Skinny Jeans

Week 8 and Final Results!

2010-01-05T20:16:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! Thank you Lonni for your comment to remind me about you guys. We're packing to move and it completely slipped my mind. Sorry again...

Here are your results for Week 8:


.		Start weight	Week 8 weight	Week 8 lb lost	Week 8 % loss
.	Lonni	142	141	-3.00	-2.08%
.	Tiffany	155.2	150.4	-1.60	-1.05%
.	Tammie	164.8	158	-1.00	-0.63%
.	Gayla	189.8	177.8	-1.10	-0.61%
.	Jesse	179	173.5	-1.00	-0.57%
.	Kerry	159.8	157	-0.20	-0.13%
.	Donna	143	141	0.00	0.00%
.	Liesl	159

Awesome job, Lonni! Very good! Especially for just before Christmas with all those goodies coming into your house and out of your oven... or at least out of my oven. :)

And your final results for our Round 5 of competition....


.		Start weight	Final weight	Total lb loss	Total % loss
.	Gayla	189.8	177.8	-12.00	-6.32%
.	Tammie	164.8	158	-6.80	-4.13%
.	Tiffany	155.2	150.4	-4.80	-3.09%
.	Jesse	179	173.5	-5.50	-3.07%
.	Kerry	159.8	157	-2.80	-1.75%
.	Donna	143	141	-2.00	-1.40%
.	Lonni	142	141	-1.00	-0.70%
.	Liesl	159	159	0.00	0.00%

The winner is Gayla!! That is so awesome Gayla. I am so proud of you. I looked up your weight from the last round that you did with us and you've lost 17 lbs total since the start of that round. That is really awesome! Congratulations!

Thank you everyone for letting me run this one last time. I love seeing people make lifestyle changes and try to improve their health. I will be stepping out for a little while. I need to get moved and settled into a routine and if I'm not pregnant after that I'll totally be joining up again. Tiffany, you are welcome to take over at any point if you are up for it. Just start posting and see who is interested and make sure they have your email address to contact you. I will contact each of you regarding your winnings and try DESPERATELY to get those mailed out before the move.

Thanks for all the fun, guys!
Carrie

Final Weigh-In

2009-12-16T12:17:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Post mania today... :)

Don't forget to weigh in TOMORROW for the final weigh in! There will be a winner for this week and we will announce our overall winner, too! Leave your weigh in as a comment here!

Week 7 Results

2009-12-16T12:09:00.000-08:00

Here are the results from last week's weigh-in, Dec. 10th.
(Mom, since you didn't weigh on that Thursday, I'll just split your loss between the last 2 weeks evenly. So just weigh-in tomorrow. Thanks!)


.		Start weight	Week 7 weight	Week 7 lb lost	Week 7 % loss	Total lb loss	Total % loss
.	Tiffany	155.2	152	-2.20	-1.43%	-3.20	-2.06%
.	Gayla	189.8	178.9	-2.20	-1.21%	-10.90	-5.74%
.	Jesse	179	174.5	-1.50	-0.85%	-4.50	-2.51%
.	Kerry	159.8	157.2	-0.60	-0.38%	-2.60	-1.63%
.	Lonni	142	144	0.00	0.00%	2.00	1.41%
.	Tammie	164.8	159	0.00	0.00%	-5.80	-3.52%
.	Donna	143				-2.00	-1.40%
.	Liesl	159				0.00	0.00%

Congratulations, Tiffany! Nice work! Also a congrats to Gayla from dropping below the 180 mark and also for losing 10lbs! Awesome!

I'm sorry you guys didn't have more of a chance to see your competition and get better motivation, but I hope you were still able to muster some motivation on your own somehow. I love seeing people succeed!

Carrie

What is going ON??

2009-12-16T10:31:00.001-08:00

Yes folks, I really am 2 weeks behind and tomorrow really is your last weigh in day! My old excuses for getting one week behind are the same non-worthy excuses of being busy. But the 2nd week behind is because I got stomach flu...on final's weekend... It. was. awful. And if I hadn't have gotten a week behind already, it wouldn't have been such a big deal. So I'm sorry for thinking that I could run this group during my craziness. That wasn't fair to you guys. But if you still had fun and met some goals, then I guess it was still worth it. Maybe?

So where do we go from here? Here's the deal. I am graduating from ASU this week (yay me!) then its the holidays, then we are moving across the valley sometime in January, then I have skin-cancer removal surgery on my nose, then I try to make some kind of sense of my life unpacking and getting settled. I will not be actively trying to lose weight until mid-spring, but be trying to maintain as I have the last 2 months. I will also be in no condition to run numbers here.

Tiffany is willing to take that part over! But she needs to know who's interested. So tell me a couple of things... Do you want to continue, even through the holidays so that you can pay attention to what you're eating and not go overboard? Would you like a couple week break and start back up in January? Are you done with the group and ready to move on and do it on your own? If you're still hanging with us, you need to commit to weigh-in on time and be an active participant on the blog. That's what makes it so wonderful! And when Tiffany is running it, she will be ready on weigh-in day to collect the weights and get results posted (because she's awesome like that.) I will settle up money with each of you separately and then you can work with Tiffany for the next round for the money pot.

So give us an idea of where you stand. If you have some friends who might be interested, now is the time to let them know that we're in between rounds. They can leave a comment here with their email address if they're interested.

Thanks for putting up with me this round guys. Make sure you scroll down for the week 6 results. :)
Carrie

Week 6 Results!

2009-12-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, here are your results for the weigh-in on Dec. 3rd. I know, you can't even remember back that far! Sorry again. Regardless, the winner will probably remember that week...


.		Start weight	Week 6 weight	Week 6 lb lost	Week 6 % loss	Total lb loss	Total % loss
.	Tammie	164.8	159	-3.00	-1.85%	-5.80	-3.52%
.	Donna	143	141	-2.00	-1.40%	-2.00	-1.40%
.	Gayla	189.8	181.1	-1.65	-0.90%	-8.70	-4.58%
.	Tiffany	155.2	154.2	-1.40	-0.90%	-1.00	-0.64%
.	Kerry	159.8	157.8	0.00	0.00%	-2.00	-1.25%
.	Liesl	159	159	0.00	0.00%	0.00	0.00%
.	Lonni	142	144	1.50	1.05%	2.00	1.41%
.	Jesse	179	176	2.00	1.15%	-3.00	-1.68%

Awesome job Tammie! Really impressive. You guys are just plugging along, which is great.

Week 5 Results

2009-12-03T21:38:00.001-08:00

Here are your results for Thanksgiving Day! ~Before food, presumably. :)


.		Start weight	Week 5 weight	Week 5 lb lost	Week 5 % loss	Total lb loss	Total % loss
.	Jesse	179	174	-1.50	-0.85%	-5.00	-2.79%
.	Donna	143	143	1.00	0.70%	0.00	0.00%
.	Tiffany	155.2	155.6	1.60	1.04%	0.40	0.26%
.	Tammie	164.8	162	2.40	1.50%	-2.80	-1.70%
.	Ali	126				-3.00	-2.38%
.	Gayla	189.8				-5.40	-2.85%
.	Kerry	159.8				-2.00	-1.25%
.	Liesl	159				1.00	0.63%
.	Lonni	142				-1.00	-0.70%

So, Jesse wins. You won by default for being the only person who weighed in that lost weight, but you earned it! Good job.

Week 4 Results

2009-11-28T08:43:00.001-08:00

Ok, here are your results for Week 4:


.		Start weight	Week 4 weight	Week 4 lb lost	Week 4 % loss	Total lb loss	Total % loss
.	Tammie	164.8	159.6	-0.80	-0.50%	-5.20	-3.16%
.	Gayla	189.8	184.4	-0.60	-0.32%	-5.40	-2.85%
.	Donna	143	142	0.00	0.00%	-1.00	-0.70%
.	Kerry	159.8	157.8	0.00	0.00%	-2.00	-1.25%
.	Lonni	142	141	0.00	0.00%	-1.00	-0.70%
.	Tiffany	155.2	154	0.00	0.00%	-1.20	-0.77%
.	Jesse	179	175.5	0.50	0.29%	-3.50	-1.96%
.	Ali	126				-3.00	-2.38%
.	Liesl	159				1.00	0.63%

Congrats Tammie! Good job to you and Gayla for losing weight this week. I know its not a lot, but every little bit adds up, and I know some weeks, just to see a little change in the right direction can help with your motivation.

I hope I get all your weights quickly so I can post this weeks results. Thanks for your patience,
Carriew

bumming

2009-11-28T08:18:00.000-08:00

Can I just say I am so bummed? For two reasons. One, I am bummed that I couldn't even get results posted last week. That is really awful. But more than that, nobody noticed! Or at least, no one cared enough to ask me where they were. Tiffany might have, but she probably didn't want to be a bother by emailing me. But didn't the rest of you wonder what was up? So either you don't care who won, or you're not trying enough for it to be on your mind all the time. Which leads me to my second thing. I'm bummed that only one person weighed in by text! I hope you all did ok with the Thanksgiving holiday.

This is what I need from you. I will work on posting results right now for LAST week (I know, SO awful) while you guys weigh in. BUT I need you to be honest and only give me your weight if you weighed on Thursday or Friday. If you go weigh today and you gained weight from Thanksgiving and then lose it by next week you'll have an advantage. OR if you have been super good and have lost weight since Thursday, you'll be at an advantage this week. Either way, if you know what you weighed Thursday (or Fri morning) go ahead and weigh in. Otherwise, please still leave me a comment and let me know that you didn't weigh yourself and we'll split your next weigh in up per the rules. I need you to still leave a comment so I know when I've got everyone's weight.

Thanks guys, and I promise I'll try to be better throughout the rest of this round if you also promise to remember weighins and keep working hard!!

Thanks everyone,
Carrie

Week 4 Weigh-in

2009-11-19T09:32:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! Weigh in here for me. Please do it by tomorrow morning and then I can get results posted by Friday afternoon.
Thanks!
Carrie

Week 3 Results

2009-11-14T21:08:00.001-08:00

Hey guys. I hope you all had a great week and have finally gotten rid of your Halloween candy. :) Sorry I'm a little late getting results up. Here they are!


