We Did It!

The end the biggest loser at work is over and my team won!  What a journey it was and that I still need to be on.  We lost as a team 15 lbs, what an ending.  Two people lost 5 lbs each I lost 4 lbs and one stayed even but we must have had the .3 etc that pushed us to that 15 pound mark.  It feels great to have accomplished so much but to realize I have another 15 to 20 lbs to go.  I have now lost a total of 36 lbs.  It was fun to see my older kids see Rachel & I because they have not been home since Christmas.  We certainly did surprise them all.  I am so proud of Rachel for going on and sticking to our weight lost journey.  We are not done yet, stay posted!
We went to eat out with all my children & my son's girlfriend and it was awesome.  I love the garlic bread at the restaurant it is to die for.  I did order grilled chicken that came with onion & peppers so it was sorta healthy. It was a great night that was well worth it.  Now I will not eat un-healthy again until Easter.

I found the hardest thing for me was when the biggest loser was over in my mind I thought,great this part of my journey is over now what.  Now what will I do to keep the motivation going?  My mind keeps thinking I'm hungry, eat and I'm not sure why that is.  Talking with my daughter I figured it out why I'm struggling today.  On Saturday it was beautiful out and my daughter from Madison was home as well as my son.  The three of us went to the park to walk and run.  I walked for a little over an hour and it felt great, the time flew by fast.  Then yesterday it snowed big fat flakes, then we had freezing rain and ended up with a thunderstorm.  Today it is cold outside again.  I was depressed and never realized it was the weather until my daughter and I talked.  It is so important to have a support system in place before taking on the weight lost journey. 

I made chilli today in the slow cooker and used V-8 juice instead of just tomamto juice and my family thought it was the best ever!  Mind you my chilli is made with celery, tomatoes, carrots, peas and green beans as well as noddles & chilli beans. 

Watch soon for my updated picture of my daughter & I!!

Weigh In

 
Well we had our second to last weigh in last night and my team lost 6 lbs.  It would have been 7 lbs but one team member gained a pound so we ended up at 6 lbs.  Still we lost and we didn't get a strike.  I lost 2 more lbs to bring my total to 34 lbs.  Wow hard to believe for me that I lost that much weight!  I feel so much better.  Only one week to go & I can hardly wait to end the pressure and start to lift weights.

My daughter and I are going to shop in Green Bay tomorrow and we were checking out the restaurant's menu online and we are having a hard time to find somewhere to eat.  It is really sad that the food is made so un-healthy.  My daughter said maybe we should pack a lunch and I have to say I almost agree with that.  We will probably end up somewhere that serves breakfast because we can eat the healthiest.  Lunch & diner menus are deep fried or have tons of butter or special sauces added.  So sad that we can't go out to eat without having to ask to have this taken off just to knock the fat content down under 20% per servings. 

Clothes Do Not Hide You

Funny how we think we hide in our clothes.  Wearing bigger clothes does not hide the fat underneath them.  I used to think I was well hidden in bigger clothes but I know now I wasn’t hiding, I was just in bigger clothes.  Now that I’m down 32 lbs I still feel big in my clothes and realize I need to lose 15 to 20 lbs yet.  Why do we think we are hiding in our clothes?  It’s like that tree insect that can turn itself to the pattern or color of the tree or leaf it’s sitting on.  The insect is hiding by blending in.  In a way we think we are blending in with our clothes.  At some point we come to the fact that we are not blending and need to accept the weight or do something about it.  I keep telling myself the weight didn’t get put on in a month so it’s going to take a lot longer to take off the fat.  Fat likes to hang around and not move off our bodies unless we force it off.  I am doing this journey for me, not anyone else.  If I wasn’t doing it for me to create a healthier me the weight would go right back on.  So remember this journey needs to be for you and you alone if you want to keep your weight off forever!!!!!!

Count Down

 Final count down!  Only two weeks left to go & I can hardly wait because the pressure to lose more than a pound will be off.  If I’m really tired from working so hard at work I don’t have to exercise without feeling bad once the contest is done.  Last night was week 8 weigh in.  Two members of my team weighed in on Wednesday night and lost two pounds each.  I lost four pounds which puts my total weight lost to 32 lbs!  I feel so much better and must say I look so much better.  We are still in first by 1.3 percent.

My daughter & I always go out to eat on Friday.  We first always look up online the different menus so we know where we can eat and how many calories and fat are in the foods we want to eat.  Tonight we went to Perkins and I got a chicken wrap.  I took the cheese out, had the chicken grilled not deep fried and had the dressing taken out.  I also ordered a side salad with the wrap. For the first time in a long time I ate the whole wrap because I knew everything I ate was less than 500 calories!  How awesome is that but I felt guilty eating the whole thing like I was going to put on weight eating it all.  I do think once the pressure is off I will not feel this way.  I empower everyone to take control of what you eat when you go out.  Our waitress was great, she came back right after serving us our food to make sure the cook made my wrap the way I wanted it.

