banslug
Cathlete
It's taken me about a week to decide if I should post on this forum or not, but with the encouragement of so many fellow Cathe-ites, I''m sharing my story and transformation.
Thanks to all that encouraged me to do this and to those that supported me along the way. This 12 week Challenge was my first of many, and I'm starting my next 12 weeks this coming Monday, New Year's Eve day!
I'll TRY to keep it short, but I'll apologize right now, because it's not all that short, really! lol
I followed the Body For Life Program. The workouts, the nutrition, the WHOLE plan. Pretty much to a T, with some deviation with workouts. I won't go into details about the BFL program, but if you want more info, you can either get the book (which I HIGHLY recommend) or visit the website at www.bodyforlife.com.
My before and after pictures are below. But what I want to say is that YES...I'm happy with my change in scale weight and my size. But what I LOVE about my pictures is the change in the look in my eyes. I feel like ME again. I feel like I conquered something INSIDE of me that's been hidden for a while. THAT'S my transformation. My signature line has a link to my BFL tracker pages with my progress numbers and pictures.
My before and after pictures:
Day 0----BEFORE
http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL838/3209485/17823334/295452562.jpg
Day 84---AFTER
http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL838/3209485/17823334/295452567.jpg
On the workouts:
My workout schedule followed the BFL program, as stated in the plan.
M: upper body
T: HIIT and abs
W: lower body
TH: HIIT and abs
F: upper body
S: HIIT and abs
Sunday: Rest Day
Then the next week kept the same schedule, bust flip-flopped upper and lower body.
For the first 6 weeks, I followed the BFL Pyramid and MAX OUT principle EXACTLY. At the halfway point (week 6), for my legs I started using PLB (also used Leaner Legs and GS Legs, alternately)...for variety. It worked and I started losing small amounts in my legs. Now, I'm still using pretty heavy weights for PLB (this morning was 40/50/60), but definitely NOT to the point of all-out exhaustion as BFL tells it mostly because anything heavier than 60# and my form would start to slip on the leg presses, etc. My legs were the last part of my body to respond and show progress. I have to say that the BFL approach to upper body..maxing out...has done WONDERS for my UB. Go figure. One Body. Two separate approaches for two separate areas. LOL
Yes, I worried about bulking by using such heavy weights. But I decided to 'test' the program, just to see what happened. IT WORKED, to say the least. The first half of the challenge, when I was doing strictly BFL weight workouts, I was squatting over 120#, deadlifting over 95#. And I didn't bulk, I leaned out and toned up.
For cardio, I'm a cardio JUNKIE and never felt a cardio workout was complete if I hadn't gone for over 50 minutes and was dripping BUCKETS of sweat! lol So it took some discipline for me to do just the 20 minutes of HIIT 3x per week, but I did, and the results came. At the halfway point, I started using iTread sprint and interval workouts to add variety, and occasionally an iCycle interval/sprint.
On the nutrition:
I followed the nutrition plan to a T. VERY LITTLE deviation. I'm VERY VERY conscientious (how do you spell that word? lol) about portion sizes, and I don't even LICK my fingers or the spoon when making something for the kids. I know ME well ENOUGH to know that one lick turns to sticking my head in the bowl and licking it clean! LOL I'm VERY strict during the week. It REALLY REALLY helps to know that Sunday is Free Day and I can eat whatever the HECK I WANT! LOL AND I DO.....I haven't restricted myself AT ALL on Free Day. And I've still gotten the results I've been getting.
Here's an example of my daily food:
Meal 1 (breakfast)....ALWAYS AT LEAST ONE FULL HOUR after my workout, usually around 7:20am:
3 Mini Egg Quiche with a slice or 2 of Weight Watchers wheat bread
4 Protein pancakes (average size)
Myoplex Lite Shake
Meal 2...usually around 9:30am
Chicken Salsa Wrap (in a lo carb whole wheat wrap) with steamed veggies
Tuna in a lo carb wrap with steamed veggies or carrot stix
Myoplex Lite Shake (if I didn't have one for breakfast)
Meal 3...at work, usually around 12:30pm
Bar (in the first half of my challenge)
4 Protein Pancakes (in the second half of my challenge)
Meal 4...usually around 3pm
Soup, chili, stew (that I prep on Sunday for the week)
Chicken Salsa Wrap
3 Mini Egg White Quiches with slice or 2 of Weight Watchers toast
Meal 5 (dinner)...usually around 5-6pm
Lean protein, anything including salmon, mahi mahi, tilapia, haddock, chicken; PLUS veggies and a side carb of brown rice, baked sweet potato or on occasion pasta (pasta is usually my last choice)
Meal 6...usually around 8pm
Small Gala apple with 2 or 3 lo fat string cheese
This is pretty much exactly what I eat every single day. I make a different soup, stew or chili each week, and have it on hand for the entire week. THIS IS MY FAVORITE thing to eat (besides the string cheese) and the soups just fill you right up!
On the diet/eating topic. I am a creature of habit and actually thrive on routine. So it’s not a huge factor for me to eat the same things each day. I do, however, try to vary things from week to week. I ALWAYS have a homemade soup pre-made and in single serve containers in the fridge. They last all week, most of the time. If you’d all like, maybe we should start posting some of our favorite recipes for the food that keeps up on track for our BFL/EFL challenge??? What do you all think?
