Absolute Silence

I'm surprised at the lack of chatter on the blog this week. Everyone doing okay? Or perhaps everyone is upset that someone new every week ruins the weigh-in by not posting. Maybe we do need a one strike policy.

Anyway, I updated the results page to show the results so far!

Have a wonderful weekend!

CL

Week 4 Weigh-in

Dad - 157.5 0.0 weight loss. I'm getting boring.

Mom - 199 2 lb weight loss: total 10.5 loss. I thought I would lose more this week. Is this color required?

Christine - 198 3.4 lb weight loss; total 8.6 lb loss

Eric - out of town, will weigh first thing tomorrow morning. SORRY!

Jana - 136 1.5 lb weight loss; total 9.5 lb loss

Kimi - 116 2 lb weight loss; total 9 lb loss
I am thinking my starting weight should have been 125, not 129. Sorry for the scale issues.

Cameron - 207.6 1.2 Lb Weight loss. Total 16.4 lb weight loss

Bryce - 202 4 lb weight loss (since 2 weeks ago) Total: 16 lb Weight loss

Jason - 180.2 .7 lb weight gain; total 2.5 lb loss

Meredith - 190.4 2.4lb gain from last week; 2lb total gain Well I knew last week had to be a freak accident that I lost. But at least I'm only hovering around this number and not going up and up and up; thank heavens for that. I suppose I only have one more weigh-in like this, and then all of the baby, amniotic fluid, extra blood volume, placenta, etc. weight will be gone! MWhahahaha. Well, then I gotta struggle with the actual fat I put on over the last three kids....

Annette - 125.6 0.0 weight loss/gain. Total 3.6 lb weight loss

Now Here's What I Call Bragging

Week 3 Results

So, I waited a few extra days for Bryce, and I understand Annette made several reminder calls, but i still haven't heard - so I updated the site anyway and hopefully we'll hear something from him soon.

Personally, I think he's disappointed because he gained weight, so he doesn't want to post! What do you think?

CL

Click Here for the results page

Care for a Brag, anyone?

Time to share some successes!

I thought we could share some joys of our weight loss. Who wants to go first? me? Oh, ok, if you insist.

Jana:I bought size 9 jeans the other day...a size smaller than I have fit into for a long time!!! Also, I think I need a smaller bra, HOORAY! And today I was looking in the mirror and I thought, hmm, my arms look a little smaller! Those are my joys.

I don't want to be BRAGGER, but...

Annette's Joys: My size 8 jeans that I bought in december are looking a little roomie could it be possible that I could fit into a size 6?? I'm certainly going to try!

And Cameron's pants are practically falling off of him, I want to get him new ones, but I'm hoping that he'll keep doing well and get even smaller, so I'm holding off at least until he REALLY needs new ones.

Mer: All I really have to brag about is the fact that I found a REALLY awesome cinnamon rolls recipe. (Meredith! how could you ???)They're so yummy.... I really need to have this baby so I can kick these cravings in the butt.

Christine: I'm fitting into all the cute shirts that I've had hanging in my closet for inspriation! AND I need smaller garments! I'm 199 now, which means I'm lower than I've been in over 5 years, and that I've lost 30 pounds all together!

CHEERS!!! for everyone! Isn't this fabulous? We will all be so much healthier! I am also thrilled to have broken the 200 barrier! yea me! So I am down 10 lbs, but If I count the extra 5 I had lost by Christmas, It's actually 15. I have found some awesome exercise machines for me at my new gym and they are really helping. It feels so great to have more control over my eating, and to Want to eat less! Hey, I am so impressed with Cam! How are you doing it? Eating less? Exercising?

OK, People, let's work on being a little more prompt with our weigh-ins, shall we?

Weigh-In for Week 3!

OK, here goes.....

Dad - 157.5 Enough loss, now it's Bulk-Up time!

Mom - 201 3 Lb Weight Loss; Total 8.5 Lb Weight Loss. Wahoo!!! Next week will be ONE-derland for me too!!!

Christine - 201.4

Eric - 224 0lb gain/loss; 3.6lb total loss

Jana - 137.5 .5 weight loss; total 8 lb weight loss

Kimi -

Cameron - 208.8 2.4 Lb Weigh Loss; Total 15.2 Lb Weigh Loss

Bryce -

Jason - 179.5

Meredith - 188.0 2lb loss from last week; 0.4lb total loss (WHAT THE HECK!? I knew I haven't been very hungry lately, but woah!!!! And that was before I peed, because I normally weigh after I pee.)

