Day 137 - Wrap up

So I decided to just skip yesterday's workout rather than try to make it up and take my scheduled rest day today, with the exception of Jujitsu. I did not have my reward meal, that will be tomorrow. I am finishing this round today as my last low fat day and tomorrow starts low carb again. I think that as long as my results go back to where they were by next week I'll be okay but if they do not I think I may extend the low carb cycle and shorten the low fat cycle because I always lose on low carbs and as long as I give myself some rest from it, I do not get tired of it or have too little energy. So that's the plan so far. Tomorrow I will have a regular muscle rounds workout and we are doing a Jujitsu demonstration in the evening for this community party at the church so that should be fun. And of course lunch with Jeff will be fun as well and will be my reward meal, just staying low carb the rest of the day. Hopefully the rest of everything will work itself out. That's all for now, gotta get some rest, thanks for all the comments and help fellow shredders!
Here are today's pics:

Day 136/137 - Behind!

So I am a day behind on posting this, but here it is anyway...
Yesterday was not good. It seemed like everything I did took longer than I thought it would and I had no time for the things I needed to get done! Nutrition was good, but I postponed my workout until the evening after I had skip it to get to work on time, then after running around all day I just didn't have the energy to do it after dinner. Actually, I am kind relieved, though, after I read Michael's comment about overtraining, because maybe I did need an extra rest day since I fit all of those criteria he gave me. As I told him, I have been doing upper body 2x a week with pushups 3x a week, and Jujitsu 2x a week, which has more pushups, so there is definitely a good chance that my upper body is getting into the overtraining mode. I have never had this before so it didn't even occur to me, and my lower body is fine, so I think I will do the lower body portion of yesterday's workout today, even though today is supposed to be a full rest day, and then continue my program from there. I have a couple of decisions to make about the next few days, so I'll have to work it out.
On another bad note, I am gaining weight!! I know that weighing every day is considered bad, but honestly it is usually motivating for me. A small fluctuation I don't worry about, but I have gained back all the weight I lost last week and it is really upsetting me because I have been on track with the low fat plan of MS and even under 1800 cal per day which is supposed to be my calorie deficit number. I am hoping it is related to my monthly cycle because if not I will be really devastated. I guess we'll see next week. If not, I may have to switch to a longer cycle of low carb and a shorter cycle of low fat because I definitely lose on low carb and I have pretty good energy with it so I don't know. One of the things I need to think about.
Also, today is supposed to be my reward meal, but 1) I don't feel like I deserve it because I am gaining weight and 2) I am supposed to go out to lunch with Jeff tomorrow, so I think I am going to skip it today and do it tomorrow. I don't know how that fits in with the rest of the MS plan, though, because tomorrow should be the start of the next low carb cycle. Should I just do low carb the rest of the day and allow the reward meal for lunch, not counting it? I think that kind of negates the whole day as far as low carb goes, since the day will be over. I have a hard time with that for every reward meal. I just can't wrap my head around how you can just not count a meal when you are going for particular numbers all day long. I mean, the reward meal is going to mess them up, so I guess keeping to them all day just lessens the impact? For carbs, it's like, no matter if I have 30 carbs all day or 30 carbs at one meal, it's still 30 for the day, so if I'm only supposed to have 30 all day and I have 60 or more because of my reward meal, then the day is shot, right? You certainly can't call that an on-plan day. I guess that's the point, to give your body a break, but since I am changing the day, should the rest of that day be a low calorie day or a low carb day? I guess I'll figure it out. These are all things I need to work on. Anyway, I am finally going to edit and post all my pics now so I'll be back later today to post more about all of these rambling ideas. See you then.

Day 135 - Recap

The update from yesterday isn't much - I had a horrible workout and don't know what was wrong with me. I tanked on my pushups, I had to drop weight on all the upper body exercises, and I was just totally weak. I have no idea. It wasn't a food thing, that was for sure, I just had no strength. Very disappointing - hopefully Wednesday's weight training will be better because if not I am going to be really worried. Only thing I can think of is that I worked out so hard on Monday, although it was lower body, I just didn't have enough left for the upper?? Lame reason, I just have never had that happen like that. Hope it isn't a trend.
For today, though, I did my cardio workout as planned and so was glad that I finally got it in like I was supposed to. Nutrition was also good - made some great chicken chili for lunch and low fat lasagna for dinner and was under calories for the day and feeling good. Rest of the day was busy so I still didn't get to posting the pics - working on that tomorrow since I don't have anything planned so far. Stay tuned...

Day 134 - Stupid measurements

Weight: 150 lbs (loss of 2# this week, loss of 2# in M3, 16# overall)
Omron bf: ?% (I forgot to check this before I had my breakfast so I'll do the reading tomorrow morning)
MS bf: 18.8% (GAIN of .4% in M3, LOSS of 4.3% overall)

Bicep: 11.5" (loss of 0" this week, GAIN of .5" in M3, LOSS of 1" overall)
Chest: 35" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 1.5" overall)
Waist: 28.25" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 2.75" overall)
Stomach: 31.5" (GAIN of .5" this week, GAIN of .5" in M3, loss of 3" overall)
Hips: 37.5" (loss of 0" this week, .25" in M3, 3.5" overall)
Butt: 40.5" (loss of .5" this week, .5" in M3, 3" overall)
Thigh: 25" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M2, 3" overall)
Total inches: loss of 0" this week, GAIN of .25" in M3, LOSS of 17.75" overall

Well I'm officially stumped...I lost 2 lbs this week so I thought I was doing really well until it came to my measurements. I didn't lose anywhere except in my butt (which I am glad for) but I gained in my stomach! What is going on? Hopefully I'm just retaining water or something and next week it will be ironed out. Because I really worked hard this week and that's pretty disappointing to not have the results I was expecting. The only thing I know I did not follow was all the cardio - I did some of it but not all so that could be part of that. I have to be more disciplined about that and probably add some SS in this week since I should have more energy than last week. That's about all I have to report this morning, I'll be back with more later on after my workout.

