ok we are back at it!

w/o tracking I am doing NO GOOD! So I am back to tracking my daily intake and competing with my husband which is also no good. Men have such a different matabolism...he lost 8 lbs in three days! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!

My low from the biggest loser was 232 I am up to 240. Hawaii is a short 5 weeks away so lets get serious here! Can I loose another 20 lbs in 5 weeks. That is average. Let's hope I can do that at least.

Today I was told for like the billionth time that I am allergic to wheat, basically I can't have carbs! I am a carboholic! Maybe this will also help me loose weight. I will try to cut them out to see if my body appreciates it. Stay tuned for more updates.

3rd place

:( Wah wah wah! Oh well I still won by losing over 28 pounds! Anyway I am onto my own race to get into the swimsuit in Hawaii!

Final weigh in!

As it stands now I have lost 10.9% total body weight since January 27th. I do not know what the others have so I will have to post again later who the winner is, but I am hopeful. I have gone from a size 22 down to a 16, my TOTAL weighloss since August is 42.7 lbs or 15.5% but for the competition I have lost 28.5 lbs. Either way I am a winner! I have got 5 months to lose another 30-40 lbs. That is my goal, my ultimate goal is another 50-60 lbs, but that will probably take until at least January. I will keep you posted!

One week left for the BLT competition...

Alright this is it, the big count down. I wieghed this morning 232.0 My goal was to get under 230 by May 5th. I could still do it. I have to be really strict this weekend. Tuesday is the final weigh in. I am at 10.9% since January 27th. Since my surgery in August I have lost a total of 43 lbs and that is a total of 15.6 % body weigh loss. My ultimate goal is 180 so I have 52 lbs more to go, but on the bright side I am almost 50% to my goal and it looks attainable by the end of the year. So I will keep it up and hopefully have a new healthy body by the time we go to Hawaii. I will have one more post on May 5th then this site will most likely be shut down. I will continue to track on my iPod and feel free to ask me for updates...it will keep me on track :)

Official Weigh in week 9

I have been weighing in but not posting it on the board here at work as noone else is either. However today I weighed in and in one week I lost 5 lbs! I am down to 236.4, that's 9.2% weightloss! I am so excited. Now I have a 2-3 week goal to get under 230. We'll see...wish me luck!

Official weigh in #6

Today I weighed in at 242.6, that's 7% weightloss! Only about a pound from last week, but that is ok since I pigged out on Saturday.

Birthday dinner

I think birthday dinners are what actually adds a year to your life :) I seriously felt older the next day. Well I did ondemand exercise TV both Saturday AM and Sunday, then went to boot camp today and feel like I may have finally worked it off. We will see the official weigh in is tomorrow. Wich me luck!

totally lost w/o my iPod

I left my iPod at home yesterday and was trying to track my food on paper, but it wasn't working too well. I also had a servere lack of sleep that probably accounted fro my munchies. I slept well last night and had a very good breakfast this morning so hopefully I can stay on track. My new favorite breakfast is:
1 cup of nonfat plain yogurt, 1 Tblsp of Almond butter, blueberries and/or bananas and 1 cup of kashi go lean crunch. I can do without the almond butter but it is so yummy and the grocery store near my office has a machine that makes it fresh. Plus it sweentens up the plain yogurt. This breakfast is about 350 calories, but it stays with you.

Anyway good luck to my firends trying to make it through another day. 1 pound at a time.
By the way I just figured out that I am 22% to my goal of 180. That's pretty good. My hopes is that by the time this competition is over (MAY 5) that I am down to at least 220 that would mean I would have lost 40 pounds in 18 weeks, but that should also keep me on the track to be down another 20 - 30 by September (Hawaii!!!!)

Official Weigh in #5

Today I weighed 243.5, that means I have lost 17 pounds! 6.5% of my body weight. (Almost my baby girl!)

Whoooo Hoooo! Well today I had an english muffin with an egg anda piece of ham, still under 300 C and I forgot to bring my lunch. It will be difficult today because Ellie woke up at 4AM and usually when I don't get enough sleep I just want to eat everything, it keeps me awake. So I hope today will go ok. Wish me luck!

100 Calorie packs and 5 dollar foot longs...saving my life

LOL ok so not really saving my life, but MAN this week has been hard. I have been craving chocolate all week! I am so glad to have these 100 calorie acks, not that they are the best thing for me, but it sure helps vs. having a candy bar. I have not had time to make my lunch this week, but Subway is accross the street from work and the "$5, $5 foot looooongs" have been saving me on the calorie busting diet our cafe provides.

