Yesterday I got out of the shower and something went BOING in my back and I was in agony for the rest of the day. Did my shoulder and calf workout anyway, then a long soak in the tub. This morning it was still really tight and painful, so I flip-flopped days and did my cardio and ab day today instead of bi's and tri's.... sure hope it's better tomorrow for arms, then back on Friday. Seems crazy to be able to lift, squat, push the weights I do, but getting a towel off the towel rack can put me in traction!

JC- glad things are calming down a little for you. I know exactly what you mean about wanting to move forward, but wanting to rest. Half the time I'm on fire- really wanting this, all of the time I know I don't want to go BACK to where I was a year ago, but sometimes I think I must be crazy- here I am, 48 years old, I have no intention of ever competing tho I'd love to be able to, am wearing clothes I never thought I'd be able to wear and feel great- yet I'm still chasing the elusive Lord of Low Body Fat and heavy metal. And it's taken over my life completely.

Ledom- You are doing so well! I wouldn't worry about not working calves as long as you're doing the rest of the LBWO. Especially if you are blessed genetically with calves that grow. I have toothpick calves and have worked them really hard and heavy to gain 1/2" over the course of a year. Lots of definition, but NO mass. If I could just move my stomach down to my calves....I shouldn't joke about that, gravity's trying to do that anyway

Moxiegiral- I'll have to try your swiss ball hamstring exercise. Sounds like if you lift up your hips at the same time you'd get a good lower back thing going in there too.

Karen- I found leg day without squats really disconcerting! I did it twice, but have to say for the first 2 weeks of that rotation I squatted also. Just different kinds. I week I did them with legs really wide and toes turned really far out. That was the sorest I have ever been in my entire life! The next week I did them to an actual sitting position on an 18" platform, then stood back up. That was REALLY hard and I couldn't do more than about 2/3 my normal weight. Totally relaxing the quads and then having to get up again was different. Very humbling. Then I didn't squat for 2 weeks and just started again this week. I think I'm a little stronger- will throw another 20 lbs on next week if my back is 100%. My goal is to get over 300 lbs. for 6 reps. I've got a ways to go!

Hi everyone else- Susan I hope your son is doing better!

mel

Hello to All am the new kid (56 years young) on the block.
Am glad to see this thread. Have been hearing about this new life style. I have been looking and reading about all the different diet plans but most don't say a word about working the body to tone it up as you change your life style of eating.
Just wanted to put my hi in and then read what all of you are saying to help educate new ones like me.

Having a good week so far. It was nice to get back to the program after the Thanksgiving day dinner on Sunday.

I have to say I'm finding great results with this program. Not so much with my body yet, though I certainly noticed changes there, but more so with my energy level, mindset, joy, and willingness to try new things and going about things in a different "lightness of being" way. This is make sense?

Meliris... Thank you for your thoughts on fat burners. I think I'll just stick to the basics of the body for life program and continue with my greens, vitamin C, B-6, and zinc, and flax seed oil.

MrsJim... Wow, weigh scary stuff on the Andro. supplement. I checked out the "scrumptious" links and have decided that I'm dork No. 2 in the deadlift photos! I've printed it out and will be taking it to my garage/gym for my lower body workout and see what happens.

I also am going to printout out the "trouble" page and read it at my leisure. It looks like it's packed both great advice. As is this board

Moxiegirl... Preschoolers, joy of joys! I work at an elementary school and I find the little ones are so special and so entertaining! That a different world they inhabit. I'll try the deflated ball trick. The "heels through the floor" visualization is a new one for me. I think it will really help focus on what I'm actually doing . Don't worry I'm got to make sure my pocketbook doesn't get any thinner than me!

JC... I trust you'll find your balance or it will find you. Enjoy your 5 Km. run. I hope the weather is brilliant for you.

jmtank...hi, I'm new 'round here too. I must have been writing my post and the same time that you were. Welcome.

Jan

Oh my lord Mel, you could not have phrased how I was feeling better if it had come out of my own mouth. You have just concreted what I was thinking all week. Thank you for your insight - now to go and figure out a good balance!

As for my current weight and being happy with it? No not really - although I am proud of what I have achieved so far - I am still not where I want to be. I am actually only about 7 lbs away from my original goal but I still don't look like I want to so I will keep perserving. My upper body is very tone now though after a year of lifting but my lower body is so slow to co-operate!