Day 133 - Killer leg day

Well today things went well. It was the start of the low fat phase of MS and I did well with that even with going out to lunch this afternoon with my sister. I made sure I got in enough protein today as well, I was supposed to have at least 150g and I got more than that, so I am very happy with that, as well as the fact that I stayed under 1800 cal. Yay me. Then the workout today was muscle rounds for lower body and it was really killer but great. I think it might have been the most intense leg workout I have done since I started back in October. I only had to do 3 body parts so I could really concentrate on them, and with what I learned last week about the amount of weight I could handle, I upped the amounts I used for these exercises and it was great. I think I got the weights to almost exactly the right numbers because I was definitely DONE when it was over. I'm sure I'll be complaining about this tomorrow and Tuesday but for now I am happy to have given it my all and hopefully be making progress on my lagging lower body transformation. I also did a little abs and I always like that - I'll be SO excited when I can see my abs because I know they are in good shape, just hidden under some fat still. So tomorrow I do upper body and the pushup challenge so I'm looking forward to having some good numbers to give you for that. I know I am lagging behind in my picture posting but rest assured I am taking them, I just have to do the editing and posting still. Tomorrow should be the day for that. I will be in Virginia tomorrow evening for a Mary Kay event (close to DC) so I have to do my entry early in the day and I'll be home late so my schedule might be strange on Tuesday but it's all good I'll work it out. That's the update from Shred Central, or at least one of the Shred Centrals....Adam should have more about ECSS on his blog today but I don't see it yet - I'm sure he's really busy but keep checking it out to see because it will be cool I'm sure...See you soon!
PS Seems some girl named Lilla has challenged the rest of the NY4 to a little competition. Well, as you all might have guessed, I am not the competitive type so I don't think I can respond to that...NOT...okay I'm extremely competitive so I'm going to have to now totally kick some booty. Not that I didn't have enough motivation already but now it's also for glory. BRING IT ON!!!

Day 132 - 30 Days and counting...

So today marks 30 days until ECSS and to celebrate we have some new page elements that Adam has put together for those of us who are going aka "The New York Four". ECSS is, in case you don't know, the East Coast Shredder Summit, which came about because of Adam's milestone of completing 500 days and the opportunity he has to work out with the author of BFFM himself, Tom Venuto. When he confirmed his trip to the East Coast, those of us who live near to NJ and NY, where he will be, asked for an opportunity to get together with Adam, and he graciously accepted, as long as we were to make a serious commitment to a physique transformation by then. So 4 of us ended up being able to take him up on that, and we even are going to be able to work out with Tom ourselves! For me this is so exciting because I originally found Adam's blog through Tom after being part of his BFFM inner circle, and then got involved in the Group Shreds and the ShredderSphere with Adam, so being able to meet them both will be really cool, as well as getting to meet some of my fellow Shredders who have been supporting me along the way in my journey. All of that is really great motivation for me to complete the larger part of my transformation in the next 30 days and complete the goals I have set for myself since beginning my journey October 15th. Things are going well in this stage, having switched between Metabolic Surge and BFFM during the different missions and currently finishing up day 7 on MS today. So the rest of this push will be on MS and meeting most of my original goals to be at my very best for Adam and Tom. That's the plan anyway.
So today was all fruit, always a tough one, I just want something SALTY!! I also went to the grocery store today to get things for the next 10 days so that was tough because I just wanted to eat everything!! I don't know what it is, but no matter how much fruit I eat, I never feel full. But that's okay, I'll live through it and have some great low fat meals tomorrow. The day of rest from exercise has certainly helped as well, I am feeling much better in the muscles and will be hopefully totally healed up for the next workout tomorrow.
One thing I have not done is that I was planning on making menus for all my meals ahead of time and I didn't do it for the low carb days, but I will certainly have to do it for the low fat days because last time through MS I think that was my minor downfall. I also have not done the glutamine as planned, but I am waiting for my GNC discount to kick in next week :) and I'll stock up then. Hey, gotta save money where I can!
So that's the background on ECSS and the update for today, going to get my graphics all up now so let me know what you think. Talk to you soon!

Day 131 - Tough day

I'm going to make this short - lots to post tomorrow but I wanted to do today's update at least. Today was rough because it was all protein and I was in a lot of pain. It was all soreness but it really felt bad today as far as stopping me from moving at all sometimes. Plus I didn't have to work and it was snowy here so I didn't leave the house and I think the less I move around, the worse it is. However, I started to do my cardio this morning and I just couldn't get through it. Between the pain and low energy, I had to quit. I didn't want to have to say that I did, but that's the reality. I guess all that work the last few days has really caught up with me, as well as the lack of carbs shorting my energy. I was good for a while, but after 5 days of it, I think my body is ready for something. Then of course it was all protein today so that was tough as well but I hit all the parameters I was supposed to. Tomorrow is all fruit so at least I get carbs but I know that is the toughest day. Then I have 10 days that will be easier to handle. Plus tomorrow is a day of rest so hopefully I can recover fully. I guess I overdid it being gung-ho to get back on MS full throttle. But that's not going to stop me from keeping that intensity when I work out next because that's what I have to do to get results. Michael commented that I should change my lower body workout if I am unhappy with the results and I think that I already have, actually, since I was unable to do squats for a very long time and then when I could, it was during last month when I was not very dedicated to my workouts. So I think that I will improve from here, or at least I hope I do. If not, I'll make more changes, but I have been through enough change for this week :) Thanks for the advice Michael. So that's today, I'll have my pics up tomorrow and hopefully more energy and less pain. Hooya!

