Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

It has been declared that a few people have worked their stinkin butts off this challenge. And a few... well must have been sick a trying cuz I didn't hear from a lot of you!!

CK YOU ARE THE WINNER!! And you busted off 16.3 pounds... and almost 8.5% of your total weight!!!!!!!!!!

Good Job! You have worked so hard and have been consistant with your weight loss each week! What a motivation to us all you are! I hope you have been so proud of yourself and given yourself a lot of "atta girls!" because you truly deserve it.

This is not an easy process, to lose weight and get healthy! You rocked it and I am so excited for you to be 110 dollars richer! What are you going to do with your winnings!?! Can't waite to hear!

AM you are a very very close second and you also rocked this challenge! I hope you are proud of yourself and excited about your progress. I wish their could have been more than one winner because you worked your butt off , and deserve 110 bucks too! (Maybe your hubby will hook you up!)

Good job everyone! It has been fun, and motivating to do this together! So happy for everyone and their successes. I wish you all the best as you continue on your weight loss/ healthy lifestyle journey. Keep me updated how you are doing!

Just wonderin

How your week's goin?!

2.5 days until we face the music and I write someone, a 110 dollar check.

Ya buddy! We are almost done. Hope your week is going fantastic. It's a great week for weight loss.

PS. I may or may not have ran 5 miles outside yesterday.... in the wind... in 50 minutes. I might be kinda stoked bout it.

So excited for...

Sunday! Which happens to be my rest from workout day this week! My body is tired! It needs a little R & R!

I went to cycle today and the instructor gave us a lil tip... "K, now you worked your butt of in spinning today, don't go home and ruin it!"

Amen sista! I love Sabra! She is the best spinning class teacher I have had, and I have had a few. Her music is bomb and she yells and keeps you pumped. I heart her class! And, that little tip is one that obviously sooooo many people need, not just me.

It is good to workout to be able to eat what you want and maintain your weight, but it is sometimes better to workout and eat healthy most of the time, and then keep losing.

Good Luck! It is our last week. Oh, forgot to mention this.... I am not doing another round of pound pinching... I am tooo tired! But I have had a couple of people mention that they would like to keep going. Let me know if you are and I can round up your information and put you all in touch with one another!

Last Weigh in April 30th!

Good work this week! Everyone did really well and there are a couple of you neck and neck to win the 110 bucks!!

What are your plans with your winning money?! So excited to see how this week treats everyone!

Our last weigh in is Friday April 30th! Don't forget to send me your weights by noon! The winner will be declared Friday April 30th and noon!! Good Luck and may the best pound pincher, (or one of the best!) win!!

Thanks for all your comments on my running! You guys are all so nice! I do sorta have a training schedule, but have kinda adapated it a bit, because it doesn't seem like I can find one that hits my level (in between beginner and intermediate) perfectly. I did run my 3.1 miles outside on the hills, and in the CRAZY wind today. It felt really good. I ran it is 33 minutes which I was pleased with because of those CRAZY winds that made me feel like I was barely moving for a good portion of the run! I thought I might have to stop, but I kept reminding myself how good I was going to feel when I was done, how tone my legs were going to be, and how much better prepared I will be on race day. It worked! I tricked myself into going on and I felt soooo awesome when I finished. This race may be a long shot for me, I may suck and run 15 minute miles, but the preparation for it is very good for me physically and emotionally. It is building my confidence a ton and I am really proud that I can say... I am turning myself into a runner!

busy busy

busy day!

good job everyone this week was great for a lot of us!!
yay!

more soon... good luck this beautiful Friday! Its a great day for weight loss/ maintenance!

Didn't make my Goal

Like I said last post I was planning on running 3 miles outside today. Well hubby is gone and wont be back until late tonight, so I did what any dedicated athlete does... I compromised and went to the gym. I took advantage of the nicest daycare worker, Amy and left my children with her for 67 minutes.

I ran 6.5 miles on the tread in 67 minutes.

Dude I will take it. That is my long run of the week, so I have absolutly no shame in preparing to run only 3 miles outside on Friday. Babysitter, (haha not really babysitter, it's my kid's Honey, aka Dad's fiance) is lined up for first thing in the morning, have my map lined out and I will be ready to take the hills of Orchard Street in Caldwell first thing Friday morning.

Happiest news ever? I made my dad a carrot cake last night from scratch. Heavenly if you must know, but I only partook of one (kinda big) piece. Didn't feel a bit guilty about it, went to bed and got good rest. I woke up and headed to the gym, upon my return t0 the home front, stripped down and weighed to see that magical, beautiful little piece of weight watcher scale read 139.6~!! Granted I had just run a long run, but I will take below 140 anytime of the freakin day and shout WWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOO!! I haven't seen below 140 since 6 months after I got married.

It's a great week for weight loss. I am so thankful I get to work out, I get to eat right, and I get to see great results on the scale!!!

It's a Beautiful Day!

