I can just imagine the trouble you, Margaret and I would get into together. And I can picture you and me laughing while poor M was out pushing the car.

Haven't you ever heard Italian guys saying, "Bel-la, bel-la?" I'm sure if you went to Italy, you'd hear it a lot, as you are pretty bella this days.

Us in trouble.......your kidding right? LOL For sure we would be doing lots of walking if M was around!
You say some of the nicest things! Shucks
You know you are right there to "Bel-la".

Hey there my beautiful bug!
It's good to hear from ya!
The workouts are going grrrrrreat! I was channeling my inner "Tony the Tiger" right there. Did you like it? LOL
I am actually up to 70lbs on the bench pressing. Of course that is just on the last rep of 6 but I am now starting out at 55lbs with a rep of 12. So I have improved immensly!
I just love, love, love my Fit for Life Class. I swear I can actually feel myself getting stronger.
My trainer/teacher actually keeps things so changed up that you never, ever get used to any one routine on anything.
Now that Spring is just about here I am getting antsy to get outside and roam around.
We are not planning on doing anything special for Easter. I am actually a bit bummed as this is the first Easter in about 11 years that I will have to work the holiday. At least I don't work in the morning so can still enjoy the church service.
I don't blame you for waiting to take your vacation until it is warmer.

If it makes you and Kimberly feel any better - I did a definite impression of a drowned rat when out on my walks on Monday. It rained. Non-stop. Torrential. As I got home I had to change - everything that I was wearing was wet. My coat is still on the radiator - but to be fair it had dried out by bedtime. Then I went out in the rain and did it all over again. And the only coat that I could find was from my biggest size. That means that in the morning I was wearing clothes that are UK size 14 and in the afternoon my coat was UK size 30/32. It was a bit big on me.

The weather forecasters cannot make their mind up how wet it will be today. Only time will tell.

Hi Dawn

I see that you have done one hour and believe that you have another 3 hours and 17 minutes to do. I suspect that is because the instructions said

If you recall – Kimberly put in the team thread

Since I completed my 6 hours and 25 minutes on Saturday – that means that your share is 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Since you have already done one hour – you have another two hours and fifteen minutes to do. Naturally log further minutes just in case Kimberly sustains an injury or becomes ill as her minutes are not complete either.

If either you or Kimberly became ill or injured the other would have to take up the slack as I am already contributing the maximum minutes allowed under the rules. I am sure that Kimberly is very much aware of this so it is probably a good idea for you and Kimberly to give each other updates (possibly daily) as to how much exercise is already completed. She has posted that she has done 1 hour and fifteen minutes of exercise so far.

I will put this message in both the team thread and your diary to make sure that you see it.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Margaret
I love how you are making sure to take such good care of Kimberly and I!
I know that I don't have to do 4hr and 17m it is just that I really want to so that I can get my maximum in for my weight losses.
If I am going to make my goal of hitting 165 by Mid-May to Late May then I got to be crack-a-lacken!
It is nice to know that if I was not feeling well or had a bad week that you are there to help pull me up by my boot straps! LOL

Okay real quick as I need to run out the door and go visit the Great Lakes State today.
Weighed in at 188.8 this morning which puts me almost at a 2 pound loss for the challenge so far.
I am really hoping to have myself to at least 187. That would really rock!!!!
I have my Fit for Life class tonight. Plus the sun is shining nicely today and I plan to take a walk outside with the puppy later on. Hopefully for at least 30-45 minutes. If I do all that I will be at 2 hours and 45 minutes for the challenge. Putting me at less then 2 hours remaining for the rest of the week.
Well I gots to get outta here. Or I will never get where I need to be on time.
Chat at everyone tonight!
Ciao

Hi Dawn

I can fully understand you wanting to do extra exercise to maximise your weight loss. As you know - I do heaps of exercise myself long after the challenge points limit is exceeded.

The main thing is that I know that we are all very focused on the challenge and I didnt want you struggling on Thursday to do a quantity of exercise simply because you didnt want to let the team down.

It is great that you are currently looking at a two pound loss - that is more than me!

Enjoy your walk. It has been wet again here - but thankfully not as horrendous as yesterday. My socks were all that went into the washing basket after walk 1. Walk 2 starts soon.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Wow Omega! You are awesome. I would never walk in the rain - well unless it was for a short distance. If you had worn the coats the other way around it would've looked like the rain had shrunk you and them.

