In the waiting line…

This week has been short of amazing. Next week might just rival. I have good news and I have bad news.

Good News: The good news is that I have been involved in a very cool training assignment for a “local” studio. Studio as in film. I know what you are thinking, how can being in Greensboro NC have anything like that to offer? They don’t, ha. However, 3 hours away they do and I am on board. I will keep name dropping for other people but I can say that it doesn’t hurt to have more social proof and for whatever reason why people on that telly help and I will leave it at that.

Bad News: Since I am going to be traveling so much the next few weeks, the holidays are coming, and have a new site launch coming up there is going to be a hiatus until December. I know, I know you are going to miss me but I will still be all over the place. In fact, those of you who have a Facebook page need to add me because I just set mine up!

http://www.facebook.com/people/Leigh-Peele/543870095

I assure you when back it will be better than ever and I will bring goodies. Sometimes you have to stop to move forward ;) In the meantime…

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Date
November 22nd, 2008

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Leigh Peele

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38 Comments


  1. Stephanie

    Leigh………..Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do! I think all of us understand that, and we will be waiting for all the good things to come. I wish you luck!



  2. Chris

    That picture is great but you suck!

    At least give a podcast!



  3. Sinead

    ok, I totally understand, but what am I going to read?! lol Can you make Katie post some stuff? hehehe

    Enjoy the holidays and wow I can’t wait to hear more about the good news!



  4. Diana

    Will miss you. I usually check your site almost every day. I wish you the best of whatever (luck isn’t quite the right word here as you tend to make things happen instead of waiting for them) in your endeavors and am looking forward to seeing what is coming. Happy Holidays.
    Diana



  5. ETANA

    Leigh,

    I’m glad you’re taking a vacation; glad that you were able to say “no” or “I can stop.” One suggestion so you don’t lose the your recent HUGE audience’s habit of coming here daily, and the big server you expanded to: perhaps you could have 1 archive article posted daily or every other day here so we could read or reread them… just an idea…

    Have a great holiday, and if YOU did the OBM, don’t gain your weight back over the holidays and neither will we!

    Cheers, Etana



  6. Amy


  7. Diane

    Good for you! We all need a break from the routine once in a while. We will definitely miss you, so make sure you come back – ok?

    I have started another round of OPT. I looked back this week and I lost 17 pounds on OPT in 13 weeks. (I added an extra week on at the end for the OBM challenge.) I am hoping to continue to lose (rather than gain) over the holidays! Thank you, Leigh, for everything! And, good luck to you!



  8. Mike

    Hmm. Let’s take over her blog!! :) OK, so we can’t start any new topics but we can surely keep ourselves entertained in all the existing ones, right? :)

    So, let’s start now with our own topic. I have my own topic ideas but does anyone else have anything they’d like to ask about, vent, etc.? :)



  9. Sinead

    hehehe Mike…bring on the topics! I keep checking back “just in case” she got bored and decided to post or maybe Katie took pity on us. lol



  10. Stephanie

    I’ve got a topic/question…..lol How do you guys get your little avatar up on posts? Do tell!



  11. Jim

    Stephanie– You can make an account here http://en.gravatar.com/ . It is completely free and you can change the picture at any time.



  12. Mike

    OK.. I’ll start off with two topics, one kinda fun, the other more “heady” – cause I can’t decide which to post first and some may not like the heady one – don’t answer if ya don’t want to, obviously I can’t force you. :)

    1. What is your favorite exercise, least favorite, and why? Could be general, ie: cardio, resistance training or if you want to get specific, ie: elliptical, cycling, squats, etc. that’s OK too.

    2. Go deep on this one: Why do you have extra fat to lose? This is deeper than simply eating too much or not exercising enough – there’s a reason, a pay-off, for being overweight, can you uncover yours?

    My answers:

    1. Favorite – Deadlift! I freakin’ love me some deadlifts. Despite my glutes/hams and the rest of the posterior chain being relatively inhibited, this is without a doubt my strongest and most impressive lift, getting even better as I get the posterior firing more and more. Nobody else at my gym does them so it’s also cool to have that bit of floorspace all to myself, and when I load the bar people look at me like “Seriously? He’s going to lift THAT?? I gotta see this.” :)
    Least Favorite: Push-up or bench press – weak! but I continue working on it. ’nuff said!

