Good UBWO, no "10"s but at least hit all "9"s. Had to seriously up the weight on seated curls from last time just to hit a "9", but for standing barbell curls I only needed a modest increase. Guess the curl/extension attachment is very sensitive to exactly how you sit and what height you set it at.

Now for the REAL workout - setting up the cargo nets on the kids' playhouse for summer climbing :-).

I posted this on another forum but wanted to share it with you guys too.......I've been MIA this whole week and I have to say I hit rock bottom. After 5 weeks of doing the program and not seeing results on the scale....even though I said I wouldn't weigh myself....I did and I just got really disappointed. I was stressed about finals coming up and as the days went by without me exercising or eating the BFL way , my mood got worse and worse and grumpy. By the end of the week I had turned into a real life monster! No but seriously- I can't believe how fast I spiraled out of control. I think a lot of my grumpy mood had to deal with my own guilt and disappointment about not following the program. But there is no sense in crying over spilt milk so I'm just going to trudge onward and just pick it up again and continue. The funniest thing is that I weighed myself this morning and I'm down 2 1/2 pounds. Now does that make any sense??   I don't know.... I think my bad mood was more attributed to my own sense of disappointment and guilt that I wasn't following the program and not so much the effect of the food and lack of exercise. I loved the week of eating anything I wanted! I hear people talking about making this program a lifestyle change....I could totally do 6 week runs of clean eating and exercising and then one week of break. And then pick it up again for another 6 week run. I could live like that. Isn't that better than doing BFL for 12 weeks and then 6 months of nothing? And then starting another BFL? (my scenario) As you can all tell I am at my wits end. I didn't want to be one of those BFL people that start and then stop and then are never heard from again on the forum where they started so I'm gonna keep going but I can't promise it's gonna be pretty.

@Diane - Hey, if six-on-one-off is sustainable for you, by all means run with it! I've had a lot more trouble this weekend myself, I usually do two free meals per week instead of a full free day but my meal plans have been in chaos since Friday afternoon. Sometimes you need a "vacation" a bit sooner than planned.

The 2-1/2 pound loss could make sense at least two ways - it could be that the way your eating changed triggered some mild dehydration (not sure what exactly the triggers might be, but then I still can't correlate my own water weight fluctuations to what I do), or it could be that your finals stress was one stress too many, and dropping the eating/exercise stress for a little while let your body settle down and process some fat without stress hormones interfering. Or some combination. Or maybe something else entirely. Regardless of what it was, sounds like you've got the right response - "pick it up again and continue".

WEEK FIVE PROGRESS REPORT:

Weight: Down 2.0 pounds this week to 225.4 (total loss 5.0 pounds)

Fat weight: Down 3.4 pounds this week (total loss 18.0 pounds)

Lean mass: Up 1.4 pounds this week (7.3 pounds total gain compared to pre-Lenten state)

Belly: Lost 3/4 inch this week (lost 3-7/8 inches total)

I admit that I'm getting rather suspicious of my body fat results. Regaining all my pre-Challenge water weight loss plus an additional 1.5 pounds per week seems too extreme. If part of that is additional water weight, you'd think it would have to slow down soon or I'll turn into a water balloon! I'm going to try to schedule a fitness evaluation at the local YMCA sometime in the next couple of weeks and compare their caliper-calculated body fat percentage with my calculations. Most likely I've changed enough that my body fat tables aren't that accurate anymore.

Regardless, at this rate I think I'll need some new pants in two or three weeks - they've loosened up enough that it's getting hard to tighten the belt enough to keep them from sliding off my hips (maybe when I bought them a couple of years ago, I shouldn't have bought them loose in case I gained more weight :-).

Great results Mike....and buying new pants is the best thing of all. I promise to put the scale under my bed for the duration of the challenge and just go by measurements and how my clothes are fitting and how great I feel.

@ Diane...I totally agree with Mike.  If 6/1 is what works for you then make it a plan.  You will get to a point where that 1 week is not even a full week. That's also another reason everyone says to stay off the scales!  I'm still looking for the time when I hate to miss a workout more than I hate doing it.  I've been there before and I will get back to it!  

I actually bought a new scale a couple weeks ago and have been playing with it.  Did you know that you can gain over a pound just taking a shower!  I have weighed just before and just after.  Something I haven't thought about until just now though...I wonder if I wait 30 minutes or so if I would "dry out?"  I have also lost over three pounds while sleeping.  At this rate if I don't shower and I sleep all the time I will achieve my goals by the end of the week :).

