Firm, Fit, & Fabulous: Maintenance-Minded Fat Loss *CLOSED*

 We approach our goals with a healthy mindset. Here is our philosophy in a nutshell....

• we do NOT restrict our caloriesby large amounts
• we do NOT subscribe to any particular diet trends
• we take the holistic approachthat the body should be nourished, strengthened, and appreciated for LIFE.
• we will NOT beat our bodies into submission by attempting a program that is impossible to maintain.

Strong, healthy, and sexy beats skinny any day of the week!

THE BEST PART.....

**We are a community of FRIENDS and we are inviting you along for the ride. A few of us became close friends while supporting each other in this weight loss thread and that support and friendship became such an important part of our lives that we crossed over to this endeavor together. So this is a group where we really focus on getting to know each other closely, not only as weight loss buddies, but as individuals.We will offer each other daily support about anything and everything. 

*12 Cycles To Bikini Bliss*

Weigh In Schedule

1. Feb 1st

• Stevie: 148.4
• Christina:115

2. Feb 11th

• Stevie: (Falsely high Wednesday weigh in of 150.8)
• Christina: 114 (113.8--Friday)

3. Feb 21st

• Stevie: 147.8
• Christina: 112.6

4. March 3rd

• Stevie:
• Christina:111.8 (day early--progesterone started today)

5. March 13th

• Stevie:
• Christina: 113 

6. March 23rd

• Stevie:
• Christina: 111.4 (March 26th) 

7. April 2nd 

• Stevie:
• Christina: ?

8. April 12th

• Stevie:
• Christina: ?

9. April 22nd

• Stevie:
• Christina: 110.4

10. May 2nd

• Stevie:
• Christina:

11. May 12th

• Stevie:
• Christina:

12. May 22nd 

• Stevie:
• Christina:

75% compliance  = 9 pounds down

hey jo!! i did miss you. maybe stop drnking that shake....maybe S will like it and  have no adverse reactions. i love your goals and that youre so close. we all are really.anywho...i am thinking about how id like to approach the next few weeks. im not so sure as of yet. i really just need to fit into my dress and i will be happy. lol. so what are you eating today??

stevie...hey girlie so its workout 2....i bet you will love it :)what are you eating today?? i went to the grocery store and went over budget...oh well, it happens. lol

megs...good morning. how are you doing today?? good i hope. so whats on your agenda for the day?? busy at work? do you pack lunch or just grab something near the office?? 

megs...G is a history teacher. the discepancy in pay somewhat bothers him. long/unpredictable hours in biglaw bothers him. he wants me to have a female assistant when the time comes. lol. he doesnt make it so overt but it does come up. i love him though. if he finds he cant deal with it we will probably have huge problems later in our marriage. your job sounds much more reasonable than the big firms in the U.S. there is the billable requirement but it seems that it is just a minimum. i guess getting through law school will be the first hurdle.

Yeah! Its a great firm that way although its similar with higher expectations than the target especially when a few years after being called, but they give A LOT of flexibility in the first year with targets. 

Work is good I am drafting a defence right now.  I am kinda busy I will probably work this weekend,  I have to draw up an agreement for purchase of a business that is sooooo deadly boring that I have been putting it off forever but I really have to get it done :/ 

I try to bring food to work but lately I have been failing quite often! There is subway and Mr. Sub and smaller sandwhich/soup type places all around because I am in the downtown area so its not too bad to find calorie-reasonable options when I need to buy, luckily.  I didn't bring anything today so I might get a wrap or something...

Thats too bad that he is not comfortable with you making more money then him! guys and their egos! haha.  Oh well at least he has a few yrs of you being a student to get used to the idea? how long is law school there? Ours is 3 yrs plus a year of articling.

Jo-- Yay to jumping over to this thread! Sorry you felt rubbish yesterday but it sounds like you had a good day otherwise. I'm psyched you're doing NROLFW, it was really tough for me to decide between that and TT, but those damn transformation pictures of some of those girls and how toned they got snagged me, lol! So I'm happy I'll get to learn from you as you go through the NROLFW program. I'm going to put everything I have into TT for at least 12 weeks and then reevaluate where I'm at, either way after 6 months at most of TT I'll probably be looking to do something new, i.e. NROFLW, and you'll be a great resource! Is Simon going to do it with you?