    2. I can’t pinpoint *exactly* when I started putting on weight nor the exact reason, but I do know I was a skinny kid up until 5 or 6 yrs old. I just can’t remember any particular event that may have kicked off the weight gain that never ended until 5 years ago. However, looking back at it now, I can see where being overweight was an excuse to not put myself out there where I could be hurt by other people. I guess somewhere along the way, somebody really pissed me off. I’m still reluctant to put myself out there, it’s easier being a hermit both physically and mentally. I’m much better than I was before though, I just don’t have being overweight as an excuse anymore. It really takes a LOT of energy for me to “reach out” – whether it’s emailing, phone calls, dropping in for visits with people, etc. I have to mentally prepare for it, run mock conversations in my head, type type edit re-type edit edit type edit some more – I mean, this post right here, probably a good 45 minutes into it so far. Part of it is just an obsessive component of making sure I’m coming across clearly and without spelling errors. I just read that last sentence to myself about 10 times. See? Obsessive. You don’t want to see what’s going on inside this head, I got issues, Leigh has a few emails as proof. :)

    Oh, yeah. And once I do finally put myself out there, I ramble. a lot. It’s like the kid that hardly ever says a word, but get him talking about something he’s really excited about, you can’t shut him up.

    See, did it again.

    53 minutes.

    Welcome to my world.



  13. Stephanie

    Thanks, Jim……….Let’s see if it worked!



  14. Stephanie

    Now for Mike’s topics…..

    1. My favorite exercise for strength is bicep curls. I just love them! Cardio love is definitely step aerobics. Something about tackling a difficult move and loving the music … makes it all come together for me. My least favorite exercise has to be “man” push-ups. I try and try and I just can’t do them. They are one tough move for me. Another hated exercise is lunges….ughhhhh….I dread them, loathe them, hate them, despise them……Need I say more?

    2. Why do I have extra fat to lose? I can tell you many reasons….or maybe I should call them excuses….boredom, anxiousness, lonliness, being tired, etc. I have always been overweight….elementary school into highschool and hit my all time high during college & about 5 years after that. If I’m being honest, it deals with my childhood and some really awful experiences in my home. When I couldn’t deal with what was going on, I ate. But, now that I’m older and wiser and know “why” things happened, it still doesn’t make it easier for me. Eating is my control, my “safety” net when I can’t control the way I want things to go. I always “fight the good fight” and do well for 3-4 months and then I go right back to what I grew up knowing and have to start all over again. So, why? I guess because it’s my way to deal with pain…….sort of stupid when you think about it, huh? Afterall, isn’t being overweight causing me pain?



  15. Jim

    Breathe Mike, breathe!

    Ok, as part of the Leigh’s crew, I’ll go next.

    1.) My favorite lifting excercise is bench. Probably for the same reasons Mike likes to deadlift. I can bench a lot of weight. It’s a man-thing I guess…My favorite thing for cardio is my Kardio-kick class. I don’t know, but there is something to be said for being in a room with 40 women that are throwing punches and kicks that I like…:)

    2.) My parents divorce was definately the event in my life that started my troubles with food. I was 9 when they divorced and I was an average sized kid. By the time I was 13, I was 200+ lbs. I really went through a time in my life when I would use anything to make me feel better (booze, drugs, women). I think it was realizing that I was going to turn 45 that made me really look at my life. I was fat, insecure, unhappy and always looking for acceptance. On January 1, 2008, I really decided that life was too short and I deserved to live a healthy, happy life. I’m down 87 lbs. and honestly, I have NEVER been more in shape, secure, happy and confident in my life. I plan on getting down to 10 % body fat by January 1, 2009. I am taking my wife on a tropical vacation in February and I can’t wait to be able to walk on the beach without a shirt and be comfortable with myself doing it. (no WAY would I EVER do this before)

    Ok, I ramble too…

    Who’s next??? That actually felt pretty good….



  16. Sinead

    Mike–good questions! Thanks!

