"Fitness Club" Thread

GWC Community GWC Fitness Club
#161

Thanks for the pom-poms and support, guys!

Keeping the calorie count at 1300 and below (except for one day at 1500-doh!) and am not factoring in my burned cals.

That frakkin’ mountain KILT me! lol! I walked like an accident victim for 3 days! Didn’t help things getting sick, but it’s back to bootcamp tonight!

Which is why I’m posting now, cuz the dead don’t type! lol!

Love that pic, Topgun! Wish I’d taken more, but I was pooped! I can’t believe I used to ‘jog’ up and down that frakkin’ mountain- but I was in my 20’s- mystery solved!!

Also, I found a cool app and website called Lose It! if anyone would like to join me there!

#162

Heya BKitty - I’m a huge fan of that app, but I’ve never bothered to register on the site. I’ve found that the food database isn’t quite as comprehensive as some of the others out there, but using the custom food function is pretty easy, and you can use the free web-based nutritional info search from livestrong.com (my boss is a big fan of eating at Cheesecake Factory on the road, so I’ve input a bunch of their salads and fish dishes into LoseIt :slight_smile: )

Have fun kicking ass at bootcamp!

#163

My doc recommended water running but I don’t have access to a pool–there isn’t one at my gym and many of the DC public pools are closed in winter. But I would like to try it. Maybe come spring… for now, PT continues and hopefully I’ll be back in my cardio routine soon.

Thanks for the good vibes!

#164

I’m hoping to be at the meetup and can’t wait to meet the rest of the Fitness Club Folks. I lost around 90 lbs in 2010, so I’ll flash my dirvers license for a before and after photo.
Amberite

That’s incredible Amber. I know from personal experience that losing 90 pounds is no joke.

Thanks for the support TopGun!

#165

well guys today I pushed myself to 12 MILES!!!

however I am now going to listen to my body (and by body I mean legs) and am now going to wait a full week before running again to let them recover a bit

I’m thinking this coming week on the day where I would have run I’m going to do the P90X Yoga routine which I haven’t done in forever so it should be interesting!

so for the coming week here’s the plan

Sunday - P90X Chest and Back
Monday- P90X AB Ripper X routine (haven’t done in forever we’ll see if I can even finish it)
Tuesday - P90X Yoga
Wednesday - Night off, friend’s birthday going out to the bar, only going to have two light beers max
Thursday - P90X Shoulders and Arms
Friday - P90X Ab Ripper X
Saturday - Judgement, will evaluate if legs need to sit until Sunday or not hopefully they’ll be alright

hope everyone is doing alright!

also does anyone have some kind of fresh low calorie dinner ideas? I’ve made fish and grilled chicken so much lately I’ve been dying for something new!

#166

That is Frakin’ awesome Darth!!! You’ll be doing marathons in no time :slight_smile:

Cool workout schedule, and yeah, give the legs a bit of a break if they feel like they need it. I did yoga with Mrs. Amberite this morning to determine just how inflexible I am - yowch :slight_smile:

As for dinners, I’m pretty much in the same rut, lots of chicken and fish, but me and Mrs. Amberite are playing with a ton of spices to mix things up. Every once in a while I’ll do an Indian Roti: Pan stewed tomatoes, chick peas and green peppers with some other veggies with a curry paste. Kinda like an indian chili, with a ton of protein from the chick peas. Can get a few too many calories from the starch in the legumes though, so you have to be careful on the serving size. If I make it too spicy, I kick up the protein and dial down the heat with a bit of fat free cottage cheese on the side.

#167

Thanks Amberite! Bookmarked that site!

I like the ease of use on Lose It. I dl’d a few and that’s the one I use. No, it doesn’t have it all, but I like how it lets you customize a food. I do that when I make a recipe and just want the calorie count per cup, etc. I do a lot of soups an stews in the crockpot since bootcamp kicks my butt! lol!

Any one else have food prep challenges?