I got to run outside yesterday for the first time in a while.... it was so beautiful!! My running was less than my best performance. Only 2.3 miles, in 20 minutes. I was happy with the time, but not so happy that I felt like dying after 2 miles. I had just run 6.5 on the treadmill last Friday.... after which I was happily thinking I was well on my way to my half marathon. The whole outside vs inside gave me a little wake up call. While I know for weight loss the treadmill is just fine, it just isn't cutting it to get me prepared for 13 miles in less than 3 months. So my new goal, just in time with the nice weather is to run outside 3 days a week... and my next running goal for tomorow, is no less than 3 miles.

My hubbers gave me a new idea for my gym workout, which I put to use today and I am pretty positive it was a great sucess. I warmed up on the elip for 5 minutes, then busted out some free weights, ran a mile in 9 minutes, lifted some more weights, got back on tread for 9 min mile, and then finished up with some more free weights. I have no clue how many calories I burned, but with the tiredness my body is feeling now, I think I must have cranked something up. I feel excited, like I just tricked my body and hopefully will keep on going with my weight loss.

It's a great week for weight loss!

Bad Dream

I woke up this morning really sad. Like the sad where you almost want to cry. I let myself gain 2 pounds this weekend, which I was stressed out about when I went to bed last night.

I had a bad dream that a popular boy from high school saw me running and said "run chubs run!"

He hurt my heart even in my dream.

I remember being chubby so clearly, I remember what I felt like, what my clothes looked like, my face. I remember how sad I would feel when people would make comments about me being bigger than everyone else.

I am 24 married to a hottie, have 2 kids and I still feel sad about things mean kids would say.

Maybe the dream was a message to myself to stop doing good for those 5 or 6 days, and then ruin it with my 1 0r 2 days.

Fat no more. Eating good and exercising great started at 8 am. This is going to be a great week!
Good luck to you!

I get it...

I just want you all to know I totally get it. We are all tired of working hard to lose weight, maybe it isn't coming off fast enough, maybe it isn't coming off at all, maybe you are just sick of it and want to eat some freaking cake.

I.get.it!

But remember how excited you were when you started in January? Remember how New Year's rolled around and you promised you weren't making a "resolution", but were just changing your lifestyle-- the way you ate and exercised?

Well it's April. And my friends, April seperates the life style changers from the resolutioners. Been to a gym lately? It is getting a lot quieter, a lot more machines are free, and you can almost always park in the first three rows.

Take a break if you need it. Give yourself a few days off or a week off. Then get back on the train and GO!! April is a hard month, we get tired, we don't want to lose weight anymore, we don't care if we are going to be chubby, we just want to eat and not kill ourselves working out. Then comes May, it gets hot outside and we remember "Ahh, hell-- it's almost time to put on my swimming suit and take the kids to the pool, sprinkler, lake or whatever.... sure wish I would have pushed myself through April." I promise that even though bathing suit shopping surely sucks for every single one of us, whether we are a size 4 or 24... you are going to feel a lot more confident in that despised dressing room with those stupid lights that add 20 pounds to no matter who you are, if you can just PUSH YOURSELF THROUGH APRIL!!

We have already lost I think 3 people from lack of weigh ins. The competition is close for about 3 of you, but we still have 2 weigh ins left, and a lot can happen in 2 weeks people!!

Remind yourself who you are, who you want to be, and don't forget that everything that is worth anything takes work... and you can do it!!

Now, go bust a move and put down the cake. :o)

Taking Care of YOUR Body

I remember a conversation I had forever ago with a friend about taking care of our bodies. We are working out, eating right, but are we doing other things to care for our body, to prolong its beauty?

Here are some things I think of to take care of my body that hopefully we are all doing

Drinking a lot of water
Using sunscrean
Moisturizing our skin all over
Washing our faces to remove make up at night
Rubbing our feet with lotion to keep them moist and not scaly or dry
Stretching to lengthen muscles and keep from getting sore
Brushing/flossing/whitening teeth
manicuring nails/toe nails
wearing bras that fit
wearing clothes that fit and even compliment our figures
conditioning hair
eating our veggies and fruits

I know that I feel a lot better about the way I look when I take care of myself. This for me is keeping up with my exercise and eating, but also puting my make up on for the day and doing my hair. I am not in a financial position to purchase new clothes to compliment my figure all the time, but I do my best with pieces that I have built up over time, and I try to shop at consignment stores to pick up nice things for less. It is amazing how much better I feel too when I just remind myself to suck my tummy in and sit up straighter.

I take care of my mind as well by reading, and by taking my "me" exercise time. I find that while I love exercising in the gym, I get an extra feel good boost when I walk or run outside in the fresh air. I ran on the track tonight with a friend and was amazed at the beauty of our sorroundings. The grass is so green and lush, the air is fresh and crisp, and the air is clean to see far, how great and what a "perk me up" that 45 minutes was for me.

What do you do to take care of the body you were given?