Day 130 - Klutzy goofy me

I don't know why, but I have been really uncoordinated today. I have been dropping things and hurting myself in minor ways all over the place. I hope it is over now. I have a burn on my right hand and blister on my left. Thankfully I didn't kill myself at Jujitsu. :) Anyway, today was good though, because I almost chickened out on my workout and was going to trade tomorrow's HIIT for today's lower body training since I was still sore but I said NO, GET DOWN THERE AND DO IT and I did. Lactic acid training - more squats, hamstring curls, shoulders, triceps. All good stuff. I am better about that kind of training anyway because you are trying for high reps at first and then after that it's just however many you can do, so I never short myself on that like I tend to do on the low-rep stuff. However, I forgot to mention yesterday that I did skip my HIIT then so tomorrow I have to be sure to get in a good one. I just couldn't face it yesterday after the pushups and the soreness and all. I also forgot to mention though that I took a stab at one-armed pushups. I only managed 5 pretty bad ones per arm but it was still cool if you ask me. So I didn't have to do cardio today but I did have some during Jujitsu so that should make up for some of what I missed yesterday. It's funny - I can be so sore when I get to class, but when I'm in there fighting I don't notice it at all. It's great. Wish I had discipline like that in every area of my life. But I digress....tomorrow then is pushups and HIIT and all protein. I am trying to finish out my day with a protein shake now but I experimented with it and it's kind of weird. My blender must be on the fritz or something because the ice just didn't blend. So it's kind of the consistency of snow. Ha ha ha. Jedi seems to like it, but don't trust his judgement, he also licks his butt. Just kidding, it's not really that bad, actually still probably better than straight protein powder in water. It is SOOOOOO much better in milk - one thing I miss about the low carb days. So I guess that's enough babble for now - I must be getting delirious. Hey my mom said I looked skinny today, or something to that effect. That's a lot coming from her, she's pretty critical. She said she could see it in my face. Yeah, that's exactly where I'm trying to lose it :) Just kidding, I appreciated the noticing...So, more excitement tomorrow. For now here's my pics - I think I can see some thinning out of my waist probably from this low carb cycle, and my back and arm muscles are showing up, but what's with the lower body? Come on now, it's killin' me!

Day 129 - DOM DOM DOM DOMS

So yeah I'm still sore - I think it's getting worse. Glad those squats were good ones! I don't really have anything else interesting to say tonight except that I definitely reached my carb limit today, but it was mostly from veggies so that's good. And I still don't know if you can subtract fiber or any of that like in Atkins but whatever. What I did realize is that today I passed 100 posts in my blog so yay me. Obviously I have not been posting every day since it is day 129 but it is cool to have over 100 in the books. Never thought it would be this big when I started. So that's about all I have to say tonight, gotta make Jeff some lunch. Love to all the shredders and here's hoping Adam's back soon!

Day 129 - Whining

Today I am feeling pretty tired, sore and achy. I did lower body yesterday so my legs are sore, then Jujitsu last night so I am a little beat up, and then upper body lactic acid training with the pushup challenge workout this morning so I am tired. Man what a complainer I am. But it's all GREAT! No, seriously, I am making great progress this week so I am not going to be upset about a little pain, I am used to that. I just don't want to injure myself and have to stop but I think I will be fine. Besides that, I feel good...okay that sounds weird but I guess I mean mentally because I have been doing what I am supposed to and the low carb has been no problem for me. I need to go shopping though, in preparation for my all protein and all fruit days coming up. That's all for now, hopefully I'll be back tonight with something more interesting...

Day 128 - Pushup video & Pics

And here's my clothing challenge picture - Hey what do you know, I made progress! :)

Day 128 - Speedy

Just a quick note so I am holding up my accountability but I have to go to bed - last night was bad after I went to bed at 11 the dog kept waking me up until about 1am so I did not sleep well. I had to have a nap this afternoon I was so wrecked but anyway other than that it was a good day. Got in my lower body fat loss circuit and I realized that in the past I have been way too easy on myself for the amount of weight I was lifting. I don't know what connection I wasn't making in my mind but I was choosing a weight to do for the specified number of reps and then just doing as many as it said instead of pushing until I couldn't do any more. This time around on MS I am going to failure (or close) and the reps are way higher than listed which means that my weight could go up alot. So I need to work on the intimidation factor of that. And also I don't feel like I am doing as much when I am only getting in 4 reps by the last set. I don't know, I'll have to get used to it, but it's a work in progress and I can't believe I didn't even realize I was doing it. Nutrition was good - I actually am really good with low carb for short periods of time so for now I'm actually enjoying it. That will change in 2 more days but I can already feel a difference. So that's the story for the day - did pushups as well and I'll put up the video for that tomorrow along with my daily pics. See ya!

Day 127 - LATE!

