Make sure that you ice those sore parts as you get them. This is something my trainer makes me do and it always helps. About 20 min is all you need a night until it isn't sore anymore. The knee thing sounds almost like an IT Band being a bit tight. If it persists you may want to foam roll that sucker. It hurts like hell to do it but that is the only way I know to make the IT band be good.
Nice workouts btw and I see your cals are up a bit. Do you feel better now?
My garden is awaiting me LOL. The weather has been so beautiful it is nice to get out into the fresh air.
Good job. Your menus always look so good!
I understand we're going to get a rainy cold snap next week (ie. back to seasonal). We've been so spoiled with the beautiful weather so far. The cherry trees started blooming yesterday so I'm hoping that the cold snap won't be so cold as to affect the bloom or the fruit. We have a pussy willow (well trimmed into a bush) in the yard to attract early bees. It's done its job so pollination shouldn't be a problem.
The good thing is that I like to cook, so I can change things around. The bad thing is that I batch cook and sometimes get tired of things before I'm out of them. With enough variety it's not too bad though. I've got some soups left for lunch which I need to use up, and then I'm going to work on better lunches. Right now I break down and buy cooked meats from Costco. They're not bad as lunch meats go, but they're just not that tasty. I just looked at my list, and yes, I've got 26 portions of soup, so I've got a month before I need to worry about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kfisherx
Make sure that you ice those sore parts as you get them. This is something my trainer makes me do and it always helps. About 20 min is all you need a night until it isn't sore anymore. The knee thing sounds almost like an IT Band being a bit tight. If it persists you may want to foam roll that sucker. It hurts like hell to do it but that is the only way I know to make the IT band be good.
Nice workouts btw and I see your cals are up a bit. Do you feel better now?
Most of the soreness comes later, at which point I tend to use heat. I'll try ice though. I took a quick look online, and you're right, the pain behind my knee earlier was likely IT Band. It's gone though, now I'm just left with the usual nagging pain on the one knee. I make it sound worse than it is. I suspect it's more of a result of carrying around way too much weight for decades. It's actually better than it used to be, so I'm hoping that when the rest of the weight is gone that it will be better. It's the type of thing that bothers me at the end of the day, but is almost nonexistent in the morning.
I bought my mother a foam roller recently, so I might steal it back and try it. She's 80, and pretty active (although finally I can outwalk her speed-wise, but probably not endurance), but complains a lot about random pains. She's quite impressed by the roller (I called it an early Mother's Day gift), and uses it daily.
The energy levels are better, so for now I'll keep the food levels where they are. I'll have to balance it with the weight loss though, as I'm way to early in my weight loss to let it slow down too much. I'll give it another couple of weeks and see how it affects both energy and weight loss. Thanks.
Now... to the treadmill. I've pushed off the baking until tomorrow, but I still have a couple of things I'd like to do in the garden. It does look like rain isn't too far off, so I may end up cutting 30-mins out of the treadmill this morning. I can always do it tomorrow if I need to.
I did 30 mins on the treadmill, and blew off the 2nd set to go work outside. For my troubles I got rained on, and didn't get my work in the yard completed either. So, I did some prep stuff for my baking and had an early lunch. I'll probably throw in the missed 30 mins tomorrow morning. In the afternoon I did a 15-min warm-up on the treadmill, followed by:
Followed with another 15 mins on the treadmill. Today the problem with the squat was getting that 65lbs over my head to start the squat. I've found a very inelegant way to get the bar down after though. And no, I don't mean dropping it. I thought I might get all the push-ups done on my toes, but I had to split the last set. I have one more shot next week so we'll see how that goes. It won't be until the week after that I'll do the AMRAPs, but I'm thinking about what weights to use. If I remember, the book suggests going back to starting weights, but I think for some it just doesn't make sense. ie. I started with bodyweight squats, so that wouldn't really tell me anything. Same thing with push-ups (started with 60-degree). The truly sad thing is that I'll be lucky to do 15 of the prone jackknife although I did manage all three sets of 15 today without falling off once.
