Does this log make my ass look fat?

[MuscleMom23]

I am in a similar spot to you. I just got a new rack and all the fun stuff and whew, I can't do it.

I am going to slow 'er down and do what I can. You know what you can do, don't you, miss whisperer LOL!

I do that with books, bookaholic here, buy them and tuck them away and then one day I know it is time to read it!

[missjane]

Will be watching to see what you come up with, Diane. At any rate, with all the stuff you do with the house, the land, the kids.....WHEW! You are ALWAYS working that body!

[Willie]

Originally Posted by nutbar

I'll also be trying to figure out what to do about my workouts. I need a new shorter, simpler (for now) plan to start up on Monday. If I don't come up with any bright ideas, I'll probably just go back and do Stage 1 from NR4W until I have more time and brains available for the longer, more complex stages.

This sounds reasonable to me. I haven't been able to do any NROLW beyond stage 1, but I gather the workouts get much longer... seems to me that if you saw any progress in Stage 1 that it can't hurt to repeat for a bit? You'll be able to directly see how much stronger you've gotten since you started!

[Willie]

Oh, and, I've been meaning to tell you that I appreciate your avatar-- generally, whenever my family goes out to dinner together, the whole lot of us end up in some sort of spoon-hanging challenge. My dad is the best; he can hang spoons from both ears and his nose, simultaneously, for much longer than any of the rest of us.

[DanceDiva]

Originally Posted by nutbar

Today, though, my ass is going to be glued to this chair so I don't miss any text messages from him on the road. He should be there around 8 tonight but, until then, I'm gonna annoy the ever-loving snot out of all of you! Woot!

We're both doing the same thing. I miss my honey

[GinnyLou]

Ahh, congrats on Hubby's job but I am sorry that there will be a new dynamic going on, that is tough but you are tough and you'll get through it. My DH works night shift through the week and works some weekends at a 2nd gig and it was a hard adjustment. I know it's different than traveling altogether, but when he is here through the week, he is sleeping. We literally pass each other as I am picking up kids from school and heading home, he is driving to work. Anyways, didn't mean to ramble in your log.

[nutbar]

Originally Posted by MuscleMom23

I am in a similar spot to you. I just got a new rack and all the fun stuff and whew, I can't do it.

I am going to slow 'er down and do what I can. You know what you can do, don't you, miss whisperer LOL!

I do that with books, bookaholic here, buy them and tuck them away and then one day I know it is time to read it!

Being on go-go-go constantly is pretty freaking exhausting, huh? There comes a time when common sense has to come into the picture. Or not.

Originally Posted by missjane

Will be watching to see what you come up with, Diane. At any rate, with all the stuff you do with the house, the land, the kids.....WHEW! You are ALWAYS working that body!

Yeah, but there are also times where I sit on my butt forever, too. Come winter, I'm an utter slug! Moderation has never been one of my strong points. LOL

Originally Posted by Willie

This sounds reasonable to me. I haven't been able to do any NROLW beyond stage 1, but I gather the workouts get much longer... seems to me that if you saw any progress in Stage 1 that it can't hurt to repeat for a bit? You'll be able to directly see how much stronger you've gotten since you started!

Yep, I'm just needing something to keep my momentum up for now and try to maintain as much as I can. Even if I don't make any gains, that's cool. I can use it as a time to perfect my form on the basic moves. (Squats = )

Originally Posted by Willie

Oh, and, I've been meaning to tell you that I appreciate your avatar-- generally, whenever my family goes out to dinner together, the whole lot of us end up in some sort of spoon-hanging challenge. My dad is the best; he can hang spoons from both ears and his nose, simultaneously, for much longer than any of the rest of us.

Ha! I was just doing that with spoons when my grandparents came through and took us all out for dinner last week! The kids and I had spoons hanging (well, falling anyway) from various body parts and hubby and the kids were blowing straw wrappers at each other across the tables, etc. The waitresses and my grandparents were just rolling their eyes at us.

Growing up, my mom could burp repeatedly at her whim. My dad could do armpit farts. I could do collarbone pit farts. We made a lively and lovely band, I tell you!

Originally Posted by DanceDiva

We're both doing the same thing. I miss my honey

Mine's made it to the hotel in Baton Rouge finally, with a few delays. He's so incredibly map-challenged, it's scary! LOL And then he locked his keys in his truck once he got to the motel. Doh!