.		Start weight	Week 3 weight	Week 3 lb lost	Week 3 % loss	Total lb loss	Total % loss
.	Jesse	179	175	-2.50	-1.41%	-4.00	-2.23%
.	Tammie	164.8	160.4	-1.60	-0.99%	-4.40	-2.67%
.	Donna	143	142	-1.00	-0.70%	-1.00	-0.70%
.	Tiffany	155.2	154	-1.00	-0.65%	-1.20	-0.77%
.	Kerry	159.8	157.8	-0.40	-0.25%	-2.00	-1.25%
.	Lonni	142	141	0.00	0.00%	-1.00	-0.70%
.	Gayla	189.8	185	0.60	0.33%	-4.80	-2.53%
.	Liesl	159	160	2.00	1.27%	1.00	0.63%
.	Ali	126				-3.00	-2.38%

Nice job, Jesse! If you start trying, how am I supposed to rag on you anymore?? :) Some of you had some pretty good numbers this week! So good job. Ok guys, now is the time to buckle down and get some results. Thanksgiving is around the corner and if you're planning on allowing yourself a little indulgence or a slice of pie, then you need to work hard now and stay on track! And how wonderful is this weather for walking/running? (That comment is for the AZ folk... sorry Gayla.) :)

See you all next week!
Carrie

Week 3 Weigh-ins

2009-11-12T08:07:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! Time for those numbers!

Week 2 Results!

2009-11-06T12:02:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. I hope you all had a great Halloween weekend! Can I take this opportunity to say that I am amazing? (If this works...) I just figured out how to publish my Google spreadsheet as html, then COPY the html code to my blog post! And now we have the most beautiful spreadsheet results we've ever had! AND it will save me a bunch of time. Hooray! Here are your results for week 2 in all their html glory:


.		Start weight	Week 2 weight	Week 2 lb lost	Week 2 % loss	Total loss to date	Total % loss to date
.	Tiffany	155.2	155	-1.60	-1.02%	-0.20	-0.13%
.	Liesl	159	158	-1.40	-0.88%	-1.00	-0.63%
.	Gayla	189.8	184.4	-1.60	-0.86%	-5.40	-2.85%
.	Tammie	164.8	162	-0.80	-0.49%	-2.80	-1.70%
.	Ali	126	123	-0.60	-0.49%	-3.00	-2.38%
.	Kerry	159.8	158.2	-0.40	-0.25%	-1.60	-1.00%
.	Donna	143	143	0.00	0.00%	0.00	0.00%
.	Lonni	142	141	0.00	0.00%	-1.00	-0.70%
.	Jesse	179	177.5	1.50	0.85%	-1.50	-0.84%

Not too bad is right, Tiffany! Nice way to bring it back down. I have to say that I am so proud of everyone for maintaining or losing weight this week! I'm not counting Jesse, because he's my brother and I can do that. :) So nice job everyone! Keep it up.

Is there anyone left who hasn't thrown out their candy? Besides me, that is? I just. can't. do it. My daughter was sick so we haven't let her have more than one piece per day. I think we'll let her pig out this weekend now that she's perked up. Anyway, I'm trying to stick with a piece or two per day as a treat, but its been more than that most days. Wish me luck and we'll see you all next week!

Carrie

Week 2 Weigh-in

2009-11-04T21:12:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good Halloween and it didn't put you behind too far in your goals. Don't forget to weigh-in tomorrow by commenting on this post! Deadline is Friday morning as last week. Thanks!

Carrie

Week 1 Results!

2009-10-31T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! The reason I'm posting results late... (I know, I always have an excuse huh?) is that I was really tempted to change my mind and join this round. I weigh myself all the time, so I would just have to stick my numbers into the spreadsheet and I'd be an official member! I gained a couple of pounds the last couple of weeks and I'm thinking that I need the motivation of competing with you guys. BUT, I did finally decide to stick with my original decision to wait until I'm out of school. :( Sad huh? Next round...

Ok, so here are your results:

Awesome, Gayla! Way to start it off!
Ok, guys, while I'm not competing, I'm still in this with you. So, somehow we have GOT to be good about the halloween thing!

Option 1: (this is the best option) do not give in!!!
Option 2: give in, but control yourself and have 1 piece of candy a day.
Option 3: give in and eat everything you can eat in one day and then be done...no more after that.
Option 4: eat everything you want for like 2 weeks until the candy is gone. (please don't really do this one!)

What do you guys think is the best option? I mean, obviously number 1 is the way to go. Those of you who can do that are going to win this week. That's obvious. If you know yourself, and you know you can't withstand, then out of option 2 and 3, which is better? I'm not sure. Nobody better do 4 or I'll kick you out! Each of these options would pair well with "Workout extra to compensate for eating candy." Maybe that would be a fifth option.

Also, I know there are dentist/orthodontics offices that will sometimes pay you per pound of candy and then they give the candy to the troops and stuff. If you can find something like that, you'll get the candy out of the house and the kids will be happy to have a little spending money. Anyway, I'm just curious how you guys are going to be good in the face of this chocolate madness! I'm leaning toward number 2...

Until next week,
Carrie

Week 1 Weigh-In

2009-10-29T18:46:00.001-07:00

I haven't heard from any of you yet! That's not a good sign... :)

Don't forget to weigh in here today (Deadline is tomorrow morning!)

Thanks!
Carrie

Start Weight

2009-10-22T11:51:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, leave me your start weight here! Thanks!

Carrie

TWO DAYS!

2009-10-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, let's try this one more time...

We are all set up to start the new round this Thursday! Expect an email from me shortly settling up funds with you (either requesting from you or sending you winnings.) We don't have a ton of people, but still enough to have a good time and a little competition. On the other hand, please tell your best buddy who has been looking for a reason to start exercising, eating right, etc. to come join us. I do need to know, ASAP. I have been known to take some latecomers the first week, but would rather be all geared up right away. On that note, as of right now I have 3 people lined up for Great in Eight...and only 1 putting money in. Haha. So you guys are going to have to decide if you still want to do it, or recruit some more people. Let me know what you think.

Slight problem though...I'm not participating. :( I'm in my last semester of school and its getting down to the wire. I would rather just stay the weight I am and maintain my good grades and then focus more on this stuff after wards. I've already cut exercising out of my schedule and my eating habits are quickly following. I know that's kind of a cop-out, but it's what I need to do right now. I DID stop drinking Dr. Pepper though and have already lost a pound. Haha. If anyone is uncomfortable with me running it and not participating, please feel free to let me know. Along those lines, if anyone is dying to run this thing their way, get in contact with me and we'll see what we can do. :) As for right now, I'm fine keeping it how it is because I know I'll be back in the next round, or maybe the one after that.

Ok, I think that's good for now. If you haven't already left me a comment or email letting me know your plans for this round, please do so!!

Thanks everyone! Good luck!!
Carrie

Team B - week 8 and final results

2009-10-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

First a couple of reminders... For those who weighed in late, I divided your loss (or gain) between the week before and the weigh-in week. (Just in case your confused at the number displayed.) Also, for the final overall winner, I did not use any weights that were sent in after Friday of our last weigh-in. I typically have the cut-off at Thursday night, but since we had less than 1/2 weighing in at that point, I gave it another day. The number used to calculate overall winner was the last "legal" weigh-in number. Again, just so you're aware of the numbers being posted.

So, Team B: Week 8...

Weekly winner is Jimmy! That's awesome.
I was kind of disappointed in the rest of us. Besides the lack of committment to weigh-ins, we didn't have the kind of results I'd like to see (and yes, I am speaking to myself here as well.) If you put forth the effort this week and it didn't show on the scale, I am not talking to you. :) I can't really give a pep talk for next week, but if you're joining next round, you better step it up and make stuff happen! OK, that's enough of that. On to final results...

And your overall winner for Team B is...

drumroll please...

Tiffany!! Awesome job! Way to come from behind. I am so amazed to see those kind of numbers. Honorable Mention goes to Jocey, Jimmy, and Heidi. Heidi mentioned some lifestyle changes going on over there and I hope this is just a beginning for you guys. Keep up the good work, whether with us or on your own. As a side note for everyone else, counting Jimmy's last weigh-in he lost a total of about 32lbs and Heidi lost about 13! Counting those gives our group a total of 120.1 pounds lost!! I am so proud of everyone who took the step to make a difference in their lives. If you met your goal, don't forget to take Rachel up on her Skinny Jeans offer! I'm not there yet, but hopefully one day soon I will be.

Thank you everyone for making this such an enjoyable round! As I said at the beginning, I loved the communication on the blog and the support we can provide each other. Please look for my next post about the new round and get in contact with me whether or NOT you are participating! I will not assume either way until you let me know! Good luck in the next round or on your own!

Carrie

Team A - week 8 and final results

2009-10-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

I have this fault... When something I need to do that I'm dreading is looming over my head, I try to ignore it for as long as possible, hoping it will go away. Usually it is a really simple thing, that if I would just DO, it would no longer be bugging me everyday. For example, once I signed up for a book club thingy so I could get free books and then cancel before having to buy anything. Well, they never got my cancellation note, and I received (and sent back) book shipments for almost a year. I was being charged for them and I never got a refund. All I had to do was call them. Just one silly phone call. I finally found a place where I could email them and that sounded way better to me. So I did and got a refund of over $200 and never received anymore shipments. Seriously! Yes, I'm practically insane.

Now, on to the results. For Team A...

The weekly and overall winner for our Great in Eight point competition is...

Ali!! Nice comeback from last week Ali. I'm not really joking when I say that I want you to tell us a typical day for you. I feel like I (we?) could learn a lot from your lifestyle. Great job!
I should also give Honorable Mention to both Lonni and Tammie this week. Those are really high points and I hope you felt a difference in your life by doing so much for yourselves. Nice job.

Postponement

2009-10-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

I'm not really feeling prepared for this next round to start tomorrow, and I don't mean personally. I haven't been able to post results for last round and therefore haven't been able to settle up with everyone on money. I'm sorry for those of you who are still trying and losing weight and its not counting toward the competition!! Lets pick a for sure date of starting next Thursday, the 22nd. When we go to start I will go through and redo the lists of people who receive comment emails, etc so those of you who aren't doing it aren't bombarded with our emails. :) Please tell your friends who may be interested to come check us out and email me if they have any questions! The more the better and the bigger the money pot.

