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!

 .

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.

 .

Food Plan

Thursday night was my fifth weigh in and I lost another 5 lbs!!  I almost jumped off the scale with glee.  As my daughter has said to me, I’ve become obsess with losing weight.  I think I’m at the point where I want to get the weight off and go into maintaining my weight and not worrying about losing the weight.  It’s funny though when I look in the mirror before or after taking a shower I think wow I’m still really fat, I must have been really big. Until were ready to lose weight we don’t really see ourselves as we are, overweight.  What is really important when taking the weight lose journey is to eat a balance diet of food.  Make sure that your food includes carbohydrates, fats, protein, fruits, vegetables and dairy.  What has worked for me was to set up a food plan.  I need to know what I can eat for eat meal rather than wing it and make it up as I go along.  Let me share with you what my meal plan for the day is:

Morning          Snack              Lunch                          Snack              Dinner

2 starch           1 fruit              2 starch                       1 starch           2 starch

2 fruits                                    3 meats                                               3 meats

1 milk                                      free vegetables                                  1 vegetable

1 fat                                         2 fruits                                                1 fruit

                                                1 milk                                                  1 milk

                                                1 fat                                                     1 fat

When I list starch that refers to grains and free vegetables would be anything without calories.  The fat is 5% or under per serving.  I also weigh out all my food unless I eat out and then I usually cut the food in half and eat only the half serving.  I need to have everything mapped out or I will overeat thinking I didn’t eat that much.  It’s a really eye opener to measure out your food and see how much food your eating.  Remember try to do 30 minutes five days a week of exercising.  Once you have the mind set to lose the weight everything starts to fall into place.

SALT

One of the major changes I made was to cut out all extra salt from my food.  I am a salt alcoholic!  It’s funny though once I made the decision to cut out my salt I went cold turkey and only miss salt when I eat popcorn.  I think my biggest challenge with the salt will come when I eat popcorn at the movies and have no salt or butter on it.  We don’t need the extra salt in our food and I think we crave salt when we are not eating right.  If we eat a balance diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and plenty of water we actual get enough salt.  In fact when my daughter & I read the food labels we check on the sodium level in the foods.  Soups are really bad and process foods have way too much sodium listed.  The good news is most soups now come in reduce sodium.  When you are grocery shopping read labels!

 The heart association states as follows:

Limiting sodium is one of the most important things that people with heart failure can do.

• Sodium makes the body hold on to fluid. To pump the added fluid, the heart has to work harder. People with heart failure shouldn't put this extra strain on their hearts.

• Excess fluid can also cause weight gain. Your heart has to work harder when you put on extra weight.

• Too much sodium in the diet can worsen symptoms like swelling and shortness of breath. If those symptoms become severe, the person may need to be admitted to the hospital.

• Sodium increases blood pressure. High blood pressure constricts the arterioles, making them resistant to blood flow. This makes the heart work progressively harder to pump enough blood to the body's tissues and organs.

When I read this from the heart association I realized that not only do people with heart problems have extra ricks but anyone who is overweight will experience the same problems.  My weight is mostly carried around the waist; this is the worst place to carry your weight because all the fat surrounds the organs.  I almost think the more salt we eat the more salt we crave.  Once you cut out the salt from your food plan you don’t really miss it.

Tonight is weigh-in night and I think I lost 3 to 4 lbs.  I am pumped to see how much I lost.  So I’m off to my last night work out!!

More Progress

I have made progress today.  I was by my parents and I told them how much I weighed!  I am no longer tied to a number!!  This is really big for me.  I don’t tell my weight, I don’t know why I always felt this way but it is only a number.  I had my weigh in the other night and I lost 2 more pounds.  At first I was really upset because I wanted to lose more weight but after I thought about it 2 lbs is not bad at all.  So far this week the wii said I lost 1.3 lbs and today is Sunday.  I have a whole week to lose more weight. 

