I completed my first week (5 weekdays + 1 weekend day), so I am glad about that!

My obstacle is that I know I need and want to do more (not longer, just harder). . .what I am doing is getting too easy. BUT, I am seeing that when I add more intensity, I am having more knee pain. And now, I am also getting some neck pain (only when exercising)! Not sure if from crunches or pushups; maybe both. I try to pay a lot of attention to form, too . . .

A few road blocks this week. Missed my Saturday workout. Today is rough, so tomorrow I'll get up early and go.

I've been really frustrated with a lack of visible progress, though I feel great. Major diet tweaks in the works. Saw my NP this week and had to face the fact that I was not as good with my eating as I was telling myself.

I may try to get to the gym more often. There are a couple classes that I could try as well. I'm not a huge fan of classes but I may need to break out of my shell a bit.

Did another week go by already? Well I've been so so on my fitness goals. 95 seconds on the plank and still working on my squatting, but not as diligently as I was at first.

I did try the bottoms up dvd and it was good for 2 reasons. First I was doing most of the exercises in the book correctly, but not doing enough of them as I never got into the pyramiding she was doing. Good because I did follow along and try the pyramiding and I was able to do most of them without getting sore...just tired.

Pyramiding is where you do 12 reps at the light weight, 10 reps at the medium weight and 8 reps at the heavy weight...so weight goes up and reps go down.

The other good news is that the kittens are certainly keeping me more active...high stepping over the barriers that limit their access to the house...bending and stretching retrieving toys and such...lots of sweeping and cleaning of litter boxes....

Beth, I hear you on the lack of visible progress. I feel the same. I see a little toning, but not what I would have expected by this point. I went from absolutely no exercise to 5 days a week, so I thought the results would come a little faster.

But, I think for some of those weeks, I just wasn't doing enough. I would put my "all" into each workout, but I wasn't doing new ones, worried I would hurt my knees. I stayed stuck too long when I was, unknowingly, ready for more.

I started a new DVD last week, on level 1. It seemed a little too easy, but I wasn't sure level 2 would be OK. Tried it today and it was fine.

So, I think we adapt a lot more quickly than we give ourselves credit for,which means we need to keep pushing forward. If you aren't seeing enough progress, try upping your intensity. Frequency may have to be increased, too. I also make sure I am doing more cardio now, too, which makes me feel so good the rest of the day. If you really don't like classes and are likely to not go, don't go, BUT, plan something else instead that you are more likely to accomplish.

Annie, I think I forgot to post the link that talked about the book/DVD. I will link below. I found it because my cellulite is what bothers me the most. I am definitely going to get some of Joyce's DVDs-- maybe this week. I absolutely love using weights.

Your kittens are too cute for words. Not that cleaning litter boxes is my favorite job (we have 2 cats), but it is so worth it!

Here is a link that might be useful: Bottoms Up

Yes, Joyce will give you a good workout. I did it again this a.m. though I am modifying it slightly vs. the video....at least for now. But she has an amazing body for her age, so clearly it's helping.

I find the best thing for cellulite though is to cut the carbs and/or make sure you eat your carbs with fats and proteins to slow the flood of carbs into your blood stream. Make them whole grain/high fiber carbs so they take longer to digest.

The brain is very sensitive to blood sugar and needs the right balance. So when you eat carbs your body can only burn it right away or store it as fat as it can't have any excess sugar in the bloodstream. I remember my dear doc telling my diabetic dad that the best thing he can do is take a 10 min walk after every meal to burn the carbs he's consumed...

Frustrated. Doing a 20 to 30 minute fast walk, mostly jog most mornings, staying active. Cut out wine most nights and trying to cut out all sugar. Otherwise my diet is healthy. Not losing weight and goal is 20 pounds. My back hurts often and I'm sick of it. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.

Joanie, sore back requires stretching, several times a day. Stand and bend over at the hips like toe touching and relax into the position....hold it for at least a minute, as you will find, as you are in that position, that you are able to stretch a little more. Then, while still bent, walk your arms to the right and do the same thing...hold, no bounce, but as you are able, stretch a little more. Do the same thing on the left. You can do that 3 or 4 times a day.

The jogging could be aggravating your back. You might look into interval training which is supposed to be most effective for calorie burning....you do periods of slower exercise interspersed with intense exercise...like walking with fast walking.

