Mrs. Jim-WOW!! Great loss!

My goal is to get my hips to 37 this 12 weeks!

Just got back from a leisurely 10 mile bike ride. It was so nice to just enjoy the outdoors without working hard!

Hi, there BFL team!

Drat I just hit some weird key and lost my post! Had posted a long message last week and lost it too - at least I didn't see it show up. Now I hit something else and lost this...maybe I'm not supposed to talk to you!

Last week on the bike at work I realized I wasn't hitting my 10's - definitely was time to up the resistance...which is a good sign. But instead, I used the treadmill for the next cardio workout. Boy, did it feel good! It was the first time I'd used the treadmill in about a year. When my labmonsters hit a year old and their hips were strong enough, I started walking/running with them outside and tho I worked up a good sweat, it's definitely not the same as having a machine that forces you to keep your speed up! I had surgery on my foot in March and tho it was supposed to be healed by now, it still gives me problems. But I was sick of not being able to run, so I said to heck with it (I did make an appointment to see my new primary care doc so she could refer me back to the foot doctor - what a pain!) My foot actually didn't bother me when I was running (it never did before the surgery either) and it only whimpered a bit later, so I figured I can keep up the running.

I'm an asthmatic, so I never thought I "could" run, so one of my many goals is to be able to run a mile. I know it's just a small distance - I'm not up for trying for any marathons, but it is a milestone I'm working towards.

Enjoying my free Sunday. Last week I made chocolate chip cookies - ate probably 8 of them between eating batter and then finished cookies but sent the rest with my DH to the office so they weren't around to tempt me. Today it's brownies...love this free day!!
Cris

Hey everyone....I've been reading all your posts for a few weeks and I am getting ready to start my first BFL challenge tomorrow (Monday 7/2). I hope no one minds a 23 yr old guy posting in your msg board. I just don't really have any local friends that want to do this with me, and ya'll seem pretty cool. Just so you know....I'm not some skinny guy tryin to get ripped. I'm doing this to lose weight...hmm....on that note maybe I should tell you a little about myself.

My name is Sean...and I live in Maryland at the moment even though I am from Wyoming originally. I grew up in a very small town, but I have traveled extensively....even spending a year in San Francisco. (I noticed a couple of you are from the bay area). I was in pretty great shape throughout high school....played football...etc...but when I went to college everything seemed to go wrong and I ballooned up to 342 lbs as of last December. Since then I have dropped to 303 but I seem to have hit a plateau.

I think that I am eating too many carbs and I don't think my weight and cardio workouts are hitting "10's" as Bill Phillips would say. They are more like 6's and 7's and I need something to help me kick it up a notch (I love Emeril. ) BFL definitely makes sense to me and I know I will be commited. I went out today and got some Myoplex Lite Bars....about 8 of em...but...I still have to get some of the shakes. I have egg whites and some other clean proteins I can use to make up meals until I get them. Anyone got any meal tips when they run out of shakes?

I have access to the gym at my school which will help a lot. They just invested 200,000 dollars into it and put all new Nautilus equipment in it. Can you use machines and still get the same results in BFL? I have been using a stationary bike and stair stepper for my cardio so far. Once I lose a little more weight I am going to start up some jogging and maybe look into getting a mountain bike. I used to bike extensively right after high school until a freak accident involving my face and a Ford F-250 pulling out in front of me. It's ok now tho...but I haven't ridden a bike since..but I am ready to go again.

Ok now that I have rambled enough....I look forward to learning a lot from ya'll and improving myself in the process!!! Have a great 4th everyone!!

Sean

Hmmm.......I think that clock is off. It says I posted at 2:39 am.....yet its only 9:37 EST. Weird.

Well, first off, about that time thingy....

Click on the "Profile" link at the top of this page, then click on "Edit Options" and scroll alllll the way down to the bottom. You can change the time zone there!

Enough of that techie stuff. WELCOME! And congrats for starting your first challenge!

I use an average of 2 Myo Lite shakes a day and 1 MRB (Meal Replacement Bar). You can do BFL without the shakes and bars - they are merely a convenience. With my busy schedule (work/horses/babysitting/etc) I very rarely have time to cook. Besides I really love Myoplex Lite shakes (the bars are tolerable)! Many of us here on this thread also visit www.leanandstrong.com regularly. That is a great place to go for the more technical questions, and a terrific resource! Especially if you're looking for new recipes - can't live on egg whites everyday (BTW, I prefer Egg Beaters myself).

