I hope the Dr. will help getting you back to running soon! Sweat is always good! And so is fresh snow! I went fencing yesterday and after 8 days of break I felt like I completely forgot how to fence. Today I did an hour of bike. I lowered the intensity of my bike workout and it is unbelievable what difference lowering HR by 30 bpm makes. I am 5 out 5 days for this week! 1 week down, 51 to go 🙂

I did my bike yesterday (added another 5 min, so up to 50min now). 3 days out of 5 for this week down. Hopefully, I'll get to fence tonight. @hshibley I keep track in MFP for just minutes done/calories burned (although I don't really trust those numbers). It's OK for something uniform, like cardio. For strength training or when I wrote down more details, I also used a bullet journal. I do think there are some apps for weightlifting and other sports though.

That sounds like a great plan! Now that I have the tracker, I can see how little I actually move. I get close to 10K when I fence, but without it, it's hard to get above 6k. I do try to get up and get bare minimum of steps every hour though. It turns out to be good for the house, too, as I don't have anything else remotely physical to do but clean the house, so those 10-15 minutes an hour are actually visible. Fitbit is fun! Versa is what my DH has, but he refused to give it to me. I got myself Charge 3. I love their app, too! I hope you have as much fun with it as I do! Your exercise always sounds like so much fun! Thanks for posting it! It was really inspiring! That is great! My workout on Tuesday was a drag, too, but it felt so good to have it done! Enjoy! So far I did 2 days of exercise this week. Still on track 🙂 I do miss fencing though, and it seems that even though it is not particularly taxing by itself, it really makes a difference in my TDEE. I am still 2 lbs up from the last week. So 2 lbs were water/bloat, but the other two want to stay. The fencing club is open on Friday. I just hope it won't be another case of the last Friday, when nobody showed up and it was just a wasted trip.

Well, thanks to a very late New Year party, I am up 4 lbs in the last week. Shouldn't have weighed myself today 🙂 I am still thinking about goals for this year. I definitely want to do at least 30 minutes of exercise at least 5 days a week, with possible exception of travel weeks, which are usually pretty walking intensive anyway. I also want to go to at least 2 national-level fencing competitions. A national medal would be great, as would a new rating, but those are too unpredictable to write down as actual goals. Fencing is out this week till Friday, so I'll have to stick with the bike. I upped my time from 40 to 45 a few days ago. Not sure if I want to get it up to an hour eventually or not. After going to bed after 3 am, it was hard to do anything today, but I managed those 45 minutes on the bike, so here is to the good start. And I was not feeling hungry most of the day, so the food was also under maintenance.

I refuse to incriminate myself 😉 Honestly, it was a total cringe fest. I don't know why I watched it and definitely wouldn't recommend to anyone. I was thinking about goals for the next year, but I am having hard time. I want to lose some more fat, but I don't really care if my total weight drops, stays the same or even goes up a little. I want to see more definition on my arms and stomach, but that's about it. So, no real quantifiable goals here. Fencing is also hard. Winning any competitions depends too much on other people and, frankly, luck. So, no good way to quantify anything either. Training hours are also sketchy due to coach traveling, schedule conflicts, and other things. Bike is a conditioning thing for me. I just don't know what my goals here are. Maybe I can set it to something like at least 2 hrs a week or see if I can make it to 100-150 hours by the end of the year? Right now my tracker app has set a goal of 5 times a week workout (any workout) of at least 30 minutes a day. I am enjoying getting it filled, so for now I want to continue that.

Yep, I think I made it 🙂 I even tracked most of the food, even though a few times it was a very rough estimate. Still, I lost a few ounces, according to my scale. I didn't move much, since there was limited fencing, but I did spend 40-45 min on the bike every day, except Sunday. The rest of the time though I was either sitting or binge-watching Netflix in my bed . I finished the series last night, so hopefully today will be more productive.

Sorry you are not feeling well 😞 Please, get rest and don't worry about lost progress. You will regain it much faster if you take time to recover. Plus, in my experience regaining progress is much faster than getting there the first time, so don't think about it too much. Pamper yourself and enjoy your Christmas break! I am still mostly on track with everything. Today my coach suggested doubling my private lesson and I managed just fine. In October I was dying after a single lesson, so it is a major progress for me. Not really related, but it feels like half of my major muscles are sore the last few days. I don't think I did anything new, so it is a bit puzzling.

