Thursday 31st August, 2006 - Weighin

[almitywife]

morning team - hows everyone doing

i had a great week this week!

lost 1.8kgs or 3.9lbs
total loss is now 33.35kgs or 73.5lbs!

so what did i learn this week - i totally suck at pushups! cant do one to save my life so i guess that career in the armed forces is now on the back burner!

so did anyone else try anything new in their health regieme???

i was talking to a wonderful SB'er by the name of Coach Izzy. A diver and professional personal trainer that just by seeing him online gets me full of motiviation! when hearing about my pushup failure he suggested....

Push-ups can be HARD on the shoulders of a novice or somebody who has not done any significant strength training. You could start with wall push-ups and work your way down. Or the push-up on the knees (the so called "girl" push-up) or planks on the push-up position. Do you want a good exercise challenge? Try wall squats, see who can hold an entire minute with the legs at 90 degrees. Should be fun!

so i think this week im going to give the wall squats a try - 90dec for 60 seconds, who wants to accept this challange with me????

Colby! i went back and saw your photo.... but we ladies, ummmm SB'ers need more! in fact, does anyone else have some before and current shots they want to share?? i was very embarressed at first but then i thought to heck with that, im doing well and progressing nicely so lets shout out our accomplishments this week!

Ms Jenny - i know you have some progress news this week - come on, share!

so im ringing my SB Challange bell - where is everyone to update us on your progress!!

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Yeah! I have some progress news! First though, I am disliking my scale more and more every day. No loss again this week on the scale.
The flip side of no weight loss is my body is really starting to take a new, healthier, (sexier??) shape.
I found the pair of shorts and shirt that I had tucked away as my goal clothes. I have been wanting to for years to fit back into those shorts and that pretty cotton shirt. I think I got the shorts before I was pregnant, cira 1995. I happened upon the clothes this past week and the shorts are now in the Goodwill/Church donation pile. Not only are they really ugly, but THEY ARE TOO BIG!!!!!!!!!! Whoo HOOO!!! The shirt, which says "M" fits also! It was less than 6 months ago that I did not wear anything unless it was labeled "XL"!

Oh, and I agree with Almity and Coach. Pushups are a pain! I barely can do 2!

Good opportunity for working on my eating habits. I am visiting family for a long weekend, and there will be plenty of food to nibble. Am also taking my running shoes so I have no excuse not to exercise (and get away from family!!!)

 

[TheTrickster]

Morning All,

@ Alimitywife - its way way not fair - another 3.9lbs! crieky! Another A* for your this week!

@Scuba_Jenny: Congrats on the new shape!

Well this week I've had a net loss of 2.6lbs!, last week I was 185.7 and this week I'm 185.2 *however* it was a long weekend here so we had a few beers and a rather nice bbq on Sunday and went out every evening (Fri/Sat/Sun) and by Sunday morning I was 187.8!!!! eek!

So even though I've only lost 0.5lbs this week in real terms, I managed to work off 2.6lbs! - A normal week and weekend this week, so I hope I can carry on the momentium!

I'm doing weights regularly now (actually every day) and I'm noticing my strength is getting better (upper body) and some parts of my body are looking a little like musule (or rather 'toned'), more than flab So perhaps my weight loss is slowing due to increase in musule mass?

As to push ups, try doing some on the stairs, feet on the floor and depending on the number of steps up put your hands on the hard/easier the push up is, so the first step would be very similar to doing normal floor ones and four steps you have shifted some weight back on your feet so enabling you to 'lift' less weight with your shoulders/arms

Even the wife said I look slimmer, when we went to the beach - "You can really tell you have lost weight.." -

As to photos I'll see what I have! (oh lordy)

 

[colby]

That's excellent news everyone.

Almity you just keep dropping weight. I'm sure that your body fat % is dropping like crazy with the workouts. You may have only lost 4 pounds this week, but you probably have gained a little muscle mass, so the fat loss was even greater!

Jenny, that's way too cool! It's such an affirmation when your goals are met and especially when they are exceeded! It was that way when I went clothes shopping a few weeks ago and I was fitting into things I hadn't fit into since high school! Don't let weight loss be your only guide, but I think you've figured that out

Trickster, same with you, lean muscle mass weighs more than fat, so periods where you may see no wight loss, or even a slight gain, will occur. And that's a great tip for starting pushups.