Chrissy-- Yes, today is workout B, and I'm terrified of it because I feel like I've been hit by a mac truck! Lol. It hurts even to try to pee. Seriously. It's so crazy that I've been doing strength training workouts consistently for many months, but I do ONE TT workout and I damn near can't move. I probably should have started at the intermediate level, which is plenty challenging enough. But I will press on and will try workout B today and will do as much as my body allows.

While I feel sore and miserable, my body has that tight feeling all over from the workouts... and even though I know it's just muscle swelling, it still looks nice. Lol. Yay for picking up new groceries... did you get some good snacks?

Megs-- TT stands for Turbulence Training, and it is a fat loss and muscle building program. Well, it's a program/ebook/forum. I bought the program a few years ago and had great success doing it, but I didn't stick with it because I got busy. It's VERY similar to NROLFW in that it focuses on changing the body composition  by doing relatively short, but insanely effective strength training sessions 3x a week (alternating supersets in each workout), and you follow each strength session with interval training (HIIT) where you try to max out your effort over 6 intervals. So you just do that 3x per week, and on the off days you participate in whatever light activity you like. I just started this program Tuesday, so it's kicking my butt. If you look at http://www.transformationcontest.com/ you can see before and afters of people who participated in a TT contest.

Oh, and Callanetics is this 1980s video called 10 years younger in 10 hours. Lol.  It's still popular because it works really well, and it's been redone with a modern twist, but I still like the old one with the creator, Callan Pinckney. It's like pilates and yoga and a bit of strength training combined, all about isometrics with slow deep muscle movements, no big movements or jerking. So it's a challenge, but also relaxing and stretches you a lot. If I do it a few times a week for a couple of weeks, I feel taller, leaner, tighter, flexible, and have excellent posture. It's pretty cool.

It's nice that you have lots of good healthy options around your work. I bring food or run home for lunch often because the options around my office are geared toward college student eating and they're not that great. Oh, you asked about my dissertation... well, I am in dissertation hell right now, and will be in crunch mode for the next 3 months. My dissertation is about quality of life concerns in young adults survivors of pediatric cancer. I'm doing focus group research at the top ranked cancer hospital in the world, which is really cool in theory, but in practice it's proving to be a big headache. So much red tape, and if it doesn't get ironed out with in the next 4 weeks, there's a possibility that I'd have to stay an extra year just to complete it, when other than that, I only have 2 classes left on my degree plan and then I could potentially leave for a year long internship and be done.

I love my topic, and I love my program (child psychology with a focus on school and pediatric psychology). I do a mixture of psychoeducational assessment, research, therapy, consultation, and crisis intervention. I really do enjoy it all, my 'sweet spot' is therapy and intervention services. Last summer I worked full time in a cancer hospital providing therapy to children and families with all stages of bone, brain, and blood cancers... I loved every second of it but the death part was extremely difficult. I spent a lot of time crying!

Anywho, never ask a grad student about their research or you get a lot of rambling, lol.

So my plan today is eat around 2000 calories, do workout B of orginal TT, HIIT, and drink 96 or more ounces of water. What about you ladies? Any big plans today?

stevie: i love that sore feeling. haha. hate it and love it. it's bitter sweet! :) what level did you start at? yay for looking nice. 

I got goldfish at the store, oatmeal, some whole wheat wraps for snacks...with cream cheese and syrup...yummy! :) i also got yogurt. we're on a TIGHT budget so i didn't get much. 

megs: good luck getting the defense drafted. i hate boring work but the faster you start it the faster it's over. law school is 3 years and then you begin work. i cannot wait to finally get started! it's so exciting to move! i think i want to do mergers and acquisitions, family law, or civil rights law. 

yay for healthy foods on the fly. at least you always have a back up plan if you forget food. 

Hi Girls,

Megs: yay, nice to meet you too :)

I have had the NROLFW book a couple of months now but not started it so this is my new plan now. To start it and complete it and change my body for the best.... hopefully.

Chrissy: Plan today is no exercise... my body needs a break. I have been to the gym mon/tue/wed so day off today and chill out tonight. I am going to do a big food shop as there is nothing in the cupboards at home. Food wise:

Breakfast: Oatmeal, protein powder, banana and honey

Snack: 2 clementines

L: ham and boiled egg salad with a large wholemeal roll. mmmm very nice.

