Happy Friday Eve all! I am so ready for the weekend. Why does it seem like the longest week ever when you return from vacation?! This morning I woke up again at 4:30 am for no apparent reason. I stayed in bed for a bit and then The Husband woke up to tell me I’ve been tired, I should sleep in. Wow, I so wish my body/brain would let me sleep?! After sitting there for about 10 more minutes, I figured, sleep wasn’t happening so I got up to do my Upper Body Workout. I started with my chest exercises and told myself I didn’t need to do the jumping jacks/jumping rope in between to give myself a break. I honestly really just wasn’t feeling it. I did something I don’t think I’ve ever done, I decided to ditch my workout and enjoyed a leisurely morning making breakfast and eating it at home. The besst part, I didn’t feel guilty for not doing it ~ my body/brain both were saying they needed a day off. (More on this at the end of my post in my BFL ramblings)
APPLE PUMPKIN OATS 
1/2 c Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
1 c water
Dashes of cinnamon and vanilla extract
1 Tbsp Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter
1/2 Honey Crisp Apple, chopped
Sprinkle of Organic Unsweetened coconut
1 Tbsp Freshly Ground Almond Butter
It was perfect for the cooler weather we have been having. I brewed up some decaf hazelnut coffee to go with it and thoroughly enjoyed sitting at our table for once and eating breakfast.
Sadly I am not sure when the last time was that I ate breakfast at our table. I usually take it to work with me and eat there. I definitely need to enjoy our house more often! Since I didn’t add any protein in, I was pretty much hungry an hour later. But, I held out for 2 hours before I had a snack ~ the other 1/2 of my apple, Sargento LF Colby Square and a few cashews.
Today was definitely at day to get out for lunch. The weather was beautiful. My two co-workers and I headed out to our favorite local Mexican food place called TR2. I did have a few chips and salsa ~ why resist when they look THIS GOOD?!
I really should venture out and try something new, but, I LOVE their tacos. Today, I had 2 tacos, Mexican Style (with cabbage, cilantro, hot sauce, cojito, and AVOCAOD!)
Shrimp!
Fully loaded with major HOT sauce – so, so, hot with AVOCADO to cool it down!
Chicken! I actually think it might have been better than shrimp today.
I did taste the rice and beans, but, really didn’t have room to eat them.
On our way back we made a stop at Starbuck’s. I got a grande iced nonfat decaf latte with caramel drizzle for my afternoon snack. I LOVE afternoon lattes!
Even with the fun of going out to lunch, today honestly felt like the LONGEST work day ever. When I got home, I had a fantastic POM Surprise waiting for me ~ I LOVE surprises! They have two new flavors ~ check them out!
* Pomegranate Nectarine 100% Juice!!!!
* Pomegranate Kiwi 100% Juice that is 100% The Husband’s since I am allergic to kiwi’s :) He’s excited to have his own surprise LOL! He is drinking it now and says it tastes like POM with hints of Kiwi ~ He likes it, Mikey likes it! LOL….
I am debating drinking the nectarine one or creating a fun recipe with it…..Hmmmmm – decisions, decisions!
Today was the LAST DAY of our local Farmer’s Market ~ sad! Lucky for me there are still TWO others open through November. Although it was slim pickings, I still scored some great loot.
Organic Strawberries!
Big red grapes for The Husband ($1/lb) and a $2 cantaloupe!
2 Pomegranates ~ Yeah!!!! I LOVE these straight up or in salads.
Do you all remember when I sautéed up these sweet & spicy peppers? I got a bunch of them for only $0.50/lb. I couldn’t pass up that deal.
Green beans for $1.00/lb!
Since it was the last day of the market, we both agreed we had to visit The Husband’s favorite BBQ vendor. He gets these hot links that are straight up red there and loves them. I picked up a humungous teriyaki chicken skewer that I split with The Husband.
And balanced it out with some TJ’s Organic Broccoli Slaw with TJ’s Low-Fat Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette.
This is one of my favorite dressings and the stats are pretty decent. It’s awesome on slaw, salads, pastas and as a marinade.
After dinner I whipped up a recipe using these fantastic Organic Japanese Cucumbers for one of my co-workers from her CSA box. Can anyone guess what I made???