     I don’t think I will ever go back to eating tons of food.  I went out to Perkins with my husband today and I eat only half of a wrap and a side salad.  The wrap came with deep fried chicken and I asked for grilled instead.  I am learning to think when I’m ordering and make sure the waitress gets the changes correct.  I am pretty sure I will be able to return food if it’s made right.  I am always afraid if I send food back the cook or waitress will do something to my food.  I am now over those thoughts. 

     I can’t wait the weather is getting warmer so I have the urge to walk outside! 

Why Why Why

I can’t believe it has now been five weeks since I started on the Biggest Loser and I notice that some of my friends don’t really talk to me anymore.  In the beginning of our weight journey everyone was talking and happy, now not so much.  People who are having some challenges are crawling into holes instead of talking about what they are struggling with.  Its funny one of the people on my team would talk to me every day about losing weight and how we were doing.  This individual this week first came up to me last night.  I told my daughter on Tuesday I bet he/she gained weight and that’s why they have not been talking to me.  Sure enough, last night we talked and they told me they gained four pounds over the weekend.  Good news is they took off three of the pounds so far.  All I said is look how much time you wasted having to take off weight you previously lost.  Do you want to keep doing this I ask?  Of course the respond was no.  It is really hard to change our old eating habits.  It is so easy to slip back into the eating frenzy when watching everyone else eat.  I know more than anyone how hard it is from overeating.  I believe we need each other to get through this journey of not letting food consume our lives.  I did get a little upset that people avoid me when they do bad.  I am here to help and support everyone not judge!

     I ran seven laps tonight on the treadmill and finish the last mile by walking a half lap and running the other half.  Wish me luck tonight at the weigh in.

PS. My daughter said her green bean pile on her plate was bigger than any other food she was eating.  We have made progress!

Life is Good

I feel great taking this life journey to better health but not everyone out there wants to hear about my changes I’ve made.  I remember how I felt myself when people would talk to me about losing weight and exercising.  I would think ok that’s great, good for you, now please shut up about it I’m happy being overweight.  Until that person makes up their mind about getting healthy the information just falls on deaf ears.  The problem is I feel great and want to share with everyone how I’ve done it and how far I’ve come.  I think maybe I want people to say wow you’re looking good how much weight have you lost and how did you do it.  Personally I don’t really think overweight people want to see someone who loses all that weight because then the overweight person feels guilt about their weight.  I know I felt that way.  When someone you personally know loses a lot of pounds it puts pressure on you to try to lose weight.  But if you’re not ready to lose the weight will go back on.  I was trying to help out a family member but my information was falling on deaf ears.  Then the excuses started to flow like running water that must have been how I sounded!  I will keep trying to help people out because weight loss is a journey about why we over eat and finding a solution to change our life style.  Control the food not the food controlling us!

     I ran the other day on my treadmill for a mile & half and sped walked the other mile & half.  OMG my legs were screaming the next day!  I said to my daughter why do my legs hurt and we both remembered I do squats on my boxing tape.  I was going to run today but I need a TV hooked up in the room with the treadmill or I’m looking at the distance continuously.  I did the elliptical for 45 minutes instead.  My heart rate stayed under 135 when I’m booking along not the over 150 when I first started.  I ate a small piece of ice-cream birthday cake on Sunday and never got the urge to eat anymore.  Life is good!    