S: 2 Rice cakes with peanut butter

D: ????? depends what yummy food I buy tonight

s: ???????? and a protein shake (probs)

Thanks to all you girlies asking how I feel after my sicky bout. Much better thanks.... will monitor how my body reacts today after the protein. at breakfast i was fine. so I shall see how tonight goes.

Lanie: Yes it will be interesting to see our acheivements and the targets we reach considering we are doing diff training routines that are similar... hhhmmmmmm interesting. Nope I will be trining alone... simon is too scared. ha ha. I joke! he goes to a diff gym to me so I would be training alone still even if he did get on board.

Plan for today girlies??

My official weight training program is 30 day shred. wimpy I know. lol. In comparison to TT and NROLFW it is rather "weak" lol. That's okay though, I don't mind. It's pretty tough for me still and it's the best I can do with 5 pound weights as my only real equipment. 

I do want to point out that BEFORE my wedding I will have higher deficits than I plan to aim for afterwards. Right now my focus is NOT bloating/gaining/or feeling uncomfortable on my wedding day so I am being a bit more rigid for the next 9 days. FORGIVE ME :) 

Jo: yeah, I think I might need a day off soon. Saturday will be my day off I think. Then I will have 6 days straight of working out before the wedding! great job on listening to your body. I shopped forever today, just kind of walked around the store with no real mission. Just perused the aisles and took my time. I didn't know S was training at a different gym. I thought the 2 of you worked out together. 

-------------------------

Today's Plan: 

Exercise: 

walked to/from store (did that already) (120)

30 day shred--Level 1 with 5 pound weights. After I progress through all of the levels I will get 8 pound weights and do it again to up the intensity! :) (150)

HIIT--30 seconds sprint/ 1 min slow jog--6 times (80 calories)

Elliptical--45 minutes (250)

Burn: 600 from exercise, 1400 sedentary= 2000 Total

Food:

breakfast: oatmeal with flax added in and maple syrup, coffee with reddi whip, whole wheat wrap with an egg-450

Snack: 2 hard boiled eggs- 140

Lunch: veggie burger with cheesy veggies- 300

Snack: whole wheat wrap with cream cheese and syrup - 150

Dinner: salmon and ???- 350

Snack: sunflower seeds and a yogurt - 190

TOTAL: 1580

Deficit: 420

Chrissy: The 30 day shred can be as hard or as easy as you want to make it. I have the shread dvd too and it can kick butt bigtime when you push yourself. its an overall body workout too so I wouldnt says its wimpy at all girl. Push and challenge yourself like you would with any exercise and you should still see results :)

I will forgive you for your higher deficits :P I know I would be the same coming up to my wedding. I also know that you are aware of the consequences this can have if followed for a long time so I know we dont need to worry girly and you know what you are doing.

Yep S trains at a gym that his closer to his work. boooo! no fun! Plan sounds great today :) whoo

Jo...thanks girlie. i needed that! :) I am going to do my 30 D.S workout now...woo hoo. 5 pound weights! It gets pretty tough, I'll admit. 

we are leaving on saturday to the grandma's house...and coming back sunday..so i will probably have 1 day of not so good eating. oh well, such is life. lol 

so really, only 8 days of a higher than usual deficit...still not over 500 calories though....that's just excessive. I'm not going to go crazy. I will do more of what i've been doing. 

Chrissy: No worries hun.

I will be having a naugthy saturday too. It is my friends birthday so all the girls are out all day :) should be good though. whooop. I need a good girly day/night out.

Ooooh I also forgot to mention that Today I signed up to a library with my friend in work. I was always signed up for one at home (where I grew up and where my parents are) but when I moved away to live with simon I never got round to doing it.... until today.

I have taken two books out:

1 on clean eating... I should find this really interesting.

Then another on how to control migraines.

:) Just thought I would mention it

Chrissy-- I've never done the shred dvd, so I certainly can't judge! And I look like a little old arthritic grandma the way I'm hobbling around after working out these past couple of days, so yeah, no judgment here! Lol.