    1. Favorite: Lifting heavy. I LOVE deads and squats. My body won’t let me do them…at least not until I’m closer to my goal weight and my arthritis isn’t as much of an issue…but I LOVE how strong I felt doing them. Nobody else in your gym does deads, Mike? Really?
    Least Favorite: the bike. yuck. I just don’t love it.

    2. Well, there are several reasons. First and foremost is that I had bad eating habits and no exercise habits. Not good. Then add arthritis in my mid-twenties and the drugs (prednisone for starters) to combat it, and the weight just started to multiply. I could have kept it at bay (I think) if I had changed my eating habits, but I didn’t. I think that’s laziness. It’s hard work to be conscious of what you’re eating and to make good choices and to track your food. Sure, maybe I won’t always have to do this, but I will always have to be conscious.

    Mike–I can be that way, too. I am pretty outgoing but sometimes I wonder if there’s a shy kid stuck inside me. Phone calls and dropping by for visits are tough for me, but I can email or text all day long. ;)

    Great points, Stephanie and Jim!


  17. ROFL at your somewhat obsessive self, Mike! :) Great ideas for questions…. here are my answers:

    1. What is your favorite exercise, least favorite, and why?
    Coming up with a favorite is tough…. squats and lunges are probably tops on the list, but really I like ANY exercise that makes me sore for the next couple of days LOL. I really like doing balance work too. My least favorite is a recline pull-up… those just make my hands hurt and I suck at them. Of course, they’re part of the new program that my trainer gave me yesterday… oh goody. ;)

    2. Why do you have extra fat to lose?
    I was always a chubby kid… I must have been 18 and my mom was still telling me that it was just “baby fat” lol. I’m not sure why I was overweight.. I was pretty active and always outside, riding my bike, playing tennis, whatever. I would guess that I just plain ate too much… and since I was the baby of the family, I got away with pretty much whatever I wanted. I was pretty much “normal” weight in high school but still felt fat… went off to college and gained a bunch of weight, but lost it again before senior year through diet and exercise. After I graduated I got a job teaching and lived with one of my friends from college. My mom died the next year, and I gained quite a bit of weight over the next 3 or 4 years through stress & probably some depression. I moved in with my dad to help him out with some health issues… he died 3 years later and I finally decided to do something about my weight. I went on Jenny Craig and lost about 50 pounds, felt great, and met my husband… had 3 kids… and in the process gained all the weight back, plus more. I started my FINAL attempt at losing weight in Jan 2007 and have lost 70 lbs so far, but I’m still a bit away from my goal. I keep repeating the cycle of getting really close to my goal and then blowing it…. hopefully I manage to break that cycle this time. I think that the success scares me a little.. not sure why but trying to figure it out!


  18. What a fun topic you came up with, Mike! I enjoy reading all of you guys’ answers and feel selfish if I don’t post any!

    1. What is your favorite exercise, least favorite, and why?
    Favortite: Long steady cardio. Am I the only one who loves this boring thing? I like it on elliptical. It feels as if I’m meditating. The mind is free from all the worries and the legs aren’t gonna stop moving. I don’t have time to it these days, sadly. Another thing I like is Callanetics. Not sure anyone has heard of it, but I like the feeling after doing it. All my muscles are stretched and comfortably sore. I feel like I’m 5 inch ‘longer’ everywhere! I hate running outside even though I do it in daily life to go from place to place lol. I just hate the cold weather here in the winter and incredible amount of UV in the summer.

    2. Go deep on this one: Why do you have extra fat to lose?
    I don’t have extra fat to lose but I do believe I have. This thought kicks in when I become roommates with one of my girl friends during summer school a few years ago. I was from a small town, spent most of my time with my own thoughts and textbooks. But she was a beauty queen from a big city. We are competitive girls in different aspects and became very close friends. She always tried to put me down by the fact that she’s prettier (or at least I feel that way.) She always talks about how many guys fall for her and how everyone said she is very pretty, for example. She would ask me very often how much I weighed and try to feed me cookies. (I mean taking a cookie she baked just for me by hand and literally stuff it in my mouth!) She made it a girl friend bonding thing, but it never made sense to me. Long story short, it became a unspoken weight loss competition. I wish I wasn’t that stupid and took it seriously. But as a result I lost almost 20 lbs and weighed only 102lbs. From now on, you might be able to guess, my anorexic, bulimic, binge eating wheel is setting in plus low self-esteem, depression, and all other issues that are going on in both body and mind. I gained back all the weight I lose plus some. And now I’m trying to get it down somewhere in between the extremely low 102lbs and the all-time high 125 lbs. Like Lori, I have a habit of getting closer to my goal and blow it away. I have been in that cycle for 2 years now. So I’m trying to break that cycle. Hopefully things really work out this time.

