Actually, I have done 5 BFL challenges (and am on #6) but during my first challenge (03/01) I was easily swayed by my BFL support board into doing the BFL nutrition plan too and consequently saw very few results on the program. Obviously I am carb sensitive and though I was able to maintain my weight using BFL I didn't really lose anything because I was consuming too many carbs for my body. I did tone, dropped a size and did lose a little bit of BF% but nothing terribly significant - certainly not what I had been hoping for.

So I'm back again, doing BFL type workouts, following BFL type philosphies but ... eating low carb! I'm sure that I will see results this time! Glad to see that there is some support here for those of us who are addicted to the gym!

Welcome back!

I am following Atkin's with the BFL for exercise. I have found that eating 1/2 cup of steel cut oats on lift days does help with the energy levels. Before I first started I was teeter tottering between 149-152 since May. Was really bugging me because I could not for the life of me get under 149. I will also snack on an apple with natural peanut butter on lift days as well if I get hungry.

I am currently on week 4 now and hitting 147 to 148. So the weight is coming off and staying off. Plus I have dropped about 3.5 inches.

I personally can't see the difference yet, but the scale and tape measure are moving in the right directions! This Sunday is picture day for me. I am taking pics every 4 weeks to "see" any changes. (I probably won't post the pics until the final 12 week period)

Hi!

I am doing BFL, and controlling my carbs ala Protein Power. I am currently on Challenge 2: C2/W5/D4. I am having a great time! I'm working out HARD and loving it! I learned SO MUCH during C1. So I am now able to really PUSH myself to my limits--and it feels AMAZING! I think I'm addicted to the endorphins...


Challenge 1 was great. I lost 18.5lbs of fat, according to my before-and-after bodyfat analyses. This isn't a huge amount by most folks' standards... HOWEVER I am metabolically challenged--so this was a MAJOR loss for someone like me! I don't think I could've done it without controlling my carb intake... I also lost many inches, and firmed-up all over.

But the BEST gains have been the strength, the energy and the positivity that I've gotten from BFL. I formed goals at the beginning of C1--and my success exceeded my expectations. I formed goals prior to beginning C2 and I am on my way! We'll find out in 7 short weeks whether I will meet or exceed those goals.

In fact, part of the excitement, for me, is the anticipation! I push myself to sweat, to failure, to exhaustion every workout thinking the thought "Lifting this weight is another step toward that 5 pounds of muscle that I WILL gain by Week 12!" EVERY meal is another log on the fire that is burning the fat off! It feels so great. I wish I could share this feeling with EVERYONE because I love it! I'm glad to hear that you are taking this awesome journey, too.



Trilbe

Gopher

I have found for myself that BFL is really not taking off the pounds for me, but in it's place I have acquired lean muscle mass.
Since this is actually my goal I am happy so far.

I will complete challenge 1 and then I may consider cutting my carbs down to more of an Atkins level during challenge 2. I try to eat lower carbs on cardio days and increase carbs on lift days.

I don't see it as much as everyone else does but then again I am more critical of myself then those around me. My pants are getting lose and I am really shaping my thighs!!

I weighed and measured on first day of challenge and have vowed not to do this again until I have completed. I have to realize that it took me a long while to get out of shape, so it will take a long time to get back into shape.

With my last physical I was amazed at my doctors response to the scale not moving from the year before. He did notice the change in my muscular structure and he told me "I don't care if you weigh 200 lbs. as long as that weight is muscle and not fat".

That encouraged me even more as I was a little discouraged with the fact that I still weighed that same as the year before. My physician is a real health fanatic and is very supportive of my efforts to gain muscle and be leaner.

Look forward to following your progess

Herb Nurse. I really believe that genetically I have a LOT of muscle to begin with, or at least a lot of potential to make muscle. My father's side of the family contains some very solid people, I notice it in my son, but not my daughter (who takes after her dad) that we are just more heavy even if not fat.

My son is a year younger than his sister, weighs about 20 pounds more than her and is just solid to lift. But he isn't fat. She on the other hand is this slight little thing that would be easy to lift.

My son takes after me, and I too am just really solid. I have a lot of extra fat on my body right now, I estimate that I have about 50 pounds of fat that I could lose, but I do think a lot of what I have here in extra weight is muscle NOT so much just fat.

And too I think that part of the reason I haven't dropped any weight with BFL was that at first I wasn't keeping the foods as low carb as I should have been, but also I think that I was just gaining muscle weight and water into those muscles.

I didn't say I haven't made any progress, just not weight loss progress. I do think I'm getting stronger, I do think I'm tightening up in certain places. I do think I'm building muscle and since my weight isn't changing, I am probably losing fat at the same time, otherwise I would be GAINING weight. But I do have a hard time seeing it. I think we get so used to looking at ourselves every day that we can't see small changes. If we do we don't believe in them.

I'm going to go get my photos printed today and see if I can see any progress from week 1 to week 4. Only by comparing will I really know if anything has changed, but I will let you know.

But your doctor is right, you can be overweight and not be over fat. If you weigh 200 pounds of solid muscle, it is ok, to be overweight. I've measured myself with the fat calipers, and they seem to be showing me smaller and smaller values. I have a hard time trusting that or anything, but I do believe that it indicates something good is happening.

IF so then for every percent of fat lost, (even if weight doesn't change and ESPECIALLY if weight doesn't change) it means that your lean body mass is increasing. For every extra pound you have of lean body mass, it means you can eat more food without gaining weight. It also means that your "goal" weight should be increasing.

If you originally wanted to weigh 130 (like I did) and you find that now your LBM has increased to (like I found) 145 You can no longer have a goal weight that low. To weigh 130 now would mean that I would have to lose 15 pounds of muscle and have absolutely NO fat on my body. Well women, even very lean women, carry around at least 15% body fat so that means that the goal has to increase to at least 145 plus that 15% Which would change the goal weight to 170 pounds.

Now based on that idea, if your lean body mass increases further, like for instance I went to a site the other day, plugged some numbers in and found that I might have increased my lbm to 159 pounds (if the caliper readings I'm getting lately are correct and I suspect they may not be), that increases my goal weight even more.

At 159 lbm, plus 15 % that makes the goal weight 187.

Kind of makes it seem silly to even SET a goal weight doesn't it? Unless you know how much muscle you have and how much you will increase it, how do you know how much you want to weigh at the end?

The formula is pretty simple. once you know your fat percentages, you multiply that times your total weight. That will tell you how many fat pound you have.

Subtract that number from your total weight to find your lean body mass. then divide that number by .85 percent if you want to wind up with a 15% bf (which is lean) or by .8 for a 20 % bf, or .77 for a 23% bf. This will give your goal weight at whatever body fat value you want to have.

Essentially every pound of muscle made is less fat you need to lose and more weight you can carry without being overfat.

That is the ONE thing that I feel like BFL is doing for me. It isn't bringing me closer to my goal weight, it is increasing my muscle mass and thus changing my goal weight and bringing that value closer to what I already weigh!

Weird.