OK. As the title suggests, I have made the decision to get into better shape and loose some weight.....NOW! I am 35 and I look young, I feel young, but my body deserves better! Here is the plan:

1.6 small meals a day. I eat 6, with 3 as food meals and 3 as protein bars. Eating several small healthy meals throughout the day really ramps up your metabolism and keeps you from getting hungry.

2. I do cardio 3 times per week and weights 3 times per week, rotating between focusing lifting on upper body or legs.

3. I stick to everything above and give myself Sunday off. I don't work out and I eat whatever I want on Sunday. It gives your body a rest, you kill your cravings and it jump starts that metabolism. Plus, you get a great boost of energy for Monday's cardio from Sunday's carb load! The funny thing is that the longer you eat a healthier diet, when Sunday rolls around, you feel like utter crap when you eat unhealthy food. It really shows you what a benefit a healthy diet can be.

4. I don't live by the scale. Muscle weighs more than fat. I use the scale once a week as a progress check.

5. I don't get hung up on sizes. I used to only measure my success in what size I could get down to. I would rather be a bit more muscular and curvy.

6. I keep track of my fitness/weight loss accomplishments. It really helps to see how you have improved.

7. Ultimately this is the begining of a lifestyle. I need to make better choices.

So, all that being said. I have been at it for about 3 weeks and have lost about 15 lbs. Sounds like a lot in that short amount of time, but as some of you know, when you have been pretty sedentary and not watching your diet and suddenly start exercising a lot, you drop about 5-10 lbs in the first week or so. I try to stick to no more than 2-3 pounds lost per week.

Well, I am off to the gym. My faves: a bottle of water, an Ipod and my peppermint gum. Don't laugh! I need the gum! More later!

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Good luck with everything! I used to follow the Body for Life plan as well. It worked great. The tips and recipies are awsome. I got in the best shape of my life ever when I fif it, so starting May 1st I'm going to be following it again! Congrats with your progress so far!!!

MAC Whore! This is so exciting! Isn't it awesome how those first pounds just seem to disappear when you have been sedentary for some time!?

Thank you so much for posting this. Throughout my degree, I have learned many of the things you noted above. Most importantly is the notion of lifestyle and health over dieting and losing weight. Because I am in such a image sensititve field, I also learn so much about the physiology and psychology of disordered eating (we call it Ed, kinda like it's a person...). The statistics of those who develop a disordered eating pattern and have also previously "dieted" are staggering. I won't get into the nitty gritty of it but focusing on "being on a diet" and "getting skinny" are unhealthy focal points and can often lead to trouble. I really appreciate your firsthand contribution to this topic.

Thank you for bringing up the point of not beating yourself up over slipping. It is so common for those in a weight loss stuggle to throw in the towel when they have one slip-up. The truth of the matter is everyone slips up; life is all about slipping up, it's just how you handle it. Making a concious effort to eat more veggies the next day when you indulged in too many chips (my TOTAL biggest slip up!) is a good place to start. It's really the little things that add up and make the difference.

I look forward to hearing of your success (and even some stumbling blocks along the way) in your journey. I also look forward to many more of your wonderful contributions to our forum

Good Luck!!!

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**For Sale**
http://www.specktra.net/showthread.php?t=43652

Thanks Roxy! BFL is amazing! I am excited that you are starting on May 1st! Well done! Keep me informed.

Thanks for your encouragement, Wattage! It is nice to see that Specktra has such a well-qualifed mod for us! We will pick your brains for advice! Oh, and you can count on many more posts about the peaks and valleys of my journey (hopefully more so of the peaks)! Thanks again.

Thanks!

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Ok, so week #4...

I am still going strong. I have now lost 17 lbs. I have been sticking to my workout schedule. My eating has been great, as in really healthy and consistent. I am really starting to enjoy it all. I have started to vary my workouts with diff lifting exercises and diff cardio.

I have been good at pushing myself to improve a bit each week. Yesterday I ran 8.2 miles. Niiiice.

I am currently working on a few things:

-Getting into the zen of the workout. Just focusing on it and not other crap currently cluttering my mind.
-Getting some better music! Man, I am so sick of what I have on rotation at the moment. Utter crap!
-Pick up a few more ab exercises. Most of mine focus on upper and I need some moves for the lower. Suggestions, anyone?
-Keep bumping up the weights. One example: I used to be able to curl 27.5 lbs (single arm with dumbell). I would like to get there again, if not do better. Currently, I am at 17.5

So, all in all, its good. I have so much more energy. Less softy bits, more curve, more muscle. Yeeeeyah!