Anyway after this weekend I should be back on track. Thank goodness the relatives left this morning so I can have some normality back into my life!

JC

JC - I remember back in my old 200-plus pound days. I would have given my right arm to be under 200 pounds, even 199 pounds. Well, when I got to 199 then I wanted to be smaller of course...I'm happiest at a size 4 even though I still have saddlebags - mostly skin and empty fat cells I think. I'm like you - my upper bod has made much more process than my lower bod!

In fact I was talking to someone recently - who saw my 265-pound photo (actually I was 240 or thereabouts - you know, the one in the red polka-dot dress?) and the pix that Jim took of me back in Miami this past spring - and she commented that I have VERY nice skin since it bounced back pretty well from being that stretched out!

AACK! Relatives...Love 'em except when they move in with you for a few days or a week or so...one of the few nice things about having such a weeny little apartment is that we have no room for visiting relatives. I think it was Benjamin Franklin that said "Fish and houseguests both tend to smell after three days" (please don't take offense at that - first thing that came to mind!)

Jan - Mistress Krista's website is a GREAT resource. She often posts new information - you can tell she spends a lot of time on making sure that there's useful information in a fun-to-read format. I haven't seen any other website geared towards weightlifting for women that doesn't try to push supplements on you...

JM - Welcome - feel free to browse through the old threads and I'd recommend checking out Lean & Strong as well. Many of us hang out there too!

Mel! OW OW OW Girl!!! I just had sympathetic pains. Today was a moderate cardio day for me - did 30 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes on the treadmill. Pam wants me to do the Step Mill but MAN do I hate that thing. It KILLS my ankles if I do it more than 5 minutes at a time. BTW my butt still hurts from Tuesday's leg day!

Ledom - I don't weigh myself but Pam did mention once that her off-comp-season weight is around 160 (she's 5'7" and I'm 5'4"). If you can find the Jan/Feb issue of Energy for Women magazine, there's an article on Pam in there - she stated on L&S that her scale weight in most of those photos was 160! Amazing when you see the pix...

Susanje - let us know how you and your family are doing - y'all are in my prayers and thoughts.

AACK! Back to work...

Karen: I wouldn't give 2 hoots about what I weighed or my size if I looked in the mirror and was happy with what I saw. But I am not happy with it so I shall keep going. I remember wishing to get under 200 lbs as well, it's seems like forever ago now.

By the way no offense taken - they are a pain in the butt to be polite. I emailed Pam again today and have booked in for another 8 weeks with her. I have decided to cut back on everything that I am doing in my life so that I can focus on getting rid of the rest of this fat. That's my main priority because that is what is getting me down the most with my stress at the moment. I am taking a week off to regroup (and sleep) and then 8 weeks of ferocious focus begins. I am going the whole hog as well with manicures, pedicures and tanning at a solarium so I look and feel my best. I really need to focus on me for a while and stop letting everyone elses stresses get to me.

I will stop babbling now.

JC

Hi everyone!

Welcome JMTANK!

JanCan: I am a slow loser so my results are never amazing (YET!) BUT I have had all kinds of strange situations happen to me since starting BFL in March of 2001 that has caused backslides and weight gain and falling off program. Despite the fact that I lose so slowly and then regain so quickly (not the program's fault, it's ME), I LOVE the feeling of well being and ENERGY that eating clean and working out the BFL way of doing it gives me. I've been "off program" for three weeks now (sick plus family emergency) and feel achy and bloated and cranky. Also, when I am eating clean, I have no cravings. I noticed these last 2 weeks when I've been super stressed and eating whatever, I think about food all the time. When I'm eating clean, my meal just happens like clockwork and I don't think about it when I'm not due for a meal. I have struggled, struggled struggled because of my lifestyle (law school), some medical issues and a dr who advised me to eat another way, and it doesn't take much for me to regain, BUT I keep coming back to it because of how I feel and if anyone here judges me (and my continual backtracking) they don't say it outloud so I keep returning to the fold.

Mel: I'm sorry to hear about your back. I have a "trick" back where it goes out every now and then for no good reason. It's a lot of pain and agony! Be good to yourself!

Like JC, I am getting back on track too. I bought my food yesterday (most of it, I still have to make a trek to Trader Joe's for some steel cut oats and buy a new blender).