Your plan today sounds good and tough. I know eating that low of cals can be difficult, so drink a ton of water and keep yourself busy. And just tell yourself that you WILL NOT deviate from your plan, and you should be good. You've chosen good food for your meals and snacks, looks pretty clean. I have a question about the cream cheese wraps you make... what brand ingredients do you use because there's no way I could make a wrap out of the brands of those things that I have and have it come out that low... I want your secret, lol. My whole wheat wraps are around 100 calories, then low fat cream cheese is 70 for 2 tablespoons, then my light syrup is 100 cals (though I'm sure you don't use the whole 1/4 cup serving). How do you get it that low?

Jo-- Hope the big food shop goes well. What are you thinking you might make for dinner tonight? (I'm always looking to steal ideas!) I think I'm going to make sausage jambalaya over brown rice... it's J's favorite thing and it's really healthy. If anyone wants to try it I just throw 1 can of regular tomatoes, 1 can of fire roasted tomatoes, a few handfuls of chopped celery, and 1 package of cut up garlic sausage in the slow cooker/crock pot (or a big covered pot on stove) and let it cook on low for about 4 or so hours, then I whip up some brown rice to serve it over and it is really good, cheap, easy, and has a really flavorful spicy taste due to the fire roasted tomatoes. My friend likes this too, but she throws pineapples and potatoes in there also... I haven't tried that yet.

Enjoy your off day, you deserve it. :-)

My plan for today is a heavy training day so I get a couple hundred extra cals,,, woohoo! Haven't fully planned out my eats... but something like...

B-- 2 nutrigrain bars (I was in a rush!): 240

S-- Yogreek yogurt and raisins: 270

L1-- Half a turkey sandwich and an apple: 175

L2-- Egg salad on toast (3 boiled eggs, 1.5 tbs mayo, mustard, toast): 395

S-- PWO protein shake: 360

D-- Sausage jambalya with brown rice: 500

S-- Jello with whipped cream: 70

Total: 2010

I agree 30 D S can be quite difficult!! I did it a few months back.  Although I got kind of slack toward the end and only did like 7 days of level 2, got bored went to level 3 and only did like 7 days of that.  I had 5 pound weights also and that was challenging! I actually think it set me up nicely to start more serious lifting at the gym and not feel like a huge weakling... 

Chrissy... i would say it is fine to have a slightly highher deficit for a short period! A wedding is a very good excuse :-)  do you eat a bun with your veggie burger? or do you eat them alone? what kind do you buy?

Stevie, your dissertation sounds very interesting! I love pyschology and wish I knew more about it... where are you doing your internship? You must be excited to be done/if you can get through that red tape. 

Jo - You should make your bf train with you sometimes! I like training with mine a lot :)

Today I am doing shoulders and arms... maybe some cardio...

Breakfast - wrap with eggwhites, hotsauce and 1 piece laughing cow light (250)

snacks so far - nature valley bar... clif bar (400)

lunch - turkey wrap (400ish)

Anyway... clearly I need to start making better snack choices!! haha.  combo of business/laziness keeping me from wanting to leave my desk ;)

I think I will have another 250 in snacks and the rest of my cals for dinner. prob 500.. so 1800 cal day

Lanie: ooooh thanks for the recipe. sounds yummmy! deff have to try that. I love sausages. yum yum!!

You go girl with the workout. You will be walking more like a granny tomorrow then. haha. Just joking hun, your body will soon adapt and get used to the training :) :) Not sure what I fancy to be honest... I am sure as I am walking round the supermarket I will think of something when I see yummy foods.

Foods sound good hun. Hows the protein going? Are you having just one per day?? Mine says to have two, but I think I might have 1 on non strength training workouts and 2 on the strength training days.

Megs... I would love to train with Simon. I have 2 very good male friends down the gym that I pair up with during classes and I have said how it would be such good fun with him but it is awkward as we fin work at diff times, work in diff areas - it takes me half and hour longer to get home than Simon and also have the membership at two different gyms that are around 20minutes apart. Booo to that :( :(

Sounds like all in all you are in for a good day hun. Is the nature valley a cereal bar??? I love cereal bars?

We have some in the UK called that so I am figuring they are the same. Yummmy! lol

Jo-- No problem on the recipe, always into making easy meals, lol. About the protein shake, I am only having one for now. I think I'm hitting over 120g of protein a day, so I'm alright. I've thought about adding another but I don't know if I'd want to give up my other snacks to do that. I do like the shake, and it is filling, but I'm just not sure.