Okay, well I did not get my workout in today - I wanted to make sure I had my shake before I worked out so after my measurements this morning I had that, but then my husband got up and since it was a holiday, he had all kinds of things planned that he needed to get done before his new job starts tomorrow morning. So I had to hurry up and get ready to get going with him and we spent all day running around for stuff he needed. Then I was going to workout in the late afternoon, but Jeff and his brothers were using the bench and I needed the bar for my squats and deadlifts, so I couldn't do it then. Then I had my regular Monday MK meeting from 6:30-10 (stayed late and talked to my director, plus it's 1/2hr away from my house and I stopped to get milk). Then once I got home, I still had to do laundry because Jeff needed certain clothes for tomorrow, iron his shirt, plus I made his lunch, so here it is 11pm and I never got my workout in. So I went ahead and had my evening shake and am calling it a night. I wanted to do another evening workout and was planning to on my ride back from my meeting, but forgot about all the other stuff that remained to do for him and decided to switch my rest day of tomorrow with today and I'll just do today's workout tomorrow. I know that sounds like a big pile of excuses, but the workout was honestly on my mind a lot, I didn't just give up on it when I didn't get it in as scheduled in the AM, which for me is progress. Moving it to tomorrow will give my lower body one less day between workouts, but I'll survive. I don't want to count an actual missed workout, just a rescheduled one. Otherwise, things are going really well. Under carb and calorie count today. Having this short deadline is much better for my motivation.
Oh, crap I just realized I was supposed to do my pushups today too. Well I guess that's tomorrow as well - I'll get this right some day. Too much going on today! Anyway, talk to you all tomorrow!

Day 127 - Morning Stat Update

Here are my latest measurements - the loss and gain numbers are actually over 2 weeks since I was injured last week and did not do them. These will be my base numbers for the start of this 36-day sprint to ECSS.

Weight: 152 lbs (GAIN of 1# this week, loss of 0# in M3, 14# overall)
Omron bf: 25.4% (GAIN of 0.7% this week, GAIN 0.3% in M3)
MS bf: 18.4% (loss of 0.4% in M3, 4.7% overall)

Bicep: 11.5" (loss of 0" this week, GAIN of .5" in M3, LOSS of 1" overall)
Chest: 35" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 1.5" overall)
Waist: 28.25" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 2.75" overall)
Stomach: 31.5" (GAIN of .5" this week, GAIN of .5" in M3, loss of 3" overall)
Hips: 37.5" (loss of 0" this week, .25" in M3, 3.5" overall)
Butt: 41" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 2.5" overall)
Thigh: 25" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M2, 3" overall)
Total inches: GAIN of .5" this week, GAIN of .75" in M3, LOSS of 17.25" overall

Okay, some of these numbers are kind of weird. The Omron says that I gained body fat while the MS bf calculator says I lost it. However, the Omron is based on hydration level, and although I try to do it at the same time every time, first thing in the morning before I have had anything to drink, I'm sure that, as a woman, the amount of water in my body is not always normal. And the MS calculator is based on weight and waist measurement, which makes sense that I lost fat because, although my waist measurement stayed the same, I gained a pound, so the calculator is assuming that pound is muscle. Sounds good, but that doesn't account for adding inches on other parts of the body. And since I did add a little bit to the stomach area, that could be off as well. I'm not too worried about it, really, because I am proud that I have maintained well over the last two weeks with minimal training (none at all the last week). So that's the story for now. I'm sure that after this first intense week my numbers will drop all over and I'll be back on the road to my goal weight.
Speaking of my goals, I was looking them over and in order to meet them I have to lose just over 2# and 2", as well as 1.5% bf every week until ECSS. Now I realize that those are pretty high expectations, but I don't want to adjust my goals until I see what I can do these next 5 weeks, and even if I am not all the way there I will sure be happy with making good progress by then. And maybe after my recovery period I'll do one more round of MS to burn off the last little bit, and then I can focus on maintaining or adding more muscle. Not worried about that right now, just trying to go short term and I'll assess the results afterwards.
So that's it for now, be back with another update this evening.
P.S. I finally put my pics in the Day 125 post and here's today's pics:

Day 126 - Quick update

Just doing a quick post to say that Day 1 of MS is complete. It was a challenge because it was a weekend but it was good because it forced me to be compliant right out of the gate in a tough situation. And I did it! Under 30 carbs and under 1800 cal today, had my vitamins, and did my workout. I didn't get to the workout until about an hour ago, but I made myself do it and it felt great! Then I had my post-workout nutrition and I am going to relax for a little while before going to bed. But first I wanted to make sure to fulfill my commitment of posting every day. So that's it for now. New pics and stats tomorrow.

Day 125 - Going Massive!