Carrie

Next Round

2009-10-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, we've had some positive responses on next round, so we will keep on going. I do need one week off to get money settled and get the new list ready of people participating. I was trying to think of a bonus for people who lose weight during our week off. I was thinking of taking $1 off your pot "deposit" but then we wouldn't have enough money for winners (and I'm not going to subsidize that. haha) And then I was thinking of letting your add your weight loss onto the first week of the new round, but that's not really fair to new people joining. Anyway, if you have any good ideas, let me know. Otherwise, make sure you create a post and brag about how you lost weight even though we weren't competing!

OK, I need each of you to leave a comment for me here (or email me) by Wed Oct 14th and let me know:

A. Are you participating in the next 8-week round (beginning Oct 15th)?
B. If so, which Teams are you doing (A:Great in Eight points, B:Biggest Loser, or both)?
C. Are you putting money in the pot for either or both groups?

Please pass the blog address onto your friends who are interested. Remember the rules and information sheets can be found by clicking on "rules" on the sidebar. And my email address is carriericks@gmail.com.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Carrie

Last Weigh-in!

2009-10-07T22:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Tomorrow marks the last weigh in for this round! I do need everyone's final weight to calculate the overall winner, so don't even consider skipping out on this one! ;) For those of you who didn't weighin last week, don't forget that I will be splitting your loss/gain over the last two weeks. Also remember that there is a weekly winner this week as well as the overall winner. Good luck!

Carrie

Week 7 Results

2009-10-04T21:08:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! I had results ready to post yesterday, but blogger was acting up for me. I'm still in shock that we had about 50% of you reporting your weight! I was thinking some people may be out of town, but that's a lot. And also, if you're going to be out of town, you should really let me know so I know not to wait for you. Regardless, I hope all of you who are missing are still alive and hope to hear from you soon. So here's the results...

Team A:

Well, Ali, they were right, you had to give us a chance eventually. ;) Awesome job Lonni! I'm actually kinda sad I didn't try harder this week, because I would have had a chance. But you deserve it, you've been doing awesome with points every week!

Team B:

Holy cow, Tiffany! Great job. I'm so excited for you to be down to the next decade and I wish you luck staying there! I think the other person I was going to give a shout-out to was Liesl for finally getting some results. Congrats on that!

Ok, I know these results are coming out late, and I'm sorry, but you've got 4 days to make a difference. There are a few of you in the running for overall winner and it will be fun to see who it is. For those of you (like me) who won't win overall, there is still a weekly winner this week along with the overall winner. So good luck!

As a side-note, I was thinking about taking about a 2 week break from the competition before starting up again. I don't know why I am even considering doing it again when I'm not even trying, but I think it helps me from gaining. Being in this group kind of keeps me aware enough that even when I'm making bad choices I think I make a few less bad choices than I would otherwise. Does that make sense? Anyway, let me know if you have an opinion on starting up again...whether you would like a small break (1-2 or even 3 weeks) or if it would be better to have no break at all (you think you'll lose some momentum), etc. If you've had any friends who have watched you succeed and have expressed interest, now is the time to pass my info or the blog site on to them. Don't forget that people who can't lose weight (pregnant, nursing ;) etc) or who are already at their goal weight can still participate in the point system. I think it is a pretty good program to maintain an overall healthy lifestyle.

See you ALL at final weigh in on Thursday!

Carrie

Weigh-In Reminder

2009-10-01T08:19:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! Here's the weigh-in post. Have a great day!

Carrie

Week 6 RESULTS

2009-09-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

Nice job Ali!!!

Only 2 more weeks! How close are you to reaching your goal! You can give up anything for just two weeks right? So give it up and in two weeks you can celebrate!!! I haven't had sugar in 3 weeks and it has definately paid off! And when I reach my goal that will be all I eat that day!!!Jocey

Weigh-in Week 6

2009-09-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Happy Thursday. Don't forget to weigh-in and leave us your weight and/or points!

Carrie

Week 5 Results

2009-09-18T14:44:00.002-07:00

I am so sad to be posting results without everyone's weights this week! I hate doing that. But here it goes anyway...

Team A:

Awesome job Ali, we almost caught you that time. One of these weeks I might try to beat you...maybe. :) Good job!

Team B:

Holy percents! Jocey, how did you DO that? Awesome job! Everyone near the top is up there for the first time this round, and I know it took a lot of work! (or illness, haha Mom...) That is really exciting. I love to see how the husband/wife teams typically perform well together. That proves that it is a team effort as a family. I know it is something that you can do on your own, but it so wonderful to have support (or competition) in the same house!

Three weeks left everyone, keep it up!
Carrie

Weigh-in Day!

2009-09-16T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. Mine has been crazy and is promising to get crazier. Don't forget to weigh-in tomorrow so we can post results on time. (Jocey, I think I'll be ok to post this week, but I'll let you know if that changes.)

Thanks everyone!
Carrie

Speaking of Biggest Loser

2009-09-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Did anyone watch BL last night? I was sobbing. I always get all emotional when I watch BL, but last night I was especially emotional. Good thing my husband was downstairs playing Halo while I was having a sob fest for 2 hours. It's totally motivating to see these men and women change their lives and transform themselves. Every episode I recommit to working harder. My moto is if they can do it, so can I.

A little insight

2009-09-13T22:06:00.000-07:00

This little contest has been so aspiring to me! The last week I have had many people tell me how good I look. I don't know if I'd go that far to say that about myself. I'm still getting used to this me. But, I'm not gonna lie. It's a little embarrassing. But you know what? I worked hard. I ran, I sweat, gave up foods I really enjoy, ran and sweat some more. I have found in the last few years that when I get to my goal weight I don't keep it up. I always keep exercising, but then I start eating the foods that put me in my fat jeans to begin with. I'm pretty close to my goal weight now and this time I'm going to keep it up. It's going to feel good to buy a pair of skinny jeans to wear with the new shirt I decided to buy myself this past week. Who's with me?

Week 4 Results

2009-09-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

Nice job Ali! She sure sets the bar high!

Alright everyone, this is the half way point. So take a look at your goals and decide now what you need to do to get there. I wanted to lose 10 lbs, which means I have a hard road ahead, but I can do it, and so can all of you!(Jocey)

Nice job Kasey!!!

May I add nice job to Heidi for reaching -10lbs!

And to Jimmy for reaching -20lbs.

That is incredible and very exciting! Thanks for bringing it!

This is so much fun, and if it hasn't been, then try a little harder this week to get motivated and I promise it will be worth it!

healthy recipe

2009-09-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

OK, so normally I hate salmon, unless it's raw and rolled up into a sushi roll (super yum!), so I thought I would hate this recipe. Turns out, I like canned salmon too. Go figure.

Salmon-Salad Half Sandwich

What you need
3 oz. canned wild salmon
1 tsp. light mayonnaise
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped bell peppers
1 slice whole-wheat bread
arugula
red onion

What to do
Mix salmon and mayonnaise together; add lemon juice, bell peppers and chopped celery. Place salmon mixture on bread for an open-faced sandwich; top with arugula and red onion.
Makes one serving.

Nutritional info: 260 calories, 9.5 grams fat, 7 grams fiber, 21 grams protein, 23 grams carbohydrates

Weigh in Reminder!

2009-09-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Don't forget to weigh-in tomorrow (or today, depending on when you get the email.) I hope you all had a great week.

Carrie

Week 3

2009-09-03T22:36:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! I'm going to make this short and sweet because I want to go to bed. Thank you SO much for all weighing in today! I think this may be the earliest I've ever gotten results out! I'd like to excuse Evan and Lindy, they are out of town and can't get to their scale this week. Here are your results...

TEAM A:

Great job again Ali! Good luck cutting back on those servings, Ali. I feel your pain.

TEAM B:

Awesome, Jimmy! I was going to say something to Heidi about almost making it, but since she lost to her husband, it can't be that bad. Or maybe it is! :) Good job to both of you!

Thanks again everyone. You are making this a great round and I love all the participation! I hope the results were a little easier to read this time. I'm playing around with ways of doing it to try to make it better. I was doing it using a "screenshot" before, but I think different computers have a different quality for that and this laptop I've been using isn't so great. I'm going to try one more thing next time and see if its the way to go. But until then, I hope you can read it a little better.

Good luck this week everyone!

Carrie

Weigh-in Week 3

2009-09-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Tomorrow is the weigh-in! Please leave your weight/points as a comment here! I hope you're all as prompt as you have been. (Even those of you who are out of town-hint hint.) ;)

I'd also love to hear how some of you are doing with the goals you set at the beginning or recently! Maybe some new goals like some of you post...

Carrie

Comments

2009-09-02T15:23:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! I just updated who receives emails for comments from the blog and who gets them forwarded from me. I guess I had a bunch of people from last round getting all the emails! Poor people! (Because we're really chatty this round...) Anyway, a bunch of you will start receiving emails straight from "Skinny Jeans" when people leave a comment, so that's cool. As I've said before, if you find these emails annoying, please let me know. Especially if you're really good about checking the blog and don't need them. I know they are really good for me, but I'm kinda runnin' the thing.

Thanks!
Carrie

Free Day - a short story (relatively speaking)

2009-09-01T12:21:00.001-07:00

I don't know about the rest of you doing this point competition, but I've been looking forward to Monday since...well...the last free day on the calendar! It's an unfortunate fact that once I get a little taste of sugar (especially chocolate...ohhh especially chocolate), my system grabs hold of the general idea and begins to
crave
crave
crave
for days to come after I indulged! The first week of the competition, I didn't eat ANYTHING "bad" and I felt awesome. I felt motivated, I didn't feel deprived, I worked out like a mad woman and I sat at the good side of a mood swing the whole week.
Then the second week came and I did...okay. I let myself have a taste of this here, a bite of this there...and by the end of the week I found myself taking down five cookies in one sitting. Frozen cookies at that. Because my mother-in-law made cookies she makes the BEST cookies. So, since I was refraining, I put five of them in a little baggie and froze them so someday I could unfreeze one of them for a free day when I wouldn't lose points for it.
Yeah, it didn't quite go like that. I wanted all five of them and I wanted them NOW.
This last week, I have been making more of an effort again but those thoughts of chocolate are swirling around in my mind constantly, being whipped up into a frothy chocolate mouse...being melted down and hardened into candy bars...finding their ways into things I happen to be eating ("I wonder how chocolate chips would taste on this salad?"...)
It's sad, really. But I refrained, knowing full well I had a free day coming up where I could have myself a taste of my obsession and not pay the price for it.
Well, maybe a quarter of a pound gained but at least not five points lost!

