So What is BFFM Anyway?

I have a lot of friends, and friends of friends that have now seen my Blog. I'm getting a lot of questions on just what BFFM is, so I thought I would take a minute to explain. BFFM is an ebook written by Tom Venuto who is a natural body builder. The book is called Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. You might say, wait, I don't want to be a body builder? That is OK, this book shows how to lose fat without losing muscle, and that is what most of us want. Tom Venuto is more about looking good, he is truly concerned with people being healthy.

The main areas that the book covers:
1. You must set goals so that you know what you are working towards.
2. Nutrition is 80% of any fitness plan, so Tom teaches you what to eat and HOW to eat.
3. In order to not lose muscle while losing fat, you need to do some type of weight program (yes even you ladies who want to be "toned")
4. To burn the fat, you need to do some type of cardio exercise.

Tom says in his book that BFFM is simple, but it is not easy. He is right. If you are looking for the next quick fix, this is not the answer for you. If you want to understand why diets do not work and want to change your life for good, then this book has the information that you need. If you read this book you will have all of the information that you need to achieve your fitness goals. It is up to you at that point.

If you want more information do a google search for Burn the Fat Feed the muscle or Tom Venuto. Also check out my links to the other BFFM bloggers.

I wish you the best on your quest to be healthy!

Failure...(Is a state of mind)

One of my goals was to eat clean for the next 3 months. Man, I blew it! I woke up late, missed my AM Karate workout because of it and set me up for a bad day. I was mad I didn't get up so I could do a workout, and now I feel like a loser. I am also stressed out because I haven’t started my weight routine yet. Then I start to doubt that I will ever be able to achieve any of my goals. Dude, you already blew it you might as well go to have a 14" Buffalo Chicken Sub, some chocolate milk, and a big fat cookie to go with it. You are fat, you are always going to be fat, you might as well forget about ever being lean. You are never going to get this monkey off your back (emotional eating). You are always going to sabotage your results with food. That picture you sent to your wife of what you want to look like, what a joke. She probably laughed when she saw it; she knows too it isn’t ever going to happen.

That pretty much sums up what I was thinking yesterday. I felt like crap all night because of what I ate. I felt like crap in my head, as well as my stomach. Those negative thoughts drove me nuts yesterday, they have such a way of building on each other don’t they? OK so I did mess up yesterday, but I did not fail. I have only failed when I give up. Only then will I fail to succeed in what I am trying to do. I will face setbacks that might slow me down a little, but as long as I keep moving in the right direction that is all that matters.

So what did I learn from this? It is interesting to me that I was so on while we where on vacation, and I fell apart when we got home. For one thing, our meals were pretty planned out while on vacation. I plan ahead my lunches for work, but nothing beyond that. This needs to change, I need to plan all my meals 3 days ahead of time. Also on vacation I didn’t have the day to day stress. The everyday stress seems to make me want to eat foods that are not on plan. I guess that is the definition of emotional eating isn’t it? I need to work on this and reflect on it.

I feel great today; I got up this morning before work and ran 3 miles. I was just going to cruise through at 5.5 MPH, but I bumped it up to 6 when I got to the 2 mile mark. I felt so good running at 6, I bumped it up to 6.3 at the 2.5 mile mark. Even that was good, so for the last ¼ mile I ran at 6.5. I feel like I did something today and it is only 7:30. I know my food is going to be right on today. I know because I believe today that I can reach my goals. My big goals that get me really pumped, I can picture me achieving them. With that picture in my head nothing can stop me.

Progress Pics

Here are my progress pics(before on the left, current on the right). 50 lbs of fat lost makes quite a big difference.
Start: 312 41% BF
Current: 261 33.7% BF
I have a long way to go, but I'm looking forward to the next 50!

Do you have 50+ lbs to lose? It starts by making a decision to do something about it. Making a decision to live your life, not let it pass you by. Making a decision to stick it out for the long haul. Making a decision to make a lifestyle change, not to go on a diet.

Next set of 3 month goals

July 3rd was my target for this round of 3 month goals. Did I meet my 3 month goal? Well I weighed in at 261 lbs this morning @ 33.9% BF. I met my weight goal for the past 3 months, but my BF % was not even close. The only thing that can mean is that my LBM has dropped, which is very bad. But like any BFFM'er knows, they are just results so we adjust and move on. So here are my goals for the next 3 months:

• I no longer live for my cheat meals. I have been cheat free for the past 3 months. My results have been amazing!
• The base of my success has been consistently following my weight program over the past 3 months!
• Someone at work asked me what I am doing to achieve such awesome results.
• My daily and weekly goals have become the cornerstone of my success.
• It felt so great to ride the Superman at Darien Lake! I know I'll never be in the position that I was in last summer!
• It is 10/2/2006 and my BF is < 29%
  
• It is 10/2/2006 and I weigh less than 245 lbs!
• I feel great since I weigh less than I did when I got married!
• I will be the example for my wife and daughter to follow in their fitness journey.

I am going to focus on a consistent weight routine. This has been lacking and my drop in LBM is the result. I am going to up my cals to 2500 per day to also help with the LBM loss (this will put me right at 20% below TDEE). My other focus is I am going to avoid cheat meals for the next three months. Karl inspired me to do this (check out his link) in order to gain control over food. There are certain foods that are trigger foods for me such as dark chocolate, chips, cookies, sugar, fried foods, pizza etc. I will eat none of these foods over the next 3 months. I want to be the one in control. This won't be for the rest of my life, but I am going to show who is boss!

I had a great vacation last week. Took the family to meet my brother, sister, and mom in VA. It was nice to get away, and I still managed to eat well during vacation. How did I say no to the M&M's, ice cream, s'mores, cake, chocolate, pop tarts, etc. etc. etc.? I set my goals for the next 3 months before I left! I also knew I had to weigh in when I got back to see how I did for my previous set of goals. When you know where you want to go, it is a lot easier to get there! It is pretty easy to say no when you have a picture in your mind of where you want to be 3 months from now. Of course some people think I am crazy, but I know in 3 months I will have the results that I want.

Where will you be 3 months from now? Will you be closer to your goals? Do you even know what your goals are? Maybe your goals seem impossible? Picture it in your head as already being achived, and keep in mind the journey has to start somewhere.

"Don't ever give up on a dream due to the amount of time it will take to achieve it. The time will pass anyway."