Measure success by what you gain, not by what you lose
(copied from the Body For Life Success Journal by Bill Philips)
"Measure Success by what you gain, not by what you lose"
"I cannot emphasize enough that the BFL program is not simply about weight loss. Unlike virtually all the popular diet programs that basically measure your success by how much less space you take up on the planet, BFL is different; It's about gaining energy, increasing strength, renewing health, and decreasing bodyfat. So please, don't make the mistake of measuring your success each day, each week, or each month by the amount of weight a scale says you have lost. Measure your success by what you gain, not by what you lose; Gaining strength. Gaining muscle. Gaining energy. Gaining self-respect. Gaining self-awareness. Gaining self-trust. Gaining self esteem. Gaining back control of your life! This is what the BFL experience is about." -Bill Philips
These words could not have come at a better time for me. Today is my weigh in day and I have been dreading it all week (not really because I have been 'bad', just because last week I didn't lose anything... so I really have no idea what it's going to say). I woke up this morning and read this in my BFL success journal and it really just reminded me how far I have come in just 3 weeks of doing this program. I have already gained so much from doing this... especially a sense of accomplishment. I feel a difference in my body, my attitude, and my strength and energy..... so why should I even care about what the scale says? After reading this, it makes me want to not even step on the scale (lol, i'm going to anyway).
my free day and the ritz, st patty's day and off program
I didn't blog yesterday because it was my 'free day'. My mom and dad stayed over at the Ritz Carlton on saturday for my dad's 50th birthday and then my brothers and I (plus our significant others of course), my uncle, and my grandma all went and surprised him on sunday for brunch. OMG everything was just decadent and the dining room was beautiful and peaceful and just elegant and extravagent all in one lol. I could really get use to living that life.... hopefully someday I will be so lucky lol.
Anyways, so today was St. Patrick's Day. I went into the day having a plan. Most of you all know that I am a vegetarian (well, semi-vegetarian since I eat seafood) BUT i make exception for holidays... and well, today was a holiday so I had a lot of temptations. I was planning on still doing my 6 meals, one of which was going to be a little piece of corned beef (it's so fatty i cant even believe it), 2 potatoes and a carrot. I started to feel a little weary when we were all sitting with the appitizers and I had 2 crackers with spinach dip on them. Usually at this point though I would say "Ok, you already screwed up, you might as well eat more!" but I didn't. After everything I ate I said, "Ok, I ate it, there is nothing I can do about it, I enjoyed it, just don't eat anymore". Sometimes I ate more, but most of the time I didn't.
I definitely went off program with the eating, but after all of it, I can honestly say that I enjoyed every bite of it, stayed aware of what I was eating and how much of it I was eating (so I could write it all down and figure out the calories later), and I was definitely full but not uncomfortably stuffed (which I am known to do to myself on holidays...... which is not good at all).
I figured out all of my calories, which was by no means 'good, but then I compared them to what and how much I ate last year and I must have saved AT LEAST 600 or 700 calories just in that meal alone. So I am very glad that I did not just say "fuck it, whatever, i already blew it" because I tried to make more good choices then bad ones and it ended up not to be as bad as expected.
M1(190): sugar free oatmeal and 1/2 c. cottage cheese. M2(180): chocolate protein shake. M3(260): 1 piece whole wheat bread, 1 piece lowfat cheese, condiments and veggies. M4 (160): strawberries, 1 scoop whey powder, and 1/2 banana. M5 and M6(appitizer, dinner, and dessert, about 1010 calories): 2 crackers w/ spinach dip, corned beef, 2 small pieces soda bread w/ butter, 1 carrot, 2 yukon gold potatoes, part of ryan's creme de minthe and vanilla ice cream milkshake.
So I've finished day 18 out of 83. Today was a good day, I was really hungry though for some reason, I actually had to have a 7th meal/snack at around 10 because my tummy was talking to me and saying "jessica, please feed me, i am totally empty" lol.... I think it's because I worked out twice yesterday and really hard today. I really pushed myself at the gym, I actually got up to running 8.2 MPH... lol it was just for 60 seconds but still, my legs were burning so bad! I loved it. When I was doing it I kept thinking of Jillian on the Biggest Loser when she makes the people run at like 14 MPH.
Well tomorrow is my free day, which is always exciting lol. We are going to the Ritz Carlton for brunch for my dad's 50th birthday.... and I love love love breakfast food, so it is really going to be a treat for me, especially after a long week of sticking to the program.