I’ll be posting the recipe either tomorrow or this weekend. Be sure to check back for it because it’s so simple, tasty and healthy you’ll want to make it.
BODY FOR LIFE UPDATE AND THOUGHTS (MID-CHALLENGE, WEEK 6)
This part of my post is really just my ramblings to get some thoughts out that are going through my head. Feel free to skip to the ***** or read on and share your thoughts – I’d love to know them!
RAMBLING STARTS HERE 🙂
Let me start out by saying I am not quitting the challenge or anything like that. I have never quit anything in my life and I am not about to start. I am sharing some of my thoughts and assessing where I am at/where I want to go. I have been really proud of myself for sticking to my workouts 100% the entire challenge. That means getting up every morning at 5 am 6 days a week with only 1 day of rest. My eating for the first 4 weeks was spot on. Week 5 during my vacation, I stuck to the BFL eating for breakfast, all snacks and most lunches/dinners. Since I was on vacation I decided to enjoy a little too. This week is week 6 and I am honestly really struggling.
I am not sure why but this morning I gave myself alot of time to reflect on what is working well and what I can improve on. I think my biggest issue with how I have been doing BFL is that I actually eat less fruits/vegetables and dairy than I normally do. With my Weight Watchers roots, I have embedded in my eating habits 2 dairy servings and at least 5-7 fruits/vegetable servings a day. I also feel like the perfectionist in me needs to meet the BFL ratios the 40/40/20 (protein/carbs/fat) 100%. When I don’t, I feel discouraged like I am not working the plan very well.
I naturally balance my carbs/proteins usually but for some reason I feel so confined to really try to hit those ratios. It’s like being told to eat in a box and when you do that, you are not enjoying life. I think I should be able to add fruit to my breakfast of eggs and toast and not have it count against me. It’s a healthy addition. I should be able to add fruit to my flavored yogurt and not have it count against me. I know you can do BFL and not have their shakes or bars, yet, I feel like it is encouraged to get the best results. I struggle with the ingredients in their products because they are not part of who I am. I am all about clean eats with clean ingredients I can recognize 90% of the time. There is always room for indulgence so that is what the 10% is for :) But, I feel like if I go with a bar or a shake I am somehow missing out on REAL food where I can have a fruit/vegetables with something simple like hummus or cheese or nuts – once again, all healthy things. I think i struggle trying to fit in 25 g of protein 5-6 times a day as well. This is why I use the shakes because it takes so much prep to plan for that much protein. I am not so much into buying processed/pre-cooked meats since I like to cook my own. I also think that I consume more calories by consuming more protein/carbs when i could be eating less through fruits/veggies/etc. I could probably go on, but, I think this sums most of it up.
All that being said, I am not saying the program is bad. There isn’t one eating plan that is perfect for everyone. What I am saying is that at the half way point ~ it’s time to assess where I am at and where I want to go. I have noticed my motivation this week is lagging and to me it shines through in what I am eating – notice it isn’t BFL balanced. I NEED to feel inspired by what I eat and feel motivated in all that I do.
For the next week, beginning Saturday, I am going to try a new approach to my BFL challenge. I am still going to do the workouts 100% by the book, however, I am going to rely on my Weight Watcher roots to point out my eats, balance them according to WW and keep the BFL food theories in mind. I will still focus on protein/carbs being balanced, but, I am giving myself a little freedom to just basically eat clean within my points with no ratios to worry about. Points keep my portions in check and WW has always worked for me when I work it to lose weight. I am down 3.2 lbs in 6 weeks, I want to see how much I can make that go down in the next 6 weeks with this theory.
BFL workouts + Weight Watchers Philosophy on eating.
What do you think? I’d love to hear any thoughts from any of you who have done a challenge or just struggled with trying to meet your weight loss goals.
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I am really exhausted tonight so I am off to read, relax and catch up on some zzzz’s. There might be some Dulce de Leche ice cream involved here too, but, I am not too sure just yet. I am considering this my “free day”. I am not setting my alarm for my early morning workout. If I wake up, I’ll do it then, if not, then, I’ll do it at lunch or after work.
Have a great night all ~ The Great Pumpkin Giveaway winners will be announced in the morning!