Anyway, I feel like I am barely on track this week, but still there. We will see next week what the results will be. I have worked out only 2 x this week, with no time to do it today as I had to run errands at lunch. Wish me luck! Another weekend out with friends is headed my way.

official weigh in #4

Thin mints do not make you thin! Thin mints do not make you thin! Thin mints do not make you thin!
I am having my monthly visitor so I do think that is why I weigh the same as last week. 247 lbs. My guess is that next week I will have lost another 2-3 pounds. I hope :) Anyway no depression, just not really feeling like heading to the gym this week, so I hope I can muster up the energy.

The Girl Scout Cookies are starring me down

Alright so previous to the BLT competition I ordered some girl scout cookies. Well they came today. The good thing is that I can have 4 thin mints and still be on track! Woo hooo! I weighed myself on Saturday at home at I was down to 245, but this morning I was at 246.5. However I also started my monthly today, which means, I am justified in wanting the girl scout cookies LOL! As long as I stay on track I should do OK. I do not think I will weigh well this week due to the monthly, but next week should be much better.

Next week I think I will post some before and afters just to keep my spirits up. I found a picture from Hawaii where I was at my highest. No, 260.5 was not my highest 275 was. So if I can keep in mind that I am 30 pounds lighter that should be reassuring. Hopefully by the end of this I can get down 30 more! That would be amazing!

Offical Weigh in take 3

Thanks to the Presidents we had a long weekend. It was a good thing because I got sick on Monday and Tuesday anyway. We had a great time with John, Kelly and Alexander in Bend this weekend and I think I managed to stay on track.

This morning I had another official weigh in and my weight is down to 247.8 (those pesky .3 just don't want to budge!) However this means I have lost a total of 12.7 pounds in three weeks! Wooo Hooo! I hope I keep it up. On to have my shake and get psyched up for my work out!

Lunch time Phew!

ok so I went down to the gym at lunch and weighed on the scale there. I am not sure the difference in the scale there and the Nurses office Scale, but it looks like i may be down another 2 pounds! I rode the bike for 45 minutes and then went to get lunch. I had a piece of fish and some sauted spinach. I still can't curb this Chocolate craving! So I went back down for a nonfat, sugarfree hazelnut mocha. I hoep those 2 pounds don't creep back.

Friday morning Grrrrr

I am not following my own advice. I am not going to bed early as planned. I can totally tell the difference. I am hungry and tired. This morning I had oatlmeal from the cafe at work. Did you know that 2 cups of oatmeal is 318 calories, that is not including rasins, or anything else. Grrrrr, you try to be good! Well I am off to work out in a bit and hopefully get something nutritious for lunch. I was so tired and running late that I left my lunch at home. Another Grrrrr!

track and trudge, track and trudge...

I forgot to edit yesterday's blog. Well I was home with my daughter who was sick, which usually I do better at home, because I am busier. Well I did a lot of snacking yesterday, and although I stayed within my calorie range, I didn't work out. Unless you call going up the stairs a gazillion times in one day a work out (I do). So today I some eggs for breakfast and I just had a snack of plain yogurt with fresh strawberries and honey. I will be working out today and hopefully through our travels this weekend I can keep on track and loose again this week.

Thank you everyone for your encouraging words. I am hearing a lot that the second week is the worst. For me it is the third week because I am dealing with the news of the second week weigh in and trying to stay motivated. I appreciate the friends and family I have that are motivating me.

2nd weigh in

I gained 0.3 pounds! WHAT! I guess it could be the traveling, or my pants are a little heavier than last time I weighed. Maybe it's that time of the month (wink wink) Whatever it is, is depressing. I have been working out every day and being VERY careful. Oh I know I am gaining muscle!

Well I will keep it up and see what happens next week. Yesterday I rode the bicycle inthe gym for 30 minutes at 22 MPH, and lifted weights. I was well within my calorie range and today I will do the same. ALSO remember to drink lots of water.

noon posting: My tea bag says "Whatever you are doing is the most beautiful thing" - if they only knew :)

The amazing traveling diet!

This weekend we went to visit with family. This is inevitably the HARDEST time to stick to a diet. I think I did it though. At least my iPod says I stayed within the guidelines. Thank goodness for Exercise TV. My grandparents have Comcast we were able to do out workouts after out YUMMY banana pancake excursion.

