Where can I have my body fat% tested? My gym does not have a set of capillars, but where can I purchase a set and are they very expensive. I would like to know so I can record my progess!
Virginia

Virginia: We purchased some calipers at a local bodybuilding store. This place sells lotsa protien powders and Meal replacement shakes and bars (ewwww) and bb clothing and gloves and stuff. It cost $21.95 Canadian.


On eating every 3 hours: I appreciate all your advice in this regard. I too have noticed that when I allow myself to get really hungary is when I crave something I shouldn't be eating. My days are usually such ad hoc things however, I will give the meal timing more priority than I have been. This has gotten me to thinking: how important is a even insulin level ? I mean apart from cravings? Does not eating regularily impede progress as long as you resist the unauthorized food cravings? Please don't think I am trying to justify my problems with meal timming issues, I do feel much better when I eat on time. I was just wondering how this all works? Or why is works?

MrsJim: hope you had a safe and comfortable trip home. I really find long flights a trial. Just be glad you wern't going to Australia, when we went it was about 17 hours there and 20 home!! I was practically twicting to get off that plane!


Iv'e solved (sort of) my cardio dullness. I try to do it when ds or dh are playing a video game. So far this makes the time fly by.

Patt

Virginia - you can get calipers yourself or you can ask another gym to do it for you. Usually they charge a small fee. There other ways such as dipping yourself in water etc - it can be a complex subject. Whatever you do DO NOT use the tanita scale - it's shockingly misaccurate.

Patt: I had done the flight to LA and I ended up drinking after about 9 hrs just to dull the boredom and make the time go faster. Didn't help with jet lag though! That was a few years ago though now. As with the eating it is IMPERITIVE that you keep your feedings down to a few hours apart. Yes it helps with insulin but mainly it is a metabolism issue. When you eat or exercise your metabolism is raised via either your heart or your digestive system. You burn calories whilst your body is digesting the food for about 2 hrs and then it drops again. So every 2-2.5 hrs you eat again to rev it up again. If you leave it too long then your metabolism flatlines for a while and you won't burn as many calories at all. NOW this does not mean that if you eat constantly throughout the day that you will keep you metobolism raised - it doesn't work like that. The energy is burnt in the raising and lowering of the metobolism so that is why we only eat small meals so that they digest in time and make the most efficient use of our metabolism. There is a lot of scientific research behind BFL which was explored by Bill Philips when he was formulating the program.

Your main question was does not eating regularly impede your progress? and the answer is a resounding yes. The whole reason BFL works is they way it increases your metobolism to burn more calories and thus burn more fat. Eating regularly and exercising are the only natural ways to long term increases in the speed of your metabolism and the muscle you create through weight training also increases it because the more muscle you have the more calories you burn.

I hope that helps

JC

PS MrsJim - I hope that you had a good flight!

I am sooo tired you guys....

After I signed off last night (well, not really last night as we are 8 hours behind London time and that was at 3 am Friday morning - it's 8:36 pm Friday evening now so that was over 24 hours ago) I went back to bed and COULD NOT GET BACK TO SLEEP to save my life!!! I did sleep, oh, maybe 2 hours on the 11-hour flight back. Thank goodness I was in business class (although First class would have been nice...you get a SOFA in transatlantic first class which means you can lie down flat) rather than coach. I actually fell asleep in the middle of lunch (which was filet mignon). I nodded off and when I woke up, my lunch was in front of me cold of course! Since I was using a prescription sleeping aid (Ambien) I didn't have any alcohol, but I did drink a lot of water and moisturize a lot (in fact, I went into the lavatory several times, took off my jeans and lotioned up my poor dry legs during the flight!).

I'm going to go to bed in a few minutes, it would have been tempting to go to bed as soon as I got home (I know the big reason I couldn't sleep - it's because I wasn't in my own bed and away from Jim) but I want to get back on California time and going to bed at my regular time is the best way. It has been really STORMING here this week. I am really looking forward to getting back to the gym tomorrow morning - and hoping I get to ride as well - the riding ring is probably saturated but our facility does have a covered ring, but everyone has to share and Dee only gets a certain amount of time each Saturday. Fortunately now that I have wheels, I can make up my lesson during the week after work! Woohoo!

