2 weeks left!

Wow - only 2 weeks to go. Still going by pretty fast. Over all I am feeling so much better about my self, and did measurements this morning, and am down again on the weight - 186.8! Waist is budging a little - 39.75, and hips are down - 43, chest - 38, thigh still the same :P This week I'm going to focus on the more fruits and veggies, and less grain carbs. We'll see if it makes a difference.

After this challenge is over, I am taking the recommended 1-2 weeks off, and starting again on April 5th. The reason they recommend a break is because this is intense stuff, and your body needs a break. Also, there is what is called the "set point theory" Its your body's 'comfort zone' with its weight. Everyone has a weight range that your body wants to stay at. So you may do really well dieting and exercising, then stop, and your body goes right back to that point. And you may do nothing, and your body may stay at that point. It's like a thermostat. By taking time off, we are hoping to 'reset' that point. But 2 weeks off doesn't mean don't do anything - it means active rest - still do something - keep working out, but not as intensely - change it up - do something different. And keep eating clean - not 2 weeks worth of free days! I will probably shoot for 4 meals a day.

Start planning now, and evaluating what you are currently doing, and what does and doesn't work. Start setting new goals, and getting over those demons, and leave them behind. Keep up the good job everyone!

A little late, but better late than never!

Week 9 has come and gone, and I am now in the middle of week 10! It has been crazy busy with track starting this week, and ambulance has been short staffed, so I've been on call a lot! But it's all fun, and I'd rather be busy than bored :) BFL is still going great! I was thinking back, and I have not missed a single work out - that's pretty cool for me! Diet I've been pretty good too - a little slip here or there, but nothing out of control. I took a couple weeks off calorieking.com to see if it'd make a difference, but nothing too dramatic. It was nice having the break, but I am back on again, so you can look and see what I am eating. Still trying to focus on eating more protein than carbs, and I am holding steady at 188. Whats cool though, is I got an OMRON body fat analyzer, and my BF was 34% at the beginning, and I was in 'normal' mode. I am now in the 'athlete' mode and am at 28%! - 6% body fat! That puts me at 12lbs of fat loss, and 3-4lbs muscle increase! With track season starting, I was even playing around with the kids yesterday and throwing for them, and surprisingly I was throwing about 42'... not great, but considering 5 years off, 2 kids, and no power lifting! I'm actually considering throwing disc again, so we will see in the next week or 2!
Measurements are about the same - just below 40' on the stomach, and 44' on the hips, thigh still the same and chest the same. But I'm really going to focus in on the next couple weeks on core, and cardio... I've been bumping up the cardio for a longer 10-20 minute cool down, but not consistently. I've got 2 1/2 weeks left! But I am planning on taking 2 weeks off and starting a second challenge on April 5th with my little bro, so again, feel free to join us!


Oh and if you look to the right, I put a new, current pic up of me at week 10!

Only 4 weeks left! (kind of)

Time continues on, and things are still going well. 'Week 8' was dubbed the week 8 miracle, and while I didn't see a 'miracle' I had a more significant weight drop than I have had any other week... went from 191.9 - 188.3 in one week - which is pretty good! But again, this program isn't about the scale - its about your measurements, and putting muscle on, and taking fat off. But there to, I've been a little frustrated... I haven't lost any off my stomach for a couple of weeks, but this week it finally budged. I know I am still succeeding... whats happening is I am strengthening my core, and putting on muscle, while losing fat, and believe me - I'd much rather have muscle :) Here are my measurements from week 1 - to week 8, and I have my pics posted on my 'Candice Ekberg' Facebook page.
Day 1 - Day 56 (end week 8)
wt - 198 - 188.3
chest - 40.5 - 38.5'
waist - 41.5 - 40'
hips - 46 - 43.75
thigh - 26.5 - 26.5 (I'm attributing that to muscle memory... they used to be really squishy, but much firmer now :)

I was more controlled on my free day - I really miss cereal - so I just had a big bowl of Cinnamon life for breakfast, some Doritos for lunch, and then took Quin to the local hamburger joint for dinner, and had a grilled chicken sandwich and shared some fries and a small shake with the kids. Didn't feel to bad after, but still not great.
I've been reading more about peoples past success, and it seems to me that no matter what, if you follow the program, you will have success, but to achieve the results like you see in many of the pics, you may need to do more than one challenge. And many past champions did a lot of extras, like not really taking a free day, but a free meal, doing extra cardio, modifying weights, taking supplements. But everyone is unique, so the basic concepts will work for all. Just fine tune it to your needs - if you feel like you need to do extra cardio, go for it, just keep it in a moderate range - you don't want to burn out! I know I personally, for the last 4 weeks, am going to focus on eating more protein than carbs, which is recommended for more fat loss. But overall, I am still feeling great, love being sore, an am happy with the results. And with this being said, I know me and my little bro already plan on dong a second and possibly a third challenge! Good times! Our second challenge will probably start the first or second week in April for anyone interested in joining us! (They say take a week or 2 of active rest between challenges). Keep up the good work everyone!

week 8... already???

