Crystal's Goals and Encouragment

I think we are doing GREAT!!

I didn't post my goals the first week because I wanted to make sure I set realistic goals... So here they are

They are very simple

1: Do my mile jog/walk Once a week.
2: Do 30 mins of my exercise videos twice a week
3: Eat breakfast everyday (I never eat breakfast, so this is new)
4: Eat smaller portions at meal time and have small healthy snacks in between
5: Lastly make healthy choices when it comes to eating

So now I'm here to give some encouragement and Tips!

Ok I have noticed that if I work out early in the day. I eat healthier the rest of the day. I don't want all my hard work to go to waste. I definitely recommend this! Plus you feel great all day too.

Next I HIGHLY recommend working out to your favorite tunes! Music motivates like you wouldn't believe. When I have my ipod on my walks I notice I run alot more. Plus I get a little dance in my step which helps work the bumm, hips and abs. So Pump up the Jam!

Snack time is the best part of the day!!!
Make the smart choice. I get the munchies all day long. I used to reach for the cookies, chips or some form of chocolate. Well now I go for fruit instead. I get my sugar fix without the guilt.

Keep up the great work guys. Remember its a healthy body we are trying to achieve! Pounds are great to loose but getting in shape is what really matters. PS: muscle weighs more then fat!! And muscles burn fat too!!!

AND Lastly seriously consider running like Phoebe!!! SO FUN!!! If you don't know what I mean check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfaztVg4kaA

Week 1

The results are in! In order of percent loss:

Carrie -3.0lb -2.3%

Mike -5.7lb -1.7%

Crystal -2.0lb -1.7%
Lindy -1.8lb -0.9%

Amy -1.2lb -0.8%

Lindsey -1.4lb -0.7%
Donna -1.0lb -0.7%
Somer -1.0lb -0.7%

Kevin -1.0lb -0.6%

Natalie -1.0lb -0.5%

Evan -1.0lb -0.4%

Mandy -0.8lb -0.4%

Jessica 0.0lb 0.0%

I am so proud of everyone.. no one gained any weight! I know some of you didn't do as well as you would have liked, but thats what's cool about this. Today starts a new week. So you can keep the momentum going that you've started, or tweak what you're doing to do better. Good job everyone! Keep up the good work.

I looks like I won. My husband Dave thinks that somehow that must be cheating. But I promise I won't win every week. :)

(Oh, and for those who are wondering, the percent is calculated by dividing the change in pounds by the starting weight. So if a 200lb person loses 2 pounds, that's the same as a 100lb person losing 1 pound.)

Are you Ready?

Weigh-in is TOMORROW! Don't forget to email me your weight sometime tomorrow. I, personally, am going to do it before dinner and pie. But that's up to you! As soon as I have everyone's weight I will post everyone's pound and percent change and the WINNER! If I hear from everyone then we'll know by late tomorrow night, otherwise it will be Friday. If I don't hear from you, you won't be able to win this week, but I will split your 2 week change in half in order to rank you for next week.

Also, if everyone who hasn't paid yet (who wants a chance to win mula) could leave a comment and let me know how and when you plan on getting me the money, then I will know who I need to track down. I want all the money collected so that if you see the results this week and think you have no chance to win anything that you don't back out. :) Because I know everyone has a chance at a prize if you keep working at it.

Utah girls (unless you've already made plans with Somer), you can mail me a check, and that would be fine. Email me and I'll send you my address. If you really want, you could use paypal, but the percent they charge is higher than what you'd pay for a stamp.

Hope to hear from all of you!!

Hello all!
Mandy here . . . I thought I would take a break from my hurry-get-as-much-done-as-you-can-because-Bethany's-at-preschool-and-the-boys-are-entertaining-themselves morning to finally say hi to everybody and go public with my goals so as to further commit and be held accountable.
Longest sentence ever.
Of course, my boys start screaming as soon as I sit down here to do this.
Oh well.
SO, after an eventful rollercoaster of a time of the past three years, I am FINALLY feeling ready to take on more than just survival. What then? Keeping an especially clean house? Volunteering to get back on board with all those callings at church I had to abandon to maintain my sanity level (it may not be high, but at least it's consistent!)? Reading all those books I've been wanting to read? Taking an online class or two to renew my intellect? Start writing that book I've been wanting to write? Planting the garden that the lonely Northeastern Corner of my backyard calls for? Or...renew my health?
Hmm...that's a rough one.
Carrie and Somer's invitation came at a really good time for me. I have been feeling ready to start taking better care of my family's health and get all this stinkin baby weight off since about the middle of summer. Started strong...everyone got sick. And stayed that way. For three months. Ugh. THEN, everyone started slowly getting better and here we sit...just a couple light colds. I can surely deal! So, here I am, being forced to pay more and more attention to what we eat and what we do to take care of our bodies. First, by having a family full of sickies. Then, by joining up with you guys to hopefully add some extra motivation!
Here's the plan around these parts . . .

