General Diet Plans and Questions - Body for Life #39

Busy week on the board!!! Welcome to all the new BFLers! :wave: I thought I posted a welcome at the end of the last thread but I didn't submit it or it disappeared. :( My apologies! We're always glad to have people joing the challenge!

Hi Tamara :wave: WELCOME!!! don't worry about asking too many questions! Ask as many as you like as often as you like! Listen to MrsJim about not counting calories (actually listen to her about everything but especially counting calories!)
Again, WELCOME!!!

Mel, I had to experiment with the breakfast squares. You can't get a good balance of carbs/protein with just egg beaters or just protein powder because using just one to mix up with the cooked steel cut oats is yucchy....AND every protein powder, it seems, has a different count. I usually use about 3/4 egg beaters (and I throw in a whole egg as well) and 1/4 protein powder. I measure the steel cuts and figure out the carb grams, then I match the protein grams. When I cook it I try to smooth it out in the baking pan as flat as possible. When it's cooked I figure out how many squares I need and then cut them. If you use a glass pan, you can leave them in there and just use a spatchler to take each one out in the morning (that is what I tend to do.) I've also used round glass dishes and had pie slices. :)

Well fellow fitness enthusiasts: I realize that one of the things that I've been guilty of is giving up the pictures. I stopped taking pix somewhere along the line (I think when I was struggling with ear infection/vertigo in the summer and fall and then hormone/allergies and kept "waiting" for that to be resolved.) Well, yesterday I took "before" pictures after eading some of Pam's posts. Not a happy ocasion but hopefully one that will keep me motivated. Neither my allergies nor my hormones are totally resolved but I'm hanging in there and just "acting as if" they are. :) I'm one determined camper.
:)

Susan

Hi Everyone - hope your day is going the BFL way!

I have a slight confession to make, although I don't think I goofed up too bad! When I first started BFL 2.5 weeks ago I decided that for my cardio I would use a program on my treadmill that has intervals of 1.5 min. going from 3.3 mph to 4.5 mph. The reason I did this was that my treadmill is still fairly new and I still wasn't quite used to all the buttons - and I didn't want to get too confused (done easily) while trying to work hard. I also wanted to challenge myself to begin a walk/jog program.

Anyway, when I first started this I could hardly breathe at the end and literally felt sick! Well today I am happy to announce that I am getting through these intervals, I believe, without hitting my tens. I am also quite used to the controls now as well. It is time to kick it up a notch. I thought about increasing the incline but I am really enjoying the walk/jog and I think I can still do this with BFL.

Is there anyone on this board that has experience with treadmills that could suggest some kind of starting point? (MrsJim?) I believe my ten might be up around 5mph? maybe higher? I can still walk on the treadmill at 4.1mph if that helps. I was going to pose this question on L&S but as you can see it's quite wordy.

I would appreciate any help.

I went through this last year. I remember Steve on L&S telling me not to incline it because it starts to become anarobic at a certain point and you want it to be aerobic. Instead of working heart/lungs you're working your muscles. I think that Bill Philips does a good job of explaining how to hit your tens on cardio in the book when he talks about 20 MAS. For me I like the Shawn Phillips HIIT better, one minute of very intense with one minute not as intense. For the "very" intense you should push it as hard as you can.

However, my advice would be to definitely check out the way Bill talks about it in BFL and then try it that way for a few weeks and then if you need to change up, try HIIT or something else.

Maybe Mrs Jim or someone else has another idea. :?:

Sorry if this is no help,
Susan

I just got back from my Tai Chi class and I am feeling oh so good! Thanks for the info - I didn't know that about the incline stuff so I won't go that way. Might just have to try some trial and error. Is Shawn Phillips related to Bill? Where did you get his HIIT info. from?

I haven't seen MrsJim on this board today so she might have some input as well. Well I have to run because I am so hungry right now and it's time for M6.

Thanks again!

Yes, Shawn is Bill's brother. I believe there was a link on L&S under articles. It was a muscle media article about a year ago. I don't know if their site still has it (MuscleMedia) but it did once upon a time. In fact, I think the link on L&S was to the muscle media site. (or maybe not...ack, I'm so confused) I know the folks on L&S would know. I started BFL doing Bills 20MAS and as you may have read, I have horrible shin splints. (I did buy a new shoe today called the Saucony Courageous--it is brand new on the market and is supposed to be for people with flat wide feet who suffer from ailments associated with that such as shin splints--they are like a dream. They are expensive but to me, worth it so far!) Anyway, the shin splints are very painful on a threadmill so I had to switch to an elliptical trainer. I found that 20 MAS is still difficult and I get the shin splints after about 15 minutes of ellipsing :) So I started doing the HIIT as prescribed by Shawn and I could only do 4 minutes to start and gradually worked up to 15 and my shin splints don't bother me that much with HIIT. I try to go back and forth. I am forever changing my cardio due to the shin splints. Some days just walking bothers me, other days I'm fine running up hill. It's weird. :dizzy:

Yes I believe MrsJIm must be off somewhere!
Susan

I know, been a busy day at work today (getting ready for Miami next month...so much to do) plus I've been at L&S posting away...