Is anyone using Fitocracy (smartphone app)?  I started using it a couple weeks into the program.  It's basically a workout log that scores you points for your workout.  Right now I'm in 9214th place :).  You can store your routines for easier addition, it keeps up with your separate exercises, it keeps up with your weight advances for each specific exercise and your maxes.  It's pretty decent for what it is.  I still keep up with my paper log (I don't totally trust the software).  It also gives you the ability to have friends/followers.  We could keep up with one another and what we are doing.  If you try it out look me up; username: fivtwenty7.

Ya'll be safe!

Yesterday was my first missed workout - couldn't do it first thing in the morning like usual, planned to get it in before lunch but forgot until bedtime, and by then I was too tired to think straight. I did get in a half-hour session of moderate cardio (not a workout per se, just walking the dog with my long-legged wife and fast-legged daughter) and another half-hour's worth of "work"-out sessions (i.e., strenuous work around the house and yard), so hopefully that made up for part of it.

Today's LBWO went good, all "9"s or "10"s except for one "8" (the "8" was odd - was doing squats for my second quad exercise, only made it to an "8" after 12 reps so I kept going, after 18 reps I gave up on hitting the "9" 'cause it felt like I could keep going all day - never had that feeling before doing squats).

@fivtwenty7 - I've tried that with the scale, but I normally lose a little weight taking a shower. I've always waited until I dried off completely before weighing myself, though. Now you've got me curious - sometime this week I'll have to try it both before and after drying off and see what I come up with.

I finally broke down yesterday and bought an aerobic step for my work apartment - which was perfect timing, because the place where I do stair-stepping on the back patio was flooded this morning! The aerobic step is the same height as the patio step so it felt pretty much the same, and after breaking down the legs it fits under my bed. Definitely hit my "10" this morning, I was dripping and could barely walk straight getting to the shower.

Funny what a difference a few weeks make - I felt so good after doing the cardio this morning, but before starting BFL I'd have probably thought of it as "cruel and unusual punishment" :-).

Good job Mike!

Just finished my UBWO...4 10s and 1 9.  I've got my workout times messed up and I've been working out at night instead of the morning...which I really don't like. I'm missing sleep and don't feel as energized after working all day. I've got to get back to my morning workouts.

BTW...where did everyone go?

Great UBWO, four "10"s and six "9"s. I was using less weight for several exercises but I expected that - switched several exercises for new ones that recruited more muscle groups, so the other muscle groups were more "tired" coming into their exercises than in previous workouts.

@fivtwenty7 - Wow - four "10"s and a "9"? Great work! I'm gonna have to "get it in gear" to equal that :-).  I was kinda wondering where folks went too, although I know a couple of people had said they were trying not to get on the computer too often.

Messed up my cardio this morning - maybe I was trying to "get it in gear" too much, but I hit my "10" in the third interval and then couldn't finish the fourth because my legs went rubbery and I was so wobbly I almost fell off the step several times. Didn't want to fall and injure myself trying to finish out the last couple of minutes (my exercise space would definitely not be OSHA-approved)

Still doing near-daily tracking, and my progress has slowed way down this week - fat loss is running just under half the rate of most previous weeks. Possible culprits: I'm still not sleeping as much as I should be (4-6 hrs/night), and I might have slowed my metabolism down a bit by undereating. Some testing last night showed I've been estimating portion sizes as one-third bigger, on average, than they actually are, and I had recently trimmed back how much I was eating because I thought I'd been erring in the opposite direction. I thought I was trimming from about 2400 calories/day to around 1800, but this past week I'd trimmed back to 1650 and with the mis-estimating was probably winding up closer to 1450-1500, which isn't enough for my size and activity level. My carbs have also been high, almost 50% of calories, and my fiber too low.

(I should note that I do calories and macronutrient ratios instead of BFL portion sizes because much of what my wife cooks is stews, soups, hashes, and so on, and I have a hard time figuring out whether I've got a palm's worth of protein when it's chopped up and mixed with carrots, beans and potatoes. So I use her recipes and the pot sizes to figure out carbs/fiber/protein/fat/calories per cup, and compare results to the range I calculated for test meals that fit the BFL portion guidelines. I really love math, so this stuff's actually fun for me).

Lately I had quit trusting my initial test meal calculations, which gave 2500-3100 calories per day. My metabolism calculations showed I would burn about 3500/day on the program, but I "tweaked" 'em because I thought that was way too high, and on the assumption that my hands were oversize for my body I kept trimming my portion sizes back. Yet looking back, my first three weeks, when I was eating about 350-450 calories/meal, were my best weeks for fat loss; it dropped when I started cutting back. Guess when exercising intensely, my metabolism over-compensates for my food levels.

