Coming back from my last ski trip of the year and skiing at Vail my ski pants were feeling a bit tight. It was time to lose some of the extra pounds that had crept on during ski season and eating/drinking out too much. So starting about April 20 I made a plan to lose 10.5 lbs.

For the first four weeks I did very well - dropping 6.5 of those pounds while making a concerted effort to watch what I was eating - including staying away from the candy bowl at work! Well the past 2 weeks I've been pretty stagnant wavering between 3.5 and 4 lbs from my unofficial goal. It's been frustrating but I'm trying to keep focussed as I'll need that to keep the weight off anyhow.

Anyone else have a fitness goal they're working towards this off-season? What's the goal, what's your plan, and how are you doing?

I'm working on a couple of things. First, to get my old energy level back. Then, to lose 10 pounds.

I'm on day three of no soda! I got in a really bad habit of using soda for the nice caffeine effect it has on me. It got me through many a day in the last couple of months. But, it's time to give it up!

Yes! Trying to....but the elliptical is not getting the LOVE that it needs right now!

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Kelly
"The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time." ~ James Taylor

Um...using the elliptical with a broken foot might be a tad difficult!

Be Careful!

Ok. Now I've got a picture of Kelly on a treadmill on crutches running through my head :rotfl:

A little birdie told me that she actually tried to do the eliptical with her injured foot and end up hanging on for dear life!

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Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take
But by the number of moments that take your breath away~

I'm always working on trying to improve myself physically.

Splurge this year on a personal trainer. He has really helped re-vamp my workout which I have been soing since I was 15yo. Not so great when I'm now 43yo! Helps that he is also a skier so he completely understands what is important to me as far as strength & balance. I noticed a big difference in both these areas skiing this last season.

More conscientous on my diet. My diet has also been very good, but now I actually measure good when I'm at home to make sure I'm eating the correct portion size. That has made a huge difference also.

Wew, time to get ready to take Benson on a hike!

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I'm not a native, but I got here as fast as I could

I'm on day 8 of no soda! I

'm ready to kick another bad habit...

My goal this week is to up my veggie intake and to get back to doing pilates 4 days a week.

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Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take
But by the number of moments that take your breath away~

Congrats on no soda (or pop as we call it out here!). I tried it, and can't seem to go cold turkey, but I have cut back!

I'm going to a swim clinic this afternoon to see if it might be possible to do a triathlon in August. I'm not sure what I'm thinking, but a friend and I have been talking about it for a couple years, and now might be the time to bite the bullet! I'll see how the swim goes today and what kind of training that will involve!

I've also been doing some arm weights for my triceps. Wearing sleevless has made me want to work on the part of my body! My DS jiggling my flabby arms has also motivated me!

Congrats on dumping the soda Mindy !

I want to stay in the shape I ended the season in. Dump a couple bad habits like the amount of my coffee consumption. I'm going to stop here. Put more thought into it, like make a plan, then post again.

Well....I'm trying to cut out my soda and pasta! 2 of my FAVORITES!!!!

Ask me how it's going?

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Kelly
"Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been." ~ Jimmy Buffett

I guess I'll post a sorta update. There is progress again, less than 3lbs to go to goal. This definitely makes me happy, just gotta keep with it. And I actually got to the gym on Monday night for the first time in ages. Gotta get back again. Gym has made me very happy by having 2 Bosu's available for use!

Now just gotta make sure not to undo the progress over the weekend!

Sort of an ongoing thing for me, at my age. Can't let it go, ever. I'm having my first major blood work this summer in 5+- years, the whole fasting deal. Really want to see those HDL numbers up there, so I'm hitting the cardio stuff harder than usual. Otherwise, I just have to stay with fitness classes year-round, or I lose it. Fast. Too fast. And now that I'm familiar with the feeling of starting ski season w/o tons of soreness, I don't want to ever go back to the old way. It's just part of my life, has to be. I've also been on a diet since 1964.......the trick is "the range." Never go beyond it. Losing 3-4 pounds is easy. Losing more than 15? Ouch.