Here is a link that might be useful: Interval training

This post was edited by AnnieDeighnaugh on Wed, Jun 18, 14 at 12:01

Thanks Annie. Yeah I hurt my back a few years ago so I actually stretch a lot. It just hurts to stand for anything longer than 5-10 minutes. I have to keep moving, or park it somewhere. It hurts more when I'm heavier so I'm trying to get the weight off. Wish there was a magic pill... I do the interval training basically I think. I warm up, run (jog) until I can't breathe, then walk until I can then repeat.

Interval is much faster than that....some intervals are only 1 min....see the link above for how it could work.

I am doing OK. I bought a fitbit zip because I think it will be easier to track steps vs mileage since I seem to be taking several short walks instead of long ones I can track. I need to be better with plank and stretch. It only takes a few minutes. I'll see if I can add it somewhere on my fitbit.

Just got home from our little mini-vacation last night. I didn't do too badly with respect to staying active. Was able to do a couple of runs in the small town where DH grew up. We measured out some mileage from our hotel thru town (there were sidewalks!!) and the side streets thru the main/old part of town and back so I had an idea of mileage. I roughly ran 3 miles both times. The hotel had an arrangement with a gym so we went there once and it was pretty good. Stopping at Mammoth Cave on the way back gave us plenty of steps and walking thru the cave on the tours and the hotel had a gym so I did a little there. I did 3 miles this morning before I came to work. It's getting really warm and humid here so it's almost too hot to run in the afternoons for me.

Surprisingly I didn't gain any weight! We would often eat a fairly late breakfast (almost a brunch), then would eat very lightly for lunch and an early dinner most days so I actually lost a pound according to my scales today. I was totally shocked. I bought several of those refrigerated fruit cups (natural) like red grapefruit and pineapple. The hotel breakfasts were amazingly good and most had real fresh fruit, not the canned or frozen stuff.

How wonderful to lose weight on vacation! When we went on our river boat cruise, I came home weighing less even though I ate many times a day...I think it was all the walking we were doing...on our feet all day, every day.

I had a long message I posted a few days ago . . .apparently it didn't go through!

Annie, re: cellulite, I do think carbs/diet is part of the picture, but I also think it's far more complex than just that. And, unfortunately, it's hard as a vegetarian to limit carbs , but of course, avoiding refined carbs is always a good thing. I do always eat them with fats/protein-- always.

As I stated in another thread, I had it since when I was 13! I was underweight, even. My mom does not have it (lucky!) but my aunt did, very badly. There are many causes and it's not understood so well. In my case, I think it's a mix of genetics and hormones. I am going to try dry-brushing to help with my circulation (some say it's tied to the lymphatic system); supposed to yield good results. We'll see . . .

Joanie, the best thing is that, even though you feel discouraged, you are not quitting. That counts for a LOT. That is when it's the hardest, I am finding . . .so yay you!!!

I suggest you throw the scale away. I really do. The scale does not mean anything. You can gain muscle and feel like you are not losing fat! It's very deceptive. You can retain water weight (or lose it)-- and then what? If you really need numbers, measure yourself with a tape measure. The easiest thing, though, is just to see how your clothes fit.

I strongly suggest you add weights to your routine. Building muscle is so good for you (bone density!), AND, the more muscle you have, the better your metabolism is. Have you had physical therapy for your back? I wonder, too, how your "core/center" strength is. (See link below.) The trick will be to find a workout that does not further injure or strain your back/neck . . .I agree that perhaps jogging is not so good for your back at this point. Maybe you need something lower impact? In any case, I am really, really hoping you find answers soon because back pain can affect everything. I am so sorry you have to deal with this. :(

Legomom, the Fitbit sounds like a great idea! If you want to add the plank and stretch, just plan ahead of time exactly when you'll do them, and you will get it done!

Outside, that sounds like a fun trip! Does your DH exercise with you?

I worked out with a ballet video that I hadn't used for awhile this am. I am really thinking that (for me), variation is key. Because each DVD is different, they each work the body in a slightly different way, giving more challenge. Even if one is a little easier, if I've put it away for awhile and come back, I get a benefit from it due to the variety.

Yay to everyone for sticking with this, even when we don't feel like it!

Here is a link that might be useful: Core Myths

Anele, yes, DH and I sometimes exercise together. He is retired so he goes to the gym to work with a trainer once a week and sometimes goes on his own while I am at work. He also plays in a senior softball league twice a week in the evenings. Occasionally we go to the gym together and we used to run together but due to a couple of knee issues recently he has stopped running lately and gets his cardio via stairmaster or stationary bike.