The Weigh In

Last night was week 3 weigh in and I lost 4 more pounds.  As a team we lost 10 total!  We are doing so well.  Jim had a bad week but is pumped again to lose 8 or more this week to make up for this week's 2 lb lost.  We told Jim we are a family & if he every needs to talk to give any one of us a call, we are there for him.  Total so far for me at work is 17 lbs but at home it is 20 lbs because I don't weigh in my work clothes & shoes.  Almost half way to my goal.  Thank God I have been working on what I eat because Rachel is not home right now and I am all alone in the house.  Every time I feel like eating when I'm not hungry I work or read my book and get a glass of water.  I can do this.  I always do a last minute workout like on the Biggest Loser and that screws up my water & food for about a half day.  We do what we have to do.  We had our Packer party at work and I ate a sub & veggies.  They had no fruit so it's a good thing I brought mine along.  On my last break I didn't go in the lunch room so the food wouldn't tempt me and it worked.  I did have my rice cakes & pretzels along for a quick snack.  It is becoming much easier.  Today Rachel & I wanted to go out to eat but couldn't find a restaurant with food that didn't have a shit load of calories or salt so we ate at home.  You should see us on our laptops looking at what each sandwich would cost us in calories, not good out there.  It most likely will be a salad and we split a half of sandwich.  Restaurants need to have more healthy food choices.  I can see this was a source of weight gain for us.  Unless that is your only meal for the day we need to be so careful on our choices when eating out.  Rachel read somewhere that when your food comes and you are not sharing a dinner with someone get a box and put half the meal away right on the spot.  If we don't practice this behavior we do over eat because the food is in front of us calling out eat me eat me! 
Packers play Sunday and I am going to have a beer to celebrate.  I can't wait it's been three weeks!

Week 3 is Hard

I have found so far week 3 to be the hardest week for me!  I craved foods that didn't bother me at all on week 1 or 2.  I wonder why?  I am happy to say I so far I have sailed  through week 3.  Tomorrow is the big weigh in and I am pumped because my home scale showed a 4lb loss.  Last night was a snow day and I didn't have to work!!  I felt just like a little kid, I want a snow day.  Getting up today and seeing all that snow though I didn't get the urge to go outside to make a snow angel.  The snow looks so pretty from inside the house.  I did offer to help my husband and he turned me down oh well I offered. 
     I changed my mind and decided to eat at the Packer party at work.  We are having subs that I can control on what I want on the sub, fruit and veggies.  I really don't believe the other foods will bother me.  When I get the chip craving I eat my reduce pringles so I'm good to go.  I have to be able to be around bad foods to conquer them or I might fall again.  I am up to the challenge!
     Last night my favorite show was on The Biggest Loser.  I really get motivated watching this show.  You can tell who is really into weight loss and they get so pumped working out and losing weigh.  I will miss Jillian because she gets to the core with why people are big.  We all know it's other issues that are causing the weight gain not the food.  The problem is we eat our problems and never get to the core of why are we eating.  This is why my daughter & I are taking a journey into losing the weight, figuring out why we eat and solving each issue as it comes up.  Since I have started the journey I haven't had any alcoholic drinks.  Maybe I will have a glass of wine during the Packer game.  I must say I don't miss it all that much not like I thought I would, go figure! 
     I am missing my stationary bike and am thinking of getting a new one.  One that has the arms that move with the big wind wheel.  Then on the days I don't feel like the elliptical I can bike.  I must say since doing my boxing with Gold's Gym & losing weight my shoulder and back pain is not as bad at all.  I guess I was just an overweight non moving person and really needed to take this journey.

I'm All By Myself

It's really quite in the house right now, maybe too quite.  I don't feel like being alone.  Yes I have to exercise and finish taking down the Christmas stuff but I don't want to be alone.  I went to make myself a cup of hot tea and while I was in the room I thought I could really eat some food.  No I'm not hungry at all but have the urge to eat.  I have discovered on my journey that when I don't want to be alone I eat.  This is why the team approach really works!  So I kept saying to myself make your tea and go blog.  Blogging is a good way for me to express myself and by putting these feelings down on paper I can realize what I'm doing that makes me eat and put on unhealthy weight.  Yes I just got through another hurdle!  Wow losing weight is not about not eating at all.  So all the people out there who used to say, "Just close your mouth and don't eat" don't know at all what they are talking about.  It's way more than the food, it's why are we eating the foods and when.  It's what we are substituting food for that makes us fat.  I wasn't one of those people but now I know why I yo yo diet and couldn't keep the weight off.  I must say I'm feeling good right now realizing one of the reasons is I have been eating when I'm lonely. 

