Nothing exciting happening today, but having a pretty good day. Finishing week 10, and food and workouts are going well.
Brian and I do most of our cooking early in the week. Today, then, it was easy to heat up the cassoulet (adapted from a Weight Watchers recipe) and chicken breasts, and take gazpacho (cold soup with all veggies) and lentil salad with flax seed oil out of the fridge.
My aerobics class went out to lunch and I was able to order a thai chicken salad without peanuts or noodles, and dressing on the side. And no -- the class doesn't count for my cardio, but it's fun.
Good LBWO today -- I'm now almost to the bottom of the leg press machine.
Got to serve up meal #4. Hope you're all having a great day!
Whew! You guys are quiet lately...but I know Susanje is back East. Besides this is a traditionally slow time on forums anyway, what with the upcoming holidays and all.
Carrie - sounds like you're doing great! Keep it up!!
Had a really great quad/ham workout this morning, then came home and had my post workout shake. I'm already seeing and feeling a difference this Challenge - today in my chest and tris since I worked them HARD yesterday. I have a riding lesson this morning- I hope I won't have any trouble getting in the saddle after today's leg workout!
This week I've been a bit short on $$ so I've been taking my meals to work. Mostly cottage cheese cos it's a no-brainer, but also salmon and chicken breast (leftovers from dinner). OH and I discovered that Safeway now sells pre-portioned frozen fish - just like Trader Joe's. I bought some ahi tuna filets, all neatly portioned out into 4-oz filets (individually wrapped) for only $9.99 a pound (usually fresh ahi goes for $15-19 a pound around here). A new favorite BFL meal is fresh raspberries, cottage cheese and a little Equal blended together with a spoon. MMM.
First of all, I wanted to say thanks to all of you for your kind words and encouragement! Your support has really helped me through my first challenge and I appreciate it!
I'm pleased with the results of my first challenge. Scale weight went from 180 to 165. I lost 2 inches from my chest, 4 inches from my waist (!!!), and 3 inches from my hips. I didn't get my bodyfat measured when I began , but according to a formula I found for calculating BMI, that went from 26% to 20%. (That seems like an awfully big change - not sure how accurate it is!) Most importantly, size-wise I went from 16s and tight 14s to being able to fit into most of my size 12s again.
My boyfriend will take my "after" pictures this afternoon. We don't have a scanner yet so I can't post them...hopefully by the end of Challenge 2 that will be rectified.
I agree with MrsJim, it has been awfully quiet on this thread lately! I'm pretty quiet myself during the week. After sitting at a computer all day at work, it's not my favorite thing to do when I get home at night! But I will make an effort to do better at that.
I hope everyone is doing well. Hey Shelley, how about this weather? It finally got below 80 down here - in fact it was in the 60s the last 2 mornings - what a nice change!
I'm guilty of being quiet! I don't think I've posted since I started my first challenge 8 weeks ago! ;-P i've been lurking though- and I've also been spending a good bit of time at L&S. I'm doing fairly well, although there are days when I just don't have that "crossed the abyss feeling. It's been a struggle, but I've still made really good progress. I had originally began losing weight with Weight Watchers, and although I lost a lot of scale weight, I'm sure a lot of it was water and muscle. I'm eating way more now, actually spending *less* time at the gym, and seeing much better results. I don't feel like I'm being completely true to the program, however, and need to re-evaluate my goals at some point here. At the conclusion of the present 12-week challenge, I plan to do just that. I usually end up having one day during the week where I see myself straying from the program (a piece of candy here and there, etc.) Usually, a visit to L&S is enough to put me back in my place! (But I know that the motivation has to come from me- I can't be depending on other people to give it to me!)
Great job on your challenge, Marci! Looks like your user name is very appropriate.
The weight loss is great, and sounds like your fat loss is even better.
Your BMI numbers are probably accurate if you're pretty tall -- the Body Mass Index uses weight for height, and mine is higher at similar weight (I'm only 5'4")
It uses abdomen (at navel) and hip measurements, and it sounds like yours went down substantially. It also asks for iliac crest (at the top of hips) but that's only used in the men's calculation.
I bet your pictures will look great too! Congratulations again for great results after hard work.
Great job on your first challenge - and enjoy your free week (just don't binge all week, though - otherwise you'll get pretty sick ).
Didja guys know that L&S also has a bodyfat calculator? The button for it is on the left side frame. Actually the way I figure my bodyfat is by using the Accumeasure calipers (got 'em for free from Netrition when I ordered $75 worth of products) and putting the mm measurement in the calculator on the www.hussman.com/eas site.
