The Year of Magical Lifting

[L'ilJ]

Originally Posted by Egham

Before I retired and started my own consulting practice, I traveled about 3/4 of the time and when I was actually in the office, it was frequently difficult to get much of anything done because people kept "having" to see me, others wanted to just BS, the endless staff and other meetings that consumed valuable time while providing little return....... If I really had to focus to get something done, I'd have to stay home and do it. Fortunately, my supervisor did understand.

This is me right now. When not traveling, I work in the office 3 days a week and at home 2 days a week. Those 3 days in the office are consumed with meetings and people sitting in my office. It's worth it to see my staff though. I need to have that face time so they can get a chance to talk to me. The two days I work at home (and the weekends unfortunately) are when I get the bulk of my "work" done.

[Egham]

Originally Posted by Victoria

Very cool, Bill! I used to play the clarinet in middle school.

I too played clarinet through intermediate (5-8) school. Then we moved and I had no where near sufficient talent to continue with either band or orchestra at the new, much larger school.

Originally Posted by UConnJulie

Nice workouts V!! I see your question about extra protein at bedtime was not answered ... I believe that it is good to have protein at bedtime since it is slower digesting and has some anti-catabolic properties, both of which should give you increased energy come morningtime ...

I missed this one.

I usually have a serving of cottage cheese (primarily casein protein) shortly before going to bed. When I travel, I take small zip lock bags of both whey and casein protein powder and have chocolate casein mixed with water (ugh, but nowhere near as horrible as pp w/tomato juice!) before bedtime (the whey is for post-workout). I realize it's a subjective judgment, but it seems to work well for me.

Have you tried adding some frozen fruit (raspberries, blackberries, peaches, strawberries, etc.) to your pp and milk and giving it a whirl in the blender? I also add about 1/8 cup plain yogurt and really do enjoy them.

[stingo]

Smoothies with or without protein powder are a great and tasty way of getting more nutrients into your diet.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by L'ilJ

This is me right now. When not traveling, I work in the office 3 days a week and at home 2 days a week. Those 3 days in the office are consumed with meetings and people sitting in my office. It's worth it to see my staff though. I need to have that face time so they can get a chance to talk to me. The two days I work at home (and the weekends unfortunately) are when I get the bulk of my "work" done.

I'm officially approved for two days a week. Unfortunately, there are still some IT issues to be resolved which makes it less seamless right now, but it's getting there. I cannot express enough how nice it was to be home yesterday. I felt like a 100 lb weight had been lifted from my shoulders. When I'm in the office, I always start getting stressed out anytime after lunch when I start thinking about my drive home. I listen to the traffic reports so I know which route is the least worst, and that puts me into a stressed out knot every day. So, not having to worry about that yesterday was absolute heaven. Hehe..I even listened to the traffic report from the internet yesterday just to see what I was missing. I quickly turned it off.

Egham and Stingo, I love fruit smoothies. I seem to be on and off with those. I don't know why because I really do like them. The last one I made morphed into a gelatinous glob and I don't know why. I had no flax meal in there, just the milk, PP, and frozed fruit. I swear I had to eat it with a spoon. I guess I just don't have much luck with them. I just don't understand...

Well, I'm off to do my 6-Minute Circuit workout. Looks to be a killer!!!

[Egham]

Originally Posted by Victoria

Egham and Stingo, I love fruit smoothies. I seem to be on and off with those. I don't know why because I really do like them. The last one I made morphed into a gelatinous glob and I don't know why. I had no flax meal in there, just the milk, PP, and frozed fruit. I swear I had to eat it with a spoon. I guess I just don't have much luck with them. I just don't understand...

You might need to play with the proportions a bit. Are you adding ice? If you are using frozen fruit, you really don't need it. If no additional ice, try more milk or less frozen fruit.

I usually make mine with 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup frozen fruit, 1 scoop pp, 1/4 cup yogurt. Sometimes, I'll even throw 1/2 banana (room temp) in there and reduce the frozen fruit to 1/3 cup. I blend it long enough to throughly chop and mix and end up with something thickened, but easily drinkable.....No spoons required.

