Welcome jlcrum. This is a wonderful thread for keeping up the motivation.

We missed you, Amanda. Natalie and Amanda, sorry to hear that you ladies are having a rough time. Your n my thoughts and I'm sending good vibes your way.

Tonja, I just took a look at your profile. You ARE definitely making progress. Congrats!

Morning everyone!  I actually got up early today and did my cardio....which is a big deal for me.  I am not a morning person, so I have been doing all of my workouts after work each day.  But after reading all of your posts, I decided to give doing my cardio in morning a shot.  I made it through ok and I'm glad I got it out of the way.  I'm still waiting for exercise to be "fun" but I'm hanging in there :)

Good morning,

I had to skip the early am this morning - I was getting crabby with kids & started wanting to eat bad stuff to get my energy up last night.  My goal was 4 early am workouts this week, but I really wanted 5!  Next week, my goal will be 5 early am.

jlcrum, I am not a morning person - ease into it.  I did it every other day last week (3times) and this week I will do 4 times.  Our local Y opens at 5 and Ieave the house about 4:45am.  I don't know where you live, but it is sooo nice to be home when the weather is nice.  My husband can drop weight by just changing his eating habit - grrr.  Keep up the BFL & keep a log to see you progress strength wise too.  

perthmom, thanks!  Profile keeps me honest about everything...

Natalie & Amanda - thoughts & prayers going your way!  Nat, 5K in 30min - way to go!

r4Life, great advice!  I am not weighing or measuring until the end which is only 10 days away for me.  Also, I have my pictures on the wall & I took them every 4 weeks too - I wish I wouldn't have printed the in betweens.  

Have a good day,

Tonja

Tonja - wow only 10 days left to go in your challenge that is fantastic.

Someone once blogged to me that only about 5% of those who start, finih.

So,you finishing is a great accomplishment to celebrate.

Now for a selfish request from me for me.

I hope you are coming back for C2, you would be greetly missed otherwise.

Again almost home...almost time to really smile!

Finish strong!

Oh, Amanda Joy, big hugs to you!  We're all here, and we'll be here when finals are over.  Like Run said, don't stay away too long.

Amanda Joy and Natalie...thinking about you and sending all the healing energy your way I can...will be attending a massage therapy convention these next 3 days, will get some of that good vibe coming your way! Remember that exercise is good for reducing stress :)

run4life,

I am going to finish my C1 and just keep going along BFL with you guys and do another challenge in the fall.  I don't know what I would do with myself if I didn't keep going to the gym and if I stopped the nutrition - it maybe difficult to get back.  Ssh, don't tell anybody, but I just like the program :o)  

I do want to have a enjoy a beer now & then over the summer.  I haven't had one alcoholic drink since Feb.13th which hasn't bothered me until the warm weather started.  I am going to mix up BFL program with the 5-25 too - maybe 2 weeks one way & then switch.  I am still thinking about goals and I don't want to do a wieght goal.  Definately, going to do the plank challenge with you, but I will figure out a few more.   Brainstorming here....train for 5k, swim mile w/o stopping (20laps), do real pull-ups - I'll keep working on this list & then pick out a few.

5% finish - wow!  I didn't know that statistic.  I will have to pass that on to another thread.

Thanks,

Tonja

Tonja - yeah...finish strong then make it fun...sounds likethat is what you will be doing ...after all it is for life and you gotta enjoys the journey!

...your getting closer to the C1 finish line...but then again you did not have to have me tell you that ;-)

Why is C2 so much harder to "toe the line?". I have really been struggling with all aspects of the program. Only 1 work out this week and have been eating horribly! I will get back on track, it just seems so hard to do and is a very slippery slope!

@bobby and Tonya----The Spartan Race was a blast. It is basically a 4 mile run with lots of obstacles on the way. Everything from carrying logs, climbing ropes, swimming, lots of mud pits and crawling under barbed wire. Tonya your friend on FB was probably at the same race I was at. It was in Laurel, In, which is near Indy...Small world..LOL

Hang in there all and remember when times get tough, kick it in the butt! (I need to take my own advice)

Next week is a new week!

@ bartmarshall - I am so sorry to hear you say that C2 is so difficult; and then again I am so glad to hear you say C2 is so difficult.

I feel like I know exactly how you feel!

My eating, I thought was a little rocky as I was going day-to-day through C2.

Last night, I analyzed the full past three weeks of eating and I am nowhere near as pure as I was on C1 (OK read here total train wreck!)...and don't get me wrong I was not an Angel during C1 like I should have been.

I am still trending down on the scale slightly...though that is not day to day important to me. It does remind me that I would have better progress if I could have better discipline.

Even the workouts the past two weeks, I have had to double up on one day each week just so I could say I got them all in and then give myself a good pat on the back. I don't think the program is supposed to be run this way.

I have to get my plan organized better and then have the motivation to live by the plan.

I need to get back into the groove of feeling like ‘I own this and not feel like I am a victum by it’ attitude.

Like you I am not giving up....but I understand your post all too well.

I have put more 5/25 circuits together (thanks Bucki for finding this) for my UBWO as a source of variety and I am noticing that I am more excited about doing the lifting again.