Annette - 125.6 .4 lb weight loss; Total 3.6 Lb weight loss

Cool Site...

I just took this Fabulous health quiz. It's awesome. It asks tons of questions about your family, health, friends, eating habits, excercise and lots of stuff. It then tells you your body's age in comparison with your Calendar age. It takes an hour or two after you take it for your results to come in but this lady that told me about it said that after taking it, it would send her an e-mail a day saying what things she could eat or do to improve her overall health. The site it http://www.realage.com/
Make sure you have fifteen to twenty mins to take it.

Jana & Mer: Their true desire

Here are Jana and Meredith in their

skinny glory. I'm pretty sure this is how

they want to look again!

Results are in... FINALLY

UPDATE: Sorry for the confusion of the poll. The current method will show every week, so we will have a complete history of every week of the program. This means that every week the graph will get bigger and bigger, it'll be hard to compare everyone at a glance since you will have to scroll through it all. As an alternative, I can limit the graph to just show the first weigh-in (100%) and the previous two weigh-ins. On week 8, you'll see your latest weigh-in (week 8) and the previous one to compare how you did last week (week 7), and the first one (week one) to see how you've done overall. This can be done as a group or individually.

Or I can set it to have a full history of every weigh - in combined as a group (as it is now) or individually - everyone would have their own graph and it would be more of an individual event - though you could scroll through and compare each individual. Is this a little more clear?

Also, I'm doing most of this by hand, so it's fully customizable - if you'd like to see everything (or anything) posted in a different way, please make the suggestion and I'll look for a reason to say no.

Thanks!

--------------

Thanks to the slight, uh hum, delay, the results chart was delayed 24 hours out of necessity. Don't worry though, it's been updated and it's posted. Click on the link on the top right of this page to go take a look!

Also, let me know if there's any other info you want to see. I recognize that as we continue to lose so much weight, this chart is going to grow wginormous. I have posted a new poll to the right investigating your interest in the data. Take a minute to let me know what you think!

Dance Y'alls

CL

Cap'n Geach and the Shrimp Shack Shooters

Hey, I'm excited to see the results on the chart! Where are they? I can't wait...

I, too, am very happy that we're all doing it together, becaue we all have each other to answer to.

Yesterday I went to Bally's and had a tour and did a workout. Today I got a free session with a personal trainer, which was cool. It's nice to have someone tell you what to do. She's all, "I want you to think about getting a personal trainer, ok?" Ok, sure, Let me think, NO! I don't have enough to actually join the gym, let alone pay $59 a session with a personal trainer. She measured my body fat and said I'm at 25% which isn't too bad, but not in the healthy range. If I had $25 a month I think I would actually join a gym because I really like going.

I just wanted to share that I did that and it was fun and I felt brave going and claiming my free 8 weeks at the gym. She also told me I need new shoes which I probably should have known already because I've had my shoes over a year and put a lot of miles on them.

Well, maybe this was more like an email but since it pertains to this competition I'll put it on here!

Great Job Losers!!

I offer a hearty CONGRATULATIONS! to all you losers! We are the Best! I am SO glad we are doing this contest. I need to loose weight very much and you are all such a great inspiration! And I really need that. Sorry to say that even previous weddings didn't inspire me enough to do a good weight loss - and I really thought that would do the trick! But having so many of my loved ones working together on this in such a fun spirit truly is inspirational to me. Thank you Jana for the idea and to everyone for adding to the .blogfun. I love reading the big ideas and plans. I bought a set of weights yesterday and Dad and I love them. And I will either join a fitness club or buy my own treadmill. It is about 17° with the wind chill (or windshield for one girl...)factor here today. I will not be taking a walk outside thankyou.
So bless you all in your efforts! And be not discouraged for long at a time because there is always another day to do better. And You Will! I love you all!!!

Weigh-In for Week 2!

Dad - 159 1 lb weight loss, Total 3 lb weight loss Better one than none!

Mom - 204 1.5 lb weight loss, Total 5.5 lb weight loss But I'm still on track for my goal of 30!

Christine - 201.6 3.4lb loss, 5lb total loss (maybe next week I'll be in ONEderland!)

Eric - 224 0.2lb gain; total 3.6lb loss.

Jana - 138.0-2 lb weight loss; total 7.5 lb weight loss (My scale gave me about 3 different weights all within a half hour, so I took one in the middle. The first time it said I'd only lost a pound...so I went back to bed. Then I got up and it was a little less, and then 10 minutes later it said I'd lost 2 1/2. So we'll take the the one that says I lost 2. Waah.)