I also got some of my planned baking for tomorrow done today. Yes, more mini loaves from that damn Amish starter. Today it was pecan/raisin and pecan/chocolate (used cocoa powder) with two of the pecan/raisin ones going away tomorrow. Although that leaves me with 8 now in the freezer. The chocolate one probably could have used some sugar, but toasted with a little jam on it should work. So tomorrow it's maybe just a little more of the cracked wheat oatmeal bread and that should keep me going for a little while. If the weather is nice I likely won't be doing any baking but so far the weather report is poor. Might as well do the baking on a poor day and spend the nicer ones outside.
Also, after talking about maybe doing my own cooking for my lunch meat the local grocery store has two good specials this week. So, glutton for punishment that I am, I might go shopping tomorrow or Sunday and have a shot at some lunch roast meats (turkey / beef). I am slightly nuts. However, I know that once the weather gets nicer it will be better to have things put away since I won't feel like cooking much. We tend to go pretty fast to summer here sometimes. Most of the daffodils are out, the tulips are starting, and the cherry tree is in bloom. The cherry tree is at least a couple of weeks early. Here it's a May blooming tree.
That's enough rambling for the evening.
From the HRM:
Exercise
Time
Cals
Max HR
Avg HR
Max %
Avg %
Treadmill
0:30:00
310
172
138
97
78
Strength Training
1:00:00
620
155
139
87
78
Totals
1:30:00
930
Food for the day:
Food: 2816 (33% fat, 36% carbs, 30% protein)
Breakfast: egg white/egg omelet with cheese, pecan cherry bread, jam, grapefruit (474)
AM Snack: almonds (164)
Lunch: 2 whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked turkey, cheese, apple (528)
PM Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, soy nuts, tiny piece of chocolate pecan bread (475)
Dinner: hamburgers (2), whole wheat roll (1), condiments, salad w/dressing (867)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (309)
The evening meal was supposed to just be the shrimp and the snow peas, but sometime in the late afternoon I decided it needed a little pasta with it. So I dropped part of my afternoon snack and added that pasta. It’s funny, but I added 2 oz for two servings and it really was enough. So I actually ended up a little light on calories for the day so I added an apple to my evening snack. That’s what I like about FitDay (the PC version). I can copy/paste things in and planning the day’s meals are quick and easy. I took a few minutes and planned tomorrow’s meals (even though I haven’t had the last of my snack today). And like today, a last minute change can be quickly figured out.
I know, I know, I should be able to do these things without the software. I’m willing to admit that I need the software. It keeps me on track, and that’s a good thing. I’ve also decided not to work on the new lunches until I’m closer to having the soups used up. I also think it’s probably a good idea to make sure I have room in the freezer for things that I purchase, so I think I’ll let it empty out for a bit first. I didn’t do the baking today either for the same reason. There’s lots of the small sweet breads for breakfast, as well as a half loaf of the cracked wheat oatmeal bread. It can wait until next weekend (at least).
Also, the last boysenberry clump is out. Hooray! I’ll send them off to their new home tomorrow. I tied up the ones we’re keeping today, as well as the raspberries. I also took great big hunks off the grape vine even though it’s not the best time to prune it. It was in three feet of snow when I wanted to do it and it was just far to overgrown to leave. When I was finished the male cardinal came down and sat on the vine and chirped at me. I think he was concerned. The cardinals sometimes get more grapes than we do. I think it was a couple of years ago, but I was checking the fruit and found the mother cardinal in the vine with the baby. It was like ’see, here’s the yummy fruit we can eat in a week or so’. And I found the gooseberry bush behind the boysenberries. It’s actually in pretty good shape, although I need to go look out my pruning book and prune it back. It’s been fighting for survival and it’s huge, so I’ll likely trim it back. Since we don’t plan to put much into the bed that was cleaned out I suspect we’ll add another gooseberry bush.
From the HRM (just showing that I did make up my 30 mins from yesterday):
Exercise
Time
Cals
Max HR
Avg HR
Max %
Avg %
Treadmill
0:30:00
296
147
135
83
76
Food for the day:
Food: 2412 (31% fat, 37% carbs, 30% protein)
Breakfast: egg white/egg omelet with cheese, pecan cherry bread, jam, grapefruit (476)
AM Snack: almonds (164)
Lunch: onion soup with whole wheat baguette and cheese, smoked turkey, apple (563)
PM Snack: soy nuts (134)
Dinner: shrimp with citrus/wine sauce, snow peas, whole wheat pasta, salad w/dressing (692)
Late Snack: protein shake, apple, fruit salad, biscotti (383)
It looks like you are doing well! I love reading about your garden and baking too.
