Check it out!  Jen and I got to chat with Brittany & Bernie at a meet & greet near our home town!  Are ya jealous?! 

 

They were both very sweet and signed autographs and gave us words of encouragement.  It was just sooooo very cool to meet them!!  We have been keeping the status-quo the past month, but now we are motivated to kick start it again!  I'm so excited!  They are real people (well, duh), but you know what I mean...if they can lose weight, so can everyone else!!  New motivation!

I've been on Spring Break and then was sick for 5 days.  So I'm sure I yo-yo'd over the past 2 weeks, but the end result is down 1 lb.  I tried REALLY hard on vacation, but sometimes I'd catch myself falling into old habits like, "Oh I'll have this pie and skip lunch and afternoon snack."  Well, of course, I didn't skip it and well, you know the rest...I did exercise everyday on vacation.  (Proud of me Jen?? )  So back from vacation and getting back on track, although it is tough to exercise with a head cold still hanging on.  I've also spent the past 6 weeks rehearsing for a play I'm in with our local community theater company and that is over this weekend, whew, so I can get back to ME!  I may not have lost a lot of weight these past 12 Biggest Loser weeks, but I have learned to like exercise!!  I used to be that gal that would rather starve to lose weight than exercise, but NOW I realize that I can have toned muscles, which I love, especially as I, ya know, get older!! 

Lost another pound, although it feels like I should have lost 10.  Ate right and worked out religiously, and got a pound.  Good, I guess.

Lost another 1/2 pound.  I am quite happy that I am finally below 160!!  I haven't been below 160 since I was starving myself to get in my wedding dress 13 years ago.  This is quite a personal accomplishment for me.  Although it's silly...it's kinda scary...who am I if I'm thinner?  And when will I stop looking at my reflection and thinking "You're fat."?  Could it be never?  Hmmmm...my weight has always been a part of my "definition".

I thought I blogged last week...I had a small loss of 1/2 pound.  I'll take it. 

I had my first gain this week and I don't know if I can blame it on having the flu or Not, but I sure want to. I haven't exercised since Feb 18th while on vacation. I got back in the saddle today with the Biggest Loser 3 cardio workout and I'm already feeling the after effects. Having a gain really hurt my ego, so I'm going to work out pretty hard tomorrow and Monday before the next weigh in on Tuesday morning. I have given into temptation this past week way to much. I know that cutting sugar is huge for me, those weeks I did I lost more than when I exercised 1 1/2 hrs a day. Today I had a bridal shower and I gave in to the cake. I should have just let it be - but "OH NO" this brain said - go ahead you exercised today. The thing is - I don't want to exercise so I can eat!!!! I just want to eat. Enough! I will do this and I will do it correctly with diet and exercise because I love myself!!! There now I feel better. Have a good one.

No loss last week and I knew it.  Bottom line, went to a couple parties, had people over...and didn't plan well.  So, grateful for not gaining!  Probably the only thing that kept me from not gaining was exercise.  I felt really disorganized last week.  Forgot my lunch, was eating at odd hours, play rehearsal at night, blah, blah, so next week I need to concentrate on routine.  It has FINALLY become routine in my life to exercise.  Can't even believe that I said that out loud!  Oh, and I finally threw out my "fat clothes".  I was hanging on to them -- just in case -- but I've decided that I'm NEVER goin' back!

 

I think the Black Team made a mistake dismissing Paul -- team strategy-wise.  He did lose big most weeks...we'll see.

Things like this always happen to me. I left for vacation with my family and we all have contracted the flu bug. I have a fever of over 100 with a horrible cough. I'm not doing as well this week with keeping away from the sweets. Ice cream and popsicles taste really good on a sore throat. We are staying on the six floor and I have been climbing the stairs for extra exercise. I think of Brittany on the excalator when I get to about the 80th step and I still have ten to go. If she can do it so can I. I'm hoping the sickness goes away fast so I can get back to my routine. The show on Tuesday was really good. I was kind of glad that Paul left. He seemed like such a downer at the end. Good luck to everybody and keep on track.

