Biggest Loser: Week 4

I realized in my Biggest Loser excitement I jumped ahead a week last week. Last week was week 3, not week 4, so I had to go back and correct my entry. Sorry for the confusion...

But on to Week 4 for real this time!

WHOOT, WHOOT!!! Guess who was the Biggest Loser of them all last week??  ME!!! Not only did I beat all the girls, but I also beat all the guys this week, too! (No easy feat since Michael and Josh V are tough competition!) As of Sunday, I have officially lost TEN pounds from the start. {Insert Happy Dance here.} Ten pounds was my overall goal for the whole challenge, and here I've accomplished that in a month. Not too shabby! But I'm not giving up... I've set a new weight goal (might as well be ambitious). The new goal is another 7 pounds, which would put me back at my wedding weight. (Say what??!!) Yep, hoping to get back down to my 27-year-old physique.

Week 4 was a tough week since it started with Super Bowl Sunday. Having just weighed in that morning, we figured we could splurge a little that day and still have the rest of the week to work it off. I grazed all day. One thing I've begun to notice is that I feel full faster much more than I used to, and if I keep eating (which I generally do because I love to eat) I just end up feeling bloated and uncomfortable. Guess that's my body telling me it is no longer used to eating so much! Slowly, I am learning to be satisfied with smaller portions.

With my office very close to the gym, I squeezed in 2 lunchtime workouts, one of which was a 3-mile run on the treadmill. Lunchtime workouts are something I'm going to try to do at least once a week (note to self: less sweaty workouts in the future). On Saturday I ran FIVE miles, my first 5-miler in about a year. And you know what? It actually felt really good. I pulled out my half marathon training, and I was supposed to be at 5 miles by now, so I am happy to see I'm not as far behind as I thought.

We're a month in now, and people are starting to notice the changes! The guys are looking trim, and Josh V even joked that he's not going to lose any more weight because he'll have to go buy all new clothes. (At least I hope it's just a joke!) Looking good, boys! I'm just now starting to see the changes in myself, and someone told me yesterday that my face looks thinner. (Always the way, isn't it, to lose weight from the top-down instead of the bottom-up?)

I hope everyone else in the group is seeing and feeling differences, too, because it's very rewarding and motivating!

Post-Birthday Post

Thank you again to all of you who visited, sent gifts and greetings to our little guy on his 2nd birthday.

As mentioned in his party post, we wanted to make a special trip to the firehouse to personally thank again the kind firemen who brought their truck to our house during the party. On Saturday I baked a yummy chocolate kahlua cake, printed the picture of us all on the truck, wrote out a thank you note and brought it to the firehouse. And no one was there. Truck was out. So on Sunday we loaded back up to try again... but failed again. Truck was out. Bummer! So we left our cake and card with a Sorry We Missed You! note and hopefully they found it and were truly appreciative.

I was bummed that we didn't get to see the firemen, as it would have been fun to show Adam the firetruck again. Let me show you how much he loved it:

He has also grown to love the once-scary remote control car from Grandpa (thank you!) but he doesn't chase it around like cousins Jake and Carter enjoyed doing at the party:

We're sending out a thank you to Gramma and Grampa, too, for Adam's step stool. He LOVES using it. He pulls it from under the counter and scoots it in place in front of the sink. He gets so excited to brush his teeth and wash his hands. "All clean!"

You'd be amazed by how much he's talking these days, most often using phrases we use all the time like "What happened?" and "What'd you do?" and "Good job" and "It's ok" and "No sir!"

So far, 2 is the most fun age! (yes, I've said that before, but I mean it this time!)

Biggest Loser: Week 3

Week Three was a good week to prove to me that I can still eat some of my favorite not-so-healthy foods. I don't have to give them up altogether; I just have to be conscious of how much I'm eating. It's all about moderation.

For example, this week our office brought in sandwiches and an ice cream (Oreo!) cake for the monthly birthday luncheon. Of course I didn't want to miss out on this! I had a small sandwich (mustard, no mayo), potato chips, and even a slice of cake. I was smart with my eating, and my total calorie count was 650 calories, which I thought was reasonable (and not as much as it would have been pre-Biggest Loser). Previously I would have had a larger sandwich, a lot more chips, and a regular Coke. (Have you ever realized how many calories we drink??) Now, my mind was still wanting another sandwich or more chips, but my stomach was full. I just need my mind to start reducing my desires! With my big lunch and reasonable breakfast and dinner, plus a morning workout,  my calorie count for the day was still just below my daily goal. Nice! And I had ice cream!

And I had pizza! Friday night we decided to stay in and splurge a little on our diets and ordered a Papa John's pizza. Of course, Saturday we hit the gym for a long workout but later we were visiting friends who were offering pizza and appetizers, too. Doh! Again, smart choices and moderation.

By Sunday morning's weigh-in I had still managed to lose .5 lb. Still a loss!

I have to give a big boost to Michael. He was the overall Biggest Loser for the first 2 weeks, and has nearly lost 10% of his body weight since the beginning. He's at the gym every day. Proud of you! We have been taking progress photos and we can really see a difference on him already. And congrats to Christie who took it for the girls this week. Nicely done!

Week 4 is nearly over by now -- we're halfway through the competition (Yes, it did get easier!) and we kicked off the week with Super Bowl Sunday. Can we still indulge and lose weight? Sunday's weigh in will let us know!

Family Portraits

Back in November my sisters and I thought it would be brilliant if we organized a family photo shoot since we all now live close to one another. The pictures would make perfect Christmas gifts for our parents and family.

We found a studio that was convenient for us all to drive to.

We made plans to meet for breakfast beforehand.

