Happy Friday 517ers,

5 days into it and i feel pretty good.  Of course that means that my muscles are hurting, but overall I feel good.  I havent' been able to run as much as I would like.  I guess that means my mind is healthier than my body.  I want to be able to run a 5K in June without any breathing issues and within 30 min.  

I have done reasonably well with my meals, except when I had to go out of town for a funeral.  I looked at my before pics, and they are terrible!!!!  I can't wait to take more pics in a couple of weeks just to see if I can tell a difference.

I do have a question for you guys...  Have ya'll been having headaches?  I have had a headache for 2 days.  I would say it was lack of caffeine, but I really don't drink caffeine.  Maybe a glass of tea 4 days a week.  

Good luck to all!!

Hey Wendy,

I can relate-I've never been a big consumer of caffeine (maybe 1 soda/week); but I had serious headaches M, T and Wednesday. Much better the later part of this week-nothing today so far! So maybe you're a little dehydrated from the extra exercise you're getting?

I have a question regarding the meal plans...I was looking over the sample meal plan that's online here and the schedule that's laid out goes from 7am to 10pm...is it really okay to eat that late at night? I know it's a healthy snack (the example is cottage cheese and fruit) but I'm struggling with that because it seems to fly in the face of everything I've learned about weight loss...i.e. don't eat after 7pm.

Any insight into this would be very appreciated.

Thanks!

Hey Thistimewillbeit,

I took some advil this morning and by this afternoon the headache has gone away.   You may be on target with the dehydration, as I know I haven't had enough water.  Goal for week 2....Drink more water!!!

As far as the meal plans, I actually have followed the sample about 90% this week.  I'm not looking at the time frame, because my hours are so crazy, however, I have had my snack a couple of nights at about 9:30.  There is no way I can make my last snack at 7pm.  I am trying to make sure that I drink more water at night to help with the hinger pains.

I made the chilli last night and it was pretty good.  I'm eating the grilled chicken pizza now and it is delicious.  I've got my Eating for Life book out preparing for next weeks meals.

I hope I helped you a little.  Talk to you soon!!

thistimewillbeit,

Yep go ahead and eat that last meal that late.  Your muscles do their growing while you sleep and lots of chemical stuff is going on.

The difference is that you are eating a portion of good nutritious food, not junk late at night.

Sure James I would love to have a coach!  I started BFL this past Monday on May 17th.

Height: 5' 7"

Weight: 139 lbs.

Body fat %-not known (last time I had it tested I was around 29% that was over 2 yrs. ago & weighed 20  lbs. more)

Gender: Female

Goal: My goal is to lose 10 pounds in 12 weeks and to be leaner with more muscle.  

I am really sore today.  I have been doing the program exactly as described in BFL book.  I am curious if I am eating enough calories.  I am eating around 1000 to 1100 per day which is the 6 meals per day.  I do have trouble with the carb thing.  It is hard to get my mind to switch from thinking that I should not be eating this many carbs so I feel like I am making some of my carb portions smaller than fist size.  I am mostly hungry when I go to bed.  I do wear a bodybugg which says I am burning around 2000 cals. per day.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks so much.

Are you drinking plenty of water?

Hi Sam!!!  I don't know the correct portion sizes for you and how that would translate to calories.  Right off the bat 1000 to 1100 a day seems kinda low.  Please monitor your energy and feelings for the next week or so, if you find you are hungry or your energy is low, please consider raising up the portion sizes a bit.  Especially the carbs that you say you are measuring light.  Remember the carbs on BFL are better in general because they are more nutrition/fiber dense.

I think you have a very reasonable goal for the 12 weeks.  My best wishes for health, happiness and discipline to you.

Sounds good James.  I know I need to get over the mental thing about carbs.  I will work on that.

OK, so I have been a bit under the weather this week.  I think I had a touch of the flu Tuesday and was lathargic and just felt yucky Wed and Thurs.  I have kept up my good eating and just rested from any excersise those days.   I did chest and shoulders this morning and 20mins on the stairmaster.  I am feeling much better and am down 1.5lbs from last week... SO feeling really good!  

xoxo

pjs

Awesome pjs, Life is gonna throw some curve balls at us while we try to get healthier.  Your rested body in response to the flu was probably the wisest choice.  Good to hear that you are back in it.

xoxo right back at ya.

JamesK,

Loved the "required reading" post!!!!   I'm printing it out for my journal and plan to read it often.  Also died laughing over the Mad TV video.  Reminds me of so many people I know!!   (Notice I didn't say it reminds me of me? hehe :))  The quote by Einstein is one of my favorites.  One of my other favorites is by Henry Ford: "Whether you think you can, or think you can't,  you're right."

Friday is day 3 for me and so far, so good.  Just having a little trouble with scheduling meals and ended up going without for a 5 hr period yesterday because I failed to plan "just in case".  Got stuck away from home with no back up food with me so waited till I got home.  Guess I need to carry a protein bar in my purse in case that happens again.  

One thing I did that will help is spend several hours one day  "Power Cooking".  I cooked up veges (broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and sauteed mushrooms), brown rice, whole wheat pasta, roasted red potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, eggs on whole wheat english muffins, turkey bacon and turkey sausage, oatmeal with walnuts and cranberries, and 4 lbs of grilled chicken. Portioned everything out into ziplock bags and put it in the freezer.  I hard boiled some eggs for quick protein. Then I made several turkey *** sandwiches on whole wheat and froze them.  Threw some light cheese sticks into the freezer and portioned out almonds. (I must freeze cheesesticks in my house or the whole bag tends to disappear overnight when my son comes home from work! )

Today I'm making turkey burger patties (with sun-dried tomatoes, curry powder, cumin and bulgar) to freeze and going to marinate some salmon, grill it, portion it and also freeze.  I prefer fresh, but I found Green Giant "Just for One" single serving vegetables in the freezer section at the grocery that will be good to grab-and-go when needed.  A lot of it will last for a couple of weeks so I can relax a bit when it comes to trying to decide what to eat.  It took a while and my kitchen was upside down for the afternoon but I made it fun by blasting the stereo.

Gypsy!  You are an inspiration.  I do my cooking once a week and only focus on one type of entree.  You rocked a full menu.  Awesome job with the planning.

I guess I am fortunate that I can eat green beans or broccoli every day and be satisfied.  I don't really enjoy veggies but I gobble them down for all that nutrition goodness and the fiber.  They are also awesome for filling me up.

Hello Everyone!  I'm Joe.  

I started the challenge on 5/19 and have been dragging my feet about joining in on this forum.  But I'm here now, and glad to be.  Looks like there will be a lot of great sharing going on and I hope that we can all be here together in the end.  In fact, JamesK, I accept YOUR challenge and plan to be one of the ones left standing at the end of our 12 weeks!  Bring it!  I think everyone should look at JamesK's prediction as a personal challenge also.  He says maybe 10 will be left.  Well what do the rest of you think???!!!!!   Let's prove him wrong.  It's 12 weeks, not 12 years!  (Of course it could become 12 years if you are successful at changing habits and sticking to your new lifestyle.)

It is only day 3 for me and I've done well.  Like everyone else who works I'm having to juggle my schedule quite a bit, but I've decided that there will be no excuses, whatever it takes!  

No it does not matter if you eat after 7pm or not.  It is all about the total amount of calories consumed during the day.  Calories in vs. calories out.  Also dehydration does cause severe headaches so drink lots of water.