Disappointment

This week completely sucked for me. I had a really hard time motivating myself to get to the gym. Mind you, I sucked it up and still went, but it was hard.

I didn't have a perfect diet week, but it wasn't a total bust either. I had plenty of tempting morsels set before me that I pretended to not notice.

Then the biggest blow of all came when I stepped onto the scale at the gym tonight. You see, I don't own a bathroom scale. I hate them. I don't need to be reminded of how fat I am every morning. Ignorance is bliss right? WRONG!

I have been at this Biggest Loser thing for THREE WHOLE WEEKS and I've not even lost two whole pounds. Um... REALLY?!?!

As I set here staring at my completely pathetic bowl of soup, I'm really discouraged. I know in my head that this is good for me. I've already paid for the 8 week challenge, and I'm not going to throw in the towel, but it doesn't mean I'm happy about my results so far.

I appologize for the completely depressing blog post tonight. Hopefully next week is better.

Here's this week's picture! I finally got my Biggest Loser t-shirt!

The Biggest Team of Losers!

My Biggest Loser team was very kind the other night after our workout and agreed to let me take a group picture so I could post it on my blog.

These people were all strangers to me two weeks ago, and now I've come to enjoy their company and encouragement. I only hope those relationships grow over the next few weeks.

When I weighed-in I had lost a pound. That's after bumping my workouts up to two hours a day, 6 days a week. I'm staying positive by telling myself it's muscle... *sigh*

I can't wait until we get to the end and get to take another picture together!

A Mommy's Heart

This is one of those captured moments that makes my Mommy's heart melt!

Some Things Are Too Sacred

I've decided that some of the things the diets want you to do are crazy. We only live once right? What's the fun of living if we're being so crazy careful about every little thing that passes over our lips? Not that I think you should eat with out restraint, but there are some things that are just too sacred to NOT eat...

... like coffee...


I LOVE coffee! I don't drink it everyday though. Not because I don't want to, but because I don't want to need it. I love that I can enjoy my coffee everytime I have it, but not feel horrible if I don't get that caffine jolt.

I only drink coffee two or three times a week, and I always drink it the same way. I don't order those froofy, chocolaty, you-can't-even-taste-the-coffee drinks. My favorite way to enjoy my coffee is a 12oz, two shot americano with 3 raw sugars and a splash of cream.


I don't think that's unreasonable when some of those other drinks are close to 900+ calories. Did you know that black coffee is only 2 calories? That means by adding a little sugar and cream, I'm not even consuming 100 calories!

I will drink my coffee how I like it, diet or not!

Week 1 DOWN!!!

I should have posted this a week ago, but I haven't had time. I appologize.

Week one was rough. I feel like I worked out a lot. I was dilligent about working out at least an hour everyday. It was hard, let me tell you! After not doing any kind of excersize for several years, to jump in and start with an hour-a-day, 6 days a week was like torture! And I haven't even started on the diet end of things!

I decided in the beginning that I wasn't going to go on some crazy binge diet just to lose a lot of weight fast. I'm in it to make a lifestyle change.

After talking with my doctor, I've decided that 1,600 calories a day is a reasonable amount.

I've never been much of a calorie counter. In fact, I don't think I've EVER counted a calorie before this thing started! It was very eye-opening. I had NO idea how many calories I was consuming everyday!

I've learned that it's mostly snacking smart. I shop a lot differently now. There are always fruit and veggies in my refrigerator now. I look at the calorie content before I consume anything and am getting pretty good at staying below my daily allotted calorie intake level.

This is my second week picture. At the weigh-in on Tuesday, I was exactly the same weight. I was disappointed at first, but I'm not letting it get me down.

My team is very supportive and encouraging. It's nice having that kind of support system! When one of us is pooping out on the treadmill, we cheer each other on. It's pretty fun!

"Before"

Two weeks ago, my Mom talked me into doing The Biggest Loser Challenge at the Eastside Athletic Club here in Clackamas, Oregon. I didn't really WANT to do it, but I knew I NEEDED to do it.