We worried about colors and wardrobes coordinating.

We scheduled around nap times.

It was still a disaster.

To our defense, we were on time for our morning appointment, early even, but the studio was running 40 minutes behind schedule. This is not good when nap time is around the corner and it's the week before Thanksgiving and the place is a madhouse.

Never again.

I wish I could show you the really hilarious out-takes (granted, it wasn't so hilarious at the time) but those didn't even make it to the CD they provided us. Here are a few of our out-takes that did make the CD:

We started with the kids first...

And then the whole family. We hate the pose and would have tried other arrangements but the kids were becoming uncooperative. What you don't know is that Jake it watching Barney on the iphone behind Angie's head.

Josh was holding the iphone.

And you can barely see Kim in this arrangement.

And why is Kyle waaay down at the bottom?  Terrible setup.

Then we tried just the cousins again. No go. Jake didn't even make it in the attempt!

Here's a little snippet of the chaotic, over-stimulating environment we were working with;

Like I said: Never again.

Well, I take that back. I'm sure after the next new addition to the family we'll decide it's time to update the family photos, but we have all agreed that next time we will have new stipulations:

1. No photo studios! We'll use a location of our choosing --  a nice calming, familiar locale

2. Private photographer all the way

3. The expense of said photographer will be soooo worth it.

4. Besides, said expense of said photographer, divided amongst all the families = reasonable.

Ok, it wasn't a total disaster. In the end we did manage to walk away with some surprisingly good photos, considering.

And we hoped the family loved receiving them!

One Special Group

Recently we traveled back to Florida.

It wasn't to get away from the cold or to go to the beach or to enjoy the warm sunshine.

It was to visit with dear friends, marvel over the growth of kiddos, meet new babies, and see moms-to-be.

I was amazed that it had already been 7 months since we moved. In many ways it felt like we'd never left, and for that I was grateful. It felt so good to immediately fall back in sync with our friends there, and I was touched that everyone made time for us. {You like us, you really like us!}

You see, our group in Florida is quite unique and so special. We all met through the Young Adults bible study group at our church, and we've spent weekends together skiing, boating in the Keys, and camping on a ranch or working side by side on community projects. We've seen each other find love, marry spouses, buy houses and now have children. We've shared joys and difficult times. We've spent hours and hours hanging out during barbecues, birthday dinners, bridal and baby showers, wedding receptions, beach picnics, play dates, trips to Disney, walks in the park and pool parties. Us girls would get together weekly for The Bachelor viewing parties (with our Fantasy Bachelor brackets and participation points) for I can't even remember how many seasons. They are more than friends to us; they're family.

So, thank you, Chris, Marie, Sarah, Mike, Tedd, Vanessa, Sherrie, Andrew, Johnny, Audrey, Erick, Kasey, Christie, Francois, Amy and Brian -- along with all the kiddos Noah, Brennan, Grace, Gabby, Gwyneth, Ryan, Stella, Alexander, Claire, Wylie and Ella -- for being as committed to this awesome group as we still are from afar.

Photos through the years...

My favorite quote from the weekend was from 4-year old Brennan: "Where have you been?" Aww, he missed us, too!

Biggest Loser: Week 2

Here we are halfway through Week 3, and I haven't even commented on Week 2. Last week I made it to the gym 3 times and also did a separate run and toning class and have continued to monitor my eating. I have been very good with the food (aside from birthday cake and ice cream at the party) but I have to admit I am going to need to make some adjustments so that I get greater satisfaction out of eating. I'll eat some homemade soup or a salad (or a bag of carrots like I'm doing now), and while it is yummy and nutritious, it is missing... something. I am not sure what, but I don't feel satisfied when I am done. It's eating to live (when I used to live to eat!). I hope in the coming weeks we'll start switching up our options more and the variety of flavors and textures will do a better job at making me feel fulfilled.

And I have been much more conscious of how much I used to snack. As I pour Adam goldfish crackers I'll catch myself popping a few into my mouth, and it's not because I'm hungry. It's because it's there and available and they taste good. At Adam's party I was very selective on what I chose to munch on (veggie tray, slight dip) and how much (just a taste or two of the chili dip). Surprisingly, I found I was just as satisfied than if I had eaten half a bag of Doritos. (Yum, my favorite... Thank goodness for snack size bags!) It's so easy to graze without realizing how much I'm actually eating, and that's something I'm hoping to be more conscious of for a long time after this competition.

All this paid off for a great week 2. I was the biggest loser girl! I gotta tell you, though, after being strong for 2 weeks and surviving the party weekend and all the company, I was dragging at the start of week 3. BUT, I really really don't want a (+) number this week, so that is motivating me to hit the gym. I also traveled all the way to Florida recently to recover my Wii Fit game. (See how committed I am?) I'm trying to mix it up at least -- Wii Fit (Hula Hoop rocks!), swimming, elliptical trainer -- instead of my boring treadmill.

I think across the board some of the initial eagerness, enthusiasm and excitement has dropped with all the participants; plus, we all have to work a little harder for the lbs these days. It'll be interesting to see how Week 3 ends up.

Keep it up, Losers!

Believe in yourself, trust the process, change forever.

-Bob Harper, Trainer, Biggest Loser

2-Year Check-up: Addendum

Not surprisingly, Adam came down with a 102.9 degree fever and had to be picked up from school yesterday. He's home with Daddy today. It was super convenient that we were just at the doctor on Monday for his check-up and the doctor noticed the fluid in his ears. We filled that just in case antibiotic last night after all. I just wish it wasn't such a chore to administer the meds!

I expect he'll be back to school tomorrow.

And once again, he's the happiest sick baby you've ever seen.