I hit the gym after work and got in a full leg workout with increased weights in all exercises again. Taking last week off with trampoline whiplash didn’t seem to hurt my progress at all, I am happy to report.

Since I still had 30 minutes to kill after finishing legs (DH was hosting the weekly Dungeons and Dragons night at our house from 6:00-10:30 PM, and I didn’t want to catch any dungeon geek cooties by going home too early), I snarfed down a rice cake after my final set of leg curls, chugged two more cups of water, and jumped on a recumbent bike with my trusty pink Nintendo DS in hand. I pedaled at level 7 for another half hour while playing Dr. Mario, a mindless but fun Game Boy Advance puzzle game similar to Tetris. Because it doesn’t require the use of the DS stylus or touch screen, the game is perfect for the recumbent bike.

The amazing part was that I barely noticed the time go by even though I had left my MP3 player in the car and had to settle for the gym’s XM pop station. I’m telling you, this is the way to make those boring cardio minutes just fly!

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TODAY’S EATS
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1. 60g raisins and oats (I didn’t have time to make eggs, boo!)
2. 3 egg whites/1 whole egg, 1 c. asparagus veggie mix, 1 plum
3. 1 rice cake, 1/2 T. ANPB
4. 1/2 T. cocoa, 1/2 c. 1% cottage cheese, 1 packet Splenda
5. 1 apple, 1 rice cake
6. 3 oz. chicken breast, 1 T. Szechuan chili paste, 1 c. asparagus veggie mix, 3/4 c. pineapple

Water: 16 cups
Supplements: multivitamin, calcium 600+D

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TODAY’S WORKOUT
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* Legs (60 min)
* Recumbent Bike - Level 7 (30 min)

I finally got around to refashioning this 2XL tee from Threadless. It is a design called “Treasured” by designer Chow Hon Lam. I used Simplicity pattern S4380 (out of print) which includes raglan baseball tops for guys and gals, loose-fitting drawstring PJ pants, a stretchy tank top for women, and slippers.

Here is the original t-shirt before I started cutting away:

Next, I cut off the sleeves, then cut the sides open. The pattern pieces for the front and back are cut on the fold of the fabric, so I opened up the shirt (which was still connected at the shoulders and neckband) into one long piece and folded it in half lengthwise before pinning the front and back pattern pieces on and cutting.

The sleeves were cut from a plain black Fruit of the Loom t-shirt I picked up for under $2 on sale at the local Michaels Arts and Crafts.

I sewed the sleeves onto the front, back, and collar band of the shirt, then stitched up the sides and the underside of the sleeves in one long line.

Final product (Front):

Back view:

If you want some support and accountability over the next two months to help you reach your fitness goals, come join us at Pink Dumbbells for the Lean, Mean Halloween 2008 challenge! The challenge is open to all fitness levels and all goals, whether you want to lose fat, put on some muscle, train for a sport, or all of the above.

The challenge runs from September 1 - October 31, 2008. Jump in anytime–all you need to do is post your goals and a brief description of your program in the sign up thread and then hop into the current weekly chat/accountability thread (Look for “LMH Challenge Week X”) and say hi.

We look forward to seeing you in the challenge!