You are absolutely right about muscle mass. I forgot who posted last week about not losing any weight but had lost 2 sizes because of her workouts! That was great to hear and i'm sorry I didn't post a big Yahoo!! You just have to find some exercises you enjoy doing, do them correctly and stick with a program. And amp up the intensity after a few weeks to see progression.

Outside, that is so fantastic about your DH. What a neat thing for you to do together, on so many levels!

I got my new DVD from Joyce Vedral today. Pretty disappointed! I thought she was going to be my Go To Girl for DVDs. I found her cuing to be horrible . . .she would go from one exercise to another by just naming them and jumping right in. No explanation given. No time at all to prepare for the next exercise. She said next to nothing about form. Sometimes she even seemed confused as to what she should be doing! There are 2 workouts, and one was filmed in the 80s. It has actual situps. I thought no one was supposed to situps anymore??? I like her attitude a lot, but . . .

Sorry you were disappointed. You are right about her cuing and not discussing form, but I guess that didn't bother me as I have her book and did that first so I knew what was coming and the book does discuss form. But the book doesn't exactly match her video either. I've had the book since early VCRs so it goes back awhile. In the DVD I have, she doesn't do actual sit ups but she does do crunches.

The one I have is broken into 2 days...one day you do lower body and the other day you do upper body and abs. The other thing I like is the time compression where you work one muscle group and let that relax while you're working the other so you can get more lifting into your time....and not just do one set and wait and then another set and wait...to get less "wait" in "weight" lifting. I think that also helps raise the heart rate with more continuous motion, making it more aerobic.

Interesting about sit ups as in pilates we do a couple of different kinds of sit ups but only a few of each of them...and pilates does so much other core strengthening.

Thanks for the info, Annie. I suppose she thinks of the DVDs as companions to her books. For me, I benefit a lot from the constant "chatter" of instructors reminding me to pull in my abs or whatever. I am always amazed at how very subtle movements and tweaks make such a difference, so it helps me to stay focused and get more benefits (as well as to stay safe).

I suppose I was most surprised because, at least in the reviews, she is marketed to people who may never have worked out and even the most basic moves would be difficult . . .so to me, the fact that she says next to nothing about form seems very dangerous.

The one I have is the same. 1 day upper, 1 day lower, and then a completely different workout. I did the lower workout yesterday and did not find it challenging at all. I also tried the other workout (swimsuit) and was so frustrated with the lack of cuing that I stopped. (I would be trying to hurriedly get into position and she was already off.)

I agree with you on wait time. I try to maximize every second of my workouts so I want to be busy the whole time.

Pilates uses full, old-school style sit ups? Wow! I never would have guessed. Interesting!

Well the pilates I do does 2 kinds...one is called the roll up and one is called the neck pull...the roll up is for the warm up and the neck pull is actually a 4-step process.
Roll up

Neck pull...

Something I have recently done that I really like is having a body composition analysis done on monthly intervals.. It was 35$ at my local physical therapist/sports conditioning office. It told me exactly how much of my weight was muscle, fat and water. Gave me independent readings for each arm and leg and also my trunk.
Very surprisingly, my fat is "migrating' right now.
I've lost fat in arms and abdomen, gained fat in my legs. But I've also gained muscle in my legs. And dropped 2 pants sizes.. So it's a bit of a mystery, but I can definitely see that I have lost fat and added muscle in my arms and abs. So that is encouraging...

Wow, Annie! Those do look like (at least strain-wise) the same as regular sit-ups, though I suppose in Pilates people are very careful about form, so it's OK, esp. since there are few of them.

Kiki, how many times have you had it done? You have awesome progress!

I just got a program with a super cheesy name, but my friend does it and is very happy with it. It's called Fit Yummy Mummy (yuck). It's for all women, though-- not just those who have given birth. You start out with an e-book. The premise is that you work out for a total of 90 minutes a week. 15 minutes 3X of aerobic/interval training and 15 min. 3X of strength training. Not a ton of equipment needed, but there is some (weights, medicine ball, etc.). A lot of info on eating which I agree with-- all very sensible.

What I don't like about it is the fact that it's an e-book, which was why I put it off for so long. It's not super specific re: intervals because you are supposed to change what you do for everything fairly frequently. Everything is on the computer, which is not a place I want to exercise.

She has DVDs, too, but these are pretty $ and it seems she is more into the whole downloading/instant access method.

If you are interested, sign up for the free thing (some ab workout or something) and then you get an email for 1/2 off the book price. Don't pay full price for sure. It's OK for $18 but I would not pay more.