So sorry that I haven't been able to get around to anyone's diary here in the last few days.
I have been busy! busy! busy!
I had to run about 2 hours away today up into Michigan so that I could go and get my birth certificate for a passport that I need so that I can visit a friend in Canada this summer. Let me tell you with all the hoops they make you jump thru to get a driver's license and a passport you think that getting your birth certificate would be near to impossible.
NOPE!
Pretty much all I had to have was a photo id. And know my mom's maiden name and my dad's full name. THAT WAS IT!!!!
That tells me that anyone and their cat could go to that office and get my certificate if they wanted.
Well at least now I can get my passport taken care of.
I did get that walk in this afternoon. Took the whole family with me. The kids had fun running ahead. Well the youngest ones anyway. The oldest was sulking the whole way 'cuz I made him go with us! Ha!
He's a teenager and will get over it. Family time never killed anyone that I know of, maybe drove them crazy but didn't kill 'em.
Also got in 1 hour and a 1/2 of my Fit for Life Class. It was all upper body today. And let me tell you I was pushing myself the whole way. Seventy lbs on the bench pressing, 15lbs on the back machine (doesn't sound like alot but after doing 12,10,8,6 and then 12 reps again it gets to you), also was up to 35lbson the bicep curls. I was feeling so pumped!!
The last thing that I was able to fit in was the medicine ball. You sit on a inclined bench and have someone stand on a bench in front of you and they throw the ball at you. As you try to catch it you lay back a bit so it is very much like doing inclined crunches. Only you have to really push yourself forward so that you can toss the ball back at the person helping you.
After doing 12 of those straight on I did 12 on the left and right. Alternating sides for each rep. I did that for 12, 10, 8 and 6! Man was I feeling it. And it was a good feeling too.
I think that I am starting to lose it. My mind that is!!! LOL Loving all this working out stuff. I must be crazy!
I am excited to weigh myself tomorrow morning to see if I have lost anymore poundage.
Oh I almost forgot. Two things.
I saw my friend from Canada today. She is home visiting her fam for a week and I was able to see her for a few minutes. Her and her cousin were blown away by how much weight I have lost. That sure did make me feel good to know that it was that noticable. They hadn't seen me since when I 1st started this whole thing.
Also this one is a hoot.
My kids were asking for a snack before bed tonight and I suggested some cereal. My daughter chose Grapenuts. I told her I didn't think that she would like them that much. So she tried them and made the worst face ever!!! LOL
She then told me that she couldn't believe that I would eat something that tasted so gross. So I told her that I don't eat them plain. That I add in raisins and Splenda. So she said that she would try them that way.
So I made her up a small bowl and she LIKED it!!!! So did her little brother.
I have now converted my kids to healthier cereal!!! YEAH!!!
My daughter even went so far to say that it tasted better than the Fruity Cheerios.
My job here is done!

Sounds like you had a great workout tonight.

We gave up on making our kids take walks/rides with us because we found out that our outings turn out much nicer w/o them. Of course when they were younger it was nicer because they actually wanted to go for a walk.

As far as grape nuts, blech! I've tried those but can't digest them no matter what I do with them. Kudos for you to get the kids to like them though. I'll take my fiber one over the grape nuts any day. But, I know a lot of people that do like them.

Hey Bell!
That walk sounds like fun with the family, I remember those days and miss them big time!! And on the grape nuts, I'm not a fan either, but I do love my shredded wheat and honey bunches of oats. mmmmmm! great for you getting the kids to like them, but I'm still thinking honey nut cheerios sound better. lOL LOL throw in a banana and WOW that's a perfect meal.

I'm sure you'll see some weight loss with all the working out your doing and the toning. BUT.....don't get discourage if it's only a slight loss, as with all the weights your doing, I'm sure all the fat is converting to muscle and well we all know muscle weighs more than fat, so you'll be looking nice and toned!! I remember when I went through that for about two months, I lost major inches but my weight loss was very slow. Good luck to you, I know you'll weigh in just fine!!
Hugs
Kim

If they were small enough I would leave them ALL home! LOL
The thing was that A-man said he would go on the walk and then decided that he wanted to bringhis skateboard along. We had already told the other 2 that there would be no wheels of any kind. As they both wanted to ride bikes. So we had to tell A that he couldn't bring the skateboard and of course he got grumpy over it.
Oh Well. Such is the life of a teenager. Full of Angst.
As far as the Grape Nuts go I don't seem to get the results from them that I do with my Fiber One so will most likely scrape the idea of having them soley for cereal. I orginially bought them to just sprinkle on top of my yogurt parfait that I was making.

I am beginning to think that is what is going on here lately. As I haven't really lost much weight but it would seem that I am possibly getting smaller as lots of my clothes seem to be getting baggier on me.
I have never really taken the time to measure myself so have nothing to really base any numbers on. Though hubby did "measure" me once .
Who knows though how accurate those numbers were! LOL
Thanks for poppin' in on me!

I'm sure you are balancing yourself out with all the exercise you are getting. But, fat doesn't turn to muscle. The fat cells shrink and the muscle mass increases. You can't change one to the other. You're building muscle mass and shrinking those fat cells!!!