You see, I've gained about 40 lbs over the last four years. That's right folks... I just got put in the "obese" category. UGH! Since I'm "older" now, it's a lot harder to lose the weight. I can't just walk around the neighborhood with the kids and expect the pounds to fall off. I decided I needed to do something drastic. What I lacked was the motivation. When my Mom approached me about this challenge thing, I figured God was giving me a big neon "motivation" sign.

So, I signed up.

The Challenge is 8 weeks of your team (in my case, me and seven other people) meeting with your personal trainer twice a week. You compete against the other teams to see who loses the most weight.

Of course there is nutrition advise (which is depressing) and team accountability.

Tonight was our first session. My team seems pretty cool. Our trainer is one of those played-football-in-college-jocks, but he was very encouraging when I got on the scale tonight and burst into tears.

My goal for the 8 weeks is to lose 20 lbs. My overall goal is to lose 45-50 lbs. I'd like to have that accomplished by March. (Before our Ireland trip)

One of the fitness motivators I'm supposed to use is a journal, but I suck at that, so blogging is my solution. (Ya know, cuz I like blogging!) I debated about posting my starting weight here, but am completely mortified by it. So, what I will do is post my progress each week on our weigh-in nights.

Here is the "official" BEFORE picture, taken by my biggest cheerleader, Eric.

Kevin and Jennifer

On Friday my brother, Kevin called me and asked if he and his wife, Jennifer could come over and give something to Eric and I. We made arrangements and when they got to our place Jenn said that Kevin had lied and they didn't really have something FOR us, but something to SHOW us.

Okay... sure.

Then she whips out a whole string of ultrasound pictures!!!!

AAAAHHHHHH!!!!

Kevin and Jenn have been trying to get pregnant since they moved back here four years ago. They've tried some of the medications out there, but didn't want to do all the invasive stuff like IVF and the like.

She was in the process of trying something new, and missed one month of medication. This is when she concieved! God is truly bigger than modern medicine! Hallelujah! She is about 8 weeks along.

My family hasn't had a baby born in nearly 2 years and we're feeling severely baby deprived. We're so excited for Kevin and Jenn! They will be great parents!

We had a little photo shoot on Saturday so they could have pictures before the baby and she said, before she gets "fat"... as if Jenn will EVER be "fat". *rolls eyes*

Money Laundering???

I wonder if this means I should report myself to the authorities for money laundering... At least I know George is nice and clean!

Feeling "Artsy"

My brother and sister-in-law asked me to do a portrait session with them this weekend. (Pics to come soon, I still have to ask permission to post them here.) I arrived at their house early and they were both still getting prettied up. As I sat in their dining room waiting I was suddenly inspired. I'm still not enirely sure I love the picture, but it's at least good enough to post on my blog.

"The Grass is Greener"

In May my husband (bless his heart) decided our front "lawn" left something to be desired. His solution was to rip it out and replant. I disagreed, but told him he could do what he felt was best.

He rented a tiller and got after it.
After it was all tilled up, he skipped a couple steps and just threw some seed down, thinking it would be "good enough". He was wrong!






I tried not to nag about the weeds growing so tall. I was embarassed everytime someone asked me what was going on with our front yard, but I tried to explain that it was Eric's project and I was letting him deal with it.

Finally my brother, Kevin stepped in and said he was going to "help" Eric plant the lawn properly. Kevin is a bit of a freak about his lawn and it drove him crazy that our front yard looked like it did. *rolls eyes*

So, they started from scratch. Rekilling the weeds, and retilling the yard. Then last weekend they got several truckloads of compost spread over the yard and reseeded it. It looked a lot better! Even though it was still only dirt.


We've been dilligently watering the "dirt" twice a day. I've even gone out there and watered in the middle of the day if it looks dry. (It's supposed to be constantly "damp" for the first few weeks.)

Today when Eric went out to water, he came running in to tell me there was GRASS growing! I went out to see this so-called "grass" and sure enough, there it was!


I'm really excited that our front yard will finally look nice. Now, if we could only get the back yard under control...