Kimi - 117.5 .5 lb weight loss

Cameron - 211.2 2 lb weight loss, Total 12.8 lb weight loss

Bryce - 206 4 lb weight loss, Total 12 lb weight loss

Jason - 181 0.8lb loss, 2lb total loss (pretty good considering he's been bed-ridden for most of the week.)

Meredith - 190.0 0.8lb weight gain from last week, total 1.6lb weight gain (Hey, at least I'm consistent! You just wait 'til this kid is out of me....)

Annette - 126 1.8 lb weight gain, Total 3.2 lb weight loss (Hm, I knew my dipping below 125 couldn't last. What a let down)

Weighing In

Everybody: Be sure you weigh yourself at the same time of day and wearing the same thing as the first weigh-in. If you weighed yourself at night the first time and want to switch to mornings, you need to figure out how much more you weigh at night and adjust your starting weight. Or else you always need to weigh at night, especially for the final weigh-in. We need to be STRICT because there is MONEY at steak! OOPS, stake. Even so it is. Amen.

Amen to the Steak is what I say!

One Day Left

Alrighty ya'll, just one more day for us to bust our butts to get that weight off. So, do your best and eat your best and don't give in to temptation! Gooooooo US!

Flax seed

Jen: I shared this with Mom and Jana already...but I though maybe the rest of you would like it too! I love flax seed...milled flax seed. It's really easy to use- I sprinkle it or mix it into at least one meal a day. Just 2 teaspoons has as much fiber (4g) as 2 1/2 cups of oatmeal. And it is one of the best forms of Omega 3 fatty acids, (walnuts have about 10% Omega acids, whereas flax contains 50%) it's very powerful antioxidant and is fabulous for cholesterol. You can also use flax seed oil bet it looses a lot of nutritional value. Plus the milled is really so easy to use. I sprinkle it on the kids cereal and they never know! Or mix it into dinner. I got it at a local grocery store and it was under $10.00.

p.s. if you click on the flax seed (here or above) that is a great website!!!

Accuracy

Okay now wait.

Annette and Kimi both said their weights aren't accurate. What about everyone else? We were all supposed to weigh ourselves at the same time of day, wearing the same thing, on the same scale. Did everyone do that?

Net Here: Since I'm not official, I'm not terribly worried about my inaccuracy, but I'll have Cameron change mine anyway, cause I believe my start weight should be about 2 lbs lighter. And I told Kimi to have Jorge weigh himself on her scale, then on his as soon as he got home to see if there was a big difference so we could see how accurate her weights were. But I don't know if she remembered. Kimi? Did you?

Jen: I would just like to say CONGRATS to all of you!!! Holy shamoly, you all lost...and some lost A LOT! Good job!!

Strategy

OK, so everybody did so awesome this week that I want to hear everybody's strategies. I'll start.

Jana: I'm on the South Beach Diet, and the first 2 weeks are very strict, meant to reverse insulin resistance (reteach your body to process sugars properly) and get rid of your sugar and carb cravings. And guess what, it's working! Last night I made spaghetti for Jeff and Emma, and I had chicken and veggies, and I wasn't jealous of their pasta at all.

Typical day:

Breakfast: Vegetable omelet (when I say veggies, keep in mind I don't eat potatoes or carrots b/c they are not acceptable as far as blood sugar goes..and sugar makes you fat.)

Snack: nuts
Lunch: Tuna salad and sugar-free jell-o
Snack: celery stuffed with laughing cow light cheese
Dinner: Balsamic chicken and cooked veggies (red peppers, onions, garlic, zucchini, mushrooms cooked w/olive oil, salt, and pepper)
Dessert: Ricotta creme (part-skim ricotta cheese w/cocoa, vanilla, and sugar substitute. Yummyish, kind of strange texture)
I have been doing 1/2 hour aerobic exercise every morning as well.
So that's me--I haven't had any sugar since New Years day--the most I've had is in light yogurt, which I realized I can't actually have until after my strict 2-week phase. Then I'll be able to have one or two fruits and one serving of whole-grain carbs a day. I do miss the fruit, and cereal. But I don't miss pasta, bread, rice, and potatoes like I thought I would, since that's what I lived on before. On Sunday I made cookies because I love to bake on Sundays, and it was hard to resist the cookie dough, but not so much the cookies themselves. We gave most of them away, and I'm not all that tempted by the ones left here.

What is everybody else doing?

Christine: My eating strategy is totally up in the air right now, because my weight loss has leveled out and I need to step it up again! So I'll be checking out everyone else's strategies to decide what to do, so everybody do this post!