I do think a BIG part of me sticking to this diet is getting the sleep I need, because I try to eat to stay energized. If I would sleep 8 hours a night I may not need all the food for energy. I certainly am willing to put this to the test. I will touch base tomorrow as it will be the second official weigh in. I am hoping for 10 pounds...wish me luck!

Exercise TV?!

I am working from home today which totally throws me off my routine. I didn't eat breakfast until 9am, when I usually have my morning snack by then. When I realized that I do not have access tot he gym at work today I thought I would check out what was on TV for a quick workout. I have Comcast Cable and the On Demand has a section called Sports and Fitness, where there is a section called Exercises TV! WONDERFUL! It's totally FREE, and there are so many varieties of exercises in there. I chose to do a 10 minute cardio workout and I feel like my muscles are hard at work even after ending the session. What a great coffee break! You can find out more about this on http://www.exercisetv.tv/ You can even use the workouts from your computer on this website if you are traveling and don't have access to the Cable that you have at home :)

Day 10...

So I feel like I am at a standstill. I know you are not supposed to weigh yourself everyday, maybe I need Greg to hide the scale from me. I don't think I have lost any weight in the past few days. On the flip site I LOVE this new tool on my iPod! I will tell you what I had to eat today and then it is on to go home and hopefully not snack. I found myself snacking while i was making dinner last night.
Today:

• Breakfast, Cottage Cheese, Pineapple and Watermelon, Coffee with 1/4 cup of nonfat milk
• Snack, crackers and cheese
• Lunch, Chili, salad with homemade dressing and sugar free non fat pudding
• Snack, Asian Pear

My iPod says that I have eaten 919 calories, but that my workout today (Stationary Bike for 30 minutes at 20 MPH, and Elliptical for 15 minutes as well as some weight lifting and stretching) burned 853 calories, so that technically I have only had 66 calories. So it is telling me that I can still have 1,491 calories for the rest of the day. PROBABLY NOT A GOOD IDEA! I am hoping if I can still keep my intake around the 1557 allotted to me even though I am burning a lot of calories that it will kick start something in my metabolism.

I hear that if you do something 3 times in a row it becomes habit, well for me I think it will have to be 3 years in a row. When I forgot my shake this morning I was so tempted to get a breakfast sandwich (It's my demise) but I stayed strong and felt better for it. On to dinner and day 11!

iLove my iPod

I recently purchased an iPod touch. Which is basically the iPhone without the phone. I can get online, email, and download applications, etc. Today I found a FREE application called "Lose It!" I can log my food and excercise and it will track my weighloss and calories, fat intake, it is everything in one place. If you have an iPod that you can download applications, this is awesome.

Also I wanted to mention that I spoke to my doctor about the weightloss and he said that besides Diet and Exercise I can use Alli. Then he said it may help me lose only 10 pounds more than I would with diet and exercise alone, but if I stop taking it I gain the wieght back. No good! PLUS...

• What are the side effects?:
  You may experience bowel changes when taking Alli. Ads and marketing materials refer to these changes as "treatment effects." These side effects can include:
  -Gas with an oily anal discharge
  -Loose stools or diarrhea
  -More frequent bowel movements
  -Hard-to-control bowel movements
  These bowel changes result from the undigested fat going through your digestive system. You can limit the side effects by eating a low-fat diet.

...UM hard to control bowl movements, oily anal discharge!! NO THANK YOU! I can't be wearing diapers when my baby is still in diapers!

However I have heard a lot about the Acai berry products, at least I am reading a lot about it. Check the link: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/acai/AN01836

Just be careful I am also finding a lot of "scams" basically what I think it comes down to is there is no magic pill. It is hard work that will get you there. So for now I will continue to track and trudge until I reach my goal. Thanks for coming with me :)

It's a new day...

Well it's a new day and that means new challenges. You don't know how hard it is to say no to the bagels in the cafe! Grrrr. But I did it. Yesterday I ended with 1491 calories, by having:

• fiber one bar on the way home (140)
• chicken breast - boneless skinless (231) with spinach 1 cup(41) and sauce made from 1 cup of nonfat milk and Parmesan cheese (about 150)
• skinny cow (140)

so far this morning:

• Shake (279)
• Coffee with 2% milk (27)

So for my new day reminder I have realized that I have been GOOD for over a week, I have worked out 4 days last week and 2 days this week so far. I have lost 7.5 pounds and I cannot go back to the way it was. This is about teaching myself to eat the right things in the right proportions. Please feel free to send me your good ideas.