*Keep it simple! Ask myself this question...what do I really want? Answer . . . a healthy, happy and thriving family (of course, myself included). I want to be able to funtion well and have powerful health ...to train my buns off and start dancing and performing again!
If I am trying to make a decision about what to eat, do, think or plan...see what fits into the spectrum of what I really want.

*Focus on my food being REAL FOOD, not a food product. Real food has a function, something it does for my body. Real food doesn't have a lot of ingredients. Now, I know just as well as anybody that we all have treats from time to time. In those moments I will smile and enjoy a taste of something purely enjoyable. But for the most part, everything that goes into my body will be real food.

*Avoid red meat and dairy

*Avoid any other meat that is not organic.

*Eat appropriate portions.

*Try to do without additives. Clearly the ones other people put in my food but try to avoid adding things to my food like salt, butter, white sugar, etc. Keep things as simple and raw as possible.

*Be active every day. I am going to try to find time throughout the day to do my strength training...just while the kids are entertained and/or happy, try to find a few minutes here and there to go through whatever exercises I want to do that day, alternating my daily focus (upper body, lower body, core, etc.) Then, in the evenings after bedtime, hit the cardio hard. Also, stretch in the evenings and mornings.

*LISTEN to my body. If you think about it, we really know what our bodies need...it's just a matter of learning to listen to it. After growing up in a world of advertising it's not easy to do and definitely a process, but I think this is a big part of gaining and maintaining health. I have been learning to be conscious of this in the last year or so and am ready to take it to the next level by applying it in this quest to lose weight!

*THINK positively. Studies have shown the benefits of this. It is rarely easy to do so, this much I know! But, whatever I'm eating, whatever I'm doing, I will think positively about it and focus on what good I am doing and try to learn from but not punish myself for the imperfect parts. We can pull positive energy out of any food, any activity, any surroundings if we try to. I think I sometimes sound like a hippie...

*Be religious about taking my vitamins and supplements. The more power my body has to stay healthy, the less power it's using to fight off toxins and sickness...the more energy it has to put toward fighting off the fat!

*DRINK, drink, drink water! Get my intake WAY up and make it (almost) my only source of fluids. I don't mind having some fruit juice every once in a while, but water is where it's at.

Well, anyway, that's about it for now. Just wanted to get all that out there.
I am really excited and trying to ignore the fact that my body wants to get sick this first week! Haha...told this cold to get the 'beep' out of here last night with some high-intensity yoga. Can't keep me out of the gym, you energy-draining, flem-producing germ, you!!!
I hope that paints a lovely picture for all of you.

Good luck!!!!!
Love to all,
Mandy

2 small successes

I didn't get to walk Friday because I ended up taking the baby to the doctor and the rest of the day was spent getting ready for a boutique Saturday. On the way home from the doctors office, it was 11:30 and I was so hungry. I knew I would be driving past a Burger King and a Whopper Jr. sounded SO good. I thought about all the food I had home (which isn't very much) and nothing sounded good. BUT I didn't give in! I drove past the BK and went home to eat! (A Whopper Jr still sounds good though. :) )

Ok, the other one is that our home teachers called and asked to come over for the first time in a while. So I thought it would be fun to make cookies. We had to clean up the living room first though (and the kitchen, and the front room, and the...) Needless to say I ended up running out of time. Lo and behold, they brought us cookies! So instead of having a whole batch of cookies to munch on all evening, I got two super yummy little cookies. They were really little ones too, so cute, and perfect porportion to get a little taste. I was thinking the next time I make cookies (which will probably be soon because it's going to be a cold stormy weekend) I am going to put the dough in rolls in the freezer so when we bake them, we make one pan or less. Just enough for each of us to get a couple and that's it.

Just wanted to share my little milestones with you guys. OH, and add a goal to my list: stock the house with yummy food, that is also healthy-ish to cut down on my BK temptations.

Hey Everyone

.....So I'm the 'Handicapped' one of the group, the one who isn't in the competition yet. (YET being the key word). I wanted to give you a little background and explain why I'm a part of the group and participating on the board, but not in the challenge.

I had to have a partial hysterectomy (my uterus out) and appendectomy back in June of this year, due to Endometriosis. I went to physical therapy for pelvic floor tension myalgia, because my muscles were hurting all of the time from being tight all of the time from trying to defend from the pain that the endo was causing. Well then in that surgery my Dr noticed that I had varicose veins around my ovaries, also, since then, my PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome started acting up again, and I kept getting several painful cysts. I had run out of options so I had my ovaries and veins, as well as some more endo that had grown back, taken out on Nov 3rd. There were some complications that led up to me having internal bleeding and I was rushed back into the OR and had to get 4 blood transfusions. There have been several more complications since then that have left me basically on, well not quite bed rest, but I have to take things really easy.

Anyway, I was one of the founders of this blog and I am really motivated to start working out again, especially when I see pictures of myself! But I have to take it easy for now, until I get my Dr's ok. So hopefully I will be able to join in on the next round. But I am here rooting you all on!

The things I am trying to do to help myself, at least stay even, are
1) eat healthier - not so much candy, and sweets and - eat more fruits and veggies

2) try to get up and walk around a little more each day.