Originally Posted by GinnyLou

Ahh, congrats on Hubby's job but I am sorry that there will be a new dynamic going on, that is tough but you are tough and you'll get through it. My DH works night shift through the week and works some weekends at a 2nd gig and it was a hard adjustment. I know it's different than traveling altogether, but when he is here through the week, he is sleeping. We literally pass each other as I am picking up kids from school and heading home, he is driving to work. Anyways, didn't mean to ramble in your log.

Thanks! Yep, I know the feeling. My hubby has worked 12-16 hour days, 7 days a week, for years now. Well, until the start of this year when the economy bombed. He's either never here or around too much! LOL

Ramble on! It's usually me doing the rambling so I'm happy to have co-ramblers!

[MuscleMom23]

Originally Posted by nutbar

Thanks! Yep, I know the feeling. My hubby has worked 12-16 hour days, 7 days a week, for years now. Well, until the start of this year when the economy bombed. He's either never here or around too much! LOL

Doesn't it feel strange when they are home? It's like WHO ARE YOU? LOL The rules change, my kids freak out.

Mine works 12's through the winter months. Much shorter time this year tho with the economy!

[kfisherx]

Great to see that you are giving in to reason Diane. And I agree with Espi, put all the energy you have back into getting your cals up. I know it is hard (trust me I know it) but it is the most important thing you can do for your body right now. The low cals and running all the time thing will put you in a store fat mode very quickly.

Don't worry about the lifting part or working out part at all until you feel the need to do it. I find that my body craves the workouts when it is rested and nothing in the world can stop me from doing them.

[tcoy777]

good luck with the workouts. I have a feeling that all the work you do around the house more then makes up for the lifting. The hill sprints will take care of any leg workouts.

If you need a quick workout though, Try the modified workout that Stingo did. Its quick and gets the HR way up and hits almost every body part.

[Karen411]

Diane, I hope you find something that works well for you. I think of you almost daily now that it is spring and burning season here. We are outside for hours every day trying to do our "forestry"--essentially clean up our wooded 5 acres that haven't been cleaned up in more than 15 years. I don't have to lift the heavy logs that you do (because I simply can't), but up and down the hills, trying not to trip over the exposed tree roots, scratches all over my arms and torso reminds me of you.

[nutbar]

Originally Posted by MuscleMom23

Doesn't it feel strange when they are home? It's like WHO ARE YOU? LOL The rules change, my kids freak out.

Mine works 12's through the winter months. Much shorter time this year tho with the economy!

The economy sucks much ass right now. Grrr.

Originally Posted by kfisherx

Great to see that you are giving in to reason Diane. And I agree with Espi, put all the energy you have back into getting your cals up. I know it is hard (trust me I know it) but it is the most important thing you can do for your body right now. The low cals and running all the time thing will put you in a store fat mode very quickly.

Don't worry about the lifting part or working out part at all until you feel the need to do it. I find that my body craves the workouts when it is rested and nothing in the world can stop me from doing them.

Thanks, Karla. I think I'm actually pretty rested up right now and I'm now actually looking forward to doing a workout tomorrow. It's been a couple of weeks since I looked forward to anything physical so this is cool.

Originally Posted by tcoy777

good luck with the workouts. I have a feeling that all the work you do around the house more then makes up for the lifting. The hill sprints will take care of any leg workouts.

If you need a quick workout though, Try the modified workout that Stingo did. Its quick and gets the HR way up and hits almost every body part.

Funny you should mention Tom's modified 300! He suggested it to me earlier today and I think I'll start off the week with it tomorrow (and do it every once in a while to spice things up).

Originally Posted by Karen411

Diane, I hope you find something that works well for you. I think of you almost daily now that it is spring and burning season here. We are outside for hours every day trying to do our "forestry"--essentially clean up our wooded 5 acres that haven't been cleaned up in more than 15 years. I don't have to lift the heavy logs that you do (because I simply can't), but up and down the hills, trying not to trip over the exposed tree roots, scratches all over my arms and torso reminds me of you.