I spoke to my aunt last night who suggested when I get hungry that I eat pickles, they are no calories and they have lots of flavor. My aunt also suggested canned spinach with hot sauce, however usually when I get hungry I want something sweet. So my tip would be to brush your teeth, it makes it so that nothing tastes good for a while and the toothpaste it kind of sweet. Also have a big glass of water to fill the belly.

Trivia Answered...

How many calories does typing burn?
answer found at http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-burned-typing-a604

Calories burned with TypingElectric, Manual, or Computer 102 calories per hourAssuming a body weight of: 150 lbs

This is equivalent to eating any of the lines of the following table.
Quantity Description Cals
0.4 Grande Starbucks Caffe Latte - Made with whole milk 272
0.1 McDonald's Big Mac - With cheese 704
1.3 Glasses of wine (3.5 fl oz) 79
0.4 Snickers Bar 273
0.5 Cans of Coca-Cola 207
3.4 Carrots 30

My question is the activity of eating one of these burns 102 calories or is it that if you sit ont he computer for an hour you can feel guilt free to eat a Snickers bar? Hmmmm
I just can't believe this is acurate! I walked 2 miles on the treadmill at lunch and didn't burn much more than that. It seems like everyone would be siting at the computer if that were the case.

First Official Weigh in!

So yesterday I ended the day with 1358 calories. I emailed with my friend Tracy yesterday who is on wieght watchers and asked her for some of her favorite things. I will be putting a favorite things link to the right of the screen for easy access.

Today I weighed in and I have lost 7.5 pounds, I weigh 253 and that means I have lost 2.87% of my body weight. Woooo Hooooooo! Oh man I need to keep this up I know if I can get half way to my goal I can make it the whole way. I believe my goal is 30% so I have 27.13% to go!

Today:
Shake.............. 279
Tea...................... 0
Snack..................135 (cheese and crackers)

TIP OF THE DAY:
Laugh it off.
When researchers from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, put people into a “metabolic chamber” (a small room that measures heat output in order to calculate a person’s metabolic rate) and showed them funny videos, the subjects’ metabolic rates rose by 10 to 40 calories. It’s a small increase, but every calorie counts for those seeking weight loss, says lead researcher Maciej Buchowksi, PhD.

Lunch:
1 cup of Sara's mom's Chili YUM!.... 228 cal
salad with cucumber and onion........22
newmans own spray dressing...........25 cal
yoplait light yogurt..............................100

so far today I have 789 calories. and I went to the Gym at lunch to walk on the treadmill and lift weights. Now...back to work. Trivia, how many calories does typing burn?

one size down!

I already had to get new pants yesterday! YIPEE!! I think I was on the verge of the new size anyway but I will celebrate nevertheless. So yesterday I had a shake, a subway sandwich, a non-fat sugar-free latte and Pho. I do not know how many calories Pho is, but I think I was well within my calorie range.

Today I have had a shake and a cup of coffee, with non-fat milk and an equal. will update more as the day goes on. Wish me luck!

....ok and now it's lunch time! I went to the gym and rode 11 miles on the bicycle and have had a chicken breast no bun sandwich, and a salad with vinegarete, the best I can come up with is that this is about 240 calories. Also for a snack I had 2 hard boiled eggs at 70 each. So for today I have had 707 calories. Tomorrow is the first weigh in so no slipping up today!

it's been interesting!

Alright so this is harder than I thought. One thing is for sure, eating out with my one year old, I don't always get to finish my meal, so that's good. So Friday I left work with 1039 calories and I was going to IKEA for dinner and shopping. Well it ended up that I was trying to get Ellie some chicken strips (the grilled breast) but they wouldn't give it to me w/o the pasta and Alfredo! CRAZY, can't charge a side of chicken! So I made sure they only gave me about 1/2 of what they were going to give and then I at the penne pasta with Alfredo! Grrrrr. So I am guessing I had about 190 for the pasta and 160 for the sauce, 35 for the coffee with only a few of the grilled chicken stripps, as Ellie ate most of those. So I think I left Friday with 1424.