For exercise I've been doing an hour on the treadmill, but now I'll be adding my new turbo jam videos! Did the first one last night, it's pretty sweet.

UPDATE!! I've decided to do south beach! I started on the 10th and I like it! Also I highly recommend turbo jam, it's tons of fun, lots of hard work but not too hard to follow. Plus there are lots of different work-outs so you don't get bored.

Net here - Ooh, I've seen commercials for the turbo jam videos, they seem pretty dang awesome. We no longer have snackies in the house. We can snack on fruit or yogurt, but mostly I just don't snack anymore, unless it's a little handfull of dark chocolate. I knew I couldn't give up chocolate, so only dark for me, and only a little bit. We're eating more veggies and less red meat and fat and smaller portions. We use our Wii to do dance dance revolution, put it on workout mode and set it for the number of calories we want to burn. We did 160 last time, but will probably do 200 next time. We bought body balls and sit and those if we watch tv at night. That's the gist of what I'm doin.

Mer here...

I have no strategy. I'm eating less, but still eating stuff that I probably shouldn't be (like freakin' Girl Scout cookies....they couldn't have come at a worse time!) But I expected to continue to gain until this baby is born. I mean, it's kind of inevitable. But I am shooting for just a half a pound a week gain, which is just enough.

Eric, I have noticed, is mainly eating less. I don't see him snacking nearly as much, and he has cut way back on the soda. Rugby will be starting soon, and that is when he really plans on kicking some butt.

We did get some pilates videos, but haven't had a chance to do them yet.

My Turn! It's MoM. I am using the Body For Life book. When I am being a good girl, I choose a protien and a carb and veggies from the chart in the book of acceptable foods and eat them in the right doses. I mean serving sizes. (and Lean Cuisine lunches at school) . And I try to eat what they call 6 meals a day but actually it just being sure to snack properly so you don't get really hungry. The excercises are Weight Training so right now I am just using 10 lb dumbells to get started and doing the excercises in the book. It's nice because there are pictures and descriptions of the lifts to do. I am learning so I have a ways to go to figure out how to do it right. I do that every other day and the other days I will go to curves or I might start at a real gym I will be touring tomorrow.

DaD is eating what I fix and eating salads at Buster's Restaraunt at many lunch times. Of course he is still running 3 - 4 times a week and will be starting the weights too this week.

The results are in...

Week one is over and Kimi really showed who's boss.

Check out how everyone is doing here.

Weigh In Day!

Alright, people, let's see how we're doing! Remember to weigh in today. I've been thinkin it's too bad I'm an unofficial contestant, cause maybe I'M GONNA WIN! Mwahahaha! Too bad I can't.
Let's Get This Party Started!

Kimberly: 118 lbs 11 lb weight loss .... BUT i weighed myself of two different scales because i moved and now i have no idea which was right to begin with... :/

Bryce: 210 lbs 8 lb weight loss

Mer: 189.2 (yes, I gained, but that just means Logan is growing...not that I'm fat, OK????) 0.8lb weight gain

Eric: 223.8 3.8lb weight loss

Jana: 140.0 (three words: South Beach, Baby!) 5.5lb weight loss

Christine: 205 (wow, you guys are doing awesome! While I seem to have hit a plateau . . . Wah!) 1.6lb weight loss

Jason: 181.8 1.2lb weight loss


Dad: 160 2lb weight loss


Mom: 205.5 4lb weight loss

Annette: 124.2 5 lb weight loss

Cameron: 213.2 10.8 lb weight loss


christine here -- how are we supposed to submit our weight on the website? When I go to the link it says put in your starting weight.

Net here: Ignore what it says and just submit. it sends an email to cameron so he can put the info into his spreadsheet. And how awesome is my husband for losing 10 pounds?!

HOW DID CAMERON LOSE TEN POUNDS!!???? -Jana

Sexy mamas

I've been looking through many a photos girls...you are all lookin' as hot as a dang quesadilla! p.s I know this doesn't have anything to do with the Biggest Loser....but eating quesadillas does.

Don here.