Also, Costco had a coupon and the hub n I picked up a pack of Muscle Milk Light. 150 cals per serving, that we tried for the first time today. It tastes okay, so we like the purchase. Any other preferences out there?

#168

Our Bootcamp workout happens every weekday at 6am or 6pm for 1 hour. Because of my schedule I go to 6pm class. I’d like to set up my camera to vid what we do so I can look at it when I’m 90, but it’s too dark by then- lol!

On Saturdays, we meet at the Convention Center back stairs at 8am. I’m still nursing a sinus infection (denial now over) so I didn’t go this time.

Sunday is our ‘off’ day in bootcamp- lol! We ‘just’ do a hike somewhere around San Diego. Last weekend was Cowles Mountain, which Topgun mentioned. This time we did Poway Lake.

Looks tranquil and non-threatening, doesn’t it?

Today, a lot less people showed up- only about 20 of us:

That’s the hub with the pink backpack, there to the right!

There are hidden steep inclines, though. The hub and I always bring up the rear- me with my short legs, him with his chivalry! lol! This is how it looks once you get to the other side of the dam. 2.75 miles, so the site says. I just huffed and puffed my way through it!

I’m not dead yet, so I guess that’s saying something!

Fingers crossed as I head into the maw of this next week!

Thanks for all the support, guys- it means a lot!

#169

I like using lean ground turkey instead of ground beef in all kinds of recipes. Last week I made this (healthy but kind of calorie dense) for my main meal of the day, but subbed lean turkey sausage for the “real” thing. Black bean, sweet potato and sausage soup.

Vibrant Tasty Green Beans is one of my FAVE recipes ever. It is simply delicious–and so easy to make! The beans are very filling so you don’t need as much meat to go with it. I like it with turkey breasts and quinoa.

I also like making smoothies with Greek yogurt (I use 2%), frozen strawberries, and a tablespoon of ground flax seed for breakfast when I need a break from Kashi and oatmeal.

#170

I’m a big fan of MyNetDiary.com for food tracking and measurement recording. They make great iOS and Android apps and it’s cloud-based so you can enter/access your info from the website, too. Makes it really handy to enter what you’ve got from wherever you are. It includes social functionality, too, if you wish to enable it. (I’d be happy to share, for example. We have a little community going on there for GWC.)

#171

oh that green bean dish looks YUM! my favorite kind of veggie! I’ve experimented a bit with ground turkey, I made a ground turkey chilli last week which turned out pretty good! I’d like to try making some home made soups since it’s winter and the soup is a nice warm up :slight_smile:

#172

Holy cow. I’ve made it a 3rd of the way thru the 21 day crush. Even though a sinus infection kept me out of it a few days.

No discernable changes, but I don’t expect there to be so soon.

Loving the recipes- I’ve posted my salmon chowder in the GWC cookbook thread. If you guys have any to contribute, can you please post them with possible calories per serving?

Still going strong!

#173

Heya Gang!

Well, it was a hellish week on the road in SF, but my hotel had a great gym. I made it in all four mornings, but 5:00am on the last day was a bit of a grind, and I had to scale back the cardio on the last day a bit because I was pooped! The best things were that (1) since I checked my bags I was able to take my weighted gloves and wrist weights (they always make the TSA folks nervous in the x-ray as I think they have lead in them :slight_smile: ), (2) although there was usually a wait for an elliptical, I managed to get some additional core and stretching in while waiting in line and there was never a wait for free weights, and (3) there’s a good GNC just down the road that I was able to grab protein and some soluble creatine. I’ve found taking individual portions of white powder in a number of zip-lock bags is a good way to miss my flight!

Behaved on the food side during the days, not so much at business dinners, but I think it netted out! Let’s hear it for some self restraint!

How’s everyone else doing???

BKitty - grats on grinding through boot camp!!! Keep it up!
Darth - how are the legs doing? Recovered?
Starbuckaneer - I’m totally with you on greek yogurt. I’ve found an awesome fat free one, and then I add a splash of concentrated lemon Omega-3 oil (Nutrasea brand). It’s awesome!!!