Yesterday was my Free Day...we just relaxed in front of the TV all morning...Jim went bike riding in the afternoon but since it's my TOM I just felt like relaxing (i.e. house cleaning and watching True Hollywood Story). We went for dinner at Black Angus and ordered the Filet Mignon Dinner for 2. When they brought the appetizers, I could only eat a couple of the fried zucchini and a cocktail shrimp, my soup and some bread. Then our dinner came, I ate my broccoli first, then ate a couple of bites of filet mignon and a few bites of garlic mashed potatoes. After that, my tummy shut down...it was full! We ended up taking most of the stuff with us (including the chocolate cake, which I had a couple of bites of later at home). Needless to say Jim is going to have a really great lunch today! I'm still amazed at how quickly I become full nowadays - pre-BFL I could have wolfed down half the appetizers, the entire steak and mashed potatoes and still had plenty of room for cake. No more!
This Challenge, Jeremy has me having full-on Free Days for the first four weeks, then alternating between two free meals a week, a free day, then one free meal for the week, a free day, etc. I'm also zig-zagging my carbs - the protein portions stay constant but the carbs go up and down each day. And on weight-training only days I have a post workout shake right after training (on cardio days I still wait an hour before eating). It's still sorta BFL though but with a twist! (Note to newbies - before tweaking the program, do at least one challenge 'by the book' to get a feel for BFL).
This was a great weekend - I can feel myself becoming a better horseback rider - on Saturday I cantered for five turns around the ring. TOTALLY fun!
Hey MrsJim, that "Filet Mignon for 2" dinner sounds like something I used to eat by myself pre-BFL! I've always been able to put away incredible amounts of food at a single sitting. Thank goodness that's changing! BFL has taught me that normal portions can be satisfying if you eat 6 healthy meals a day!
So far, so good on free week. We went out for breakfast Sunday morning and I ordered an egg white omelet with onions, tomatoes and mushrooms and plain oatmeal...and it was good! So now I know I can go out for breakfast and enjoy it without the biscuits and gravy!
My friends at work have been pestering me for months to go to our favorite chicken wing place for lunch. We used to go once or twice a week but I haven't been since I started BFL. We went today and I have to say, it tasted real good going down but not so good after I ate it! I won't be craving wings for a while now, that's for sure.
It was nice sleeping in a bit this morning. But I don't want to get too used to that; next week it's back to the morning workouts!
Thanks again for the kind words everyone. I hope someday to be as helpful to others as you have been to me.
I tried it with oatmeal - not awful. I tried oatmeal with protein powder - also not awful. But today I finally tried flavored yogurt with cottage cheese - delicious!
Dinner last night was truly vile. Tasteless brussel sprouts, sour tomatoes, a bad-tasting soy burger. It was probably in the freezer too long. I need to make myself a vegetable list of things that DON'T taste bad in New England in the winter...
Glad to here how well everyone is doing. I just set up some appointments to review the weight program, to check my form and try to avoid bringing back my tendonitis.
We had our first big storm last night, and it was still raining this morning when I walked to the gym. Felt good though! I love the change in seasons. I'm just hoping it's not raining tomorrow night when we take my precious nephew and niece trick-or-treating. They would go even if there was a tsunami blowing though!
Jim really enjoyed his lunch yesterday - of course it was so expensive. Next time we want steak on Free Day, I'll just make it at home as usual - I just felt like going out to eat on Sunday I guess! (usually when we go out, it's Mexican food...)
I can totally relate to your chicken wing story. If you check the old BFL threads here, you may find one of my postings from a month or two ago. For days before Free Day, I had been craving, really CRAVING, some Kentucky Fried Chicken. Never mind that I hadn't eaten it for probably 20 years...I wanted it BAD. I think it was those Jason Alexander commercials ("share the bounty of my bucket") and the memories of when I was a kid, occasionally Mom and Dad would buy a bucket of KFC and we'd all sit around the table, eating chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy. Well, on Free Day, sure enough I went out and bought the stuff. One piece of greasy KFC was all it took to make me totally ill...for the rest of Sunday and through most of Monday...icky. I don't plan on having KFC again for another 20 years or so! Oh well, live and learn...
So anyway, enjoy your Free Week but don't go overboard! Free Week is always a great time to take stock and plan the next Challenge. Go through magazines, books, and the Net to find some new workouts (I recommend Arnold Schwartzenegger's "New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding" as a great resource for just about any strength training exercise you can imagine - I've also heard good things about the book "Supervixen" - gotta check that one out myself).
Hi LHendricks, you posted at the same time I did this morning!
Just wanted to say that your meals don't HAVE to be icky and boring...I know that one of the 'complaints' that first-time readers of "Body-for-LIFE" (the book) have (judging from what I've read on other forums) is that 'the authorized foods list is too short'.
In his excellent book 'Fat of the Land', Michael Fumento coined an excellent phrase that I like to quote now and then:
"Variety is the spice of overeating".
One of the reasons that America is the fattest nation on earth is because of the vast quantity of food that is out there, along with the advertising on TV, magazines, radio, the Internet etc. telling us to try this or buy that!
