I wanted to start Body For Life today, but Saturday is going to be my cheat day long term. So, I decided to make my first official BFL day a cheat day. That’s kind of tragic, but at least I have no excuse not to eat clean for the rest of the week!
In case you’re not aware – Body For Life is a program where you balance carbs & protein 40% each and fats 20% (that’s what you aim for at the end of the day). You are supposed to eat smaller meals every 3 hours (or so, depending on your preference) to make 5 or 6 meals a day. You eat this way for 6 days a week, follow a specified training or aerobic program and have one day where you are free to eat whatever you want (you also take that day off from exercise).
Janetha did BFL and I’ve been considering it for months and months. Seriously, when I look back on my first emails to her they are from back in April!
Anyways, after much debate I’m committing to this program for at least the next 3 months. After I’ll reassess my progress and goals and figure out the next best step. So this is my thing through March 27th. I’m still going to keep RER the same in terms of meal and running posts, but with less candy.
The biggest change to the blog will be: I am going to incorporate chicken and turkey into my life again. After being a vegetarian on and off (but mostly on) for the last 8 years this is something I am reluctant to do. But, I suspect my dependency on sugar is made worse by the lack of protein in my diet. I’ve had a few meals with turkey over the last few months and struggled with it for a while. Although I completely disagree with factory farming, I do think it’s “okay” to eat animals (as in, I believe in the circle of life concept). I am going to make a conscious effort to eat free range, organic poultry when possible. I do not plan on eating red meat or pork.
I’m going to be traveling for my real day 1 of BFL, so it’s going to be a challenge from the start. But, I am all in.
Lunch was a mish-mosh salad of anything and everything from the fridge. I also had a squishy potato roll that was on the counter calling my name.
Most of my day was spent hanging out with my nephews Owen and Atticus. They were perfect little gentlemen while everyone else (except for Ben’s mom) went to see True Grit. Although, they came back with great reviews of the movie so I might go see it now.
Ben’s mom made a big turkey dinner for our last night here. I had some of everything.
I had one last Vitatop that could not go uneaten, so I paired it with some vanilla ice cream and a piece of pound cake with strawberries. Now I’m stuffed.
Ben suddenly got really sick, so I’ve gotta go see how I can help. See you in the morning!
Excited to see how BFL goes for you! I made it halfway, then got sick…fell off the wagon and didn’t come back. I *love* the program, although never got over feeling like it was too good to be true. 20 minutes of cardio? 40 minutes of strength training?
Hi Monica,
I was wondering how you are going to work your running schedule into the HIIT part of BFL. I have thought about trying BFL too, but I am nervous about the little amount of cardio/don’t know if I’m ready to give up some of my favorite cardio routines.
Good Luck!
I’m looking forward to following your BFL challenge!
Janetha’s BFL story totally inspired me to try it too. I’m kind of itching to try again but I’m nervous. Adding in more protein and less sugar definitely curbed my cravings for sweets.
I love the name Atticus so much. Mostly because “To Kill a Mockingbird” is my favorite classic.
I too am starting BFL..officially start on Monday! I am really excited about it…can’t wait to take the journey with so many amazing women…Hubs will be taking me before pics today…eeeccckkkk!!
Good luck and I hope everyone starts feeling better today!
Personally, I am a vegetarian (no meat, including seafood), but everyone is different!!!
I’m a vegetarian because I CAN’T stand the taste/texture of meat. It’s disgusting, so I feel very lucky that I can be satisified with vegetarian proteins. Greek yogurt, beans, seeds, nuts, mmmmmmm 🙂
I love, love, love how I’m starting to see a trend toward people choosing what’s right for them again instead of so many labels. I know this is a personal thing you’re doing for yourself, but you’re not the first vegetarian (or “mostly vegetarian”) I’ve seen in the last few months that’s decided, ya know what, it’s okay to change that to suit more current needs and desires. It’s amazing how much guilt that sometimes creates, especially with bloggers who put their food out there for public view everyday, but I think it’s great you can embrace it, make it your own, and be happy with it. 😀
Don’t worry about the turkey + chicken addition, Monica!
I think being a vegetarian for ethnic reasons means caring about the environment, about our planet.
It’a a “state of mind”!
Just keep the attitude, girl 🙂
Again – Happy New Year!
xoxo
i am glad you are giving it the solid 3 months because lots of people dont see big changes til week 8 with BFL. best of luck, i love youuuuuuuuuuu
Good luck with BFL. I can’t wait to read about your journey. I’m curious to see what you think about the workouts. I get so bored with weight lifting, but know it’s good for me, and that I should do more of it. I want to be able to do real pull ups
Monica! I’m doing BFL too. I started a month ago, but with the holidays I’ve had more than one cheat day per week 🙁
I’m leaving that in the past though because today I’m buckling down and eating super clean. The food is my only problem; workout are fun and I’m loving weights, but sometimes I slip up with my meals. Eating a random cookie here and there doesn’t get me any closer to my goals.
