Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 20, 2007
Day 1 - Starting over, doing it right
Did the bike this morning. Went 5.47 miles in 20 minutes. I'm pushing really hard with every bike workout now that I understand what I should be doing. It feels good to be working that hard. And it is hard. My legs burn while I'm doing it, I breathe very heavily, my heartrate (according to the monitor, which I'm not sure I trust) is between 180-200 a majority of the time. My legs felt like bricks when I was walking up the stairs after I was done - heavy and solid. Good workout.
I bought all new workout clothes yesterday. Three shorts, 3 tanks, 2 tees and 2 crop pants for $129. Rock on - now I will look cute while I workout - and that is important;)
Today is day one of my "I WILL like tuna challenge". I will see how long it takes before I really enjoy my tuna for lunch... I have a feeling it is going to take a long time. But I WILL like it darnit - I will.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
BFL - Day 27
Beginning Date: April 2, 2007
Ending Date: April 28, 2007
Day 27 -
I'm going to start the 12 weeks over on Monday. It comes down to this: I've been eating wrong for 4 weeks. I could finish out the 12 weeks, but I think I would be discouraged when I didn't start seeing changes after 8 weeks like I'm seeing on these websites (seems that most women notice significant changes after 8 weeks). I would know in my head that I hadn't eaten right for 4 weeks, but I would still be discouraged. I want to start fresh. Not go totally over board with my free days - I think I got that out of my system... the absolute obligatory gorging that I did the first two of them. I have got a decent handle on how I SHOULD be eating and I think I've figured out how I SHOULD be working out. So I'm going to start fresh on Monday with Day 1, I'll even be brave and take my photos, but am not sure if I'll be brave enough to post them here... perhaps if I do it will hold me more accountable to sticking with it even as I'm forcing myself to eat tuna:) I WILL like tuna, darnit - I WILL.
I'm going to ask Cornbread what he wants to do. I went over my new eating menu with him and he was seriously disappointed that he shouldn't be eating cheese. I told him to do what he wants/needs to - I'm not going to monitor his diet, I struggle enough with my own. He said since he is not doing this to lose weight, he'll probably keep the string cheese and the little bit of parmesan that he puts on his eggs. I want to find out if he is going to continue on with this 12 weeks or restart with me on Monday. I just thought it might be easier if we restart together, but maybe he doesn't want to. He usually doesn't care about that kind of stuff... we'll see.
I really want to take before photos though - at least for ourselves so we can see a difference. I think it would help him, too, to see his chest filling out and his shoulders getting broader.
I did my LBWO this morning. I upped my weights everywhere and I'm getting a bit discouraged with our weight bench situation. I cannot max myself out on quads and calves. I did quad lifts on my 6 reps with 60lbs. I can't fit anymore weight on the bar. So I can't go higher than 60lbs. Then I did squats with 65 lbs - that is pushing the limit a bit with what I can comfortably get on my shoulders - I have to bend over to get it over my shoulders and I'm worried about injuring my back... I can squat more weight, but I don't want to hurt my back in the process. I'm also going to have to change my calf exercises. I'm going to have to go back to doing the one leg calf raises on the step as my main exercise - I stopped because it takes twice as long to do them that way (doing one leg at a time), but I think that is the only way I'm going to be able to max myself out there... And I have no idea what the second exercise should be. I'll have to try angled calf raises for the second exercise. I can do well with the hamstrings, but I should probably increase my weights there as well. We saw a great weight bench at Sports Authority last weekend that would help with all of these isses, but we'd need to buy a whole new set of weights (ours wouldn't fit - ours are standard, this one is olympic - the middle holes are different sizes). We had decided, though, that we would wait until after Christmas to get a new one - that way we can ask for gift cards to whereever we find the best one. I'm going to go on Freecycle.org and see if anyone wants to get rid of anything...
I put my measurements into fittogether.net and found out that I have 33%+ body fat. Thats nice. Good. It will be a good measurement tracker, though.