So, Monday rolls around and I giggle to myself throughout the day...when I am forcing down raw veggies and chugging water, I'm thinking about that lovely window of time later in the day when it will be my time to indulge. Picturing a quiet moment after the kids are in bed and I can lose myself in something rich and decadent while my husband watches something on the discovery channel, the baby monitor silently scans from room to room, and I am curled up on the couch in comfy pajamas, ignoring the toys and crums of the day surrounding me.
This is what had me giddy through half the day.

Mostly because I was ignoring reality.

Here's the thing - - we don't keep sweets in the house. I have three children - 4, 3, and 2 and there is really no reason whatsoever that I should trash their bodies with junk. So, I don't. It's as simple as that.
This unfortunately interferes with the fact that I still like to sometimes trash my body with junk. Darn double standards.
So, on a day like Monday...when I fully intended to have a little sumthin-sumthin, I must rely on my dear husband to swing by the store on his way home from work. Because, to be honest, I rarely venture out with my children by myself. Maybe when they're older. Maybe when they were younger. But somehow, right now, we've landed at just the perfect combination of ages/phases/personalities that taking them out is a real venture into you-know-where.

I love them.
I just don't take them out by myself. :)

And this would especially be true if I took them to a grocery store and tried to pull off buying something sweet for me and letting them witness it when, frankly, they are not going to get any.
MY free day treat.
So, I mention to my husband over text message that I am looking forward to some chocolate that evening.
...
"Do we have chocolate there??" he says
"Um...not yet." I says
"That's what I thought" he says
and then
"I know just what you need."
(having been through pregnancies with me, he really does unfortunately know where I turn when I need a fix)
...
Ooh, I was getting excited.
It's sad, really.

So, on we go throughout the day, the deliverance of the chocolate at least arranged.
Though my mind was a bit troubled, knowing that I still wasn't quite set up for guaranteed success in the snacking department...
JC would get home from work at about seven or seven thirty, depending. The kids go to bed by eight. But I always hate to cut their short time with daddy any shorter, so it's more like between eight and eight thirty on these late nights.
Skipping ahead, I knew I wanted to be in bed by ten thirty. We had started staying up really late for a while...not collapsing into bed until close to midnight EVERY NIGHT for way too long. When he's getting up for work at five thirty and I'm being dragged out of bed around six or six thirty by at least one child, I just knew we needed to sleep more if we wanted to be healthier and happier. SO, for this round I chose a set, earlier bedtime as my "addiction," or behavior that I wanted to change. For every night that I go to bed by ten thirty, I give myself the allotted five points. It has made a tremendous difference, I must say. So anyway, I knew that I wanted to be sure to be in bed by ten thirty, as is my usual goal. (I make an exception and go ahead and eat the points on Friday nights because that's our date night, whether in or out, and we want the extra time together).
So, once the kids are in bed Monday night, I saw myself having a window of time ranging from eight thirty to ten thirty to eat my treat.
That's a pretty good size window.
But then...oh yeah...I need to actually eat it before nine or I lose points for eating after nine. Big points. So, okay, just that one half hour there.
But shoot, I say to myself...I workout after they go to bed. The latest I'll get started is eight thirty...the shortest my workouts ever are is an hour...so then I'm looking at...nine thirty...can't eat that late...
Hmmm.
OH! I get excited, realizing that I can eat between bedtime and the start of my workout. But actually...once I thought about it...I always feel sick if I eat anything too close to my workout. Plus, if I do any yoga at the end like I like to...downward dog becomes upward chocolate free day treat...we don't want that...
Huh.
It was looking like I had some prioritizing to do.

Let me go ahead and skip to the end of this story - -
It was 9:05. I had just finished a forty-five minute workout. Barely landed past the cut-off.
But my four year old was still getting out of bed wanting to chat, be comforted, be put back in bed, etc. So by the time I was actually eyeing my now late-night treat, I decided I might as well shower so as to fully enjoy the experience free from workout grime.
So I did.
Then I was staring at a kitchen counter that held a Snickers Dark (oh yum), a Twix, and Reese's cups. Because the gas station by JC's work had these on buy two, get one free, so he brought home options.
Hey, I may not have been going high class with my snacking on this particular night but I didn't care!
Now to choose...
hmmm...
The problem with me is, I'm an all or nothing kind of girl. Black and white. Angelically good or fiercely evil.
Can you guess which direction I chose that night?

. . . . .

About midnight, tossing and turning in bed, feeling upset that I had been in bed since, you guessed it, ten thirty and not yet felt settled enough to sleep, I couldn't figure out why tonight I couldn't get to sleep! Seriously, since starting my earlier bedtime, my body responds so well to just dropping into bed at the end of the day and easily drifting to sleep...so this night was rather frustrating.
It wasn't long before I made the connection.
I guess there is a reason late-night eating, especially sugary late-night eating, is counter-productive in a healthy lifestyle. Not only do the pounds pack on that much faster but you just. can't. sleep.
As I continued to wake up randomly throughout the night, feeling restless, unrested, and grumpy, I kept thinking about my day and how truly un-worth it that three candy bar indulgence had been. Also, being a bit delirious, I began imagining how I could write a book about the experience.
Instead I decided to write this post. The world thanks all of you for bearing the weight of my snacking lesson so they don't have to.

What I learned is this - - don't put twinkies on your pizza!
Wait...no...no, no...that's not me, that's someone on a movie...

What I learned is this - - there really is sense in all these things we do to try to improve our lives! They all work together to keep us on the right track. At least for me...once I sacrifice something, I end up losing out in other areas!
Evenings are full of:
Time with family.
Time working out.
Time connecting with husband at the end of our long days.
Early bedtime.
Oh, and...shower somewhere in there...
(please note - my house is still a mess. I never clean at night)

All of this leaves very little time for snacking.
And maybe that is the way it should be!

Next free day that falls on a weekday (anyone in favor of moving all free days to weekends??? haha) I think I will have to plan ahead a little better.

Now I understand why women in books and on tv always have a secret stash where they keep their chocolate.
After all, that is what nap-time/rest-time/at-least-put-a-movie-on-and-lock-yourself-in-the-bathroom-for-five-minutes-time is for, right?

Speaking of rest times, ours is over which means I can no longer sit at the computer...bringing this to a far-to0-delayed end.
It also means I used rest time to write this out instead of the million other tasks that beckon to me at this time of day.

But hey, at least I wasn't snacking!

-Mandy

Go Free

2009-09-01T09:55:00.001-07:00

I'm a soda drinker. Blah blah blah I know it's bad, even diet, but I like it. It totally helps me curve my sugar cravings. I have alot of those. Hot Tamales anyone? Starbursts? It's bad. So, what I do is have a Diet Dew instead. It works for me. I have been trying to lose these last 10 pounds for a few weeks now. I eat good, well most of the time, exercise my buns off and I'm barely budging. UGH! I talked to my doc yesterday and he said caffeine has a negative effect on weight loss. He's told me before, but I just didn't believe him. So this week I decided to test his theory and I'm going Caffeine free. Still gotta have something to help curve my sugar cravings, but I'm trading in my Diet Dew for some Diet Sprite. Maybe one day I'll give it up completely, but I'm not there yet. I'm hoping this will kick me into a Big Loser this week!

my pic

2009-08-31T20:23:00.000-07:00

ok carrie move me to the side

Week 2 Results!

2009-08-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Thanks for weighing in on time! It really makes a difference for me and I appreciate it. A couple of things...first I'd like to thank Jocey for posting results last week. She is way too nice sometimes and is going to do awesome when I need her to take over. Second, I feel the need to give a little peptalk. But the results first...

TEAM A:

Awesome job Ali! And can I just say, these are the highest numbers we've EVER had as a group!! Everyone's score (but mine) is high enough to be a winning score. So really...awesome job!

TEAM B:

Congrats Rach! Great numbers!

Now that we've been going a couple weeks, you can see I've posted the "overall" weight and percent loss. You can use this to kind of gauge where you are in the competition and WHO your competition is. :) Don't let it discourage you though, use it as motivation.

PEP TALK:
Ok, I heard a lot of "I didn't try this week" comments. For those of you, c'mon! Try! I was you the last 2 rounds and this round I'm actually trying, and let me tell you, it is way more fun to be on this end. Which leads me to my second point.
I also heard a lot of "I tried so hard with nothing to show for it!" For those of you, don't be so down on yourselves! You did awesome last week, whether it was eating or exercising or both! Be proud of that so that you can continue your momentum to see the results next time around. I do realize that this is a weight loss competition, so the numbers kinda matter, but in the end its how you feel that really matters. So great job all around to those of you who have put your heart into being healthy!!

Phew, my pep talks are usually a lot shorter than that! :) Good luck this week everyone! And thanks again for weighing in on time!

Carrie

Is It REALLY Good For You?