Oh, man, I feel for ya! I know most people read moving logs, cutting wood, hauling rocks, etc, and don't really have a clue. (Not out of stupidity, of course, it's just difficult to imagine the entire body workout and complete exhaustion that comes with it.) It's tough work here on out little "farm" when things get busy and I usually can't wait for winter to begin so I can go back to slugginess! LOL

[nutbar]

This week's eats averages:

Calories..........1957
Fat.................89.2g..... 41%
Protein..........110.1g.....22 %
Carbs............181.4g.....37 %
Fiber..............30.5g

Notes:

I've thrown all worries about macros and protein levels, etc, out of my mind for the past week. I've concentrated solely on upping my calories, which included quite a bit of bread for me. I had a turkey sandwich (with 2 slices of homemade whole wheat bread) each day for lunch -- sandwiches are just so darned easy when I'm busy that I'm finding them a good tool in my don't-skip-meals toolbox. Considering that the bread is whole wheat and homemade, I'm not gonna give the carbs in them a second thought. All other carbs came from veggies.... except the pizza & ice cream fest we had to send hubby off to Baton Rouge. I think I ended up with something like 3500 calories that day. LOL

Now that I've got my calories back up to where I want them, I'll start tweaking things a bit to get my protein back up. I still need to work on moderation in the frequency & portion departments. I've been back to eating large portions & not very often. I felt better when I kept my meals on a more even keel, so I'll be working on that again as well.

The new workout plan:

For now, I will be using the incredibly simple program from Starting Strength three times each week. That will be much easier on me both physically and mentally than the more complex NR4W, although I do want to resume NR4W once my other activities calm down later on. In addition to that, I will do some SS running (or maybe even the annoying elliptical once in a while but the running because I just really like to run and I've missed it) 2-3 times each week for maybe 30-45 minutes and maybe throw in a HIIT once if my normal physical activities haven't been too strenuous that week. Starting Strength will also allow me to get completely anal over and fine-tune my form on the basic moves, which I'm really looking forward to. As you all know, my squat needs help (still) but I'm sure my other moves could use some improvements as well. I'm also going to throw in a fun workout once in a while just to liven things up when I'm feeling spunky. Tomorrow, I plan on doing Stingo's modified 300 workout, just to kick-start the week!

I'm not sure how long I'll do Starting Strength for but, after that, I think I'll move on to Bill Starr's 5 x 5 that Paula's doing (or something similar). I really like the straight-forwardness of it AND I love the low reps/heavy weight aspect!

Another thing that will help me get the workouts in: I rearranged the entire freaking house today. (Our house is 1000 square feet -- currently only one big room plus a bathroom, so arranging things with seven people's stuff gets interesting.) I got my workout crap moved into a corner by itself and the beds arranged further past it. So, no longer can I use the excuse of beds and sleeping bodies in and around my workout area as an excuse to not workout after bedtime. Of course, I still hope to get it done during the daytime since I'm usually rather wiped out at night but the option is there.

Hubby's safely in Baton Rouge now -- for 5 weeks, I think, but we'll go see him about halfway through it. I'm thinking that him not seeing me for 2-3 weeks is a pretty good motivator for me! If I can make some nice little but noticeable changes before then (and again before he gets back home at the end), that would be really cool.

Oh, and I've been mulling over my goals this week, trying to come up with WHY I'm doing all of this stuff and WHY do I want to continue all of this and what exactly are my goals anyway?? Trim, athletic look? Not so much. Sure, it's nice to look good but I'll be danged if I can define it and it's just not that important to me, at least enough to motivate me. Big, cool looking muscles? Meh. I don't mind being beefy but, again, I really don't care. I've realized that what I want out of this most of all, what's most motivating for me is strength -- but not just plain ol' strength. I want it to be functional strength. I want to be able to continue doing (and doing better) all of the physical tasks my life requires. I want to keep that functional strength until I one day just plop over and outright die. So my goals are to improve and keep my functional strength and, of course, my overall health as well (which means continuing to work on my nutrition). If I'm doing both of those, the fat:muscle balance will work itself out. I'm even going to have a little fun along the way by getting back into a bit of running. I have no desire to do a marathon. I'm just a 5-10k kind of gal so that's easy to work in.

So that's that. Let the games begin anew!

[kfisherx]

Nice!!

[Espi]

Good job!

A simple but effective lifting program is a lot easier to deal with when you've got a gazillion of other things to think about.