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Wow - this sounds awesome! I am so excited for you!

Running 8.2 miles is a huge accomplishment! Congrats! You should be so proud of yourself.

I am glad to hear you are focusing on the "zen" of the workout - what we often also call the flow. Just as a side note in case you're interested, this attainment of flow is researched often and is associated with recovery from stress, happiness in other areas of life and a shift to more activity in the right lobe of the cerebral cortex. This shift is believed to be very beneficial in obtaining balance in one's life. That's so awesome that you have been able to achieve this - paired with 17lbs lost - you must feel like a star!!

With the abdominals, it is important to focus on all abdominal groups to really see everything come together. Because it's hard to give specific instructions on the net, I recommend picking up a copy of Shape magazine or going to their website (shape.com). Shape does an awesome job of showing you what muscles you are working and also demonstrating the exercise with photos of a real person. You can also just google "lower abdominal exercises" or just abdominal exercises. There are a wealth of resources out there that provide good ideas on how to work your midsection

I am so proud of you!! Keep up the amazing work and please continue to keep us in the loop!

I posted a pic before about those lower transverse abdominis muscles, but I'll repost it here for you



That'll target those muscles really well as well as hey, strengthen your shoulders a bit at the same time, no?

Thanks, Wattage! Your encouragement and knowledge is really appreciated! So the "zen" has a name, huh? Go with the flow. I will definitely check out Shape mag and their site.

Thanks, Shimmer! I am sitting on a swiss ball at the moment. I think your suggestion would put it to better use. LOL! I can see how that exercise would really be effective. I will try that tomorrow. Thanks, hon!

Oh, and update: I just got back from the gym and my bicep curls no longer top out at 17.5. It's 20 baby!

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OK, so I feel that I have been doing pretty well with my eating, but still have some questions. Here is a snapshot of a one day's meals, for example:

7:00-Breakfast-One carb, one protein: 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese with strawberries and 1 equal. 2 glasses of water. One cup of coffee w/ 1 equal, one tablespoon of cream. Yes, I could use half and half or non-fat creamer, but this is one area where I just can't be flexible. Plus, for the calories I burn in a day, if this tablespoon of cream is my biggest sin, I can live with it.

9:30-Snack-Protein Bar or Shake: I use Myoplex Lite shakes and Bars. 1 glass of water

12:00-Lunch-One carb, one protein, one veggie: Salad with low-fat dressing, slice of lean turkey, and a low-fat yogurt smoothie. 2 glasses of water.

3:00-Snack: Protein bar or shake. 1 glass of water.

6:00-Dinner: One carb, one protein and one veggie-Skinless chicken breast with Salsa, string beans with tomatoes and and apple. 2 glasses of water

8:30-Snack: Protein bar or shake. 1 glass of water. I don't eat my last bar past 9:00pm.

So, that is a day. I am consuming about 1200-1500 calories per day. I keep this schedule Monday-Saturday. Sunday is my "Free Day". On Sunday, I don't work out and eat what I want. As the weeks have passed, I get less "naughty" on my free day. I just feel like crap when I eat unhealthy food now! Utterly bloated and lazy! But, it does kill my cravings, so it is a necessary evil. Last Sunday's gut bombs were pancakes for breakfast, a coke and hot dog for late lunch/dinner. Yeah, weird combo, but that is what I was craving. I am gradually loosing my taste for those things though. The coke and hot dog just didn't taste as good as I thought they would. Just made me ask myself if it was worth it.

Hey Wattage, I have a question about calories. At they gym, I am burning about 800-1200 calories per day, mon-sat. I still have a good amout of weight that I want to loose, so I am nowhere near my goal weight. Am I cutting myself short on calories? I know that if you eat too little, you can cut down your ability to gain muscle, but I still have a good amount of fat in reserves, so should I worry? BTW: I am loosing 2-3lbs per week. I look forward to your advice.

Shimmer-That ab exercise is amazing! I showed my husband as well. He is in amazing shape. He tried it and said, "Damn, you feel that."

That's all for now!

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2/3 lbs a week is healthy, so you SHOULD be doing okay there. DEFINITELY do NOT go any lower than 1200 calories though. That would be a huge nono

That exercise is something I do three times a week but it makes a HUGE difference. I try to give myself time to rest/heal from it by skipping a day.

I want a weighted medicine ball for this:



I love this exercise, I have a bubble butt anyway and this just keeps it firm and then some


If your husband feels adventurous, give him a go at this one