Facts Of LIfe

Stole this from a Men's Health magazine, because I thought it was interesting

In a University of Kansas study, a group of flabby guys were asked to choose an image that best represented their bodies. The finding: Obese men almost always beleive they are thinner than their doctors think they are. Peope deny the severity of a weight problem in order to buffer their self-esteem, says the lead study author, Kim Pulvers, Ph.D. So ask your physician to honestly assess the state of your weight problem-- and trust that he's right. After all, the truth can hurt, but it may provdie the kick in the pants you need.

I thought this was interesting, because, if I had to place money on a bet... and they did this study with a group of women... the women would say they are heavier than they actually are!!

Do you agree, or disagree?

I think everytime I look at a tv commercial, a show, or see a magazine, I see skinny. I see really really thin people, who may or may not be healthy I don't know. But I automatically sort of compare my body to theirs.

What is thin? What is fat? We all have to answer those questions for ourselves.

But I think it is important to try and see ourselves the way people who love us do. We are too hard on ourselves (by we, I mean women in general), and we never quite see our bodies or our looks the way other people do. We are too hard on ourselves and we need to remember TO TALK NICELY TO OURSELVES AND TO GIVE OURSELVES CREDIT WHEN WE DESERVE IT!!

Exercising in a Fat Burning Zone?! MYTH

Yet another interesting fact from my Runners World magazine. I have heard a lot of people talk about this "hype" of exercising at slower paces (50-70 percent of your max heart rate). Well this goes against anything and everything an athlete has ever been taught. I remember a trainer at the gym telling me I could ease up on my cardio because pushing harder doesn't mean I will burn more fat. I thought he was crazy, but I took his advice... and didn't see any different results.
"Running at higher intensities causes you to burn a lowere precentage of fat calories in favor of carbs," says Jason Karp, "but you use more total calories." And that's the key to slimming down.
Lower intensity exercise still has its place. Long, slow runs build aerobic fitness and endurance. But to kick start a pokey metabolism, you need intensity.

dun dun dun... which is why I LOVE INTERVAL TRAINING! They say that condensed runs that mix intensity efforts with recovery burn more calories during and AFTER workouts. Plus, it helps with boredom.

I am all for burning after I am done, too!

Want to torch some calories on the treadmill? Follow this plan from the magazine.
1. Build up to six intervals doing the workout.
2. To prevent overtraining, don't do more than 2 to 3 sessions (like this one) per week.
3.Take three to four weeks to build up a cardio base before doing these intervals. (Don't try this unless you already workout in other words)

About a 40 minute treadmill routine
Warm up 10 minutes
Run for 5 min at 1 %i ncline at a speed 90% of max heart rate (so basically run, no jogging, almost sprinting)
Recovery jog 2 mins
Run for 5 1% incline... 90-95 % rate (run)
Recovery 2 mins
Run 5 1 % incline
Recovery 2 mins
Cool down for 10 mins
Add one intercal every two weeks until you reach 6 intervals

A funny fact

Is your second toe longer than your big toe? Mine is. This is known as "Morton's foot," and 33 percent of people have it. (I wonder how they got those stats, because I do not ever remember anyone asking me that question... but I got this stat from a Runners World mag, so it must be true).

Also from Runners World magazine,
"The Myth, you can 'make up' weekend splurges. The truth: the two S days reprecent about 30 percent of the week, so too many slip ups will put you on bad terms with the scale. Case in point: Dieters in a 2000 study dropped pounds during the week, but stopped losing weight on the weekend because they ate too much. 'By feasting on whatever you want on the weekend, you'll cancel out five days' worth of healthy eating,' says Felicia Stoler, R.D. nutrition coordinator for the New York City Marathon.
When it comes to shedding pounds, consistency is key. 'Aim to consume a similar number of calories on Tuesday as you would Saturday,' says Stoler. She suggests weighing yourself Friday and again Monday. 'Any weight gain is a sign you shouldn't have eaten the extra slice of pizza.'

Is that a sign? I had been wanting to buy a running magazine for a while to learn more about this new love I have found. This article about losing weight had a lot of information I have already thought and pondered about. Remember my post from a few weeks ago where I challenged myself to not gain over the weekend (for the first time) well, I think I will make that challenge to myself and to you again. It is hard to get annoyed when my scale isn't going down, because I DO have the knowledge and the ability to make it move. If I don't use my tools in my tool belt, then I am being a moron and need to stop whining about not losing more weight.

I guess I'll try that... not whining thing, and just do it.

For the Record

I am no longer avoiding the site...

I had my minor cold all last week, which turned into the flu, and is now back to an obnoxious cold. And my 6 month old's cold turned into croup, and my 2.5 year old now has a cold, and my hubby thinks he's getting the flu.

Party over here people.

I haven't worked out in a week now. I can feel my body getting mushier. Atleast I haven't been eating too much so hopefully my weight will be ok for Friday. Yikes, what a week!

I have to go sanitize, wash bedding, wipe noses and feed a hungry little barking... baby.!

Didn't want you to think I gave up! I hope you are all doing well and staying fit and healthy!