I hope everyone is doing well!!!  Second week in The books. I missed one work out and meals went pretty well. Getting up at 3:45 a.m. to hit gym today was different, but good.  Haven't had enough nerve to weigh, but work pants seemed to fit a lil better today.

Let's all hang in there

Thanks

Tony

Well, one week done -- 35 to go :-)  This weekend's workouts went much better than I thought they would.  Yesterday's run started as a walk, but I discovered that if I stayed on the left side of the road the slant actually helped give me some relief.  Still didn't want to push it, but by the end I was running 2-3 and walking 1.

Felt pretty shitty this morning - hard to even walk at first, but I spent about an hour on the foam roller and stretching and was able to get on the bike after all. Hip felt pretty good on the flats, but hurt a little when I had to stand.  Got in the pool tonight - mostly drills, but it felt pretty good.

Struggled a little with my eating the past couple nights - no real junk food, but I overate on things like cereal and popcorn.  Will try to get back to my plain greek yogurt at night - think I do better if I just don't start with the carbs at night.  

Keep up the good work in week 3 guys - it's all about perseverance: www.flickspire.com/.../Persevere

Helcat -

I can't believe your perseverance!  I hope you begin to feel better.  

Tony -

You are an inspiration!  Getting up at 3:45 to go to the gym.  I will think of your dedication next time I don't feel like getting up at 6:30 to head to my workout room in the basement!

I am really excited to be heading into week 3!!  I'm looking forward to the day that I notice some physical changes.  I already feel better mentally.  It's amazing what setting goals and sticking to them can do.

Hope everyone has a great week.  Keep the posts coming - they help immensely!

Karen

Thanks Helcat!  I am doing better! Going for a massage Friday, my butt muscles are acting up too. She usually can give me relief within two days after she works on my trigger points.

 I have been busy so have not had time to sit and post but have been reading the forum on the run! Still going hard at BFL! I am on my 3rd week and my shoulder muscle is starting to pop!! I am so excited about that but even more so my running is improving due to stength training my legs! I really love that! Eating has been good! Scale is down 6 pounds too. I have nothing to complain about! Really appreciate all the posts and input from everyone. It really helps me stick to it knowing you all are doing the same!! Keep climbing the stairs, we are a quarter of the way to the top already!  

I agree with happymom -  thanks for the posts and encouragement!  I am really excited about the progress.  My clothes are feeling looser and my muscles feel a little tighter.  My husband brought home some amazing looking cookies from a show he was at yesterday and I passed on them! - It wasn't my free day.  I felt real good about that.  I wasn't even tempted.  

I have a trip coming up in 2 weeks that I am a little worried about.  It is a 24 hour car ride which I usually just eat out of boredom.  I won't be able to do workouts atleast  three of those days.  I thought I might take my exercise bands and try to do those at a rest stop or something.  Trips are often my downfall because I end up losing momentum and focus.  This time will need to be different!  I'm really going to have to plan well so I don't get too off track.

Keep up the good work everyone and don't forget to post - it helps the rest of us!

Karen

Help! I have pain radiating from my buttock down the outside of my leg to my ankle! Is this my piriformis or iliotibial band? Or what???? I didnt run this a.m. for fear I would be aggravating it. I have been having a nagging butt muscle I thought but now I feel it clear down my leg! Tomorrow I go for a massage but is there something else I can be doing? Anyone experience something like this?????

Karen- Can you run outside on your trip? Could you sneak in a workout that way? When I travel in the car I have a hard time too with eating out of boredom! You will have to get a good book or something to keep your hands occupied to alieviate that!

happymom - I haven't experienced the pain you are having, always had issues w/ my sciatica though. Other than the obvious stretches and rest, I think the next best thing will be the massage - esp if it's a pinched nerve.

Just wanted to pass along a great food blog where I have found some delish recipes: http://www.skinnytaste.com/ Last nite I did the garlic lime pork chops and I made the cilantro lime rice (w/ brown rice) - the whole meal was fantastic. Also, my friend that was a 2008 Champion has a blog w/ some great resources and recipes: http://www.emilyalvers.com/ I made her Quinoa Jambalaya this week and it was great.