One of my favorite dressings everrrr. That stuff is good! Have you tried the raspberry walnut one? Damn!! I find it’s true that the body loses weight easier and more with “clean” eats. But I don’t find shakes and bars necessarily “clean”, even if they do have the correct stats. Personally – I’d go with your gut! If you’re craving something…eat it! Just somehow work it into your daily meal plan.
I think it is wonderful how much insight you have into your own eating!
You are spot on in saying that what works for some doesn’t work for others, and I think that with any program or plan or whatever it is important to make it work for you. You seem to know exactly how to do that. Don’t feel guilty for not following BFL to a t, feel good about eating clean and eating what makes you feel satisfied and content!
Have a great Friday!
Tay: I totally agree with you, if you are craving for something, go eat it. I love Barbecues, i used to eat BBQ everyday..
Your apple pumpkin oats look fabulous. What a great way to welcome October!
POM is now making nectarine and kiwi juice? Wow, what will they come up with next?
Hope you have a great weekend planned!
Get out of my head! Your rant on BFL is exactly how I felt when I did it. I did the challenge from March 1998-July 1998. I only lost 5 pounds but dropped an entire clothing size,leaned out and gained muscle definition. At the time I started my challenge I was a size 4 – so I didn’t really need to loose weight, but I was skinny fat.
I got so tired of forcing myself to eat 25 grams of protein for a snack when all I wanted was hummus and carrots. I didn’t really like the shakes or bars. I didn’t feel like I was eating and they didn’t satisfy me. I did stick with it for the 3 months and was very happy with my results.
After my three months I ventured into workouts I found in magazines (like oxygen) and the internet and ditched that whole 25 grams of protein for each meal. Some meals I ate more than 25 grams (usually lunch and dinner) and some meals I ate less. It balanced out at the end of the day.
There have been a few things that have stayed with me from BFL. I eat 5 meals a day (3 larger meals with 2 snacks), I do 3 cardio sessions and 3 weight training sessions a week with one full day off (sometimes two). I have just recently dropped the free day. I looooved free day and that concept worked for me for a while. I now have approx. 3 free meals a week versus an entire day. I did find that I used a free day as an excuse to eat myself into a coma and then found myself miserable on Friday night when all I wanted was to eat out and chill but felt like I had to be good so I could be bad on Saturday. Now if I want to eat out and splurge on Friday and Saturday night I do, but I just keep my Saturday breakfast and lunch balanced and healthy. Before I would suffer on Friday night and spend all day Saturdy eating all the crap I could find.
With my meals now I just try to include a carb, protein and fat. I do not worry about the ratios. I figure it all works out at the end of the day. I just recently added whey protein shake after I weight train because I was battling an overtraining problem and decided to try the shakes for a while to see if that help me recover faster.
It has been over a year since I did BFL and I weigh less and I am smaller now then I was at the end of my challenge. I have continued to progress with my muscle definition and look better today than I did then.
I still point people in the direction of BFL when they ask me about my own journey. I think it gives you a great structure to begin with. Without BFL I don’t believe I would have ever gotten into weight lifting which is something I now consider a hobby.
I know how you feel about finding it hard to let go of your WW roots. I lost 50lbs on a low carb diet 5.5 years ago. I never gained the weight back. It worked for me. Can I tell you how scared I was to eat carbs again?? But I do eat carbs now and I am strong, skinny and healthy.
You are not alone in your thoughts on BFL and I think that with your BFL exercise and WW diet you will still see great results. Hang with it beyond your three months and and it will just keep getting better.
I think you’re doing a smart thing by exercising how the plan is but listening to your body for food. IT’d be pretty much impossible for the creators of the program to make a diet that works for everyone, and it sounds like it’s just not for you. And if you aren’t fueling comfortably I think sticking to the workouts will be that much harder, so in the case I’d say follow your instinct.
I think your reassement of the plan sounds great! I used to do WW too and I think the F/V and dairy requirements are good guidelines!
The Pom nectarine sounds amazing! Your oats looked great too!
#1- oh my oh my. those apple oats look INCREDIBLE!