Okay, so after careful consideration of my goals (listed at top of page), upcoming events, schedule, and the comments of my fellow shredders, I have decided to go all-out with a full Metabolic Surge Shred starting tomorrow.
I feel that I have healed enough from my pinched sciatic (or whatever it is) to start full workouts again plus I just can't wait any longer, not working out makes me feel like such a slug. The final thing I am doing is getting a massage today to work out the last of the problem, but even if it isn't 100%, I am confident that I will be able to do what I need to do in my training. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes, I appreciate the comments and advice in the past week.
And so the decision has been made for MS. I was really on the fence for a while, because, as Debbie said, it is a challenge to do the all protein and all fruit days (the worst parts) and the program is pretty rigorous, not a lifestyle type of thing but for sure a short-term solution. However, after reading through the program again, I believe that everything recommended in it is necessary for the kind of transformation that I am looking for over the next 36 days. And, as several of you mentioned, the workouts are excellent. Actually I never stopped doing the workouts while I have been on BFFM, just was a little less organized about them, because they are great and you never have to worry about adaption with them since they are all so different. I think that I can do the short-term sacrifice of harder nutrition compliance over 5 weeks for the long term gain of less fat and more muscle. Yeah, not much of a contest when I think about it that way.
If I really want what I say I want, I have to be willing to go all-out for it and I have been kind of half-hearted about it lately, thus the slowing of results. What was good about the last month was that I found out how to make this a lifestyle once I am at the goal that I have set for myself. And that's really a challenge for a lot of people, so I don't have to worry about that now, it's just that I was doing it a little prematurely.
So I am going for 100% compliance to the MS program, along with some added steady-state cardio as recommended in BFFM, for the next 36 days. That is the three full rounds outlined in MS before a 10 day rest/recovery period that I will take after ECSS. I am actually really excited about this, I feel like I have learned so much in this journey so far and I can really apply it to this mini-mission to end Mission 3 on the best note possible. This will all coincide nicely with the (semi-secret) things that Adam has planned for us to do on our blogs and his for this last push leading up to his big Day 500 and our ECSS. More on that to come soon.
For now, I am going to finish up my planning today and start with Day 1 tomorrow. What I have done is convert the MS pdf workouts to an Excel spreadsheet so I can make a few tweaks here and there that I have learned from my previous rounds, add in my SS cardio, and log the amount of weight that I am using for each type of exercise.
If you are unfamiliar with MS, you do different types of exercises, numbers of sets, reps, and times between sets each day, so you have several different amounts of weight that you can do depending on these factors. It's not like you just up the amount of weight you do for a particular exercise each time, it's all over the place, thus the need for more careful documentation. You only repeat a certain type of exercise every 12 days, when the next round begins, so there's a lot of flipping back and forth between pages to find your last weight, too if you don't organize yourself well enough. So that's why I made the spreadsheet for this time.
Also, the last time I did MS I did not plan my meals, I just knew what I my limits were for each day and kept it in my head. I know that I did well enough with that, because I had good results, but for this time, to both up the results and ensure compliance, I am planning my meals for a period of 12 days and repeating that for each round. That way there's no surprises and I won't get caught without the food I need for a particular day. This is where I have had trouble in the past, as far as sticking to the plan goes, but I know if I just commit to it and have it planned in advance I will do much better than spending time each day planning which is what I have done in the past. That takes too much time. So I will be planning up to my reward meal and then starting over again. With 12 days of meals, I know I won't get bored, plus the macronutrient rotation helps with that as well. I just have to remember that it's all short term and I can get through the hard parts.
The other issue that I have been dealing with is the fact that my husband is on BFFM with me and one of the big reasons I switched off of MS in the first place was so that both of us would be on the same eating schedule, but, again, this is only short term, and he is not willing to do MS with me (also afraid of the nutrient isolation days plus he's not good with low carb) so I will just make it work for the time that I will be on it. It's not long and it's not like I have to do something totally different, I just won't eat certain things I fix for him or add something to what I am having to satisfy the requirements of the day I am on.
Another reason I am going with MS is, as Adam said, the 12 day cycle really helps me from "taking off" on the weekends. Both nutrition and training-wise, I tend to give myself too much leeway on the weekends and it keeps me from getting the results I want. So the 12 day cycle really makes each part of the phase important, not related to which day of the week it is. With BFFM, we have been having our reward meal every Friday afternoon, and from then on it seems like things slide until Monday rolls around. This way, my reward meal will be every 12th day, whenever that may be, and when I go out to lunch with Jeff on Fridays it will force me to make smart decisions that are still on plan since it will not be my reward meal (most likely - haven't looked at all that dates yet). Also, having my reward meal in the middle of the day kind of gives me that mindset I was talking about avoiding in my earlier post about the "airplane principle" - that is, I tend to feel like the whole day is shot because I had my reward meal and just give up on it for the rest of the meals that day. Not a good thing to do, but sometimes I just can't help it. So putting my reward meal back on the evening of the 12th day like it was before will help with that since it will be almost the last thing I eat that day (planning on having a protein shake for an evening snack most days) and it won't be the flood gate opening for a weekend binge session. Amen to that.
The other little things (that aren't so little) that I am changing, or at least tracking better from the last time around are:
1) my protein intake - before I was not very strict with making sure I loaded protein during phase 3, so I will be watching that closely this time to have my 150g/day
2) pre- and post-workout nutrition - before I was doing my weight training fasted in the morning because that's just how I have been able to fit it in. I now realize that I will be more likely to burn muscle by working out without the proper building blocks in my body before and after, which will hurt my results. I will either do cardio in the morning if I am doing something fasted, or I will change my schedule around to allow myself to get in the proper nutrition before I train.
3) trying glutamine - I want to see if this does anything for me, I am not going to do the creatine because that is more of a weight-gain supplement, and I am not looking for that, but the glutamine is supposed to promote fat loss, so I want to give it a try.
4) tracking calories - this is something that I really loved about MS the first time, not having to track, and it is not really necessary if you are eating the right foods because it is tough to go over the calorie levels, but, like I said before, I am going all-out this time, so I want to keep my calorie count in mind when I am doing my meal planning to be sure that I don't accidentally go over. And, again, it won't be the drag that I have perceived it to be in the past because I will only be doing it once during planning and then just sticking to the plan (hmm, think I've heard this from Tom V?).
5) more intense HIIT - that sounds weird, I know, but I think I was really giving myself kind of a break on HIIT since I don't have any cardio equipment to gauge how hard I was working. On days when I didn't feel as well, I am sure that I was not where you are supposed to be whether it's maximal, sub-max, or near-max. So I recalculated my MHR and found the values where I think I should be depending on which type of cardio I am doing, and I will wear a heart rate monitor to make sure that I am not cheating on this. That's the only way I can think of to ensure a hard enough workout when I am just running in place, doing jumping jacks, using the punching bag, etc (the kinds of cardio I do at home since I have no equipment and I only have to sustain them for 1 min or less). Then for SS cardio I will be doing the Tae-Bo DVDs I have which are less intense so they can be done for longer amounts of time (30-45 min).
Okay, well I think that's everything. It's a detailed and optimistic plan, I know, but I feel very confident that I can do it given what is at stake here and the excellent accountability that you all in the ShredderSphere offer. Thank you all for giving me the confidence to feel that I can attain such a massive goal and giving me a reason and deadline to achieve it in (shout out to the NY4!). Keep on me guys, I am committing to posting every day so give me hell if you don't see me. Especially on the weekends, that's a tough time for me, so don't give me any slack! Talk to you all soon!
P.S. Here are yesterday's pics...

