am at 1500 right now and trying to get to 1200 is not sounding possible. I think it is probably hard to grow muscle AND lose fat all at the same time, but my expectations are not to look like a BB at this point. I just need SOME muscle (I always think of my self as gumby, although gumby is pretty skinny so I guess I am currently an overweight gumby!).

Thanks again for your great advice. I really welcome all the input so drop in often!!

P.S. How do I make the quote show up in the blue box? I know how to quote an entire post (press the quote reply option) but I don't know how to "quote" a partial post. Thanks.

[Hibiscus09]

You're welcome.

You can cut and paste the partial quote and put beginning and ending quote tags --

beginning = [quote]

ending = same thing, but with a / sign in front of quote. You (obviously) place them at the beginning and end of what you want to quote. If you want to attribute the quote to the writer, the beginning tag would be [quote=hibiscus09] or whomever you're quoting. You can even have fun with it and use things like [quote=Diane] or [quote=blabbermouth] -- !

Alternatively, you can just quote the entire passage with the quote button and delete the part(s) you don't want to include.

I love that ebook. It's a lot to print, but I prefer having a printed copy also.

Here's another exercise directory:

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html


LOL -- I'd better quit supplying info or your head will explode.

Happy Tuesday!!

[Seawren]

Day 5

Off day. I will do 30 minutes of cardio. When I woke up at 7AM this morning would have been a great time to do it, but I turned over and went back to sleep! My bad.

Meal 1 - Syntha-6 protein/carb shake and 2 Oatmeal, cottage cheese, egg white, protein powder pancakes at 10AM

Meal 2 - 2 of above pancakes at 1:15PM

Cardio

Meal 3 - 4:15 Protein Meal Replacement Shake 40/40/20 (ProLab)

Meal 4 plan - 7:00 Protein, fibrous carb X 2, fat

During the day I drink water with a scoop of Beverly International Glutamine with BCAA (I think that's what it's called). I just like the taste.

[Hibiscus09]

I like that Beverly product also. Another good BCAA product is Xtend -- I get the watermelon and love the taste.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/sv/xtend.html

[Seawren]

LOL -- I'd better quite supplying info or your head will explode.

Happy Tuesday!!

Splat, splat, splatter.....

Now, how do I get the cool icons? I only know to use the two dots (that would be a colon to an english major and the half paragraph to get the smiley, but I don't know how to get the grins, etc!

[Hibiscus09]

LOL -- you have to use:

quote= in your beginning tag

and you forgot the / before quote in the ending tag.

[Seawren]

Day 5

Off day. I will do 30 minutes of cardio. When I woke up at 7AM this morning would have been a great time to do it, but I turned over and went back to sleep! My bad.

Meal 1 - Syntha-6 protein/carb shake and 2 Oatmeal, cottage cheese, egg white, protein powder pancakes at 10AM

Meal 2 plan - 2 of above pancakes at 1:15PM

Meal 3 plan - 4:15 Protein Meal Replacement Shake 40/40/20 (ProLab)

Cardio

Meal 4 plan - 7:00 Protein, fibrous carb X 2, fat

During the day I drink water with a scoop of Beverly International Glutamine with BCAA (I think that's what it's called). I just like the taste.

I like that Beverly product also. Another good BCAA product is Xtend -- I get the watermelon and love the taste.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/sv/xtend.html

They have WATERMELON! Awesome, my husband bought it for his clients (he's a physician focused on anti-aging based on the biomarkers of aging (muscle mass being one of them).

I will have to check out what they have!

[Hibiscus09]

Here's the smilies:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/misc.php?do=showsmilies

You can find info about forum usage under the FAQ section which is at the top of the page where you see "UserCP", "FAQ", etc.

[Hibiscus09]

They have WATERMELON! Awesome, my husband bought it for his clients (he's a physician focused on anti-aging based on the biomarkers of aging (muscle mass being one of them).

Please send your husband in my direction. I need some anti-aging information/help.

[Seawren]

Please send your husband in my direction. I need some anti-aging information/help.

Oh yeah, I'm getting it now, I can quote and do icons!!!

Thanks Hibiscus09!!!!!!

[Seawren]

I am tired today. I had to take my 13 y.o. son to the doctors and we had to wait in a little 5'X5' examination room for what seemed like an hour. My son thought the doctors rolling stool was cool and was rolling around on it bouncing off the walls (literally). It gave me a headache. I did still make it to the gym though where the treadmill was taken (I go to Fitness Together which is a 1 on 1 training place, but they let me come in on off days to do cardio, which usually they don't do and they don't have a lot of cardio machines because there isn't ever supposed to be more than 3 people in there at a time) so I had to use the recumbent bicycle which I like less. Still I did 30 minutes and stayed in the 120bpm range.

I'm dragging myself here through the rest of the day, but at least I've almost made it through Day 5!!!

I have legs to look forward to tomorrow. I haven't done real squats yet. Only "pause squats" at a bar (hold onto bar in front of you and squat) or ball squats or leg presses. I'm sure the real things are lurking somewhere in the future. Maybe tomorrow. Or maybe not!!!

I've only had 977 calories thus far (6:30) so maybe that's why I'm not feeling great.