Megs-- I am excited that by this time next year I could be starting an internship and be done with everything else, I hope that I can actually do that. As far as where I'll do my internship, I'm not sure... it's kind of out of my hands. The way the program works you do mini internships for 6 mos to a year along the way on top of your full class load, research, and assistantship,,, so far I've done a cancer hospital, a middle school, a community-based clinic, and a campus-based clinic. The last year of the program is an accredited, paid, year long pre-doc internship. Just like the med students, we don't choose where we go, we participate in "the match". We apply to a variety of places around the country, do interviews, and if they like us, they can't just hire us like regular jobs. In february we rank order our preferences on our match list, and all of the sites around the country rank order  their applicants, and if both a student and a site 'match' their rankings of each other, then a match is made and you go there. It's a weird, scary, stressful system that always leaves both students and sites unmatched. If you're unmatched (about 25% chance), then you stay another year and try again during the next match. Yuck.

stevie: you were right in your calorie assessment. I keep it controlled by using 1 tbsp of each thing. it's 100 for the wrap...plus 1 tbsp syrup (25 calories) and 1 tbsp light cream cheese (35 calories) ...so it's actually 160 calories. I buy whatever is on sale though. right now i have the store brand syrup and cream cheese. 

now to motivate myself to do my cardio...lol. that might be tough...hopefully not too bad though. i snickered at the arthritic lady comment! :) haha

JO: nature valley makes granola bars (crunchy) and trail mix bars (chewy). they have a PB crunchy granola bar that is AMAZING! tell me if you find anything out about migraines. i would love to know! 

MEGS: I have publix brand veggie burgers at the moment. I sometimes like them on the sandwich thins, otherwise I just use nature's own wheat bread...it's 50-60 calories a slice...so still about 100 for the bread...the veggie burger is 100 too. you should eat an egg yolk in your breakfast...i used to do only whites but after reading about it i always have at least 1. what flavor bar did you have? 

CHrissy - I like to switch around brands of veggie burgers.  Right now I have Amy's california ones.  Pretty good! Its hard to find bread that low cal here! Maybe I just don't know where to look.  I eat just egg whites because I use liquid ones and cook them in the microwave to save time in the morning.  I do like whole eggs though.  I have two hardboiled and ready to go as an after work/pre gym snack at home... but there is a birthday cake here tempting me to sub it for my snack.  I think I should be able to resist though :/

I had the 'Sweet and Salty Almond' variety of Nature path granola bar.  Chewy not crunchy.  I am really addicted to them.  I also love fiber 1 peanut butter.  And Clif bars... 250 cals though I should really stop making snacks out of those! Could make a small meal for that ya know?!

Stevie, that process of matching sounds very stressful.  Coming out of law can be very stressful too because there is a lot of competition for good jobs... and a lot of emphasis on being the right 'fit' for a certain law firm.  Ugh.   

Jo - THats too bad! Do you guys live together?> I do not live with my bf I live with my sister and her 20 month old.  She is sooooooo cute.  Her favorite elmo song has been stuck in my head all day (elmo's ducks).  D is always over though... tonight we rented and are planning to watch first season of How I met your Mother! Has anyone seen that ?? very funny

megs...part of the fun of maintenance instead of weight loss is having the flexibility to eat cake and other goodies in moderation. JO had a snickers last week and just enjoyed it. its scary and feels like a waste....but part of living is enjoying food. id take a small piece...very small..taste it and if i liked it then id finish the small sliver and assess whether i wanted another small piece to equal a decent snack...if i was satisfied then id say...150 calories well spent :) lol

in terms of snacks...maybe you could make a pb banana sandwich for work instead of the bars...but if you like them and are satisfied with it then i see no problem eating them. perhaps an apple with pb or yogurt for dipping would be even more satisfying than one of the bars. just some ideas. most bread here is about 50-70cals per slice...70 is kind of high actually. i bought bread that was regular/non diety bread for the fiance and it was 110cals per 2 slices...so 55 each slice. just look around...you might be shocked. 

i love hardboiled eggs, so tasty with salt and pepper.

Right you are.  I did have some cake.  Sugary and delicious :-)  definitely more than 150 cals though! I would say at least 300-400 cals (very huge and yummy layer of icing!) .  guess i will hop on the ol Elliptical after all