Actually, I didn't stick it out lol. I put the Insanity DVD in....half-a**ed the warm up and first interval, then turned the DVD off with 35 minutes left. I'm burned out. For 10 weeks straight (with this being the 11th week), I have exercised 6 days a week, TWICE a day. I was going to reduce my exercise after Insanity was done, but that reduction is going to happen starting today LOL. I won't be finishing the last two weeks of Insanity. I'm completely okay with this. I've already done a full 9 week round and got in a full 7 weeks in the second round, so that's 16 weeks of Insanity I've done! I'll still be doing my Chalean Extreme (which I still absolutely LOVE) and my 30 minute cardio sessions at the gym (I'll be focusing on my running). I'll still be working out 6 days a week this week and next week, but only once a day now which I can handle...and no cardio everyday. I'll end up putting Insanity in my rotation where I'll rotate between the massive amount of exercise DVD's I have.....so I'll still end up doing it but not everyday. I feel good about this change! LOL!

I also want to change up my macros. I've been reading a lot about a ketogenic diet and I want to give it a try. I think I'm going to put together some meal plans in the coming weeks and see how it works for me.

With RFL, do you have to severely restrict your fat intake?

Hello Ladies. I am going to try and get back on a routine again. I have not gotten back after my oldest was sick for a week. Plateau again. My eating has not been great but not really bad either. I am just not exercising like I was.

Angie you night sounds horrible. My oldest was always really good about getting to the toilet. My youngest not so much. She is as bad as the animals getting it all over the carpet. Take a break. You have been going really hard. I totally understand you not finishing after the night you had.

Lebenalles good luck on your new diet. I am just calorie counting with My fitness pal. It seems to be working. I just plateau a bit more than I would like.

Welcome purplebutterfly.

Just checking in very quickly. So glad you're here, Purplefirefly.

I have been avoiding 3FC so I didn't feel as guilty about the fact that even after a very good eating/exercising day on Friday, I went off the rails Saturday, restricted calories but ate empty calories Sunday, then back to really poor eating yesterday.

And today is a new day. Checking in to 3FC, seeing all of you and hearing about how you're fighting through your struggles, and being accountable.

My very stupid plan for the day: I am way behind at work. I am exhausted from family drama. And I have no patience for planning food today, and I am SICK of what I have been eating. So, for today, all I will eat is protein bars. I have them at my desk, I have been avoiding them and missing them, and I can restrict calories easily on them. I know they're glorified candy bars, but at least they have both protein and some other nutrients. For today, it will work. Tomorrow, I will be smarter. And I will hit the weights.

Plus I weighed today and updated my ticker. Always makes it easier for me to feel more energized when I'm "starting over" when I have an accurate ticker. I will not leave it at my low weight and then fight to get back down to that weight. I want to move it for every hard-fought pound. Because even when I put on stupidity pounds, they're hard to get off. And I want credit for them, dang it.

Laurie - I did the same thing with my ticker today. Although, I just realized that I must've mistyped because it says "247945 lbs gained, 248080 lb. to go. Don't give up!" Ha!! Funny stuff...certainly glad that isn't the case, good lord. But yeah, I had gotten down to 247.7 before thanksgiving, but since I went batsh*t crazy....yeah.

Anyways, I think all of us are needing a recharge. And really, we don't have to feel bad about that. We're all doers. Not just talkers, but doers. And if we need a break, we'll take a break. Then we'll jump right back in there, and start doing again. Like good ole Lyle said in his book, sometimes you just need a break psychologically. It's good for the soul.

I'm finding that about every 20-25 lbs or so, I have to change things up. I started with WW then 25 lbs in I hit a plateau. After six months of plateauing, I switched to MFP. That got me through the next 30 lbs and now I'm needing a kickstart. So RFL it is. When I get back from NYC, who knows what I'll do next? One thing I can guarantee though, is that I'll be doing something. I'm doing this.

I'm with you guys - I'm going to have to redo my ticker. I'm not very good at keeping it updated. I was lower than what's stated on it, now I'm higher!

angieand2girls - wow, you must be fit! Insanity and Chalean extreme are tough workouts! I'm obviously larger than you, and I find it difficult to exercise vigorously without hurting myself when I'm above about 180. In the mean time I'm doing Leslie Sansone and water aerobics classes.

Coffeelover - I definitely was not fit when I started LOL! I've progressed as time went on and I'm definitely more fit than I was when I started. I do feel that my muscles have conditioned immensely to allow me to do Insanity at a heavier weight. Chalean IS tough, but I've always had the ability to develop big muscles and have always been strong for a woman. I actually had my testosterone tested a few years ago and supposedly it's above what's normal for women. Maybe that's why I can handle tough workouts? LOL! I keep hearing that women won't bulk up when they lift heavy because they don't have as much testosterone....and then I wonder about women like me....who have above normal levels. I guess time will tell if I end up looking like He-Man LOL!

Some of you ladies are doing RFL. I found a website that discusses it so I'm going to read up on it to see if it's something I'd want to do to bring in some change.

I gotta say, today was hard and then again it wasn't. I wasn't nearly as hungry as I thought I'd be, but I also wasn't very thrilled about the limitations of my menu. There's no grey area to this RFL. At first I was afraid it'd be like Atkins where you're eating bacon all the time, wrapped in butter...but RFL restricts fat intake as well, so no bacon and definitely no butter (which is something you asked earlier, Angie, and I forgot to respond...sorry!).