Thanks everyone for asking about my son Michael. I am taking him to the dr today but he is getting better by the day. He is eating during the day and starting to stay up more. I am going to move him out of my daughter's room into my office (I have a futon in here). I'm going to clean the office of my school stuff tonight (set up a mini office in my bedroom) and hook up the TV cable in here and then I'll be moving out of this room. Probably will spend less time on the internet and that is always a good thing. I have been on the internet since before there was a world wide web and have been addicted to it for about 14 years now. Less computer time is always a good thing for me.

Anyway, today I eat a little cleaner than yesterday. Tomorrow I make all my food, Sunday I go back to the gym and then Monday I am in full swing again.

I am doing a sprint until Christmas where I am going to be very very serious about this. Because, remember, after Christmas come all those new year resolution people at the gym. YUCCH!!!
So I want to make the most of it now when it's the emptiest of any time during the year. Just before I got sick and then my son's emergency, I was getting ready to do an official CPB. Now I'm just back to basics (again). Well, maybe a CPB for the new year.

Happy Friday everyone!
Susan

Hey everyone, it's been a crushing week at work for me, so I haven't been able to post.

Susan - I'm glad to hear that Michael is recovering, although it's shocking to hear he was the victim of a violent crime. Everytime I read the newspapers, I despair at the amount of violence there is. I'm sending both of you good vibes, though!

It looks like everyone else is doing pretty well (although life is never 100% perfect for long, is it?). Welcome to all of the new people. I'm towards the end of my 1st challenge, and have learned a lot from the people here, and from my own ups and downs on the program. This last week, I've been about 90% good on my food, and 95% good on my exercise. In fact, I was particularly glad to work out this morning 'cause I'm feeling a lot of stress at work. I felt so much better (emotionally) after a hard cardio workout!

I don't have much more to add -- I've essentially been eating, sleeping, working out and working for the past 5 days. I have a stretch of about 2 weeks where this will be my schedule -- oh well, what can you do . . .

Take it easy everyone. And be good to yourselves. Peace, Mox

Sat. morning and free day dawns. I had the weirdest dream last night - that I fell off the wagon during the week drinking diet coke and eating off the plan. OMG, I was really upset in the dream. Could this be pre-freeday anxiety!

Anyway, W3 was a good one and I made it through another week - let's see, 1/4 through the first challenge. Tonight I am having a b'day party for a friend at my house. I have no idea what to expect for myself in terms of food, I know what I am cooking but have no plans to eat big EXCEPT for a piece of cake. Seems like the biggest free day treat for me is still sugar. I will have some beer as well. I just feel that I'll do all in moderation and NO diet coke. That is my big thing I guess.

Hey, I am on my way to the mall to look at workout benches. A new shipment came in yesterday and I am so excited at the prospect. Something that will add to the capapbility of my exercise repetoire. Seems that I read somewhere that you should change exercises every 4 weeks. After this week I plan to do just that. Yesterday was my UBWO and I felt more sore from it than anytime up to this point.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Happy Saturday!!!

I LOVE Saturday!!!! In less than two hours I'll be with my horse friends Right now Jim is at the DMV taking the Motorcycle test - he's buying himself a chopper this winter and wants to be ready.

Ledom - sounds like you're kicking major butt! Are you taking glutamine? I HIGHLY recommend it for muscle soreness. Don't get the capsules tho - get the big tub of powder - it lasts MONTHS.

Today Dee Dee - my trainer - is having a birthday potluck - she does this every couple of months for those of us (like me!) who are celebrating a birthday soon. Most of the time it's stuff like cookies, cake, donuts, sandwiches, etc. I will be bringing my own food - sweet potato and cottage cheese blend. One of my favorite horses, Penny (real name PA Penntera) dearly loves melon and oatmeal cookies - along with the usual apples and carrots. I know I could probably have Free Day today and eat the potluck stuff but (like a lot of people here) I like to pick my OWN food for Free Meal/day - lately it's been burritos and Carbolite Frozen Yogurt.

I missed Oprah yesterday (it's on during working hours for me) but I heard that Friday's show was all about weight training's benefits. (I also checked the Oprah website for info). It is really funny to me how Bob Greene - Oprah's trainer - has basically done a 360-degree turn in his views, because if you read his first book "Make the Connection" he basically blows off weight training and advocated long long long cardio. Well of course what happened is that Oprah got down to a lower weight then blew out her knee and gained a ton of weight again. Now she's doing weight training and from what I've seen she looks a HECK of a lot better (IMO) than she did back in 1994 when she was Marathon Woman!

