Some days are tougher than others Opti!  Don't be too hard on yourself!  Good stuff to think about and work on.  Now you are more aware!  

Sundays and Mondays are always hard for me. Getting back into it.  We're nearing the end and I just feel like I'm just getting started.  I need to come to these boards more often.  They are very inspirational!

I hope more people join in the discussions after seeing that list!

Take Care!

Hi everyone. I did crappy today - my stomach is a little upset. I am having alot of problems sleeping - I think Its my depression :( I told myself I am getting back on the bus tomorrow, LOL. I skipped the gym tonight - I told myself it was my stomach but who knows? I'm thinking I talked myself out of it. On the bright side I took my measurements tonight - So far I've lost 17lbs. 2inches in my waist, 2.5 inches in my hips , 1inch in my thigh and 2 inches in my chest! I am really excited. I took my initial measurements 1st thing in the am and these new measurements this evening. Might be more in the am, LOL. I needed this encouragement to keep on track.I hope everyone else is doing great also. I read all of  your posts and they give me so much  encouragement. I do plan on continuing eating this way and working out after this "initial" challenge. I'm determined to lose weight, get healthy and tone my body. thank you all for being there for the last six weeks!!!!

GOOD GOING LOUBEAR!!!  Great measurements!  Really happy for you!

I just came in from my cardio.  Yes, i went and did it!  All 20 mins with an extra 5 minutes on the stationary bike.  I cut down on my speeds a little and found that that way i wasnt burned out so fast.  I think i may have cut back too much but i think if i go up too much then ill burn out again.  I have to fine tune it again.

I will also be doing a challenge 2.  Im still not at abs level and really wanna get there.  My mom and aunt are coming to visit me here in Korea.  The plan is that they will arrive on April 28.  That means if i only take a week rest between this challenge and the next one I will finish my 12 week challenge the week they arrive.  How great would that be to welcome them at the airport all ripped and in the best shape of my life?  BIG motivation!

Feeling really positive this week.  My cutting down on carbs at night thing didnt go as great as planned.  I had half a portion of brown rice with my chicken last night.  Still went to bed a little hungry but its all good.  Had 3 full carbs yesterday, 2 protein shakes and a half portion carb.  Im a little concerned that my carb portions are too big.  Rice is a difficult thing to measure by fist.  LOL!  Guess im doing ok though.  Down 10kg, 22 pounds but really hoping to lose another 3 to 4 in the next 3 weeks.  The weight i picked up from my free weekend is almost completely gone again.  Guess it must have been salt and water?  This goal of another 3 to 4 kgs is whats motivating me to try not have free days.  It was so much easier in the beginning to not cheat!  What happened?   LOL!

Have a great day guys!!!  And again Lou, congrats!  FIGHTING!

Yes!  So happy to see most of you regulars posting today!!  

Loubear-- GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENTS!!!  those numbers seem just right to me. About 1 1/2 lbs a week lost.  I set my goal to lose only 10 lbs in 12 weeks, which I know is set too low.  but I was afraid of not meeting them...  we'll see in 3 weeks.

Dev - So is your injury pretty much healed, barely feel it anymore?  I did cardio today too, and I feel like I'm getting more and more tempted to stop at minute 16 than I ever was before.  but I completed it!  I still keep waiting for someone to eventually call the paramedics on me, seeing my face contorted and in anguish the last minute, whole machine is shaking and I'm gripping it for dear life.

I've found that I'm not measuring my spinach right.  I have 2 'airy' cups, but looking at my package today, I think it means 2 'packed' cups.  I was getting 5 servings out of it, when it says it only has 2 servings per container.  This is what I ate today:

oatmeal with flax and blueberries, uncured turkey bacon from my health store (best I ever had, hubby hates it, what's wrong with him?) and 1 cup low sodium tomato juice

Advantedge shake

2(ish) cups spinach, 1 tsp all natural Newman's honey mustard dressing, WW sandwich of uncured turkey br., natural ham, avocado, spinach

Zone Perfect bar

2 boiled egg whites, orange

beef stew made with sweet potato and carrots, handful of peanuts

1 H. kiss

13 cups water woohoo!

Hi guys

On my way to work and just wanted to check in quick.  Keeping my promise of posting more.  Had a great workout today.  Feel pumped and ready.  Hamstrings are killing me from dead lifts!

The eating part is going well.  Doing half portion carbs at night....  Maybe less than that.  Just something to kill the worst hunger pains.

Ok, have a great day.  Hope to hear from you guys soon!