It's great that you are continuing tracking. Consistency is the key. I don't know about you, but if I start skipping, it is all downhill from there. As for MEH workout, it is pretty normal when you are under maintenance, plus all that yard work. You still did it! I am also often hungry when I track, but mostly because I apparently can do calculus, but just can't evenly distribute calories throughout the day. I am hungry at lunch, and can't finish the rest by the nighttime. I am working on that. Both DH and I use the number from MFP for the calorie benchmark. Mine are set at maintenance for my weight and light activity. It adds exercise, but I usually stay around the original number, which now apparently results in 1-2 lbs loss per week vs a fraction of a pound in the beginning of the year. Oh well, holidays are coming, so I am sure I'll catch back up by January 🙂 One more thing that the tracker highlights is my sleep. That is one thing that definitely needs improvement. I knew it wasn't good, but it looks like it is actually worse.

Sorry to hear that. I hope your bruising is down by now! My food tracking is going pretty well. I also had about an hour of fencing plus 40 minutes on the bike today and yesterday. Since I mentioned the TDEE worksheet here, I decided to pull it up and see what it will give me this time. Of course, it usually takes about 4 weeks of tracking to get an accurate daily burn, but so far it is almost 500 calories higher than it was last year, even during the first weeks. I don't think I move more... Or maybe I underestimate how many calories I burn during fencing and biking. Interestingly, I got myself a tracker last night (DH decided he wants to wear his the moment I mentioned taking it), and today it gave me a number for calories burned very similar to TDEE from the worksheet. It also said I made 10K steps today (including 3k during the fencing lesson, but I can see how it can measure movements as steps), compared to 4k on my phone, which I don't always carry around the house and during fencing, but still... I think I need more time tracking to see if the numbers make sense, but so far it is an interesting toy 🙂

I am sure that raking counts as exercise! MFP allows tracking the things like cleaning and gardening, although I am not sure if I can trust its calories estimates. I am trying to stay under the maintenance for my weight and lightly active lifestyle, usually before the exercise added. Last time I tracked I also used one of those TDEE worksheets, and after several weeks it estimated my TDEE at about 200 Calories higher than MFP estimate, but then MFP adds exercise on top of that (which was way more than 200 cal, I think), and the worksheet simply gives you the average based on calories consumed and weight changes. I also don't follow any programs, just count calories for whatever I eat and try to stay under my limit. Sometimes I estimate, but usually I am pretty strict with weighing everything. If I believed that I needed to go as low as 1200 calories a day, I would definitely be very careful with weighing and estimating. It just doesn't leave much room for errors. If you decide to go with tracking calories, MyFitnessPal app is free (there is a paid version, but you don't need it). It has a database of many foods, and if your food is packaged, it can be scanned and entered automatically. Produce and other things without barcodes have to be searched, but most likely they will be in the database. Unless you cook a lot of multi-ingredient meals, it's pretty easy to use. And speaking of prices, my initial investment was about $25 for the food scale and a set of measuring cups. I did have to replace the scale after a few months though. And of course, pay attention to which food makes you feel better/more full/bloated/etc and adjust accordingly. I like not having any restrictions because this method allows for anything, including treats, as long as you have room for it, or you can have them in smaller quantities. I can't eat a whole bar of chocolate or a tub of ice cream, but I can definitely find space for one square or a couple of tablespoons if I feel like it. Good luck with whatever you decide to do! Yesterday I was pretty sure I would have trouble falling asleep after all those naps. Nope. Went to bed earlier than usual and overslept. I feel fine right now, so I guess it's all good. Will go to open fencing tonight and then decide if I am up to cardio or not.

I have been tracking my food for a week now 🙂 Last two days were a little under maintenance. No workouts over the weekend, but I spent a couple of hours yesterday cleaning out the basement. Today I woke up feeling extremely physically tired, so I pretty much slept most of the day. Feel better in the evening. Still don't know what to make out of it, but just in case I'll skip cardio tonight.

