Day 1 of my "Bringing back Musclelicious" Challenge!

First day went great! I had planned my first week's menu and did all of my grocery shopping on Saturday. When I say week's menu, I mean all 6 meals! I printed out my workout log sheets from the BFL website, go to progress reports from this page. Sunday night, I sat all alone and wrote out my goals, my possible setbacks, and my workout for Monday. The time I spend writing this out is very therapeutic and motivating for me, sounds cheesy? Yes, but it is necessary...your mind is more than half the battle, you must condition it like your body!

Back to my day...I ate on plan, drank 1.25 gallons of water, and had a great upper body workout. When starting this program and especially the first time, your weight workout will be longer than planned b/c you are trying to figure what amt of wt is necessary for the amt of reps you will be doing. Since I am working out at my local gym, I did have to substitute a couple of exercises that I had planned, because of other members using the equipment I needed at the time. As you become more familiar with your workout, the exercises pertaining to each muscle group, and the more comfortable you become with your gym/equipment, you will be able to complete your w/o in a much faster time.

I can't tell you how determined I am, especially after seeing my "before" pics that hubby took, ugh. Maybe I will post them after the challenge? I dunno. I'm disgusted, but also motivated to turn this body completely around, especially before Thanksgiving. Since I started my challenge today, August 30th, I will have completed my challenge on Nov 21, three days before Turkey Day!!! My goal is to lose 20lbs, however, I am still nursing Kennan and if my wt drops too quickly, my milk supply will diminish...so, I'm not going to be too hard on myself if I only lose 15lbs, but that doesn't change my mindset or my actions, I'm going to give this challenge and not make any excuses :)

I know how planning a menu can be challenging for some, so here is mine! I included recipes from the Eating for Life cookbook that I recommend buying used from Amazon.com. If I have more time in my day, I may very well put my menus into a spreadsheet and post here, but in the meantime, here you go!

Wk 1 Menu

Breakast

Monday: Egg-cellent Enchiladas
Tues: Sunrise Fiesta Pita
Wed: Multigrain Cheerios, LF milk, Egg whites
Thurs: Protein Pancakes w/SF syrup (I will post this recipe d/t not being in book)
Fri:Spanish Omelet and potatoes
Sat: WW Egg McMuffin w/ LF ham, LF chz, and egg whites (this is homemade, not McDonalds, silly!)
Sun: FREE DAY!!!

Lunches:
Mon: Tuna salad on WW bread
Tues: Turkey loaf +WW bread+ broccoli (last night's leftovers)
Wed: Chicken green leaf salad, apple (chk from last night's leftovers)
Thurs: Cool Taco Salad
Fri: Chicken Pita Pizza
Sat: Fired Up Chicken Pita

Dinners:
Mon: Turkey loaf, 2 sm red potatoes, broccoli
Tues:Grilled chicken, swt potato, grilled zucchini
Wed: Taco Pasta salad
Thurs:Ck Fajitas, Beans, Salad (leftover chicken)
Fri: Shrimp Scampi and salad
Sat: Lean, grilled steak, sm potato, and salad

Snacks:
Mon: 1) Strawberry and banana protein smoothie 2) LF CC and frz strawberries
Tues: 1) Apple and string chz 2) Monster protein smoothie
Wed: 1) CC and apple 2) Monster protein smoothie
Thurs: 1) Berry Parfait 2)Protein smoothie
Fri: 1)apple and string chz 2) Choc protein shake and natty PB smoothie
Sat: 1)protein bar 2)Choc protein and natty pb smoothie