Day 123 - I'm Back Baby!

Well, I'm kind of back, but I have got to get some progress, I am falling behind! First good news (and a sign that I need to get focused) is that I have been able to take pictures again! Just when I had given up hope of finding my memory card, who finds it but star of stage, screen, and all my videos, Jedi! He was digging in the back of the couch and when I yelled at him to stop, he ran off with something small and blue in his mouth. When I retrieved it from him (all it takes is a cookie, he's easy, and he doesn't chew, just steals things he knows aren't his and runs off) it was my trusty memory card! So it had my pics from days ago the last time I saw it and then I took pics today so yay! I don't think I'll bother to go back and add pics to my past posts just yet but at least I have them for progression videos and such.
Second thing was bad news, but still a sign that I need to get focused, and that was my pushup count today. I could only get in 37 when my PB is 41. Not good. I have to get back on top of that, it's one of my real motivators, so that's going to be a priority these next 5 weeks.
So what's been on my mind is how to really ramp things up and reach my goals that I have set for ECSS. I also want to explain ECSS to those of you who may not know what it is about if you are not following all the other blogs associated with mine. I don't have a lot of time to got through both of those things right now, but suffice it to say that I am thinking of going back on Metabolic Surge for one more round because if I start soon, I will be just through my 36 days by ECSS. I have been back and forth about it, but I feel that if I want a big change I need make some big changes, and BFFM has been mainly about maintenance for me so far. Not that I do not like it - I think it is ideal for the long haul, but for the short term results that I am looking for, I think that MS is the thing, then I can stick to that size with BFFM as a lifestyle. MS is in no way a lifestyle. And not that I have been compliant enough with BFFM to really see a big difference, but I think that I will be happier in the short term with MS for just these last weeks before the big day. Any thoughts on this? It is a difficult program to do, but I did get good results on it before, and if I am very high on compliance with it, even higher than in Mission 1, I think that I can still reach my goals I have set for myself. That would be ideal. So I'm still in the planning stage of this whole decision, will be for sure on it some time this weekend because I have to start by Monday to get all the time in, sooner if possible, so I'll be back with more info soon. Stay tuned! For now, here's my pics (finally!). I think that I may even have made some improvement since day 100, surprising to me since I haven't had much change in the numbers, but I think I can see some progress so I am for sure happy about that. More tomorrow - talk to you all soon!

Day 122- Sidelined!

So sorry I haven't been posting but there hasn't been much to talk about - after my great cardio workout on Friday apparently I irritated or somehow pinched my sciatic nerve and have not been able to work out since. It sucks! Less than 6 weeks until ECSS and I can't shred! AAAAAHHHHH! Anyway, I have been extra careful about my nutrition compliance so I hope to be staying somewhat on track but doing only calorie restriction and not working out just doesn't seem to do it for me. Anyway, hopefully I will be able to work out soon, the pain has eased but has not gone all together and I don't want to re-injure it and be back at square one. I think I will do an upper body workout first to get something in, and also to get back on track with the pushup challenge, but for now don't know when the lower body workout or the cardio will be able to continue. Even sitting I get twinges in my hip and leg all the time. And not a lot you can do about it as far as I know, my husband had something similar happen to him last year and all they did was give him muscle relaxers. So I didn't bother to go to a doctor and have just been taking ibuprofen occasionally. Anybody have any other advice on this? Crazy, it seems like every time I get things rolling in the right direction and on all 8 cylinders, something happens to mess it up. Well I'm trying not to let it get me down, or cause me to eat badly because that is the only thing I am in control of right now. Like I said in my last post, all I can do is control my reaction to the situation so I am just making the best of what I can and praying to be able to move on soon! Talk to you all later!
P.S. Still have not found my memory card for my camera - I have no idea how I lost it, but I am going to have to give in and get a new one I guess, so new pics soon!