#174

way to go there Amberite!

so I woke up this morning at 5, did half of the P90X chest and back (I was feeling sick to my stomach so stopped, turned out I was dehydrated)

then I got home and ran 12.5 miles!!! oh and I upped the incline from 1.5 on the treadmill to 2 rawr!!!

I ended up taking off Wednesday and Thursday, Wednesday was the planned day off and Thursday my ‘motivation’ was leaving for Brazil for 10 days so I had to get in vital chat time! I also have to donate blood tomorrow morning so I figured I’d be better off doubling up today then maybe doing an ab routine before giving blood

the running for me is a double benefit, not only is it a ton of exercise but it also really kills any desire I have to eat a lot…right now I’m trying to choke down half a reduced fat PB sandwhich on wheat bread with a kiwi on the side, I just have no appetite because I’m so pooped! but I’m filling up on fluids too (boy am I gonna sleep good tonight! :smiley: )

Starbuccaneer I’m going to pick up what I need to make those yummy sounding green beans tomorrow at the grocery store! thinking of pairing it with some grilled salmon! :slight_smile: how’s the foot doing?

Bkitty keep it up!!! from what I hear about boot camp is “it never gets easier, but you get stronger” so keep up that strong will!

#175

I had a great week, nurtritionally speaking. We’ll see how that pays off in 2 days when I weigh in, but I’m proud of my success over the past week.

In physical fitness, news it’s been less straightforward. Post-Christmas, all the PT I’d done on my injured foot in December had been more or less erased. By Tuesday I was in too much pain to even do yoga. Saw my doc on Thursday for the first time in 3 weeks and he was like :eek:

So he gave me a cortisone shot on Friday afternoon. This was my first experience with it. Because of my drug allergies it was done sans-anesthesia. Yowch! I removed the bandage and tape today and did some initial stretching and even about 30 minutes of yoga. So far, so good.

Hopefully I’ll be back to the hard-core cardio soon!

#176

Heya gang, it was a great weekend off, and an awesome workout this morning to kick the week off!

Darth, keep kicking ass sir! OSSIM work kicking up the incline!

Starbuckaneer - ouch!!! Tons of good vibes headed your way for a speedy recovery!

bkitty - You’re probably getting close to the 1/2 way point in your boot camp - how are you holding up?!

and lastly DawnAZ!!! Gratz on your half marathon over the weekend!!! Saw your tweet - serious props!!!

Keep up the great work everyone!

#177

This is the last week of our 21 day Crush! Woohoo!

I am so tired all the time- lol! I have been eating better, with a sprinkling of mishaps, but doing well for the most part.

Thanks for the ups everyone- I very much appreciate the support!

Because of my work shift, I don’t get all the sleep I’d like, and naps are hard to get. The hub is ready for me to be less cranky!

Still, I can feel some difference and I’m WAY less wrecked from yesterday’s trip up Cowles Mtn than I was the first time! woohoo!! rockydance

After making it all the way up and down the Mtn, the hub sprained his ankle on the last stair step on the way to our car! He was so upset! Thankfully, I had 2 ice paks in the car cooler and today, he was better enough to go to this morning’s class. 100 Burpee Monday- blerg!

I love that the GWC Cookbook thread is taking off again!

