1 week post comp update

So im still a loser. I am under 250 now (@249) I havent been under 250 in probably 4-5 years or more. I am about 7 lbs away from my half way point of my 200 lb goal. I started at 284 back in March.

Over the past 2 weeks i have had 4 people at work ask me if i was on a diet because it looked like i was loosing weight. My response is usually, "No im not on a diet exactly". Then i explain that i call it a change in lifestyle and the way i eat. That to me diets are temporary and meant to be short term. I still eat fast food and pizza and all the stuff i liked to eat before, Its just that i have to plan for them so i eat lighter at my other meals that day. Its nice to be able to discuss it with people at work and have supporters there saying im doing a good job and such. I have been passing along alot of the stuff ive learned so far to others trying to lose weight too so hopefully i am helping/encouraging others.

For myself, I dont look any skinnier imo, In my before and after pics i dont look any different. If it wasnt for the scale and several people saying i look like ive lost weight i wouldnt think anything was happening. But i am excited to be getting close to my 1/2 way point. Im looking to reach it beginning Oct if i keep up my avg of 2-3 lbs per week.

For me the hardest part of losing weight is the more i loose the more work i have to do. As i lose weight the amount of calories i can eat goes down and its getting to the point that i am going to need to start working out on a regular basis to keep up my avg loses.

But im in this for the long haul. I am a pretty stubborn person so when i set my mind to something i generally see it through and little comments along the way from people at work go along way to help me keep going.

So i wanted to put in my thanks for this comp. It is really what i needed to get in line and start getting serious and moving in the right direction.

BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES

I've finally got the before and after pic's done. So, in no particular order, here they are:























You can really tell that we've lost weight. Oh, and between all of us who completed this competition, a total of 161.2 pounds!!!! That's like losing an overweight 5'4" person! Great Job everyone!

Okay, so I didn't pass math...

I suck at math...really, I do. I barely passed algebra, but at least I could spell it. Anyway, the numbers I gave you as far as the percentages on the teams were wrong...I'm not going to go into what exactly I did wrong, I already told you, I suck in math, but I do want to say, that Patrick and I did win, so don't hold your breath on that one.

The following are the true and correct percentages of every one's TOTAL weight loss (from the starting weight to the ending weight)as per the math scholar that lives here in my house and his handy excel sheet I'm going off of. So, here goes:

Patrick's TOTAL weight loss: 27.5 lbs. TOTAL body % Loss: 11.66%
Rachael's TOTAL weight loss: 21 lbs. TOTAL body % Loss: 10.82%

Kristine's TOTAL weight loss: 18.9 lbs. TOTAL body % Loss 10.98%
Shaila's TOTAL weight loss: 23.5 lbs. TOTAL body % Loss 9.73%

Jeremiah's TOTAL weight loss: 19.3 lbs. TOTAL body Loss 7.04%
Alyna's TOTAL weight loss: 16.7 lbs. TOTAL body % Loss 5.76%

Amy Fox's TOTAL weight loss: 7.5 lbs. TOTAL body % Loss 4.60%
Sherry's TOTAL weight loss: 7.6 lbs. TOTAL body % Loss 3.36%

Jennifer's TOTAL weight loss: 7.5 lbs. TOTAL body % Loss 4.26%

Kelly's TOTAL weight loss: 4.8 lbs. TOTAL body % Loss 2.14%
Deidre's TOTAL weight loss: 6.9 lbs. TOTAL body % Loss 4.54%

These are your true and correct totals. The following is % lost per team:

TEAM BLACK (Patrick and Rachael) 11.28%
TEAM PINK (Kristine and Shaila) 10.25%
TEAM LIME GREEN (Jeremiah and Alyna) 6.38%
TEAM BROWN (Steve and Jenn) 4.65%
TEAM BLUE (Sherry and Amy) 3.88%
TEAM RED (Kelly and Deidre) 3.11%

Okay, so go ahead and leave some comments about how I suck at math and whatever...I totally know...at least I didn't screw up bad enough to take someone else's winnings right?

BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES WILL BE UP SHORTLY.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the BIG day...Is anyone else not going to eat that day? Hahahahaha!

Life after the Biggest Loser Friend Edition

I don't know about all of you, but I thoroughly enjoyed the blog during our 10 week competition. I think that a lot of us are going to continue with our new lifestyles and possibly even plan another "fun" weigh in approximately 6 months from now.

I, for one, would love to see the blog stay in place so that we can continue to support each other and share ideas.

Rachael, is there a lot of work for you to maintain the blog? Is there really anything you need to do? I know we've had lots of hits, so maybe others are benefitting as well from this group of "ordinary" people on a journey to a more healthy lifestyle.

Input?

It's the Final Countdown!

Remember that song from the movie Rocky? Rocky is preparing for his big match up and the song with the lyrics "It's the Final Countdown" comes on....well my friends, it is the final countdown for us. There are only days left of our 10 week competition. Are you prepared?