     We went to Culver's after church because we let my husband pick.  My daughter & I sat and waited while my husband ate a boat of ice-cream.  It looked really good but that is not a tempting food for me.  My daughter on the other hand loves ice-cream so it was harder for her.  I said to her take one spoonful just to get the satisfaction out of the way and it worked.  That's all she needed and she was just fine.  I'm telling you it feels so good to not let food consume me!!

I finally did it, I put a picture of my daughter Rachel below.  That is the weight she wants to get to again.

Below is a picture of my husband Ken, daughter Rachel and myself.  I hate fat pictures so this is huge for me to be able to post a picture.  Of course I have now lost 14 lbs so I look better but I realize I need a before and an after of me. 

The Results

The weigh in went very well, I lost 4 lbs.  I wanted to lose more but I am very happy with the four pounds.  Week two is always the hardest week on the Biggest Loser Show to lose weight so we are no different.  Your probably wondering how the team did, well we lost 13 lbs total.  I should know on Monday what place we are in.  My daughter & I found out some interesting stuff about our food habits.  We went out to eat for the first time in over two weeks.  The menu was really big so it took us awhile to find out what we wanted to eat.  We settled on a ranch wrap even though the chicken was breaded.  It came with a cup of soup but we had a side salad instead.  It also came with fries or fruit and we of course got the fruit.  We were eating our salads, low fat french on the side talking how important it is to have a partner when trying to lose weight.  We both notice that on the Biggest Loser TV show they have the people come in as pairs and we believe that the support of each other is what keeps you going.  We both agreed we might not have made it through some of the days without each other pushing or saying "Don't eat that!"  Our main meal came and the wraps had two halves that were pretty big, I was amazed.  We failed to read that the wrap came fried or something so we missed that.  As we were eating I talked about getting a sub for my husband and saving half of our wraps for later.  Half way through the first half I said to Rachel "why are we eating the other half when we both know it's not that healthy for us.  Condition, we are in such a habit of not noticing what we eat or how much it's like we are on auto pilot.  We learned so much from lunch today, it was another breakthrough.  Just by habit we go through the motions of eating & eating & eating.  Guess what we brought the two halves home for my husband and he enjoyed the wraps to.
     Some other members on teams at work are into heckling us about doing so well and telling us we won't keep up the weight lost.  What they don't know is this is a journey into discovering why we eat wrong and not letting food control us anymore.  So heckle away because this is a life long journey commitment!

2 Weeks!

Tonight will be two weeks, wow the time so goes by fast when your not eating the foods you love and taking control over the food.  So tonight I weigh in and I'm excited because I think I lost 4 more pounds.  My body is taking a beating at work this week so I will be upset if I didn't lose that much.  Today is the last chance workout before the weigh in and I need to work hard.  I'll just pretend I have Jeff (my Bob) next to me urging & pushing me all the way, saying give me 10 more or lets increase that speed.  I can just hear him, your not going to lose weight that way come on push yourself.  Go Jeff Go.
    People need to realize that fat comments do hurt, in fact any negative comments hurt.  Take that split second to see the person's face with the hurt all over it and then you'll see they are upset.  I think we all guilty of these actions.  We need to walk a mile in someones shoes before we judge them.  Just because we might not be as fat this doesn't give us the right to shot insults at anyone.  We all have our faults and I'm sure we wouldn't want someone making fun of them. 
     The 3rd shift at work decided to throw a Packer party and they put up a sign up sheet for food.  I don't think I'm ready yet to join the fun.  There will be way too much food and not good kinds.  Now that I know how much food in the past parties I consume I think I will pass this one up.  I'm proud of myself for realizing I can't just eat small amounts and need to avoid the room. 