Yay Persee!

I never had a weight "goal" in mind when I started with my trainer last year...just needed to change up what I was doing to get into better shape. And he is kicking my butt! It's good that he's a skier ...really focuses on my balance and core strength. And, it is nice to see the pounds drop off.

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I'm not a native, but I got here as fast as I could

Thanks!

I know that both my clothing fits better (which makes me happy since I have my full wardrobe available!) and I feel better when I'm in a certain weight range. I try to get myself to the lower end of that during the months when we travel less (ie not ski season) so I have better control over what I'm eating. I know I inevitably gain some weight while travelling no matter how active I am.

MSL - good luck with the bloodwork. I've been blessed with insanely high HDL's. I can't let the doctors office do a simple cholesterol level because they will claim I'm high, but what they miss is that my HDL's are over 70 so the ratio puts me in protective range. I've been reading that diet can be more of a factor in upping the HDL's than exercise. Sometimes it's just natural. I believe olives are one of the foods that has been linked to upping HDLs, either way do some reading and combat it on two fronts. Getting into the protective range for HDLs is definitely something that will put your mind at ease for heart health.

My tests will be the whole fasting full test kind of deal, measuring glucose, etc. So they'll get all the numbers. Last time, I was @ 80 HDL, which was fun, but I was doing way more cardio at the time. The total to HDL ratio was good. Don't remember LDL numbers. Like I said, it has been awhile, I'm due. We only use olive oil here, for any cooking that requires anything of the sort. DH is the one who has to be watched like a hawk, and he's on serious meds. But this is totally genetic, unfortunately. He has to work way harder than I do to achieve same numbers, even with medication. Hey. Whatever works, eh? Need to keep him around awhile. No male on his father's side of the family has made it past 57. He's 55. Working out is not a vanity option for him. And he used to be a distance runner and still had high numbers. For all we say about guys having it easier physiologically, I think after a certain point in time, life is the great equalizer......

I've had high cholesterol since the first time I had it tested @ age 19...it was 291 at the time and then I ran pretty much @ 235 since then.

I have tried diet, exercise, red wine...whatever, to no avail.

Finally, I went on a prescription medication (Zocor) 3 years ago @ age 40. last year my total was 180 (Yay!) and this year I'm hoping it will even be much lower.

It "used" to be that the cardiologists I work with wanted the total cholesterol to be less than 200...now they want <150. Seems like every patient is put onto some lipid lowering medication.

So, here's to <150 this year! (I hope!)

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I'm not a native, but I got here as fast as I could

Yeah, the statins are big business now -- but are not without consequences. When DH first got put on Lipitor in '03, his blood work a month later showed that it had so badly inflamed his liver that there was some fear it had been permanently damaged! He had to have some kind of major liver scan to assess. Deep sigh of relief: the inflammation was not permanent. Apparently, enough people overreact to the most common statins that these 1 month blood tests are now de rigeur. Zetia did zip for him and also retriggered some inflammation. Finally: results with and no side effects from Pravachol. His (VERY THIN) 40-something cardiologist said that he himself would go on statins at age 50, no matter what his numbers were. Curious. I'm gearing myself up for the very real possibility as I am well past 50.

Well....sitting on your butt with little activity absolutely will put the little poundage on!

My goal? Back to the weight I was at at my wedding. Can you believe that was only 7 months ago and I've gained !%^&*^*&^ POUNDS!!!! HOLY COW!

Ok....so back to getting in shape.

I'm going to start slow....this ankle limits my activity.

My goal....to go on a hike with SkiNurse SOON! Hopefully I'll be able to do an easy one in a few weeks! I just wanna hike!

We'll get there!

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Kelly
"Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been." ~ Jimmy Buffett

Good warning on the statins, MSL. The resaon I didn't start them sooner is cuz I had Hepatitis A as a teenagers and my liver enzymes have been wacky until about the age of 40. Besdies the liver issues they CAN cause, they also can cause a profound muscle weakness...to the point where some patients have to have physical therapy to get back strength. (my mom had a friend that this happened too.)