I know it isn't much but it's all I can do for now.

By the way - a little tip I read is that if you want to work on your belly fat, then walk at a ten percent incline, either on a treadmill, or mountain trail. Apparently by doing sit-ups or crunches, first off works only one of your ab muscle groups, (you have to do different kinds to work the different muscles), but second off, you will never get rid of that belly fat by only doing crunches.

Okay...... I'm "in"

I actually found a chart I started exactly a year ago... it showed how much I lost every day for about 2 weeks and I now weigh 10 lbs more than I did when I STARTED to lose weight that time... so yeah, that is one reason I just have to do this.  And I could possibly have a wedding this year and I refuse to be the "fat" mother standing in the line.  Vain, I know.  So, I dusted off my old VHS tape (I know, a relic) of Tae-Bo with Billy Blanks... I have the routine pretty much in my head, but have to watch it to so I don't have to do any thinking... so I just blur my eyes because he and the girls that exercise with him are pretty gross to look at.. blaaaah!  I will be sore tomorrow, but it will be worth it.  On my weight chart I also include the measurement of my waist and my thighs so I can watch the inches fade as well.  Because muscle weighs more than fat and when I excercise and build more muscle I want to see something change on my chart.  There are probably better exercise tapes out there that are newer, but I hate to have to learn something new all over again.  I feel really good when I get to the point of being able to do the whole 30 minute workout without stopping and panting.  I like to go walking in the neighborhood in the mornings for a break, but I feel like tae-bo gives me a much better, all-over excercise... and I refuse to run... running breaks down knees and both my sister and mom have bad knees.  I am protecting mine.  So whatever you girls do.... keep it up and good luck!  Woooo Hooooo!

A great site...

Hope everyone is still on track and doing well.  Prior to starting this I have been trying to lose weight for a couple months.  Something that has helped me is calorie count it is a great way to keep track of what you eat and how many calories you have burned for the day.  They have a really neat section that tells you how many calories you should consume daily to achieve your desired weight.  It's great and the best thing is that it is FREE!!  Keep up the good work!

Day One!

Hey everyone! I'm really excited...everyone who contacted me that wanted to participate has also weighed in today! So as of right now, I think our total is 13 people! And I'm also so excited that we're already using the blog. I guess I should introduce myself, I'm Carrie. I stole this idea from my sister-in-law Jocey and I even copied the name of their blog. (People told me I should. It's a good name!) So I'm excited because their blog only had posts for weigh-ins and we're already using ours for other fun stuff. I look forward to hearing from all of you. Again, I'll watch for money for those who want to contribute in the next week or so and...don't forget to weigh-in on Thanksgiving Day (you might want to do it BEFORE turkey dinner :) ) and I'll announce the first weekly winner as soon as I get everyone's weights. If I don't post again, Happy Thanksgiving!

Carrie

Amy's Goals

1.Exercise five days a week -I try to change it up between treadmill and work out video's.
2. When I'm fixing PB&J for the kids I am trying to have a soup or salad instead and eat more apples for snacks.
3. Cut down on my de-stressing ice cream ritual at night. (that is so bad for me)

These are my realistic goals. Maybe I will have to step it up a notch if I'm not getting results.

I want to hear everyone's workout plans and goals!

I'm totally excited about doing this with you all! And to get to know you all a little better!

I decided I better write my goals down---or it's not going to happen! and here is a great place to write them!

1. Run every day at least once, maybe twice, and if I'm lucky 3 times minimum 2 miles everyday! For me, easiest way to lose weight!

2. Eat smaller portions! like 1/2 of what I would normally put on my plate!

3. Tummy Crunches! YEAH thats the worst part of my body! HOW MANY??? I'll count today and see what my realistic goal will be.

4. Arms and Leg weight lifts. again---we'll see after today how many to start at!

5. Giving up sweets is the hardest part! IT'S too HARD! So, since we're doing this through the holidays---I am going to do--ity-bity bites or "Just a taste". Lame I know---but I know myself and if I restrict to NOTHING---I'll fail and be mad at myself! So I'll try this!


For now--those are my goals. What are yours??? What are you doing to get those Skinny Jeans on?

Here's the Skinny

The Rules to the game are:
*Lose weight!!
*Put $10 in the pot if you want (at the beginning).
*Each week there will be a winner. Whoever lost the biggest percentage of weight from week to week will win $1 from everybody that put money in.
*At the end there will be the regular weekly winner, and then we will take the remaining money in the pot ($2 from each person) and give it to the overall winner--the person that lost the biggest percentage of body weight from the start to the finish.
*Use the same scale everytime. You also may want to weigh under the same conditions each time. (Right when you wake up in the morning before you get dressed, for example.)
*If you miss a week and can't get to the scale we can divide the total loss between the missing weeks.
*Carrie will keep track of weights, so email her your weight each Thursday and if you miss a week let her know. (that's me!)
*The total time we will do this round is 8 weeks, so we finish on January 15th.
*This blog will be open for all of us to share tips, ideas, recipes, inspirations, whatever you want to share. Let's get into those skinny jeans!!