I’m super excited to read about your BFL journey!! I feel like you can keep me on track and be a source of motivation 🙂
I’m really excited to follow you through the BFL challenge. I hadn’t heard of it until you first mentioned it, so I looked it up. I did notice that the website pretty strongly discourages vegetarianism on the plan and pushes the protein powders, which I didn’t love, but I’m still interested by the overall concept. Best wishes getting down to it tomorrow!
Monica. I totally admire you for wanting to do this. But doesn’t it completely go against the idea of intuitive eating. If you have a prescribed plan then how are you listening to your body? I’m intuitive eating so I understand how easy it is to get excited about a plan, when I’ve been dieting for a long time, but have you considered this when getting on board a new plan?
Cheers
Jenny
Jenny,
I believe Intuitive Eating works best to maintain, but not necessarily to lose weight. Although I’ve been doing well with maintaining my current weight, it’s not where I want to do. So, I’ve decided to try this plan for few months and see if I can drop some weight.
Ultimately I want to be an intuitive eater, but right now it’s not helping me reach my goals.
Can I just say, why are you dieting when you are in such great shape already?! You are beautiful!
Awesome that your first day is a cheat day 🙂 Good luck with the program!!
I’m starting BFL on Jan 12!! 🙂
I hope Ben feels better!
That salad looks yummy!
The meals you’re showing are hardly cheating! At least you ate meals today. I’m pretty sure I had pretzels for lunch.
No, I cheated. Trust me 🙂
I hope Ben is feeling better!
Can’t wait to hear more about your BFL plan – I have never heard of it. I have been wondering if my increase in need for sweets has coincided with my eating less and less meat…hmmm. Something to take more notice of in the next few weeks!
Oh no, I hope Ben feels better quickly! Good luck with the start of BFL. I know you’ll do great!
Good luck with BFL! I think starting with a cheat day is actually very smart.
We have the exact food philosophy, I eat fish and fowl but no beef or pork (mammals) and do my best to only eat humanely raised animals.
just the post I was hoping you would post!
I’m starting BFL toooooooooooooo, and I’m doing it for the next 14 weeks (until I go on vacation for the vacation of my lifetime to costa rica)
at any rate i have about 15-20lbs to lose
I would LOOOOOOOOOVE TO pick to your brain/chat w/ you via email about BFL, what your general plan is, eats, working out, etc. I already fired off an email to Janetha so hopefully she’ll give me some feedback too. I was hoping to do this without the use of protein powder, but its looking like my best bet is to get some BSN lean dessert and suck it down. I’m not a huge huge fan of meat, but like you, I def think lack of protein contributes to m y sweet tooth/bingey behavior so I eat turkey/chicken now. I still have a hate relationship with cottage cheese & canned tuna though.
EMAIL ME PLEASE!! LETS CHAT ABOUT BFL! WE CAN BE BUDDIES!!!!!
oh, i used to have a blog called http://sarawithanhishealthy.wordpress.com but i decided blogging wasn’t for me so i made my blog private/password only and now i just store recipes there. lol
Hey Sarah,
Feel free to email me at runeatrepeat at gmail.com and we can chat 🙂
Super exciting about Costa Rica! I’ve been there and it’s still my favorite vacation ever.
Heya!! Just commented on a later post about how I had just started BFL on the 3rd as well. I briefly had contact with Janetha and am def going to try and pick her brain about this all as well. Would LOVE to get on board with you girls and get ideas etc!!! 😀
Oh – and I’m trying to blop about it while I go along to keep myself motivated (http://biyatchworkout.blogspot.com/)
Haha I somewhat ‘cheated’ today too, even though one of my resolutions is to eat less sweets. But for me, I have major sweet cravings whether I eat meat, am a vegetarian, or a vegan, I don’t see a difference either way. Hopefully you’ll have better luck with this than I have – it’s tough to break a sugar dependency!
Happy New Years!
Ooooh, I hate the word “cheat.” Looks like some good eats, though!
Oh god, I hope Ben feels better!
I love how the first day of your new diet is a cheat day. LOL.
Do you also love how I’m just coming out and eating meat now? You know, so you don’t have to call me out on it every time 🙂
FINALLY.
You need some beef though.. Mmmm…
I recently went from being pescatarian to adding turkey and chicken back into my diet and I honestly have never felt better. I feel guilty about it, but it makes my body happy and honestly it makes my tastebuds happy. I try to buy the best quality I can afford and to accept that this is where I am and what I am willing to do right now. I am trying to break the carb/sugar addiction as well and I do think it has helped. Good luck and forget about the guilt, life is too short.
it’s ok. i told myself no sweets until after dinner and had cookies after lunch. oops. tomorrow is another day. and means no sweets after dinner tonight!