Ending Date: April 28, 2007
Day 27 -
I'm going to start the 12 weeks over on Monday. It comes down to this: I've been eating wrong for 4 weeks. I could finish out the 12 weeks, but I think I would be discouraged when I didn't start seeing changes after 8 weeks like I'm seeing on these websites (seems that most women notice significant changes after 8 weeks). I would know in my head that I hadn't eaten right for 4 weeks, but I would still be discouraged. I want to start fresh. Not go totally over board with my free days - I think I got that out of my system... the absolute obligatory gorging that I did the first two of them. I have got a decent handle on how I SHOULD be eating and I think I've figured out how I SHOULD be working out. So I'm going to start fresh on Monday with Day 1, I'll even be brave and take my photos, but am not sure if I'll be brave enough to post them here... perhaps if I do it will hold me more accountable to sticking with it even as I'm forcing myself to eat tuna:) I WILL like tuna, darnit - I WILL.
I'm going to ask Cornbread what he wants to do. I went over my new eating menu with him and he was seriously disappointed that he shouldn't be eating cheese. I told him to do what he wants/needs to - I'm not going to monitor his diet, I struggle enough with my own. He said since he is not doing this to lose weight, he'll probably keep the string cheese and the little bit of parmesan that he puts on his eggs. I want to find out if he is going to continue on with this 12 weeks or restart with me on Monday. I just thought it might be easier if we restart together, but maybe he doesn't want to. He usually doesn't care about that kind of stuff... we'll see.
I really want to take before photos though - at least for ourselves so we can see a difference. I think it would help him, too, to see his chest filling out and his shoulders getting broader.
I did my LBWO this morning. I upped my weights everywhere and I'm getting a bit discouraged with our weight bench situation. I cannot max myself out on quads and calves. I did quad lifts on my 6 reps with 60lbs. I can't fit anymore weight on the bar. So I can't go higher than 60lbs. Then I did squats with 65 lbs - that is pushing the limit a bit with what I can comfortably get on my shoulders - I have to bend over to get it over my shoulders and I'm worried about injuring my back... I can squat more weight, but I don't want to hurt my back in the process. I'm also going to have to change my calf exercises. I'm going to have to go back to doing the one leg calf raises on the step as my main exercise - I stopped because it takes twice as long to do them that way (doing one leg at a time), but I think that is the only way I'm going to be able to max myself out there... And I have no idea what the second exercise should be. I'll have to try angled calf raises for the second exercise. I can do well with the hamstrings, but I should probably increase my weights there as well. We saw a great weight bench at Sports Authority last weekend that would help with all of these isses, but we'd need to buy a whole new set of weights (ours wouldn't fit - ours are standard, this one is olympic - the middle holes are different sizes). We had decided, though, that we would wait until after Christmas to get a new one - that way we can ask for gift cards to whereever we find the best one. I'm going to go on Freecycle.org and see if anyone wants to get rid of anything...
I put my measurements into fittogether.net and found out that I have 33%+ body fat. Thats nice. Good. It will be a good measurement tracker, though.
Friday, April 27, 2007
BFL - Day 26 (W/M)
Beginning Date: April 2, 2007
Ending Date: June 23, 2007
Day 26 -
Since it is grocery weekend, I sat down and figured out my daily meals/snacks and how to re-portion them and how to do this better. I decided that I would change up the actual food I've been eating during the day, but only cut my portions on breakfast and dinner. Here is my anticipated daily menu:
8:30 - 3 egg whites, 1 yolk, peppers & onions (no cheese), oatmeal, water
11:00 - LF cottage Cheese, salsa, apple, water
1:30 - Tuna (I'm going to teach myself to like this, right now I'm not a fan), yogurt, carrots, water
4:00 - shake
6:30 - EFL dinner - appropriate portion size, water
9:00 - bar, water
I also made a list of the recipes that I think I can use from the EFL cookbook and indicated which ones I could use for when the boys come for dinner (about twice a week). I came up with 13 total recipes, 7 of them for when the boys come. I took out my menu planning calendar and wrote in dinners from now until the end of the year! The 7 meals for the nights we have the boys over are rotated and have been planned for two each week - which means we'll only repeat one of those meals 1x per month. We will be having hamburgers every Friday night and chicken fajitas/leftovers every Thursday night (the night Dave plans for appointments) and then I took the other 4 meals and rotated those on Tuesday nights. This may not make a whole lot of sense written out this way, but I'm very excited to have that done. The couple of days before grocery weekend was such a pain - doing the menu plan and then the grocery list and then finally the grocery shopping was always something I dreaded. Now I have the menu planning taken care of for the rest of the year and I should be able to get a list of the items needed for each meal and make a standard grocery list and just check off the stuff that I need - all kinds of fun organizational work ahead of me!
