Welcome MOM2LAP!  It's gonna be a great 12 wks!  

Yesterday, I caught up pretty well.  OptiGirl, I went to the mall with my family last night and ended up going to the food court.  I hit Subway with a 6" turkey sand. with spinach, tomatoes and light mayo on the side with water.  As I met up with my family (who got chinese), I passed a woman with french fries drowning in "cheese."  I felt so good knowing I would be putting nutrients into my body instead of fat.  It reinforced my choices seeing all the gross options out there.  And I wasn't stuffed but I wasn't hungry either.  :)  I never caught up with my food but only lost one meal.  I hit my 10's on my upper body so good this morning that washing my hair hurt!  That can't be good news for tomorrow!  I'm home sick with my son today and I'm getting a new furnace in the house.  No Halloween candy is my phrase of the day!  I still have to take my measurements.  

bp8-4mi run?!?!!  Awesome!!!  Great job!  How long did it take?  

Shawna-I LOVE those almond packs!  I haven't tried the chocolate but I think I will.  Also, one of the brands come in a "to go" cup that has the portions on the side so you eat your way down.  It's convenient and when it's empty I fill it up with a larger bag I've bought for much less money!  Gonna get the chocolate ones next time!  

I suffered through cottage cheese today.  Ick!  But easy and good protein!  Hope you're all having a great day 5 (IT's day 5 ALREADY!!!)

I also wanted to ask you all if you're using (or plan to use) EAS products.  If so, which ones and why?  And how much do you have a day?  Also, are you taking other vitamins as well.  My pc doctor told me to start taking calcium and Vitamin D.  I'm looking for a multi that might do it all!?  Any recommendations would be most helpful!  BTW, I hate taking pills!

Had Free Day today, I didn't binge but I didn't contain it to only one meal either...  Ready to start fresh again tomorrow, I think I need that discipline.  Today I felt lost, eating stuff I probably wasn't even hungry for. :(

For EAS products I have Myoplex lite bars for travel or emergency.  Myoplex Lite RTD's also for travel and at work. Also great for post-workout if I can't get home right away to eat.  When I'm at home I like to add flavored protein powder (I buy Designer Whey) to a glass of milk or blend a smoothie together.

I also take EAS Betagen, but they discontinued it and renamed it Reload.  It helps with muscle recovery and growth.  Has creatine in it.  I still take a multi and calcium vitamin 'cuz I don't always take Myoplex regularly.  I used to take a fish oil too, but ran out.

The betagen is supposed to dissolve in water, but there's always a little left at the bottom that won't dissolve.  I don't want to waste money so I swallow it anyway, and follow it up with more water so I don't feel the grit.

W1D6:  I was wondering if anyone had taken a free day yet.  I'm kind of scared for free day.  It seems like I struggle getting back on track after the first free day.  OptiGirl-  I do that too, eat stuff I'm not even hungry for.  Having a plan where everything is black and white helps me, too.  I've really been surprised that I haven't craved junk and haven't obsessed AT ALL about the things I would like to eat and "can't".  It's really strange, but awesome.  :)

Tomorrow I have a 6.5 mile run on the schedule..looking forward to it!  Have a good night!

Hello everyone!  Sounds like your all doing fantastic!  I haven't had much tome to post this week.  I had been sick then lo and behold both kids came down with it.  Oh well a mamma's job is never done!  

My first week started out pretty shaky.  I was getting over a stomach virus and the whole food was dealing my stomach fits not to mention I had no energy.  I stuck with the eating for the most part but did not get the workouts in.  I decided that I would restart on Monday.  I didn't get my before pics done anyway so I get those done tomorrow when I'm off work.  I will consider last week practice for the big show starting Monday!  After that no starting over I promise1  

Did my first HITT this morning on my treadmill.  It felt really good and went really quick.  Course I had my ipod cracked to some good tunes!  My treadmill is downstairs though and my legs were a little wobbly going back up them!  I guess that is a good thing right.  My aerobics classes must be helping cause I ran alot faster than I ever have before.  My highpoint was at a 6.5.  I think I could have upped that for the 1 minute but I was afraid.  Does anyone else feel panicky when they up their speed?  I was giving myself alot of posivite mental tough love for those couple of minutes!  

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Jazzy

jazzy- yes, I get afraid to up my speed in fear I will fall off like they do on Biggest Loser.  But if you're at home, if you fell off at least it wouldn't be in public.  And you know what, I don't think we would really fall off, I think our adrenaline would kick in and our bodies would do what they had to do.  I would call that a 10!  I also afraid to up my weights sometimes too, afraid of getting injured.