Nearing the end of week 3. Workouts are good. Really up'd my cardio this week - felt good to push it that hard and make it thru. I really like the free weights too. Like happymom, I am starting to see some new muscle formation and also notice a decrease in the muffin top area! :)

Happy Thursday.

Great post srbrown, love the links!

Alright, so I've been missing a little lately, I've been having a hard time keeping it clean too. Last weekend I was chopping wood out at the wood shed, and as I was lifting one of the rounds up to toss it out of the shed for splitting, I came up under a low beam and drove the top of my head right into the beam. Massive flash of fire works, loud cracking sounds as my neck vertebra all do their own chiropractic adjustments, and I find myself laid out on the wood shed deck. It took me 4 days until I could fully turn my head from side to side, and I've been living life on the "down low" as I'm on the "post concussion" recovery program this week... very boring, not supposed to do much of anything until my energy is back to normal. Funny thing is that I'll feel perfect and all good, then as soon as I start doing anything physical, I get this "groggy" kind of feeling, so I have to back off and call it another rest day... very frustrating for sure! So this week has been a major bummer for me and my BFL efforts, it's funny how when I'm not able to lock into the program, everything starts to slip. It's not been too crazy, but I have slipped back to 3 meals a day instead of 5 or 6. My weight is holding steady, and I'm hoping for a solid fresh start come Monday, these next few days should clear the grog away.

Hoping everyone else is doing well, you should all be feeling the transformation happening just below the surface now, isn't it great?!

cheatday

Well my SI pain finally got the best of me yesterday, and I spent the day self-medicating with food  - I will call it my cheat day for the week, but even as a cheat day it was over the top.  Oh well, it's done, and it motivated me to get up early today and shop and cook.  My SI is better today  than it's been, but still not reallly better and that is frustrating as hell.  I am trying to keep moving as much as I can, but I don't want to strength train or even do any hardcore cardio until it is back where it belongs.

Made an appointment with a physical therapist for Monday - he does both PT and manipulation, and I hear he specializes in deep tissue work, so I hope he can help me.

Happymom - your pain sounds like sciatica, but it could be the piriformis that's causing it (it sits right on top of the nerve) I would wait and see how it feels after the massage rather than trying to roll it right now while the nerve is inflamed.  You could also try sitting on an ice pack.

@Cheat - OW! Sorry about your head!  Be careful and don't try to do too much too soon.

Keep up the good work everyone! h

Hi, Gang.

Things are much better this week, on track with workouts and eating.  I love it!  Busy day at work again today, so missed UBWO, but will double up tomorrow and do UBWO and cardio, which I don't mind doing.

Tony - 3:45??!!  Insomnia or dedication?  Like Karen, I can't drag myself out of bed even half an hour earlier to stumble downstairs to my at-home gym.  Often I wake up in the night and can't sleep, but instead of getting up for two hours to do something, anything, I toss and turn, trying to will myself to sleep.  Like this morning, for example.  I was awake at 3:30 and didn't fall sleep again until sometime after 5:30.  I could have done my workout, or laundry, or something, but noooo!!  Instead, I focused all my frustration on my husband for snoring, like that was what was keeping me awake!

Cheatday - Ouch!  A couple of years ago I was getting into my car in a parking lot.  I was talking to my parents, getting or giving instructions for something.  I closed my door, realized I had to tell them something else, turned my head to lean out the window to yell something at them before they were out of earshot, and SMASHED my face into the closed window!!  Ouch!  I thought I broke my nose, but no.  It hurt for days after, and I had hit my left cheekbone just enough to give me a bit of a black eye.  Get better before getting back into it.  You need time to recover from such a blow to the head.

Everyone else - I love your posts.  I love BFL and all the inspiration I get from everyone.  More soon.