I'm so cold

Have you ever notice that when you start to lose weight you get cold.  I am cold right now and had to go put on a fleece.  Why is that?  Maybe one of my followers could shed some light on this.  At least typing warms my fingers up!  Today was a good day.  I worked out for 40 minutes on the elliptical.  I almost went 2 miles I just came up short.  Wow I feel great and it felt great doing it.  I've come a long way in my short two weeks.  Remember I hated the thing before I started.  I do believe losing weight has helped.  I think by the end of the ten weeks I might be able to hold my breath as long as my oldest son can.
     Saturday my son went back to school.  I was sad he had been home for almost a month.  I have encourage him to watch what he eats at school.  We also have talked about how many calories are in alcohol.  I couldn't believe it either.  I have not had a drink since starting the biggest loser.  I don't want to drink my calories right now only eat them.  I'm thinking though I could have a glass of wine during the super bowl, go pack go. 
     So I thought I was only eating 1400 calories and it turned out I'm eating 1800.  The weight is coming off and I think I'm starving so I am going to leave it alone right now.  So far this week I have lost 3.5 lbs.  Funny I was talking with my healthy son about my journey and he yawn a huge yawn on me.  What's up with that??  I made an awesome salad I like to share.

Eye Opener

It's amazing how we see only what we want to see.  We can kid ourselves that we are not that heavy or I'm not that overweight but in reality.....I was.  I was one of those people, I'm not that heavy.  I have small legs and a small butt my weight is just in my stomach.  Since I have started my journey I realize I am overweight and need to change my life style.  I must say I'm feeling much better, more energy not so sluggish since I started.  So my oldest daughter came home this weekend and I thought I share my new books with her.  Well she wasn't in the mood but pretended she was and opened and closed the books in two seconds.  I at first was hurt because at first I thought she didn't care and then she told me she was tired.  The old me would have went and ate some comfort food thinking I was being rejected.  But I didn't!!  Big moment for me.  So I want to eat all foods just eat it in moderation so today for my snack during the game I have 15 pringle chips fat free of course. They were great and they tasted so much better now that I don't eat them as much.  So I am learning so much on my journey.  Look tomorrow for pictures.  I have decided my daughter & I will go and buy some new clothes in 9 weeks to celebrate!  I challenged my oldest daughter to lose some weight & join us in the celebration. 

First Weigh In

Yes I did it!!  I had my first weigh in and guess what, I lost 9 lbs!!  Better yet my team lost a total of 32 lbs.  We are pumped!  Jim lost 11 lbs and Kim & Andy each lost 6 lbs.  You couldn't ask for a better start than that.  We felt great and are motivated moving forward into the next week.    I couldn't believe when I heard people talking about us behind our back.  I heard some negative talk about the weight lost.  I watch what people eat on break partly to see what they eat and partly jealous because I know if I eat those brownies or donuts I will stay at my current weight or grow.  I want everyone to get healthy but unless they want it I keep my mouth shut and drool.  Sometimes I feel like Homer....yum donuts.   It had been hard work with the exercising and changing the eating plan.  I realize when I get tired I would eat food as a comfort.  I'm sure why because I was only tired and needed rest not food.  I have begun the process on changing that eating urge.  When I get tired I sit down for a few minutes or if I'm at work I have a small container of pretzels & rice crips and eat just a couple to keep me going.  
     Exercising is going really well.  I think it really helps to work with a partner.  Having my daughter working out and watching what she eats is a support I can't be without.  We motivate each other and say do you really want to eat that?  Yesterday I did my Gold's Gym while she was on the elliptical and after we did yoga on the Wii.  After the yoga I challenged her to the obstacle course and was that fun.  Even though we were tired we pushed through two rounds each and in the end Rachel beat me but I had so much fun.
     One of our favorite fast foods was the potato boats from KFC and everyone knows we don't eat them any more.  We created our own yesterday and were they good.  Check out my recipe's to see the new & improved boats.

