MSUDoubleJ19

Yay!! Congrats!

Great job! Inches totally matter more than fat! And, it's actually a myth that muscle weighs more than fat. A pound is a pound, whether that pound is made of muscle or fat it still weighs a pound. You can't gain muscle easily either - at least not anything that would add a significant amount of weight. But I agree, weight can be frustrating and not reflect your effort - inches are a much better measure of how you're doing!

Ok, now I'm just going to pick on you. I certainly don't work out every day or cook dinner every day, but here's a quote that motivates me: "Someone busier than you is working out right now" Same could apply to cooking - Someone busier than you is cooking a healthy dinner right now. I don't know, for whatever reason I have always been turned off by frozen meals (aside from frozen pizza). I feel better when I'm eating cleaner, but do what works for you and good luck.

Here's me with our new addition to the family! This one's blurry but you can kind of tell how big and fluffy he is:

Yup, brown rice and whole wheat pasta, etc. is good. We shouldn't eat a lot of them, but they are better than the regular white. Here are two easy recipes with yams I have done. They were both tasty - I think I liked the Cajun style one best. Cajun Style Baked Sweet Potato Baked Sweet Potatoes

Go for whole grain carbs and you should be able to fill in those calories. Some high calorie foods with "good fat" are: Yams, granola, yogurt, avacado, olive oil, nuts (unsalted) Even incorporating a tbsp. more of olive oil in your cooking can add 120 more calories to your diet.

Hmmm. The dailyplate might help figure out what you should do. Actually, 2100 may not be that much of a calorie cut for you. You may want to aim more for like 1600-1800. If you're doing weight training exercises after your run, remember weight training doesn't burn that many calories. It does seem like you should be losing weight. I'd suggest just tracking your calories on the daily plate for a couple days and make sure that your intake is what you think it is. Keep upping your cardio too. Also, if possible, cut out the processed foods. The cleaner your diet the easier it is to lose weight - I forget what they say, something like 80% of weight loss is diet, the other 20% is exercise.

She does look kind of menacing in the first pic - like she wants to chuck that ball at someones head. Not so menacing in the second one though.

Good job!! I'm doing poorly though. I usually weigh-in on Fridays, but I skipped the last 2 because I was afraid of what I'd see. I weighed in today (because I'll be gone tomorrow) and I've gained 3 pounds! UGH! It's all from my diet too - I've still been working out the same but I've REALLY been indulging. Camping this weekend with heavy drinking and lots of processed foods - so Monday I will reapply myself and get back on track!!

I had to read that a few times but I think I understand that exercise - but now that I understand it it's sounds like a good one. It's kind of a myth that muscle burns more than fat. I mean, it does, but most of us can't replace a pound of fat with a pound of muscle very easily - and it's only like 4 calories more that a pound of fat burns or something like that. Weights are excellent though - my recommendation is to lift HEAVY. As a girl, it's very difficult to "build" muscle - so even if I lift 15 pound weights everyday I will NEVER bulk up like girls are afraid of, I don't have the testosterone. You will see more and faster results if you lift heavy. You'll still see results if you're only using 3 or 5 pound free weights, but it will take longer.

Ugh. I'd like to go but that's ridiculous. I'm guessing prices won't actually be that crazy.

You prefer beautiful?

I always poke in here but I rarely comment on specific pics. But I wanted to say thanks for posting and it's always fun to see what everyone ACTUALLY looks like. You're all gorgeous.

Meh, I grew up on 2% and HATED skim when I first tried it - but I got used to it after awhile. If you love your 2% you don't have to give it up though - just do exactly what you are doing and cut back. In general it's best to try to eat all low-fat (not no fat though) dairy. In general, I avoid drinking my calories when I'm trying to lose weight. I cut way back on my alcohol earlier this year when I was more restrictive but I'm finding it MUCH harder right now in the summer. Ugh. I wish good beer and wine didn't have so many calories. So basically, I'm really struggling with diet right now. I haven't weighed myself in 2 weeks because I'm scared of what I'll see.

To the people who are struggling - are you counting your calories/keeping a food diary? If you want to see some loss - diet is the biggest part - way more than working out. The actually found that people who work out and don't diet don't often lose any weight - they allow themselves to indulge more because they worked out, so the calories cancel out. Plus it's much easier to cut out 500 calories a day than it is to work out for an hour and a half and burn that much. If you are using machines to measure calories burnt - be careful! They ALWAYS overestimate - the best way to see is to get a heart rate monitor. I would recommend thedailyplate.com When I was more strict I lost much more easilya. Now I'm having a tough go of it because I'm not watching my diet - at least I'm maintaining and not gaining. Good luck and keep it up - weight loss takes time so don't get too frustrated if you're not seeing results on the scale - invest in a dollar role of measuring tape - inches are a better measure than weight in my opinion.

So, Beer tasting as part of the Beer Olympics didn't happen. We started the Olympics with a bang, but oddly enough we became a bit unorganized and disoriented as we progressed. Next time, perhaps we will kick the games off with the beer tasting. Thanks for the tips though.

She's too cute. And I'd go with Dora for the next. She's the least princessy of the girl cartoon figures out there. And since we're posting pictures of kids: That's officially our baby boy, Tobias. We pick him up in two and a half weeks.

I will be participating in a beer olympics over the fourth and one of the events is a beer tasting contest. Basically there are 6 different brews (say, IPA, Stout, Wheat, etc.) in numbered cups and we have to taste and guess which beer is which. I'm not sure how good I will do, but I will have fun participating,

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. My husband just called me at work to tell me and I felt the need to come here and share in the excitement. F yeah.

Good job to everyone doing well! I'm stuck at the moment. I pulled my quad at softball last Wednesday so I haven't been able to run since. And I've been eating a lot of ice cream and beer. I plan to get back on track after my quad is fully healed - probably after the holiday weekend. I may try and walk/run tomorrow and see how it feels, but I won't push it.

It was an Amber Ale - I wanted to do the 10% alcohol IPA the brewery make but I didn't know if everyone could handle it. So we brought in a keg of that to serve at the reception in addition to the standards. And as for the hop shortage, I believe it's true - the prices went up for the brewery to buy them at least. My father-in-law is growing some and they're looking good, we'll pry try to plant some ourselves and see what happens too.

We had some Leinenkugel's last night watching our town fireworks - I had the Sunset Wheat. It's decent, it's a light summer beer and I don't by it regularly but it's nice to have every now and then. We are hoping to get a batch of homebrew going here in the next month. I wish hops weren't so freakin' expensive. Did I mention we did custom label microbrewed beer for our wedding favors? That was fun.

That may have just been water weight - especially if you weighed yourself after a lifting day - your body can retain water up to 48 hours after a heavy lift day. Keep it up, you've got a tough plan for the week ahead! I am trying a pilates class tonight - I've heard it's tough so hopefully I can manage my way through it. I did a cycling class last week and my legs were sore for almost 3 days - and I run 3-5 miles 5-6 days a week! I must have been working different muscles on the bike!

Good Luck! 10 pounds in 12 weeks sounds like a very attainable goal! Good job, and 15 minutes isn't crap it's something when you've been doing nothing. It always takes awhile to build back your endurance. Good luck!

Sure, tough guy. I bet she's daddy's little girl.