I love vegetables and I love lean meats. So that part is a win win for me. But I also love to snack. And even more so, I LOVE dessert. I only had 7 grams of sugar today. I think the only time that has happened...oh wait, that has never happened. And wow, even though I got my 85g's of protein in today, I had very very little calories. Like...crazy little. And that seems weird. I think I'm going to have to get creative and figure out how to make different things with the small choices I have available. I think I could do some chicken lettuce cups with some modifications to the sauce. And a turkey patty with sauteed mushrooms could be good. Hmmm...

Angie, I'd be interested to see that website you found...

I have to keep remembering that this is a 'safe crash diet'...or as safe as you can get it, at least. It's a jumpstart, not a permanent thing. And something I've discovered about myself in the past year is that I actually do have willpower. So yeah...I can do this.

Sorry for the 800 peptalks I give myself on here. I think half the time it's really just me trying to convince myself of something...trying to ingrain it in my brain. Sometimes it even works!

Maybe it's because I'm tired and a little emotionally fragile, but I laughed so hard at this, I started crying. Suddenly, my 2-pound gain seems completely innocuous. Good luck losing your 250000 pounds!

I also love that you said that about talkers and doers.

And Angie, I love how you keep things in perspective!

Super low calorie day for me, plus lifting. Not the smartest combo, but that's how it works out sometimes. Tomorrow - back to 'normal' eating. :-)

Laurie - Ahhh the laugh-cry. I feel like I do that a lot more these days. But seriously, compared to the 250000 I have left to lose, a couple of pounds ain't nothin!

So this RFL thing works. Or at least the first day did. 246.8 this morning. Down 3.4 lbs since yesterday morning! Holy crap. I know that's pretty much the rest of the water weight from Thanksgiving but 246.8 is 246.8 and I'm pretty damn pleased. And get this...I'm already in one of the sweaters and pairs of pants that I started this diet to fit into! WTH??

I'm already working on a plan for not gaining everything back when I stop the diet, and I hope it works. I know I'll gain at least a little back, but maybe I can stop myself from gaining it all? We'll see. I can definitely say, though, that the first day was a success!

LebenAlles - it's a forum on lylemcdonald.com. The only thing that makes me nervous is the low fat lol. I've been losing eating a moderate amount of fat (maybe 30-33% of my calories) and going too low fat makes me angry....literally LOL! I feel anger and generally I don't feel as good (I've tried low fat before). Of course RFL is a non-permenant thing so I'm sure the weight loss boost is worth the reduction in fat. Here is the link:

http://forums.lylemcdonald.com/forumdisplay.php?f=7

All I know is, I'm definitely ready to change up my meal plan. I've never done low-carb before but it's really peaking my interest.

Today has gone pretty well so far. Since I quit Insanity, I decided to go to the gym this morning (instead of the afternoon) and I pushed myself further on the treadmill. I went 2.65mi in 35 minutes. I jogged the first 1.5mi nonstop and while increasing the incline every 2 minutes. My quads are screaming at me right now lol...but I'm pretty proud of myself. I used to jog the whole 35 minutes straight which is what I'm building back up to. Now time to stuff my face.

Angie - Yeah, I kinda went a bit psycho this morning when I couldn't find anything to wear, ha...so it might be taking its toll on me. The thing is, it's working. Really well. And I don't feel constant hunger either, which I didn't expect. Cravings, yes, but not hunger.

245.4 this morning. That's about five pounds already, on day 3. What I'm hoping to do now is to lose as much as I can before going absolutely nuts, then come off it slowly and still have a big loss.

Laurie - How have things been since you've come off of it? Or have you?

haha! That's hilarious! I had a funny mental image of you rummaging through your closet! lol! I'm so glad it's working for you. How many calories do you end up eating in a day on average? You definitely have the right idea about coming off it slowly to maintain what you've lost while on the plan. 5 pounds in 3 days is pretty impressive!

Laurie - I too was wondering how RFL went/is going for you.

Lishar - how have things been going? Have you broken past your plateau?

My experience in a nutshell. Started RFL. The first six days, averaged a pound per day loss. Woo hoo. Went into PMS mode, didn't really lose much. Hit Thanksgiving, and family stuff plus the typical 'I feel so deprived' mindset, plus my ex giving me grief about gym time = a mini-breakdown. I would do great on my lifting days, progressively worse on my non-lifting days.

So, 219.4 when I started on Sunday, November 11. Down to 213.0 by November 18. Out-of-control week plus PMS, and up to 216.8 Tuesday, November 27. Decided to go off RFL (which I was only actually doing every other day, and completely off the rails on non-lifting days) to regroup.

So, I am now doing what I was doing before I heard of RFL, but still taking supplements, and planning to restart Sunday. I was down to 213.6 yesterday and a new low of 212.2 today. I am also post-TOM and shedding carb bloat again (plus the icky but real factor of expelling the weight of waste from too much food).

So, I am a mix of weird facfors, so it's hard to tell what coming off should look like. But happy to be eating my protein bars for the next few days (and honestly, I allowed myself one post-lifting on RFL most of the time anyway as an incentive for getting to the gym), and should be ready for the next real push on Sunday. Would love to be in Onederland by New Year's, but it's an incredibly long shot at this point.