Food Shopping

Today I went grocery shopping with my daughter and we were hungry.  They tell you never to shop when you are hungry but I must admit we did pretty well.  One thing that struck me odd was it cost a lot more money to eat healthy than to stay fat!  The prices on fruits & vegetables is quite high and if you are going to lose weight you need to buy fresh fruit & veggies.  I bought some blackberries, blueberries, grapefruit, pineapple and apples. Now that I eat salad without cheese, eggs I bought spouts, carrots and cucumbers to make the salad more fulling and exciting.  It took us much longer to shop because now we read each box to check out the servings, fat and calories.  Before the life long journey to change my eating habits we would walk along and toss boxes into the cart without reading anything.  I feel much better about shopping because I now know what I'm consuming.  I feel more in charge of my life.  I believe this is another break through.  As we were moving slowly through the store we had to find something to eat in the car because we were starving.   We found bit size chocolate rice cakes that tasted really good.  7 pieces were serving size and that held us over until super was ready.  The old me would have bought a donut, chips and maybe string cheese with a soda to hold us over, wow.  I am starting to feel much better, not so sluggish.   Big day tomorrow!!!!  First weigh in!!

Weight Loss

One very important fact is to keep eating once you cut down your food.  When following a healthy food plan you do seem to be hungrier more often.  I believe that is because of all the fruits & vegetables we are now consuming and not all the sugars & fats.  I believe it is a known fact that when we eat foods that are higher in fat & sugars we crave them even more but once you cut them out of your food plan we don't crave them  as much.  It is the emotions that get in the way of our bad food choices.  One of my team members lost 8 lbs in 3 days, that is awesome but I also didn't see him eat hardly anything at lunch.  That is not good because we need to change our eating habits but continue to consume at least 1400 calories a day.  Most nights we do work fairly hard so we would burn off the food we eat.  I am going to have to talk to him and see if I can help out.
     Last night when I was bored & tired at work I craved junk food and just the urge to eat.  I don't believe I was really hungry but I was bored, I now know I tie food to boredom.  There is not much I can do at work when I'm on a boring job so I decided to look at a magazine.  Bad idea, way to many advertisements about food!  No not carrots but brownies, cookies, you get my drift!  If you think about it, society is always shoving food down our throats on one hand but on the other hand we are told we are fat.  This is a break through on my part and I will buy some sugar free hard candy so when I crave food and can't eat a carrot I can pop a candy in my mouth.  I was also chewing gum but my jaw started to hurt. 
     I'm on my way to do the Gold's Gym Wii workout.  This is one of my favorite workouts!   

Not Friends

The elliptical and I are not friends.  I worked out for 30 minutes and I can honestly say I hate working out on that thing!  It is not fun for me and I will never keep up exercising if that is my means of losing weight.  So I guess it's time to dust off the treadmill and put it back into use.  I don't mind running/walking on the treadmill.  Maybe I relate the thing to life, we get on and have to keep on going no matter what unless we fall off.  We do fall off but the goal is to get back on and give her hell.  I am doing great so far.  I have to dig out the cookbook to get some variety in my food choices because right now I don't have many and boredom will set in.  I weighed myself just to see if I lost and I lost 3.3 lbs in 2 days.  Of course I'm sure I put on 5 the week before we weighed in so.....  I decided not to put calories on my food log because if I eat the servings that shouldn't matter.  It was funny measuring out my food tonight, I don't think the goal is to see how much food I can cram in a measuring cup.   Time to get ready for work!!

The Torture has begun

1:45 p.m.

OMG is all I have to say!  Last night I exercise on my elliptical for 30 minutes.  The first 2 minutes were hell, my legs were screaming & burning at the same time!  But, I kept going and they got better.  Wow I can't believe I did an half hour of torture but in the long run it wasn't bad.  You know what kept me going?  Your right, the biggest loser show.  If individuals who are hundreds of pounds over weight can walk on the treadmill I can workout on my elliptical.  Thank God I didn't have Bob standing there making me go faster, who knows I might have fallen off. 