Did my HIIT (high intensity interval training - I'm learning all kinds of new things from those bfl websites) today. Rode the bike 5.30 miles! Thats a huge improvement! And it sucked - it was hard and I really, really pushed myself. As much as I don't want to be as obssessed and crazy as some of those BFL'ers on the websites, I think I'm going to need to continue to at least read those forums and look at the progress pictures for motivation - on the plan and on my workouts especially. My last two workouts have really been kicked up a notch since finding that tracker website, so thats good. I think I might have a hard time keeping that up, though, without the reminders that this is how I'm supposed to be doing it - its easy to become complacent.
Today is my weigh in measurement day. I was very nervous to get on the scale. I had already braced myself for what I might see, but I still didn't want to see 138, which is what I suspected it would say - or even worse, 140. I was pleasantly surprised:)
Stats: (I will measure myself twice a month and weigh myself twice a month to record progress)*Weight (on 3/30/07): 135.4
4/13/07: 136.6 (yes, I'm going with THAT one)
4/27/07: 135.4
*Waist (right at belly button, sucked in):
4/2/07: 32"
4/13/07: 31 1/4"
4/27/07: 31"
*Bum (mid bum, where leg meets torso):
4/2/07: 37 3/4"
4/13/07: 37 1/2"
4/27/07: 37 1/2"
*Hips (right below bum):
4/2/07: 39 1/2"
4/13/07: 39 1/2"
4/27/07: 39 1/4"
*Thigh (mid thigh - 2' below mole):
4/2/07: 23"
4/13/07: 22 1/2"
4/27/07: 22 1/4"
*Calf (mid calf):
4/2/07: 15"
4/13/07: 15"
4/27/07: 15"
*Arm (mid bicep):
4/2/07: 12 3/4"
4/13/07: 12 5/8"
4/27/07: 12 1/2"
Ending Date: June 23, 2007
Day 26 -
Since it is grocery weekend, I sat down and figured out my daily meals/snacks and how to re-portion them and how to do this better. I decided that I would change up the actual food I've been eating during the day, but only cut my portions on breakfast and dinner. Here is my anticipated daily menu:
8:30 - 3 egg whites, 1 yolk, peppers & onions (no cheese), oatmeal, water
11:00 - LF cottage Cheese, salsa, apple, water
1:30 - Tuna (I'm going to teach myself to like this, right now I'm not a fan), yogurt, carrots, water
4:00 - shake
6:30 - EFL dinner - appropriate portion size, water
9:00 - bar, water
I also made a list of the recipes that I think I can use from the EFL cookbook and indicated which ones I could use for when the boys come for dinner (about twice a week). I came up with 13 total recipes, 7 of them for when the boys come. I took out my menu planning calendar and wrote in dinners from now until the end of the year! The 7 meals for the nights we have the boys over are rotated and have been planned for two each week - which means we'll only repeat one of those meals 1x per month. We will be having hamburgers every Friday night and chicken fajitas/leftovers every Thursday night (the night Dave plans for appointments) and then I took the other 4 meals and rotated those on Tuesday nights. This may not make a whole lot of sense written out this way, but I'm very excited to have that done. The couple of days before grocery weekend was such a pain - doing the menu plan and then the grocery list and then finally the grocery shopping was always something I dreaded. Now I have the menu planning taken care of for the rest of the year and I should be able to get a list of the items needed for each meal and make a standard grocery list and just check off the stuff that I need - all kinds of fun organizational work ahead of me!