So on to today, I was doing really well and really excited about Red Robin. I know this food infatuation is not healthy :) :( So here is todays:

Breakfast;
Shake -
O.J. 1 cup.......................110
Strawberries..................40
1/2 banana.....................40
1/2 Tbs flaxseed.............15

Lunch and snack
Spicy p-nut chicken.......340
Bunny crackers.............140
Coffee (Sugar free fat free Hazelnut Latte) aprox. 150
Crackers and Cheese......115

Dinner:
Asian Chicken Salad.......350 (it's really 397 but I didn't eat it all)
Arnold Palmer .................35
Cold Stones (25 cal per ounce, only ate about 2-3 ounces) 60 cal

So I made it yet again 1395!!!! BUT....trying to look up all this nutritional information has brought many pictures of nice chocolatey treats and now I want a snack, but am just going to go to bed. So on to tomorrow, wish me luck!

end of the day

ok so I worked out at lunch and had:
spicy peanut chicken.............................340
Salad........................................................22
lemon juice no dressing
Orange......................................................70

So that brings my total to 1039 and I have a little to play with for dinner. This weekend is going to be tough, I am going to be going out with friends a lot but it's good practice right? Well have a good weekend everyone!

I made it...

I did it. Last night I had a cliff bar (240) on the way home, and some potstickers (270) for dinner, with one more serving of pudding (90) to total out my calories for the day at 1550. Not so bad. I did still feel hungry but I drank a BIG glass of water and then went to bed.

Today so far I have had:

Shake:
1/2 banana..........................................47
1/2 cup strawberries..........................38
1 scoop of protein powder.................87
1 cup of O.J..........................................110

Snack:
English Muffin......................................140
1 egg.......................................................70

I know it's early for the snack but it's friday and I have done well all week, so I treated myself with an egg sandwich. Alright I will be back with the rest of the days results soon. This weekend is going to be har we will be going out a lot this weekend and that is the tricky part!

It's time!!!

So I have noticed that I have been leaving myself out of photos with my beautiful daughter. I have been ashamed of my size for some time now. It wasn't always this way, but I was never what I considered thin either. At this stage of my life I just want to be healthy, who cares what I look like, I need to be around to play with my daughter, and hopefully my grandchildren someday.

With this in mind I jumped at the opportunity to join our "Biggest Loser" competition at work. I was thinking if I take you all on this journey with me I will be more apt to stick to this new "way of life" Since I will have obligated myself to report out publicly. So...here it goes!

Tuesday I weighed in at the nurse on site here at work (I guess part of this public part is telling how much I weigh)...260.5 lbs!!!! can you believe it?! YIKES! Well I am here to do something about it. So I have logged onto the Mayo Clinic website (listed in links on the right) and searched for Calorie Calculator: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calorie-calculator/NU00598

Through this tool I found out I am supposed to eat 2350 calroies a day if I consider myself active. That is a whole heck of a lot of calories! So I decided that if I go by the average caloric intake (1200-1500) and stay active in the gym 3-5 days a week, I should burn off some of this fat. I believe the caloric calculator is telling me what I need to eat to stay where I am, not what I need to eat to loose weight. So that is my goal, 12-1500 calroies per day and go to the gym at lunch hopefully 5 days a week.

I will be keeping a daily blog of my food and the calories and my activity level. I don't know that this will help anyone but me. I just need to be accountable to someone (if there is anyone out there). I also will be trying to limit my carb intake (white carbs) and increase my H2O intake.

The incouraging thing is that I have only started on Tuesday and just by tracking what I am eating I have lost 5 pounds! I was able to make it to the gym today I power walked 2 miles ont he treadmil and did some wieght lifting.

So I will start with my diet today:

Breakfast:

Shake -

1 cup O.J.-------------------------------------------110

1 banana--------------------------------------------94

1/4 cup bluberries----------------------------------20

1 scoop of protein powder --------------------------87



Coffee with coffemate-------------------------------35



Snack:

Banana---------------------------------------------94

5 crackers and slice of laughing cow cheese----------115



Lunch:

Spicy Peanut Chicken with 1/4 cup rice--------------340

1/2 avocado------------------------------------------80

bluberries 1/4 cup------------------------------------20

no sugar/non fat pudding-----------------------------45



So far my day has had 940 calories, with 260-560 calories to go by the end of the day, I don't think I am going to make it. YES I WILL!

Here is a picture that I found from when my husband proposed to me, 5 years ago. This is my goal for now. at this point I was 200 pounds. Still at least 20-30 from my absolute goal, but WAY better than where I am.

I am open to suggestions too, if you have a website or information you have found helpful please feel free to pass it on! Thanks and I hope you enjoy my journey.