Actually I probably WILL be posting again today, so I guess I'm being a bit impatient with the title...
Sil - Glad to hear from ya here at 3FC! Sometimes I see you on the QS boards. I WISH I HAD A BASEMENT!!! Even though I enjoy going to the gym most days, it would still be nice to have a bench and some PowerBlocks handy for days like Saturday morning was - POURING RAIN out...another good reason to have weights at home would be the possibility of Jim using them. He is definitely NOT a gym person but if we had a set of weights at home I bet he'd use them.
Sounds like you have all your plans made and are good to go for your first 2002 challenge!
I actually **SIGNED UP** with EAS last week for the "Official" BFL challenge to give myself a kickstart. Jeremy and some other L&S people are doing this as well. I mean, why not? I'm using Myo Lite anyway. Maybe I can actually take the time to write an essay this year...
Today I'm working 1/2 day, then I have a couple of things to return at the mall...after that I might go on a bike ride. It's gorgeous out - but we have another storm looming off the coast for tomorrow afternoon...
Don't know how many of you noticed that Pam B. is doing a "daily repost" of motivational goodies that she's written in the past. Yesterday's was so good, I printed it out and I'm going to quote it here for everyone's benefit:
Quote:
Do you realize what is going on in your body right now as you read this? The actions in your cells are actively making your muscles stronger and your fat cells smaller. Yeah!!
That is, of course, if you are following the program as laid out in the book.
There has been a lot of chatter lately about cheating and tweaking, etc... Ask yourself this before you do something, "Is this action going create a physiological response in my body that will get my cells closer to my goals or further away." Thinking of my body at a cellular level, helps me realize the impact of my actions.
We should be SO EXCITED that Bill Phillips has laid out a plan (after 10 years of research) for us that is so simple. IMO you need not worry about calories, fat grams, weighing and measuring food, or even what the scale says. All you need is your hand for portion sizes, the mirror and a willingness to do what the book says. I want to be able to do this for life, so I HAVE to keep it simple. If I had to count calories or stress over fat grams and scales, I'd be back at Wendy's ordering a hamburger and Frosty everyday. No, we have to keep it simple.
A lot of people agonize over the day to day nutrition and the exercise. Why? We should look to each day as an opportunity. We should become excited that this day will take us one step closer to our goals! We should look to the eating and exercise with an eagerness to learn, to gain strength, with anticipation to do better than we did the day before. It is down right EXCITING to think that by doing this you WILL reach your goals! You WILL. If you follow the plan. The plan is not so hard. It's only hard if you make it hard. Yes, there will be moments where your old habits want to take you in a direction you don't want to go. But you have worked too damn hard to go that direction. Your cells have reeped the benefits, don't let them down now.
If somebody (including yourself) is trying to knock you down, use that negativity to fuel your desire to prove them wrong. That's right, prove your own self wrong!! I did! I used to make excuses and I always failed at losing fat. I thought I was such a failure and I really didn't even know that I would be able to complete this BFL program. I was even concerned about getting through 3 weeks let alone 12 weeks! BUT, I decided that if I didn't do this, then I would resign myself to being fat and unhappy for the rest of my life. It was do or die time. You CAN change your behaviors. If you have failed time and time again, there IS still hope. You need to take it one day at a time... sometimes one hour at a time. I made a commitment to myself that I would start to honor the promises I made to myself. I love it when Bill says,"would you trust anyone who repeatedly lied to you?" Of course not. I had been lying to myself for YEARS!! What made me think that I could stop that pattern? I didn't know if I could, but I decided to give it the most attention I could for the 12 weeks. I started out small, "I promise that I will drink all of my water today" and I kept that promise and celebrated! Sometimes it was, "I promise that I will not eat chocolate for one hour" and I kept it and celebrated! Day after day of keeping my promises to myself, I gained confidence, I gained mental strength, I then KNEW I could complete the 12 weeks. Even then I didn't know if I could make this a lifestyle, but I kept going. I used my free day to the max, because I knew if I didn't I would slip up one and it would send me off into a binge. So I used the authorized binge time and didn't feel one ounce of guilt. I didn't cheat at all during the week, but I used the free day. It feels SO GOOD to be true to yourself. Try it, at least for 2 weeks and notice how your self esteem and confidence soars! You can even use those techniques at work. Just make sure your promises to yourself are realistic.
I have rambled, but these things have been on my heart to share. I've been in those places so many times in my life and it is not a fun place to be.
Don't look upon this journey with dread, get EXCITED about your opportunity to be good to yourself and reach your goals!!! You WILL attain them if you do what the book says.
Great words from a great lady!!!
if the $$ won't stretch far enough for me to afford both riding and training.
On top of that they were marked down from $50 to $34, and the top I bought was marked down from $40 to $17. I love saving money!
). I need to get back to the doctor's and get some estrogen-blocking diuretics for those PMS days.
you're not gonna believe this but I get approached by much younger guys asking me out... of course I tell them that 1) I'm old enough to be their much older sister and 2) I'm very happily married! If you had told me 15 years ago, or even 5 years ago, that this would all be happening and that 'life begins at 39' I would have thought you were kidding me. But I can safely say that 2001 has been the best year of my life...and I'm looking forward to 2002 with great anticipation! 