Did my HIIT (high intensity interval training - I'm learning all kinds of new things from those bfl websites) today. Rode the bike 5.30 miles! Thats a huge improvement! And it sucked - it was hard and I really, really pushed myself. As much as I don't want to be as obssessed and crazy as some of those BFL'ers on the websites, I think I'm going to need to continue to at least read those forums and look at the progress pictures for motivation - on the plan and on my workouts especially. My last two workouts have really been kicked up a notch since finding that tracker website, so thats good. I think I might have a hard time keeping that up, though, without the reminders that this is how I'm supposed to be doing it - its easy to become complacent.
Today is my weigh in measurement day. I was very nervous to get on the scale. I had already braced myself for what I might see, but I still didn't want to see 138, which is what I suspected it would say - or even worse, 140. I was pleasantly surprised:)
Stats: (I will measure myself twice a month and weigh myself twice a month to record progress)*Weight (on 3/30/07): 135.4
4/13/07: 136.6 (yes, I'm going with THAT one)
4/27/07: 135.4
*Waist (right at belly button, sucked in):
4/2/07: 32"
4/13/07: 31 1/4"
4/27/07: 31"
*Bum (mid bum, where leg meets torso):
4/2/07: 37 3/4"
4/13/07: 37 1/2"
4/27/07: 37 1/2"
*Hips (right below bum):
4/2/07: 39 1/2"
4/13/07: 39 1/2"
4/27/07: 39 1/4"
*Thigh (mid thigh - 2' below mole):
4/2/07: 23"
4/13/07: 22 1/2"
4/27/07: 22 1/4"
*Calf (mid calf):
4/2/07: 15"
4/13/07: 15"
4/27/07: 15"
*Arm (mid bicep):
4/2/07: 12 3/4"
4/13/07: 12 5/8"
4/27/07: 12 1/2"
Thursday, April 26, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
BFL - Day 24
Beginning Date: April 2, 2007
Ending Date: June 23, 2007
Day 24 -
Did my bike workout this morning and went 5.21 miles. My legs were very tired and sore while I was doing it and I've worked up quite a sweat. While I was riding I was thinking about running and why I think it is such a better workout. I'm not sure what the answer is - I think because I really feel it the next day, maybe because it is so incredibly difficult for me and it is a challenge, maybe because I have absolutely no breath while I'm doing it. I'm not sure.
I'm encouraged by the message board on bodyforlife.com. The notes there are positive and nice to read. Others are struggling with the same things I am, apparently. I'm frustrated with things right now - still very positive about it all, but frustrated. With BFL, with Dave's job, with life in general. I feel like there is very real hope that things in each of those areas will improve - that I will notice some changes in the way my body looks, that Dave will someday earn enough money to pay our bills, that there will be a time where I'm not handcuffed by the ages of my children. I have hope in all of these areas, but I'm frustrated by the fact that each thing is going to take some amount of time to achieve. I want it all right now. I'm sick of struggling. I'm sick of it. I don't want to work anymore, I don't want to look to the future and know it will get better anymore - I want it to be better now. I sound like I'm whining - and I'm really not, I'm just frustrated and feeling a need to put it into words. Tim said on Saturday night that even in the best of times we can look around and say, "It DOES get better than this!" (meaning heaven). I need to remember that it will get better than this and focus on the important things rather on my frustrations.
Ending Date: June 23, 2007
Day 24 -
Did my bike workout this morning and went 5.21 miles. My legs were very tired and sore while I was doing it and I've worked up quite a sweat. While I was riding I was thinking about running and why I think it is such a better workout. I'm not sure what the answer is - I think because I really feel it the next day, maybe because it is so incredibly difficult for me and it is a challenge, maybe because I have absolutely no breath while I'm doing it. I'm not sure.