2009-08-27T16:47:00.001-07:00

My Husband went to an acupuncturist today and came home with a list of tips to help him get the full benefit for treatment. I think people may be surprised at some of the things listed to keeping a healthy diet and eating what is actually healthy. There are 22 things listed and if people are interested I can post some different ones. One I found interesting was on milk, here's what it says..."Drink only whole milk (vitamin D) that has no horomones (Rbst) or antibiotics. The label will tell you. No lable usually indicates hormones and other chemicals in your milk. Horomones cause growth in the body, premature development in children, breasts and premature menstration in girls, also, tumors, cysts and cancer."
Another interesting one is about butter, "Eat only REAL butter. Never margarine or any artificial spreads like "I can't believe it's not butter." Stay away from man-made foods. If you eat a healthy well-balanced diet, you will actually need to eat some fat."
And last is about sugars. It says, "... If you must eat sweetened foods look for the labels with honey, rice syrup or maple syrup first, then fructose, stevia, cane juice or sucanot last. All other sweeteners can be unhealthy for your spleen and liver. It will zap your energy level, take away from your memory, mental acuity and make you hungrier throughout the day. Avoid COMPLETELY ANY ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS such as nutra sweet, equal, sorbitol, malitol, sucralene, etc. They cause cancer, headacheand numerous other symptoms and harm your nervous system..." These are only 3 things she has listed. There are lots of great things (like a substitute for soda that is actually okay for you, even cola's) on it that are so beneficial for us. Sorry this post was so long, I hope it was educating though!
Tammie

Weigh-In Week 2

2009-08-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry, I meant to get this post up last night, but I was kind of waiting for blogger to email me that our site was unblocked (for me, at least) but I guess it's up and running, huh? Go ahead and leave your weight (and points) as a comment here. (Thank you Liesl, got yours!) I hope everyone gets weighed in today.

Carrie

2009-08-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

So this is me weighing in. I didn't see a post for it yet but I forgot last time, so I'm posting now so that I don't forget. I did lose one pound and am now at 159!! I have officially lost all of my baby weight......from my most recent baby that is. =0) Have a great day everyone!!

Free Day

2009-08-25T16:55:00.000-07:00

So, today is the first "Free Bad Food Day" that I've ever had that I actually get to PICK what to eat! In the past, I ate something bad everyday, so the free day was just a free 5 points. But I've been really good, so I've had a few days without any bad foods at all, and today is one of them. SO now I'm faced with the decision of what ONE bad food would I pick!?! I'm so excited!!

Carrie

Nursing and Exercise

2009-08-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

I'm nursing my 7 week old and it seems like the days I exercise I don't produce enough milk to meet her needs. Has this happened to any of you? Got any good suggestions? I really want to get in shape and lose weight, but I want to keep up with her needs as well. I'm taking Brewers Yeast to help build the supply, but that's all I have heard to do. ( it's not helping much)

So...

2009-08-24T23:35:00.001-07:00

I really hate seeing my name at the bottom of the list as gaining. This is a Biggest Loser contest right? I'll be working really hard this week, so watch out! On the brighter side, weight was lost. Just not by me. Ok, enough already! Really though, what's everyone's secrets? I think that losing weight is hard, but when we can make small changes and support each other we'll succeed. I'll share my secret at the next weigh in just to see if it paid off.

onions anyone?

2009-08-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

okay, so my dinner from scratch tonight consisted of crock-pot chicken (nothing too fancy, just some chicken broth and some homemade breadcrumbs sprinkled on top), some steamed Brussels sprouts, and some balsamic onions with dates. I have made these onions a few times before, but not for a long time so I was excited when I found the recipe while skimming through my old recipe book (which has not been opened for awhile). There are so yummy...to me. Even my husband who is not too fond of onions will eat these.
1 Tbs. butter (I use the 'smart balance light' brand
1 small clove of garlic, crushed
1 large onion, sliced
1/3 cup chopped dates
2-3 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs. honey/agave nectar

On medium/high heat melt butter and add the onions and garlic. Cook for about 5- 10 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients and cook another 5 minutes or until caramelized. Serves 3-4 (Although I could eat them all myself!)
By the way, is this a weight loss competition we are doing? Cause I am not doing all that well at the weight loss part...
I am exercising and eating healthy, but I think I am just eating too much still (I want to blame it on nursing a newborn 10 times a day, but I am not sure if that is it...I just can't seem to control my portions like I used too, I am hungry all the time. Mothers, have/do any of you have that problem while nursing?
I normally don't have any issue losing weight after having a baby (this is #4 for me) so I don't know if it's cause I am actually trying this time or what, but it's just not happening...HELP!

Week 1 Results

2009-08-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

So Carrie is having me learn how to do this her way, and I just wanted you to all know how smart and awesome she is for putting so much thought and work into this group!!!

So here goes....
Awesome first week everyone, this is what it is all about, having to be accountable to all of us.
And the results...
Way to go Mandy, she said Bring It, and she did!!!

And the Results...
Wow we have a lot of good numbers, Awesome job Jimmy. Looks like we all have a little compitition to motivate us.

2009-08-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

I totally forgot to weigh in yesterday!!! Sorry. I did lose 2 pounds though so I'm down to 160. Woohoo for biggest loser!!!! Can't wait for the new season to start. Hope everyone is doing well, weight-wise and otherwise. Have a great day!

Weigh-in Week 1

2009-08-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, its time for our first weigh-in! Is everyone ready?? Too bad. Leave your weight and/or points as a comment here. I will (hopefully) be posting results Friday so if you don't weigh-in by then, we'll have to split your weight loss over 2 weeks and you won't be eligible to win this week (per the rules).

Thanks everyone!
Carrie

Daily Calendar Round 4

2009-08-19T22:26:00.000-07:00

I finished the calendar items for Great in Eight "Daily Calendar" bonus points. For those of you who are new, these are things you can do each day to get 5 bonus points (starting tomorrow). I got most of the ideas from people who were doing it last time, since I had never done it before either. As you start getting comfortable with the point system, please let me know if you think of anything you would like to see on the calendar. It is really easy to change, so don't think that it's set in stone. Here is the link to the calendar:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tWfuPnuOBgitGDfm4MlVQsQ&output=html

Once you get to the webpage, you'll have to click the links along to the top to get to the right month. You can probably print it pretty easy, and I will let you know if I DO change anything so you can either print a new one or make a note. Let me know if you have any problems or questions! Have fun earning the bonus points!

Oh, and just in case you don't have the time to go look at it right now, tomorrow's item is "eat dinner together as a family at the table."

One more thing...you will always be able to find this post by clicking on the label "daily calendar" on the right sidebar. So if you're always on the computer and/or blog, there isn't a NEED to print it. Of course you could always bookmark it, too I guess...

Carrie

Give Me The MONEY!

2009-08-18T21:57:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, we're getting close to our first weigh in. I'd really like to have all the money settled before then. There are SO many of you that I figured this was the easiest way to remind you all. If I asked you to mail me the money, please do so and email me to let me know it is in the mail. (If I didn't give you my address, email me for it.) If I said you could give your money to someone who will give it to me...please do that ASAP!! If you are a person collecting money for me, let me know when you have it all so I can pick it up. Ok, I think I've covered all the basis. Thanks for all your help in this matter. See you all at weigh-in on THURSDAY!!

Carrie

Nightime Munchies

2009-08-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. I have really been struggling with my evening cravings. Do any of you have any healthy snack you eat after dinner (before 9pm!) that curbs your cravings for sweets?? I've been having a cinnamon roll every night mostly because I have no self control but also because my mom made them last week. (Thanks a LOT!!) ...just kidding. I love you, Mom. :) So anyway, any ideas for me?

Body Buggin'

2009-08-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

Do you know what a Body Bugg is? Well, if not I'll tell you it's AMAZING! You know those funny looking bands the contestants wear on the Biggest Loser around their arm? Some may think it's an IPod, but infact it's a Body Bugg. They calculate how active you are in a day. How many calories you are burning doing any given activity as well as the steps you're taking and how much sleep you are getting each night. You can even add in the foods you are eating and it will tell you if yo're over or under the amount of calories you are needing to burn to reach your goal weight. I love my Bugg! It's really helping me achieve my weight loss goals and when the time comes maintaining my weight. My goal is 10,ooo a day and to burn 2800 calories a day. I know it sounds like alot, but we are all really burning calories we didn't think to count before. Like cleaning the kitchen, folding the laundry, hussling around getting kids off to school. I used to only count the cals I burned on my treadmill totally not acknowledging all the other active things I was doing in a day. So today I burned 510 calories walking for 50 minutes. But I also cleaned my kitchen, went to the store, brought groceries in, folded towels, climbed up and down my stairs several times...You get the idea. We are all burning a lot more than we think, so if you don't have the time to exercise as much as you want doing normal household activities and running around you're burning that butter, as Denise Austin says. I'll let you know at the end of the day what my total steps and cals burned were. The Body Bugg is super cool!

2009-08-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

hey

I'm Ready for this!

2009-08-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

well thanks so much to Ali for sending me this info for the program you all have been doing! My name is Tammie Koelle. I just had my 4th baby 6 weeks ago, and I'm ready to feel pretty again, which means I need to lose some poundage! I'm so excited, I really need the motivation and support! This will be great!

Jillian Michaels' Secrets to Starting to Slim Down Today Health & Fitness: glamour.com

2009-08-13T16:50:00.001-07:00

Jillian Michaels' Secrets to Starting to Slim Down Today Health & Fitness: glamour.com

Shared via AddThis

OK, I had to share this with all of you. I am a huge fan of hers. Too bad she can't come to my house every day and kick my bum into shape!

Where's that Motivation?!

2009-08-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

I have struggled with weight my entire life, so I am looking for anything that could possibly help me get healthy. I read about this in my mother's (yeah, my mom gets Glamour!) magazine and decided to give it a try. Since we are just starting a new session of Skinny Jeans, or for those trying it for the first time, I thought I would share this article with you.

http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2009/05/the-secret-to-staying-motivati.html

If you'd like to sign up for Body By Glamour, it's totally free. There are some really interesting recipes that I am looking forward to trying, and I just printed out some great workouts. Plus, you can sign up to get beauty tip emails - I mixed my own nail polish color last week; so much fun!

New to this!

2009-08-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I'm Lonni Young. I am a mother of 5 super cute kids. My last two are only 15 months apart and I feel like I've been preg forever! I am still wearing my maternity clothes because I keep telling myself I don't need to buy new clothes, I will one day fit into my skinny clothes again! I'm ready to feel normal again. I NEED my body back! I love this blog... it feels very motivating to me. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you and being skinny!!!

SKINNIES FOR REAL!!