R

Hey all you successful challengers! I see the end in site. The fatigue is setting in, your tired yet cant sleep, trying to tweak carbs, yet feel somethings missing in your machine at night - YOU ARE ALL ON TARGET and I just want you to remember why you started this and KEEP GOING right to day 84. That last day is undescribable! Here is a repost that is valuable and helpful these last few weeks. Hang in there! YOU ARE WORTH IT!

BFLMIKES’ WISDOM ONCE AGAIN!

THE LAST 3 OR 4 WEEKS!…………NOTE TO SELF–AND OTHERS!

As you approach the last 3 or 4 weeks of your challenge, you will be met by many conflicting emotions and events! Here’s what is "likely" to happen if you have been working hard and dieting consistently. (If you haven’t been working hard and dieting consistently you’re probably not reading this and not even trying anymore anyway!):

1. Tired..First of all, you’re going to be a bit tired, even after a weekend of light activity and reasonable eating. Bottom line is that a 12 week all out transformation takes a toll on both body and mind, and right now the body is beginning to signal that it is getting leaner and that it isn’t recovering fully from the beating you are giving it.

While this could turn into an overtraining effect if it continued for another 8 weeks, keep in mind you have at most 4 weeks to go and this is the reward time. Force yourself to get a little more rest, even a nap if you can work it in, but DON’T cut back on the workout intensity. This is when muscles start popping out, striations and tendon inserts show up, and you begin to look like that poster or that photo you’ve been dreaming about! Completing a winning transformation takes lots of strength and stamina, and this is when you need it most!

When you’re going through Hell, keep going!

2. Emotions can really be on edge….. It can be almost like 4 solid weeks of PMS for some ladies! So, guys, if you’re reading this and your significant other is in week 8, it might be time to stock the bomb shelter or man cave with more beer and Diehard movies!

3. Others will notice the very serious changes…. and they often kick into overdrive their efforts to "stop the madness" because your new appearance threatens them or requires them to think about why it is that they are not changing

4. Hungry…..You will definitely feel a need for more food than in the past. You will be experiencing true hunger after two hours instead of around three hours as before. Depending on your leanness levels and goals you will want to choose either to ignore the hunger and eat the same schedule, if you are still needing to lose scale weight, or to add in about 20% more protein per meal if you are wanting to continue to grow or preserve muscle and are near the leanness level you want.

I promise you that the next and last four weeks will not be easy. In fact, it will be very hard. But this is clearly no time to quit–you can practically see the finish line from here.

Do what champions do, and literally force that flesh to do what you want it to. The body always thinks it’s going to die and tries to send all these "stop" messages to the brain.

The disciplined mind will take those whiney messages for what they are worth and will step it up to the very end!

thanx Legs for those tips!  My last couple workouts feel like I'm not improving, but getting tired always at the same spot and feel like I'm gonna die if I don't rest for 2 seconds.  It's so hard to blast past that!

I meant to change my exercises every 4 weeks, and still haven't done it for these last 4, which are now down to 2 1/2.  I should try deadlifts again.  I'm just afraid of hurting my back with those bent-over exercises.  My gym has that contraption, don't remember what it's called, that I think simulates a dead lift.  It keeps your straight legs still, while just your upper body goes up and down, and you can hold a weight to your chest to make it harder.  I can never seem to get a '10' on it though.  And doing too many make me dizzy.

Here's what I ate yesterday:

oatmeal with choc. protein powder and 1 T. peanut butter, V-8

Greek yogurt and blueberries

spinach, WW spaghetti and 93/7 meatballs

1 cup milk with protein powder, sugar snap peas

advantedge shake

tofu stir fry, handful of peanuts

1 H. kiss

lots of veggies today :)

I've had peanuts 2 nights in a row now.  It's like I'm still hungry, then after I have that I feel satisfied.  Maybe it's from trying to cut back on carbs at night?

Today is my birthday and I bought my cake last night, it was calling me to eat it right away, but I knew I had to wait until today!  

knees are creaking, I'm glad it's free day to rest them.

Hi guys. we had a big snowstorm today so I didn't get to the gym. I should have done cardio - I've been having a lot of trouble w/ headaches, upset stomach and unable to sleep. Ugh. Doctors have me on so much crap its not funny. This is NOT helping me, but I refuse to give up, I'm doing great so far. I guess just having a down day...Tomorrow will be better

Optigirl - are you really hungry or just bored in the evening? Try drinking a glass of water before eating more? I know its a old tried and true trick, LOL. It sounds like your eating is going great...I'm not eating enough w/ my stomach, but I am really trying. I start out the day great then as the day wears on and my stomach churns I can't eat. double ugh.