I'm encouraged by the message board on bodyforlife.com. The notes there are positive and nice to read. Others are struggling with the same things I am, apparently. I'm frustrated with things right now - still very positive about it all, but frustrated. With BFL, with Dave's job, with life in general. I feel like there is very real hope that things in each of those areas will improve - that I will notice some changes in the way my body looks, that Dave will someday earn enough money to pay our bills, that there will be a time where I'm not handcuffed by the ages of my children. I have hope in all of these areas, but I'm frustrated by the fact that each thing is going to take some amount of time to achieve. I want it all right now. I'm sick of struggling. I'm sick of it. I don't want to work anymore, I don't want to look to the future and know it will get better anymore - I want it to be better now. I sound like I'm whining - and I'm really not, I'm just frustrated and feeling a need to put it into words. Tim said on Saturday night that even in the best of times we can look around and say, "It DOES get better than this!" (meaning heaven). I need to remember that it will get better than this and focus on the important things rather on my frustrations.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
BFL - Day 23
Beginning Date - April 2, 2007
Ending Date - June 23, 2007
Day 23 -
I got the Body for Life for Women book out of the library last night. While briefly glancing over it, I decided that its crap. Perhaps if I read it a little more thoroughly I will change my mind or find at least something to take out of it, but as of now, I really have no desire to even read it more thoroughly. This author is not as clear about what the actual plan is, the list of acceptable foods is pretty grim and the diet portion is much more confusing and complicated. From the little bit that I skimmed, she basically wants women to workout about 2 hours a day - its seems that way, anyway. Thirty minutes of cardio 3-5 times a week, 45 minutes of weight lifting 3 times a week and add in some yoga and/or pilates during the week. Combine the excessive exercise with the complicated diet and I'm saying no thanks.
I don't want to be hungry all the time and I think that is what would happen on her version of the diet. I think I do need to cut my portions down - I've read a few comments on the message board at the website that lead me to believe that I should cut down. 1) The EFL cookbook was written for men and 2) the EFL cookbook portions are meant for maintaining. I don't know where either of these people got their information, but it seems to make sense. So after this week I'm going to try cutting my mid-morning snack in half, eating another snack for lunch and substituting my normal lunch (a lunch meal out of the book) with a shake. Hopefully that will help, but again - I don't want to be hungry all day, so I'll have to be conscious of it. I also read on the message board that a lot of people don't see major progress until week 8... we just started week 4. I'm going to work hard at doing the workouts and really fatiguing my muscles during my weight lifting sessions and hope that this is the case with me. I don't expect to be where I want to be after 12 weeks - In fact, I expect to start another 12 week challenge after that - but I would like to be able to see SOME improvement, somehow.
I went shopping last night for some capris. I'm so sick of shopping for jeans. I don't want to ever have to do it again. 30 pairs of pants is probably a gross underestimation of how many I brought into the dressing room with me - and I walked out with 2 pairs that fit *okay* - not good, just okay, like live-able okay. I have a small, small waist, but I have big thighs, butt and hips. So in order to find pants to fit my legs I need to wear 10/12, but then there is such a huge gap at the waist that it looks ridiculous when I wear a belt (all bunched up and folded). It is so incredibly frustrating and I have first hand knowledge that it doesn't change when I'm 15 lbs lighter - same issues, just smaller sized pants. I'm so tired of the problem.
Did my leg workout this morning. I need to increase my weights on quads and calves. I'm having a really hard time getting the right weight set for my calves. Every session I increase by 2 lbs and hope that it will be the magic set. I have to increase again next time. Quads were doing well, but now I feel I should increase. Hamstrings were good today - I increased them since the last session.
Ending Date - June 23, 2007
Day 23 -
I got the Body for Life for Women book out of the library last night. While briefly glancing over it, I decided that its crap. Perhaps if I read it a little more thoroughly I will change my mind or find at least something to take out of it, but as of now, I really have no desire to even read it more thoroughly. This author is not as clear about what the actual plan is, the list of acceptable foods is pretty grim and the diet portion is much more confusing and complicated. From the little bit that I skimmed, she basically wants women to workout about 2 hours a day - its seems that way, anyway. Thirty minutes of cardio 3-5 times a week, 45 minutes of weight lifting 3 times a week and add in some yoga and/or pilates during the week. Combine the excessive exercise with the complicated diet and I'm saying no thanks.