I think a watch is a much better way to track. I might repurpose DH's for that. His tracks sleep, too, and I want to see actual numbers for that, besides "not well" 🙂 That sounds lovely! Although the memories of numb feet (and other body parts) are not the fondest ones for me 🙂 Good job at the gym today and also resisting jumping on all those people! I went over my maintenance yesterday. It started fine, but then we went to a concert, and had dinner at a restaurant before it, which was still under my calories. But we went with our friends, so after the concert we stopped at a bar, and I had a martini, which pushed me to 100-200 calories above maintenance. It was a nice evening though, so was worth it, I think.

Great job! Both with the tracking and steps! I am very sedentary unless I am actually exercising. I rarely get more than 3000 steps when not traveling, at least according to my phone. I need to be weighing stuff if I am hoping to track anything at all 🙂 I do eyeball things in restaurants, etc, but that is a small percentage. And I still need to record everything, or I will stop doing it entirely. I am steadily under my supposed maintenance calories, not even including exercise, but for the last three days my weight has been stable. I also feel that I need to play a little with what I am eating. It seems that I tend to lower my carbs intake when I am tracking, and my body and brain don't like it. Or maybe I was overdoing it with the bike a little. I call it cardio, but I usually raise the resistance, and go pretty slowly. My heartbeat is still elevated quite a bit (I don't really measure it, but I am definitely breathing hard, and I am dripping wet by the end of those 40 minutes, which makes for a lot of laundry 🙂 ) Anyway, I feel really tired after it, and maybe I need to space it out more, or go slower/with less resistance at least some of the days. Yesterday I did a private lesson and some open floor. For the open floor I was very hungry and very slow, but still managed about 55 minutes on total. Didn't do the bike. Today the coach is traveling, so no fencing. I did the bike though, although a little easier than the last few days.

I can definitely add a sentence about food to my daily reports here! Last time I tried to restart the problem was cooking something that had several ingredients. Weighing every single thing, writing it down, then weighing the entire thing after cooking, dividing into portions... Too much hassle in addition to cooking and cleaning. But we had a decent run of complex meals lately, so we can go back to grilled/baked/IPed protein plus salad and some carbs on the side 🙂

I know! It's not as obvious in my case, but for DH it is. He eats about the same breakfast, lunch and dinner as he did while losing weight, but the little things around that added up to 7 lbs since June. I eat very differently if I am not tracking, at least lunch and breakfast, so it's hard to tell. As for quitting, I just got very tired of weighing everything for 6 months, and then we traveled for a while, and when we came back I was sick and very tired for almost a month. Getting back to it was/is hard. Plus at that point it was just a couple of pounds which you couldn't see on my body at all. Actually, I don't think I can see my +5 right now either, it was more of crossing into the next ten pound bracket that pushed me to track again. Isn't it weird how our minds work? And I was doing a lot of soul searching about what I really want from my body the last few days. I look fine, Not VS model, but then they are not exactly what I want to look like (not to mention I permanently lack a few inches in height for that 😉 ). I am in healthy weight range, so that is not a problem either. So what should my goal be? Except not actually gaining fat? And how to separate muscle gains from fat gains? Measurements don't help here either. Sure! Just let me know how you want to do that. Great! I actually use my bike to get more endurance in fencing. Not just cardio-wise, although that helps, too, but also those quads (and I hope that the bike will help level out the difference in my quad sizes). It's amazing how much difference just 3 weeks of doing it regularly made. I did my private lesson yesterday, then went home and did cardio, and then went back and fenced some more. I have to say that fencing after biking is hard. My quads were just refusing to move. Lunges? Forget it! I did get some good bladework practice though. And speaking of recovery after exercise, what are your best recommendations, besides rest? My thighs are still feeling tired, although not really sore, just kind of behaving like teenagers when asked to do any kind of work.

I got lucky yesterday, as the class my DD takes and I usually just hang around with coaches had odd number of people. So the coach told me to suit up and jump in. 45 minutes of intense fencing with almost no breaks between bouts. I did another 40 minutes of open floor after that, so obviously no cardio that night. I also dropped 2.5 lbs in 2 days, which tells me that the gain was a temporary result from too much food late at night plus that time of the month. I still think I’ll continue tracking until the holidays, just to make indulging on all those parties easier on my conscience 🙂 Plus, DH still has about 20lbs to lose and apparently he can only do that if I am tracking my food. Plan for today is a private lesson and cardio.

