Globetrotter

Denise - I want to go to Germany so that I can be officially medically released from this job, so that I can get official documentation of my MS, so that I can eventually try to (successfully) apply for SSD. SherylJane - The ex is floundering, and you know what happens - panicked people/horses, will pull someone down with them in their self-interested terror. I chuckled at your description of the trainer and what he's doing to you, abs day was three days ago, yet I sneezed this morning and yelped from the pain Last night I was particularly emotional and welled up during an exercise (it was arms day) I could feel all the fear/anxiety/helplessness/frustration just bubble up and had to blink back tears. We barely made it out to the sidewalk afterward before he wrapped me in a hug and cuddled me into calmness, it may have lasted 5 minutes or 15, I have no idea, I sort of went into a fugue state. Kim - my jealousy is simply seething! Please take pics and post them so I can live vicariously! Saw CLK on another thread, AND lilmissdiva, AND BritishJane, woohoo!! I think that article about the Welsh woman with MS who ended her life affected me more than I realized yesterday, she was my age exactly when she was Dxd. Wanda - Hurrah! pushin' through the gate, begon stubborn pounds! BTW - does anyone here know how to negotiate for a salary? I've never had to do that before. A start-up in Seattle wants me, but doesn't have much money yet...

Arms day yesterday with the trainer - it was so .... cathartic that I actually welled up! Lifting releases all my toxins/emotions, anyone else experience that? We did this one, a bar with a rope attached to the center and a donut weight at the end of the rope. You hold your arms at a 90 deg angle, or straight down, or out, whtever works, and you slowly roll up the rope till the weight is at the bar. I did those overhand and then underhand, arms straight down, and my .... inability, my ... weakness, actually choked me up, wierd... Ab day was three days ago and I sneezed this morning and it hurt like a mutha :/ So far, "up" 2 lbs ... When does the swelling go down?

It really is old home week!! Diva AND Jane AND Clk!! Hurrah!! I've been through a fair bit of life as well, stalled out and regained about 25 lbs even though I hadn't made it to goal, found 5:2 and compound lifting and am once again back at my lowest post-surgery weight, with 37 lbs to go to (personal) goal. I am in Afghanistan. Diva - have you tried Pilates? It was invented for injured ballerinas so they wouldn't lose conditioning while healing, really works the muscles, without using joints, better than yoga imo, for injured people.

Cathy - sadly that is an optical illusion from the shadows and flash of the camera, I have a substantial lower overhang.

Why DO people take themselves so seriously? Kim - the Edwardian Ball!!!!! I have wanted to go to that for YEARS, so jealous... Denise - we have two totally different takes on the situation; I think you have a great set up, one guy for one thing, one guy for another... I think it is a mistake to expect all things from one person and as an aside, I think this is why closed-group polyamory is becoming such a thing with the "kids" (under 30s) these days. I am a single woman and I make friends with men easier than I do with women, so I have buds that I dance with, play chess with, argue ethics with, exchange dirty jokes with... finding one man to satisfy all the facets of who I am... that's a tremendous expectation for a human. I love what my Grandma used to say about relationships or situations, "they are like buses, if it's not going where you need to go, get a transfer". Oh and the reason I haven't said anything about care packages is because I may be medivacing to Germany anywhere from next week to mid-February, things are really up in the air, and since it takes about 3 weeks for a parcel from the West coast, it's dicey if it would get here while I am still here. Coops - did you see this? http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/francis-medley-left-blog-entry-6503648

Doesn't creatine just give you fake "water" muscles? that's what a lot of guys out here say ... I am so sore from a workout 2 days ago that it hurts to cough, I don't have access to aminos atm.

Butter - I do all of those things, the foot-clenching, the ball-rolling, and the toeless foot wrap, I have them from dancing. Tonight my trainer and I will be doing cardio for the first time since starting the compound lifting, we'll see what my foot is able to do.... update: about to go do cardio with the trainer, be end of night will have only consumed 650 cals, I went a little berserk last night with some cashews so I think it's okay, plus everything at the difac tonight was highly delicious and highly inedible - buffalo chicken bites, fried mozzerella sticks, GRILLED CHEESE ... D:

He knows that my focus is growth of lean muscle mass and reduction of body fat, not to mention the importance of improving my balance and core strength. He doesn't want me eating less than 1200 cals!! What he doesn't know won't hurt him though and on days when we don't work out I will drop it down to 600.

Denise - my new Battle Buddy has a girlfriend that he intends to make his fiancee, is way WAY WAAAAAAYYYY too young. However, that beings said, he is NOT cheating on his GF, they have an understanding while he is deployed, so we are providing each other with ....succor and, stress relief . I read the other day that at the 20 second mark of a hug oxytocin gets released, I'm gonna tell him that so that I can get longer hugs .

Coops - thanks for that! if I were to have major plastics right now, I think I could easily "lose" a solid 15 lbs of skin and tissue. My trainer doesn't want me fasting, I'm torn.

I take several omega vitamins as well as eat sardines regularly, and I have begun drinking a protein shake right after working out, what is the best timing for taking the aminos?

Too dangerous, I loved their toffee almonds, I can easily eat an entire canister without blinking, way too dangerous to have around for me.

