Good Morning Everyone!  If you know how to put up photos, please let me know........Here are my before measurements:

Weight-207lbs.

Neck-14 1/2"

Right Bi-13

Left Bi-13 1/2

Chest-44"

Waist-43"

Hips-48"

Right thi-26 3/4"

Left thi-27"

Right ca-16 1/2"

Left ca-16 1/4"

I dont know how to calculate my fat % so I dont have that but Im sure its alot!  Have a great healthy day!!

Sandra

Hi Brian,

Get Bill phillips Book Eating for  Life this book has about 150 recipes breakfast lunch and dinner.  My favorite recipe is the protien pancakes I make a  double batch and freeze them for the rest of the week.  Planning is the key to success with this program.  I like the Myoplex Lite Chocolate Shake and I usually buy Special K meal bars. I eat bars only if I am on the go.  I try to eat real food it is just more satisifying.

Have a great day :)

Good morning all! The activity in here is a real motivator! Awesome. As for me at 49 years old  I got up at 4:15 am jogged 1,5 miles (the Bill Phillips way) and feel great. I am sort of a snacker so for you snackers out there remember "you can't eat junk food and expect to taste victory"

Day 2 and counting.

I took my "before" photos and I think I am just going to die! I knew I looked pretty bad because I avoided looking at myself in the mirror naked but here it is all the proof in the world I need to lose weight and eat healthier. I hate being short too because there is no room for any extra pounds! You can gag along with me if you would like to view. www.myrunforlife.blogspot.com

Caldog, you beat me getting up by about 45 minutes.  I did my cardio which right now is the ending of a 9 week Couch to 5k program.  My last workout for it will be Thursday and then I'll start using Bill Phillips method.  I'm going to run my first 5k on Thanksgiving morning.

Tonight I'll try to get my measurements recorded.

Jaimee- I'd love to be 5'4   .. i'm only 4'10 .. and yes you are right... being short and fat don't go to well.. no where to hide the fat. lol

Brings up a question...I can understand with the weight training how to quantitatively reach a high point...but cardio seems a bit foggy for me.  With the Couch 2 5k workouts, the runs are 30 minutes long...and in order to finish I go at my pace but I'm still winded when I finish.  My biggest fear with cardio is I'm going to over do it and not come close to getting a 20min workout.

What do you guys do to progress and reach the high point?

David

Morning all! Thought i"m three days ahead of most of you (started Oct 15th) I'm going to hang with you.

This is day five for me. Tough. The soreness has really made this difficult. I can scarcely move my limbs!

Just returned from a weekend work trip and I'm disappointed that I was not  disciplined enough to hold the line on eating. Though I didn't go absolutely wild, my plan was to eat fish for dinner at the restaurant but ended up ordering a fattier cut of red meat. Why? Wine! I had a glass and a half of wine! HUGE mistake! It lowered my defenses.

But I'm brushing that off. Newbie mistakes. Live and learn. Won't do that again. Curious to hear about the challenges you all are facing now that you're day 2 into the program.

And would love to hear answers to the question: How do you motivate yourself to get up early when your sore, tired,  aching body is screaming "STAY IN BED!!"

Take care all!

Lynne

@David,

For me the cardio workouts were very difficult to get through. The first 10 minutes is the worst. For every 9 I tried to kick it up to where my muscles were burning, but I could keep going. I had to keep reminding myself that after every 9 on the intensity scale I got a short break by dropping it down to a six. Once you hit that 10 mark, its time to really dig in deep and just go for it. Let everything loose and just go as hard as you can. I like to have hard rock/metal blaring through my headphones, it lets me forget what my brain is trying to tell me and just go all out. By the time I finished my 10, i could barely get through the last minute of 5 intensity, and I literally had to lay on the ground in the middle of the gym to catch my breath.

Well I'm running late. Just bo off work and it's already 10:47

Time to change and hit the gym then hit the bed. ;-)

Stalix,

What do you use during cardio to differnetiate a level 5 v. 6, 7, 8 or 9?  Do you go by heart rate?

Happy Day 2!

I went to the gym and had my body fat percentage measured - it's at 32.5%. They used a body fat analyzer thingie. I plan to measure every 4 weeks or so to track my bf along with weight and measurements (I'll get mine posted tonight!).

Having that done threw off my morning meal because you get a more accurate read if you haven't eaten for hours. So, my day 2 schedule is a little disrupted, but manageable.

Love the quote "...pain of discipline or the pain of regret." powerful stuff.

Sandy

Hi Brian and all,

I'm with you. I've been doing this several weeks now, but would love to team up with y'all.

As far as cooking, that's a great goal. The more you cook for yourself, the more control you have, and you'll quickly find it's not hard and you can make delicious, healthy meals.

Aside from the recipe ideas you find here, check out the Cooking Light magazine website - it has some great recipes that usually are real healthy. Also google Martha Stewart's Everyday Food site - tons of recipes there. (Not always from the approved foods list, but usually can be adapted to make healthier if not.) The internet is great for learning new recipes!

Lori

Another great resource my wife and I use is a weight watchers cookbook.

David

To answer the question of how to monitor the intensity of cardio.  I believe listening to your body is the best way, in other words, when you start you cardio, a level 5 is easy, next minute, raise that intensity, next minute raise it again until you get to a 9.  A 9 is really hard but just imagine and know that a 10 is all you have to offer.

By using this approach, as you get in better shape, all your intensity level will adjust to your effort.  Remember 5 is easy and 9 is really hard, just get there progressively.

When doing you cardio by running or jump rope, a good approach is to do 1 minute easy and 1 minute all out.  Follow that pattern for 20 minutes.

Hope that helps.