Sorry kcaldaro,

That whole mental clarity I'm looking for not quite there yet. You said you have kiddos. How are you dealing?

Hi, all!

I started the challenge today and have managed to talk my husband into doing this with me.  Here's the scoop on me:

--first time trying the challenge...seems daunting but intriguing

--mid 40's mom of two boys

--overweight most of my life but, like many of you, am currently at my worst

--middle school teacher who generally loves her job

--would love to look better by the time school starts (not done with challenge but looking better than I do now)

--hope to enjoy more energy to play with my boys (including playtime with hubby...wink, wink)

--would appreciate more mental clarity too

I really love the no-excuses attitude I've seen in this group.  A good ass-kicking is good for me when the motivation lags.

Today was pretty good although I definitely need to get more food in the house and get things prepared.  Getting workouts scheduled with husband for early mornings and we both are seeing it as some time away from the boys to focus on us.  I will enjoy that part of this experience.  

I'll be taking the advice about getting good sleep tonight to help muscles recover from the first workout today--will let you know how I feel tomorrow.  :-)

Well here's to friday.

Wow that was one hell of a hard week.  Today I was able to summon more energy, mainly because I went and bought myself some 'grenade' supplements.  Absolutely smashed my legs to bits in the gym.  Going to be feeling that for days I know but you know what?  I was thinking about pain.

I hope this original quote from me helps you guys, because this was a bit of an epiphany for me earlier today:

"Whatever pain I suffer now is purely physical.  It is painful that I ruin myself at an early stage and work hard.  My arms ache, my legs ache, my entire body hurts.  I cannot put on a suit jacket without feeling that I've been working out.  Doesn't matter how much creatine I take, how much ZMA I take, how much water I drink.

It hurts.

It hurts like hell.

But compared to how I can imagine I would feel, two, five, ten, fifteen, twenty years from now, lying in a hospital bed, staring at my beautiful wife, tears running down both our faces as I have suffered a heart attack, or pain from any other from one of dozens of preventable diseases, this pain is nothing.

This is what keeps me going.  The fact that I will save my wife that pain.  THAT would be pain.  What I endure now will prevent that."

I know that's a bit philosophical, but simple words from me, in many ways I'm a simple man.  I have a wonderful job, a wonderful life and a wonderful wife.  I do this to extend that.  Work for the change.  I'm not going to detail my food etc for today - I of course stuck to the plan, why the hell wouldn't I when I have that image in my head.

Hi everyone,

I don't know what it was about reading your first post, Origination, that flipped the switch in my head to finally get over myself and join the program, but I believe it was when you said you were "living off my previous life in terms of fitness." That described me to a t, and that MO isn't working any more; hasn't been for about 12 years now.

My story isn't a spectacular one at all, but if you'd like to know my brief background, here goes:

The last time I attempted the Body for Life challenge was in the year 2000, and I was fired up about it. I didn't have a weight problem, had two young daughters, and was still in my teenage-sized clothing (a whopping size 0 at the time) at 30 years old. But I wasn't strong and muscular, and that's what I wanted.

About 3 weeks into the program, I became pregnant with my third precious daughter. I'd planned on picking back up the program some time after she was born, but lo and behold, that little girl was determined that she was going to wreak havoc on every gym nursery I dared to put her in, and I'd be 5 minutes into my workout when I'd hear my name called out over the intercom to come and pick up my little rascal or I'd be expelled. (jk on that last part, but I bet that's what they wanted to do!)

Eventually, I gave up and settled into a new life routine that I was content in mentally, but eventually my body caught up with my age; my metabolism slowed down, my clothes got tighter (which is really bad news for someone who dislikes clothes shopping), and my body image plummeted. I'm still not what most would consider to be too overweight (although my family knows what I used to look like, and they have fun teasing me about it - which doesn't bother me in the least bc I know they love me and are only playing!), but the aches and pains in my body continually grow worse. I feel frumpy and old, and it saddens me bc I'd always thought I'd be a good example to my girls. As it turns out, they're usually the ones urging me to go to the gym bc of the chronic pain I'm in. (I'm 35 pounds heavier than I was when my youngest was born, and I don't think my hip joints can handle it. Add to that very bad posture from very weak back muscles, and it's a recipe for late life disaster.)

For whatever reason, I chose to visit this website on Thursday, and yours was the first thread I opened. You have no idea how thrilling it was to read everyone's introductions and to suddenly bolt out of the chair with a fierce determination. I don't know what came over me, but I feel a sense of forthcoming victory this time. I've tried to pick up this program and many others over the past decade, only to drown in my own discouragement. I've got to do it this time. I feel too young to feel this old.

