Happy Sunday/Monday gals - I get to start the new thread - yippee!

Just procrastinating a bit before hitting my cardio this morning - thought I'd stop by and read a few posts, but there were no new ones to read! Guess everyone's having a busy weekend.

Even though I didn't buy anything yesterday, I enjoyed my shopping trip quite a bit. In many cases I had to drop down to size 12 bottoms and/or MEDIUM (!) tops to fit me better! I don't know that I've ever worn a medium anything! The funny thing, though, is that my chest is now looking out of proportion with the rest of my body! I've always been happy that I didn't look top-heavy, since I was pretty proportioned with the size of the rest of me, but now, top-heavy it is! I guess it will just take some getting used to, just like all the other changes did...

Did some premeditated salty-snacking last night - dang TOM is really messing with me again. I did drink tons of water, though, and hopefully have now gotten this out of my system!

The fact that I've done this a couple times this week is a bit unnerving for me - makes me think about times in the past where I've become complacent about the progress I've made... Right now I'm forging into brand-new territory - I really have no recollection of being this small (relatively speaking), except maybe in high school? I think it's the sizing that's throwing me off - I know that these 12s are not the same 12s from back then, but it still seems almost foreign to me....

Well, hopefully I can shake this off - getting my hormones back to normal should help....

Ok, I'm off - time to hit that NordicTrack!

You gals have a good one!
Cindy

Ok - I just realized I was a bit overly anxious in starting the new thread today! D'oh!

That's what I get for posting before I've had coffee!

Oh, well, let's pretend I was just trying to shake things up a bit!
Cindy

Tha's ok Ciny....

I know exactly what you mean about being complacent about your progress! That is exactly what I am going through too....

When I read your post earlier, it got me thinking when I was taking my shower... We regularly change up our workouts (every 4-6 weeks) because our muscles get used to the routine... I'm am now starting to believe we should treat every 4-6 weeks like January 1st, and change up our brain routine and get excited again about doing our program... Now granted this takes A LOT of self-talk and planning... But can it be done? Can we get as excited about our routine in mid March as we did January 1st? I'm willing to try.... What could we do?

Anyways maybe I'm just thinking out loud, but it seems several of us, including moi, are in a bit of a rut!! So somethings gotta be done...

Ok later! I'm gonna go think about this some more... Can you see the steam coming out of my ears?

Ilene - that's part of why I like to continue doing BFL Challenges - I like having a finite period of time to focus on, with a little "break" week inbetween. I had read once on another BFL women's forum that many women switch to 8 week Challenges after a while, just to try to keep it fresher for themselves.

I've got just three weeks left of this, my fourth consecutive Challenge, so I'll finish it up, but maybe after that I'll consider doing the 8-week thing. However, I do intend to *really* enter a BFL 12-week Challenge once I get close to goal and feel like I might have a chance of winning. That would truly be icing on the cake, and I do intend to try!

Glad to know I gave you some food for thought....
Cindy

Hi gang!

Just enjoying another day with DH. He's doing house stuff, and I'm directing. That's the way it should be, right? Too windy outside again to be out working on the yard.

Everything's on track, and I'm just about to go down to lift. Had to make an adjustment on Fitday so I thought I'd stop by and see waz up. Have to get to the store yet, and do just a little prep work for the week. There's a surplus of food we really need to eat before I go out and buy more. I just might make a list and send DH because I really don't feel like getting dressed to go out.

Cindy - WTG on the 12's!

Well, I better get back to directing if I want it done right. LOL Check back later.

dip

Check back later!

Dip -- Behind every man there IS always a great director, US!!....

Cindy -- 8 week challenges are a great idea!! ding, ding, ding, moment again!

Had a great chest and back workout and cardio too!! Cardio was awesome actually!

Hi everyone -

Thought I'd take the time to post today, as the upcoming week is going to be busy, busy, busy at work. As if my regular schedule wasn't already crazy enough, we have someone visiting from our European office next week and I'll be spending a lot of time with her getting her up to speed on what the Americas division does for email marketing, online catalog management, and so on. I just took a look at my Outlook calendar for this week and sighed ... it's going to be a long one!

The weather is absolutely GORGEOUS here, I'm sitting here with my windows open. It's 63 degrees and sunny, and is supposed to be like this for most of the upcoming week. How am I supposed to get any work done?!?!?!? Can you say spring fever???

CINDY: Congrats on making the 12's!!! What a great feeling that must be to go shopping and try on a smaller size. I think we might be around the same size -- last time I checked I was in the high 160's and wear a size 12 with the occasional 10.
You're right about the sizes being different than they used to be, I think a more accurate size for us comparatively is really a 16 but I like the sound of 12 better! ))

DIP: I see you're in Indiana. Are you anywhere near where those storms were? I saw some pictures on the news the other night that looked pretty wild!

Today is my rest day, but I feel kind of guilty about it. Still, I've had a headache pretty much all weekend (my body is trying to catch DH's cold, but I won't let it) so it's probably good that I take it easy.

Hope all goes well and I will keep checking in, even if I don't have as much time to post.

Take care,

Sabrina

Hi all!! Thought I'd jump on while the posts are few.

Had a good weekend. Hit the gym on Saturday and did my full body workout. Only managed cardio once again this week. That is DEFINATELY where I need improvement.

I ate well on Saturday and HORRIBLE today. I can't explain what went wrong, but the days couldn't have been more differnt. I've been kinda mentally wacked out because I "tested" the scale on Friday and it hadn't moved. Even though I know better, it messed with my head. You'd think it would make me try harder, but it did the opposite. Now I will REALLY be in trouble tomorrow. So for next week, my goals are to MEASURE and count everything. 3 days of cardio. And no scale until next Monday!!!! (After I face the music in the am of course!)