Fiddle - is it normal to be "up" almost a pound the morning following a brutal lifting session? Is that water in the torn muscles?

Does anyone know about BNS Aminos? My Battle Buddy recommended them.

Are amino acids made from soy? Because I can't do soy. I would love to hear from Fiddleman on this - he knows my new Xfit compound lift training I'm doing.

Really guys? Thanks, I just don't see the changes, I will post before and after in *our* thread. I was SOOO disappointed to learn that I have over 30 lbs to lose before I can even be considered average BMI Georgia and Feed - what is your average caloric intake on eating days and on fasting days? I think I am eating too much on fasting, and not enough on eating...

Butter - the foot is no bueno, i think your original assessment is probably accurate or at least mostly the case, plantar f. Every step hurts, even though I spend quality time every night rolling out the arch with a tennis ball, not a happy camper!!

I do not bounce. I also do not count my regularly scheduled 4 pounds 2 days prior to the start of my cycle, but I don't "bounce", instead I just sit at one weight for what feels like forever :/

wow this thread spun out of control ... I'm super excited about my workout tomorrow, even though it will be in the dark and frozen clamshell! Excited because I lost 4 pounds in 6 days! Excited because I am only 2.4 lbs away from the lowest weight I've been since freshman year of college! I did get a dose of disappointment today tho, checked out my BMI for the first time in a long time - still overweight! In fact, I will need to lose another THIRTY TWO POUNDS in order to just barely enter the average BMI zone :/ But, I'm on it!!

Capsicum, that whole family of peppers and pepper spices. The AIP, the Auto-Immune Protocol is extremely strict, it is a diet of exclusion and then you slowly reintroduce items. I have been eating this way since the end of September and when I ate a Christmas cookie I was messed up, like someone had injected me with horrible drugs.

I always get a loss after my fasts but unlike most people who tend to fast on separate days I fast 2 days in a row because of my fitness schedule.

I'm down for QoC to come in, she "works the program" of being a sleever and has a good attitude. I gave up Insanity after 6 weeks because it just wasn't doing what I needed/wanted for my body. I switched over to Xfit compound lift training with my new Buddy and I love it! As you can see I changed my profile pic, I just took that today, the old pic was a year and a half old. The side view is the only one where you can see a definite difference since I begain working out rigorously 7 weeks ago, and even then you can only see a real difference in the profile of my butt. Does anyone know how to figure out if a digital scale is on the fritz? Either mine is a lying bastard or I really have dropped 4 lbs in 6 days from the new workout. I fear it is the former :/ Kim - I love belly dancing!! It is a serious workout, even when I was very obese but was regularly belly dancing, I could do isoloations steadily while some skinny newbies were flattened, I always enjoy watching Fat Chance Belly Dance, the ATS troupe out of SF. Oh and, was that a Sleeping with the Enemy shout out, or a Dr Zhivago one? Edit: Just went to check out my BMI, excited cuz of the exercise, talk about disappointment - it says I have to be at LEAST 135 lbs before I can even enter the average BMI zone

I do not eat prior to exercise, I have ample fat stores to draw from. I finally said to hell with this, and quit Insanity and subbed in Xfit compound lift training and 1200 cals and lost 4 lbs in 6 days! I knew, in my gut (no pun intended) I always knew that cardio just doesn't do it for me. It may be fun, but it doesn't do *it* for my body. Unfortunately, due to my circumstances, getting wholesome foods is really tricky and if I were just eating I would barely clear 500 calories a day, so I am now drinking like 3 shakes a day, and I can't make them with milk because I can't do dairy

I have serious auto-immune issues associated with "Leaky Gut" or "Wheat Belly". I do not eat wheat, corn, soy, white sugar, nightshades, capsicums, rice, any kind of grain or legumes really. My "flour" is ground almond meal, flaxmeal, coconut or hemp.

Butter - an hour commute? That's rough. I did that for a year and it got old so fast. Fiddle - thanks for the suggestions, I cannot eat oats or wheat but I can have chia and flaxseed, I put 2 TBSP in a little boiling Water and add a half tsp of coconut oil and that is my hot Cereal Breakfast, I am trying to remember to prepare a shake ahead of time so that I can immediatley drink it afterward but the water is so tough!! I'm so full from food and I feel like I'm constantly eating, so drinking is really difficult for me. Basically, the only days I get my full water intake are days when I barely eat. My body knew what was up, by the way; it took 6 weeks of stubborness, eating 650 cals and doing Insanity 5x a week before the bulb went on and I said screw that! I switched to the compound Xfit lifting every other day with my buddy and a minimum of 1200 cals and after only 3 sessions I am already down 4 pounds, BOOM! And Fiddle I think you will appreciate this: our weights are in a "clamshell" tent/building and yesterday the power went out in the afternoon and they weren't able to fix it. Now we are right in the heart of an Afghan winter at 8000 ft so the cold gets brutal fast, but we still went! I never took off my two sweaters, my hat, my gloves, or even changed out of my boots for my gym shoes. It was pitch dark, I could see every puff of breath, and was working out by flashlight, but I didn't stop!!