On supplements, shakes and nutrition bars:
The shakes. I bought 2 boxes of Myoplex Light at the beginning of this challenge. I haven't even gotten thru ONE box yet. I began by drinking one per day, at Meal #2 for Monday thru Friday. And I also ate a Myoplex Lite (or an EAS AdvanteEdge Low Carb bar) each day, Monday thru Friday, for Meal #3 while at work. They were both working for me, and they were so very convenient for my schedule. But as I did more reading, I was reading more and more BFLers saying that 'whole foods' are the NUMBER 1 best thing to eat, shakes take second place, and the bars take a DISTANT third. I was reading how the bars fulfill the carb/protein requirement, but that the sugar alcohols and other things in there play with your system sometimes (NOT ALWAYS). Again, the bars were working and they filled me up for that meal, so I have not sworn them off, I just wanted to make one adjustment to see if I could work around eating them. The shakes....I just recently started doing the same thing...eating a whole food meal in its place, but I still drink a shake perhaps 3 times per week. I do NOT take any supplements of any kind...for a few reasons. Mainly, I'm on a tight budget and just didn't find that the cost of them could justify buying them.
FREE DAY
I've implemented a few Free Day RULES over the last few weeks! LOL First, I must drink 64oz of water before I even take a SINGLE BITE of ANYTHING to eat! Second, Drink AT LEAST my usual daily gallon of water. Actually, I've been drinking twice that on Sundays! LOL Third, put a pair of snugger-fitting jeans on by mid-day. LOL This way, if I start to get that 'button-popping' feeling in my tummy, I know it's time to settle down on the food intake! LOL And enjoy whatever food I want. I don't really limit myself too much on Free Day. It's built into the program, so I'm entitled!!!!
MY BOTTOM LINE
Somebody asked me what I thought the 'secret' for me was....the eating or the workouts. My answer was (and still is) the COMBINATION OF CLEAN NUTRITION, TOUGH WORKOUTS, and most importantly, the CONSISTANCY of them combined. Day after day, week after week. It's basically what Cathe says in her posts quite often...clean eating, hydration, challenging workouts, on a consistant basis.
Recipes to share:
NOW.....I have compiled a Word document with a few recipes. I can email it to you, if you'd like. It has recipes for the Egg Quiches, the Salsa Chicken, 3 (I think) soups that I've been making these last few weeks, and the Protein Pancakes. If you email me at [email protected], I'll send that off to you.
THANKS for listening (and reading). Thanks for your support.
Gayle
Thanks to all that encouraged me to do this and to those that supported me along the way. This 12 week Challenge was my first of many, and I'm starting my next 12 weeks this coming Monday, New Year's Eve day!
I'll TRY to keep it short, but I'll apologize right now, because it's not all that short, really! lol
I followed the Body For Life Program. The workouts, the nutrition, the WHOLE plan. Pretty much to a T, with some deviation with workouts. I won't go into details about the BFL program, but if you want more info, you can either get the book (which I HIGHLY recommend) or visit the website at www.bodyforlife.com.
My before and after pictures are below. But what I want to say is that YES...I'm happy with my change in scale weight and my size. But what I LOVE about my pictures is the change in the look in my eyes. I feel like ME again. I feel like I conquered something INSIDE of me that's been hidden for a while. THAT'S my transformation. My signature line has a link to my BFL tracker pages with my progress numbers and pictures.
My before and after pictures:
Day 0----BEFORE
http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL838/3209485/17823334/295452562.jpg
Day 84---AFTER
http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL838/3209485/17823334/295452567.jpg
On the workouts:
My workout schedule followed the BFL program, as stated in the plan.
M: upper body
T: HIIT and abs
W: lower body
TH: HIIT and abs
F: upper body
S: HIIT and abs
Sunday: Rest Day
Then the next week kept the same schedule, bust flip-flopped upper and lower body.
For the first 6 weeks, I followed the BFL Pyramid and MAX OUT principle EXACTLY. At the halfway point (week 6), for my legs I started using PLB (also used Leaner Legs and GS Legs, alternately)...for variety. It worked and I started losing small amounts in my legs. Now, I'm still using pretty heavy weights for PLB (this morning was 40/50/60), but definitely NOT to the point of all-out exhaustion as BFL tells it mostly because anything heavier than 60# and my form would start to slip on the leg presses, etc. My legs were the last part of my body to respond and show progress. I have to say that the BFL approach to upper body..maxing out...has done WONDERS for my UB. Go figure. One Body. Two separate approaches for two separate areas. LOL
Yes, I worried about bulking by using such heavy weights. But I decided to 'test' the program, just to see what happened. IT WORKED, to say the least. The first half of the challenge, when I was doing strictly BFL weight workouts, I was squatting over 120#, deadlifting over 95#. And I didn't bulk, I leaned out and toned up.
