"All I Want For Christmas Challenge" week of October 9th

Hi everyone and welcome to the new week! Happy Thanksgiving to any canadians reading the thread (I know we have a few lurkers I LOVE that )

Let's get our goals posted for the week, post our menus each day, and encourage each other to the max!

By now , we should all be doing whatever we were usaully be doing plus now a daily routine of wallies, crunches (with or without the ball), HN's killers, and now....*drumroll please" ...today's new move....

OK..I'll try to explain it as I cannot find an animated picture on the web. It's not difficult and all of us should be able to do this one but it realyl does target the right muscles...we all want sexy butts eventually, right?

Now..stand behind a kitchen chair, holding the top of it with feet only a few inches apart. Slightly bend knees and shift weight ever so slightly to left foot. Keeping right foot slightly off the floor, move it behind the left foot so that it points out to the right at about a 45 degree angle (Stay with me here it's an easy move but hard to explain without pictures). Keeping the right/back foot off the ground and left knee slightly bent, lift the right leg (keeping it straight) as far straight up behind you as you can WITHOUT leaning your upper body forward..you NEED to stay upright, looking straight ahead, stabilizing yourself by holding the chair. Pause here and grab your right butt cheek ( ) you should be able to feel the muscle isolated and contracted..that's how you know you are doing it right!). Repeat this move for as many reps as you can or how ever you like to do it (ie. 3 X 10) I'm going to do 50 each side twice a day and see how that feels. Don't forget to do the other side too! keeping the non-lifting knee slightly bents, prevents injury and makes sure it's the correct muscles being utilized and not the larger muscles of the leg. You can take it up a notch if you like by using resistance bands and or ankle weights. Hehehe..was that about as clear as mud???

So folks...no excuses! let's get to it...be proud of who we are and of who we are becoming!!!

Mandy
xoxo's

Hehehehehe Pizzamama! I got the sentiment though..thank you

HN..LOL....we still celebrate Christmas on December the 25th..and if recollection serves me correctly back to my schoolgirl history class days, it's the US that changed the date of Thanksgiving..we celebrate it on the correct day, you moved it to make room for Columbus day....weird (Don't quote me on that though..I could be totally wrong..lololol..I'm old and history class was eons ago..lol)

So, I've just made up my own recipe for lc pumpkin pie..lol..wasn't all that thrilled with the version I made last year so I'll let y'all know how it turns out. Got chocolate chip banana muffins for the family for breaky in the oven right now then in goes the pie

cya..Mandy
xoxo's

I'll keep looking, k?

[HorseNutt]

Hey Everyone,

Guess who I met today??? TT!!!! She is so pretty and is a lot thinner in person than in her pics!!!. She arrived at my exit an hour earlier than she thought, right when my DD was scheduled to show her Steer but I ran up there and met her anyway at the Cracker Barrel. TT was a good girl and was eating on target. I couldn't enjoy my visit and eat with them. I had to rush back to the show but, I'm glad I got to meet her and Mr TT.

Mandy, I have never heard about Thanksgiving being changed. I'll have to ck that out. I did read once that back in the early 1900's pink was the color for baby boys and, blue was the color for baby girls. Oh great bun buster btw Mandy!

LOL...I may have it all a$$ backwards HN..who knows! lol

Cool on meeting TT! Take any pics???

[sinny]

HN thats great that you got to meet TT....Sorry you didn't have more time together.

well my goals are the same as the old ones . I need to get back to them. Eat clean,drink water,go to curves 3x and walk .
sun .so far my food was good,walked 1.7 in the rain and I am working on my water. Now if I can just stop myself from snacking every 2 mins.

Mandy hope you had a great THanksgiving..............................

Will try to get some of those other exercises in.

[Pizzamama]

Mandy - I do that same thing on the ball - its the one I always say works the back upper thigh - it is pretty killer - I've been doin 25 each leg and will try to increase this week - and plan to stay on the wallies (love them) and tryin hard to keep up doin HN's ab killers!