I'm ba-a-a-ck!  After 3 weeks of no loss, I did lose a pound.  And realized that my not writing things down on weekends is sabotaging my efforts.  I did up my protein a bit too.  Jen did very well again - I'm proud of her.  I think she's strong enough to make good choices while on vacation, cuz she knows EXACTLY what to do.  She and I went on vacation together last winter, and she brought her exercise videos for crying out loud!  I couldn't believe it!  The thought of exercising while on vacation never crossed my mind.  I'm more of the, "Pass me a beer" person while on vacation.  Good for her!!  

It is really going to be interesting next week when they send them home. I will feel in the same boat because we are vacationing with the long President's weekend. I think I'm going to weigh in on Saturday morning before we leave so when I get back it won't be a long lapse for the contest. I am going to blog while I'm gone. I'm hoping I can have the attidude that I'm on Biggest Loser Campus and hopefully it will give me the motivation to keep up the hard work. Do you think it's this hard to maintain as it is to lose? Jillian always says so. The way they edit the show it doesn't look good - Did you see all the temptations? It's been 9 days since I've had sugar and I'm still going strong. I am living proof that if you give it up you will see the benefits. Good luck everybody.

 

I have always had two scales at home to weigh on and I always do it first thing in the morning. So the last coulple of days the scale hasn't wanted to read correctly. At first I thought is was the horrible Fat Tuesday or maybe the women thing we get, so I ignored it. The last couple of days I was weighing on both and discovered that my Old Faithful must have a dying battery because I had to step on it twice to get a correct reading. And if you have a relationship with the scale like I do, stepping on it twice to get your result can be scary. So Annette and I talked about it and I changed my Ticker to the new scales reading. It's a nice change because it's 2 pounds lighter than Old Faithful. I'm sure it's the battery in it that needs to be changed but I've decided that I will stay with the newer scale. Are you questioning why I would have 2 scales? About this time last year when I was dieting for my sister's wedding my mom was kind enough to buy me a Curves scale from Avon. And it was exciting at first because it was two pounds less than Old Faithful but it also tells me how much of my self is fat, water, bone density, and muscle. Well, after a while I got sick of seeing how much of me was fat and started using Old Faithful again. We'll see how it goes this time. After my Fat Tuesday sugar high I've been faithfull to giving up the sweet treats as I promised to do for Lent. I'm not going to cheat on Sunday's either - because some people believe Sunday's don't count.  Sorry about the dark videos - when we record it, it looks great on the camera. We'll try better next week. Oh - and by the way everything I said on it true about that day - I don't know what really happened to make me want all those things - I guess it was a good temptation and I probably would have won the cash prize if I was on the show. I'm better now and moving on. It was only one day.

 

Wow, what a week - Super Bowl & Fat Tuesday!!  You could imagine!  Annette lost 0 (and knew why) and Jen lost 0. 

See our video blog on Jen's Fat Tuesday!  It is all shockingly true!  We vow to do better in Week 6.

I am soooo proud of Jen!  She is so determined and keeps up with her workouts.  If it weren't for her, I probably would have quit by now.  

 

As Jen said, I didn't lose ANY weight again this past week.  I SHOULD be happy that I didn't gain.  I have NEVER worked out as much as I have the past 4 weeks.  I'm disappointed that the scaled didn't go down, but I do have the appearance of biceps!!  I wish I would have taken body measurments before we started. 

So, I'm sure some people are thinkin' "yeah right she's eatin healthy and workin out".  Well, I know I am.  I reviewed my food diary and Jen suggested upping my fiber and protein, so that is the goal in week 5.  (psst - I do like having muscles and feeling strong!!)

 

Oh, and Bob Harper..what were you thinkin'?!!  You should have chosen the Blue Team - Bernie & Brittney.  I'm mad about that and now I want the black team to win!