I wish each of you the very best of determination and self-respect; luck has nothing to do with it. I'll be checking in often to keep up with your progress, bc it has been a big motivator so far. :)

Paulette

P.S. My goals! I've completely forgotten to actually state them, even to myself! Here goes...

1. Transform my attitude toward myself through hard work and the realization that I have a duty to care for the body God gave me.

2. Change the number on the scales to reflect muscle and fitness - not fat and frumpiness. The number doesn't matter to me, as long as it shows me that I've worked well rather than wallowed in baked goods.

3. To relieve myself of pain naturally and not have to resort to pain killers.

4. To have my husband and girls think that I really did have it in me after all. ;)

Hey all,

Sitting here at work eating my greek yogurt and fruit and beaming!!! I lost 3 lbs this week!! I hope you all had success too. I know I'm not suppose to get hung up on what the scale says, but it's still exciting! I'm still fighting that exhaustion at the end of the night. I think my body is really missing the carbs and sugar. Can't wait to get past that.

Origination you've gotten so deep on us. Is your real name Jack Handy? J/K of course. I love that thought I really had not thought of it that way before. Great motivater!

Yeah Paulette S so glad your here! The more the merrier.

So the latest  I've been able to sleep in is 530am w/ at least onetime up during the night to feed the baby. That motivational picture of me looking icky by the alarm clock is definitely going to come in to play this week.

Hope to hear from everyone this week. I would love to hear how everyone is doing.

Hi mtnmom,

That's awesome that you lost 3 lbs! Congratulations! Yes, breaking through the Sugar Barricade can be quite a struggle, but you will do it bc you can. :)

I haven't eaten as much as I should today bc I've been very busy, which is setting myself up for a fall. I tend to rummage in my cabinets when I'm this hungry, so I've got to do better at taking healthy snacks with me when I know I'll be gone from home a while. Another challenge I'll be facing tonight is resisting the urge to eat a box of Milk Duds when I go to the movies with my middle daughter later. Woe is me, I love my Milk Duds! But these days I'm starting to look like an actual Milk Dud, so I'd better find the strength from somewhere. ;)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Way to go mtnmom - I've done quite well too, lost 3.5 kg's - not sure what that is in pounds... But what I'm very pleased with is that after 7 days I've lost a full percentage point of body fat.  This is good news indeed, and the key indicator for me in terms of success.

Well I suppose the key indicator is actually how I feel, but in terms of metrics - the fat % thing is very important!

I came so incredibly close to breaking my diet yesterday without even thinking.  I had just gotten back from the gym, smashed my UB completely (and yes, am feeling it today).  Was filling my water jug up as I find it easier to have a small glass and just keep topping it up with a water jug while i'm at my pc.  Anyway, was filling my water up and as I turned I opened the cupboard just like I always used to do, and put my hand in a glass jar containing one last bar of chocolate caramel.

Sat down, was just logging on to my office network to finish a document ready for today, unwrapped the bar.  Put it down for a second to access my phone for the office PIN and logged in.  JUST as I picked up the bar, I stared at it in horror.  What the hell was I doing?  I hadn't even *thought* about it, I just had it in my hand.  I wasn't even hungry!  But there I was, sat at my desk, with a choccy bar in my paws about to snaffle it down like there's no tomorrow.  WHY!?   Habit.  That's all it was, pure habit.  With habits like that there is no wonder I'm fat.

I gave myself the pleasure of putting it straight in the bin, and took the bins straight out afterwards!

As a congratulations to myself I decided to run an extra 5 minutes on the treadmill.  It was like a victory lap.  After I'd hit a 10, to run for 5 minutes on 7,8,9,9,8 felt amazing and I just kept saying to myself that the only reason I was light enough to do that extra was because I had skipped that bar.

I know that is not strictly speaking true, but that bar represented all the junk that I have skipped in the last week or so.  Since I made this decision to change my life, I've actually been eating quite a lot more.  However instead of eating junk and just smashing my way through packets of chips and cans of coke, I've been filling up on great quality protein and fibrous vegetables.  

Got my LBWO tomorrow, legs are still stinging from the last one, but will take plenty of water and ZMA tonight and hopefully will be in decent enough shape to push it a little more.

Stay motivated people, keep finding those little victories and celebrate them.  Oh and whatever you do, don't celebrate with food.  Find something else to reward yourself with - food is our most valuable weapon in the programme, if we start using it as a reward we will undo all the good psychological change we have begun.

Origination, I'm so happy for you that you caught your habit in time. That's awesome! And that's a very good way to think about food - it should be our weapon to fight fat, rather than to lose to it bc of choosing the wrong foods.. That's like going into a boxing ring and bringing your bed pillows instead of your gloves: you may have fun at first, but you'll get knocked out in the end and wind up in the hospital. ;)

Paulette