If Pam B. ever gets to be on Oprah (wouldn't she be great?) I would most definitely take time off work to watch it! (Still haven't figured out how to record since we got digital cable).

Well...Jim should be home soon so I need to make his Pamcake! Take care all!

m/c...wow. I took the test the first time when I was a 17 year old in NY. I had failed my road test (car) twice due to nerves and repeated that with my m/c test but passed (barely) on the second time. I moved to RI when I was in my mid20s and had little ones so didn't think about the m/c license. I just changed licenses never realizing that they didn't carry over the m/c endorsement from NY. When I moved to MA, the kids were older and I bought a bike. When I registered it, I then realized that I didn't have the endorsement. I had to take the road test AGAIN and even though I'd been riding a few years, I FAILED THE TEST AGAIN the first time. I took it on a bike that was too big and couldn't bring the bike in to round those cones. In researching my move to Texas, I read on the website that dropping the m/c endorsement is common in Texas so make sure you keep a copy of your old license with the endorsement. I DO NOT want to take that road test EVER AGAIN. Even though I've been riding for over 30 years now, I swear I could freak out and fail it again. My current bike has never been down (I bought it in 99) and haven't ever been in a m/c accident (or a car accident for that matter) but those dopey little tests drive me nuts!!! WELL BEST OF LUCK TO JIM!!!!

well its the end of week one, and I'm happy to report that I lost 2 kgs (4 4.4lbs)!

Today was free day and to my suprise I didn't feel like pigging out, I had a few peanut butter sandwiches, and some red liquorice, and some cheezels, and that was about it. - Although If I had had more money we would definatley have got some mcdonalds. don't care what anyone says - I still like the stuff!

my husband lost soo much weight this week, that I'm not even going to tell you cos it just makes me mad but I am secretely really proud of him, and I can't wait till it all starts to be noticeable on both of us.

its very late here, so I must go to bed. See you all
Carly

Hello girls,

How is everyone?

I'm ok but I am starting a 12 week challenge tomorrow of BFL.... I had followed with you gals the last 6 weeks, and things went well, but I fell off the wagon, so to speak in the last couple of weeks.... So this morning I went on www.fitday.com and started recording my cals, fats, and carbs for the day, to see what I have been doing wrong....

As far as I can tell I have lost 1/2 inch on my hips and 1/2 inch on my waist during the 6 week challenge we followed together.....

More or less the last 2 DAYS have been free days!! Not a good thing... After the Thanksgiving weekend last week, which was at least 4 FREE DAYS, I only had 3 clean days this week.... But today a new day is dawning....

The weekend has been quiet, today is really nice out, yesterday was rainy and dreary.... not a pleasant thing.....I have groceries to do so I will be doing that very soon... stock up on good stuff for the week.... I've been having a problem with veggies in the last couple of weeks, I KNOW I am not eating enough of them.... I will concentrate on that today.... and the water, I know this is only an excuse but I don't have time to pee at work so I don't drink my water.... I only end up drinking about 6 cups/day.... which it should be much more I know that for sure.....


Ok I'm done rambling for NOW... See you all later....

One month down two months to go...

Positive changes I've noticed on this "body for life" program:

tons more energy
more supple body
not hungry
more physically active during the day
it's easier to fall asleep
less stressed
move for the enjoyment of it
that I DO have a waist
I can drink eight glasses of water and not drown


After doing my measurements, a weigh-in, and looking at my before and after photos, part of me is delighted that I'm seeing some minor (like as in wee) changes in my body size. But another part of me is thinking, that's it after all those workouts and after eating so well. Is that really it!!!!

My own personal yin & yang.


Susan.... I admire that you keep coming back to it! Every time we try something we always learn from it. We can never do anything without the experience enriching our lives in some way. Good to hear that your son is on the mend.

Mrs. Jim... I did catch the Ophra show that was on other day . Very inspirational! It's funny, once you become aware of something all of a sudden it's everywhere.

Lanaii1... How is it going up with the fitday journal? Anything revealing? I'm going to look over my nutrition in my journal to look for ways of improving. Keep us posted.

Hope everyone have a great week-end.

Jan