Time sure is flying! week 7 was good to go, and today marks the beginning of week 8... the supposed 'miracle' week. We'll see! My measurements were pretty much the same as last week, except I'm now down to 190! Thats a total of 8 lbs lost! I've gotten into the rhythm of things, and it almost just comes natural. My body just tells me when its time to eat, or when I'm thirsty. The problem is I need to listen to it better. :) the hardest thing has been getting the 6th meal in. I sometimes let too much time go between meals, and before I know it, its bed time, and I've only gotten 4 or 5 meals in. Ive been trying to write my meals and times down and it seems to help some, but I've got work to do.
My free day was good... I feel like crap the whole day, not worth it, but the one thing I do like is being able to just eat a big meal and not have to worry about eating for awhile. I'm officially done nursing and have started taking green tea (capsule form) and CLA - conjugated linoleic acid - a healthy fatty acid that supposedly helps increase lean muscle mass, which in turn helps burn body fat, more specifically stomach fat. green tea is an anti oxidant that is also a proven thermogenic which can help increase metabolism. I plan on taking photos again at the end of the week and am excited to see what happens. :)

Week 6 over - 1/2 way done!!!!

I've made it 1/2 way now.... can't believe it! I haven't seen the numbers I was hoping to see by this point, but I've been reading a lot, that for women, things don't really start kicking into over drive until about week 8-9. They refer to it as "the miracle week," so here's to hoping! My measurements are as follows...
Dec 28... Feb 7...
Waist 41.5 -- 40.5
Hips 46 -- 44.25
Chest 40.5 -- 38.5
Thigh 26.6 -- 26.25
Weight 198 -- 191.9

So the numbers are all going down, so I can't complain. And I'm losing a lot through my top 1/2, but it's the bottom 1/2 that is slower, but at the same time, I can feel muscle where before, it was just fat. I'd much rather have the muscle :)

The workouts are still going good! I haven't missed any, and have been changing it up and am sore again. The biggest prob as of late is that I have stopped nursing, and that takes time for your body to adjust. I'm still feeling the effects of that. But now that I am done nursing, I am starting to use supplements. Green tea, which is a great anti-oxidant, and energy booster, and am going to start CLA - conjugated Linoleic acid, which is an ammino acid, that supposedly helps increase lean muscle mass, which in turns, helps burn more fat, more specifically - stomach fat. I'll let ya know how that goes! Well today is my free day, so I'm going to go enjoy! I hope you all are doing well, and please don't hesitate to ask any questions!

Week 5 Already???

Time flies! And I have been neglegent... with my blog! Things are still going really good! As long as I plan ahead, and make sure I don't go too long in between meals, this has been fairly easy! I'm still loving the weight lifting - got my squat up to 165 today! Cardio is still torturous, but I got a spin bike to mix it up with, which I am really enjoying! Anda again, it's only 20 minutes!! That's it!!! It's over with before you know it!!! The free day is such an awesome perk mentally, although I pay for it physically. Last weeks free day was a little disappointing. Went to Chuck E Cheese for Quin's b-day, and that was not worth it :P Oh well, I'm going to Chili's tomorrow for lunch with my sis in law to celebrate them expanding their family :) But then have to follow it with a trip to the dentist :P I'm definitly getting desert ;)

I did have a week moment this last weekend. We had a church activity and they had these really good sugar cookies from the local bakery... Quin had like 3, but didn't finish his 3rd one, and wanted to take it home with him... Well he fell asleep by the time we got home... yea it was too tempting. :( I failed! BUT I didn't let it screw up everythig else. I ate my lunch of high protein chili, to balance it out, and hopefully keep my blood sugar from spiking too much. Got right back on track and finished out the rest of the day, no problem. I'm not saying that this is ok, I'm just saying I'm not perfect, and I didn't let my self play the head games that I would have in the past. And to identify my triggers... It had been 4 hours since I last ate... WAAAAYY to long - and the smell.. for some of you that have been in my weight room, I currently have it sented with shortbread, and vanilla... yea that's what the cookie smelled like - it suckered me in. So I need to stay away from cookies, or change the scents ;) If you falter, get right back on track, identify your triggers or weaknesses, and fix them! You can do this! I hope you all are doing well!