Its funny this coming Tuesday is fat Tuesday and my daughter said to me we have to eat something naughty.  I was like ok what do you want?  At first she wanted a muffin and I wanted peanut butter M&M’s until we read the labels.  I have settled on a Twinkie that only has 4.5 grams of fat and my daughter hasn’t decided.  I had a small heart attack reading the labels on a lot of the junk food.  As long as we read first what we are going to eat, a health conscience person will not eat the junk food anymore.      

Over Did IT!

I have been over doing the exercise thing!  I did my normal last minute workout and gained 2 pounds.  I was mortified!  When I weighed in at work I lost 1 pound which is all I am suppose to lose but....this has never happened before.  Funny but that is all we should lose, one or two pounds but for me it was a shock.  Worse than that I almost ended up flat out.  After my workout I was beat, I should have quit during the elliptical but I didn't.  I could hardly move but I kept doing the darn thing telling myself Author on the biggest loser can run on a treadmill I can keeping doing the elliptical.  I should have quit.  I was exhausted and just wanted to lie down but I had to work.  Work was rough and I decided not to do any form of exercising until Monday to give my body a much needed rest.  My daughter only exercises three times a week and is losing weight why did I feel the need to kill myself.  Lesson learned!  I am still very tired and I have to work tonight but it will be OK because that's all I'm doing today.  We are in first place & I can see the trophy!  Don't forget to keep eating those blueberries.  Good news, I'm down 30 pounds!

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My face is thinner

 
People at work are noticing that I have lost some weight.  I am told my face looks thinner.  My face was the one area that I put on the most weight.  If people just saw a head shot of me they would think I weighed 400 pounds just by looking at my face.  Finally my face looks thin; I have a jaw line that’s not enhanced by a triple chin.  It’s funny once I started to lose my weight I see all the fat areas of my body that before I just couldn’t see or admit to.  When I put on clothes I notice my big stomach where before I actually believed I was hiding in my clothes.  I guess until we are ready to lose the weight we are in denial about our bodies.  If you don’t admit to being fat then there is no fat, you know what I mean?
     I have been tired lately and maybe a bit sluggish but I am not overeating nor do I have the desire to eat.  Before if I felt this way I would sit down with a book or my laptop and have some comfort food like ice-cream.  Now I am blogging drinking 25 calorie hot chocolate!  I love breakthroughs!  Tonight is last chance work-out and I don’t know how hard I will be able to work but I will give it my all.  I have lost 2 lbs and hope to lose one more pound.  Wish me luck! 

Blueberries The Wonder Fruit

Since starting my journey on becoming healthy I began to eat blueberries everyday.  At first I really didn’t notice a difference but now let me tell you those little berries are awesome!  I have not been sick in over two months and I thank the blueberries. I began to research blueberries and indeed those berries are so good for our bodies. I didn’t realize myself how healthy blueberries were until I started researching them.  I encourage everyone to start eating blueberries everyday and discover the benefits of these super little berries. I will share some of the blueberry fats I have found:

            1. Blueberries are very low in calories; 100g fresh berries provide only 60 calories.

            2. Blueberries contain dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins and pigment anti-oxidants.

     (Taken from HealthCastle.com) Antioxidants are substances or nutrients in our foods which can     prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body. When our body cells use oxygen, they naturally produce free radicals (by-products) which can cause damage. Antioxidants act as            "free radical scavengers" and hence prevent and repair damage done by these free radicals.  Health problems such as heart disease, macular degeneration, diabetes, cancer etc are all contributed by oxidative damage. Indeed, a recent study conducted by researchers from London found that 5 servings of fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of stroke by 25 percent. Antioxidants may also enhance immune defense and therefore lower the risk of cancer and infection. 

            3. Blueberries also protect the body from cancers, aging, degenerative diseases and infections.

            4. It has been shown that research studies suggest that chlorogenic acid found in blueberries helps to lower blood sugar levels and control blood sugars in type-II diabetes.

            5. Blueberries contain small amounts of vitamin C, A and E.  They also contain small amounts of B-complex group of vitamins such as niacin, folates and pantothenic acid.  Blueberries have good amounts of B-6 and folic acid.  These vitamins help as co-factors to metabolize carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

            6. Blueberries contain good amount of minerals like potassium, manganese, copper, iron and zinc. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure.  

Fruits are so important to our daily food consumption and every adult should be eating three servings a day.  Remember to read or look up what a serving size is for each fruit because believe it or not we can overeat on fruit.  Some fruits contain higher natural sugars so always try to eat the correct serving per fruit.

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