Wow, that week went by fast. I hope it was a terrific BFL week for all. Let us know how it went for you.

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Well, it was a good first week (again) for me. The workout's went great. My body is so sore, but sore in a good kind of way, if that makes any sense.

Nutritionally I was right on the mark. I think it was good for me to change my diet. It made me really concentrate on it and start useing fitday to keep track again.

Trish and I and the two dogs have been doing our HIIT together in the mornings. It's a lot of fun to do it in a pack. Maj the younger dog (6 years old today) is such a show off. Whenever we start running she goes zooming past us just to show us how it's done. Alex, the older dog (14 years old) has a little trouble keeping up when we are running fast, but he always catches up when we slow down again. But I'm afraid that due to my legs being longer than Trish's I may have to go it on my own soon in order to keep my intensity levels up. Too bad, I love running in a pack.

Arnie

Well, it's been another disastrous BFL week for me. I only completed 3 out of a planned 6 workouts, stopped counting calories (although I did stay LC) and generally felt de-motivated.

Part of the problem is a very high stress level right now, which has caused me to lose a lot of sleep, and then I don't feel like going to the gym. Also, I have been extremely hungry for the past month and that's making it really hard to stay motivated to keep LC-ing. I'm figuring that if I have to be hungry anyway, then if I ever do BFL again I might just do it by the book. Maybe I would have more energy for the workouts, or better recovery, or something.

On the positive side, I'm consolidating my gains in the bench press and can now do 99 lbs x 8 followed by 104.5 lbs x 4 or 5 reps for the heavy set. When I hit 104.5 previously, it was a big jump on a day where I felt especially strong. Now I'm doing it regularly in a smooth progression.

Squats are still at a high weight of 121 lbs and I am getting a lot of soreness the next day, despite glutamine supplementation. Yesterday I could hardly walk, so needless to say, cardio didn't happen.

I intend to really blast it for the final 2 weeks, and hunger be damned.

Emily

So-so week for me. I did get all my workouts in, but none of the cardio was on an empty stomach. When I teach my water aerobics classes (at 8 and 8:30), I am so irritable from hunger before I even leave the house, and I am very weak by the time class is over. Thursday I was supposed to do cardio before work, but I was too sleepy to get up, so I did it this afternoon instead. Next week I only work M W, so I plan cardio those days plus my Fri water class. I'm going to try a small protein shake before class and see how that does - certainly better than eating a full breakfast.

I must say that the diet is getting old. I am tired of keeping the fat so low, and I have no interest in carbs unless they are also full of fat. I have been slipping more, nothing major, out of hunger and exhaustion. If it weren't for the free day I couldn't do it. So I am planning on getting to bed earlier and weaning myself off caffeine except for pre-workout. We'll see how it goes.

Jen

Had a very tiring week. It was my week 4 and I feel like I was running out of steam. I got all my workouts in, but every one of them felt like they took everything and more out of me, and I was so tired all week. None of this amazing energy - just dragged myself around. Not sure if I was fighting a bug - but I took my measurements on Saturday after my first full 4 weeks of BFL, and my waist was down to 36" from 37", and my thighs were 25" each from 26.5" when I started - that amazed me. But my hips were up to 41.5 from 41 - how is that possible? Chest was the same - 42". That gave me some energy - seeing results, because the scales are so up and down. I was 204 for a bit, but keep bouncing up and down from there to 207 and down and up - today was a disappointing 207 but TOM is approaching...I should learn to stay away from the scales.

Today was a good lower body workout, and I love my cardio only days - looking forward to tomorrow. I think last week was so draining because I had 2 upper body workouts - Monday and Friday - and I find them especially difficult since my upper body is quite weak. Saturday was a great cardio day, and I even got a steam in the steam room - a bit of R&R! Sticking to Atkins and not taking a free day - hope that continues to work for me.

Congrats, Arnie - I can't run with my AJ because he'd be pulling me and I'd never keep up - last time I ran with him he cut in front of me and I twisted my knee - he's a devil dog - but we have great hikes together!