Now, I saw that posting by Steve some time ago myself, and took it with a grain of salt. I actually tried using the elliptical the way he suggested (no incline, no resistance) and it was impossible to hit a 10. And look at Pam B's favorite machine...the Step Mill. Wouldn't THAT be considered an incline, and thus anerobic? I could use a ton of examples - for instance, when road cycling, going up hills and using wind resistance is considered essential in training. I say, if you need to use the incline on your treadmill to hit a 10 then go for it (and meanwhile, start shopping for another treadmill - or buy a jumprope for $10 - there's a pretty good article on jumprope training in the new Muscle Media!).

Well, I'm now having my Meal #4 on Camp Pam B. Wait till you hear what it is:

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
2 cups carrots (I'm eating those raw)
2 (yes TWO) medium baked potatoes
1 1/2 whole chicken breasts.

I'll be posting my menu for today on Fitday - (Check my link below) so you can see the humongous amounts of food I'm eating...of course I'm sure I'll have those dreaded low-carb days...like tomorrow!

Shawn Phillips is Bill's kid brother (at least I think he's the baby bro'). The man has the most amazing abs I have ever seen! He's in just about every issue of Muscle Media. All I can say is their Mom must be very proud of her two sons and probably nagging them to death about grandchildren (I can so relate!).

Speaking of being proud, I'm attaching a cute pic of Sparky here...Jim snapped this while he was snoozing...our little guy...

omigoodness!!! What a kitty!!! :love:

MrsJim: I liked your explanation of the anerobic v. aerobic. I know that I do go a faster for HIIT when I am not using the incline as much....but I don't know if that is "better". I used to go up a notch in speed and incline until I hit my 9's then back down, then back up for a 10....not a great incline but some. I might work that back in there!

Cardio is still my big nemesis. :mad:

Glad you're back on board!
Susan

Does this all mean that my favorite HIIT of running up the hills near my house then jogging or walking down is not such a good idea? Now I'm really confused! My neighbors will miss their morning laugh if I stop doing this....

mel

Hi all!

I alternate between the treadmill and recumbent bike. My legs are so sore the day after my LBWO that I walk on the treadmill to loosen them up. I walk on my toes a little to loosen the calves and hams while leaning slightly forward, usually during warmup level 5. Then I get down to business.

And I've been using the step mill as part of my lower body routine. I walk up it backwards for a few to work my butt. I got the idea (I believe) from a thread on L&S and it works!

My week 4 photos have been taken. Biggest change has been in my back and shoulders. They've "popped" even being as overfat as I am. My legs have tightened some, too.

Mel -- I wouldn't laugh at you. You're doing something good for yourself. :D

I'll try some different combinations on Saturday.

Mrs. Jim not quite sure why you suggested looking for a new treadmill? Oh, and cute kitty by the way!

Had a killer UBWO this morning. Quick question - is it OK to have unbalanced weights on your dumbells? My weights for biceps and triceps are still quite low (by some veteran standards) and I have raised them twice but I find I can only do it with my 2.5 lb plates and that sometimes makes the dumbell uneven.

I find that the UBWO is the toughest for me. I definitely can't complete it in the 46 minutes because I find that it just takes time to change those plates. I use this time as my rest time. I am sweatin like 10 throughout and when I am done my routines. Hitting lots of failures to lift at the end of each.

Thunderheart - I think I was suffering from temporary dyslexia last night...thought you said your treadmill only goes up to 4.5 mph which is a bit on the slow side (for me anyway). Duh...it's been that kind of a week what can I say??? :dizzy:

I too have had a tough time in the past making the 46 minute time because of changing plates, waiting for DB's etc. at the gym. If the gym is empty I will spend my time between sets getting the DBs or BBs I need together so I can just blast through. Our gym has a set of those 'fixed' BB's starting at 20# and going up in 10-pound increments to around 100# or so (haven't gotten up that far yet in weight!) so that makes it easy to grab and go! Unfortunately during the busy times they are usually being used anyway. So what I do is get a couple of the E-Z bars (there's at least 10 of them on the floor) and set up the weights on them. Makes it a bit easier.