It's funny because I've quite often defined myself by my job. Now that I'm not working I seem to have become domestic. Although to be fair I always cooking, baking and gardening. It's just now that plus my exercising is my entire focus.
Not that this is a bad thing. In the fall when I'm in school I suppose I'll miss the freedom of letting my exercise routine determine my schedule.
I was posting these elsewhere for someone and thought I'd add them here. I know I managed to link in pictures from Flickr before, so we'll see if I remember. These were all taken today. You can click on any of the pictures to see a bigger version if you wish.
The cherry tree:
The daffodils in the back:
The side border in the front with mainly daffodils, but a few tulips coming:
And my favourite - snake head lily (fritillaria meleagris):
Thanks ladies. As it happens it was a lovely day. Our weather has been so nice, but tomorrow it's going to stop. Back to cold and rainy weather. This is our usual weather at this time of year.
Oh, and about the chocolate loaves. Each loaf is about 9.6 ounces (I divide the raw dough by weight so they do end up at about the same after) and I cut them into 8 or 9 slices. Each slice ends up being 83 calories, although I usually weigh them and add them to my log that way. It's a nice little touch of sweet some mornings with a little homemade jam. It's all about finding things I enjoy eating, since if I don't I'll likely not stick it.
Today was a nice sunny day (our last warm one for at least a week). Finished cleaning up the few small tasks in the back yard. Now it's just a case of prepping the pots for planting. Although that won't happen for close to a month so it's not a big rush. So I suppose I should do some dusting and cleaning this week.
Food for the day:
Food: 2384 (29% fat, 35% carbs, 35% protein)
Breakfast: protein shake, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, peanut butter, jam, grapefruit (409)
AM Snack: almonds (164)
Lunch: beef mushroom barley soup, smoked turkey, apple (400)
PM Snack: soy nuts, cheese spread with rice crackers (313)
Dinner: sirloin steak, corn, snow peas, butter, salad w/dressing (727)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (370)
It was one of those gray miserable mornings which made it hard to get moving. I did some walk/jog intervals in 3×20 min sets. In the afternoon I did a 15-min warm-up on the treadmill, followed by:
Followed by another 15 mins on the treadmill. That 30lb dumbbell shoulder press was the tough one today. I don’t think much else went on. I was really just in the mood to climb back into bed and not do anything this morning, but I didn’t. The weather was cold and miserable in the afternoon so we skipped the swim today.
From the HRM today:
Exercise
Time
Cals
Max HR
Avg HR
Max %
Avg %
Treadmill
0:20:00
200
145
137
81
77
Treadmill
0:20:00
212
150
141
84
79
Treadmill
0:20:00
216
150
142
84
80
Strength Training
1:00:00
584
150
134
84
75
Totals
2:00:00
1212
Food for the day:
Food: 2804 (27% fat, 37% carbs, 33% protein)
Breakfast: egg/egg white omelet, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, grapefruit (450)
AM Snack: protein shake, almonds (299)
Lunch: lentil soup, smoked turkey, apple (431)
PM Snack: soy nuts, protein shake, fruit salad (465)
Dinner: szechwan beef with stir-fried veg, rice, salad w/dressing (685)
Late Snack: protein shake, apple, fruit salad, biscotti (474)
It was a quite, kind of lazy day today. My energy level is fine, but I was in a 'don't feel like doing anything' mood. I did my treadmill time but little else. I think it’s the sudden change in the weather back to cold and icky out. It’s probably a good thing that it’s to be warmer at least by the end of the week. Hmmm… can’t think of much else to say, so I suppose that’s it for me tonight.