2009-08-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Ok Ladies Here is so serious incentive. I sell Jeans and I am willing to at the end of this competition give anyone who reaches a goal for themself of fitting in their 'skinny's' any pair of super cute jeans for super cheap. So lets do this. That way we can order our jeans. I know that I am a person who has to have some kind of incentive (not that being in shape isn't enough...but it isn't) whats loosing weight if I can't get some super cute outfit to show it off :)

Newby

2009-08-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hi all! My name is Kasey Turner and I'm new to Skinny Jeans. I have been married 8 1/2 years and have 2 kids. I just finished my Bachelors in Elm education and will be student teaching in the spring. My husband works for U of P and I'm a SAHM. I enjoying reading, going to the lake, camping, GNO's, quading and hanging out with my family. I am a member of another health blog and I know that it does work! My story is much like everyone elses. I'm up and down all the time. I struggle each and everyday, but since my daughter was born 4 1/2 years ago I made it my goal to workout, get fit and eat healthier. For me, life happens and with that my weight goes up. I have never given up on exercise though and I think that has helped me a lot, even when my eating habits were in the toilet. Last summer events in my life pushed me to an all time high. I gained 25 pounds. I was 174, which was what I weighed after I had my daughter. It took me 9 months to gain it, and 5 months to lose it. As of today I have lost 28 pounds. It is my goal to not allow my health to go to the wayside just because I'm sad or mad that things aren't working out the way I want them to. My kids need to see a healthy mom that can keep up with them. It was hard when I was heavy. I still have some pounds to shed and being a part of another Biggest Loser I know I can do it! If we all share our ups and downs, daily tricks, and exercise triumphs each week I know we can all achieve our ultimate health goals!

Weigh-in Day!

2009-08-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Please comment and leave your starting weight for me! People doing points...there is nothing to do for you today. Next week you can leave your total points as a comment. Thanks!

Carrie

2009-08-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

I got down to 139 sometime last year and am now up to 145.5 (maybe I will start a blog called FAT JEANS and see who can be the biggest gainer! Then we can all eat whatever we want and be really happy friends. Any takers?.... Carrie would dis-own me, nevermind) Okay, so try, try again. I will stop the soda TODAY. Good luck everyone. Just think? Cool weather is just around the corner.....

2009-08-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

Ok so I reached my goal of breaking 160 over the summer, but I've creeped back up to 162. So that's my starting weight for this round. Let's hope that it doesn't take me 2 months just to break it again!

Weigh-Ins

2009-08-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

I TOTALLY just had a revelation this week!! If everyone is ok with weight being shown, then there is no secrets involved with weigh-in day! How about if you weigh-in or point-in as a comment on a post instead of emailing me?!? I think it would make Thursdays as exciting for you guys as it is for me to see the weights/points trickle in. What do you all think? I can create a new post each Thursday as a reminder and you can all comment on it. Then once they're all in (or once Friday hits) I can post the info formally to declare the winner. I'm so excited about this!

Carrie

p.s. For those of you who have not yet "subscribed" to the blog, please do so either in your reader (if you use one for blogs) or on the sidebar (which will send new posts to your email.) This will ensure you always know when there are new posts! Thanks!

Pictures

2009-08-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

Pictures are starting to filter in. Thanks to those who have sent them! I'm going to start posting them on the sidebar. You can email me your "before" pictures or create a post with your picture and I will copy it and add it to the sidebar. If you want to mortify yourself fully to motivate yourself, put your pic in a post where people can click on it and blow it up. :) Keep spreading the word! We start Thursday and I want everyone involved who would want to be!

Carrie

New Round info

2009-08-06T13:19:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone has had their fill of summertime snacks and soda, because times are changing! It's time to start the next round of skinny jeans competitions. We are scheduled to start the next round on Thursday, August 13th which is one week from today! (**edited to add: We will go for 8 weeks, ending on Thursday, October 8th.**) If there are enough people interested in the "Great in Eight" program, we will still do both competitions at once. Remember, you will mostly likely lose weight when participating in that portion, but winners are declared based off the point system, not weight loss. We had a few people participating in both, and I'd love to see some comments from you on how you liked doing both to help others decide what will work best for them.

Here is what you need to do:

First~If you are not familiar with the rules, or need to brush up, go to the right panel and under "POST TYPES" click on "rules". Read the rules from Biggest Loser Round 3 and Great in Eight.

Second~Leave a comment or send me an email with the following information:
1. Are you participating?
2. Which Team(s) are you interested in (Team A: Great in Eight and/or Team B: Biggest Loser)?
3. Are you going to put money in the winner's pot?
4. If you are doing Team B: Biggest Loser, are you ok with your weight being posted on the weekly post?

Third~ Tell all your friends and family who may be interested about this great opportunity to kick start their healthy living and weight loss goals!! They can leave a comment here if they are interested or email me.

Let me know if you have any questions. Also, new this round I would like to return to the blog atmosphere we had our first round. If you have a question, comment, or concern that is not of a personal nature, PLEASE post on the blog! Don't email me. Although I welcome emails, be aware that I may respond and tell you to post what you emailed me. :) We are a team, not 2 leaders and a bunch of strangers. I think I speak for others when I say I would feel more connected if I knew the struggles or triumphs everyone else is having. SO participation on the blog is almost mandatory! While I obviously am not going to kick anyone out I think it will be even better than before if we have that communication.

Ok! Everyone get back to me ASAP and lets get this ball rolling! Yay! I'm so exited!!

Carrie
carriericks@gmail.com

Season 3 - Final Results

2009-06-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

Some of you may be able to predict our final winners, since they did AWESOME the whole time! Here are your final results...

Team A:

Congratulations Ali! You have been such an example to me on how to live and eat healthy. Like I said before, I would love to come spend a day at your house and learn from your example. Great job!

Team B:

Congratulations to Gayla! That is awesome! I am so proud of you and others who worked the whole 8 weeks to make a difference in your lives! Very impressive!

I will contact each of you and others who won weekly by email to settle up on your winnings from the pot. Thank you everyone for a great round and hope to see most of you back for the next one (more info to follow on that). As a group we lost 66.2 lbs and that doesn't include those who only did the point system since I didn't keep track of weight for them. That is a great number and I hope everyone can continue to work toward their goals.

Carrie

p.s. If any of you have an after picture that shows your progress, we'd love to see it! You can all create posts since you are all authors on the blog. So create a new post, then add your images. A before and after side-by-side would be way fun!

Season 3 - Week 8

2009-06-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

I know, I'm a bad bad moderator. I apologize for the delay in results. Were some of you thinking I would never post results and keep all the winnings for myself?? I was. haha, just kidding. Thanks for not sending me nasty emails as I totally deserved them. Ok, without further ado, here are your results for the last week...

Team A:
Great job Ali! Way to finish out the last week. I hope everything goes well with the birth of your new addition and I appreciate your participation in this as it kept the rest of us working hard to compete.

Team B:

Yay Christal! Good job! You probably didn't even know you had a chance of winning that week, did you?

Season 3 - Week 7

2009-05-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here are your results for...

Team A:

Great job again to Ali!

Team B:

Good job Gayla! Way to keep up the momentum.

We lost a lot of people this week...what's up with that? I hope I get final weights for everyone Thursday! I'm not sure when/if we'll start back up again. I'll try to get a survey of some kind out this week to get everyone's opinion. Good luck for your last 2 days!

Season 3 - Week 6

2009-05-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks again to everyone for weighing in promptly! It was a really crazy week for me finishing up finals, so I apologize that this is so late! Here are your results for week 6...

Team A:

Yay Jocey! Congratulations!

Team B:

Congratulations Gayla! Very impressive. I see some really high total weight loss numbers for a few of you and I'm really excited to see the final results in a week and a half!

Daily Calendar 5/8-5/16

2009-05-08T06:54:00.000-07:00

Ug, I forgot to post this again! I'll try to be good next week, I promise.

I have had a hard time getting all my vegetable servings, so I made that a calendar item this week. If any of you think of something you'd like extra points for, just let me know!

Today, Friday May 8
FREE day! 1 free item from the bad-food list

Saturday, May 9
get an extra 5 points if you workout

Sunday, May 10
FREE day! 1 free item from the bad-food list!
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Monday, May 11
eat dinner together as a family...at the table

Tuesday, May 12
Eat three vegetable servings (this is a 5 point bonus in addition to your 15 veggie points)

Wednesday, May 13
write a journal entry or a journal-type blog post

And for next week...
Thursday, May 14
drink 60-64 oz of water (this is a 5 point bonus in addition to the 5 points you already get)

Daily Calendar 5/1-5/7

2009-05-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Oops, sorry I forgot to post this Wednesday. So today is just the free-day and if you don't see this post in time, you can apply that to another day instead. Here are your daily calendar bonus points for the week...

Today, Friday May 1
FREE day! 1 free item from the bad-food list!

Saturday, May 2
spending time as a family without any electronic means of entertainment

Sunday, May 3
don't eat any ice cream

Monday, May 4
make dinner from scratch (no frozen or boxed meals) 5 bonus points for posting the recipe! (and picture if you want. that would be way fun!)

Tuesday, May 5
workout with somebody

Wednesday, May 6
drink 60-64 oz of water (this is a 5 point bonus in addition to the 5 points you already get)

And for next week...
Thursday, May 7
send a letter or card to an older friend or relative that doesn't use email

Season 3 - Week 5

2009-05-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

I really don't like posting results without hearing from everyone. I can't complete a project at home, but for some reason I feel incomplete posting these results! Point: if you didn't weigh in yet, you can still email me your weight so I can get it in the spreadsheet even though we've already declared winners. K?

Team A results:

Congratulations again Ali! You are raking in the dough! But I hear that there is some competition rallying, so watch out! But no, really, great job. I admire your lifestyle.

Team B results:

Congratulations again Christy! Great job! And there are more of you this week with better numbers, so keep up the good work. And I hope to hear from the rest of you soon or at least next week.

Carrie

(Edited to add late weights and points. Thanks everyone!)

Season 3 - week 4

2009-04-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

Team A, great job pointing-in on time! Very impressive. Here are your results...

Ack! A tie! I don't know what to do for a tie! I think I might just let the two of you duke it out, what do you think? Congratulations Ali and Mandy!

And Team B results...

Great job Gayla! Congrats.