     Can you believe I didn't eat all the food I was allowed yesterday!  It's really hard for me to switch from 3rd shift to 1st on the weekend.  I'm not one of those people who can stay up without sleeping.  I did try that and I had to eat to keep going....not good.  I slept until noon and then ate lunch.  Of course everything was careful measured out and put on my plate and then I went and sat down.  I was taught a long time ago make all your food and put it on your plate so you don't over eat.  We are all guilty of going in the kitchen lets say for milk and stop to pick in the food.  I'm not sure why, do we think we are going to starve?  This Friday I will have to work on eating smaller meals to get all my food in.  I put the extra Hersey kisses in my M&M jar and they don't even temp me!  What's bad is when I can't eat yummy food I become a feeder and eat it through my husband.  Watching him eat the kisses makes me happy because someone is eating them.  I have to stop this because he will get fat!  Well off to do my Biggest Loser tape, yeah more exercise!

The Weigh In

 I weighed in last night with my team.  Oh boy as my youngest son would say, we were a whooping 958 lbs!  We have our work cut out for us but I am pumped, ready for the challenge!  So when no one else was around I weighed myself because I'm ready yet to come clean and tell how much I weigh.  Thank God I'm not on the biggest loser or I would have been standing in my sports bra and spandex shorts.  Whats up with that, the men get to wear normal shorts.  It's bad enough the contestants have to get on the scale in front of millions of viewers at least let the women wear shorts that don't cling to every ripple!  I wonder if the show cares about how the women feel standing in their sports bra like that.  Does the show feel if the women stand there like that they will want to lose the weight more, I'm not sure how I feel about that.  Anyhow I started counting calories and that was fun.  I had chunky soup with my daughter, and we each ate a can of soup.  Guess what I forgot to read the label and we should have shared a can!  OK not going to happen for two people starting to lose weight.  Who eats just one cup out of a can of soup anyhow.  Please someone let me know because I've always ate the whole can of soup.  Remember I love food, the smell, the taste, the great feeling I feel until of course I eat too much and then it's I can't believe I ate all that. HaHaHa  I am hungry right now typing my blog.  I think this will be ongoing until my body gets use to not eating.  I have cut out my diet soda ugh and drinking lots more water.  I am starting a food diary to keep track of what I'm going to eat.  My daughter is complaining I'm trying to kill her by not eating yet, I'm starving her, too funny.   Now I am going to work out for an half hour.  Wish me Luck!

The Start

The time has come!  It's time to start losing weight.  I weigh in tonight at work & I'm both excited and scared.  Excited because I can begin to lose weight and fit into those small clothes I've saved in my closet for a very long time.  Scared because I'm not sure where my journey is going to take me and dealing with issues I have that I know contribute to my weight problem that I have managed to bury deep into food.  I like the phase, "I'm a skinny person trapped in a fat person body", ha ha. 
     Time to get out the scale and food journal.  I figure I need to start to write down everything I eat or I will be in denial about what I'm consuming.  I am going to follow the American Diabetes Association exchange lists for meal planning.  I will start a page in the near future listing the exchanges.  I am not sure how to plan out my food because I work 3rd shift.  I was talking to my son (personal trainer) who said I should try eating smaller meals rather than 3 larger meals.  I have found by going to bed within an hour of getting home and sleeping 6 to 7 hours keeps my body closer to a normal routine like a normal person.  Isn't that funny I don't consider myself normal because I work 3rd shift.  This is a break through somehow I'm sure.  Just because I work 3rd shift doesn't mean I'm not normal!  What is normal anyhow?  I plan on starting to work out on my treadmill and doing my Gold's Gym Wii workout every other day.  Hopefully exercise will help the stress because work can sure cause stress.  One of the problems is we have no manager/Foreman on our shift so everyone thinks they are in charge.  I just laugh right now and keep out of all the drama.  Well I will work on this issue in the near future.  So wish me luck and here I go, my journey to becoming the new healthy Theresa forever.