Back on track after Free Day yesterday.  I went to bed last night feeling sick, I know it was from the food.  Hopefully I will learn my lesson for next Free Day.  I'm not gonna be perfect, but if I could contain it to 2 meals, instead of ALL day, it would be a step up for me.  

Did Upper workout.  Only hit 2 10's.  I wrote down what I need to increase weight in for next time.

Thanks Optigirl.  Biggest Loser is my favorite show.  I guess I must watch it too much if I'm afraid of falling off my treadmill.  Your right at least no one will see me:)  

Good job on getting back on track right away.  That is hard for me.  Once I go "off program"  I have a hard time getting back to it.  I know the free day is built in but it still feels like cheating.  

I haven't started the weights yet.  I will start those on Monday.  I gatta put my new jazzercise set together tomorrow and if I do a really good one and learn lots of new routines it will take at least a couple of hours.  I figure that will be my workout for the day!  

Hi Ladies! I also started the challenge on the 8th. I had tried to post something earlier, but I'm not sure that it posted. It looks like the first week for all of you went pretty well, for the most part. My free day is tomorrow, and like bp8Runner said, I'm a little nervous. I've started this program before and I know I'm going to get the heavy, sick feeling after stuffing my face with chips and queso :) It will be a nice reward though! Great job this week ladies! Keep it up!

bp8runner- good luck on your run tomorrow.  Last year I was training for a half marathon and my farthest distance was 6 miles.  I know you can do it!  I got overwhelmed and quit before the marathon because I thought I was too busy.  I'm mad at myself for not finishing.  I'm ganna finish this challenge no matter what.  No more broken promises to myself.  

W1D7:    I'm pretty confused about the times that show up on these posts!  Where are you all living?  I'm in Utah but it definitely ain't 12:30 a.m. here.  It's 5:30 p.m. at the moment (altho dark enough to be 12:30 a.m.! UG).

My 6.5 mile run this morning was great.   On my "longer" runs I don't worry about pace.  I average 10 to 11 minute miles, which is comfortable.  It took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to run 6.5 miles, and I burned over 700 calories.  My eating has been good, I'm sticking to the plan, although I'm getting a little bored and need to come up with some new ideas.

I'll be weighing in tomorrow and taking week 1 measurements...then on to week 2!

Keep it up, all!

Day 8 for me.  When I started Day 1, I went from drinking 3 cups of water a day to 12 cups when I started the challenge.  I had to go to the bathroom constantly.  On Day 4 I was curious if I lost any water weight.  I'm usually not a scale obsessor, but I had lost 6 lbs!  Now here on Day 8 my body has finally gotten accustomed to the amount of water I drink (thank god it was getting embarrassing) so I weighed myself again figuring some of it went back on.  3 lbs went back.  But that's ok, it's still a net of 3 lbs!  I'm not expecting results like this every week.  I just know that in the beginning, sometimes those first 5 lbs melt off easily 'cuz of the drastic changes to the body.

Had my LBWO today, I felt like I was on steroids or something!  I had my worksheet with me and had increased many weights since the last workout.  I still wasn't hitting any 10's in the beginning.  When I was on my last muscle section, I looked at my worksheet, then looked at the weight stack on the machine.  I thought, I'm not leaving here without that goshdarn 10!  I thought about in the Champions book, Alexa was working out, her mom was her trainer.  Her mom kept piling on the weight and Alexa stared at it like "You think I'm gonna lift THAT??"  So I took the pin in the weight stack and moved it farther down, farther than I have ever lifted on this machine since I joined my gym a year ago.  I maxed at 7 reps!!  I hit my 10!!  I still made sure to keep good form.  

LOL from peeing all the time!  I think I've finally adjusted to that too!  I'm on Day 8 tomorrow.  Yesterday, I did my first day off.  It felt too early to be doing it but I enjoyed myself.  Woke up with that gross feeling today.  I do tend to get too comfortable with heaviness of weights too.  I was wondering about this.  If you max out a 10 at say 7 reps, do you finish with the rest with a lower weight?  I do my LBWO tomorrow, but I have a plan and hope it goes as well as it has been.  I need more sleep though!  I live in MA.  New England isn't for everyone but I'm born and raised.  I love Utah though!  My husband says he can't take me back there 'cause he knows I'll never leave.  Went to Salt Lake City, Park City and Moab (Arches National Park.)  If you don't believe in God, go to Utah, you'll believe after seeing!  :)    Beautiful! Welcome to Sis180!  This is such a good push for me to be able to tell about my day and support yours.  Good luck to our official second week! Oh and right now, it's 9:22pm.  What's up with the time on this site?