From the HRM today:
Exercise
Time
Cals
Max HR
Avg HR
Max %
Avg %
Treadmill
0:30:00
290
144
133
81
75
Treadmill
0:30:00
296
145
135
81
76
Treadmill
0:30:00
316
150
140
84
79
Totals
1:30:00
902
Food for the day:
Food: 2403 (27% fat, 39% carbs, 32% protein)
Breakfast: pecan cherry bread, jam, grapefruit (289)
AM Snack: almonds, protein shake (299)
Lunch: mixed bean soup with parmesan, smoked turkey, apple (408)
PM Snack: protein shake, cheese spread with rice crisps (360)
Dinner: szechwan beef with snow peas, rice, salad w/dressing (700)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (348)
I did 2×30 mins on the treadmill in the morning. I got stupid in the afternoon and got talked into taking my afternoon swim before doing my lifting. This was a bad idea. Since I’d just put the heart rate monitor on I, of course, did laps instead of the nice gentle swim I’d have done afterwards. At 15-mins I finally stopped and decided that if I did anymore I’d be toast for the lifting. I was still toast though, and completely beat by the time I finished. I did a 15-min warm-up on the treadmill, followed by:
Followed with another 15 mins on the treadmill. I’m still struggling a lot with getting the bar on to my back for the squats, but managed to make it. And since I’m slightly nuts I made it a point to do all the push-ups on my toes. So all of these things combined have left me completely shot (and it’s only 9pm). So no question that it will be an early night tonight! This was my last A workout, so it's AMRAPs next Monday for this one.
From the HRM:
Exercise
Time
Cals
Max HR
Avg HR
Max %
Avg %
Treadmill
0:30:00
290
142
134
80
75
Treadmill
0:30:00
314
158
139
89
78
Swimming
0:15:00
138
144
133
84
75
Strength Training
1:00:00
628
161
140
90
79
Totals
2:15:00
1370
Food for the day:
Food: 2793 (27% fat, 36% carbs, 35% protein)
Breakfast: egg white/egg omelet with cheese, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, grapefruit (576)
AM Snack: almonds, protein shake (344)
Lunch: beef mushroom barley soup, smoked back bacon, apple (421)
PM Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, soy nuts (465)
Dinner: pork vindaloo, broccoli, butter, salad w/dressing (563)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad, biscotti (425)
I don't know why but this afternoon I descended into a big depressed, crying, feeling sorry for myself, mess. It was nothing anyone said, it was just me, and my reaction to where I am in my weight loss. It started with the discussion of progress, ended with me once again looking at the so-called progress pics I have. And ended with me just feeling freakin' sorry for myself. I don't know why, but even my progress is depressing me today. Not on how far I've come, but on how far I have to go. And maybe a little because I was here before (just about 100 lbs down) and let it get out of control. Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to drown my sorrows in (fill in your poison). I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed in general. It will pass.
I also think that next week after I've finished my AMRAPs I'm going to lay off on some (if not all) of the cardio while I'm taking my rest week. I'll cut my calories back, but I think I'm feeling a little burned out. And that's not even the right word. I think I just need a short controlled break. Not an out of control eating one, but a planned one with appropriate food intake. Since I was going to do the week off between Stage 1 and 2, it seemed like a decent time to do it.
From the HRM:
Exercise
Time
Cals
Max HR
Avg HR
Max %
Avg %
Treadmill
0:30:00
285
151
132
85
74
Treadmill
0:30:00
302
150
138
84
78
Treadmill
0:30:00
312
156
140
88
79
Totals
1:30:00
899
Food for the day:
Food: 2398 (28% fat, 36% carbs, 35% protein)
Breakfast: eggs poached in salsa, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, grapefruit (336)
AM Snack: almonds, protein shake (254)
Lunch: spicy bean soup with parmesan, smoked back bacon, apple (429)
PM Snack: soy nuts, protein shake (314)
Dinner: salsa chicken with corn and white beans, cheese, broccoli, salad w/dressing (710)
Late Snack: protein shake, grapes (356)
Anne, I'm planning on taking a rest week, too. I think I'll go with light cardio because my Walk Away the Pounds dvds are real stress busters for me. My husband will be out of town all week, so the little girls and I will eat simply with no heavy duty meal prep - lots of fruits and veggies. I'm looking forward to the break. Get plenty of rest tonight...tomorrow is a new day!!
