To encourage anyone (and myself) what exercise and LC can do:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/gallery/...p?i=14598&c=522



I especially like the easy going on the LC so as to have a pleasant life while obviously burning the fat!!

Ok Guys, here is basically what I ate for the last 12 weeks (but remember I did have my treats along the way, if you want to change your weight for good it needs to be a lifestyle and it is unreralsitic to say you will never have treats again )
Mon - Fri Menu:

Breakfast: Protein Shake, and a peice of fruit (the shake is pretty filling, I coulkd go without the peice of fruit most days, just had it as my afternnon snack)

Lunch: Turkey/Chicken/tuna with salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, beetroot, carrot. The size would have been about 3 handfuls of salad and a handful of the meat) the key here was I would eat lunch in two parts, eat half at say 12pm, then the other half at about 1:30-2. I am sure I could have eaten it all in one go, but eating half first, gets rid of any hunger you might have, also splitting into two stops you from snacking more, and increases your metabolism Worked wonders for me as I like to snack, my biggest weakness of all.

Dinner: I stopped eating read meat, so had chicken/fish with about 2 cups of vegies, stayed away from your starchy vegies, potatoes, pumpkin etc. I would cook stir fry's alot adding sweet chilli and soy sauce, stuff like that. Also liked a creamy mushroom sauce we have here in Australia, was a low fat, and low in sugar.

Snacks: I had a single serve tub of yoghurt each day, i found the yoghurt with the lowest amount of sugar I could find and low in fat of course. I also ate fruit. I know the serious low carb people out there would be like ahh fruit, yoghurt but I have done low carb so many times and it works just couldn't maintain it, having that bit of fruit or yoghurt really helps...but remember I didn't have like a 6 pack of yoghurts I just had my one.

Weekends:

breakfast: Oatmeal, splash of skim milk on top with banana and a good serve of honey, this one really helps with the sugar cravings.

Lunch: This depended on whther I ate a lowcarb dinner or a high carb dinner, if I had a high carb dinner, I would just have my salad and meat for lunch but if I had a low carb dinner, I would put the sald and meat on turkish bread or wholegrain bread.

Dinner: Low carb: grilled chicken or fish with steamed vegies.
high Carb Dinner: Chicken/fish, vegies and rice or some pasta or if I had a roast dinner I would have the potatoes and pumpkin.

My treats i ate once a week: some sugar free candy, low fat dip and crackers, or a low fat dessert, my favourite was this apple and sultana sponge with custard but up to you.

I had a chocolate everynow and then but chocolate has never been my weakness, just desserts in general.

The other key was I drank a lot of water, not sure what the conversion is but I drank minimum 2 litres a day, usually 3 ltires, I dislike drinking water but this is something I knew and I have made a conscious effort to drink it.

I am not very good at putting my tips and everything into words, so i hope it makes sense.

If you haveany questions or I have left something otu, just let me know and I am more than happy to answer.

Oh I meant to say as well, there was about 6 weeks where I wasn't losing wieght off the scale, but I had measured myself with a tape measure and although I wasn't dropping wieght the inches were melting away, it was hard for me to stop thinking in terms of scale weight, but it is true Muscle weighs more than fat and also muscle helps you burn fat more productively and also takes up less room in the body eg if you compare 1lb of fat to 1 lb of muscle, the muscle will be smaller then the pound of at even though they might weight the same.
Hope that helps

Thanks for sharing your success story and the details of your diet. In my previous LC attempts, I have also found that a moderate amount of fruit and yogurt does not hurt at all.

How much were you working out per week?

oh, and I meant to say CONGRATS, you look amazing

Did you lose all over?? I notice from your before picture you had a fair amount of belly fat compared to other parts of your body.. how did you get rid of that.. and did it go last?? or did it shrink at exactly the same time as the other parts.

I basically have very little fat except for my stomach.. and I soooo want to have a flat stomach like yours!

Mike

"How much were you working out per week?" on average 6 times a week from anywhere from 40 min to and 1hr. I had a 6 day program set out but not every week I managed to do 6 days, always pended on my schedule, and I also got sick for a week and didn't do any exercise due to this. But I aimed for the 6 days because I was doing a 12 week challenge, so had a small amount of time to tone up and drop the weight.
Here is my basic training schedule, it won't suit most people as I am single, have no kids, and have the free time after work etc
Mon - 25-30min walk/run & Basketball game. ( I jogged or walked to my basketball game then played, but could only do that after I got a bit fitter)
Tuesday - Weights session -worked whole body
Wednesday - 1hr cardio - Interval training, running/walking/running up stairs
Thursday -Weights -whole body
Friday - 1hr cardio -same as wednesday
Weekends- Sometimes I would go to the gym if I was feeling motivated or if I was tired or whatever I would just go for a 30-1hr walk, nothing to intense.
I always made sure i had a day rest, usually Sunday.
If you would like anything more specific let me know :-)

Yes I lost all over, it came off my stomach but mainly my face and upper body, my stomach really only got flatter in the last few weeks, it won't matter how much ab work etc you do, you have to lose the fat on top so your abs can come through, well that is what I have had drilled into me for 12 weeks anyway hehe

Hi Megsy81 -

Thanks for the information on your exercise routine! I have now successfully talked myself into a 12-week challenge starting today I'm going to try and do 6 days a week as well. Thanks for sharing details of your success - it's been very motivating.

Tanya

what kind of program were you doing in those 12 weeks? was it BFL or something similar? I tried BFL several times, made it one time all the way to week 10 and gave up because of some personal issues. I am however lifting again just not as much and I am trying to get the eating under control before anything else.
Feeling great but I cannot eat wheat products more than once or twice per week, other wise I get horrible cravings, bloating and hungerpangs. Well, keep up the good work, you are an inspiration to all of us.

Go for it Tsh10, remember it will be harder some days than others, but a trick i had is having my before pics on my fridge door. Every time I went to have a naughty treat I saw my yukky before pic, it helps. Anyway good luck and a little qoute I saw on here which is great as well " Nothing tastes as good as being thin will feel when you reach your goal weight".

Hi mie, Yeah, it was a similar competition to BFL, but it was through a website called Global health & Fitness, www.global-fitness.com

They have some valuable free articles in their archive section. Nice site.

You not only look beautiful and thin, you look healthy! Your amazing, and a true inspiration to many hopefuls! Please do tell how long it took to look that wonderful!

Ok - so I tried the 6 day a week workout, and I've lost 6 lbs this week! I've been LCing for a while, but this is the first week that I've lost so much.

I know that it's not going to continue going down this fast, but I do think that working out everyday boosts your metabolism. I'm doing 40-45 minutes of cardio and 15 minutes of weights every day. I concentrate on a different muscle group everyday. This way, my workout takes only about 55-60 minutes total.

Thanks for the motivation Megsy, I'm going to stick with it and see what happens. Having a good first week helps