For the next couple of weeks, I'm going to try to (1) get back to 350-400 calories per meal; (2) shoot for 7 hours sleep per night which means getting to bed by 9:00 on work days and no later than 10:30 on weekends; and (3) get my carb/protein/fat calorie ratio back to 40/40/20 or better, with at least 10% of carbs as fiber. We'll see if that "rights the ship".

Hi Everyone

I have been here going strong this whole time just reading your posts and finding inspiration along the way.  So glad to see a few of us still hanging around at the halfway mark.  I knew it would go fast and altho I am not as nearly as precise as Mike (awesome job you keep it up..only good things will come of it) I do see and feel big changes lately.  This is my second challenge in a row so I was hoping for this.  When I finish this one out and take a nice week long active rest challenge 3 will be on the horizon.  

My daughter is home from college for a few weeks (then she goes down to our shore and works the rest of the summer before heading back to school) so we have been hittin the gym together.  Its been fun and makes me realize how much stronger I really did get (she is an athlete and i can outlift her on some stuff YAY!!)  its been a great experience, makes me stay totally accountable all the time and its fun to go with someone other then my son (love him but he is a boy hahaha)

Hope everyone is hangin in there and keepin strong..miss everyone :(   hope you are all doing well

Jodi   :)

Hey everyone,

Sorry life just gets busy sometimes so I haven't posted in a while. I have been keeping up with the challenge though. Halfway point and I'm down 21 pounds. Still feeling great, lots of energy. I finally let myself cheat on the diet Friday night, Hooter's Wings and appetizer, washed down by ice cold beer. I punished myself by doing cardio on my free day though. I'm going to use the halfway point here to regroup though, my record keeping has gotten a bit sloppy, I'm guessing since this is becoming a habit. I'm noticing that my clothes fit better, am even getting comments from people I work with about how they can tell. I'm really glad I started this challenge and I'm even thinking to the future even if i don't do another challenge I plan to keep up the gym visits and the eating habits. I hope everyone else is feeling the same way about it.

Donnie

Good cardio today, getting really hard to hit my "10" though, I can barely step fast enough. Might have to add a few more pounds to the backpack (been going with 20-22).

Missed another workout this past weekend, but I knew coming in that might happen - my Saturday and Sunday schedules were so packed I knew the only chances for getting in my Saturday LBWO would be Saturday lunchtime or Sunday just before dinnertime, and schedule overruns killed both those possibilities. I was so wiped out from all the running around I even overslept last night, missed this morning's cardio and had to reschedule it for lunchtime. On the plus side, this past weekend I got my first compliment from someone noticing I'm looking better - amazing what a motivational boost that gives!

WEEK SIX PROGRESS REPORT:

Weight: Unchanged at 225.4 (total loss 5.0 pounds)

Fat weight: Down 1.1 pounds this week (total loss 19.1 pounds)

Lean mass: Up 1.1 pounds this week (8.4 pounds total gain compared to pre-Lenten state)

Belly: Lost 1/4 inch this week (lost 4-1/8 inches total)

Blood Pressure: Checked Friday at 116 / 78, gives me confidence my previous (May 24) reading of 117 / 79 was not a fluke. That's over 25 points off my starting systolic (144) and almost 10 points off my diastolic (87) - my doctor's gonna be happy!

LBWO went ok, one “10” and the rest “9”s (though I’m probably rounding up “8.5”s for a few of those). I did learn that I shouldn’t do squats or deadlifts as my primary exercises for quads and hamstrings; one set as the secondary exercise works fine, but five sets puts way too much strain on my knees and lower back, respectively.

OK, today felt like a trip "Through the (locker room) looking glass."

Was doing stair-stepping for my cardio again. By the second interval I felt drained, like I had no energy. But I was also stepping faster than I have before and carrying as much extra weight as I've ever used, yet was unable to get the intensity up. What used to get me to "10" was barely getting me to an "8". And while I had to stop a couple minutes early, it was because my ankle flared up, not because of energy problems (stepping like a maniac didn't seem to be draining me any worse than I already was).

Despite never quite hitting even a "9", by the end I was somewhat flushed, skin a little red and warm to the touch, which I've read is an indicator of an "HGH Flush" which is apparently something you want and indicates a good workout. Never happened to me before, even on "better" workouts.

Also consistent with not hitting high intensity, I wasn't all that sweaty when I finished, compared to previous workouts where I was literally dripping on the floor. But I didn't quit sweating after I was done - half an hour later and after a cool shower, I was still sweating lightly. My room felt overly warm, yet before the workout it had felt a touch cool, and I know it couldn't have warmed up much in that time (heat wasn't on).

To top it all off, today was the first day I could clearly tell visually that my belly is shrinking - yet according to my measurements, my belly size hasn't changed since last Wednesday.

It's like my fitness program has entered the Twilight Zone.