[Lost Dog]

Originally Posted by Victoria

Egham and Stingo, I love fruit smoothies. I seem to be on and off with those. I don't know why because I really do like them. The last one I made morphed into a gelatinous glob and I don't know why. I had no flax meal in there, just the milk, PP, and frozed fruit. I swear I had to eat it with a spoon. I guess I just don't have much luck with them. I just don't understand...

I wish someone who understood food science would come up with a smoothie/shake rule book.

Half the time, my shake is sem-separated ice and liquid. Not so good. The other times, I get them smooth and creamy. But, I don't know why.

Why does it take a frozen banana (or ice cream) for my shake to turn out right? There must be other things, right? What are they? Maybe it's a combination of things?

[Egham]

Originally Posted by Lost Dog

Half the time, my shake is sem-separated ice and liquid. Not so good. The other times, I get them smooth and creamy. But, I don't know why.

Why does it take a frozen banana (or ice cream) for my shake to turn out right? There must be other things, right? What are they? Maybe it's a combination of things?

I've found that I do need something frozen in there for some reason. The proportions I provided in my previous post here have worked for me....I've never had problems with separation unless I let it sit for a few hours (just shake it up again and it's fine) , or it coming out "spoon-required" thick. I do not add any ice unless I'm using only fresh fruit rather than 1/3 to 1/2 cup frozen ...and even then, it doesn't take much (But the smoothies prepared with ice seem a bit diluted, so I like to stick to frozen fruit).

[Lost Dog]

Originally Posted by Egham

I've found that I do need something frozen in there for some reason. The proportions I provided in my previous post here have worked for me....I've never had problems with separation unless I let it sit for a few hours (just shake it up again and it's fine) , or it coming out "spoon-required" thick. I do not add any ice unless I'm using only fresh fruit rather than 1/3 to 1/2 cup frozen ...and even then, it doesn't take much (But the smoothies prepared with ice seem a bit diluted, so I like to stick to frozen fruit).

Frozen berries don't seem to cut it unless you use a lot. Mango, same thing. Bananas don't take much.


But what if you're not eating fruit at the time? I usually don't, and my "supershakes" are often less than super. It's probably my cheapo protein powder, huh? Cottage cheese seems to keep things held together better, but I don't always have that around.

[Egham]

Originally Posted by Lost Dog

Frozen berries don't seem to cut it unless you use a lot. Mango, same thing. Bananas don't take much.


But what if you're not eating fruit at the time? I usually don't, and my "supershakes" are often less than super. It's probably my cheapo protein powder, huh? Cottage cheese seems to keep things held together better, but I don't always have that around.

Not sure what you mean by "a lot"...I've had consistent good luck with 1/3 to 1/2 cup frozen berries in 1/4 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup milk and 1 scoop pp (I'll occasionally add almonds or a tablespoon of ground flax seeds). Adding a banana - or half - results in a thicker smoothie, but the consistency is still quite good.

I have never avoided having 2 to 3 servings of fruit a day and have not seemed at all hurt by that (Luckily, I'm pretty tolerant), but sometimes I discover I've run out of it. I can't say that I particularly like smoothies without it, but I'll through a very few ice cubes in with the other ingredients I've listed. No major problems, but then I drink it immediately....well before things even have a chance to separate out.

I have found that good pp does make a difference in taste, especially if simply mixed with milk or water. I've been using ISS Whey Matrix or, for meal replacement smoothies, ISS Micellar Matrix.

[Victoria]

Interesting stuff on the smoothies, guys. Thanks! I'll just keep at it, maybe it is just finding the right ratios of stuff.

Today's Workout:

6-Minute Circuits
Beginner Whole Body Circuit #2
1 September 2007

Warm-Up:
5 min. on tready
Y-Squats - 10 reps
Kneeling Pushups - 6 reps
Bird Dog (5 sec. hold each side) - 5 reps each side
2x

Workout:
Mini Circuit 1

Decline Push-Ups: 10 reps
DB Sumo Squat: 20 reps x 20# db
DB Curls: 10 reps x 10# dbs
Rest 60 secs., repeat 4x

Rest 4 min.

