PEELE-ing Away The Pounds and Stopping The INSANITY

[dillytl]

Originally Posted by LWilson212

OMG Gingerbread! I was thinking of getting that one. Is it good?

One more rest day then you get to lift and eat! Nice new shoes too.

Leah - it's FABULOUS!!!!! The Vermont Maple is also very good - it's a very light tea, and the flavors are subtle.

[Littlemermaidklb]

Gingerbread! Oh goodness.... now there's two I absolutely must try!

[dillytl]

FOOD.IS.GOOD! That is all.................

[AnnetteW]

Sorry if I missed it, but what was the purpose of such a low calorie diet?

[dillytl]

Originally Posted by AnnetteW

Sorry if I missed it, but what was the purpose of such a low calorie diet?

Hi Annette! I was following the low calories for just a week - my rest week! Today I start a new lifting program, and I'm back up to my regular cals (1700 on lifting days, 1500 on aerobic days and 1300 on rest days).

This week's OFFICIAL WOMEN'S CHALLENGE: Weekly Motivation etc Thread 7/26 asks about goal jeans, and if we are finding them fitting any better. I originally said I didn't have any goal jeans, then realized that I still have the pair of jeans I wore on my very first date EVER with my husband (a skinny pair of size 8 black jeans with a button fly!) I've decided to make THOSE my goal jeans. I've tried them on, and found that I could only get them pulled up to about mid-thigh so I have some work to do to get back into them!

I hung them on a hanger, and put them in the front of my closet so I see them every time I open the door - I WILL get my ass back into them - even if I never actually wear them in public again (they are 11 years old and way outta style!!!)

[tkinsley]

Originally Posted by nutbar

Nice office!

I'm here to report on my tea-trying mission. Blech. Mostly blech. I just grabbed some of what I found at the grocery store: Various sample boxes of Celestial Seasons plus three different flavors of Lipton: Vanilla Caramel Truffle, Bavarian Wild Berry, and Red something-or-other. All of them taste like crap (most especially the Vanilla Caramel Truffle!!) except for the Bavarian Wild Berry. It doesn't have a berry taste to it (none of the flavors actually come through in any of the ones I tried) but i LOVE the aroma! I make a cup every night now just to smell it. LOL (Remember, I drink my tea unsweetened so maybe it needs sugar to carry the flavors better?)

Have you tried the Tazo orange tea? It's pretty damned tasty.

[SpacecityPaula]

I love my Chuck's

[dillytl]

Originally Posted by SpacecityPaula

I love my Chuck's

NICE - I like em!!!!!

[SpacecityPaula]

Tazo is pretty good....

I love Yogi Tea's Chai Redbush.

[kfisherx]

Wait a minute. You're working with Leigh and have an 1100 cal day? That sounds so counter intuititive and not right. Do tell us a little bit more....

Nice rocks btw. The hubby did well this year. V-day is such a girl holiday. I was working at the gym with my trainer on this day and he was freaking out about what he was going to do as were the other guys. The girls were all just grinning and relaxed. I mean how many of us went through this sort of expense and trouble for our guys? LOL!!

[dillytl]

Originally Posted by kfisherx

Wait a minute. You're working with Leigh and have an 1100 cal day? That sounds so counter intuititive and not right. Do tell us a little bit more....

Karla - TRUST ME - I questioned it! I was very concerned about the low cals given all the talk out there about starvation diets, messing up metabolism, etc - I was also concerned that it might lead to a binge. For the 7 days of my rest week, she had me doing three days of 1400 cals, and four days of 1100 cals.

Here is what Leigh told me (and I'm quoting directly from her response to my email)

"This is supposed to be for a very short amount of time as well. Next week we start back on the new program (Next monday). So it is just 7 days of this program before the new normal calories program. This speeds up fast loss, in a short burts, but does not in any way give to decrease of metabolic function. Basically my job is to come scientifically as close to that edge as possible but I assure you the brief stint and short amount of time is in no way harmful or bad. It should not give way to a binge, infact you will be hungry when going into your new program than on this rest week because these macros and calories mixed together give to lower of ghrelin levels (appetite hormone)."

And, although it was TOUGH (those 1100 days) - it was NOT as hard as I expected it to be. The right macros really did make a difference!!

My results for the week:
I lost 2.5 lbs and .6% bodyfat - not too shabby for a week!

I'm happy to be back to 1700 cals today!

[Espi]

Good luck on your front squats today!

The hardest part is not the front squat itself, I actually prefer it for balance to back squats, which now make me topple forwards.
But it's how to hold onto the bar & where to put your fingertips.

Ideally you only hold on with the fingertips when the bar is positioned right on the collar bone. And the bar will almost feel like it's choking you. This feels so weird that it takes several weeks of 'getting used to' and it's best not to aim for big weight increases.. I think (also due to the fact that I had to clean all weigths from the floor) that I stuck to a max of 35kg for nearly a year.

[dillytl]

Originally Posted by Espi

Good luck on your front squats today!

The hardest part is not the front squat itself, I actually prefer it for balance to back squats, which now make me topple forwards.
But it's how to hold onto the bar & where to put your fingertips.

Ideally you only hold on with the fingertips when the bar is positioned right on the collar bone. And the bar will almost feel like it's choking you. This feels so weird that it takes several weeks of 'getting used to' and it's best not to aim for big weight increases.. I think (also due to the fact that I had to clean all weigths from the floor) that I stuck to a max of 35kg for nearly a year.

Thanks for the pointers - I actually tried for about 20 mins to figure out how to hold the bar - used several different grips- finally ended up just using DB's - which I don't think ended up being a true front squat. I'll have to try using just fingertips next time!

Here are details from today's workout:

(All for 3x10's, 60 sec rest between supersets)
A1 Front Squat 20 lb dbs
A2 Neutral Shoulder Press 15 lb dbs

B1 Cable Abduction 30 lbs (on bowflex)
B2 Scap Pushups

Side Plank (1x45 secs/side, 2x35 secs/side)

Followed by Flexibility/Mobility work

And, I just realized that I completely missed two complete exercises! DUH!! Somehow, when I was making my log for the week, I missed adding these two exercises:
Tricep Pushdown (was supposed to be SS with cable abduction)
Incline Flys on Swiss Ball (was supposed to be SS with Scap Pushups)
Guess there was a reason this workout seemed a little short!!! OOOOPPPPPPSSSSSSS!!!

[Leigh P.]

Originally Posted by kfisherx

Wait a minute. You're working with Leigh and have an 1100 cal day? That sounds so counter intuititive and not right. Do tell us a little bit more....

Nice rocks btw. The hubby did well this year. V-day is such a girl holiday. I was working at the gym with my trainer on this day and he was freaking out about what he was going to do as were the other guys. The girls were all just grinning and relaxed. I mean how many of us went through this sort of expense and trouble for our guys? LOL!!

While Tracey covered it I would like to state that this is based as well on her specific activity level as well, for a 1 week period of time and to occur while no aggressive training is had. This is hardly the same as running 3.0 miles on a treadmill, doing full body complexes and eating 1200 calories a day. Not the same thing.

As a side note I could not be happier with Tracey's achievement and her continuing education since working with me. She is truly a A+ student.

Tracey-I got that email about the squats and am going to go into detail there.

[kfisherx]

Well I figured there had to be all sorts of caveats to this one. In any case, you simply cannot argue with the results and the results are definately there. As for me, I am bulking and LOVING every minute of it right now. I downed 3300 cals yesterday.