Hi all,

I've been reading all the posts and really getting a kick out of you!  Jason reached out to me today to see if I was still in this.  I told him about how much it meant to me.  I've been sick with a cold, treated for a possible sinus infection, and lost my sense of smell and taste.  It's slowly improving this week.  Yesterday was my birthday and I've been eating so bad since last Friday.  My workouts have been on and off, when I feel up to it, but my motivation was so lacking and I didn't want to be a downer on the board.  Jason, you made my day!  I'm waiting for #3 to get off the bus and then I'm heading to the gym! You gave me the motivation I needed to get back on the horse and go full steam ahead.  I'm finally feeling better and needed that swift kick in the butt.  Just knowing someone out there was wondering how I'm doing sent me into motion.  You'll be seeing a lot more of me. There's someone I've been thinking about lately and I'm going to go contact her. Because you just never know just what your words can mean to somebody, even a perfect stranger like me.  Thank you Jason!

Hi Jasongitar, I think we were on another thread together a few months back. I worked out today on the bike, injured knee but pushed through and crossing my fingers knee will feel ok. I completed the 12 weeks in Feb 2012 and lost 9% body fat and I have managed to keep it off. I would like to lean out more and I love the BFL program. I even found a great APP for my Iphone with different exercies with examples, called Weightplan and it is free. Glad to be part of the journey!

moxiekidsmom- Happy belated birthday! I'm really stoked that I made your day and helped you get motivated. I'm sorry you have been sick, remember there is plenty of time left to get back in the game, you can do it!  It really means a lot to me to support everyone and keep everyone connected in this group. We all need to encourage each other so we can have a strong finish, stay motivated, and keep each other accountable!

CrystalA- Good to hear from you again, and I'm happy you did such a great job on the last challenge! Did you start another challenge or just following the BFL way of life? I hope you'll be a part of this group, I enjoyed working with you in the last challenge!

I hope you all have wonderful day and workout! This week 5 is going by really fast too!

Hey Guys!

This week has flown by!  It's been a rough week for me because I'm in charge of our church's VBS, and that has been every evening, and so preparing for that and working out and preparing healthy meals has been hard!  Overall, it hasn't been too bad, but I've definitely NOT eaten clean all week!  My baby turned 6 on Tuesday, and it was an emotional day.(and I had to have a piece of birthday cake!)  He was born with cancer, and just realizing it has been almost 5 years of him being cancer free is a tremendous blessing!  He is our miracle child!  Also, his cancer journey marks the beginning of my weight gain.  I had lost a bunch of weight after our 3rd child was born and felt so good about myself!  Then, when she was 13 months old I found out I was pregnant with #4, and I was shocked and not too happy about it!  Then, he was born with cancer, and with all the hospital stays and emotional eating, I just gained more and more until I was at my heaviest point ever when I started this challenge.  HOWEVER, I know that through this challenge I will be my healthiest ever and be fit and healthy for myself and my kids and my future grandkids!  

Also, sadly, my husband has injured his ankle.  He has bad ankles and rolled it last week when he was stepping off the treadmill.  He thought it was better and went ahead and did his cardio on the treadmill 2 days later.  That was the wrong thing to do!  It is completely swollen, and he was in terrible pain, and I made him go get it x-rayed.  They said it wasn't broken, but it had probably broken before (back in his senior year of high school in football - his dad told him to get up and quit whining!  Gotta love those Texas dads and football!) So, he is going to an orthopedist and we'll see what they say.  I really hope it will heal and he can get back to the challenge.  We were both so motivated and enjoying working out together.  I don't want him to have to quit!  

So, that is my long, drawn out story!  Sorry to bore y'all!  To end on a happy note - I put on my jeans for the first time in a couple of weeks and they are very loose on me!  Yay!  And Tish - I laughed out loud about how you said you feel like you are looking so different because you feel so different!  I totally know what you mean!  I feel the same way - glad to know I'm not alone!  Everyone keep it up!  We're doing good!

Alayna

Morning everybody!

Just 'fresh' back from my UBWO. Increased my weights and hit my 10's and I think it was one of the best work-outs I have done. Was completely shattered by the end that I struggled to remove my shirt over my head when getting changed. Must have looked like a right Wally with it stuck over my head for a minute whilst I twisted my body into a pretzel just to get it off!!

I'm with Tish as well about feeling I look different because I feel different. I'm more confident wearing a smaller t-shirt in public or lazing in the sun without it, however its interesting after an UBWO when your muscles feel buffed and you take your shirt off you expect to see rippling muscles, but am surprised my mind doesn't match the reality. It is getting better though.