HN!!!!!!!!!!Lucky U! or should I say lucky TT????hmmmmm That's awesome u 2 got 2 meet!

Anyway - eating ok today - water bad though! Check back in in the morning!

to all!

[Melly]

it has been a crazy weekend with the new baby but as promised here are pics...

http://community.webshots.com/slides...457&key=QMLBEs

Don't forget to click on play after you open the link

I will catch up on posts later

[HorseNutt]

[IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG]

These are pictures of Lauren and Roy getting ready to go in the show ring.

Thanks Sinny, I wish we had, had more time... But it was really fun to meet someone you chat with and I really enjoy talking to TT on the phone anyway.

Pizza it was really fun to meet her but I hate I was in such a rush to get back to see Jessie show. I bet she thought I had ants in my pants

Jessie was in heat 6 and I made it back during heat 5! Jessie placed 10th in her class out of 16 steers and Lauren placed 5th out of 20 steers in her Senior class. They are excited and waiting on their check's from the show. Yes, they get paid to place! but only if they place from 10th place on up. So Jessie just barely made it to get her some mooooola... Geeze I have never seen so much beef in one place in my life. You wouldn't believe how many cow patties I slipped on too!! Even cows were slipping on poo!!! haha I know one county alone had 80 beef cows there and you all know about how many counties are in a state. This was the big Georgia State Fair/4-H Show/FFA Show.

Melly about time you got those pics of the pup pup!!! I found the cutest hats for tiny dogs up to 7lbs and they didn't have a manly hat for my lil Rambo so I passed. You ought to get cute clothes for Aliyah to dress her baby up, that would make great stocking stuffers for her. I'm going to get 2 outfits from Petsmart for Jessie to dress Peach up in.

[HorseNutt]

Melly that puppy is a darling.... Wish I could hold her too

[Pizzamama]

Hey how bout a side-by-side pic of Laurens beef cow and Mellys new pup

I enjoyed the pics! Thanks HN and Melly!

[goalinsight]

Congrats to the winners (Horsenutt's dds and cows or is it steers?) and the losers (Miss M - 11 pounds - weigh to GO!!!)!

Happy Turkey Day! to Mandy and family. Hope everyone is doing better at your house.

Hey Beaches...I do NOT think I do enough excercises to gain weight from muscles..that really struck my funny bone!
I won the prize for the least excercise in the world. I can hardly walk, lady...I crawl up the stairs to my bed at night so I can do my leglifts ETC and SLEEP!

Yodel-lay-e-hooo! Melly - I am home girlie! No vehicle for the next three days...and that is one CUTE dawgiedearest.

Had a great weekend - not much sleep though.
Walk through the Bible seminar was really neat - we all learned 77 hand motions to help us remember 77 different historical events from the old testament. Yes, 77...I can't remember them all yet but I will keep working on it. My 6 yo ds looked soooo cute trying to remember them all with his face all scrunched up with the effort.
Stayed legal but did break a personal rule. (Okay, Melly, look away for a moment please....)
I ate 72 nuts. I counted them.... (Melly, you can look now.)
It was really difficult to stay legal/ Lots of great food - no diet pop - desserts EVERYWHERE! Had hard boiled eggs instead of lasagna, hard boiled eggs instead of B-fast oatmeal cake, stayed out of the dining area during snack time and peeled the crusty stuff off of my KFC chicken. Had plain salad during lunch instead of pizza.....next time I am eating in the van (or bringing one of you guys with me to distract me) so I do not have to watch! I did drink lots of water but my UTI is NOT gone. So more antibiotics!
So it's back to the wallies and modified crunches for me....adding leg lifts so here is what I am doing each day:
1 set chair excercises - includes glute squeezes and 4 other excercises
minimum of 50 wallies
40 modified crunches
15 leg lifts each side
upper body workout 2 sets of 10 w/light weights
10 pelvic lifts (really weird excercise! a former therapist gave me)
I do this list morning and evening with extra wallies through the day if I can handle them. For some reason I cannot seem to increase the reps in my upper body workout even after 4 weeks. Is that weird or what? I think I am gonna increase the number of wallies also....
Have yet to figure out the leg rowing thingee but I probably could not do it anyways so the leg lifts and crunches will have to suffice until I build up some strength, then I will try those torture-ous thingees again.