#2. Ohmigosh. You hit the nail on the head- I am having the EXACT same feelings with BFL. I am not quitting the challenge either- I LOVE the workouts and have been 100%. But the fruits + veggies are lacking, and I am balancing carbs/protein but something doesn’t feel right about it… not to mention I have not lost a pound! I feel very restricted too. I KNOW the principles of healthy eating and I KNOW it is not essential to balance every CHO, Protein + fat bite that goes into your mouth… an overall balance is the key to health and weight loss. I feel as though the bars are much less what I would normally go for as well. I do like the shakes, but other than that… I feel I am eating SO much less healthy than I used to. So I feel as though some modification is not a problem- especially if we’re both still eating healthy and balanced.
Good luck!
xo
K
Hi! Newbie here…I am considering doing BFL and similarly to you have a WW background. Thank you for being so honest about how it has worked for you and how you plan on tweaking it. I’d be curious to read how it works for you in the coming weeks. Thank you again for your honesty!
Danica: you have accomplished so much with your weight watchers which I think is the best way to lose weight and keep it off. WW teaches healthy eating and that is exactly what you are doing. Fruits and vegs are good for you and with your creativity with food you doing as great job. Don’t worry about this 4040/20 – you know what is healthy and what is not. Being happy in life is so important and you need to put your happiness first.
Girl I know how you feel! Granted I’m only 2 weeks in, but it really stresses me out trying to balance everything out! I too come from a Weight Watchers background (I talk about it in my “My Story” page) and it’s a struggle to break the grib that points can have over you. I on the other hand refuse to count points for the rest of my life. It became a very disordered way of eating for me. I also don’t think WW doesn’t take into account the amount of activity a program like BFL requires and you might be consuming too few calories.
That said, I too am making my own modifications to the BFL eating style. My body is very sensitive to carbs. When I eat too many it spikes my blood sugar and can trigger me to overeat or even binge. I’ve found that by forcing myself to eat more and more carbs just to make sure my ratios balance out is a slippery slope. I think from now own if I take in a few less carbs it won’t hurt my progress.
You are so right in that no specific detailed program is going to work for everyone. I’ve read articles that most of the previous BFL winners DIDN’T follow the program by the book. They added extra cardio, tweaked their diet, and even took several challenges to achieve their “after”
Anyway I didn’t mean to hijack your comments 🙂 Hang in there and if you ever need to vent about it all feel free to email me!
I am still trying to figure out how to take photos of oatmeal without having it look like throw up! Haha.
What a fab bowl of oats! I like the idea of broc slaw with peanut sauce too.
Sorry I’m so behind on this! I think Beth and Kristin made really excellent points. BFL (this is my opinion after having done a couple of challenges myself) is a GREAT way to get into weights, learn more about the importance or protein, clean carbs, eating small meals throughout the day to keep your blood sugar stable and your metabolism revved, strength training and saving time by performing HIITs. However, it doesn’t mean you HAVE to stick with the workouts or eating program for life. You can if it works for you and you’re enjoying it, but I had to finally realize that I would be ok and not blow up if I strayed from the program.
I did awesome during my first challenge – I went from 130 to 112 (I’m 5’3″) but after that I could NOT get on track and stay there without falling back into old habits (bingeing). I would try some new workout program and new way of eating, try going back to BFL after reading inspiring stories (and the book) again, but for some reason the challenges after my first were not the same. Finally I realized that BFL for me was a good kick in the rear and it opened up an entirely new world of lifting weights and working out, but it wasn’t the be all end all either. Now I eat a variety of foods, mostly all very healthy, sometimes raw, sometimes not, sometimes vegetarian, sometimes meatatarian (ha ha) and for workouts I do what feels good. Sometimes that’s a hard weight workout, some days it’s a long cardio worout, sometimes it’s a combo of weights + cardio, etc.
The worst thing in the world, at least for me, was feeling deprived. It got to the point where I wanted a bowl of oatmeal with fruit, nuts and almond butter but I constantly felt guilty because it wasn’t the “perfect” balance of protein + carbs. Now I’ve thrown all numbers out the window. I still weigh myself occasionally, but I stick to healthy foods, the occasional indulgence, eating when I’m hungry, what I want, stopping when I’m full and moving.
I can’t believe I wrote such a novel – I hope that didn’t confuse you!! I apologize for hogging your comments page…I just related so much to what you wrote because I was saying exactly those same things a year ago. 🙂
Good luck! You’ll find your way…