Mini Circuit 2

DB Shoulder Press: 10 reps x 15# dbs (+5# dbs)
Lunge Walk: 20 steps
DB Bench Press: 10 reps x 15# dbs
Rest 60 secs., repeat 4x

Rest 4 min.

Mini Circuit 3

One Arm Row: 10 reps x 20# dbs (+10# dbs)
Reverse Lunge: 12 reps x 10# dbs
Stiff-Leg Deadlift: 12 reps x 15# dbs
Rest 60 secs., repeat 4x

Rest 4 min.

Core Mini Circuit

Elbow Bridge: 45 secs
Rest: 45 secs
Bird Dog (alternate sides holding 1 sec. until complete): 45 secs
Rest: 45 secs
Left Side Plank (knees): 40 secs
Rest: 20 secs
Right Side Plank (knees): 40 secs
Rest: 45 secs
Bridge (hands): 45 secs

Notes: This was another kick-butt workout, though I was able to keep pushing through it much better than last time because of increased energy. I'm still a little conservative on the weights, and now that my energy seems to have improved, I'll add a bit more next time I do another one. The increases in weights are for duplicate exercises done in the Beginner Circuit #1 done on 8/18.

Overall, I like these 6-Minuit Circuits. My energy was great again today. If nothing else can convince me to eat more, feeling energy throughout a workout is reason enough for me! It's much easier pushing through some muscle fatigue than it is trying to push what feels like a freight train that just won't move.

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Short-Term Goal Summary: Week 3, Day 6

Goal #1 - Quantitative Measures every 2 weeks: 0/0
Goal #2 - Record Calories each day on Fitday: 5/7
Goal #3 - Pack Food 2 Days per Week: 4/4 (worked from home 1 day)

Fitness Summary:

Resistance Training (3/wk): 3/3
HIIT Training (2/wk): 2/2
"Other" Training (1/wk): 1/1
Recovery (1/wk): 0/1

Notes: I revised the total for Goal #3 since I only went to work 4 days this week making the 5th day non-applicable to this goal.

[LisaS]

on smoothies: I can put water, PP & fruit in the magic bullet and get a drinkable shake, but not terribly thick. I can put the same proportions and ingredients in a different cup & go at it with the stick blender and get a thick, creamy shake-like consistancy. Neither one works well for me with ice - so if I make a espresso or cocoa powder shake it never gets that frozen feel - but that's fine.

I like the idea of your circuits - refresh my memory - are you building these yourself or going from a program?

[Egham]

Great workout, Victoria! Looks fun.

It's good to see that you've got your energy issue under control....So much better, isn't it?

Keep it up!

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by LisaS

I can put the same proportions and ingredients in a different cup & go at it with the stick blender and get a thick, creamy shake-like consistancy.

Lisa, you mave have cracked the case of the too thick shake again for me!!! I always make mine with a stick blender. And, I realized I blend and blend and blend like there's no tomorrow. So, today I made a berry blast and mixed it only long enough to blend, and it was just fine! I wonder if all the blending adds too much air into it which makes it thicken?

Originally Posted by LisaS

I like the idea of your circuits - refresh my memory - are you building these yourself or going from a program?

Nope, not of my design. I got them here. The entire workout should take approximately 45 minutes, 60 at the most. So far I've been just under 60 minutes. The 6-minute part comes from the amount of actual work you are doing during each mini circuit which is 6 minutes. It's quite a strenuous workout. I really like them so far. There are 4 beginner, 4 intermediate and 4 advanced workouts, and there are several schedules that cycle through the various circuits depending on your goals. It's pretty cool.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by Egham

Great workout, Victoria! Looks fun.

It's good to see that you've got your energy issue under control....So much better, isn't it?

Keep it up!

Thanks, Egham. Yes, so much better. I'm very happy with my energy levels. Except for a little residual limp noodleness after my workout today, I felt like I was buzzing around the house like a busy bee. Of course, it could also be because I've been able to sleep in the past couple days, too!

[Victoria]

Today's Nutrition:

Total calories: 1632
Protein: 43%
Fat: 26%
Carbs: 30%

Notes: I've been able to increase my calories pretty well so far. But, I think next week will be tough trying to consistently hit 1700!