Day 117 - The Airplane Principle and E+R=O

Hey sorry I have been kind of scarce lately - things are actually going really well but I have been accomplishing so much that I haven't been on the computer much. Funny how that goes hand in hand :) Anyway, just wanted to do a quick update to say that I am feeling good, getting my cardio in and had Jujitsu twice this week so my workouts have been great, and have been eating well since I am planning more ahead for things. Still working on tweaking all of that so it works just right, but definitely making progress.
I have been in major de-clutter mode lately, and it was funny because Oprah had a thing on yesterday about how the clutter in your house can make you fat and I thought hey, I'm already improving on both those counts. But it was interesting, the point was that there is an underlying reason if you have a really messy house and it transfers to a really messy (i.e. FAT, UNHEALTHY) body because you are not dealing with the core issue and you are not taking care of the things you own or yourself. So I don't really know what the underlying issue is for me, but I am cleaning both up and I am feeling spectacular! :) Having a room in my house clean, neat, and orderly is much like stepping on the scale and having the number be lower. I just get excited and feel so much better about everything. So I don't know if the two are necessarily the reason for each other, but they are definitely related.
Anyway, I am just feeling really TOGETHER for the first time in a while and it is the combination of taking control of my health, my schedule, and my home. I had really just let everything go because for some reason I felt like if one area was messed up, I might as well just let everything else go. Not consciously, of course, but certainly subconsciously. It's like that damn voice in your head that tells you the whole day is blown because you had one wrong food or even one wrong meal, so you might as well just go buck wild and start over the next day. Or next week. Or quit. I still fight that voice some days, especially when I am tired or not feeling well. But it is such a lie. Every minute is a chance to start over again, so when one thing goes to crap, because things will, it is not an excuse to throw your hands up and give up on the whole day, week, plan, whatever. Just stop, forgive yourself for the issue (if it was you that did it in the first place - of course sometimes it is out of your control) and start fresh RIGHT THEN. And I'm talking about mainly the little things - there are major things that can really throw you off track and there's nothing you can do about that, just get back when you can, but I'm talking about the daily life that we let get in the way of our goals and dreams. That kind of stuff will just keep coming up, stealing our destiny, if we let it.
So I guess what I've learned is that small corrections along the way are easier than having to make that big change later on down the road when you wake up and realize you are WAY OFF TRACK. I guess I'm just thankful that I am realizing it in many things, not just in denial like I was before. The weight loss was the first thing, then the house, and next is my business. So I am excited about the future. Because this knowledge of the past mistakes I've made will only help me the next time I find myself facing one of those "give up" moments. Because when you find yourself making changes, any progress you have is better than where you were before.
Once I heard an analogy concerning this about an airplane. You get on a plane with a flight plan for a specific destination, say Las Vegas, and as as soon as you get going, the plane is pointed more toward Denver because things happen to push you off the most direct course to get you there: wind, weather, air traffic restrictions, whatever...you never fly in an exact straight line from point A to point B. So when you get up there and get off course, do the pilots say "well we aren't pointed directly toward Las Vegas, I guess we have to give up on this flight, turn around and go back" or "we better land here in Dallas because everything is against us today to make it there in a direct line, we'll have to wait for a day when the conditions are perfect" or even "we're headed toward someplace else now, so I guess we are going to go to Denver now instead of Las Vegas, even though everyone here wants to go to Las Vegas." No, they don't say any of those things, they make small corrections during the flight to ultimately get the plane to Las Vegas. There may be times when they have to go WAY off course, if there is a severe problem, but eventually they make it to Las Vegas because that's where everyone said they wanted to go. The path they took to get there may have changed, and maybe even the time frame, but the goal never changed, and they kept toward that goal in some way with every move they made.
So when you have your goal and you have your plan, don't be a slave to the plan and lose focus of the ultimate goal. Changing a part of the plan doesn't negate the reasons for making the goal in the first place. You won't be happier going to another or lesser goal if you really wanted to reach that original goal in the first place. Giving up and going back should never be an option. Stopping and waiting for the perfect set of circumstances in order to start again is just an excuse, because perfection will never arrive. You have to make it happen. No matter what you do in the process that's not in the plan, no matter how lost you get on the way, no matter how long it takes you, no matter what anyone else says about your goal, you must be determined to get there NO MATTER WHAT. That must be where that phrase comes from: no matter what...(fill in the blank)...because there will always be something standing between you and your goal. If there wasn't, you would already have achieved it. It might be mental, physical, spiritual, financial, social, personal, any number of things. But if you really want what you have visualized your future to be, if that dream is in your heart, it is there for a reason. We were not meant to dream big dreams and struggle all our lives, never to have reached them. We were given big dreams to fight for our right to have them, celebrate when we get them, and then dream another big dream to go after.
We are the only creatures on earth who have the capacity to set goals for ourselves. Every other living thing acts on stimulus/response and instinct. We alone were made to be more, to rise above instinct and reactions and choose our destiny. There is a formula that Jack Canfield writes about in "The Success Principles" that is simply E+R=O. What that stands for is Event+Response=Outcome. Events happen to us. We do not have control over them. All that we can control is our Response to them. And that is what will determine the Outcome. We alone in this world are able to change our Response to the Events around us and get a different Outcome. If I get sick, I cannot control that, it is and Event. If I CHOOSE to Respond to it by being negative and deciding that I will give up on my weight loss plan because I am unable to exercise for a few days, my Outcome is obvious: failure to reach my goal. True, you can't help how you feel when you are sick, and if you really can't work out then you should not. Notice that I was talking about your attitude regarding that fact that you missed some workouts or didn't eat right. If you can control your Response enough even to know when you are really sick enough to not workout or eat something different versus just giving up because you are not feeling 100%, that's the first type of Response I am talking about. But the second is also important: after that Event has passed, or even during it, what is your attitude? Do you see it as a reason to stop? Or do you determine to pick right back up where you left off and keep a positive attitude the whole way through, much improving your situation? Your Response could be to ride out those days that you are truly sick enough to take a few days off, then get right back at it, and your Outcome will still be the eventual achievement of your goal. The time line may get pushed back a little, but in the grand scheme of things, does anyone really notice that you made your goals a week or month later than you said you would? And for larger goals, even being off by a few years, once you are there, I think the only person who notices you weren't there last year is you. Anyone else who is truly looking out for your best interests doesn't care WHEN you do it, just that you DO IT.
All of this makes me think of Christy, who had a series of bad Events happen to her, but her Response to all of that was very different than most people would have taken. She has chosen to work through all of the excuses she could have, and that most people would really grant her to use, and instead be positive, active, and in control of her Outcome. She is a perfect example of what I am talking about. Has she had setbacks? Of course. But she has not allowed them to interfere with her ultimate goal, and has adjusted as things have come up along the way. That is what makes her so inspiring, and why I think people are usually so in awe of most of those kind of "overcomer" stories they may hear about. Whether it's someone who was told they would never walk again, or die of cancer, or anything, and they beat the odds, it's for sure because they decided that although they cannot control the Event, they were going to control the only thing they could, their Response, and thereby trigger a much better Outcome. Is it always the Outcome we desire? Nope. That's how life is. But often our plans have flaws that we do not see, and the unexpected Outcome is as result of this, but for sure the Outcome we get by having a good Response is better than the Outcome of a bad Response. And the unexpected Outcome we may get can turn out to be even better than we had hoped for, because we cannot even imagine all of the forces that come together to shape our destiny.
What we want in life is out there. For all of us. I don't care what your past has been like or your circumstances are right now, you can change your Response and get a better Outcome. And by doing that over and over with each Event that occurs and each goal we have for our life, we will slowly work our way out of the situations that have a hold of us or the past that haunts us, turn our back on all of that, and face forward to our best days yet. Just hold on, keep pushing, stay positive, and don't ever ever EVER give up.