I don't know why but this afternoon I descended into a big depressed, crying, feeling sorry for myself, mess. It was nothing anyone said, it was just me, and my reaction to where I am in my weight loss. It started with the discussion of progress, ended with me once again looking at the so-called progress pics I have. And ended with me just feeling freakin' sorry for myself. I don't know why, but even my progress is depressing me today. Not on how far I've come, but on how far I have to go. And maybe a little because I was here before (just about 100 lbs down) and let it get out of control. Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to drown my sorrows in (fill in your poison). I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed in general. It will pass.
I also think that next week after I've finished my AMRAPs I'm going to lay off on some (if not all) of the cardio while I'm taking my rest week. I'll cut my calories back, but I think I'm feeling a little burned out. And that's not even the right word. I think I just need a short controlled break. Not an out of control eating one, but a planned one with appropriate food intake. Since I was going to do the week off between Stage 1 and 2, it seemed like a decent time to do it.
I think the week off is a good idea... having a "down" day and feeling frustrated can be signs of exhaustion too, right? But for what it's worth... hugs and warm fuzzy thoughts coming your way (well, what other kind of thoughts would a hamster have? )
Our light rain all day was followed by heavier rain in the afternoon. And I see now that it's back to heavy rain again. Oh well, at least it's not snow. I had to push, but I managed to do my 2 30-min treadmill sessions this morning. In the afternoon I did a 15-min warm-up on the treadmill, followed by:
Followed by another 15 mins on the treadmill, which again, I really didn't want to finish. The pullovers were the killer, although come to think of it, the shoulder presses weren't that easy either. I suspect I'm not at my top possible weight for the deadlift. I may play with that a little next week during the AMRAPs, just to see if I can go higher for even a rep or two.
Other than that, really not much going on again today. I'll definitely be taking a week off after Wed., and possibly cut the cardio back a little once I'm back. I remind myself that I originally started doing it simply to combat a fairly sedentary lifestyle. As the summer comes I will be outside more, and working around the yard more, and I'm finding it harder to do those things with the cardio. I suspect I'll drop the calories a little at the same time.
From the HRM today:
Exercise
Time
Cals
Max HR
Avg HR
Max %
Avg %
Treadmill
0:30:00
288
150
132
84
74
Treadmill
0:30:00
314
160
140
90
79
Strength Training
1:00:00
636
163
140
92
79
Totals
2:00:00
1238
Food for the day:
Food: 2798 (33% fat, 36% carbs, 30% protein)
Breakfast: egg white/egg omelet with cheese, pecan cherry bread, jam, grapefruit (587)
AM Snack: almonds (164)
Lunch: lentil soup, smoked ham, apple (444)
PM Snack: protein shake with cherries, soy nuts (395)
Dinner: homemade hamburgers(2), bbq onions, broccoli, butter, salad w/dressing (828)
Late Snack: protein shake, grapes, biscotti (379)
Anne, I'm planning on taking a rest week, too. I think I'll go with light cardio because my Walk Away the Pounds dvds are real stress busters for me. My husband will be out of town all week, so the little girls and I will eat simply with no heavy duty meal prep - lots of fruits and veggies. I'm looking forward to the break. Get plenty of rest tonight...tomorrow is a new day!!
I'm looking forward to my mother's trip to Ottawa in a couple of weeks. I tried to get her to visit Scotland (UK) this spring, but the trip will be in the fall. I really can't complain as she will eat whatever I make for her. I can make it as simple or complicated as I choose. I have the 5-mile walk DVD, although I've never made it through. I bought it just before I started NROL4W, so maybe I'll try it during my break (just a little though).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bytsi
I think the week off is a good idea... having a "down" day and feeling frustrated can be signs of exhaustion too, right? But for what it's worth... hugs and warm fuzzy thoughts coming your way (well, what other kind of thoughts would a hamster have? )
I do think there's a tiny bit of burn-out, but some of it is emotional as well. It's about hitting a milestone (100 down, or under 300 - within 7 pounds of each other) and recognizing that I'm not even where I was 3 years ago. Of course I also remember that I under-ate for the level of activity I was doing, and it had a horrible end. I seem to be an all or nothing kind of gal. I hope to play around with food and cardio levels a little once I'm off the break. I recognized that sometimes I'm just trying to get my heart rate up during this so-called 'walk for exercise' so the cals burned will be higher. I think knowing what actual level I was exercising at though was a good thing overall.