#178

awesome bkitty, you’re in the home stretch you can do it! :slight_smile:

managed to FINALLY make it through a full P90X weight routine tonight, tomorrow I’m shooting for the half marathon mark on the treadmill, after I hit that mark I’m going to stay at that distance for some time and slowly add incline and speed, I want to be at 3 incline and 7mph speed before I move up the distance again (I’m currently at 2 incline and 6.6mph speed)

as for the diet I’m going back to what had me lose weight the first time

essentially I count the calories of everything I eat EXCEPT for veggies and fruit, this allows me to ‘pig out’ guilt free on healthy stuff and not feel so hungry all the time (even when I’m at a low body fat count I’m still a somewhat thickly built person)

so tonight I had 1 piece of cooked salmon, an entire personal steamer bag of green beans, and one piece of toast with raspberry jam for desert (I forgot to get more kiwis!!!)

so I imagine from here on out I’m going to be eating carrots like nobody’s business again cough invest in carrots cough

what are your plans for when the boot camp is done bkitty?

good work there Starbuccaneer, to me eating healthy is by far the HARDEST part, so if you can nail that down just wait for your body to be ready (oh gosh I LOVE unhealthy food so much :stuck_out_tongue: )

Amberite how early do you get up to work out? I use to get up early to work out but I’ve just been so burned out that I’m not able to do it anymore so I wait until after work to do it, do you just have good will power or are you taking some caffine right away when you get up to jump start yourself?

#179

Congrats on the P90X- I heard that’s pretty brutal!

the hub and I have been doing bootcamp together since August- he had been going about a year before me. After this Crush Campaign we will go back to our twice a week commitment and supplement with our previously fallow gym membership.

Also, I have my wii fit and the wii personal trainer that I haven’t yet cracked open. Also, we have lovely places to hike and walk here in San Diego. Tons of options that just need the perseverance to utilize!

I will still be dipping in for inspiration! You guys are OSSIM!!!

#180

Darth, Congratz on the P90X weights, and the ambitious goal for the half, with incline and speed!!! Total faith in you buddy… and I placed my buy order with a commodities trader for carrots. Now we need a cold snap in mexico to drive the price up, and with the increased demand I can finally retire to an island volcano lair with an army of zombie slaves in matching jumpsuits (I can dream can’t I :)).

bkitty re: the fallow gym membership - that’s awesome. My revelation last year was that the membership only worked if I used it. Funny how that works :slight_smile:

Starbuckaneer - great job on the nutrition front!!! I totally echo what Darth said. The diet is the hard part - once you’re all healed up, you’ll be kicking ass in no time :slight_smile:

Now, as for mornings. My normal schedule is up at 5:05, out the door by 5:25. Downtown at working out in the gym by 5:50, and hit the showers at 7:30, which puts me in the office by 8:05. Depending how much WoW I play the nite before, and if Mrs. Amberite wants to watch a movie, I usually hit the sack between 11:00 and 12:30. Not ideal I know, but whatcanyado? So, I do rely on caffeine a bit, in a couple of different formats:

  1. In the car on the way into the gym I usually sip on a pre-workout protein formula. 1 Scoop of either VPX NO-Shotgun or 1 Scoop of Gaspari SuperPump 250 + 1stp Beta Alanine + 1 tsp Glutamine. The Shotgun and SuperPump both have caffeine & other stimulants in with the protein and creatine, so there’s a bit of a kick there. But, I will do one month on, then a couple weeks off to limit the reliance on this stuff.
  2. Depending on how I’m feeling, I’ll sometimes do a week of a thermogenic like VPX Redline, or Magnum Heat. They both contain caffeine, but I try not to use them very often.
  3. If I’m on the road, I usually won’t have a pre-workout protein shake, so I’ll grab either a xenergy or VPX Meltdown, or If I’m lucky, a VPX Pump, which has some creatine as well as energy stuff.
    (I also stack BCAAs, multivitamins, and CLA before my morning workout).

The big question is do they make a difference? Well, over the holidays I went cold turkey on all products leading up to visiting my folks. My energy levels were down a bit during morning workouts I think, so who knows. I’ve read as many peer-reviwed journals as I could get my hands on (my degrees are in biochemistry and immunology), so I try and steer towards products that have some science behind them. I also have a crazy tolerance to caffeine - 9 years as a paramedic putting myself through college brought me to the point where I can drink a double espresso right before bed with no ill effects.

tl;dr - Yes, I love my caffeine :slight_smile: Sorry for the long post