I'm soo proud of you all...can't believe we've made it this far...FIGHTING

Hi team!

Sorry for not posting this morning after cardio.  I did cardio again.  Happy about that.  TOmorrow weight training again.  Was SO incredibly hungry all day!  Almost went and bought a bag of peanuts.  Worked through it but did take more chicken *** tonight.  2 pieces, 200g.  Feel full now.

Another 2 weeks for me to go...  Cant wait for Jan 29th.  Im not where i want to be but so much better than where i was!  Another 6kg to go and im back to my university weight!  YAY!

It's all starting to make sense now...lol.  The hunger and crankiness, and my body feels sore all the time.  Tired too.  It's all worth it, as my attitude towards eating and fitness is better!  I can't wait to get my husband in on this.  It will really be so good to have his help.  When I'm hungry, I've had a little extra protein to try to make it better.  Of course, it never seems enough!  Hope you are all having a great day!

Can anyone tell me how to post a thread? I did it once but didn't know how I got there and now I can figure it out again :-(.  Thanks for any help!

Alright, birthday's over, back to eating right!!  We went out to eat, and I got full so quick!

loubear - do you feel better after you exercise with regards to the headaches or stomach?  Even b4 AND after I got sick, my stomach has been churning more too.  Nauseous like, but then goes away.  

I know I should do the water trick after supper so that I won't eat more.  It's funny, we know what to do, but when you're sitting there and you think you're hungry, it's hard to make advice sound reasonable.  I've started some new knitting projects so I hope that keeps me from feeling bored at the very end of the night.  There's definitely no excuse for eating nuts every night.  oh no, Dev, did I make you want peanuts?

I wrote up new weight routines for both upper and lower yesterday on my free day.  I'm going to try those darn deadlifts!  But I want to try with barbell, not dumbells.  I feel like seeing the nice straight line of the barbell will make me feel I'm keeping in better alignment with my back.  Is that weird?  So far I love the barbell for shoulder presses and am going to incorporate it more in other things.

We got more snow here, so I'm going to head out soon for more cross-country skiing.  Then I've still gotta fit a cardio in tonight.

Happy belated birthday Opti!

I had a good workout at gym today but something strange is happening to my body.  Can any of you relate?  I have a sharp pain that is moving through my body.  One minute its in my one ankle, then its in the opostite knee, then its in my hip, then its in my groin, then its in my arm etc....   Just traveling through my body and not staying in any one place.  Im tired.  Im hungry.  Today is hard to be positive.  Cardio tomorrow seems like a mountain right now.  Having bad dreams.  Not sleeping well.  Weight not budging!  Many things to complain about....

Something positive to close up with...  This is difficult...  I guess the positive would be only another 2 weeks to go and then i completed the bodyforlife challenge.  I didnt give up although i wanted to many times.  Only another 2 weeks and then a week off.  And a 5 day weekend first week of Feb.

When are you guys thinking of joining another challenge?  My date is set for 7 Feb.

Happy Belated Birthday Opti!  New weight routine sounds like a great idea!  Dev., I don't experience moving pain, just hurt all over.  I'm tired and hungry and lose this urge to go on, basically on a daily basis.  I am just dying for it be over so I can get my husband doing it with me.  It's messing with my head.  I am a week behind you so I will wait until after Valentine's Day, because my son's birthday is in there and hopefully, hubby will be on board.  I hope you sleep better and feel better today!  FIGHTING!!!!

Hi,

No, Dev., I don't have a 'moving' pain, but sometimes semi-sharp ones that hit a little here or there, but then are gone.

Did cardio yesterday after I was done skiing.  This time it felt hard for the first 5 minutes, then got easier?  it's usually the other way around.  Guess that means I need to increase something.

I suppose I should start the next challenge on Feb 7 also.  I was thinking of taking a longer break, but I guess I don't have a reason to, and the longer I take, might make it harder to even start the 2nd one.  So I'm on board!

Menu for yesterday:

oatmeal with honey, 2 pieces of uncured turkey bacon, tomato juice

homemade spaghetti and meatballs, sugar snap peas

hot tea, WW turkey sandwich with avocado, lettuce

beef stew with carrots and sweet potatoes, orange

cottage cheese and organic cinnamon applesauce

only 6 cups of water all day...

I survived the late night cravings!  that's when I started to nibble on the cott. cheese and applesauce, then realized I was full and didn't finish it.