I don't want to be hungry all the time and I think that is what would happen on her version of the diet. I think I do need to cut my portions down - I've read a few comments on the message board at the website that lead me to believe that I should cut down. 1) The EFL cookbook was written for men and 2) the EFL cookbook portions are meant for maintaining. I don't know where either of these people got their information, but it seems to make sense. So after this week I'm going to try cutting my mid-morning snack in half, eating another snack for lunch and substituting my normal lunch (a lunch meal out of the book) with a shake. Hopefully that will help, but again - I don't want to be hungry all day, so I'll have to be conscious of it. I also read on the message board that a lot of people don't see major progress until week 8... we just started week 4. I'm going to work hard at doing the workouts and really fatiguing my muscles during my weight lifting sessions and hope that this is the case with me. I don't expect to be where I want to be after 12 weeks - In fact, I expect to start another 12 week challenge after that - but I would like to be able to see SOME improvement, somehow.
I went shopping last night for some capris. I'm so sick of shopping for jeans. I don't want to ever have to do it again. 30 pairs of pants is probably a gross underestimation of how many I brought into the dressing room with me - and I walked out with 2 pairs that fit *okay* - not good, just okay, like live-able okay. I have a small, small waist, but I have big thighs, butt and hips. So in order to find pants to fit my legs I need to wear 10/12, but then there is such a huge gap at the waist that it looks ridiculous when I wear a belt (all bunched up and folded). It is so incredibly frustrating and I have first hand knowledge that it doesn't change when I'm 15 lbs lighter - same issues, just smaller sized pants. I'm so tired of the problem.
Did my leg workout this morning. I need to increase my weights on quads and calves. I'm having a really hard time getting the right weight set for my calves. Every session I increase by 2 lbs and hope that it will be the magic set. I have to increase again next time. Quads were doing well, but now I feel I should increase. Hamstrings were good today - I increased them since the last session.
Monday, April 23, 2007
BFL - Day 22
Beginning Date: April 2, 2007
Ending Date: June 23, 2007
Day 22 -
Just rode the bike for my cardio workout. Went 5.20 miles in 20 minutes. Thats the farthest I've gone so far, so it is great improvement! It is nice to see improvement through all of this - whether it is increased distance, increased resistance or increased weights.
We did go out and by an ipod shuffle over the weekend. I downloaded itunes and bought my first song (sexyback) and can't figure out how to get it from the computer to the ipod. I'm going to have to take a 101 course from the boys tonight perhaps. So annoying. This computer is almost 6 years old and I'm so sick of it, but not sure that we feel a NEED to replace it. I think we can talk about possibly doing that after we figure out how much of our tax refund will go toward paying for the "new" camry. Anyway, I'm still terrified of running outside, but I think it is turning into a mind over matter thing and I need to get over that.
We went out on Saturday night after church and had a good time. We went to Portillo's for hot dogs, then to Best Buy for the ipod, to Sports Authority for a stop watch (and we looked at weight benches and decided that we'd really like a new one), to the carnival, then to Cold Stone Creamery.
We wanted to ride the zipper at the carnival so we bought enough tickets to do so (holy cow are they expensive) and got in line. It went very quick... we got in the car and as soon as the guy started to close the door I knew I couldn't do it. He was closing us in a cage... I'm not sure if that is what triggered it or if it was the realization that we would be in that cage for a significant amount of time in the air, not able to get out while we were letting others on and off. I think that was more the issue. I immediately knew I wouldn't be able to breathe through that and insisted on getting out. They gave us our tickets back, which was awesome, and we went on a different ride. I'm so glad I have a husband who understands and doesn't get ticked at me or embarrassed or roll his eyes thinking that I'm being a baby or being stupid. I think he has seen me in the midst of a panic attack enough times to realize that its not fake. I wish these stupid things would go away - I don't know why I have them and I can't do anything about them.