Here are my measuremtns from the last weigh in:

Chest - 39.5"
waist - 40.5"
hips - 44.5"
thigh - 26.6"
weight - 192.5

I haven't seen huge changes as far as the inches go, but I can tell I am putting on some nice muscle, and they say it's about week 8 where everything starts kicking in, and that muscle starts going for the fat, so we will see! I did do my 4 weeks pics and have them posted on my FB if you really want to see... I am too critical of myself to tell a huge difference, but you can tell there is change going on! If you haven't, I encourage you to do your pics too! Good luck!

Week 3 over!

I survived my 3rd week - awesome! I'm still loving the lifting - no complaints there, although I'm still trying to adjust my weights, and finding that I can keep going up. Some awesome clients of mine got me the BFL success journal, and I have been keeping track with that, and plan on pushing everything up this week. Cardio has been a little weak. I know I can push myself harder... I'm finding that I'm pushing myself on my 10, but not so much through the 8 and 9 - I need to quite wussing out. If I'm going to do this, I may as well do it right.

Nutrition is still going well for the most part. I find myself battling with the calorie counter in me, and have not exactly gotten in the 6th meal. Thursday was bad due to bad planning, but that's no excuse to make the next day bad. Every day is a new day, so just start over.

I plan on doing measurements tomorrow morning, but just remember those that are doing this as well... The scale is a horrible indicator when you are changing something with your body. There are so many fluctuations going on, and changes. If you lose 3 lbs fat, and gain 5 lbs muscle, you've gained weight... but good weight - and increase of 5lbs of lean muscle mass can burn up to an additional 200 calories a day! Muscle is awesome! And women - HANG IN THERE! From talking to other people, and reading posts on face book, its seems that men are losing weight much faster, and women are struggling. In my 'opinion' women have less muscle mass to begin with, so we are burning less calories, and we are initially going to gain more muscle, which may be why the scale isn't budging. As time goes on, and your body has adjusted, you will start seeing the scale go down. I read someone say that for most women, week 8 seems to be the magic number where you can really start seeing results. I know me personally, I have only lost 3-4 lbs, but I can totally feel my biceps, calves and quads making a comeback - I love it! Just imagine what it is going to look like once all the fats gone :) That's what keeps me going :) Next week I plan on doing my 4 week photos - I will post them to show you there is a difference. I do have my before photos posted on FB - but you have to be my friend to see those :) Good job everyone, Keep it up!!!

Just did my measurements:

Weight - 194 - down 4lbs!
chest - 39.25 (up-muscle)
waist - 40.5 (same)
hips - 45 (same)
thigh - 26.25(down)

So nothing too drastic, but there are still a lot of changes going on, and people are starting to notice. I'm definitely curious to see my pics next week!

Busssyyyy!

Sorry, I've been slackin! Between Zoee and Quin, I haven't had time to sit down to blog, just a minute here, or a minute there! Things are still going awesome though. I really haven't had too many problems. I was in a little bit of a slump Saturday. I was at my moms, and she always has TONS of tempting crap aroud - I don't know how my brother is doing it! I was also a little frusterated with the scale not moving a ton. But then at church, I had several people come up to me and comment that they could tell a difference, so that made my day. By the time I hit the scale this morning, I was finally down to 194.9 - just over 3 lbs! Which is 1.5 lbs a week, which is perfectly normal/healthy. Plus I checked my BF% through BIA - it was down 2%... So I'm increasing muscle, and decreasing BF - right on track! Point being... DON'T RELY ON YOUR SCALES!!!! Go off your pictures, your clothing, and how you are feeling!
For those of you on the go - make sure you keep some ready made protein drinks in the car - no excuses! Set yourself up to succeed! And last, but not least, I Posted my before pics!!! I have them posted on my facebook, for 'friends only' to see. So if you want to see them, just befriend me... but it's limited access, and don't make fun!!! I hope everyone else is doing well. I'll know tomorrow how many are officially entered in my contest... So far I have 5 - just need to check on a couple others! Have fun with your cardio!!!