So after Wed it will be a regrouping before I start Stage 2.
Havn't been able to check out everyones logs lately but I am glad to see you are still coming along!
I'm really bad when it comes to that. I read a number of them pretty much daily. I don't comment much (bad me), but I don't often have much to say. Well, not much that would be useful.
Oh well, it's a depressing rainy day here. I think it's pretty much rained all day. Sometimes it's light rain, other times it's heavy rain. I haven't done much in the way of housework. I'm using sore muscles as an excuse, but it's not really a good one. I did do some baking though.
That's cracked wheat oatmeal bread on the left (although well cooked, I think next time I'll try a higher temperature to get a better looking exterior). And that's one of 12-1/2 whole wheat mini pizza shells I made. I know, I don't really know why. I ended up tossing the first one though (came apart while lifting it out of the oven). I did end up with one mini-mini shell at the end though. And so, my afternoon snack was born - the 147 cal pizza!
Oh, did I mention that plate it's on is just about 7" side to side...
Although the full-sized shell worked out to 134 cals, which with some tomato sauce (I had it, just didn't open the jar yet), meat, and keeping the cheese to a minimum, will make a nice lunch every now and then.
Oh look, the heavy driving rain is down to a nice light rain.
and I just realized that your first name and my middle name are the same
It sounds like you need a break.
Oh and hi!
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
and I just realized that your first name and my middle name are the same
It sounds like you need a break.
Oh and hi!
Hello yourself. I've lurked on your log a little. I'm not sure if I've posted there or not though. The breads are good, and it's all about portions. I don't take sandwiches, so it's just a small piece a breakfast with jam or perhaps peanut butter. The only real challenge today was to not take any bread when warm (a dangerous time for tasting). The two loaves and the pizza shells are now in the freezer, although I just decided I would have one of the shells tomorrow for lunch.
And yes, I do think I need a break. 24-hours into a rest day and I still kind of feel like truck ran over me. I think I'll survive though. I'm actually beginning to think that the weather is affecting me a fair bit. My sinuses are acting up the last couple of days as well, which probably doesn't help either.
Breakfast: egg white/egg omelet with cheese, pecan cherry bread, jam, grapefruit (507)
AM Snack: almonds, protein shake (254)
Lunch: onion soup with baguette and cheese, smoked ham, apple (529)
PM Snack: protein shake, very small whole wheat pizza with mustard/ham/cheese (282)
Dinner: pork souvlaki, broccoli, butter, salad w/dressing (505)
Late Snack: protein shake, grapes (336)
I'm using my 4-wk report as a template. I think for a little while I'll do this every 4 weeks. I've completed all the workouts for Stage 1 (did 12 instead of 8 each) so I just have the AMRAPs to do next week. I'll start with the most convenient way of measuring.
Starting Weight: 325.4
Week 4: 317.0 (-8.4) Week 8: 309.6 (-7.4)
Total: (-15.8) Although there's a pound difference I don't consider that significant at the moment. Unless it changes drastically (to a lot less) I'm not concerned.
The measurements - I did find the ones I took on day one, so I'm going to show the change to them as well. For now, I'm just going to compare the three.
Again, maybe when I'm further along I'll feel like sharing the actual numbers, but not today.
Because of my current weight I specifically am not eating to maintenance. I know because of that I may not see the intended results of the program, however, I think losing weight is still my primary goal for overall health. I started TNROL4W to simply give me more structure for working with weights. The workouts definitely push my comfort level, which they were meant to do. (I didn't change this from last time.)
For the weights I used in Stage 1 I really wasn't sure what I could lift comfortably and what was a push. So, below are the start and finish weights used with a few comments:
Barbell Squat: BW to 70lbs
These have definitely become progressively harder. In my mind I should be able to do heavier with these. I'm almost 100lbs lighter than my top weight, so I should be able to go to at least 100lbs. Although, I definitely wasn't doing squats at my top weight. Without a rack though, I'm finding it harder to get the bar into place to start the squats.