Of course you can use machines at the gym - I do most of my 20 minute HIIT sessions on the Precor Elliptical. Just as long as you can hit those 10's, that's what matters! But for the weights, I'd stick to dumbbells/barbells for most of them (excepting leg press and the like of course!). I'm convinced that Bill Phillips is absolutely correct when he says that you get better results with free weights than with weight machines.

YAAWNN...sorry...had a busy busy day today at the ranch! It was really warm and I just wore shorts and a sport bra. The gals and guys at the ranch are SO great...I was afraid to have my tummy hanging out and they all said 'lookin' good'! Of course they think most of it's from lugging that ol' wheelbarrow full of horse poo up and down the hill every weekend!! later...

Welcome Sean!! We could use a little male input here--right girls???

Had my free day yesterday, and boy-was it free!! 2 pieces of lasagne last night--I even woke up at 11:30 to have some cereal before midnight!! Am I sick or what???

Cris- I have a hard time reaching my 10's on my bike, too. My bike only has 6 speeds (it's an old Schwinn Beach Cruiser), and my recumbent bike has only 3 speeds (it's a PTS-about 10 years old, but it was very expensive in it's time!!) Now I'm wishing I could afford an elliptical. It looks like alot of people are using that for cardio. I am going to do the recumbent tomorrow for cardio, and will try to tweak it up to a 10 somehow!!

Bye!

welcome Sean!!!

I, too, had a bike accident once upon a time (a 10 speed accident, I also ride a motorcycle but no accidents on that!). I purchased a new 12 speed about 2 years ago and I just can't get on the damn thing. It was really expensive too!!! I must get it out one of these days but I suffered extensive nerve damage from the accident...(was flying down a hill and hit one of those vertical grates [I never saw it] and stopped immediately...well the bike stopped and I kept going...tried to brace my fall and put out my arm and hit elbow first....lots of nerve damage throughout my arm/shoulder/neck...muscle and tendon damage etc...was out of the gym for over a year and packed on the poundage). I'd love to ride again...but something in me just quivers when I take it out.

I use an elliptical, a recumbent bike and Tae Bo for a break. I saw a segment on the early show this morning about something called Power Kick or something like that. Very tae bo like but she has been running it for six years. She has a black belt in karate and this is a revved up version of kick boxing. It looked very cool and employs a lot of Tae Bo stuff but unlike a lot of Tae Bo imitators, she was doing this before Billy Blanks became famous with Tae Bo. So she is not just a Tae Bo imitator, it definitely has her own flavor....you can tell she was developing it independently. Martial arts are on my "to do" list so I always get interested in these things. I'm sure that if it is in NYC (where she is from) it will be in the SF bay area shortly. So I'm going to look for that.

Other than that I'm feeling frumpy. I am very demotivated today because I didn't get into the clothes I envisioned myself in last night and some fat pants still fit. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Just thought I'd share that.

WELCOME SEAN to our happy little BFL family!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Everyone,

I put the links and BFL info on my web page and was thinking of just putting the link in there when I start a new thread.

We could do an intro page with links to everyone's page and the BFL information there instead of the long one.

MrsJim: would you like to do a write up for body to life especially the difference in your workout plan? You were working hard and going great guns BEFORE BFL and so I think it is very good to have input from someone who was already committed to eating right and working out and has done all these things to get in shape and how BFL is different. Maybe put it on your page and I could put a link to it? I think that would be a great perspective.

Anyone else? Interested in donating links/thoughts/opinions? Thanks.

Susan

I'm planning on updating my website anyway. (Just got to find the TIME!!! BFL, the horses and WORK are taking priority right now...) Maybe in the days after we get back from Yosemite - when I'm not at the ranch of course!

I can point out some differences right now - before BFL I was doing very long cardio sessions with my heart rate averaging between 65 - 80% of max six mornings a week. I'd spend a minimum of one hour on the machine - sometimes (if no one was waiting) I'd be on that machine for 90 minutes!!

As far as weight training, I just didn't think it was that important since it didn't 'burn fat' like cardio does. One of the recommended books on my website is "Make The Connection" by Oprah Winfrey and Bob Greene. I still think it's a very good book but in retrospect, I think that Bob Greene gives weight training VERY short shrift - he pretty much discounts it in favor of just doing cardio. "You can add weight training later" in his words. Of course, he did come out with "Keep The Connection" which offers a basic weight-training routine (all on machines rather than free weights). Perhaps not being really serious about strength training is why Oprah was not able to maintain her weight loss in 1994-1996?? Hmm.