For those of you who did not join us at our last weigh in, we decided to start it at 6:30pm. We also decided that each team should bring a healthy dessert with the recipe for us to celebrate with after the weigh in.

Weigh in will be a little different this time. Because I want to make sure that we have the correct amount lost (down to the ounce), Jennifer and I will be weighing in everyone separately so that we can look at your actual weight. After you weigh in, you can go and enjoy some yummy dessert while Jenn and I figure out the rankings. We will acknowledge the person who lost the most body percentage, but it's the team who lost the most that takes the prize.

This has been good for me and I am hoping for you as well. It's been a real challenge...a challenge that I probably wouldn't have stuck with if it weren't for all of you. Thank you for competing with me...you guys rock!

LAST WEEK!

I don't know about you all but I am soooo grateful for the fun , non-threatening, weigh loss program that has been placed together for us! Thank you so much for heading this up and giving me just that little push. I feel amazing and am eating better. I watch more carefully and I usually hate the smell of fast food when I drive by because I don't want that fat. I finally have a regular exercise program and am including friends with me. So this has affected more than just myself, all those around me! Be strong one week left everyone!!

Pampered Chef

Ok so I know this is REALLY short notice, but I am having a Pampered Chef party tomorrow August 14 at 7:00 pm. Any of you who want to come are more than welcome to come! Invite a friend too! The more the merrier! I would have invited you sooner but I didn't have your e-mail addresses and I didn't think of putting it on here until just now! So I hope you can make it! If you can't make it but maybe there is something you still would like to get let me know, I have a couple catalogs that you could look at or you can order it online as well! Hope to see any of you there!!! =)

Weigh In Results

Okay, Okay...I know I'm late...geesh!

Rachael: -1.1 lb. % to date 8%
Patrick: -3.1 lb. % to date 6.6%

Alyna: -4.4 lb. % to date 6%
Jeremiah: -3.3 % to date 6%

Deidre: 0 lb. % to date 2.2%
Kelly: 0 lb. % to date .4%

Jennifer: -2.6% % to date 4.3%
Steve: Did not weigh in

Frank and Amy did not weigh in

Amy Fox: -2.9 lb. % to date 3.7%
Sherry did not weigh in

Kristine: -2.9 lb % to date 10.3%
Shaila: -3.3 lb. % to date 11%

Looks like Team pink is ahead. We'll see if they can hang on to their lead. Good luck everyone!

8 weeks down...2 to go!

I just looked at the counter at the bottom of this page and this blog has had 2,421 views! Have we all looked at it that much or are we inspiring others through it. All I can say is, I am proud of you all for sticking with this for 8 weeks. I hope that you will continue with your weight loss journey beyond this competition. You all rock!

I am working on graphing everyone's weight loss and will have all your stats from previous weigh-ins for you to take home on a nice little sheet. I will also be including a graph so that you can continue weighing yourself at home and charting your progress.

I can't believe that we are almost done with this competition. We all know that days come and go. 10 weeks seemed like a long time, but it feels so short. I am just glad that I was able to use these past weeks working on my health. The time was going to go by anyway right? I feel better, my clothes are fitting better and I think I may be going down a size. Life is good. I am happy :-)

Exercise wont make you thin!!

Im reading this article in my free time today(Its kind of long). It pretty much discusses why exercise alone wont help you lose weight. Losing weight is pretty simple, You burn more calories than you consume. Exercising really doesn't burn that many calories. Usually 2-300 for 30 minutes.

Now im not saying exercise is a waste of time. I have really enjoyed working out more and i defiantly feel better and healthier. Exercise does build muscle and burn calories. And that muscle in turn burns more calories. But im seeing more and more that diet is more the key to losing weight then exercise alone.

Before we started this little competition me and Alyna were doing Wii Fit probably 3-4 days a week since the end of Feb. We had lost maybe 10 lbs in the 4 months we were doing it. Most of that was within the first month though. The rest of the time we were just gaining and losing the same 5 lbs over and over.

It wasnt until we started this game here that we started paying attention to and adjusting our diets that we actually started losing weight at a steady rate.

So i guess the quick summary of all this is, Exercise is good for you but you wont lose much weight (and keep it off) unless you make a lifestyle change and monitor the calories you consume.

Anyways, Here is the article if anyone else wants to read it.

--> Article <--

Food Network is bad for dieting...

Last night i was watching a show called "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" Its a show about several people on Food Network telling the best food they ever had of a certain type. For example the 2 i saw last night where for the best Pizza and the best Dessert.

Also there is Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. This show goes around the country and shows all these small hole in the wall restaurants that have over the top food.

Ive watched these shows right after eating dinner before and they still made me hungry! Last night i had to struggle not to give in and grab a late night snack. I love these shows but really hate the temptation factor!