So these posts are dated at 5 hours into the future?  Maybe the site wants to remind us what the book says, "Focus on your future vision!" :)

Moxie-I have been wondering something like that too.  I don't decrease the weight to finish the 12 reps.  There are times I KNOW I maxed out and couldn't possibly do another rep, so I stop and write it down.  next time I will hope for 8 reps instead of 7.  But then there are other times the muscle burn is so intense, that I break for 2 seconds and try to complete the 12 reps.  It's because I'm not sure if it was a '10' or not, maybe I was just giving in to the burn instead of conquering it.  Then I will write that down, like example, "Had to break 2x."  Next time my goal will be to only break 1x, and eventually no breaks at all.

Does anyone hold a position for their '10'?  Example, something like wall sits?  I've tried and I go nuts just watching the clock counting the seconds I can hold it.  The burn is so bad I feel I give in sooner than I should.  I think the only way I could hold it longer is if I had a drill sergeant yelling at me not to collapse.

Had a good cardio today, I feel stronger than my cardio last week.  It's making me more confident.  I put a post-it note of my speeds last week and stuck it on my treadmill today for reference.  I was getting around minute 14 and decided to increase my incline from previously.  Also on my high point I increased speed also. Felt great, woo!  And I did NOT fly off!

this is the last day of my vacation and I sure hope I keep up the planning ahead.  My gym is right next to my work so it's efficient for me to not drive home inbetween the 2 places.  sometimes I get indecisive, if I should have my great oatmeal breakfast at home, then to the gym 2 hours later after it's digested, and go straight to work?  Or go to gym on an empty stomach from overnight, eat a cold breakfast in the car, then to work.  i like to work out on an empty stomach from overnight, but also really like starting my day with that filling oatmeal.  I wish I could keep a microwave in my car so I could have both things I want!

Wall sits...I've never actually done them on purpose.  Which muscle group is that for?  One thing I did today for my calves, I didn't actually hit a ten so I added 30 pulses (quick raises) that killed me!  For my hamstrings, I did butt raises on a stability ball.  I got so close to a ten.  It was my first exercise.  So I switched to deadlifts with 15 lbs and never quite got there.  Had I stayed with butt lifts, I would have hit a ten in probably 2 more reps.  I  was so tempted to alternate muscle groups because I was on the ground doing butt lifts with the stability ball and then knew my stomach exercise was reverse curls with ball between my legs.  But I didn't.  I rested every minute.  I was still faster than 42 minutes though.  Legs and abs are my favorite days.  I really need new quad exercises besides squats.  I just angle my feet and leg width to add variety.  Any ideas for me?  Also, if you don't hit a 10 with what you have planned, do you just leave it or add more that moment until you hit a 10?  

It's funny...I thought I knew so much about this program but it's the little tweaks that I'm so unsure of.  

Ooh I love oatmeal in the morning.  Of course I eat Quaker maple and brown sugar.  I do like the low sugar and the high fiber one.   What brand are you eating?  Is there no way to boil water at your work?  How convenient to have the gym right next door.  I know Bill Phillips says it's better to work out on an empty stomach but Jillian Michaels says the opposite.  (I'm a fan of Biggest Loser too! ) When I did this successfully in 2003, I worked out on an empty stomach.  So I'm going with that again.  But if I'm doing cardio in the afternoon, I don't feel too bad about it.  I've read in other posts something about 20 minutes of high intensity is as good as an hour of low intensity.  What are you ladies doing?  I do cardio at the gym and I too am afraid of upping the speed and looking like a fool who only goes all out for a minute.  My stupid pride.  Do you stretch much?  How about yoga?  I'm thinking of doing a yoga day.  I'm so inflexible and when I gain muscle strength, I tend to get even less so.  

My husband told me I was inspiring him!  Yes!  He has about  60 lbs. to lose.  I hope he jumps on board.  He went to the grocery store for me yesterday and cooked dinner while I was at work.  He made whole wheat pasta and whole wheat garlic bread with olive oil and sauce with ground chicken!  Convincing and inspiring him might be easier than I thought!  :)

I strarted on the 8th also and I know with the Holidays it will be harder but I figured there was always going to be a reason why not to start it may as well be now and ring in the new year feeling great ..I have done BFL before and I know it works just have to stay focused on the big prize which is looking and feeling great!!!!! We can do this!!!!