My Contribution

The other day I labeled all the posts on here. It may have been a waste of time, but maybe that was what I was trying to do, ok? Anyway, if you scroll down to "labels" on the side, you'll see all the categories I put on each one, including who contributed to each post. So if you want to see all the posts you've started or added to (not counting comments), you can see click on your name. Or you can click on strategy to see what we've said on that topic, etc. I think the most helpful one will be the weigh-ins, cuz if you click on that you'll see only the weigh-ins. Just so y'all know.

A Little Sabotage...

A Little Sabotage...

Think of this as the liquid version

of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

3 cups whole milk

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 (!) cup cocoa powder

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Mini marshmallows, or peanut butter cup to garnish.

In a blender, combine the milk, peanut butter, sugar and cocoa powder. Puree until very smooth, then transfer to a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.

Add chocolate chips and stir constantly until the chips have melted and the mixture is smooth, about 4 to 5 minutes. Ladle into mugs and garnish with marshmallows or peanut butter cup.

**********************

This came from the newspaper and the picture looks positively sumptuous. Someday I will try it. But, I don't know if I will use 1/2 cup cocoa because that is at least twice my normal amount. I think I would use 1/4 c to start and see how it is. So when Valentines Day rolls around YOU might just indulge! Of course, I would never.....

Jana here: Too bad mom is so evil. Here is a legal way to get that chocolatey peanut buttery goodness. Put a no-sugar-added fudgsicle in the microwave for 5 seconds, then scrape it off into a bowl. Add about a tablespoon of peanut butter and a tablespoon of lite cool whip. Stir it up and it's like chocolate peanut butter icecream! YUM! Hardly any sugar, only good fat, and protein!

Christine: As long as we're sharing recipes, I had a really yummy smoothie this morning. 1 c. milk (I'm a 1% girl) 4 frozen strawberries, 1/4 c. frozen blueberries, 1/4 c. orange juice concentrate, 1/2 scoop vanilla whey (protein) powder.

Beloved Mommy here again: DONT listen to them! I AM the Mom and I know YOU will love the peanutbutterychocolatey goodness of this hot chocolate concoction! Go for the gutso! Oops, I mean gusto! Give your sweet tounge what it really really wants. You will love it AND after all, it's almost Valentine's Day! YOU deserve it. REALLY. You do. Do you know that green makes you hungrier? It's true!
Mommy, you are so very wicked to temp us with such sumptuousness. That's looks so stinkin good! I was wicked the other day and let Cameron convince me to make brownies, but I only made a 1/4 batch. It was like...4 brownies. So that worked out well actually. We're postponing V-day again this year. With his b-day and then mine and now sophies, we're all partied out. PLUS, Cameron is going to St. Louis to supervise the movers who are moving his mom on the 14-16.

REAL Current Standings

Cam, I like the graph the way you fixed it. Perfecto.
Here are the actual current standings according to that website. Christine, I think you didn't have Kimi's or Bryce's original weight adjustments in yours? Clearly the main reason I did this is that it bumps me up a place...brew haha...and I have plans to surpass Kimi soon, who can't keep losing because she doesn't have much to lose! Yesssssss...

1. Cam--91.8%
2. Kimi--92%
3. Jana--92.1%
4. Bryce--93.5%
5. Mom--93.8%
6. Dad--95.7%
7. Christine--96%
8. Eric--97.4%

Now Here's What I Call Bragging

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?

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!

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!

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!

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!

Entry Fee

All entry fees of $20 must be mailed to Don Rowley by Friday, January 4. If not in the mail by this day, you will have to wait until the next Biggest Loser contest, which will be in April or May.
(Did that sound official?)

Also: This blog is now private. All authors have access, as well as the immediate Rowley family.

(this is christine adding on) Make sure you have a scale for the official first weigh-in on tuesday! And mom and kimi where are you?? I'm getting worried here, we need you!
Also, Jason was wondering if he could unofficially join us.

Welcome!

Welcome to our biggest loser blog! I sent invitations to everyone participating, inviting them to be authors. We can make this blog private if we want. On January 1 we all need to post our first weigh-in weight! We can either keep doing weigh-ins every Tuesday or we can switch to Saturdays or something. Each person should be consistent in their time of day and clothing for weighing themselves, and use the same scale. On March 31, the person who has lost the largest percentage of body weight will win the prize money of TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS! We each need to pay our $20 entry fee (to mom?) this week, which will make a hundred dollars, and dad is contributing an additional hundred dollars.
Feel free to post on here about your strategies, workouts, thoughts and ideas about losing weight. Also, add a profile on the side bar--it should include your name, starting weight, goal weight, and something else like what your strategy is or what your motivation is. Good luck to all!