M1 (300): egg whites, lowfat cheese, and a flax seed muffin. M2 (180): smoothie w/ blackberries, blueberries, 1/2 banana, and whey powder. M3 (270): whole wheat tortilla, soy hot dog, and reduced fat cheese. M4 (200): small caesar salad and prawns. M5 (240): flax seed muffin and a glass of nonfat milk. M6 (265): banana, chocolate whey powder, and 1/2 c. soymilk. M7 (150): flax seed muffin (I seriously can't get enough of them! they are so yummy and really filling- very fiberous lol)
Total: 1525 calories
WorkOut: 20 minute Running and 10 min walking cooldown
not much to report tonight, I went out to dinner for my bf's sister's birthday party to Max's. I wanted to eat the bread there so bad, but I restrained myself.I also opted out of having a piece of cake. I had a salad with prawns instead. I did have caesar salad dressing on the side, but I HATE a lot of dressing anyway, so at the most I only had a tablespoon or so. I worked out twice today, cardio in the morning and weights in the evening but I probably should have ate more calories than I did.
M1 (200): 1/2 cup cottage cheese and oatmeal. M2 (180): 2 scoops chocolate whey powder, 1/2 banana, 1/2 c. soymilk. M3 (170): raspberries and soymilk. M4 (250): 1/2 soy hotdog, whole wheat tortilla, lowfat cheese. M5 (200): small caesar salad w/ prawns (salad dressing on the side and no croutons). M6 (150): flax seed muffin.
I thought I would blog now since I wont be able to tonight (thursday's are sleepovers at RyRy's house ). I did well today but I didn't work out I slept through my alarm clock this morning and have been in class all day. I did have yoga today, but I usually don't count that as my official work out. I am going to work out in the morning though tomorrow and at night, do cardio in the morning before breakfast and then weight training at night when Ryan is out with his friends.
I was reading my BFL book and looking at the before and after pictures and articles. I found a woman who was 33% body fat (about where I started) and got down to 21% body fat AND lost 28 lbs in just 12 weeks doing the program. I am using her story (well I actually use all the stories) as motivation. My goal is to lose 20 lbs, and hopefully get down to 25% body fat by the end of the 12 weeks.
M1 (200): smoothie w/ soy, peaches, and strawberries. M2 (210): almonds. M3 (100): minestroni soup. M4 (300): prawns, veggies, whole wheat pasta, light tomato sauce. M5 (260): pita pizza w/ 1/4 cup lowfat mozerella, whole wheat pita, sauce, and veggie peperoni. M6 (220): special K protein bar and strawberries
Thanks everyone for the advice from my last post. I went on bodyforlife.com and it did recommend that I eat a little bit more calories than I have been, so that may be accounting for my no weight loss this week. Also, I am not even worried about it anymore because I took my measurements today and I am very very happy in the results so far.
Over the past two weeks i've lost a total of 9.2 inches off of my bicept, chest, waist, stomach, hips, thighs, and calves. Some of my biggest loss was in my chest (2 inches), my waist (2.7 inches) and surprisingly I lost 1.1 inches in my thighs (which have always been hard for me to trim down). ALSO, my body fat percentage went from 30.2% down to 28.7% in just two weeks! I am extremely happy and it makes me so excited to keep going with this whole process.
As for today on program... today was the first day (day 15) that I really "cheated" but only by having the smallest piece of pie you could ever see for my dad's birthday tonight... but it was still within my calorie range so it's ok.... I just won't do it again.
M1 (230cal): egg salad on english muffin. M2 (270): soy hot dog, whole wheat tortilla, reduced fat cheese. M3 (180): soymilk, berries, 1/2 banana. M4 (220): pita pizza- whole wheat pita, tomato sauce, lowfat mozerella, mushrooms. M5 (260): special K protein bar and a glass of nonfat milk. M6 (250): special K protein plus cereal, 1/2 banana, 3/4 cup soymilk. Other (100): cherry pie
First off, I would just like to say that my high school is in the news... and this was my english teacher 3 years ago.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4l3rNGfYzE&NR=1.... crazy huh? ew, what a creeper, i cant even believe it.
As for my weigh in.... What the heck?!!?! cdxkvb jkdxbv i am so mad, i gained a half a pound this week and I have no idea how that happened. I am really mad, like really really, I mean I stuck to program all week and it is only my second week doing it so i have no idea what went wrong. I am only assuming it has to be just my body adjusting. I am also still waiting for my period to come, it's a week late... I hope I am not preggo or anything.... but i'm sure i'm not. I am just really confused but I am not going to get discouraged and go around changing everything, I am just going to try to stay calm until next week and hopefully there will be a REALLY big weight loss to explain for the gain this week.