Plus, I feel like I am getting a better work out then the traditional BFL. Perhaps that is just a sign of a much needed change for muscle confusion. I think week five I will revert back to the traditional BFL style for four weeks and then the last four weeks go back to the 5/25 approach.

Hang in there...I need you to help pull me through to the end!

Finally a great blogging friend of mine on another post (Laura KP) has an excellent tag line at the bottom of her post.

"Sabotage is not part of the plan."

So, when I want to eat bad or not lift...I think of this and that has provided me with more mental motivation to live my life the way I want to live my life...strong and healthy!

I just need to do better...

Plan!

Plan!

Plan!

Live the Plan!

Oh my--on the second page??!! Being as good as I can with the nutrition while I'm at this conference...but not totally clean as per BFL standards. What I am getting, loud and clear, is how I approach my eating choices now. I look at the options on the table (pun intended) and quickly scan my thoughts to see what  I have already eaten during the day and what I need to eat now to keep me going for the next 3 hours. This is a slight departure from the old habit of going thru the buffet line and just loading up with high fat, high calorie comfort foods.

I have managed to get in an UB w/o yesterday and a good walk this morn...I will be using today as my free day and will be back in the gym Sunday for LB w/o.

How's your weekend? Think about this: We are 25% complete...time to turn it up a notch?

BARTMARSHALL - HELP ME...I am still on nutrition run away train...a fourth free day this week...how can that be.

I need team work to help me dig down deep and stop this train.

OK, I really know that is not how accountability works.

BFL C2 Week Four for me is starting up tomorrow and I am dedicating that week to clean eating...a new start. I am starting with what I hope will be a better plan.

The good news is that every time I eat like a free day (like 4 times this week) my weight goes up a couple pounds only to go back down again in a couple days. I think it is sodium loading and water gain/removal.

But I also know that net calories, I have trended up a little...just glad that the weight has stayed approximately the same. Now to start trending back down again!

Bobby sounds like you have a solution in hand that is working for you in the eat department. Excellent.

The rest of this weekend is the P90X of gardening  sod busting, block moving, possibly tons of egg rock moving.

I am working at the direction of my domestic boss and I think I made her mad...she is trying to kill me with yard work   ;-)

Keep it strong 9ers.

Today, normally my free day, I will be doing my cardio that I postponed from yesterday and then I am going to try to re-confirm my 2 minute plank hold time I did on Thursday.

You can do it, run4life!  Check in with us every day specifically about how the food is going, for the next week.  Once you're back into the swing of things, it will feel like a sigh of relief.  That's how it was for me, last week.

Bobby, that's fantastic about your change of mindset re: food.  It changes everything.

Today is my free day, and I had been contemplating reducing it to a free meal, but that absolutely didn't happen.

The getting up early every day to exercise has had decidedly mixed results.  I did get up between 8:15 and 8:30 every morning, but I only managed to get out the door and exercise on an empty stomach two mornings out of five (worse than when I hadn't been getting up early).  I still got all of my workouts in, just not first thing.  I also have been sticking to the eating plan very strictly, and started slimming down my portions a bit (I used to look at a small sweet potato and think, 'that's pretty close to fist-sized,' but now I'll eat 3/4 of a small sweet potato and save the rest).  Despite all of this, I have gained 3/4 of an inch around my waist this week.  I suspect it is just water retention since I have my period, but it is hard not to feel discouraged.  Hopefully I'll write in next week and tell you I've lost an inch and a half.

Ironically, I got in an inadvertent LBWO yesterday by cleaning the ceiling in our bathroom (don't ask why--it has to do with the wet climate here in London, and small, dark spaces).  I kept stepping up onto the edge of our extra-tall tub, over and over, and this morning I'm sore in my right leg and butt.  My new goal for C1 is that by the end of 12 weeks I won't get sore from cleaning the bathroom, lol!

Run4life-  Just wanted to let you know I enjoy reading your posts...I laugh a lot...I think you are going to be fine!!  From what I read you do some really heavy landscaping and then most days if not all days put your exercises on top of that!!  I read your posts and think...hmmm...I would probably count that as cardio, but for you it seems like it is in addition!!! Wow!!  I have a feeling you will be working off most of those extra calories!!  You will get back on track with your eating!!

I tell you guys the truth, if it weren't for this forum I would have missed so many work outs!!  I went to the zoo last week with my class and walked all over the place!!  I was going to count that as cardio...read some posts said "Dang it!!" and went upstairs and did my HIIT anyway!!  Same thing last night...I was just SO tired.  I took a deep breath and did the 5/25!!  I love it by the way...I really needed a change up...you can only do so many things at home!!

Bobby A-  I am determined to fit into my 13 year old, 115lb daughters shorts!!  I am one size away!! I can put them on and button them, but a major muffin top...my goal:  wear them and look better in them than she does and NO MUFFIN TOP!!

Keep the posts coming!!!  They help me SO Much!!

Marcia

Rockin roe here!

so i went on a retreat and had an amzing woman pamper us with home cooked meals for 2 dasy!!1! I did stay on track for the most part but allowed a compelte cheat day on Thursday, (i wont list foods, because they will make you drool).

I am determined to stay on track and not allow the retreat eating habits interfere with my end results!!

(writing that made me feel better)

After reading a few posts here, I am planning on doing a 5 minute plank tomorrow... because after all, we are all in this together

! Feeling great!