Okay whats everyones opinion on how much extra milk you drink in tea's (or coffees but i dont drink them) throughout the day. I am eating quite clean but i just cant give up at least one tea in morning with breakfast, one when i get to work and one at night.

I drink green tea at other times.

Do you think i should be drinking green tea at all the times? I am in week 1 of my BFL and i dont want the tea with a smigen of milk in it to delay my results. I am planning on following the program to the letter.... except....

I was thinking that for the last 4 weeks of the challenge i would cut out the milk and lower my cottage cheese/yogurt intake because i read somewhere (dont know where and the theory to back it up) that if you are preping for contest or such (im not doing a comp, just want to get my after photos extra nice!!) you should try to cut soft drink, dairy and bread.

Does anyone agree with this? It's going to be hard for me to do but i want to get the best results possible.

Thanks in advance for your opinion/advice

It really depends on your goals. Are you doing a 12 week official BFL challenge for the after photos or for a sustainable way of life?

If what you really want are contest type results, you need to CUT dairy at least 4-6 weeks out, cut diet sodas at least 4 weeks out, and use your carbs wisely- refined bread is not the best choice. There are a lot of other things that go into contest prep or "how to make your after photos look like a contest body". I'm sure you can find that information elsewhere.

IMO, If you can't live with this for life, what is the point unless you actually are competing? There are few things more depressing that bloating UP after leaning out using the extreme measures that go into contest prep. Most female competitors have a hard time with post-contest eating and rebound. Why do you want to do this?

Mel

I've always done two small cups of coffee with skim milk in the morning. I only drink protein shakes and water after my second cup of the day.

As Mel said, this is what I can live with and nothing less. I have a small cup of coffee when I wake up and a small cup when I get to work. After that I definitely can do without it. If I were competing I might do something else, but I'm not.

I avoid almost all dairy except for the skim milk in my coffee...I occasionally have Dannon carb control yogurt just because I think the vanilla creme tastes like ice cream . When I did BFL I did yogurt on my free day.

When I did BFL I kept it to two small cups a day (and yes, they ARE small, no 16 ozs for me! )

Thanks for that great advice!!!

Mel - very true about your point of well if your not competing whats the point? i think i will follow the program and reasess once i am half way to what i can do or should cut out (and still keep my head together).

Thanks again!!

Kat

Hmmmm Cutting dairy eh? I shall ponder whether that's worthwhile for me. I think the diet soda really should go, but at this stressful time it's being my crutch at the moment. Still I have a week and a bit left before I need to say bye bye Pepsi

Fru- Please don't treat your wedding like a contest prep! If you cut dairy, diet soda, salt (all are designed to dry out your body and skin), you will BLOAT painfully during the first normal meal you eat. Like your wedding reception. Or on your honeymoon. On of the most miserable girls I've ever know was a bride who I trained for 16 weeks. She was lovely up to a week before her wedding, then on her own did a contest prep. She could barely stand up through her wedding and didn't enjoy a bit of what came after because she was so swollen and bloated from eating normally and having a few drinks!

It's not worth it to lose a few pounds of water!

Cutting dairy doesn't help you lose fat- cutting calories and exercising does that. Lowfat cottage cheese is your friend.

Mel

Oh yes, I cut dairy because I DON'T eat cottage cheese. If I ate low fat cottage cheese I would still eat that but everything else (milk with its milk sugars, most cheeses with their fat) has to go.

I do eat carb control Dannon yogurt about once every two weeks and like to sprinkle fat free cheese on my baked potato, chicken, brocccoli meal about once a week.

I've tried CC every which way and I still hate it, but if I didn't, I'd eat that.

Ok - I'll keep the CC

I've actually cut out a lot of salt but I eat out still about once per week. I don't notice bloat when I eat a "normal" meal. Maybe I'm weird or just not that sensitive to salt? I don't eat much dairy either. I also cut out sodas a long time ago. I expect that I may gain a couple lbs after the wedding because I'm going to let restrictions go for the wedding and honeymoon. After that, I'm going back to my normal eating for weight loss and exercise.