Triceps are my weak point too! But I must say they are finally getting stronger - I was doing skullcrushers this morning and was able to do 10 with the 40# fixed BBs. So I'm upping my weight on those. I remember back when I started BFL, I couldn't even do skullcrushers with the 20# BB for more than a few reps, so I was doing two-arm lying tri extensions using a 2.5# plate in each hand (since our DB's only go as low as 5#). So cool to think back because it hasn't even been a year yet!

Thanks for all the great comments on Sparky. I'm still trying to talk Jim into going to the pound to get him a little girlfriend. We will be gone for a week and he is going to be soooooo lonely... :( even though my sister will be visiting him every day. Nights are not going to be so nice for him since he is used to spending at least part of the night sleeping in our bed with us!

I was just photographing my mom's cats for her last night! Sparky is obviously a "cover cat" who enhances whatever he's photographed with (or on.)

I've tried looking at your FitDay site but all I see is a blank form. Is there a trick to this?

On the treadmill, I just keep cranking the speed. But on the recumbent bike, I use the resistance setting to bring up the intensity. I alternate these for cardio. Susanje I also started shin splints on BFL and I have narrow feet with high arches. Now I stretch before and after using the treadmill.

Have a great weekend, all.

Hi Mrs. Jim

Thanks for sharing your early weight stories. That's exactly where I am at with my triceps. WOW!!! I am so impressed how far you have built them up - there is hope for me. By the way my treadmill goes up to 10mph, so I have alot of room to work with.

Lisa - you're just getting a blank form? I gotta tell ya, for some reason I can't complete the FitDay stuff at work (must be the firewall or something - won't let me enter stuff) so I do it at night at home. I just tried bringing up via my signature link and it worked okay...just go back to the day before...and you'll see my menu there...

Unfortunately Sparky isn't a lap cat, but he does love to be held when we get home from work (especially if I'm wearing something dark that he can shed on!). He also enjoys sitting in our desk chair - probably because one of us is usually sitting there on the PC.

Back to work!

Kitty companionship....Walter and Charlotte, my cats, were both stray kittens that came to us one week apart. They co-exist but have never been pals. William and Abigail, my mom's cats, are brother and sister. They love to play together and sometimes sleep curled up together.

Sparky may or may not hit it off with another cat. It sounds to me like he's really "people oriented." But they are all different, and it may be a comfort for him to have another cat there, even if they aren't best buds.

Howdy folks,
didn't want you all to think i dropped off the face of the earth or something, still down here in the islands dreaming of recieving an actual copy of the BFL book. However, good news is that i have been give lots of data on the program from people who do have the book, and have gotten started on teh plan even though i dont have the Book in hand to detail it all specifically. Also got a lot of info off the net, especially from the hussman site. I

wanted to say i am already having results. As i said before i love resistance training, so this program is actually a boon for me. I am doing my best to stay on the 5-6 meal a day thing, and have already seen a difference in my energy. I have PCOS and therefore insulin resistance, so this way of life is acutually a real benifit for me.

My mother has been a body builder for the last 15 years and has always shared with me her experiences. now i am able to do the same with her, and even though we are like 3000miles apart, it is a nice thing to email and say, hey mom, guess what i tried today for triceps?

anyway, you all have een a real inspiration for me. I am currently 29 my 30th is in june, and i am determined to get my body on track by then. (started with 26%BF, heading for 15%) The body building helps my body deal with the insulin, and my nurse practitioner has already told me there is a difference after only 4 weeks of daily excersizing, the weights and the food, acording to the BFL plan. I can see the difference, even though it is not huge. I never got to weigh myself, but the pants-o-meter is showing me the difference. I took measurements and photos though not the kind BFL recommends, but i have my DH to tell me if i am hanging over or something! lol!

Well, i also wanted to say thank you to MsJim for the idea of doing the 21s for my preacher curls. i will be honest and say that i have never been so sore in my life, but now on week three, i am not feeling that so much and i love it. Even the DH says he can tell i am enjoying it...ie, i jump up and run over to the home gym. (its not much but it works.) The only bummer of it all is the runners knee coming back to haunt me. I was really doing too much i think. I was runnning 45 minutes 5 days a week. now that i cut it down to teh 3 days of HIIT and 2 days moderate, well, i can say that my body feels better, and the 20 minute sessions seem to be agreeing with me. I know that that is more than the book says, but i took a note from hussmans site, since i have lots of BF to lose, i added a bit of moderate intensity running/jogging/falst walking.