Just thinking about the book Cherise gave me for Christmas, "The Secret." According to the book, the secret to realizing a dream is to vividly visualize accomplishing the thing you want to accomplish. It says that, if you want to be thinner, you have to think of yourself as thin rather than concentrating on losing weight. I really don't care that much about losing weight, (except that I'd like to keep your money) but I would like to be healthier, lower my blood sugar and cholesterol level and be in generally better shape. So I'm visualizing. I'm visulaizing Turkey Trot 2008, Thanksgiving Day. I pull out ahead the last quarter mile. I have a comfortable lead over both Jeff and Jasper (the double J threat), when suddenly I hear footsteps. Impossible! With only 100 yards left Jeff has closed the gap and he's gaining fast. My heart starts to drop. This is going to be a repeat of Turkey Trot 2006. Rats! But suddenly, I remember that I now weigh 155.5 and I've been averaging 20 miles a week at 8:45 a mile. Meantime, Jeff has cooked and consumed one too many pans of Butterscotch Delight. Just as Jeff is about to overtake me, I kick in the afterburners and win by a good 10 yards. The crowd bursts into spontaneous applause. The Blue Angels do a salute overflight just 200 feet over the deck.

Turkey Trot 2008: Bring it.

AWESOME!!

This is Jen, I would just like to say...you guys look so awesome on your profiles!! I love them! Jana I know it is so hard to know what's actually good for you. Everyone says different things. You could just stick to what you know, that's probably enough. Like you said no sugar etc. But remember you actually NEED carbs...just not the white flour carbs. Last year we switched from white pasta to whole wheat pasta, and I love it! Same with rice and bread. You guys are so fabulously cool!!

Food Pyramid

Just as a guideline, here is the food pyramid (in case you haven't seen it in a while). You'll notice that "they" (whoever they are) changed it from the old one. So check it out! And also, FYI, this is also what diabetics go by. And the best diet is a diabetic one.

Free gym pass

Hey, today I saw in a magazine that you can go to Bally's total fitness and get a free 8-week pass good through March, I think. So I looked it up and saw that it's part of a "National Body Challenge" through Discovery Health. I'm going to sign up. The link is on the link list. And here it is again. http://health.discovery.com/national-body-challenge/national-body-challenge.html

We Can Only Hope

Mer here.....

I thought it would be fun to see what everyone hopes and wishes they could look like again.

For me:
Junior-In-High-School-Cheerleader-Meredith would be so awesome. But definitely not going to happen. Although I still have the uniform in case I do make it down that small. I would be on cloud nine if I could fit into that thing again.



Wedding-Day-Meredith is probably more do-able, and I'd be happy with that. One of my goals, actually, is to fit back into this dress so Eric and I can do "Trash The Dress" together.



So....what about you guys?

Jana Here!

This is what I think a lot of us want to look like:

Net here: Heck yeah, I want to look like me in this pic.

And here's my wedding-day-Jana, which is what I'd like as well. I think I may have actually lost weight after getting married and before getting pregnant, but I'll go for wedding day rather than pre-pregnancy--it's a little more doable.

I also want to report that I finally went to the doctor, because my cough got worse again when we got home, and he says I have a mild case of pneumonia. So I won't be exercising this week, unfortunately.

And while I'm posting, I wanted to share my frustration about my realization that I don't know what I should and shouldn't eat. I'm afraid of carbs, fat, and sugar, so what in the world am I supposed to eat? Everybody says different things, so all I know is that veggies are healthy, though certain kinds are better than others. It's all so confusing!

And, Mer, that trashing the dress website is pretty cool!

Christine now!

Here's me in college. I'd actually like to look a bit better than these pics, but I don't know how possible that is!

Hey Jana, your picture over on the side is awesome, but isn't it way old?? You're way thinner now!

Annette Here:
I want to fit this well into these jeans again:

And looking this good in my wedding dress would be nice.
And Mer, that picture of Eric is Awesome.

Mer again...

Eric's not home right now, but I found this picture and thought maybe he'd want to look like this. Or not. I just thought it would be funny to post! I could definitely stare at this picture all day long.....

Sexy!

I just want to say that there are some truly incredible "before" photos on here. I mean, WOW! I got on and just laughed! I'm glad everybody has as awesome pictures on here as the one I put on!

Web Tracker

Hey everyone,

I wanted to let you all know that there will be an online tracker that posts our results every week in one place to compare how everyone is doing. I have integrated it into a website I whipped up for this contest. If you would like to weigh-in using the link in the upper left that'd be wonderful. If you don't, that's fine too, I'll just scour the blog and enter them myself prior to posting. If you would like to see anything different or have any suggestions, please let me know!

Click here to see the site!

Starting Weigh-In

Official Contestants
Dad: 162 * 160
Mom: 209.5 * 205.5
Christine: 206.6
Eric: 227.6
Jana: 145.5
Cameron: 224.2
Kimi: 129
Bryce: 218


Unofficial Participants
Jason: 183
Meredith: 188.4 (34 weeks prego)
Annette: 129.2