You may have noticed I didn't post actual weights... Remember how I checked with each of you ahead of time to make sure you were ok with that? Well, apparently I missed a couple of people because I'm an airhead or something. So we're going to go ahead and discontinue that part of the post. But as a side note... if you pass a benchmark that you've been shooting for, make sure you let us know so we can celebrate with you!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Carrie

2009-04-23T10:31:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd join those of you who have been sick during the competition... It sure doesn't help does it?? I also wanted to celebrate my good days! I had 2 really good point days this week, one of them was 100! I was really excited. Then I had a couple really bad days (can anyone say "Weekend!"?) Then I got a cold. I feel like I still did pretty good for not feeling well those days, so overall, not too shabby! Anyway, I just wanted to share how I'm doing with everyone. As of right now, my goals are to get a week with 600 points and to lose 3 pounds and keep it off for more than 4 days. :) I'd love to hear how some of you are doing with your goals...

I'm liking the point system for the most part. I do much better when I've made some wheat bread and/or when I have a protein shake for breakfast. I put making bread as a bonus point this week so if anyone needs a recipe or help, create a post on the blog and we'll see what kind of ideas we have out there. Also, if you have some wheat you need to grind, I've got a wheat grinder and I know Jocey does too. :) As for the shake, my mom has been having a soy protein shake for breakfast for a couple of years now. She puts water, soy protein powder, a frozen banana and frozen strawberries in hers. Jocey does the same thing but with skim milk and whey protein powder. I have been playing around with different combinations of chocolate, vanilla, soy, and whey powders and haven't perfected it yet, but I use a whole banana and 3-4 strawberries so I get 2 fruit servings. My shake is worth 20 points when I use milk! Do any of you have a favorite meal or snack that is worth good points?

Carrie

Daily Calendar 4/23-4/30

2009-04-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

For those of you who struggle to get your water points...how has it been working out to have it as a bonus point? Do you actually meet the goal that day? Do you meet it only on that day? Just curious how that is working out for you...

I could also use some ideas for some specific "bad food" items that you would like you get bonus points for avoiding one day. For me its chocolate/candy and soda, but I know some of you have a weak point and I'd love to include it on here...leave a comment if you think of something.

Here are your daily calendar bonus points for the week...

Today, Thursday, April 23
add 5 bonus points if you work out

Friday April 24
do your visiting teaching (this one actually applies to the whole week/month but put your bonus points on this day)

Saturday, April 25
do part of your workout outdoors

Sunday, April 26
don't eat after 7pm (or 3-4 hours before bedtime)

Monday, April 27
make homemade bread

Tuesday, April 28
drink 60-64 oz of water (this is a 5 point bonus in addition to the 5 points you already get)

Wednesday, April 29
FREE day! 1 free item from the bad-food list!

And for next week...
Thursday, April 30
read a book to a child (yours or someone else's)

Season 3 - Week 3

2009-04-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

Easter was pretty rough on most of the people for both teams this week. For the people who still pulled it off, great job. As I've said in the past...the holiday is over, no more excuses! Lets get back to serious results!

Speaking of results...

Team A
And the winner is...

Ali! Once again, great job! I'm glad we have someone on here showing us how its done.

Team B
The winner for Team B is...

Christal! Yay! Good job. And another great job goes out to Gayla for getting it done this holiday week, too.

Good luck this week everyone!

Daily Calendar 4/16-4/23

2009-04-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

Here are your daily calendar bonus points for the week...

Today, Thursday, April 16
do service of some kind for someone...without being asked

Friday April 17
spend 1/2 hour organizing something in your home (pictures, toy box, coat closet, etc)

Saturday, April 18
eat a meal outside

Sunday, April 19
FREE day! 1 free item from the bad-food list!

Monday, April 20
drink 60-64 oz of water (this is a 5 point bonus in addition to the 5 points you already get)

Tuesday, April 21
go to bed an hour earlier than usual (if you normally get 8 hours of sleep, then go to bed on time)

Wednesday, April 22
go on a walk with your family

And for next week...
Thursday, April 23
add 5 bonus points if you work out

Season 3 - Week 2

2009-04-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

Team A:
Our numbers are dwindling for Team A. I had some people not point-in too. So this little table looks really small. :) Jocey only got 1/2 a week in after her vacation to learn the points this week, so she'll be in with the rest of us next week. Here are your results:

Great job again, Ali! I'm curious to see who tries to beat you this week. It's not me, by the way... Maybe another week. :)

Team B:
Results for Team B in order of biggest percent lost:

Holy cow, those are some amazing numbers from you people! Wow! I am so impressed with all of you! That is a total loss of over 23 lbs!! Congratulations to Christy! Keep up the good work. I'm expecting great numbers next week too!

2009-04-13T08:02:00.000-07:00

Hi all! I'm sorry to say that I'm dropping out. This program sounds really great and I hope you all are doing well with it. My problem is that I'm going through too many new changes to commit to this right now. I really do think this is a great program, but I don't have the time to log everything everyday. It sounds easy enough, but I just need to focus on other things right now. I've still been exercising and eating my veggies so at least I'm doing something good for myself. Goodbye for now. I'm sure I'll rejoin later!

Daily Calendar 4/9 - 4/16

2009-04-08T11:31:00.000-07:00

Team A

How did the Daily Calendar work for everyone this week? I thought it was kind of fun, but I'm also the one who picked the items. I kind of forgot about it half way through the week though. I would appreciate any feedback you have. Also, as you're reading the ones I've picked, and you think "Wow, it would be really fun/cool/awesome if Carrie put bonus points for doing such-and-such" make sure you let me know! Otherwise, I'll just start cycling through the ideas we already have. (I hope you all have a recipe picked out for tomorrow and all the ingredients bought.) :)

Here are your daily calendar items for the coming week. If you do the item on the day listed, add 5 points in the "Daily Calendar" section of your point tracker:

Thursday, April 9
try a new healthy recipe - add 5 MORE points for posting it on the blog and reviewing it for us

Friday April 10
write a journal entry (or a journal-type blog post)

Saturday, April 11
FREE day! 1 free item from the bad-food list!

Sunday, April 12
drink 60-64 oz of water (this is a 5 point bonus in addition to the 5 points you already get)

Monday, April 13
do part of your workout with somebody

Tuesday, April 14
eat dinner together as a family...at the table

Wednesday, April 15
don't drink any soda, diet or otherwise

And for next week...
Thursday, April 16
do service of some kind for someone...without being asked

Comments

2009-04-08T11:11:00.001-07:00

I just changed around how comments are emailed out. Some of you were getting an email with each comment while others weren't. I feel like I need that, because I'm not going to go through each post and see if there are any new comments. But, the problem is that it will only let me add 10 email addresses to receive emails when comments are left. So I finally had an epiphany of how to make this work. Some of you will be receiving an email from the blog when a comment is left. Others of you will receive a forwarded email from me after I get the email from the blog. How does that sound? (Mandy?) If these emails are obnoxious, please let me know and I'll take you off. Especially if you are really good about checking comments anyway. Thanks everyone!

Carrie

Season 3 - Week 1

2009-04-06T08:15:00.001-07:00

Well, after much waiting and anticipation, here are your results for both teams.

Team A, in backwards order of points earned: (Sorry, I didn't realize I had done lowest to highest until I was writing the post and I didn't want to go back and start all over, so you get it upside down this week - and no, this is not golf scoring.)

And the winner is Ali! I knew you would be hard to beat, Ali! Great job! Hopefully we can all get a feel for what number we need to aim for by looking at these results. Starting next week I will also post your total points so we can gauge how we're doing for overall winner. I know this week is half over, but good luck, and have fun!

Team B results, by order of percent lost:

One of our husband & wife teams stomped it up this week! Great job Eliot and Jen! In the coming weeks I will also be posting the running total of weight and percent lost so you can see where you stand for the overall winner.

Great job everyone! Thanks for your patience, and don't forget to weigh in on Thursday!

Daily Calendar Challenges

2009-04-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

Team A

Here are your daily calendar items for the rest of this week. If you do the item on the day listed, add 5 points in the "Daily Calendar" section of your point tracker:

Today, Friday April 3
FREE day! 1 free item from the bad-food list!
(If you don't see this post today, you can transfer this bonus to another day of your choice.)

Saturday, April 4
drink 60-64 oz of water (this is a 5 point bonus in addition to the 5 points you already get)

Sunday, April 5
get 7 hours of sleep (but not more than 9!)

Monday, April 6
spend 30 minutes together as a family with no electronic means of entertainment

Tuesday, April 7
don't eat any chocolate

Wednesday, April 8
do part of your exercising outside (before it gets too hot!)

And for next week...
Thursday, April 9
try a new healthy recipe - add 5 MORE points for posting it on the blog and reviewing it for us

Reminder

2009-04-01T18:17:00.001-07:00

Wow, what a long week, huh? It was for me. I just wanted to send out a quick reminder to everyone to please email or text me your weight and/or points for this week.

Team A: If you have any questions about Great in Eight, please post it on the blog and we can collaborate. I wish I had someone above me to ask some questions. :) Also, I'd like to do the daily calendar items this week, but I need some help thinking of some good things to do. If there is something extra you do, want to do, don't do, etc. that you wish you got extra points for, leave a comment and let me know and we can incorporate those in.

Hope to hear from you all in the next day or so!!

Carrie

Housekeeping

2009-03-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

We are in the middle of our week off, and I'm so grateful for it. But, we do need to get everything in order for next round. After talking to people and everyone's survey responses, we are going to have the following set up this round: Team A will be competing using the Great in Eight rules (thanks for the creative thinking, Mandy) and Team B will be competing using the Biggest Loser rules. You are most welcome to participate in both teams. The Great in Eight program is all about living, eating, and thinking right with no emphasis on weight loss (only a tiny bonus each week.) The Biggest Loser program is all about the pounds coming off. Don't worry about this being extra work for me. All I do is gather the numbers and post them all cute-like. I really appreciate you guys being supportive and willing to step up and help me out. There is a small chance that I will lose my mind doing this, not because of the two teams, but just in general. If I get close to that, I will contact those of you who offered and have you take over.

This is what I need from each of you by this THURSDAY, MARCH 26th...a comment or email stating the following:

-Are you participating this 8-week round? Which group do you want to join, A, B, or both? (If the THOUGHT of going and finding the link to the Great in Eight rules and reading them is enough to send you over the edge, you're probably more cut out for Team B at this point. Great in Eight is going to be a little more involved, but SO worth it.)
-Team B participants - please include your start weight or email it to me on Thursday.