So, once in awhile, I'd do maybe five or ten minutes of half-hearted weight lifting. Nothing serious and absolutely no focus.

Eating - well, from 1992 until this year, I was a vegetarian. Sometimes vegan, sometimes lacto. Not for environmental reasons but primarily to maintain my losses on Optifast. Except for times when I was McDougalling (a VERY strict vegan plan that makes BFL's eating plan look like Disneyland!) I was eating way too many simple carbs - sourdough bread, cereal, frozen yogurt, etc. My theory was that if I cut out animal products, I would naturally take in fewer calories and thus, lose weight! Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. I gotta admit, since I started eating chicken and fish again (I do have very lean meat but not often) I feel a lot stronger physically.

One more thing - there was a question on the BFL #7 thread about my thoughts on Covert Bailey and that his "Fit or Fat" plan is not 'very different from BFL'. My opinion is that there are MAJOR differences between Bailey's program and BFL - why so many people who have tried 'Fit or Fat' have not been able to meet their fitness goals. The main difference is simple - Bill Phillips says to hit '10's in your workouts, while Covert Bailey advocates 'gentle' workouts with an occasional wind sprint. My opinion - and I'm living proof that this is true - is that if you want to make improvements, you have to 'Take It to the Limit' (as the Eagles sang!) - otherwise you won't get anywhere. Granted, casual walking is better than just sitting on the couch with a remote control, but you aren't going to be making any major changes. And I DO think that the HealthRider was a total ripoff - when he started doing those infomercials, that is when I started losing all respect for the man. Not only were there identical machines out there for less than 1/2 the price of Bailey's machine, but Consumer Reports tested it and said that none of their testers were able to get even a moderately aerobic workout from it. I like what Michael Fumento wrote about the HealthRider: "Still, I understand they're great for throwing your clothes onto at the end of a long day!"

That's my two cents on Covert Bailey. Don't want to start a debate - we are here to discuss BFL and I will not be bringing up the subject again. Whew! Back to work!

Hi, Shelley. I read your post where you said you were having trouble measuring your body fat percentage. The calipers can be tricky at first, so you might find this link helpful (you simply use a tape measure):

http://healthcentral.com/cooltools/C.../bodyfat1.cfm.

Hope this helps!

Hello again, Mrs. Jim. Didn't mean to start a debate in the other thread about BFL v. Covert Bailey, especially since I realize that it was a BFL thread. I have the utmost respect for the BFL program after seeing the success my friend has had with it. In fact, the BFL threads caught my eye because my friend has been talking so enthusiastically about the program. However, I've had the same success following Covert Bailey's philosophy and just had to speak up. I'm feeling healthy, happy, and fit...that's the main thing, right? Just wanted to clarify one thing: Covert advocates "gentle exercise" for the beginner exerciser and the unfit. If you read any of his "Fit or Fat" books you will find that he firmly believes in regular weight training and vigorous cardio as your fitness level progresses. My personal trainer was thrilled with the progress I made on my Health Rider. It isn't the only cardio I do, but I still do it regularly. Gets me to my target heart rate and I feel so good afterwards!

Once again, I know this is a BFL thread, so I will sign off now and just lurk occasionally. Once again, congrats to everyone on their fitness victories.

Well.....I decided to wait a week to begin my BFL challenge. I have too much goin on this week and I want the first week to go really well. This isn't an excuse honest!!! The main problem is that Wednesday (July 4th) my gym is closed and that would be the day I had my first LBW and I dont want to miss that...and then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I am going to visit my parents and help them move from Maryland to Virginia. So all three days I would be away from my gym and because we would be in an almost empty house and eating out for a day or two....it would be very very hard to maintain the eating program. So I am going to delay starting the challenge till next week. That will give me time to go buy some Myoplex and do a little training and meal planning. This week I'm just going to stick to my old plan which has worked well (dropped 39 lbs in 5 months). I figure its better to get off to a good start with it, and its not like I'm pigging out this week or something. What do ya'll think? Oh...and thanks for the warm welcome to the board.

What do you ladies usually use to mix your shakes with? Water? Skim Milk? etc?

I'm in the process of putting together a web page right now. It's actually part of my job...I need to learn some web design this summer so that I can update the school's web pages this fall for an internship. So basically I'm going to make a weight loss page to practice. Got any ideas of what I can put up there besides like before/after photos, tips, good health links, etc?

Talk to ya'll later-

Sean

Sean,

I practiced a few weeks with BFL before starting my Challenge so you might want to "practice" the nutrition part and get food ideas etc before beginning next week (you can be in prep mode).