    Wow that’s a really long post…ugh



  19. Diana

    1. My favorite exercise is weight training of any kind. My least favorite is cardio. I do it for health reasons.

    2. Why do you have extra fat to lose? Boy that’s a tough one. I think the biggest thing for me was perhaps inattention?? My weight wasn’t gained gradually it was in two periods of time. Both had physical reasons post injury non-weight bearing and casted for several months, second coincided with a medication. At the time I had other health priorities and since weight gaining wasn’t typically a problem it was too easy to ignore and figure I’d deal with it later. It was too easy to say once I’m back to normal and can exercise the pounds will fall off again and that this was a short term problem not a permanent one. So basically I wasn’t paying enough attention when my caloric needs changed and put on all this weight in the first place. And I have trouble taking the pounds off now because again I’m not always willing to pay attention to every little detail to keep the calories in check. I have been consistently losing weight over the past six months but it’s a slow process for me and requires constant logging.

    Good questions Mike
    Diana



  20. Jedi

    Cool questions and answers guys :)

    1. Man I love being active, too hard to choose one exercise I prefer; hiking, snowshoeing, squatting, pulllups, tennis, squash, running….. I hate deadlifting as I can’t seem to get the form down (

    2. I don’t really have extra weight to lose but I have an inordinate amount of fat on my legs for the leaness of the rest of my body, jiggly + visible fat, which gathered after regaining a normal weight after anorexia. I have to get to a very low bodyfat for it to start to diminish and I have strong legs from squatting my IRM is over 100kg and I can do 5x 20 @ 65kg no problem, so it is not that my legs lack muscle :)



  21. Mike

    Whew! OK, glad you guys liked the questions! I get a little retrospective sometimes. :) I guess everyone else is still out traveling for Thanksgiving, I just got home myself after a few days visiting my sister. So, next question.. this one’s easy, and anyone else that still wants to respond to the first two questions, feel free!

    #3. How did you fare over Thanksgiving? Did you pig out? keep it sensible? work out? sloth? gain, maintain or lose any weight? Where’d you go? What’d you do? Whatchya eat?

    My answer:

    3. I tore it UP! Totally off-diet pigging out for 4 days while out of town visiting my sister. If we weren’t busy preparing food we were busy eating it, and I’m sure I devoted more time to eating it than everyone else. ;) Even had acid reflux while sleeping one night – hey, that sucks! Never had it while sleeping before and my throat is still a little raw from that one – OK, deep fried chimichanga at bedtime = bad idea, duly noted. I wonder if the 2 slices of peanut butter/fudge pie and two slices of pumpkin pie, monster cup of coffee plus two plates of turkey, cranberries, stuffing, candied yams and biscuits had anything to do with it. ;) Didn’t exercise one lick either, unless you call sitting on the bench outside of JoAnn Fabrics with the other men, while the women shop, exercise. :)

    Not sure whether I should be proud or dumbfounded that I didn’t gain any weight at all! Started losing water like crazy though despite pounding down carbs, which tends to happen when I take a few days off from training.



  22. Sinead

    I like this question, too, Mike! :)

    3. I was pretty good over Thanksgiving. Being a picky eater helps me at times like these as I generally avoid casseroles and just eat foods in their more whole form. I love turkey, but I don’t eat the dressing or gravy, so that works fine; it was pretty much protein fest for me. lol I did have more than my fill of roasted potatoes–YUM! Then yesterday my dad got some amazing filets from a new “old-fashioned” butcher shop that just opened in town, so i had a really delicious steak and yet more roasted potatoes. :) I didn’t really eat too many desserts, though, so I’m fairly pleased with myself. I didn’t do too much exercising, either, other than chasing around my two kids and the niece and nephew for the last few days. :)



  23. Stephanie

    Another great question, Mike! Like you, I was away for the holiday.