Jen, sounds like you and I had a similar week. What week are you on? Is week 4 a typical "exhausted" week? I am really going to try to get my full 8 hours sleep to see if that improves - hope you can too. And I almost fell over after working out on an empty morning stomach and then not eating until 10:30 a.m. - I had to eat or I was afraid I'd pass out.

Emily, I feel for you...it's hard enough to do this without the addition of stress, and you have come so far already - only 2 more weeks - you should be proud of what you've done. You've certainly made improvements in your lifting, and 3 workouts are better than none...try to catch up on the sleep and hopefully the rest will work itself out...best of luck.

Have a great BFL week everyone!
Laura

Well I wasn't planning on posting this week because I feel so guilty about how poorly I did last week, but since others have confessed, I guess I can too. I only did two of my BFL workouts -- one UB, one LB. I skipped all the cardio because I just couldn't drag my butt out of bed in the mornings.

As you may recall, last week I wrote about how disappointed I was in my results after 4 weeks and how that caused me to eat like a pig for a three days straight, gaining back all the weight that I had lost. Well, last week I over-compensated by severely limiting my calories. I lost the weight, but went a little nuts on free day and am now somewhere in the middle weight-wise.

I am re-dedicated to BFL this week. Of course, today's already screwed up because my department went out to lunch to a buffet where everything was swimming in oil. I guess I'll just have a shake for dinner . . . .

I wish I had the discipline to add cardio to weight days. I do weights late in the day, after work. I do cardio first thing in the morning. So I could easily do cardio every day, but when that alarm goes off at 4:45, I don't want to get up!

I had a pretty good week, just shy of "great." I decided to add a 2nd cardio session after my lifting 4-5 days a week, and I did every single one. I know this is not regulation BFL, but I wanted to try it based on some reading I had done. Nutrition was rock solid and I'm feeling very good on an ECC of 50 ish. Dropped a percent of BF, 2 lbs and some inches. My only complaint is that I didn't lift. It was midterm week, and I was trying really hard to make that second cardio happen, but I hear something of a pattern of excuses about my lifting lately, so I need to look at that.

Congrats to everyone on their progress this week! Onward!!

Cheers,

Friday

I'm adding my this week wasn't great either, voice. I guess the main thing is that we are hanging in spite of the weeks adversities. The dr. prescribed2 more weeks of antibiotics and they are hitting my tummy in the worst way. Had to miss a few days of work, getting sick nearly every hour. I got some medication to for the side effects today so maybe I'll start feeling alive. I only did my LBWO last week. I will probably skip cardio this week and try to get all the lifting in. I was so rundown yesterday I would do 3 squats and have to rest 30 seconds. My legs are really sore which surprised me.

Tholian maybe you can try something to help you sleep? I am a major insomniac some of the things that have helped me are: Baileys in hot chocolate and a jacuzzi before bed. Yoga, staying up extra late, reading, benadryl. Have you tried ashwaganda, it relaxes you and helps your body deal with stress. I always take it when I'm hormonal. Maybe you can just workout whenever you have time. Heavy exercise helps me sleep sometimes.

Forgot to mention food. I am supposed to eat very heavy to shield the medication. My diet has sucked. I have been lowcarb 3 days but not in ketosis. But I have had a headache and felt tired so hopefully tomorrow.

caverjen I have hard time with the empty stomach too. When I do cardio like that I sweat a lot more and my heartrate is higher. I decided to keep food in my car and eat the minute it is over, I think I'm having hypoglycemic moments.

AJ wonderful progress!!! I bet the hips increasing is the fat moving around thing. Your attitude is great and got me motivated to hang in this week.

Arnie, you can become the showoff dog of the pack and run circles around everyone else.

nawchem, all good suggestions about my sleep issues. I'm not quite an "official" insomniac anymore, but I used to be when I was younger, and under stress my sleep is the first thing to go.

I have to watch out for booze as I have a tendency to overdo it; I've tried "just 1" glass of wine to get to sleep, and too often it's turned into most or all of the bottle before drowsiness finally comes. And then I have to cope with a hangover the next morning--not fun.