Self Discovery

I am sitting here watching one of my favorite TV shows, The Biggest Loser while eating my last double cheeseburger from Culver's.  I remember one contestant saying, "I like watching the show because I could always find someone bigger than me".  I don't think I watch because I find people bigger than me but to see the journey they take from day one to the end show.  How much weight they lose and what they figure out about themselves is what keeps me watching.  By watching the show I maintain my current weight and not gain more because I see how big I could become.  I think a problem of mine is I am always looking for approval, hey your doing a great job, your a great mom, your an awesome worker, etc.  It really took a toll on me when I lost my office job, I felt like I must have done something wrong to be replaced by a women who was over retirement age and never done the job.  I have to realize it's not me, I was doing a great job and not let any negative thoughts take over.  I am now putting the job lost behind me and it will not consume my life anymore!   
     My daughter & I over a year ago lost 10/20 lbs each.  One thing we did was cut out fast food.  If the restaurant had a drive-thru window we would not eat it.  We have not eaten a burger type sandwich from McDonald, Hardees, Burger King or Wendys' in over a year.  We never included Culver's because it is my husbands favorite place to eat, but that ends today.  When I eat there again it will only be a salad.  I am starting to get excited about changing my eating life style!

Life is Fun

Last night at work I was sitting on break with some co-workers who also will be doing the biggest loser and we got talking about weight.  This will be the second year my company will be doing the event and co-workers who did lose weight last year gained back between half or more than all the weight they lost.  I know of only one person who went on to lose more weight and has kept off the weight for a year.  That's not good statistics!  I ask myself why?  I believe a lot has to do with our life.  Am I stressing, feeling sick, worried about money, worried with the new findings on the news that groceries & gas prices are going up?  All of these issues and more add to, food is our comfort.  I feel good when I eat.  I eat when I'm hungry and not hungry, I turn to food like a great comforting friend.  
     I have been sick for almost a week.  I first started with the flu and now have a head cold, dry cough and sinus draining.  I feel like crap!  Don't they always say, "Feed A Cold"  Well I'm going to try and just eat some chicken noodle soup with crackers nothing more, no ice-cream that would soothe all the way down.  I also have a thin husband who eats what he wants when he wants and that doesn't help.  p.s. He just ate a big bowl of ice-cream.  So I have made process today and admit that food is my comfort.  Now I need to figure out a new comfort that will not live on my body and hang all over me.  By the way I did eat two little peanut butter cups, after all I don't weigh in until Thursday.  

Warm up

I don't officially weigh in until Thursday night so what am I doing to get ready for the big challenge?  Well believe it or not I am eating more food so I don't lose weight before Thursday night.  How wrong is that!  It's kinda like Catholics' before lent who celebrate fat Tuesday.  We eat tons of food to get ready for the big fast!  This sums up my life.  I stand up in a wedding so I lose weight so I don't look fat in the wedding pictures but hey once it's over look out food here I come.  I need to change this line of thought.... line of action.  I cannot keep using food other than what it is meant for, nourishment. 

This is why I am making the Biggest Loser a journey for me to try and figure out and overcome abusing food.  I believe I might have a food addiction!  With that said I need to leave the peanut butter cups alone even though they keep taunting me.  Any thoughts on why I bought them in the first place?  I'm not sure, hopefully I will discover the answer to why I feel I should gain more weight to lose weight!

The Beginning

  My place of employment is doing a biggest loser 10 week program and I was asked to join a team.  Of course I said yes, I can afford to lose some weight.  I don't consider myself to be thin nor overly heavy but overweight.  Being overweight has been a life long journey for me.  All my life I have battled the bulge.  I can lose weight when I want so why do I put back the pounds I work so hard at losing?  My son was helping me set up my blog and I asked him what should my goal be?  Without losing a beat he said "Health"  Why wasn't health the first thought or word to come out of my mouth.

My journey is not only to lose weight and be healthy but to find answers to:  

• Why do I struggle with food?
• Get tempted by food?
• Don't exercise other than work?
• Care enough to continue to fight from gaining weight?

I want my journey to be shared with you.  So plan on coming on a journey that will change your life style to a healthier you.