    I did fairly well (although, I have not weighed myself yet). On Thanksgiving morning, I had 2 pieces of Pumpkin bread topped with an Apple Chutney (both recipes I made and got from Cooking Light, so they weren’t too bad). Then I didn’t eat until the turkey dinner. I had a double serving of turkey, but everything else was reasonable (cranberry sauce, stuffing, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, a bite of sweet potatoes)……no seconds. That dinner really filled me up though because when everyone got out the leftovers around 9:00, I stayed far away!

    Friday I went shopping with my SILs after making another breakfast from cooking light. We shopped for about 7 hours and didn’t stop anywhere for lunch. We got home around 7 and ate dinner then and I was done again for the evening. We did celebrate some birthdays and I did have a piece of icecream cake….but again, I’m really happy that I didn’t eat everything in site all day for both days.

    Okay?…….Who’s next?



  24. Diana

    I’d say overall I did pretty well over Thanksgiving and if truth be told the past 3 weeks. I have been on a diet break for about 3 weeks now (started after I hurt my hand). Once the stitches and splint came off it was Thanksgiving week and seemed silly to start back up then. So my weight is only up a couple of pounds and that could also be water retention. I have had a couple pieces of pie, some pumpkin bread and a couple of cookies but all spaced out over several days. I try to stop eating when I’m full. We were at my MIL for Thanksgiving but they live nearby so no extensive travel for us and the only leftovers are what we wanted to take.

    I haven’t been able to weight train yet but have done some occasional light cardio that doesn’t involve punching or gripping. I did stationary bike on Thanksgiving day.

    Diana



  25. Jim

    I was really good on Thanksgiving. I kept pretty close to may calorie goal for the day and I actually did an extended Spinning Class on Wednesday evening.

    Then came the weekend…

    Man, I still don’t understand how I can control myself through Thanksgiving and blow up on the weekend. I was at my contest end weight (219) on Wednesday and up to 221 on Sunday. Not too outrageous, just enough to drive me nuts! My hunting partners brought leftover cookies, pie, cake, turkey and beer. I think I had some of everything. Oh well, back to the gym today to work it off.

    Keep the questions coming Mike.



  26. Sinead

    LEIGHHHHHHHH…….. we miss you. :) Hope you’re getting some good rest in.


  27. 1. over head squats. Love to work the shoulders, quads, hams, etc.

    2. I’m a pleasure eater for sure. AKA a glutton. I love the taste of amazing food, and as a child and up until a few years ago, I thought if I wasn’t absolutely stuffed to the point of not being able to move, I was still hungry. If some was good, more was better. I could eat three large pizzas. I have taken my love of food and learned to cook, making incredibly tasty healthy foods, and have learned the art of monitoring and measuring, aka portion control. I’ve been as high as 265, now am down to 194.5 (was 244 in June)

    3. I did well (as I define it). I used thanksgiving as a refeed, and ate at least 4000 calories (total guestmate) but made sure to focus on white meat turkey and greenbeans so i didn’t eat as much of the stuffing as a I would have otherwise. I had a tablespoon of each of the 5 pies instead fo a slice, that help. The next two days I ate ata 1000 cal deficit per day, but continued to eat higher carb than usual, feasting on the left over steamed sweet potatoes, so my weight is up from Thanksgiving morning (192 pounds, an adult low) and has been stable the last two days at 194.5 after peaking at 197 the day after thanksgiving. Much of this is of course water and glycogen, but I am looking forward to being below 190 by dec 10. But my totally glycogen and water depleted weight at the end of the contest was 195 (with my “loaded” weight being 200. Now I am probably at 190 and 195, though I haven’t been depleted enough to see 190. I am suffering through a nasty cold, so I have stayed out of the gym the past few days and not done the planned glycogen depletion workouts.



  28. Mike

    Sinead, I don’t think she’s on vacation, she’s just traveling a lot for work at the moment.