Have I ever mentioned a wonderfully funny series of light novels by Sophie Kinsella - the Shopaholic series? Well, in Harrods I found the brand-new one - "Shopaholic Ties The Knot". It's not being released in the States until March 2003, so I bought two copies - one for myself and one for my sister Jen (whose birthday was yesterday). I read my copy on the flight. I HIGHLY recommend the entire series - delicious light reading!

Really quick and I'm going to bed...Patt - I also HIGHLY recommend getting a Discman or (Better yet) an MP3 player to listen to (early Christmas prezzie perhaps?). If you can burn your own CDs, that's even better - you can make your own motivating mix! And of course I agree with JC about the meal timing thing. IMO, your first 12 weeks is the hardest work - because you are changing habits. How many of us have eaten like a bird all day, just little nibs of stuff, maybe no breakfast, or just a little lunch - and then after work, or at night when we're making dinner, or watching TV, we REALLY tie on the feed bag - justifying that by saying 'well, I haven't eaten all day, so this is alright'. And just where has that gotten us??? Fat of course...If you have a Palm Pilot or an Outlook calendar on your work PC (this is what I did) you can set your reminder to go off for your meals during the workday. I did that during my first challenge after the first couple of weeks - I kept forgetting to get Meal #4 in. So I set my Outlook Kitty to 'meow' at the times for worktime meals (#2,3,&4) and voila! it worked!

Virginia - If you order $75 from Netrition, they will throw in a free set of perfectly serviceable Accu-measure calipers. Personally, though, I stopped using them long ago. I'd rather go by pants size - less guesswork that way!

Alright, I MUST hit the sack!! I think I'm going to get some great sleep tonight if Sparky is good. Jim says he was a naughty boy all week...now that we are both home he might settle down!

Mrs Jim
Im glad you are back home where you can be comfy cozy in your own bed. Nothing like home is there! As for the calipers I think I will follow your example of the pant size. If I get the chance somewhere to measure I will.
Virginia

geez Karen I hope that you are feeling better sweety! Make sure you get enough rest so that you don't get sick.

I just posted on the recipe thread. You may want to check it out.

JC

Hey all,
DO you all do crunces everyday or just on lower body day. I am curious because my belly is where I am the biggest. I have a big ole ciserian section x2 belly, lots of stretch marks, lots of fat and it will take forever to see my Abs. But I trust all your input and if you say to stick to the one day I will stick to it too. Had a good cardio workout tonight, could not get there before tonight, but I got there and now I am done for this week. Free day tomorrow! And pumped up for next week. Love this program, hope it will love me back.
Sleep in tomorrow, eat whatever I want, yeah! But I am glad it is just for one day.
Virginia

Nope! I only do crunches on the one day of the week. Spot reducing isn't possible when it comes to fat. The only way to see your abs is to get your bodyfat low enough. I don know of others who have done extra crunches but I don't know if it helped.

I had a free meal last night and it was awesome. I had a BBQ hamburger home made with bacon, and egg, pineapple, cheese, onions etc. Followed by a piece of apple pie and a little vanilla ice cream. BOY did that hit the spot! OH and I washed it down with an iced coffee (summer here)! Very yummy.....

JC

Regarding crunches - JC's signature sez it all - "Abs are made in the kitchen".

Doing crunches will make your ab muscles stronger, but spot reducing is a myth - it won't make the tummy fat leave any quicker. What I have found with bodyfat loss is that it's very much "first on, last off". I've stated this before - the 'newest' fat will come off much quicker than the older (more stubborn) fat. Also, most gals tend to gain first in their hips/abs/thigh area whereas with guys, they gain right in the gut (I'm sure you've seen lots of guys with skinny legs and big ol' bellies - my hubby is the same way - although I wouldn't call him obese his 'six pack' is stuck pretty deep in the cooler ). Unfortunately, we really have no choice as to where the fat will come off first. The best thing you can do is eat clean and work out...

I just made jambalaya this evening (see the Recipes thread). Safeway had a sale on shrimp AND extra lean ground turkey breast today - so it was a PERFECT opportunity! I'm still trying to decide where to go for my birthday meal tomorrow...we will probably end up going to Celias (Mexican food) and follow it up with a trip to Yumi Yogurt...wish we had an Outback Steakhouse here so I can eat like JC does on HER Freeday (just kidding chick!!!). Amazing how all those people in the Outback commercials are INCREDIBLY buff even after eating those giant portions, eh???

and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. JIM Glad you're back home with your honey. Have a great day!