Water for Myoplex. If you want to thicken it use a teaspoon or so of FF/SF pudding.

Re: Covert Bailey

I have all the CB books and he has a sound program. I think the thing is that he didn't inspire me as did Bill Phillips and I was prepared to hate BP when I first heard of BFL. I just found so much inspiration from Bill in spite of my plan to hate him. I think he speaks to the mental, emotional and physical...the free day, talking about crossing the abyss, setting goals, honoring self-promises, fail fast and move on if you're not perfect...and the food and weight training and cardio...it all just fits together so perfectly...it just sings as far as I'm concerned...and it speaks to me on many different levels...just love the BFL plan.

Although there are a lot of plans I could knock for sheer nuttiness, CB's is not one of them...it just doesn't speak to my soul like BFL does and I believe the intensity is what gives way to fabulous results.

Susan

Like susanje, I too use water (and ice) for Myoplex. Once I used FF/SF pudding mix and it was really good...but my problem is remembering to pick up the darn stuff at the store!!

And I've said this before - about Diet Root Beer, Vanilla Myo Lite and ice. Really yummy! I don't think there's much of a diff using milk or water (except in calories). The milk may make it a bit thicker though - but if you reduce the amount of water and use more ice, you will get a nice rich consistency.

I've also considered getting some of those flavor extracts such as banana to add (I used to do that when I was using Optifast back in 1990). Adds flavor but no calories!!

Okay, I didn't mean to start a big Covert Bailey debate. My opinion is that even if you are just an exercise beginner, you have to hit 10's consistently to see results. I was really into Jazzercise (and still think it's a terrific program) in the early 90's and at the time they quoted Covert B constantly, so I bought the books, videos, etc. and followed his program for awhile (including the "target diet") with no real results (but at least I didn't GAIN weight). Like Susanje said, in the end I just found Bill Phillips to be so inspiring - even more so when I watched "Body of Work" during my Week 6 (I'm on Week 11 now). Initially I thought he was just some musclehead but...he has a way of structuring his thoughts where he can communicate to just about anyone, at any level. For proof of that, you need only look at the number of transformations (on L&S and other sites) as a result of his BFL brainstorm!

I had posted on L&S earlier asking for opinions on Covert Bailey and just had to copy Steve L's response (He's one of the main authorities on L&S message board - besides he said I could!):

Check out Pam B's new pix in the www.leanandstrong.com Playspace!!!

WHOA! Outstanding...especially since it wasn't that long ago that she weighed well over 200 pounds!

Check 'em out (along with her L&S Before and After profile pix) - if any of you 'lurkers' out there are on the fence about doing BFL (and we know you're out there) - this is proof that BFL WORKS!

I'm printing them out on my color printer to post at home!!!

Okay, coming out of "lurkdom" for just a few minutes. Susan: Thanks for your post. You put things more eloquently than I did, I think. You're absolutely right, you have to be inspired before you can stick to any program. It sounds as if that is what Bill Phillips has done for you, and that's great. That's what Covert has done for me. I love his sense of humor (I always laugh when reading his books or listening to his lectures) and the way he takes complex physiology and puts it into layman terms so that even an addle brain like me can understand. I always thought what he said made a lot of sense, but I was really hooked after reading "The Ultimate Fit or Fat" where he defines "The 4 Food Groups of Good Exercise": 1) Aerobics 2)Cross-Training 3) Wind Springs and 4) Weight Lifting. By the way, I enjoyed your webpage. Very dramatic results! Good for you!

Mrs. Jim: What the heck, a good debate is good for the soul! I also enjoyed your webpage. Impressive! I see you're a cyclist. I don't cycle a lot, but always enjoy it when I do. Several years ago a friend asked me to go with her on a cycling tour of New Hampshire and Vermont. We signed up for the beginner/intermediate tour, but our guides mistakenly thought it was an intermediate/advanced tour. On the first day as I was reading my map (we didn't have to stick together as the guides continuously circled the route in a van to make sure everyone was okay) I thought I was reading it incorrectly when it read "35 miles up (I've forgotten the name of the mountain) Mountain to the lodge where we'll be staying." I was certain it had to mean 3.5 miles. But oh no, it was correct as written and we really were expected to ride 35 miles UP that darn mountain! On the first day! Well, I was determined to make it up that mountain without any assistance and I finally did, right before nightfall. I was the last one in but by golly, I did it under my own power! By the end of the week the guides had dubbed me "Slow and Steady Betty."