Luckily, not many people get the severe side effects...

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I'm not a native, but I got here as fast as I could

Yoiu just let me know when you are ready, girlfriend.

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I'm not a native, but I got here as fast as I could

See personally I'm not buying this holy grail of total cholesterol below 180 (or 150) to be healthy. As long as my HDLs are high and thusly my ratio for total cholesterol/HDL is in the protective range (ie 3.5 or lower) I won't be convinced I need a pill. My total cholesterol is unlikely to ever get down that low with my HDLs as high as they are and I have no intention of watching my HDLs drop.

Probably doesn't hurt that I'm very much against taking any more pills than I have to. I am on meds for my asthma and even those I prefer to keep to a minimum. Too many potentials for bad interactions even with the best of monitoring and well personally if I can be healthy w/o another drug I'm gonna do that. Years ago as a kid I was on theophyline for my asthma - which definitely has some known side effects, well I decided to see what happened if I went off of it. What do ya know my asthma didn't get any worse and I was spared the occasional (but highly annoying) theophylline jitters. Now they no longer have theophylline as such a standard asthma treatment.

Just my feeling on the whole statin, etc craze.

So... back to the getting in better shape. I got to the gym again tonight - second time in one week. That's gotta be some kinda record for me.

Went for over 3500 meters on the rower - Monday was only 2000 meters but I did the treadmill (fast walk - ie 4mph) as well. Tonight I didn't do the treadmill as I blistered my heels using it Monday. Also got back on the Bosu ball. I'm soo glad the gym has continued to leave these available!

I can't WAIT to get on my darn elliptical!
HEAL ANKLE! HEAL!!!!!

Good news.....water bottle filled 8 times today......Pepsi count.....1!

That's REALLY good for me!

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Kelly
"Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been." ~ Jimmy Buffett

Do we want to know the bathroom count :rotfl:

We went to the gym tonight, only 22 minutes on the arc trainer, but I've been bumping up the resistance and incline, not bad since I couldn't do much more than 10 minutes on resistance 15 about 9 months ago.

Then I did all my leg PT exercises and weights, I will get in good shape for this ski season, I'm determined.

Go meff!

I've been doing pretty good on eating a balanced diet and even managed to work out while I was in California. Luckily, for me my 14 year old niece ENJOYS working out and greatly encouraged me (ok, so she bribed me with a cupcake...what's wrong with that? ) to work out while I was in California.

I need to step up the strength training this week. I gotta get organized!

In August, I'm in Nantucket for a month for my job. I have surfing lessons set up for 5 times each week...it should be fun!

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Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take
But by the number of moments that take your breath away~

Ooooo... Surfing sounds like fun. But somehow I'm not sure I'd be coordinated enough for it!

For my fitness efforts I've actually been to the gym 3 times since last monday, increasing my time on the rower each day. This monday I put 30 minutes/ roughly 5k meters on. I'll keep with the 30 minute time, but up the resistance going forward. My endurance is doing quite well which makes me happy. Aside from that I do various exercises for my core and legs. The 3 times recently to the gym is something of a record for me - I imagine the gym staff is double checking their numbers to have seen me so often. I just always seem to be too busy to make it to the gym, even though I should. Weightwise I've been up this week - partly I think as a result of all the physical activity. We'll see if the weight goes away next week.

The funny thing is that I am THE most uncoordinated person I know! But, I'm in to finding ways to keep fit and healthy in a way that I enjoy! So, we will see how it goes! I'll be sure and let you know how it goes!

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Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take
But by the number of moments that take your breath away~

Or we could jot over to the island and watch.

Video would be even better meff! If you posted video of my "attempts" I'm sure it would provide much laughter, enjoyment, and general stress relief for many! I'm VERY good at laughing at and with myself...so, it's all good!

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Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take
But by the number of moments that take your breath away~