I also have a bit of a problem getting in all the protein required since i really only eat dairy eggs and fish, and can't digest soy. also, protein powders are REALLY expensive here, but i am succeding eating lots of egg whites, tuna and non fat yogurt. i know it is not perfect, but i charted my foods on fitday, and have really managed to do ok on the whole thing. 40-40-20 or so. i figure that is about right. am i right? i know i need the book to do it exactlly to plan, but i have more just decided to adopt the body building or stregnth building plan as a lifestyle. I can't get teh book till i go up to the states to visit, likely around my birthday in june, and there is not better time than the present. thanks again for your support,

MM2
=^..^=

Glad you checked in MM2!!! :D
We miss you!!!

Hi everyone,

Did a killer cardio this morning. My new shoeys are just lover-lee
:lol: They really made a difference in the shin splints!

Does anyone ever get heart palpitations when they do killer cardio? I had them a few times during and they've continued. It feels that that speedy feeling you get on diet pills...not that I need another health issue but I thought I'd check because I am trying to pump up the cardio and so far the allergies and shin splints are cooperating. I don't need another thing to kick in so I was wondering.

thanks!
Susan

Susan- I know you're already dealing with a zillion health issues but the heart palps I'd check out. Maybe of your meds? or are you drinking coffee before your workout? Saw that on an L&S thread that some people do for accelerated fat loss. I haven't had any palpitations, but I've been getting dizzy after heavy lifting sets. I made a rather ungraceful dismount from the assisted pull-up machine at the gym today and picked up a few rug burns to reward my efforts. I think it's because I've got some mild virus and not enough sleep. The good stuff from the Olympics doesn't end until midnight here.

MM2- Sounds like you've found a way to make it work despite the situational challenges. Good for you!

Despite being the unparalleled klutz of the gym, my workouts have been going usually really well. I got a bit carried away on Wednesday on LBWO and kept adding more weight and trying out different equipment and could barely walk yesterday. Made it up to 400lbs on the leg press before I was afraid to try more without a spotter. That's about 100 lbs more than where I maxed on week 2.

I wish I could say food was going as well. After feeling so great at the end of week 6, I started slipping and am having a hard time putting together 2 100% clean days in a row:?: Gotta get back on track!

Have a good weekend,
mel

Meow Mew! I'm so glad to see you here again...can't believe you can't get the book where you are! Actually I was just at Barnes & Noble on Sunday and could not find a copy anywhere in the store. I'm hoping that means a paperback (smaller) edition is in the works...wouldn't it be nice to have one you could carry in your purse easily? Especially for you C1'ers.

Susanje - I would definitely talk to my doctor if I was having what I thought were palpitations - do you have a heart rate monitor you could use just to check? I know on BFL HRM's aren't considered necessary, but I'd wear one in your situation. My father never exercises without his!

Mel - the food was the hardest part for me too! I spent the first four or five weeks of C1 eating low-fat granola and thinking it was authorized (it's not by the way). I was doing most of the program by memory since I had to return the book to the library and didn't buy my own copy until around C1W5. I thought I remembered seeing 'low-fat granola" in there, but now I think I must have been hallucinating :dizzy: Also we would REALLY PIG OUT on Free Days, I mean REALLY pig out...a huge breakfast...then an early dinner at a Mexican restaurant...and eating in between, of course I would be totally sick the next day. Not worth it...I think that's why Bill Phillips gave us the free day - he knew that gradually we would get away from total pigouts once a week to eating goodies moderately - they lose their appeal quicker, I've found!

However, I am still having a free meal tomorrow - a chile verde burrito...mmmm...with all the fixings (except sour cream which I don't care for) and extra salsa! Yummie!

This week has been so great - except for the second high-protein day, when I didn't imagine being able to eat one more chicken breast for the rest of my life...now I'm back to loving them again. In fact I'm making one right now for my Meal #3!

And I really do feel my workouts have been a lot more productive...I'm supercharged...

This morning I was all set for my lesson, Jim and I drove out there but I guess I should have called first because the riding rings were closed due to last night's rain...we actually ended up spending about two hours there anyway. We visited with all the horses (carrots for everyone!). Then spent some time taking the lesson horses - Butch, Alex and Freight - out grazing in the big field - the grass was so lush and green out there...they loved it! All three of them are such good old boys, and it was very relaxing - almost therapeutic - standing next to them holding their lead-lines and just being with them!

I just cleaned the house and Jim and I are going to watch "Spongebob Squarepants" soon...have you SEEN that show...I was babysitting last night and watched it for the first time with my little nephew and niece - just too funny and bizarre - now I want Jim to see it with me - he hasn't seen it yet.

See ya later!