Gotta Run!! Catch up more later!!

Hi Sabrina! I live near Indianapolis Interntional, in a suburb. What Storms? Nothing here last few days but alot of wind.

Sandi - And that's exactly why I weigh on Friday mornings, have my free meal on Friday or Saturday, and I usually screw up some way on Sunday. But that gives me 4 days to get it together, work hard, and get a pound or two off by the next Friday AM without sacrificing weekends or feeling bad. I weigh every morning because it's my barometer on how hard I need to work that day.

Gotta run! Time for the Sopranos!

dip

Good morning finally,

I just returned from a 3 day trip to Queensland to check one of my houses and spent most of the time gardening and cleaning the pool. I went and had a deep tissue massage yesterday as well and OMG I feel like I have been bashed and bruised. It was really incredible and I slept for 15 hrs last night but I am in so much pain from it. She said that the build up of lactic acid in my muscles was crazy. She asked if I got neck, shoulder and hip pain regularly to which I said no and she said it must be because I am so strong and musclular that my muscles support my joints enough that they don't hurt. I am really lucky even though I have scoliosis (sp?) in my back I have never suffered from pain at all since I was teenager.

Anyways, Babysteps sorry that I asked all the those questions and then had to bail out on you. You seem to have been given great advice from everyone here and I woul especially like to reinforce the recording and journalling of the whole process. I did that for the first 18 months of my path and did very well with it. I stopped when my father died last october and proceeded to put a lot of my weight back on again. I started recording food again with the help of fitsmart which is kinda like fitday for Australians and in the last 2 weeks I have lost 4.5 pounds again. I just decided that I am the type of person who needs to calculate everything to stay under control.

Going against the grain slightly here with all you BFLer's - I believe that everyone is different and thus BFL doesn't work well for everyone. My problem wasn't the exercise or activity levels but purely portion control. I soon as I got anal about everything and started recording things I was shocked about what my portion size actaully was! So in a way what works for me IS being concerned and constantly vigilant about what goes into my body. Now I am actually enjoying it though because I plan well and so generally only worry about what I am eating once a week when I am creating my new menu for the next week. I get a lot of peace of mind out of not having to guess about what I am doing but knowing that I have precisely planned it all. But once again that's just me.

Babysteps: for reference I am eating 1600 net calories per day at P/C/F ratios of 40/30/30. That's about 160 gms protein, 110 grams carbs and 60gms of fat. By net calories I mean if I exercise I eat slightly more than 1600 calories to make up for the exercise. I find that if I dip below the 1600 level than I get tired, cranky and hungry and I stop losing fat. I have tried diets from 1800 through to 1200 per day and 1600 works best for my LBM. I think Meg is 1400-1500 because she is slightly smaller than me in LBM. The same goes for others if you have more LBM then eat a bit more but fiddle around with different levels to work out what you should be eating to lose fat weight effectively and try to be consistent with it.

HTH

JC

Oh I totally forgot....

ANYONE know how to reduce the build up of lactic acid in my system? Mel, Meg, anyone? It's at the point where I can taste it in my mouth now - similar to when you go on a low carb diet. I have had it for the past 4 days so far. Any ideas?

JC

JC - whenever I have a massage like that, the gal tells me to drink tons of water the next day to flush the toxins (lactic acid?) from my muscles. Maybe that would help.
Cindy

Yeah I have been drinking tonnes and I always do. I am making sure that I keep it up though. I started getting the metallic taste on Friday and I had drunk about 5 litres that day??

Thanks

JC

Hey everyone! Wow.. last week got away from me, I will have to go back and do some catching up. Had a long weekend and yesterday I started feeling crap, sore throat, run down. Did deep water running class and my leg workout before I felt too bad. Today was cardio and I struggled through it, might have to give the w/o a miss tomorrow!! Can't sleep in, I have an early meething Got my lunches and meals planned! yay for something! Love this smilie..... except it is soothing lemon tea!

JC - sounds like a busy weekend! How was queensland? I have a massage once a month at a physio clinic, more of a sports rehab specialist than a 'relaxation' type massage. I have had one bad session the week after I fractured my elbow and my whole right side of my back and my shoulder were in rough shape. I was told that regular maintenance of stretching and massage help a great deal with soreness and muscle development. At $70 a session... I wish I could go more often I also drink a heap of water before and after a session. Love that feeling tho!

I am about halfway through my second round of classes in pilates. I LOVE it. This week my abs were so sore after the class and I am feeling my core strength improving too. Flexibility has increased, I was one who has never been able to touch her toes while stretching hamstrings and now I can get my whole hand around my foot! Must also be the yoga.

Motivation, I am always excited the first 4 weeks of a BFL challenge... I am starting week 7, and I know that I will get out of my 'mini' slump by the end of the week and get charging through the last 4 weeks. I can see changes, they are small and by the end of the challenge I hope to be wearing Aus size 10..... my 12s are definately getting baggy!

Well... I must be going, my throat is killing me and I need to get some serious sleep tonight! (Queer Eye is on too !!!) ha ha ha

Nola.

Happy Monday LWL!

A new week, and counting down to Spring = motivation! Let's kick some butt (off) this week!

Nola - Get better, sweetie!

Hi JC! Interesting about your deep tissue massage. I've never had a massage because I've never felt comfortable with the idea of anyone seeing or touching my body beside DH or a doctor. Perhaps it will be something to consider -30# from now.

First thing after cardio this morning, I'm going to make some lists. I have some ideas for the yard I'd like to do this year, mainly create a running path. I'm thinking I can take the lawn roller and flatten the ground, about 6-8 feet wide for the path to keep it level. Then when I mow, I'll cut the grass on the running path shorter than the rest of the yard. Any ideas?

On with the day! Hope everyone makes it count! Check back later.

dip