Cold Stone was a disappointment. I think that The Marble Slab was so new and cool and good last week that probably anything would have been a disappointment. I had french vanilla ice cream with graham crackers, caramel and chocolate shavings. It was good, but I think I would have enjoyed an ice cream cone from the colorado coffee house a little more - theres just something about eating an ice cream cone that isn't satisfied by eating it with a spoon. Their cheesecake ice cream tasted like the kind of cheesecake that is made with sour cream and isn't baked - ick - so I went with the french vanilla. HOWEVER, I took Ryann there yesterday morning after we went sandal shopping and I got a sunsation smoothie (pineapple juice, orange juice and sorbet) and it was delicious. Ryann got strawberry ice cream with gummy bears and was very happy about it.
The rest of our free day was pretty normal for pre-BFL days. We didn't go overboard this week, which made it better. We had pancakes for breakfast, a lite lunch, then spent the afternoon doing work outside and hanging out with our neighbors, then had pizza for dinner and I made cookie monsters for dessert. The cookie monster sent me over the edge, but up until that point we were good:) I decided that I really don't like that over-full feeling anymore. Free day is getting a little less exciting now. I'm glad to be going back to the BFL diet today.
Ending Date: June 23, 2007
Day 22 -
Just rode the bike for my cardio workout. Went 5.20 miles in 20 minutes. Thats the farthest I've gone so far, so it is great improvement! It is nice to see improvement through all of this - whether it is increased distance, increased resistance or increased weights.
We did go out and by an ipod shuffle over the weekend. I downloaded itunes and bought my first song (sexyback) and can't figure out how to get it from the computer to the ipod. I'm going to have to take a 101 course from the boys tonight perhaps. So annoying. This computer is almost 6 years old and I'm so sick of it, but not sure that we feel a NEED to replace it. I think we can talk about possibly doing that after we figure out how much of our tax refund will go toward paying for the "new" camry. Anyway, I'm still terrified of running outside, but I think it is turning into a mind over matter thing and I need to get over that.
We went out on Saturday night after church and had a good time. We went to Portillo's for hot dogs, then to Best Buy for the ipod, to Sports Authority for a stop watch (and we looked at weight benches and decided that we'd really like a new one), to the carnival, then to Cold Stone Creamery.
We wanted to ride the zipper at the carnival so we bought enough tickets to do so (holy cow are they expensive) and got in line. It went very quick... we got in the car and as soon as the guy started to close the door I knew I couldn't do it. He was closing us in a cage... I'm not sure if that is what triggered it or if it was the realization that we would be in that cage for a significant amount of time in the air, not able to get out while we were letting others on and off. I think that was more the issue. I immediately knew I wouldn't be able to breathe through that and insisted on getting out. They gave us our tickets back, which was awesome, and we went on a different ride. I'm so glad I have a husband who understands and doesn't get ticked at me or embarrassed or roll his eyes thinking that I'm being a baby or being stupid. I think he has seen me in the midst of a panic attack enough times to realize that its not fake. I wish these stupid things would go away - I don't know why I have them and I can't do anything about them.
Cold Stone was a disappointment. I think that The Marble Slab was so new and cool and good last week that probably anything would have been a disappointment. I had french vanilla ice cream with graham crackers, caramel and chocolate shavings. It was good, but I think I would have enjoyed an ice cream cone from the colorado coffee house a little more - theres just something about eating an ice cream cone that isn't satisfied by eating it with a spoon. Their cheesecake ice cream tasted like the kind of cheesecake that is made with sour cream and isn't baked - ick - so I went with the french vanilla. HOWEVER, I took Ryann there yesterday morning after we went sandal shopping and I got a sunsation smoothie (pineapple juice, orange juice and sorbet) and it was delicious. Ryann got strawberry ice cream with gummy bears and was very happy about it.
The rest of our free day was pretty normal for pre-BFL days. We didn't go overboard this week, which made it better. We had pancakes for breakfast, a lite lunch, then spent the afternoon doing work outside and hanging out with our neighbors, then had pizza for dinner and I made cookie monsters for dessert. The cookie monster sent me over the edge, but up until that point we were good:) I decided that I really don't like that over-full feeling anymore. Free day is getting a little less exciting now. I'm glad to be going back to the BFL diet today.
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