Since the Biggest Loser Challenge is over we've decided to redo our page. I also thought since both Cindy and I started this journey long before this challenge we should change the stats to be that of our TOTAL weight loss. Cindy if you disagree you can keep your stats as is. I just thought it would be nice to see the BIGGER picture of how far we really have come. I will be changing the percentages in the right hand bar soon. I hope you enjoy the new "spring" page, hopefully it will bring some warmer weather Cindy's away as well as any of you up north. Here in Florida the pools and water parks will open next weekend.

If signing out, going to try to get my car cleaned why the kids play in a small pool I bought yesterday. Have TONS of cleaning and laundry to do as well as a trip to the store.

Hugs
Colleen

Weighed myself this morning and I'm down to 200.2...which is almost back to my last weigh in before the injury. I'm almost back to speed on the elliptical and I decided NOT to wait for Mother Nature and got back to my jogs in the park this past week. I did 2 miles on Thursday afternoon and 2 miles this morning. Not really pushing myself, but testing the leg out. Feels great to be getting some fresh air again...however this morning was brrrrrr cold!!!

Hopefully now that I'm back to my cardio routine, I can post some decent weigh-ins again!

~ Cindy

Was thinking of giving the site a new look just for fun, don't have anything in mind right now but thought now the challenge was over I can change it up some what do you think?

Well I STUPIDLY gave myself the freedom to eat what I wanted on my birthday 3/21, the worse part was I didn't get back to eating healthy until Thursday 3/27. I learned that I can not do free days on Friday as the weekend are too chaotic for me to stay on schedule with a free day under my belt. As long as I have been eating fine I can get through the weekend but if I'm battling cravings from a free day forget it.

So I'm up 2.5 lbs now from my Friday weigh in of 157 but hopefully by the end of this week it will be gone. I have eaten well for two days and am going strong, it will be great once again to get to my former low weight, now 157 and lose from there.

My challenge at the gym ends 4/5...I'm a little disappointed that I will not be showing a bigger lose but not at all upset at joining. My essay (which it was that they were grading LOL) I think turned out well. I think my picture will show some difference but I'm not sure how much, usually you compete against a couple hundred people. Hopefully I will get the pics back so I can share them with you guys.

Hope everyone is doing well. Cindy I hope the foot is feeling better.

~Colleen

Gosh it was nice to see the girls come out on top this week. They're up against 4 BIG boys and they've been killing themselves. WOO-HOO!!!

Sooo...the challenge. I couldn't believe how nonchalantly they boys were taking bites here, nibble there and just demolishing Ali and Kelly's tables. Hmmm Dan with a 1lb. loss...thinking hindsight is 20/20 here. Maybe he shouldn't have had that bite or two of a 700+ calorie piece of pizza, ya think?

What about the vote then? Was anyone else as shocked as me that Dan and Roger didn't go lobbying to get Mark voted off to break up that strong brother team? Looks like one of them is bound to win unless by chance they both fall below the yellow line because it's definite that they have each other's back. Anyways, sad to see Dan go...loved his sense of humor. Good for him for going to LA to follow his dreams. Rock on!

Next week should be a good one...coming down to the wire!

~ Cindy

First off...Colleen~You are one HOT MAMA! Look at you in your new bikini FANTASTIC GIRL!

I am back at the cardio...FINALLY! Yesterday I managed 35 minutes on the elliptical going pretty easy. Today I did 40 minutes at about the same level, just a tad faster. I am still babying the leg as I am petrified of hurting myself again. I can still feel it pull every now and then, so I know I'm not 100%...but HEY I'll take it! Another week of weights would drive me insane!!!

Now if I could only convince Mother Nature to stop being such a Bit** and warm us up here already...c'mon first day of spring could have been Christmas with all the snow flying around here! I miss the park and the fresh air WWWAAAAHHHH! I cannot wait to start my morning jogs in the park. My weight isn't back to my last weigh in yet, so I haven't posted a new one. Hopefully now that I'm back to the cardio, that will help!

Have a wonderful Easter everyone!
~ Cindy

Today is my birthday and I"m feeling great. Thought I would take a moment to say HI to all my fellow BL friends. I've taken the day off of work WOO HOO and pretty much have gotten nothing done.

My hubby got me a Zune player and a watch for by B-Day, my MIL got me the CD Carnival Ride and some awesome expensive and comfortable flip flops (a must her in FL), and I got $75 dollars to Wal-Mart which I've spent on some clothes, Hot Sticks, and an new bathing suit. Used the Hot Sticks this morning and I like them so far add some curl to my hair. And now for the best part...LOL at least to me as for ONCE I enjoyed trying a bathing suits. Here is my purchase. (Sorry about the photos I couldn't get either of my boys to take a photo so I did it myself.)

