Our Idea

Eric and Mer here...

We don't think that there should be a cash prize at the end.

We think that this round shouldn't be about competing, but rather working towards a goal together as a team. Meaning we all win, or we all lose.

We can have some sort of group reward at the end if we meet the goal, and if we don't, maybe some sort of consequence. But either way, it would be small and not a big deal.

We've discussed this with Mom and she agrees with us and likes our ideas.

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.

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.....