For cardio, I'm a cardio JUNKIE and never felt a cardio workout was complete if I hadn't gone for over 50 minutes and was dripping BUCKETS of sweat! lol So it took some discipline for me to do just the 20 minutes of HIIT 3x per week, but I did, and the results came. At the halfway point, I started using iTread sprint and interval workouts to add variety, and occasionally an iCycle interval/sprint.
On the nutrition:
I followed the nutrition plan to a T. VERY LITTLE deviation. I'm VERY VERY conscientious (how do you spell that word? lol) about portion sizes, and I don't even LICK my fingers or the spoon when making something for the kids. I know ME well ENOUGH to know that one lick turns to sticking my head in the bowl and licking it clean! LOL I'm VERY strict during the week. It REALLY REALLY helps to know that Sunday is Free Day and I can eat whatever the HECK I WANT! LOL AND I DO.....I haven't restricted myself AT ALL on Free Day. And I've still gotten the results I've been getting.
Here's an example of my daily food:
Meal 1 (breakfast)....ALWAYS AT LEAST ONE FULL HOUR after my workout, usually around 7:20am:
3 Mini Egg Quiche with a slice or 2 of Weight Watchers wheat bread
4 Protein pancakes (average size)
Myoplex Lite Shake
Meal 2...usually around 9:30am
Chicken Salsa Wrap (in a lo carb whole wheat wrap) with steamed veggies
Tuna in a lo carb wrap with steamed veggies or carrot stix
Myoplex Lite Shake (if I didn't have one for breakfast)
Meal 3...at work, usually around 12:30pm
Bar (in the first half of my challenge)
4 Protein Pancakes (in the second half of my challenge)
Meal 4...usually around 3pm
Soup, chili, stew (that I prep on Sunday for the week)
Chicken Salsa Wrap
3 Mini Egg White Quiches with slice or 2 of Weight Watchers toast
Meal 5 (dinner)...usually around 5-6pm
Lean protein, anything including salmon, mahi mahi, tilapia, haddock, chicken; PLUS veggies and a side carb of brown rice, baked sweet potato or on occasion pasta (pasta is usually my last choice)
Meal 6...usually around 8pm
Small Gala apple with 2 or 3 lo fat string cheese
This is pretty much exactly what I eat every single day. I make a different soup, stew or chili each week, and have it on hand for the entire week. THIS IS MY FAVORITE thing to eat (besides the string cheese) and the soups just fill you right up!
On the diet/eating topic. I am a creature of habit and actually thrive on routine. So it’s not a huge factor for me to eat the same things each day. I do, however, try to vary things from week to week. I ALWAYS have a homemade soup pre-made and in single serve containers in the fridge. They last all week, most of the time. If you’d all like, maybe we should start posting some of our favorite recipes for the food that keeps up on track for our BFL/EFL challenge??? What do you all think?
On supplements, shakes and nutrition bars:
The shakes. I bought 2 boxes of Myoplex Light at the beginning of this challenge. I haven't even gotten thru ONE box yet. I began by drinking one per day, at Meal #2 for Monday thru Friday. And I also ate a Myoplex Lite (or an EAS AdvanteEdge Low Carb bar) each day, Monday thru Friday, for Meal #3 while at work. They were both working for me, and they were so very convenient for my schedule. But as I did more reading, I was reading more and more BFLers saying that 'whole foods' are the NUMBER 1 best thing to eat, shakes take second place, and the bars take a DISTANT third. I was reading how the bars fulfill the carb/protein requirement, but that the sugar alcohols and other things in there play with your system sometimes (NOT ALWAYS). Again, the bars were working and they filled me up for that meal, so I have not sworn them off, I just wanted to make one adjustment to see if I could work around eating them. The shakes....I just recently started doing the same thing...eating a whole food meal in its place, but I still drink a shake perhaps 3 times per week. I do NOT take any supplements of any kind...for a few reasons. Mainly, I'm on a tight budget and just didn't find that the cost of them could justify buying them.
FREE DAY
I've implemented a few Free Day RULES over the last few weeks! LOL First, I must drink 64oz of water before I even take a SINGLE BITE of ANYTHING to eat! Second, Drink AT LEAST my usual daily gallon of water. Actually, I've been drinking twice that on Sundays! LOL Third, put a pair of snugger-fitting jeans on by mid-day. LOL This way, if I start to get that 'button-popping' feeling in my tummy, I know it's time to settle down on the food intake! LOL And enjoy whatever food I want. I don't really limit myself too much on Free Day. It's built into the program, so I'm entitled!!!!
MY BOTTOM LINE
Somebody asked me what I thought the 'secret' for me was....the eating or the workouts. My answer was (and still is) the COMBINATION OF CLEAN NUTRITION, TOUGH WORKOUTS, and most importantly, the CONSISTANCY of them combined. Day after day, week after week. It's basically what Cathe says in her posts quite often...clean eating, hydration, challenging workouts, on a consistant basis.
Recipes to share:
NOW.....I have compiled a Word document with a few recipes. I can email it to you, if you'd like. It has recipes for the Egg Quiches, the Salsa Chicken, 3 (I think) soups that I've been making these last few weeks, and the Protein Pancakes. If you email me at [email protected], I'll send that off to you.
THANKS for listening (and reading). Thanks for your support.
Gayle