Ok so here is my take would love to hear yours.
 

Brittany-I hated to see Brittany go but you knew the guys were not going to vote for Jay, hey if I was in that group I wouldn’t turn either. I feel bad for her as it seems there is something holding her back from losing even though she is doing what she is suppose too, that seems to be what Jillian thinks. I think Brittany is a great competitor but I think during this game she kinda lost her momentum and started to feel like there is no way she could win so she semi gave up just a tad. I can’t wait to see her at the finale I hope for her she has lost her weight, she is a beautiful girl. I do think she looked great in the pink dress.
 

Kelly was the only one to me that really stood out during the makeover I think they did an excellent job on her hair and her makeup looked fantastic. She definitely out of all of them seems to have the lowest self esteem, always calling herself weak. The only thing that kinda grated on my nerves was when she was walking to the scale she said she never gets breaks. I guess I understand she meant weight wise but I do think she has gotten many breaks this season and I guess it hit the wrong cord. However I’m one of those people that likes to find the best in all and I think sometimes Kelly is just use to seeing the worse side of things. I would love for her to look more at where she has come, and say “I’m NOT WEAK”  whether she can beat the boys are not she needs to have that confidence.
 

Mark/Roger-I think that whole conversation was a waste of everyone’s time. I think Roger was sampling sticking up for Mark telling him there is NO NEED to apologize for winning, which I agree. Mark took it though as Roger wanted Mark to be more out in the open so Roger wouldn’t have too, I think this was Mark’s feelings being projected onto Roger. He is afraid his winning will get him voted off and I think after he won he was mad at himself for winning and took it out on Roger
 

Ali-I think she is doing a great job. I know many people have complained about her vote but this is how I see it. She KNEW the boys were voting for Brittany she KNEW Brittany was going so why show she has taken sides by voting for Jay, by voting for Brittany she may have earned herself more time as the guys may see her as in an alliance with them. Granted she may still not get further because they are tight. I’m just saying if it came down to Kelly and Ali in the bottom she may have helped her cause by voting with the guys.

I like to set these mini weight goals as it seems so much easier to say 2-3 more pounds to goal instead of 10. So my goals are usually right under a ten mark. Like they were 189, 179, etc. So I just met my mini goal (once again) I weighed 158.5 this morning which is the LOWEST I've weighed in 5 years. I'm very excited about that. Again I FINALLY feel like I'm on track to lose weight instead of losing the same 5-10 lbs I've lost before.

So my new mini goal is 156 the reason for this goal is I started out at 196.5 son 186,176, etc. are also my goals. Once I get to 156 I will have lost over 40 lbs. So here is to my next mini goal!!

It is just killin' me wanting to know which sites won?? LOL anyone else wondering?

Well...almost a week since the calf muscle thing and I'm doing better...not great, but better. I am able to put a little more pressure on it today and not walking with such a limp, so that's good. I'm still thinking I'm another solid week away from any cardio. *sigh*

I weighed myself today and of course I was up a bit (202.6), but I'm still having trouble standing with my feet close enough to balance properly on the scale...so I'm not gonna take that number too seriously, but it's probably accurate.

I finished my first full week of solid weighs and crunches and let me tell you....I am SORE!!! I have been switching things up everyday to try and give my muscles a little rest, but I'm still sore, UGH! I am going to take the weekend off and rest...hopefully next week will be it for weights everyday and I can go back to the cardio the following week...I'm crossing my fingers!

~ Cindy

Not too shabby. I'm down another pound from Tuesday. Still doing good...coming into the weekend, so my goal is to get through the weekend and get to the gym!

The challenge is over and now I’m able to post everyday??? LOL I thought maybe it was the pressure of making sure I do a good job, but I realize that wasn’t it. I didn’t feel pressure at all I just didn’t post when I didn’t do as well. No one likes to complain or talk about how bad they are doing.

I’m glad to see many blogs still truckin’ along. I’m kinda bummed because I feel like I could have done MORE while the contest was still on. (I really would love to go to LA if nothing just to say I visited.) I’ve seen so many neat videos (I don’t know how you guys did it I just feel SO uncomfortable doing a video), so many fun activities and happen’ blogs. I’m glad we still have this small community. So anyway, I got through my notorious three days of eating well and am doing great. I weighed 161 this morning. So now I’m only 2 pounds away from my lowest post here of 159…WOO HOO.

I have yet to get back to the gym but I am, I am I definitely miss it. For whatever reason whether it was the time change or the lack of healthy eating habits I was totally exhausted the first part of this week. Yesterday was the first day I went home NOT tired.