-Are you going to be putting money in the reward pot? ($10 for the 8 weeks...if you do both teams, you can choose to put money in both, or one, or neither - just make sure you specify to me.)

-If you have not already done so, please Email me a picture of you.

-I highly recommend "subscribing" to the blog (if you have not already) using the little box on the sidebar. You'll want to know when there are new posts up.

-If you know someone who is interested, now is the time to get them my info or vica versa.

Ok, that should be it! Team A participants, you'll want to go to the "rules" link to get to the post of the Great in Eight rules, food list, and point trackers. If you would like an interactive Excel version of the point tracker, please let me know and I'll email it to you. Otherwise, you'll need to print one off for yourself each week.

Good luck everyone!
Carrie

Biggest Loser Round 3 - Team B

2009-03-23T15:10:00.000-07:00

The Rules:
*Lose weight!!
*Put $10 in the pot at the beginning. If you'd rather NOT participate in the money part of the contest, please let Carrie know within the first week.
*Each week there will be a winner. Whoever lost the biggest percentage of weight from week to week will be the winner and if they put money in, they will win $1 from everybody else that put money in. (For example, if there were 10 people participating, the weekly award would be $10.)
*At the end there will be the regular weekly winner, and then the person that lost the biggest percentage of body weight from the start to the finish will be the overall winner! If they put money in, they will win the remaining money in the pot ($2 from each person - for example, if we have 10 people, that would be $20.)
*Use the same scale every time. 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 or text her your weight each Thursday.
*The total time we will do this round is 8 weeks, so we finish on May 21st.
*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!!

Season 2 - Final Results

2009-03-23T15:08:00.001-07:00

The results are in folks.

Drumroll please....

And the winner is...

MIKE! AWESOME work! I am so proud of you and everyone else who has worked so hard this round. It is really neat for me to see so many of you succeed to leading healthier happier lives. Thanks for supporting me in this as well. Its been a fun one!

Season 2 - Week 8

2009-03-23T15:04:00.001-07:00

Those of you who did not weigh in on time this week are fired! I usually start sending out personal messages when I'm down to the last couple, but didn't have time this week. Here are your mostly complete results:

Congratulations Tiffany! You must be the only one who wanted to finish this round out with a bang! Good job!

Survey/Quiz time

2009-03-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is the deal. After our first round, one of the contestants, Jessica, emailed me this program that her friend was doing. I really really like the idea...I said I like the IDEA of it. I think we could do it! At the same time, I know there are some of you out there who like the ease of just emailing in a weight. So here's your quiz. Go to the previous post I made and click on the links to look at the Rules (and the Food List and Tally chart if you want) of "Fit in Six". And then answer the following questions:

1. Do you like the IDEA of this point system?

2. Which contest would you rather do, the new Fit in Six or Biggest Loser as before?

3. a) What do you think of splitting into 2 groups for the 2 separate contests?
b) Are you ok with smaller groups resulting in smaller prizes?

4. Do you know someone who would be interested in Fit in Six who is not in a position to lose weight right now, but wants to be healthy?

And just to clarify, for Fit in Six we would collect money from those who want money back for winning... Then the person with the most points each week would be the weekly winner, just as before. I guess we would also have an overall winner? I just realized that it is called "Fit in Six" because the people I stole the idea from did it for six weeks. So technically we should call it Fit in Eight? That doesn't sound as good! Oh well!!

As you are reading over the rules and other documents, let me know if anything is confusing, needs clarification, or any typos. I had to edit the original documents I received a little bit. For instance, my name is Carrie, not Melissa, etc.

Oh, and you can leave your answers as a comment so everyone else knows where you stand, or you can email me, either way.

Thanks everyone!!
Carrie

Great in Eight (formerly known as Fit in Six) - Team A

2009-03-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

Rules:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhgw6n2r_28ncts3ztp

Food Lists:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhgw6n2r_298q785tg7

Point Tracker:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pqwBlOyENzUprFvGDGk7kWQ
(I have Excel and Google doc versions of this point tracker as well. Let me know if you would like one of those for keeping track of your points.)

How to play:
*Put $10 in the pot at the beginning. If you'd rather NOT participate in the money part of the contest, please let Carrie know within the first week.
*Each week there will be a winner. Whoever has the most points week to week will be the winner and if they put money in, they will win $1 from everybody else that put money in. (For example, if there were 10 people participating, the weekly award would be $10.)
*At the end there will be the regular weekly winner, and then the person that earned the most points from start to finish will be the overall winner! If they put money in, they will win the remaining money in the pot ($2 from each person - for example, if we have 10 people, that would be $20.)
*Use the same scale every time. 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.)
*Carrie will keep track of points, so email or text her your point total each Thursday.
*The total time we will do this round is 8 weeks, so we finish on May 21st.
*This blog will be open for all of us to share tips, ideas, recipes, inspirations, whatever you want to share. Let's get healthy!!

Season 2 - Week 7

2009-03-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Here are your results for week 7:

Great job Tiffany! Way to step it up! It appears to have been a rough week for most people...I'm not sure why that is. One more week! Don't forget...even if you don't win overall, you could still win this coming week! And that means you get $15! That's a $5 profit! You could go buy something (not junk food related) to reward yourself! So good luck everyone, and we'll see you next week for final results!

Carrie

A big thanks...

2009-03-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let Carrie know how much I have appreciated her willingness to keep up the stats. I was doing the stats w/ the last group I was in, and it is hard to fit it into your schedule. So thanks Carrie!!
And good luck to those of you in the running for 1st place! Hopefully next round I will be able to kick my butt in gear and you will see me at the top of the list!!

Season 2 - Week 6

2009-03-06T14:01:00.001-08:00

Here are your results for week 6. Only 2 more weeks to go!!

Congratulations, Jocey! Wow, a bunch of you stepped it up this week! Great job!! And I know how hard it was for some of you to maintain, so good job there, too! I'm looking for results this good next week too...

I'd also like to comment on the fact that quite a few of you are in the running for overall winner. So if you're in it to win, step it up and almost everyone has a chance! I have some ideas for some changes for next round...we might split into 2 groups, depending on how involved you want to get. More info to come...

Carrie

Season 2 - Week 5

2009-03-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

Sorry it took me so long guys. I was waiting for a couple more weights and then forgot. I'll try to be better next week...

Great job, Mike! That's awesome! We've also got some great 2nd-4th placer's too! Good job you four! I can't think of a good pep talk this week. I've got the Sunday night fried brain. Keep up the good work, and if you're not doing good work, start something. See you all Thursday!

Carrie

2009-02-28T19:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I got the results of my xrays back. Diagnosis-arthritis of 2 discs and spondylosis of the vertabrae in my neck. Prognosis-chronic neck pain. Great. If only you could see my expression. You know though, one of my Young Women in my ward just found out she has a brain tumor!!! I think I'm ok with arthritis. I'm glad that I know, however, if one more doctor tells me I'm getting old I'm going to scream! It actually has given me the answer to some mystery symptoms that I've been having for two years now. Anyway, I'm starting to feel better from the Bronchitis and so I will definately be in the next round. Thanks for letting me vent. I'll get through the acceptance stage and get ready to kick butt with the rest of you. Yay for skinny jeans!!!!

2009-02-26T08:20:00.000-08:00

Alright. I'm laying it all out here. I have done nothing as far as losing weight and it's so frustrating!!! The last 3 weeks I have been sick with Bronchitis, a UTI, and now I'm waiting on results from my neck x-rays. I am a physical mess!!! I don't know what the Lord is trying to tell me. I'm not sure if I should push through it or lay down until it passes but neither one of those options are pleasant. I'm going to drop out of this round just because I'm needing to concentrate on getting better. My poor family is feeling the strain of it and I'm feeling the guilt from not being able to care for them. Thank heaven for my wonderful husband Aaron. I broke down and asked him to take over and he really stepped in for me. Love ya babe!!!

The most frustrating part about all of this is that I had just set my goals on this blog the day before all of my illness started. It's hard for me to stay motivated to eat well when I'm ill and only want comfort food. I've been eating my veggies fresh and steamed, but I've also been eating too many sweets. Anyway, I'm sorry to drop out but I will strive to reach my diet goals starting today!! My exercise goals will have to wait until I'm healthy again. I don't like to quit but I thank you all for understanding. I will get myself better so that I can be in the next round and say goodbye to my fat clothes!

Somer, Jamie, Tiffany!!!

2009-02-22T17:23:00.000-08:00

OK I'm calling you out by name because you are the only ones who haven't gotten your pictures to Carrie yet!!!
We want to know what you look like!!
Somer, I'm going to especially say to you - SHAME ON YOU!!! (only cause you are my SIL and I love you so much! :) )

Weekly Goals

2009-02-22T17:04:00.000-08:00

For the past few weeks I have been bad and haven't worked out (one of the weeks was a legit reason, the other times though were just excuses). But I did stick to eating right for the most part, though I did allow myself a little more sweets then I should have, and I also had soda to calm my nauseated tummy a few times.
But since I saw the scale go up again, at first I was depressed and frustrated, but now I am newly motivated. So I started my work outs again. YAY!! And I even recruited a couple neighbors/new friends to go on my long walks with me. So now that they are expecting me to go, it makes it harder to let myself be lazy and let myself out of it. And the good thing about them being neighbors is that I don't have to get in my car to go meet them, I just walk out front. So any little thing makes it easier. Also like I said, they are new friends so I have the social aspect and getting to know them which makes my workouts fun (well a lot more enjoyable). Then I also found out that one of them used to be a personal trainer, so WOOHOO!!! She is more then happy to give me tips and help me out. (She can't do much to actually push me and work out HARD with me because she is pregnant right now).

OK so my goals for the week are:
(My "week" is Thursday to Wednesday)

Walk at least 2.5 miles at least 5 times (2 down, 3 to go)
Eat NO fast food
Drink NO soda
Do 2 strength training workout video workouts before Thursday
Do stretching/yoga 3 times before Thursday
Only eat a LITTLE chocolate each day
Cook dinner every night
Do all dishes before I go to bed each night

What are your goals?