jhartfield,

Keep going! The best and biggest changes happen in the last month. You are so close!!

I just posted this to another thread but I thought it would help you as well:

Fat does not spot reduce. It comes of in sheets. Unfortunately the problem areas we all want to deal with are the last place we see results. But don't worry it IS happening. Picture your body as a swimming pool with a shallow end and a deep end. By following the BFL plan you have pulled the plug in that swimming pool and it is begining to drain. As the pool drains the shallow end shows first. (places like shoulders) The "fat" continues to drain evenly. Boy it sems as though it is taking forever. Is the drain plugged? No. it just takes time but it is happening!

You are doing great!!! Continue to stick to the BFL plan stringently and you will see the results you want.

You can do this!!!

Orrin

I am actually glad to hear you mention this because I've heard how so many people have already lost weight in my BFL group and it's only the 2nd week.  I've not lost anything and I've been getting discouraged, but I do feel better. I got the BFL Champions book from my library (already own the first BFL book) and it has so many stories of how many people didn't notice any changes until the last month, so I'm going to go until the end.  I'd hate to stop with only a month left when your change could be just around the corner.  Good Luck!

I am at the end of week 3 and my scale has not moved one gram. I would also like to have my leg get in shape much more but I know it will happen. And when I touched my arm today I felt a muscle that was not there when I started :-)

The excess weight is best taken off slowly, at a rate of 6 - 7 lbs per month.  As long as you are eating properly, and excercising properly, you will reach the ideal weight for your body if you keep doing BFL.  How can I be so sure?  Because the energy equation rules (is a fundamental law of nature that cannot be violated).  So, if you are losing absolutely no weight whatsoever, there must be a cause.  It would mean that you're taking in as many calories as you are burning daily.  As a sanity check, add up the calorie intake for 2 or 3 of your completed days, and confirm  that you took in about 1700 - 2000 calories.  To improve lower body fitness with dumbbells or free weights is difficult, I believe, really difficult.  You can do the lunge, or dead lifts, but calves and hamstrings are especially troublesome to excercise with dumbbells.  I use weight machines to do quadriceps extension, hamstring curls, and calf extensions, and also the ab crunches.  How intense have your cardio (aerobic) excercise sessions been?  Are you sweating 8 - 10 minutes into it, and dripping sweat at the end?  

hey guys,

Newbie to the challenge here (but seasoned cuz I did this"program" before.  So, I am one week in...I weighed myself the first day...and today, the scale hasnt moved. But I have come to terms with the scale over the years. We seem to always rely on the scale and weight to determine health. It's not, the question is...are you eating healthy? are you being active? isnt that the most important elements here?

Are we not improving our lives???.  As Jacium says, this is nothing more than a mathematical equation, consuming less calories, and burning more calories will ultimately mathematically take you there.  I LOVE the "draining of the pool" analogy. Makes so much sense.  I got on here knowing I was gonna get what I needed .....the reality is: I got on the scale today, one week later. The same.  I got out my measuring tape...and have lost inches...everywhere Inches (except my stubborn thunder thighs!)....and right now (today), I am at peace with Mr Scale not moving....

And hearing that the best results are to come...makes me smile and know that this is not about !2 weeks...not about anything more than me changes my LIFE.  This is longterm...so, today...I encourage you to keep on trucking...but tomorrow or in 9 weeks from now, I may need YOU to tell me, "everything is gonna be alright.." (singing bob marley)....

it's gonna be a great day! and for me it's cheat day!! im gonna eat what makes me happy...then i'm gonna hop back on this "horse" and keep on riding...

Lisa

Lisa,

I wish everybody would just forget those scales. I'm glad you noticed improvement otherwise.

You've probably thought of this already but change your exercises, I hit a plateau for 4 weeks then changed the leg exercises and upped the weights for upper body, try doing walking lunges holding dumbells, it gets your heart rate up at the same time, really, really works the hamstrings. Broke right through my plateau:)

Also, as mentioned really hit the cardio, it was very hard for me to get it in to my head that muscle weighs more than fat so sometimes the scale is not going to move, it's so true, keep going, good luck:))

Thank you I love thinking of it as a pool. That really helps me

thank you for all the encouragement it really helps

The exersize recommendations are helpful. I'm going to check again my calories to make sure that I'm not taking in to much .  Yes, you are right I should throw my scale out . It will be the death of me LOL