My body weight is steadily increasing, up another couple of pounds since last week, which brings me to about 10 pounds extra since beginning. However my trousers are very loose and I'm gaining more definition shrinking the flabby bits, so I am aware that it is definitely not fat I'm putting on. I have been taking photos from different angles every 2 weeks since starting and noticed some great changes in my pics last week. Very inspiring!! Sorry, but you'll have to wait until week 12 before they are public worthy!

My Myoplex boxes also arrived last night. Got the strawberry version this time and I can safely say it is very yummy!! Also got some Myoplex bars for when I find myself short to get a meal in.

Welcome Moxiekidsmom and CrystalA to the group. Jason certainly makes us all feel welcome and motivated.

Alayna: Sorry to hear you had a tough week last week. However it was great that your child reached 6 though, a great accomplishment seeing as all the struggles he and your family have been through. I think you could afford to let your hair down on that day. I live directly opposite a large children's hospital and walk past it everyday on my way to and from the gym. I see lots of families with their sick children and it is very sad, however they all seem to have such great strength when faced with adversity which is empowering and inspiring. I could never begin to understand what it is like for families such as yours but I'm sure you have/will come out the other side stronger than before.

Not to far from the half way point. Keep up the good work everybody!!

Hey Everybody! How are we doing today?

Alayna- I'm sorry to hear you had a tough week, it happens to the best of us. Hang in there you have been doing so well, you can do it! This is the type adversity Bill Philips talks about. I hope your husband recovers quickly from his ankle injury. Has he thought about doing a different type of cardio like swimming? It seems like he could still do upper body workouts and maybe even some of the LBWO's that don't involve the ankles like abs,  leg extensions for quads, and leg curls for hamstrings. With a few substitutions he may be able to finish right a long with you. Sorry to hear about your son, I imagine that was a very difficult time in your life and still is. I'm happy for you that he has been doing good and cancer free for 5 years. I hope you have a good weekend and I'm excited that you got the reward of fitting into your tighter clothes.

Tim- Great to hear about your progress, you must really be putting on some good muscle! Keep up the awesome job man!

It would be cool to see before and afters when we're at the finish everyone!

Got a compliment from a couple people that they noticed my muscles through my shirt last night. One guy said you can definitely tell I have been working out. That felt so good! Not to gross anyone out, but I ran so hard I threw up today, it was worth it :)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Ha ha!! I hope you weren't at the gym when you did that! :-)

Hello Everyone! Glad to see all the conversation. Off to the gym in 5 minutes. Lower body today with an IT band injury, need to remind myself to take it easy.

I love hearing the complements that people receive from following the BFL program. Good job Jasongitar!!

Chat soon:)

Sounds like everyone is doing great.

Moxiekidsmom & CrystalA, glad you hear your updates and progress.  Keep it up!

Stongfinisher... The fact that you are hanging in there is very encouraging.  My 3 year old niece has a very rare condition called Costello Syndrome.  The last three years have been extremely exhausting for my sister and her husband... and now she also has added a 5 month old to the mix.  Part of BFL is to inspire someone else and my sister is who I want to inspire.  I know even though she has a ton to deal with, getting started on BFL would make her feel so much better about life and about herself.  As I have been going through my program she has been asking me about it, so I hope she will try it out herself and your story makes me believe even more that she can do it!

TassieTim, your posts seriously crack me up!  Sounds like you are making great progress, I look forward to seeing your before/after photos :)  I think Jasongiter's idea is great for us all to share at the end!

Jasongiter, yo umust really be doing great for all the compliments, etc you've received as of late.  Keep up the good work!

I unfortunately have missed my last 4 workouts because I've gotten sick.  Really feeling it too.  Can't wait until I am feeling better and can get back at it.  Any thoughts on making it up?  Should I try to throw some extra workouts in or just stick to the schedule?  I don't want to over do it, but I feel like missing so many has been a real setback.  Also, I haven't really been cheating per say as far a food goes, but I haven't been eating as much as I am suppose to, because my throat hurts so much I really don't want to eat at all.  In any case, I am rooting for all of you and hope to be back on the game myself soon!

Welcome to week 6 everyone! How was your weekend?

Tim- Haha, no I actually was at home when it happened, it was after a brutal run in the hot humid heat in Florida!

Crystal- I hear you! I kind of messed my back up over the weekend, I had to go a little lighter on the weights today to not over due it, but still got a good work out in. Props to you for sticking with it! Hope you recover quickly!

Tishs- Sorry to hear you got sick, I hope you feel better soon too! I know what you mean about wanting to make up your lost workouts. What I have done in the past, is add in an extra cardio after the muscle workouts to make up for the cardios I missed the week before. If you are sick, you may not want to overdue it though. I guess it all depends on how you feel. If you are not working out today or tomorrow another thing you can try doing is getting a set of weights for at home and try working out just 1 or 2 of your muscles per day and see how you feel. You are a motivated person and have been doing well, I know you'll get back on track soon! Hang n there!