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
Sponge Bob Squarepants!
My niece (who is 14) loves Sponge Bob and Patrick of course.

Oops accidently hit post.

I bought some glutamine and I am feeling better. I took my free day today. I have eaten a lot but didn't pig out like I thought I would. I felt yucky after eating 3 Milano cookies! I usually can eat half a bag at one sitting.
I put my meals on fitday and I'm wondering if I'm getting too much % of cal from protein. It was 50% protein 15%fat and 35% carbs. I think my protein portions are too big???

At the gym on Friday I met a women who is also on C1 W1. I hope she comes in at the same time often. It was nice to talk to someone in person about the program. Also one of the trainers does a modified BFL program.

Have a great weekend!

Tam

hi all, enjoying reading the thread.

I have some questions about the training stuff.

1. what is the importance of the 1 minute rest between sets? (sometimes I feel a bit dorky resting for a minute after I've done my first set of quite low weights?

2. If you have not reached muscle failure by the last rep of the last set, do you keep going till you reach it? - which would maybe mean you ended up doing 15 reps or something? (and then adjust the weight the next day)

I can't remember what else I wanted to ask so that will do for now. I completely blew it today - and ended up eating a whole bunch of stuff, so now I feel disgusting, but tomorrow I'm back in full force.

thanks to whoever can help with the questions

Carps


:wave:

Carps - let me try and answer your questions one by one...

1. what is the importance of the 1 minute rest between sets? (sometimes I feel a bit dorky resting for a minute after I've done my first set of quite low weights? If you've never seriously lifted before, it's a good idea IMO to give your muscles some rest - but make it ACTIVE rest - I change out the plates, stretch and flex a bit...a minute goes by quite quickly - don't just stand there waiting for 60 seconds to pass. BTW, it usually takes me a minute to switch out plates or find the DB's I need (no one at my gym ever puts the DBs back in order the way I've seen in some other gyms when I'm traveling - even at the company gym everyone neatly puts the weights back where they're supposed to go...I guess there's a lot of slobs at my gym!)

2. If you have not reached muscle failure by the last rep of the last set, do you keep going till you reach it? - which would maybe mean you ended up doing 15 reps or something? (and then adjust the weight the next day) Personally I'd do a few extra reps...most of the time when doing the BFL half pyramid/compound routine of 12/10/8/6/12, I'll start low on the first set, then raise the weight in increments - like if I was doing, for example, bicep curls, I'd start with maybe 7.5# DBs, then up to 10#, 12#, 15#. If that set of 6 at 15# felt pretty easy, I'd keep the set of 12 at 15#. If while doing the 12, the weight feels too heavy - I hit failure while doing the set - I'll quickly switch to the next lower weight, say the 12.5# DBs. You want to challenge yourself and of course lifting a heavy weight is extremely difficult - but that's what makes the biggest changes. Those aerobics classes with the little 1-3 lb weights don't really do much IMO.

Don't worry, I actually screw up my eating too...This week was GREAT - I was staying on Pam's diet - until last night...but I think I did pretty well...since there are pretty much only clean foods in our house now! The ones that aren't are things like Stouffer's Pot Pies and entrees (this is what Jim eats most of the time. Once in awhile he'll have what I'm having but that doesn't happen often - he's usually hungry as soon as we get home from work, where I won't eat until about 6:30 or 7:00, plus he loves those dinners...one day...) . Actually last night I made Jim the hot apples for a dessert - since we don't have any 'conventional' dessert items in the house right now - just fruit. I mixed the apple with blueberries, sprinkled some Splenda and cinnamon, and nuked it for 3 minutes...let it cool for awhile then topped with vanilla FF Light Yogurt since he's not a big cottage cheese fan! Of course for BFL purposes that's two carbs...but Jim was fixing to make a Baskin-Robbins run :dizzy: and this was certainly a better alternative! His comment: "Not bad!"

I'm going to run out in a few minutes and do some shopping - I'm completely out of chicken breasts and a lot of other things. Still waiting for Pam's email - she called me on Friday to tell me her server was down, supposed to be up today - that's why we haven't heard from her lately (here or on L&S).

Tam - I wouldn't even worry about the Fitday if I were you. Just stick to the authorized list in the book, use palm/fist for measuring (for fluffier items such as cottage cheese and eggwhites/Egg Beaters, just refer to the Nutrition Facts label on the product and measure for 20 grams of protein (for most women). Carbs should be 20-25g per serving. Don't cut your carbs too much - you need them for energy! Found this out the hard way on Tuesday...doing high-protein/low carb. My butt dragged all day...I told Pam and she promptly emailed me a plan which included more carbs and I feel WAY better!

Take care all!