Day 114 - Wrap up of the day and AL

So I don't know why I am having such trouble keeping up with tracking this, but I'm going to just keep trying until I get it right. Today felt good for exercise but not so much on the accomplishing side of things. I have decided that, in order to get in my SS cardio, I am going to do that for my morning workout and do my weights in the afternoon. I hope that this will work better than trying to do it the other way around because that was just not happening. One of the reasons was because once I am ready for the day, I don't like to get that sweaty again (I know, I'm such a prissy girl...) but if I do the weights later on, it isn't as bad as cardio. Also, I think that sometimes my weight workout suffers because I do it fasted in the morning and I need more protein to be able to lift more so I'm moving to a better spot in the day since fasted cardio is usually good. All things I was reminded of by Adam, so thanks! So I will be doing my weight workouts Monday, Wednesday, and Friday through Sunday and then Jujitsu as my second workout on Tuesday and Thursday. That should get me a lot closer to my goals as well as if I am able to better plan my meals. Those are my two biggest goals right now as far as my mission goes. Anyway, here's what the AL says:
1) Sleep: Target (2) I'm giving myself a target even though I got up at 6:30 because I have been helping Jeff in the mornings anyway and I went to bed last night at 10, so that's still good.
2) AVP: Minimum (1) Still working on getting this in more often - I can definitely tell a difference when I do it more often.
3) Nutrition: Target (2) I had 5 meals and I didn't actually track the calories and ratios but I know that I was not over, however I need to plan ahead more often so I don't run into the problem of not knowing for sure.
4) Workout: Outrageous (3) I finally started SS cardio today!! Yay me!! And I had my first Jujitsu class since the middle of December so that counts as a double workout and even though I didn't do the pushup challenge today I am giving myself a 3 for the day.
5) Prospect: None (0) Getting to this...eventually...I know, I know...
6) IPAs: Target (2) I dropped off one order for $50+ and got another order for $40+ so I'm calling that enough earnings to make my target.
7) Vitamins: Minimum (1) Only vitamins today.
8) Water: None (0) Got in less that 32 oz.
9) Project: Target (2) Mom came again today to help me out and we worked on finishing up the kitchen. Next it's on to my computer room/first office so I am looking forward to getting that done!
10) Accountability: Minimum (1) Only giving myself a 1 for the day because even though I did two postings I didn't get up my pictures and didn't read anyone else's entries.
Total for today = 14
GRAND TOTAL = 36

Tomorrow I have jury duty again so we'll see if the day is productive at all but I'll be checking in hopefully by the afternoon. See ya!

Day 114 - Good news & bad news

Okay, well this is interesting...

Weight: 151 lbs (loss of 0# this week, 1# in M3, 15# overall)
Omron bf: 24.7% (loss of 0% this week, 0.4% in M3)
MS bf: 18.6% (loss of 0.2% in M3, 4.5% overall)

Bicep: 11.5" (GAIN of .5" this week, GAIN of .5" in M3, LOSS of 1" overall)
Chest: 35" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 1.5" overall)
Waist: 28.25" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 2.75" overall)
Stomach: 31" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 3.5" overall)
Hips: 37.5" (loss of 0" this week, .25" in M3, 3.5" overall)
Butt: 41" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 2.5" overall)
Thigh: 25" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M2, 3" overall)
Total inches: GAIN of .5" this week, GAIN of .25" in M3, LOSS of 17.75" overall

If you'll notice all of my measurements were the same with the exception of my biceps. I guess I am happy with that because I know I really was off plan for about 4 days of the week and still I did not gain so I have to be glad for that. My progress has really ground to a halt, though, so I have to be more disciplined about everything and get that SS cardio in so I will get back on track for ECSS. Then there's the arms, which are not bigger because of fat but because of muscle. I can tell by looking at them. All of those pushups must be helping them or something so yay for that. If you check out my video from yesterday I think you can see what I am talking about. I watched it when I was editing it and I was like HEY are those my arms? :) It's funny how when you are losing weight you don't want to see the measurements go up but in this case I am happy. So that's it for this morning, doing Tae Bo for my SS cardio workout today and see how I do with that. Still need to find my heart monitor but I'll just do it the old fashioned way for today. See ya!

Day 113 - Video!

Well I thought I would do a video today because I was pressed for time so here you go...I have mysteriously lost my camera's memory card with my daily pics for the last few days on it so I don't have them for now but I'll find it tomorrow hopefully. Have a great day!!