Anyway, off my soapbox for now. What I was trying to say before I sidetracked myself is that...your meals don't HAVE to be boring. Granted, I live in California where the produce section of the supermarket is a bit more bountiful than in other parts of the country...but there's still frozen veggies, which are almost as good as the fresh kind!
I love buying the stir-fry veggie combos (Trader Joe's has an excellent one) and making them with chicken, shrimp or beef strips, plus some rice for a carb. I also make a *****in' "fried" rice with brown rice, green onion, egg, mushrooms, carrots & peas (I use the frozen carrots and peas, you know where the carrots are cut into little cubes?) with a bit of low-sodium soy sauce. MMMmmm...
Another staple in my pantry is something Tall Jen turned me on to - Ro-Tel tomatoes. These are the bomb - I put them in a skillet and let 'em simmer with a chicken breast or two. The flavors blend together nicely.
Don't forget to use spices (easy on the salt tho). I really like those spice blends, and I also use lemon juice, lime juice and low-sodium chicken broth to cook with.
One last thing - check out the Lean & Strong Cooking Library if you haven't already done so...great recipes there (including my Joe's Special BFL style recipe!). One of these days I MUST try Steve L's yummy protein pancakes and Robb's Pumpkin Muffins!
Actually I've been experimenting (like mixing things into my oatmeal) now so that when I get into my Challenge, the refrigerator and shelves will be stocked with things that I like. Then I can focus on my workouts and just restock the shelves once a week.
But thank you for the suggestions Mrs. Jim I have looked at the cooking library and printed off a few things. I'm looking for recipes out on the WWW that I can modify as well. Last night I cooked a bag of chopped spinach with garlic and onions. Then I added f/f feta cheese and some cottage cheese and brown rice. Absolutely delicious! Fortunately I LOVE vegetables and can eat tons of them.
And Happy Birthday Serrano! Haven't heard from you on this site for a while -- hope all is well.
Do all of you have plans for any Halloween candy you may encounter? I figure I will ignore the candy we are giving away (favorites of our son Tony, but not mine) and save anything with coconut (which only I like) for free day on Sunday.
I found it makes a huge difference to me if these things are covered up -- the chocolate chip cookies I baked for a piano recital last Sunday are covered in foil and not tempting at all!
Week 11 is winding down, and my husband Brian and I are starting to think about free week plans. Also preregistered for the 2002 challenge -- not sure what we'll do with the 6 weeks in between.
Good LBWO today -- legs really shaking on the leg press and probably won't be able to increase weight next time. May try squats next challenge, but hesitant because of a bad knee.
I'm really impressed with my husband's progress -- he never lifted weights before, and successfully attempted a 175 lb. bench press today (it's LBWO day but he was curious). I felt strong, too, just being there to spot him.
Actually mine is a nobrainer...we just aren't home!
Instead, we go to my sister's house for a Halloween gettogether and to take the kids trick-or-treating. Of course there are a lot of goodies as Jen is the Queen of Halloween in the neighborhood...but I'll be so busy that it won't matter (and I'm going to eat Meal #5 right before we go to her house).
That means I DON'T have to buy candy, I DON'T have leftover candy around the house and I stay clean on the 31st!!
Carrie, I'm jealous - I would **LOVE** it if Jim would work out with me...but he prefers to sleep in (esp on Wednesday mornings since he has a regular Tuesday night gig and doesn't get home until 1:00 am). Maybe one of these days we'll have a place big enough to have some PowerBlocks and a bench. He just doesn't care to go to the gym!
We don't get trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood so I didn't have to buy any candy for the house. Of course my office is full of chocolate and such (and will be from now until after Christmas, ugh!) but I'm really not big on sweets so that stuff is easy for me to ignore. I'd much rather cheat with french fries, or beer!
I planned out my exercises for the first 4 weeks of my second challenge and I'm raring to go! I've also been looking for new recipes. I like making a big batch of "one-dish" meals that I cook on Sundays and freeze individual portions of. I make a killer white chili (chicken breasts, navy beans, mushrooms, green chili peppers, etc.) and I also love MrsJim's recipe for "Joe's Special" with a baked sweet potato on the side! Yum!
I got the stability ball I ordered, but they sent the wrong one! It was supposed to be 25" high, but the one I got is only 17" fully inflated! I'm tall (5'9") so this little one just ain't gonna cut it! Luckily the catalog I ordered from has great customer service; they're sending a new one ASAP so I should have it in a few days.
Pretty good Friday
, but according to a formula I found for calculating BMI, that went from 26% to 20%. (That seems like an awfully big change - not sure how accurate it is!) Most importantly, size-wise I went from 16s and tight 14s to being able to fit into most of my size 12s again.
Congratulations DownSizing
Good morning all!
Happy Halloween !!
Halloween Strategy...