    OK guess I’ll throw out another question:

    4. What are your favorite quick healthy snacks, but there’s a twist to this one. Gotta be combinations of individual foods (or just individual foods period) that you could eat on their own and not be seen as a bit of a freak for doing so. You can be a freak for weird combinations but not eating the food alone. :) In other words, no long ingredient lists. Let’s say 3 or 4 individual items tops. And since Leigh is traveling, let’s throw another monkey into this wrench and use that for a theme – it’s gotta be somewhat easily portable, something you can toss into a small cooler bag or will survive a road trip sitting in the back seat, or being locked in the bottom desk drawer at the office all day.

    Examples: My personal favorites are peanut butter with celery or carrots or apple or banana. Strawberry yogurt with chopped fuji apple. Cottage cheese with pineapple or banana or walnuts or almonds. Hard boiled eggs.

    Doesn’t matter if it’s something you actually eat or if you’re just making it up on the fly here cause you think it might taste good, :) Have fun.



  29. Diana

    Portable easy snacks for me might be some fruit and a piece of string cheese, home baked muffins or bread, a Kashi Go Lean Bar. I also sometimes have a skinny latte as a snack. One day a week at work we are provided with a vendor lunch which we never know ahead of time what it will be but it’s usually enough food for both a lunch and a snack or two. I also occasionally have half a sandwich. So nothing really exciting for me.

    Diana



  30. Jim

    Mike,

    Prior to OBM, I always had a jar of peanut butter and almonds in my desk drawer. Our company provides fresh fruit (apples, oranges and bananas) on each floor. At home, cottage cheese with fruit and/or nuts is one of my absolute favorite things to eat.

    Thanks for keeping us engaged while Leigh is away. You’re doing a great job.

    –Jim



  31. Mike

    OoooK, Leigh’s not on vacation but it looks like everyone else has been! hehehe :)

    5. Since it’s been a few weeks let’s do a OBM challenge update for everyone that was involved, Leigh’s crew and everybody else!

    Shortly after the challenge was over I did a refeed and once again, went from 219 to 230lbs. To say I’ve got some water issues is an understatement, and even the last few days of the challenge when I tried to get a whoosh going, nothing was happening. Maintained that weight through Thanksgiving, started pounding the water after getting back in town until this past Thursday, then woke up Friday at 222lbs. -8lbs over the course of 24 hours. Nutty! I don’t even remember peeing that much :)

    Other than that, fat loss is going pretty well for me. The water issue has made measurements and scales pretty much pointless right now but I can always count on one surefire signal to tell me I’m ripping the fat away – ahh, the smell of ketones in the morning…. and afternoon.. and evening too for that matter.

    The last time I took pics was actually before the 8lb drop in water so I’ll have to do some new ones and post ‘em online.



  32. Sinead

    Wow, Mike! That’s a big effect from water!

    I haven’t been on vacation–just the opposite, actually. Life has been piling up on me and the holidays seemed to make everything all the more wacky. Work should be slowing down now, so that’s good. I can get back to being a cheering section. ;) I’ve also been hormonal preggy lady (clearly not enough water for me!), so I’ve kept everyone from having to see my scary side. lol

    How’s everyone else doing? I’m interested to see how it’s going!



  33. Jim

    I’m maintaining my post-contest weight at about 219-220. I get below it every week and blow it on the weekend. Thank God hunting season is over so I can stay home on the weekends and continue eating good food. My goal is to lose another 6-7% body fat by the end of the year. I have to adjust that goal to mid-January.

    –Jim



  34. Amber

    Leigh come back we miss you!


  35. Just hit a new low this morning, 190.5

    Down 4.5 from my post contest 195. My 2 week moving average (more accurate than a single day’s reading) is down 5.5 pounds (from 199.8 to 194.3) in the same time frame.


  36. here’s a snack (also my new favorite breakfast) throw some almonds, some unsweetened coconut, some raw cranberries, and two packets of splenda in a bowl and stir.

    I love the combo of crunchy, rich, sweet, and tart.



  37. Sinead

    Jim and Josh, great job!!


  38. You guys are fantastic, really. I can’t believe you hung around here and kept each other up like that.

    You know you are going to get something for that don’t ya? Oh yeah I got it coming just you wait.


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