Hi I have just got the book and I am reading it now but I have some questions.
1 I have been working out for a long time and have done well on the weight loss I have lost over 40 pounds since last year But I would like to know that I would still see go results.
2 I also would like to know if you can get ready to run a marathon?
3 Do you have to eat before bed. I don't like that I usually wake up starving
4 Do you have to eat protein drinks or can you eat cottage cheese and something else.
If you can answer those for me I would be grateful. I know that some of the answers are still on the book. I have not made it though the whole book yet. I hope to get started on Monday.
Thank you Tanya

Tanya,
Hi, if you want to run a marathon then be my guest, I just started doing BFL as of the 27th, and all I have to say is do not believe the hype, I gained back 5 pounds that I lost, go figure, That has put a damper on my whole mood. So about the 6 meals, if you can try to fit 6 meals in thru the day then do that, it is hard for me to get six meals in, I am tweaking the whole proram so that it benefits me, because the way that I am going is pissing me off, and that is following it by the book. As for MRPs I say that No you do not need them it is not a requirement, I do just fine on the cottage cheese with fruit. You will fine that there are a lot of opinions on this board, some people may write you and some may not, but there are other active boards with sound advice and less negativity and less, No's. You just have to adjust the proram to your needs, I am. If you want you cam email me, or pm and I will email you back we can do this together since we share the same name LOL

Hi Girls,

2cutekids ~~ Another Canuck!!! Welcome...
My 2 cents to your questions.... I'm doing my 2nd challenge... I really like this program for several reasons.... I am never ravenously hungry anymore... when I am it's 2 or 3 hours since my last meal and I can EAT AGAIN!!

Q1 -- I have been working out for a long time and have done well on the weight loss I have lost over 40 pounds since last year But I would like to know that I would still see go results.

A1 -- You WILL see results.... you MAY gain weight even... but it's muscle....
Muscle is SMALLER than fat
Muscle is HEAVIER than fat
Muscle BURNS fat...
But you know what is great about muscle??
It doesn't GIGGLE like FAT....

Q2 -- I also would like to know if you can get ready to run a marathon?

A2 --I really don't know about I've never done that... But Meliris may help you there she was preparing for one just before hurting her ankle.

Q3 --Do you have to eat before bed. I don't like that I usually wake up starving.

A3 -- YES!!! Isn't that wonderful! I was always waking up hungry too and now I'm never hungry... I love Oprah, but I think she's wrong on that point of view... There is a reason why we should eat before bed but I can't remember why anymore, because I just do it and love it...It's also better for your work out in the morning... Mrs.Jim will be able to answer that question... She's the resident expert on BFL...

Q4 -- Do you have to eat protein drinks or can you eat cottage cheese and something else.

A4 -- Pure food is the best, and I have protein drinks when I'm in a pinch... and stick with the cottage cheese .... My fav these days is cottage cheese with blueberries, mixed with my handy dandy hand mixer.....

Hope this helps....

Later all.....

good to have you here !! congratulations on the weight loss to date. that's fantastic !!!

let's see........... about the protein and meal replacements. i don't do them at all and i 've been very successful so far. i can see where they are very convenient for people on the go. it's all a matter of personal choice, not something that you *have* to do. i work from home so i just make my meals all day long .

i keep to 5 meals of super clean food per day - it makes me physically ill to eat later in the evening, say past 9pm. i eat every 3 hours and just make my portions a tiny bit bigger so i get in the right amount of calories and nutrients.

but there is nothing wrong with eating that 6th meal later in the evening (right before bed) if you're up and hungry (i do it once in a blue moon if we're up late watching a movie). your body burns calories all day long, even when you're sleeping, so there is no real reason to not eat later if that's when a 6th meal is called for.

by the way i wake up ravenous no matter what because my body has become like a furnace even at night -- it just burns all that good food even when i'm sleeping

i'm not sure about the marathon issue either. i know that i do a whole lot of cardio, but not running for long periods of time. there is a concensus on this board not to do lots of cardio, so you'll most probably hear that also. besides, there are more experienced people on this board who know about running and it's effects a whole lot better than i do.

hope this has answered some of your questions. keep reading that book though ! it really does work !

good luck,

adriana

tanyajordan,

sorry to hear that you're bummed about the program. maybe we can all help you in some way? why don't you let us know exactly what you're doing and see if there are some ideas we can give you to get you back in the *loss* mode, although there REALLY isn't anything wrong with a weight gain on this program.

let us know, okay?

take care,

adriana

Thank you everyone on your replies. I should have posted that I have 15 more pounds to get to my goal. I have been running for a long time and the other day I ran for 8 miles and could have gone on longer but I had to get my kids lunch and a nap.
The problem that I find with eatting before bed is that I wake up hunger but if I don't eat right before bed I am OK. I go to bed around 9:00.
I am glad to hear that you don't have to buy those protien drinks and if I do can someone tell me the best ones to buy.
Got to get going I am going to start on Monday. I am going to find it differnt not to work out for an hour. I do the firm tapes right now. and an hour of jogging on differnt days. Not in the same day.
One last question. I have large legs muscles will they get bigger with doing this. I don't wont them to get any bigger.
Tanya

Adrianna,
Thanks so much, well I have good news, I lost those five pounds do not know where they are and I do not care. I think that I have figured out what went wrong, free day and my portions were too big . I do not have free day no more, if I am cravin somethin I will eat a wee bit during the day, and that worked out better, I have 6 very small meals, and that has helped me, in a matter of a week, I am however getting sooooooooo much H2O ,that I think I have found my balance and I am pushin myself hard on my workouts. Today was lower body, and my legs are mushy. I think I am back on track, I am feelin better as this week will be week 2, durin my workouts whenI cannot et the strength to go any further I say don't cheat your body ,let out a big groan and get thru the last set. I sound like one of the guys .Thank you for support because we all need it.