[HorseNutt]

Sherry, they are Steers, thats no bull ... Cranberry juice helps with UTI's

Pizza that would be a big difference wouldn't it Roy the Steer facing off with Reesey the Dachshund.

There was a segment about the DDR on the news here the other day about Teens and weightloss. I bought a DDR and they are really good to get the blood pumping and the metabolism moving... Ck out the site and you might want to get one!! Mine cost me about $52 with shipping and just plugs into the TV. The kids love it too!! http://www.ddrgame.com/ddrloseweight.html

[beachfires]

Happy Monday Challengers!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I attended a memorial service/family reunion for a much beloved uncle. There were members of my family there that I haven't seen in over 30 yrs!! We shared some great memories and made some even better ones.

Sherry...any additional exercise level will cause your muscles to retain water...hence the increase in weight!! Reading your list of "daily exercise" it most certainly IS enough to make a difference!! Keep it up girl!!

Melly....awwwwwwww what a sweet wittle puppy!!! Absolutely adorable pictures and Aliyah looks so happy!! You and Darrell look mighty relaxed...LOL!!

Mandy...think I can do those new exercises...pretty soon I will have to get up at about 3am to get EVERYTHING in...LOL

Exercise schedule for the week:
M-F 10 miles/30 minutes on bike in the am & 10 miles/30 minutes in the pm
M-F 100 crunches on the ball in the am & 100 in the pm
M-F 200 wallies spread out thru the day
M-F 35 gut busters (thanks HN!!)
M-F Mandy's leg lifts
M-W-F UBWO w/free weights
T-Th LBWO

Eating and water are right on track. Feeling pretty good about myself lately, no changes to speak of in either weight or bf% but...feeling like a million bucks anyway (green and wrinkled!!)...hehehe

Have a great day all!!!

Holiday Monday here! Gotta love any reason for an extra day off!

Got through thanksgiving dinner with my low carb lifestyle perfectly intact! Had turkey, sf cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts, green beans, mashed parsnips and low carb pumpkin pie ( a little more happy with this year's recipe but still needs some tweaking ..more cream and one more egg next time)

Glad to see the exercise plans for the week being set. Pizza..not sure we are talking about the same move if you do yours on the ball..it's meant to isolate the large muscle of the derriere not the upper thigh and to isolate that properly, you need to hold the body as upright as possible. Reach back and grab your butt to see if that muscle is contracting while you're doing them..or have a loved one perform that task hehehe ....buns of steel here we all come!

Sandi..I'm sorry you lost your uncle but glad as a family you got through it together. Memories make life a sweet ride. I'll get up at 3 am with you to get all this stuff in!

Sinny...I know how hard it is to stop snacking once you start..I NEVER snacked for the first year I low carbed and lost phenomenally...started snacking and haven't lost an ounce since Maybe we could try together to stop?

Melly...such a sweet puppy Would make a nice scooby snack for my Sheba heheh..just kidding..she's adorable as is your sweet daughter in thos epictures

HN..great pictures of Lauren...all three of your girls are beautiful just like their mom! I checked out the DDR..now I want one..lol..I've told dh to get me that from the kids at Christmas. It looks like so much fun!

Sherry..it could very well be the exercise giving you the 2 lb rise..but it's a good thing..it means your muscles are getting toned which equals inches lost! Do you measure or just go by the scale? I didn't measure when I first started (really did NOT want to know my measurements at that point ) but wish now that i had. "I've lost 50 gazillion inches" would have sounded good..lol

OK..looks like i haven't set my own exercise for the week

Monday:3 X 100 wallies, 3 X 10 "HN hates me's ", 3 X 50 ball crunches, 3 X 50 butt crunchers(25 each side each time) 2 mile walk with the dog if the rain stops.
Tuesday-Friday: 20 minute run + above

Eating..clean and try not to snack
Water...64-100 oz daily
Post menu daily

Breakfast today: 5 strips of bacon, 3 oz cumin cheese, 3 fried eggs and 1/6 of lc pumpkin pie
28 oz water so far

Off now to do one set of the "exercise of the week" repetoire

Love you all!
Mandy
xoxox's

[beachfires]

I'll get up at 3 am with you to get all this stuff in!