I did my 40 minutes of cardio on Sunday, although I initially wanted to make it a rest day. I really pushed it though, so I think I'll skip it today and just do the open floor fencing in the evening.

Fencing on Friday was great, I may have managed to get back to where I was in terms of stamina. I also managed to get up to +9 pounds since my July weight. So today I installed MFP in my phone again. I wanted to wait until after the holidays, but I really want to stay at least a couple of pounds below last January weight, which is only 3 lbs away at the moment. Plus, my fencing gear is practically skin tight and really expensive to replace 🙂

Thanks! Will see how that plan goes 🙂 How was your tennis match? I totally can do body recomp. Well, I could until I hit 40s 😉 Now it is harder. Or maybe it is because cardio makes me very hungry and I overcompensate the lost calories. So good luck with it, and don't think it is impossible. Thanks for the welcome! I kind of like the idea of CF, but all the stories of injuries scare me. Our French tutor does it religiously, and although I love how she looks, it seems to be too intense. And I have no idea how much it costs. Although I am pretty sure they post workouts of the day on their website, so you can do it wherever you want and adjust as necessary. I was pretty good with working out this week. I had 3 private lessons, 1 open floor session, plus 4 days of cardio. I will have another open floor today, and that will probably be it for the week. I wish I could do open floor 4 times a week, like I did last year, but due to changed schedules it just doesn't work 😞 And it is not something I can do at a different time or place. And while I am complaining here, can I also say that I really hate that PMS now comes with increased anxiety over nothing?

Hello! Remember me? I am sorry I was MIA for a few months, but I am missing this thread, so I hope to be back regularly. I don’t actually remember when I posted last time, but since roughly summer (well, after Nationals in the beginning of July, which, btw, was loads of fun and I got to spend the entire week with my DD) I really dropped the ball with fencing and everything else. I have been back at it seriously for about a month now (I did a little bit here and there since mid September, but not nearly as much as I used to) but I am still 5 lbs up from my July weight and my stamina, while improving, still leaves lots to be desired. So I am skipping December NAC, but hope to go to the April one. I also need to go back to keeping records of my workouts. Today I did a private lesson (about half an hour) and hopefully will squeeze 40 minutes on my stationary bike tonight. soror ~ I hope you did get that nap and are feeling better!

DD took it during summer after 9th grade. She really loved it. In fact, she loved it enough to decide to go into aerospace engineering. She didn't have any trouble with this class. Math was barely there, not much of calculations, but rather conceptual stuff, and there wasn't too much to memorize. So even squeezed into 8 weeks it was easy. She did have a trip to a local observatory as an extra credit, but the college has a planetarium that they used. The night time lab was a separate class for 1 credit hour, but she didn't take it. There were a couple of observational projects, but they were done on our backyard.

Soror ~ Thanks for the list of books! Very interesting. I feel much better the last few days, but I do feel like I need a bit more sleep. I went through my records, and all that changed lately was about an hour or two of strength training traded in for same amount of fencing, which is mostly cardio. So either that or my hormones, which apparently decided to act up again. I woke up last night feeling hot ? , even though the window was open and it was about 60F outside. Really not looking forward to this stage. I did a lesson and tennis ball practice yesterday morning, and 40 minutes of stationary bike in the evening. Tonight I have some open fencing, hopefully with opponents closer to my age.

After 4 days feeling exhausted (of course it had to happen right after I said I have me energy at a normal level), I finally feel fine today. Yesterday I managed about 40 minutes of fencing, but my mind wasn't really in it. We'll see how it goes today, but I already did major cleaning (after 4 days it was pretty bad) and laundry ?

I totally agree with any exercise being great! And that we need to support each other. I had a couple of ladies tell me that fencing is not a "real" sport, and does nothing. I wish I had guts to tell them to say that to my quads ? Now, if I could add some definition/size to my arms and shoulders I would be all set. @jen3kidsThat progress sounds amazing! Way to go! I am feeling off today, and DD has an essay to prepare for tomorrow, so it seems that we are staying home tonight. I had a private lesson in the morning (just 30 minutes, as I was feeling off, and my knee started acting up), and I *may* do some cardio/bike a bit later.

So after a great week where I averaged 1.5 hours a day, I had a weekend of doing absolutely nothing, unless you count naps. This morning I am getting back to training ?