I have been following with your entries and progress, yet have felt almost unworthy to post as have a been a little intimidated by how fit you are.  Like some of you I have completed the challenge before but, the years (10) have passed.  In those years I allowed my self to live a sedentary lifestyle with sporadic efforts to get back to the person I know I can be if, I would only get out of my own way. I do not want to dwell on the past, I want focus on moving forward.

I have also begun my challenge on the 16th.  With 18 days in I am starting to feel stronger.  I have not lost as much as some of you but I feel good about my "forward" progress.  I wanted to thank you for the 6th meal ideas, links and advise.  You have all helped me stay strong, positive and focused.

Thanks again.  I will check in on Sunday's.

Hope that you are feeling stronger soon.

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”

Monscal and helcat, thanks for your support, I'm feeling like tomorrow I'll give a cardio / lifting program a go... very easy thoe, looking for maybe 6's or 7's but really am jonezing for my beloved workout program :-(

Just sayin, it really sucks to have to sit on my hands right now, but I get the "no rest = no recovery" topic, kind of fits in with our own success with our BFL program too.

"Act, Dream, Plan, Believe"

db68, you've officially left that "lurker mode" behind with a great post like that one. Welcome to the best BFL 12 week crew ever to do the program. ;-)  

Helcat, did you see that game? sweet hockey or what?!... just sayin.

cheatday

week 3 almost done! feeling strong and missed 1 cardio day on tuesday but made up for it on Thursday. Dont know if thats allowed, but I need to rest one day on the weekends so dont want to play catch up on another day. Sort of disappointed at the results, but then I have to keep reminding myself its only been 18 days I think? Some days i look in the mirror and think great! I can see the difference, some days I look and it looks like the back fat is exactly the same!

I didnt measure when i started, but I did weigh, and try as I might, I have weighed just about every day. Lost 1.5 kg so far and would really like to be loosing 1kg a week but i'm not gonna stress too much, just really wish the results would happen sooner to keep me motivated.

Feeling stronger already, have upped my weights quite a bit on my upper body and finally took the plunge and did squats and dead lifts on wednesday. I'vve been doing the machines for legs just cos lunges scare me, hurts my knees too much and squats - well, i didnt want to not walk for a week...and lo and behold, squats on wed and I could barely get out of bed yesterday! Even after my cycling (cardio) I normally stretch with my leg on my bike saddle, i couldnt , not even with help from my hands, lift my leg that high! Stretched good and proper today and its feeling easier - so, to anyone still using the machines for their lower body, do me a favour and try the squats (with a ball behind my back makes it easier to maintain form), it will make you feel like you have worked 10 times harder!! And the dead lifts, it feels like im not really doing anything when i'm busy, but the next day - it works!!

K, please post as much as possible! I read through all my mails before I get out of bed in the morning and the more BFL emails I have the more motivated i am to push harder in the gym!

Good work everyone and hope you have a great Friday!

Morning all

So good to hear from everyone (welcome db68!) - but there are still a few more folks who haven't posted since week one - still out there guys?  check in and let us know how you're doing - even if it's not as well as you'd like.

I'm back to hurting again this morning, but now that I know releasing the hip flexor helps a bit, I think I will be able to get a workout in if I spend time on the foam roller first.

@srbrown - thanks for the links! finally had a chance  to check them out and it looks like some good recipes.

Here's one of mine - some of you from last fall may remember that I have a weakness for all things pumpkin - seven 11's pumpkin cappucino among them.  Came up with my own version this morning and it was delicious!

2 tbsp canned pumpkin, 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1 scoop syntha-6 cookies and cream; blend, and then add coffee & cinnamon to taste.  250 cals; 18 carb, 10 fat, 24 protein.  A little high in fat for strict BFL, but it's healthy fat, and for those of you doing more of a "zone" diet, just add a small piece of fruit with it and it is perfect,

Have a great Friday everyone - and since it tends to be quiet around here on weekends, I challenge everyone to check in at least once between now and Monday.  Helen