That would be midnight for you...you probably won't even have gone to bed yet...LOL

I just did the first of the butt crunchers...2 sets of 25 each side...will probably do one more before going home for the day...when you are in a one person office it's amazing how much working out you can do...

Just waiting for the family to finish dinner..it's amazing how much less time it takes to eat low carb

I made a great turkey and veggie soup for my dinner..thickened theirs and added tortellini..they must have liked it ..no complaints yet! The unfortunate part came when I ate the entire remainder of the lc pumpkin pie BEFORE dinner *sigh* I ate too much today but it was all legal stuff. Water has been good..70 oz so far

This morning when I was doing my "HN hate's me's" my 2 year old came and laid right on top of me with his cheek on my face...guess he wanted a hug and a kiss ..but it actually made them easier to do as I felt better 'anchored' to the floor....so there's the trick to do these..get someone you love to lay on you ..it enabled me to do 15 instead of 10! Now I'm going to go do my second set of everything

Hope you all are having a good day. Post soon!

Love..Mandy

[sinny]

Mandy you are too funny........Only one here is DH Hm...... not a bad idea.

I went to curves today,and did 25 each of those butt thingy. I have only eaten dinner today as I forgot about eating. I had shrimp,tomato and cuccumber and slice of whole wheat toast............. I need to get going on my water................
Rest of the day was spent on running around stores with my son......boy I hate shopping.


Off to watch some TV.

[Melly]

This is a fly-by......I just finished walking and am beat......not alot of sleep the last few days since the baby arrived

Originally Posted by Melly

This is a fly-by......I just finished walking and am beat......not alot of sleep the last few days since the baby arrived

Heheheh..long labour Melly?

[goalinsight]

Hey Melly - if Aliyah is the mommy - are you the grandma? And which side of the family does Reesey resemble?
Hahahaha ROTHFLMAO

Good morning everyone...remember your goals and make 'em happen today!

Mandy
xoxo's

[Pizzamama]

Morning All!

75 Wallies ~ Done
25 HN's hates me too's ~ Done
25 (each cheek) Mandy's caboose exercise ~ Done

Still need some crunches on ball later this afternoon ~ too much coffee to do now!

Eating improved since this weekend ~ back on track food wise with the exception of water is down! With the cooler weather trying to drink green tea at work more in the evenings or celestial seasonings spiced teas (I do count that towards my water intake for day)!!!!

Trying to stay away from the Pumpkin Pie Spice Cappachinos next door at Dairy Mart ~ had one on Sunday and two on Monday I need to find out the carbs in them (16oz each) so I STOP IT

Going to make homeade cream of brocolli soup today!

Discovered a new recipie on Rachel Ray this weekend ~ (for the rest of the family of course) Cubed up boneless skinless chicken breast dipped in pancake batter with hot sauce added to it - deep fry - I swear you can't tell the difference from the chinese restruants sweet and sour chicken!!!!!and sooooo easy since I always have chicken breast meat on hand for MY LC STUFF - they were thinkin of doin something like sausage/bacon balled up and dipped in the pancake batter and fried since there is always sausage and bacon on hand too - the batter gets big and puffy mmmmmmmm! Gonna experiment this morning when they get up ~ if they get up LOL!

Well gonna go get some things done ~ (hopefully it involves some crunches ) Have a good day all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ya!

[goalinsight]

Good moring all! Not sure how my day and excercise are going to go today. I only have the 12 and under boys here. The rest are helping at church camp...
My 6 yo ds has a 101 temp so he is very clingy! My landlord also bought a new stove which is being installed this afternoon! Yippee!
I let you know how my adventure goes later.