Lest anyone think I’m oblivious to anything besides fitness and nutrition these days, I just want to take a moment to say that I’m not really looking forward to being hit by Hurricane Frances this weekend, and I’m aggrieved because I haven’t finished moving/fixing my Illuminatorsguild.com and Magyss.com sites since the former ran out of disk space and the latter got moved twice in the past two weeks to different servers. By the time I CAN do something about the sites, I’ll probably be without electricity and cable again.

Grr.

My first BFL 12 week cycle was done by the book–I stuck with the nutrition guidelines of 6 meals a day in the correct portions (which averaged out to 1300-1400 calories/day for me) with a carb and a protein in each meal, and didn’t miss a single workout for the entire 12 weeks. I followed the book’s training schedule as well, and didn’t add extra cardio sessions although I did do the occasional pilates or ballet workout tape. I wanted to see how the program worked as written in the book, and used myself as a guinea pig. I also took pictures and measurements every 4 weeks along the way so I’d have some empirical proof to give to skeptical friends and family.

Well, my first full 12 weeks turned out rather well, and I’m very pleased overall with my results so far.

Now it’s time to start playing around with the program since I’m less than 10 lbs away from my target weight of 128. My goal has never been to be bendy little stick of a girl; I want to be healthy, strong, and defined, dammit. If I want to wear a superhero costume for Halloween, I want people to think, “Whoa…she looks like she can kick my ass,” not, “Ew…who does she think she’s fooling with those flabby legs and matchstick arms?”

My planned experimental tweaks for the August 30 - November 21, 2004 challenge are:

Weeks 1-8

• Zig zag calories between 1200-1400 on weight training days and 1700-1900 on cardio HIIT days for an average of 1500-1600 calories a day. This is pretty close to my maintenance range of 1600-2250 calories a day, but should keep me from gaining weight while still hopefully providing enough nutrients for muscle growth.
• Significantly increase the weights I use for both upper body and lower body.
• Alternate exercises in weeks 4 and 8.
• On weight training days, drink half of a shake before the workout, and the other half immediately following it.
• Limit bready carbs to 1 per day.
• Do two days of running per week, and rotate through elliptical, bike, and jumprope for the third day.

Weeks 9-12

• Drop back to a 1200-1400 calorie daily average every day to begin leaning out.
• Cut out carbs (including fruit) in meals 5 and 6 on cardio days and make up the balance with extra protein and veggies.
• On weight training days, drink half of a shake before the workout, and the other half immediately following it.
• Limit bready carbs to 1 per day in meals 1-4 only.
• Add 10 minutes of moderate intensity, steady state cardio to the end of each HIIT session. (5.5 mph)
• Do an additional 30 minute steady state cardio run on free day.

I hope I can keep track of all of this!

And finally, here are my goals for this cycle:

1. I will be at 18% body fat.
2. I will weigh no more than 135 lbs in achieving that body fat percentage.
3. I will be able to run 2 miles in under 16 minutes.
4. I will increase muscle size and definition in my arms.
5. I will do 75 correct form pushups in 2 minutes.

Thoughts: It’s the first day of Septemer which means….Gold Card week at GNC again! Yippee! Time to go pick up some flax seed oil at last. I’m such a tightwad that I wasn’t willing to pay an additional $1 for the stuff at full price.

I finally posted my starting photos for Challenge 2 in my BFL tracker profile and in my photo album here. I took them Sunday night after a *very* high-sodium and sugar free day of eating, so what you see is some serious free day water retention and bloat. I was actually sucking in my gut as much as I could in those photos, too, but it didn’t do me much good! Hah!

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Nutrition: (1200-1400 calorie low day)
1: Chocolate shake
2: Chicken and spinach salad with grapes
3: Cranberry raisin bar
4: Cottage cheese and grapes
5: Chicken pita pizza
6: Cottage cheese with strawberries and oatmeal

Supplements:
Multivitamin, Calcium 500+D, 2 T. Safflower oil in shakes and meals 5 and 6

Calories eaten and deficit for yesterday = 1824 / -149 (target -337)
Water: 11 cups
Ratios: 44% carb / 39% protein / 17% fat

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Workout:
8:30 pm LBWO at gym with free weights

Ran out of time this morning (ARGH!) while trying to get my pics up, so I’ll have to do the workout tonight. I’m going to drive to the gym right after work so my butt doesn’t become rooted to my computer chair or couch as usual in the evenings.

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The Awful Truth:
1. Nothing too major…7 crispy M&Ms at work.

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Brownie Points:
1. Walked 1 mile around the office complex in addition to cardio yesterday.
2. Had to replace lunch and dinner planned meals with half of an Uno’s grilled chicken sandwich for each meal, but only ate half of the bread in each case, no mayo, and a side of steamed broccoli instead of fries. Also subbed raspberries for the strawberries in meal 6, and BFL pancakes for the cottage cheese in meal 4, but my totals and ratios were still pretty much on target.

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Short-term Goals:
1. Make a new batch of Stella bars.
2. Try to fit in 20 minutes of easy beginner yoga each evening to relax and work on flexibility.

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Maggie