2cute,

i trained for a marathon over a year ago. It took me, as a non runner, 3 1/2 months to train. I ran three times a week, a short run (3-7 miles), a track workout (HIIT philosophy...short but intense), and a long run building up two to three miles every other week..until you get up to mile 20. the rest, 6.2 miles, its all mental.

i did not, but, it was suggested that i weigh lifted two to three other days a week...i was hurting too much after the runs to do lifts...but in retrospect, i should have tried...i think i would have been stronger.

I dont think you can follow BFL by the book if you are training for a marathon. you need to carboload for long runs or runs taking more than 90 minutes. you would need to eat simple carbs (candy, prezzles, gu, etc) and salt (i took a couple of salt packets from Micky D's) or sports drinks (but they made my stomach queasy) during long runs too every 45 minutes or so. Also, training for the marathon is very stressful on your body. after long runs, i often went home and laid in bed. I personally would not recommended, but a half is okay, i think.

I dont think that you can give BFL 100% and the marathon training 100% when you are doing botth. I think you can modified but as many would suggest, do your first challenge by the book.

hope that helps,
Jilly

Thank you for the information about the marathon. I will be giving the book a good try. I have things ready to go for Monday. I am not to sure if I will do a full marathon the first time but a half one sounds great to me.
tanyajordan I am glad that things are working for you now. Are you drinking the protein drinks or what is you diet like. I would love info on what people eat. Also can you eat protien bars like the zone or anything like that?
Can't wait to start.
Tanya

Tanya,
Hello, what my diet consists of is cottage cheese, turkey sandwhich, any meat brown rice, pretty much whatever I want to eat, as long as it does not contain sugar. I have heard that milk is not on the BFl, but i do drink FF milk and I eat whole grain cereal. And I am doing just fine now, before i statred BFl, I would not drink water at all, nor would i eat half as healthy, i now no longer suffer from going number 2 only during my TOM, , when I wake up in the morn, i take my creatine and drink water by the time my workout is done I am on the toilet, ready to start my day, my wOE has changed and I have now made it work for me, I love it, I do not have any set menu, as I have gotten lazy to plan

2cute,
Try going to: http://www.leanandstrong.com/ls.html

it's a very informative site... Tall Jen is there monday to friday to help with your menu... look at all the other posts too and that will help for ideas...... Monday is only 3 days away!! Countdown!! lol:

Later all...

Hi everyone Thanks for all your information. Tanyajordan You sound much happier now. Glad that you have things figured out.
Lana thank you for you site I will check it out. I am hoping that my husband will join me once he sees how good I am looking.
What has been your weight loss in your first 12 weeks? What can the average be. Does any one know?
2 more days to go.
Tanya

Hey you guys!

Still in Miami - apologies for my absence this week but ya know how it is sometimes when you're outta town

Anyway. This is just like anything else - the more you put into it the more you'll get out of it. Eating your last meal before bedtime...what you're doing is FEEDING YOUR MUSCLES. Lana is right on - ya WANT to build that muscle because it eats fat 24/7! Especially if you work out in the AM, you can't starve your muscles the night before. Believe me, I did the Oprah "Make the Connection" thing for a loooooong time and always wondered why I wasn't seeing results even though I was doing hours and hours of cardio...once I started doing BFL then I really started seeing great results - that is after 8 weeks (see my progress photos at my website and at the L&S Transformation Gallery archives). Actually the first four weeks or so, I was doing more cardio than the program called for. I think a lot of gals who are used to doing a ton of cardio are scared to stop...but once I did whammo - the fat really started coming off with a vengance.

As far as meal replacements/protein drinks. NAAAAH you don't need 'em. (In fact if you read the info sticky at the top of the forum you'll see that you don't need to buy all that stuff at all). I do use Myoplex Lite because I like it and it's a no-brainer for me...most of the time though I eat REAL food. Check out the articles thread here - I've posted a great article called "Food to make you look great nekkid" that gives a basic rundown of the good stuff and the bad stuff. The closer you get to eating clean (the good stuff) 100% of the time, the quicker you'll get to your goals. Just IMO.

And one more thing - BFL is only ONE WAY of getting into bodybuilding/weight training - but I'm convinced it's a great way to get into it. Bill Phillips wrote the book as a way of introducing the general public to the benefits of weight training - if you've ever seen "Body of Work" you'll hear him talk about that.

Gotta run - Jim and I are headin' out to the beach...we leave tomorrow...

Just thought I'd put in my two cents on marathon training -- I think I'd have to agree that BFL and training for a marathon are not particularly compatible. I'm sure there are lots of websites that offer advice on good ways to train (what is it, Runners magazine I think, has a good site) and I think it's a very worthy goal. Some day I would like to run the Marine Corps marathon, but I'm not even considering that until I've dropped a good bit of weight and built up my strength ...

Pen

Thanks everyone for your input. Mrs.Jim thanks for the info on the eating. It makes sence on the eating.
Well I started today and I have some more questions on the workouts. When you are done should you be in a sweat or be just fine. I could feel my biecpts shoulders and triecpts. My back was OK but my chest I know that I need to go heavier. I did feel like I was at my 10 at the end of my set all but my chest. I also took to long I will have to go faster.
another question is are bran muffins OK if you make them low fat?
Tanya