M1 (220cal): protein shake w/ banana, soymilk, and chocolate whey. M2 (200cal): whole wheat english muffin and egg salad. M3 (230cal): portobello mushroom wrap with portobello, feta, and arugula, on a whole wheat tortilla and a glass of non-fat milk. M4 (270cal): protein smoothie with soymilk, peaches, vanilla whey and cherries. M5 (140cal): flax seed muffin. M6 (230cal): 1 cup cottage cheese, 2 WASA crackers.
Today was a good day, I stayed on program and I worked out this morning before I ate breakfast. Not much else to report, im gonna go to bed early tonight so i can get up early and go swimming before class.
M1 (220cal)- protein smoothie w/ banana, chocolate whey, soymilk. M2 (180cal)- 1/2 egg salad sandwich on low cal bread. M3 (205cal)- 1/2 banana, 3/4cup special K protein plus cereal, 1/2 cup soymilk. M4 (160cal)- protein bar and a plum. M5 (350 cal)- almonds and flax seed muffin.
That's a total of 1115 calories so far, I still have to eat my sixth meal which is going to be about 200 calories I think
I have been soooo unbelievable moody the past 2 days you would think I am bipolar or something. One second i'll be crying and then the next i'll just be so mad I want to punch somebody (aka my bf) in the face. I've also been super super tired and super irritable and on edge lately.
R hasn't been acting any differently than he normally does, but for some reason, all the things that he does that bother me, I just seem to notice more, and they seem to bother me more and more. Like last night R told me (yea, told me, didn't ask me) that in the morning we were going to go to his g-ma's birthday party. So I was pissed off that he didn't tell me sooner AND I was mad because I knew I wouldnt be able to workout or sleep in in the morning so it was frustrating. Anyway, so I get to his house when he told me to be there all ready to go and he is still in bed playing video games and tells me that we arent going anymore! OMG usually this kind of stuff doesn't bother me but I was seriously SSOOOOOO mad I couldn't even control myself. I was/am just so frustrated with him right now because I am trying to live a good healthy and PRODUCTIVE lifestyle, and all he does is eat and play video games and sleep all day. He is really getting (cuz he never use to be when he use to play baseball) lazy. He has also gained a LOT of weight, which doesn't bother me about how he looks at all, but it just shows how bad his lifestyle has gotten.
I realize that everyone has different priorities, and I realize that those priorities can change, but if two people have totally different outlooks on what is really important in their lives, then how is it ever going to work?
These are his priorities right now- work, videogames/tv/leisure, softball, sleep, me.
These are what mine are (which need some adjusting but still)- sleep, ryan, exercise, school, friends
See? Two totally different sets of values. I don't know what to do. I am just really unhappy right now. Whenever I try to talk to R about it, he listens, but I don't think he gets it and I don't think he realizes that it is serious.
Anyway, this post was all over the place with my thoughts, sorry about that. So today I didn't do to well with my eating, and I wasn't able to work out until 10:30 tonight (I did a 30 minute body sculpting video even though I was suppose to do cardio, but it was the only thing I had and the gym was closed). It wasn't that bad, but tomorrow i'll do better.
M1(10:30): protein smoothie w/ banana, blueberry, strawberry, and whey. M2 (12:00): tall nonfat latte. M3 (2:30): lowfat cottage cheese and 2 WASA crackers. M4 (6:00): flax seed muffin. M5 (7:30): swordfish and 1/2 whole wheat bun
I wasn't able to post yesterday because I slept over my boyfriend's house last night, but I'm just gonna do it now instead. Let's see what happened yesterday.... I went to the gym before school to do some cardio. I went on the eliptical and I did well but I probably could have pushed myself more. I also had yoga and it felt so good to stretch! my calves still burn from my lower body workout I did on wednesday. I was really craving sashimi for dinner so R took me to a sushi place even though he doesnt like it... which is sweet :) Anyways so instead of ordering sashimi like I wanted, I saw that they had sushi rolls w/o rice... so i ordered one of those and then when it came it was deep fried! I was so disappointed, I should have stuck to my initial craving instead of trying to get all fancy lol... so now I still have the craving! Tomorrow is my free day though, so I think I am either going out to sushi or thai food with my girlfriends, so that should be fun. Well i'll try to write later, i'm going to post my recipe for the flax seed muffins for anyone who is interested (I just made some more today and readjusted the recipe so they taste even better)
). I did well today but I didn't work out 
I slept through my alarm clock this morning and have been in class all day. I did have yoga today, but I usually don't count that as my official work out. I am going to work out in the morning though tomorrow and at night, do cardio in the morning before breakfast and then weight training at night when Ryan is out with his friends.