Mrs Jim,
Wishing you a very Happy Birthday!
Hope you have a great day, with lots of wonderful surprises.
Are you going to go riding today? Do the things you enjoy the most!
Best wishes
Virginia

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN!

29 again?

Have fun, mel

As John Lennon sang "Life begins at 40" right??

I already got a MAJOR surprise in the mail yesterday. Mom sent me a check which is unprecedented - she couldn't think of anything to get me, and asked Jim who was no help at all - he couldn't think of anything, other than a horse! (tell the truth, that's the only thing that comes to MY mind immediately). I'm going to use the money ($50) to buy a bedside reading lamp - I don't have one and if I'm reading in bed, I have to get up and hit the wall switch. I also need to get a new pair of cross-trainer shoes - mine are well over a year old. I prefer New Balance but I might try some others, just to see how they feel. Right now Jim is asleep - he had a gig last night and didn't get home til around 3 am. He's using the money to take me out to eat!

Unfortunately riding isn't in the cards this weekend. While I was gone there was a HUGE storm in the Bay Area and the riding rings are saturated - not safe or fun for the horses. Our facility does have an inside ring but everyone has to share it. Fortunately it's starting to dry up - and I've asked Dee if I can have a lesson this week after work (now that I have a car, no problem). We did go in the morning to visit the horses and feed carrots and apples to them though. I have to get in my horsey fix every week you know!

OH YOU GUYS - you MUST rent the film "Big Fat Liar" - we did this weekend and it is HILARIOUS, especially if you're doing BFL (if you see the film, you'll understand the connection). Jim just could not stop laughing through the whole movie!

beginning of the 7th week update here.

This morning I went for a hike and pulled out my fanny pack that I carry keys and water in. I had to notch it up at least an inch as it was much too loose. The friend I was hiking w/ noticed me do it and made all the appropriate ooh and aah sounds. She asked how long since I wore it last, about 8 weeks I suppose. It was a surprise and made me feel great.

I feel as I begin the second half of the challenge it is a good time for me to sit down and reevaluate a few things. When I was working out w/ dumbells I found it easy to remember what my last workout was in terms of weight. Somehow I 'm more confused when using plates so I know it is time to start keeping a written record. Of course I should have been doing it all along but will try to start that this week. I also have to rethink free day. I made myself absolutely ill yesterday. I don't really understand why I do that. I am always anxious for free day and even more anxious for it to be over. I believe I will try something I read on L&S where you start out the day on program and then use the afternoon and evening to get some of your goodies in instead of spending the whole day at it. I have a lot to lose and I don't think it is holding me back so much as it worries me that if I am not on the program, such as during free week, I won't know how to handle myself. Oh and one other thing. I love my little home gym and know w/ my personality type that I'd be impatient and distracted by public gym drama - BUT, I think it would be good for me to work out with, say one of you guys. I worry that I don't push myself hard enough. I think it would be good for me to have a partner, at least occasionally to be motivated to push harder. I'll try to work on that at home and truly, reading here and at L&S does inspire me to lift heavier.

Some big challenges coming up. Tues. I must lunch w/ the president of my University. I have to eat what they serve and I know it won't be BFL food. I'll do my best and eat as little as possible for that one meal. B'day next week which involves at least 2 meals on dif. days w/ family and/or friends. I guess the same plan there. I was ahead of myself on Christmas though. My challenge ends the week before so at least that is a holiday that will not pose breaking the diet. Thanksgiving I will have more control as I will be preparing the food for that holiday.

Well, thanks for letting me ramble.

Hope everyone has a great BFL/CampPB week.

Ledom - Let me be the first to encourage you to at least give a 'public' gym a go. Most of the big chains (24 Hour, Bally's, etc) offer free trial periods of a week or more. (In fact if you go to the 24 Hour Fitness website, you can print out a coupon for a free week I think!) Of course they will give you the BIG SELL - let them take you around the facility but when they try to sell you training packages or supplements, keep your head and resolve and firmly tell them that you already have a training program (although it might be helpful to have a staff member show you how to use the equipment if you're not familiar with it).

A good gym (I LOVE my 24 Hour Fitness in San Mateo) will have well-maintained, heavy duty equipment and a clean facility. Don't be scared about being laughed at - on the contrary, you'll probably find that you get a 'buzz' from the other people training there that will keep you motivated and focused! (And rest assured that they aren't all hardbodies there - people of all shapes and sizes are at MY gym).

Just wanted to throw in two cents!