This week we did ok. I lost 1 1/2 lbs and Annette stayed the same. That's ok with us since we didn't gain. She has been really working out and I know she's building muscle. Before the Biggest Loser DVD's she tried using cardo and weights on her own. For myself, I have always used videos so I need to find a more creative way of losing without them - I seem to get bored easily- maybe I need to try jogging. I have a treadmill but like most people it's more of a coat rack than an excerise tool. It's been really cold here and hard to get outside to get the extra workout in. Today they said a high of 20 degrees but it never got over 10 degrees. My fingers got cold inside my gloves it was so bad. We were both really mad at Bob in the last episode. We are now big time Jillian supports - Go underdogs!!! Bob really should have chosen Bernie and Brittany, it was so sad to see Brittany upset - but I think Bob got the point. It will interesting next Tuesday. Best of luck to all of us!

Didn't lose any weight during week 3.  Highly disappointing (see my video blog).  Onto week 4.

Ok, as of my 2nd week weigh-in I lost 2 more lbs.  Not too shabby.  But of course, ya know, I always expect like 10 lbs.  HA! 

 

My favorite story this past week was that I've been in the habit of doing a BL exercise video each night, or almost, and Monday night was my "last chance workout" and I just didn't want to do it.  I really just had a very loooooong and stressful day.  (And did I mention that exercise has not always been my cup of tea?  Thank goodness my teammate Jen is an exerciser and loans me her videos!  She inspires me to do better.)  So my 9 year old son asks "Mom, how come you're not exercising tonight?"  I explained that I had a very long day and I'm tired.  Then he says, "I'll do it with you."  How SWEET is that?!!  How could I say no to such a sweet gesture and helpful boy, so I peeled my tired, stressed rear off the couch, put on the appropriate attire and asked him which one he wants to do, he says, "Bootcamp."  OMG!  This video, of course, is almost all calisthenics.  I want to scream, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!  Did you not hear mommy say she was tired?!"  But no, I politely say, "Sounds great!"  And we did the whole thing together.  It was such great fun!  Heck, even the 5 year old son jumped in on the boxing section to show off his moves!  I hugged and thanked him for helping me!  Then the next morning I got to see a loss...my son saved me from making excuses!  I probably would have had my head in a bowl of ice cream had he not made the suggestion.

 

Personal goal for next week:  Write in the food diary EVERY DAY and talk nice to myself!

If I had to sum up why I joined the Million Pound Match-Up in one sentence, it would be:

 

“I’m sick of being fat!”  (screamed with disgust!)

 

or put positively, “I’d like to be thinner and fit.”  (spoken calmly)

 

My story is not unique – I have NEVER been thin.  Was the fat kid, oh, “fatty-four-eyes” actually, or adults would say “heavy-set” to be polite.  Grew up to be the heavy-set teen, that would binge and gorge, skip lunch, oh and the grapefruit diet!  Went to college, ate whatever was convenient and cheap, fast food.  Had a stint of “thinness”, cuz, yep, dating.  Then back to fat.  Slimmed down to look good for those wedding pictures.  Then married and fat.  Had two children, oh, can you say fatter!? 

 

If you eat a Snickers when no one is watching, does it really count? 

 

You get the picture.

 

Fast forward many years to summer 2007, and seeing a photo of myself (featured here!).  TOTAL SHOCK!  I didn’t think I was THAT fat!  OMG!  Who was I kidding?!

 

My friend Jen and I have followed and love The Biggest Loser.  We decided to join the Match-Up together and will support each other in whatever way necessary.  We are HUGE fans and winning would be a dream come true!  What’s in it for NBC?  Well, maybe we could do a little dance, or a Bob impression or something.

 

I weighed 165 lbs. on January 1 and my goal is 145 lbs and fit.  I plan to continue healthy eating, exercise, stop making excuses and writing everything down – accountability.  That’s what this Match-Up gives me – accountability to Jen, anyone reading, and especially me. 

 

I’m a giver – wife, mom, friend, volunteer.  I spend a lot of time doing for others, and this is something just for me.