Push-up: 60-degree to full push-ups (toes)
I had actually done push-ups on my toes before, just not with other harder exercises in between. I started with 60-degree, and did move to 45-degree. However, at 30-degree I just couldn't find a comfortable option in the room I'm working out in so I went to floor push-ups. I did a mix of knees and toes, although I did manage to do 3x8 full push-ups at the end. My form is pretty bad, and I struggle a lot, so these definitely need more work before I consider this a true improvement.
Bent-over Row: 10 to 70lbs
I definitely felt the 70lbs the other day, but I think I could do more on these.
Step-up: 6" step with BW to 9" step with 22e dumbbells
I need to work on a higher step, but not so sure that my one knee will take it. If they show up again in a future stage I do have a 12" option that I will try working on.
Prone Jackknife: 8 to 15 reps
I still hate these. I can generally do at least two of the sets without falling off, however, I still have days where the second set defeats me. Don't get me wrong, I continue and finish the reps, but I feel I should be better on these.
Deadlift: 15 to 75lbs I know I can go higher on these. 75lbs was the max with the weight set I started with, however, I have bought 2x25lb plates. I suspect that I could maybe even lift the 125 lbs now, just not for the 8 reps. When I do the AMRAPs for this I may try it at the end just to see. Of course at that point I might be too tired, so maybe another day.
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 5e to 32e
I'm pretty sure this is why my shoulders and neck are still sore today from Friday's session. I think at the moment that the 32lbs is just a little too heavy for me. I mean, I did it, but boy do I hurt.
Pullover: 5e to 25e
This is probably the weakest of the exercises for me. At 17.5lbs I actually dropped the weights a couple of times. I almost did this again during the last set on Friday. I suspect if I were doing a Pulldown I might be able to do more, but this motion still feels like I'm not doing it well.
Lunge: BW to 27.5e
It's strange, but I find these easier to do with weights than without. I suspect it's a balance thing. I did find my grip was the hard part with these on Friday. I suspect it was because it was the last few exercises, but I had a little pain in one hand holding the weights. I still think my form is questionable but I suspect I need to lose more weight before it will get better.
Swiss-ball Crunch: 8 to 15 reps
Except for the fact that I still have balance issues on the ball, I don't find these as hard as I think I should. This could mean that I'm not doing them correctly though.
So, that just leaves the basic questions from the book....
Did you gain weight, lose weight, or stay the same?
Lost weight.
Do your clothes feel loose, or are they tighter?
This is a tough one, since I've tended to loose fitting, elastic waisted items. I did switch to the smaller sized bottoms before starting and they aren't as tight in the waist and hips, but probably a little tighter on the upper legs. (Same answer as 4 weeks ago)
Do you see any differences when you look in the mirror?
No, but this doesn't surprise me. Overall, being down 48 pounds or so since December I only see changes in my face. This is not a surprise, since I know there have been other changes, I just don't see them. (Same answer as 4 weeks ago)
How do you feel? Energized or tired?
This one has changed from 4 weeks ago. Definitely more tired, just in the last week or so. I'm not sure that this is lifting or the back and forth changes in the weather. My allergies are acting up a fair bit, so this could be a factor as well.
How are your workouts going? ...
Honestly, I didn't feel that my heart was in the last two workouts this week. I'm pretty much the same with the treadmill. It became a chore this last week, which it usually isn't. Don't get me wrong, I don't usually enjoy the treadmill - well, actually I usually do. Maybe not before, but during and after I usually do feel better.
How are you sleeping at night? ...
As usual, mixed between decent nights and bad nights. This isn't a change though. I've never been a good sleeper (neither is my mother). We often joke it's a family trait. I'd mark this one as nothing changed. (Same as 4 weeks ago)
Has your menstrual cycle changed?
Not really, although a little later and a little lighter than usual.
I think a rest week is a good idea. I've decided that I'll cut calories a bit at the same time and drop the treadmill for a week as well. Although I will likely try and do 30 mins of laps in the pool daily just to improve my stamina with the laps. I was considering dropping the AMRAPs, but I really would like to do them. I'll do the A set Monday and see how I feel.
I do see some strength gains in everyday things, when I try lifting something that might have given me trouble a couple of months ago. Even the other night, lifting the dumbbells from the fireplace (lit the fire). Moving them complete (50lbs) didn't feel as hard as the day I brought them home.
)
Linear Mode