Ok, guys!   I just feel like y'all are my family:)  lol, but I had to re-start my challenge the wk 6-7, so I am a little behind y'all, but I still want in on this group!  I leave for vacation Fri evening.  I am no where near where I wanted to be, but you know what, I'm not where I was a few months ago, so, hey, I'm choosing to look at it like that!  

Alayna, so awesome about your baby!  God is awesome:)

Been out of the office away from my laptop for a few days and haven't posted, so, I feel sooooo far behind, but I'm still her!  LOL

God bless and Rock hard!

Shannon

Hey y'all. Ha ha! I love the southern accent Shannon. I have spent some time down in Louisiana and have a close friend there who gave me a huge tray of crawfish on my last visit. Yum!

Anyway, completely off topic there. Sorry. I know what Shannon means about 'being family'. Quite funny actually. I have my browser set for this forum to open as my Home Page when I open it up first thing in the morning. Does that make me kind of weird??

Good news!! I had my first comment today about my physique. Granted it was in a running store where I was buying new  shoes, so they are paid to give compliments to sell a product, but I'll take it. My 4 year old sandshoes (Australia), sneakers (USA) or trainers (UK) had given up the ghost and were providing me with absolutely no support that I was getting sore knees and foot arches on the treadmill. So into the store where they popped me on a treadmill and filmed my running style and foot placement to see any rolling in order to give me the correct fitting. As I hopped on the assistant told me I looked like a pretty fit runner in great shape so will have no trouble on the fastest setting. As she was pretty cute and standing next to me while I ran flat-out I wasn't going to spoil it and tell her the truth. I tried on about 10 different pairs with 30sec-1min fast sprints on the treadmill. Surprisingly I actually went pretty well, but I did have a sweat-up by the end. I did fake a bit how buggered I was though, hopping off the treadmill full of beans after the run, then when she disappeared into the store room I would pant and try to catch my breath. I hope there is no in-store video filming me as it would look pretty funny.

One really cool thing from my fitting was the video analysis. The video focuses only below the knees and your feet to see if you roll your feet when landing. I was amazed that my calves looked pretty cool being nicely toned. The calf raises and time on the stationary bike are obviously helping.

Great UBWO this morning as well so I really have done my fair share of exercise today.

Love hearing your stories everyone. Keep them coming.

Way to go TassieTim  Mental pic of you trying to play off the sweating- lol!!!!  I am feeling a difference, not really seeing anything yet though.  But, I know the changes have to begin in the muscle and I won't see any outer differences for a few wks.  I am okay w/ that as long as I know they are coming!

Good luck to y'all!  God bless! Rock hard and eat clean:)

Shannon

Hey everyone, how it going?

Shannon- glad to hear you are getting a fresh start! Sometimes, that's what it takes to get re motivated! You can do it!!!

Tim- awesome to hear about your physique compliment! Did you get the lady's phone number? That running analysis you got sounds very interesting too! Glad to hear you are doing so well! Keep it up man!

I look forward to seeing all of your posts! Can definitely feel the family vibe here! I hope you all have an awesome day!

Question of the day- what kind of music do you like to listen to when working out?

Hey y'all!  (It is a great word, Tim!  We had an exchange student from the Czech Republic and it took her about 6 months to say that word without laughing but she did finally realize the greatness of it!) Thanks for all your kind words - it has been a much better week!  

Tim, you always make me laugh!  I can just picture you panting as she walks away! hahaha!

Things are going well, but is anyone else afraid you're going to go through all this and not see the results everyone else gets?  I lost 10 pounds the first 2 weeks, but after that, my weight has held steady, gaining and losing 5 pounds, but never over that 10.  We have a scale that tells you your fat percentage and lean body mass, and it says I have lost 11 pounds of fat, which I am thrilled with, but only gained 1 pound of muscle, which is a little discouraging!  I don't think I'll get any amazing transformations if I've only gained 1 pound of muscle!  But, I just tell myself it may not be accurate because I can see and feel muscles that I couldn't before, and I can lift more weight than I could before, so that has to mean something!  Anyway, I just really want to see some results!  I haven't missed a workout, and I don't eat foods that are unhealthy, but I rarely get all 6 of the meals eaten, but usually I do get at least 5 in.  Anyway, just wondering if anyone else has those fears?

My husband's ankle is better but he's supposed to take 3 weeks off of running, but he is riding the bike.  The doc said if he continues to injure it he should have surgery to fix it or he'll get authritis in it when he's older.  

As far as music, I usually watch TV while I'm on the treadmill, and just listen to whatever's playing in the gym when I'm lifting.  It reminds me just how damn beautiful I am!  

Hope everyone has a great week!