BFL - Day 25

Beginning Date: April 2, 2007
Ending Date: June 23, 2007

Day 25 -

I've been doing a lot of reading on the bfl website, in the books and on another website called http://www.bodyforlife-tracker.com/. The tracker website has a lot of forums where people can discuss their challenges and their questions, etc. Its been very interesting and kind of eye opening. So far I have been able to determine 1) I'm not working out hard enough - I need to go just a little bit harder 2) My portion sizes have definitely been off and 3) The Eating For Life cookbook is a bit sketchy in terms of being appropriate for the challenge - it seems that most people find it to be good for maintenance and not during the challenges. However, there have been a couple of people who have used it throughout the challenges.

So I can't decide if I want to start completely over with day 1 on Monday or just change things up and keep going on Monday. Part of me thinks that if I start over, I've got a good head start and I can take my before pictures and make a clean refreshed start. The other part of me wants to complete a whole challenge before beginning again and then when I start another 12 week challenge after that I would hopefully make even bigger progress. I'm not sure.

I don't have a desire to get as ripped as a lot of the women on that tracker website are. I don't really want to look like that. I'm not sure that single digit body fat percentage is something I want to strive for or desire to look like. I would like to be toned and in shape and I think I can get there with this. Maybe after I see some big results I'll change my mind, but I don't think I will. I want to look like a woman, too - not an anatomy poster.

In order to change things up I think I am going to reevaluate all of my meals and snacks and determine what are smarter foods to eat and what are the appropriate portion sizes. I think I need to go back to oatmeal in the morning, rather than toast, perhaps cut down on my eggs a bit - but not sure that I want to. I need to have some cottage cheese and an apple for a snack rather than the rye krisps, have another snack after the girls lunch (around 1:30) and a shake in the afternoon instead of my big lunch that I've been having. I'm okay with continuing to make EFL meals for dinner, but I need to watch and control my portions and not go by what the book says. I should also watch out for the recipes that have too many unauthorized foods.

One disappointing thing that I've realized is that cheese is NOT part of the approved protein list. I figured since I saw it in the EFL book that it was definitely considered a protein. Um, no. So heartbreaking. I love cheese. So now I'm going to have to save my cheese for my free days. And there is one reason why I feel like I should start over - because I've been eating the wrong foods for almost the entire 4 weeks. We'll have to talk about it over the next couple of days before I go grocery shopping and decide what to do. I don't want to get obssessed with it like some of the people on these websites, but I do need to take it a little more seriously and do it correctly if I'm going to see any progress.

Did my UBWO (upper body workout) this morning and hit 10's in some of my exercises. I think this is the first time I've done that throughout these 4 weeks. Again - I haven't been working out as hard as I should be. I've been going hard, but not hard enough - and there is a difference as I found out this morning. I have a hard time keeping the workout at the 46 minutes that is suggested - mine was 55 minutes this morning. Hopefully I'll just get more efficient as I go.

I've now got a refreshed attitude on this. I've been frustrated for the last week. Now I'm refreshed and energized - I think having the good workout this morning helped with that. Now that I know what I should be striving for, I can strive for it in all of the areas of working out. Tomorrow is weighing and measuring day. Not sure if I'll see any difference - I won't be surprised at all if I've gained weight, so I need to prepare myself for that possibility - but hopefully my measurements will show some improvement.