For me, I am sitting at 214, which is where I was last Friday. I was a little concerned as we went for a little holiday to a B&B down on Lake Ontario, and when I got home Sunday night, I hit the scale at 221! But back to sensible eating and normal exercise levels have brought it right back down. As for my challange this past week, I changed my running program on the treadmill to the Hills program. Nasty bit of work that is, but I stuck through it.

I'll try to dig up a Before picture. Pictures of me are hard to come by as I am always behind the camera it seems, but I will do my best.

Good luck this week all, and let's hear from the others, good or bad!

 

[fairybasslet]

Hey guys. Missed you while I was in Bonaire. Lost 2 lbs this week can came back from vacation weighing the same. Which is a good thing. I'm still doing my fitness routine everyday, switching off weight training with cardio.

My gym had started a "positive change" challenge back in June, and since then, I have lost 11 lbs. Whoever loses the most weight by Labor Day, wins $200 worth of spa services. The woman who weighed me said I should get bonus points for losing weight while on vacation. LOL

I agee about push-ups. I'm not doing them until I lose more weight. I like the assisted pull up machine though. That's fun.

 

[Wayward Son]

Congrats on the progress!

The scale lies. It's an evil, lying instrument.

Part of the problem is us, we get wrapped around "losing weight" when what we really want is to lose fat.

Muscle is more dense than fat, so a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat. If you weigh 140 lbs and have 30% body fat, you will look much larger than if you weigh 140 lbs but have 15% body fat. The scale reads the same, but you look much thinner, the same clothes won't fit & so on.

When you start out with a higher BF%, typically you will see weight loss as well as changes in measurement, but as you approach a lower BF%, you often see the weight loss vanish. It can be frustrating because you think you aren't making any progress when you are, it just doesn't show on the scale. How your clothes fit, or a tape measure, will show it, but the scale won't.

If you aren't already measuring & tracking your body fat percentage, you might consider getting a body fat caliper & learning to use it. This is a nice one that is simple to use & inexpensive:

https://www.muscleshoppe.com/site/details.cfm?id=2011

Here is an online article that expalins BF%

http://www.healthchecksystems.com/bodyfat.htm

I have a link to an article that explains how to use calipers to take the measurements, both a 3 point & 5 point system. When measureing 3 points you can do it by yourself but it isn't quite as accurate. The 5 point system provides better accuracy, but you have to have someone else help take the measurements. That link is on another PC, but I can post it later.

 

[colby]

Thanks for the heads up on those links. I cheat and get it done at the gym using some sort of electronic method where they pass a small current through the body.

A little "shocking" hehe

 

[Wayward Son]

Here is a body fat calculator page:

http://www.rustyiron.net/formmale.htm

This is a much more complete article on the subject, including pictures of how & where to measure:

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=209body2

These are oriented towards men, but the same things apply to women. Just keep in mind that women generally have a higher BF% than men do.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

At the parents house right now. There is so much food, and sweets here. If I ate as much as served, I would gain 5 lbs!! The sweets are all over the place! The toughest part is, is that everybody is skinny!
I did go jogging this morning. Quite a change from jogging on pavement in suburbia. I went through the woods, over stones and sticks, up and around mud puddles. Some things are different here. It is much cooler, so I didn't sweat like I do down south. Oh, and hills! Never ran up a hill before! Oh, and another thing, my parents house has a second story and a cellar. Plenty of opportunites to go up and down stairs!

 

[TwoBitTxn]

I'm still hanging around 180 give or take a pound or two. I am still following the fitness for divers regimin and I have almost finished beginner build. I took three weeks off back in June/July so I started over with the build phase.

My endurace has greatly improved, and almost each time I cycle back to a particular strength exercise I can increase the weight 10% or better.

I have been changing up my level one cardio from treadmill, to cross trainer, to bicycling. On the bicycle, I just need to get through the quads getting tight early and push through it.

I'm not upset about not dropping weight, I figure if I need to, I will.

Great job yall,

TwoBit