1.8.06

i always remember your father's death because it happened within 24 hours of my grandfather's death. I no longer remember which direction just that it was very close in time.

*hug*

i can't believe it's been 4 years either.

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can i make a suggestion on the fitness kick?

yes, you can. :)

get paul to help you do measurements

1. around your shoulders.
2. under your arms, on top of your bust.
3. under your bust
4 natural waist (about an inch above the belly button)
5 hips
6 widest part of thigh (pick one side, but make note of and remember which one)
7 widest part of calf
8 (how did this end up at the bottom?) upper arm.

redo these periodically (once a month or so)

because your focus is on diet and exercise hopefully you'll build muscle mass, however, muscle weighs more than fat, so as you lose fat and build muscle is possible to be making progress without budging the scale.

by focusing on these numbers instead of the scale (or along with it) you'll have a better representation of your actual fitness/health level.

i have two stories that go along with this,
one, in my late teens, when i was really fit i did a bmi test that told me i was overweight and should lose about 15 pounds. that was baloney, i actually had a very healthy muscle/fat ratio--i was just denser than most people my height.
two. my mother is morbidly obese, and she has a lot of health problems that go along with it, but she's been working out lightly but regularly this past year. the scale has not budged a millimetre. but she's down a size and a half, her blood pressure has fallen, her ankles are less bloated and she has some visible muscle tone in her calves and upper arms.

anyway, long stories short, i hate scales as an absolute measurement, as the final judge of how a diet/workout routine is doing or how you have fared in your pursuit of fitness. as one tool amoung others, well, not so bad :)

Good idea. It is easy to get discouraged.� Though what makes it somewhat easier is I have clothes from many parts of the spectrum that I've been, so it's at least easy to see if I've gone down or up a size. :)

can i make another suggestion? :)

Yes. :) (such polite ladies!)

stay off the stair climber, no one likes them and you may as well use the tredmill.

you have the right idea, but you need to apply numbers to it with the tredmill.

for the next 4 weeks, go 3 times a week, and do 45 minutes on the tredmill at 3mp at an incline of 5. keep your back straight and march like you're hiking. as the 4 weeks go by, if it gets too easy, up the speed to 3.1..then 3.2..etc.

Keep track of what you do. but make it a solid effort. do mon/wed/friday (or if you have therapy one of these days,�do tues/thurs/sat) after work, without fail. if you have it written in your schedule and you know exactly what you're going to do, you're more likely to do it.

also, with food, try to keep your carbs higher in the morning and lower at night. instead of pasta and chicken have a small serving of rice (preferably brown) and extra veggies. try to stay away from starchy veggies, like potatoes, cauliflower and peas. spinach, asparagus, green beans, broccoli, etc...

also have a small snack about 1-1.5 hours before you go to the gym. something high in�protien and moderate in carbs.

ETA: I said 3 times a DAY and i meant WEEK. sorry!

THanks for the tips. :)� Part of what will keep me on track is I can earn incentives on my insurance for tracking workouts and such. I get points for everything I track and when I hit certain point levels I get money towards my insurance claims. So it's botha� motivator and a scheduler/tracker kinda structure to help me.

it will help you mentally too. my seratonin levels skyrocket when i exercise regularly!