Since I am keeping up with this blog I thought I would add some non-weight personal information as well, because I haven’t really gotten a chance to get to know anyone with how LARGE this community is.

I’m happy for my son he won his baseball game last night. Go BRAVES (that is his team of course-we are actually METS fans). 

Thought I would share a few pics I took of my most beautiful daughter (yes I admit I’m a little bias LOL). I hope everyone is having a great week.

Ok...so who thinks that Brittany and Jillian's friendship has gotten in the way here? I mean Brit was acting like a spoiled little brat at the weigh in and Jillian coming to her defense like that was just TOO MUCH! Don't ya think? I can understand both sides...I understand getting that second chance to come back to the show and possibly win it all...and if I was in the top 6 and then all of a sudden 2 were allowed to come back I would be so pissed! BUT, I know I wouldn't crumble...that would only make me more determined that I DESERVED to be there and I would certainly work harder...C'mon Ali has the least amount to lose and she still managed to kick some serious a**!  She looks AMAZING! She's been kicking butt on her own!

And WHAT?? We have to wait until next week to see who gets the boot? Wassup?

OK...spill it! What did you think????

I had some free time at lunch and have been looking over some blogs. I can't believe how different and fun each one is. How the heck do you judge so many and only pick 5? I think they should send us ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL Don't you agree?

I just wanted to post that I'm back on track, eating well for the third day in a row. That is my magic number, once I get three days under my belt I seem to be good. The first day was the hardest. Two seems MUCH easier. I still need to get my butt back to the gym, these sports with the kids are killing me. I need to talk to my husband about how to balance that out. I hate to do it but I think the boys are going to have to take turns with sports. There is an August season and March season they are probably going to have to each take one so I can devote the time necessary to them.  Meaning right now my oldest son misses practices or barely gets to a game because of my youngest sons schedule. I think it would be smarter to have one playing a sport where we can all enjoy watching and then vice versa. WDYT???

With that said no gym tonight my youngest son has baseball practice. I will fit it back in somehow I promise myself LOL!

~Colleen

Usually there are so many posts there is no way to keep up but I got on at lunch 4 hours ago and hardly any post have been made since then?

Knock! Knock! I know you are there!

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Final Thoughts and Memories

Hosted by: Colleen & Cindy Date and time: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 11:45 AM View this event on Windows Live

Wow can you believe it is the last day of this challenge? It is amazing sometimes how time can fly. I wanted to post my final thoughts, and memories regarding the challenge and my healthy lifestyle change.

I began my change in June of 2007 well before this challenge began, ironically though it began with an episode of Biggest Loser. I had never watched the show before. My husband was flipping through channels and stopped on an episode of Biggest Loser. It was re-runs of….I believe maybe season 3 or 4? I can’t remember it was the season with Kia. I sat there watching it one Wednesday night and became so motivated that the next morning I got up made a healthy breakfast and lunch and it was like I had been eating well my whole life. My husband and I continued to watch the re-runs and couldn’t wait for the next season.

I had ups and downs, good days and bad days as many but felt great that I was FINALLY losing weight. When I started my weight loss journey I was 196.5 pounds (too close to 200 for me.) I did pretty good for 5 months getting down to 160 lbs before Halloween, as my focus was just losing weight. Once the holidays started to hit and family started coming in, I admit I kinda fell off the wagon, and by Christmas time I weighed 171.5 pounds. I knew this was not the right way to do this. It couldn’t be just about losing weight. As a Christmas present to myself I decided to join the gym. I have always loved the gym but find it hard to fit in sometimes with three kids, I was determined to make it work. Shortly after joining the gym Biggest Loser challenged us to lose 1 Million Pounds. I was very excited and felt this was just what I needed to keep going. I put a call out to friends of mine in the digital scrapbooking community and was excited when Cindy answered it. She was just as excited as I was about joining this challenge.

Together we have spent the last couple months logging our exercise, our food, and our feelings and thoughts. We have encouraged each other to continue, or lifted each other up when we were feeling down. This has been a great experience and one I think we both plan on continuing right here on our space. (We hope you continue as well).

Though I’ve had ups and downs during this challenge I feel I have taken from it SOO much more then losing weight. Through my blogs you have seen me struggle with how to eat, falling off of plan occasionally, or having a hard time fitting in the exercise. My biggest obstacle was getting exercise in once my boys started sports again. With practices 2 days a week and games 2 days a week, it leaves little time after work for much of anything else. I’m still struggling with this but am trying to find ways to still get in exercise whether it is roller blading with my kids, or dancing with my little girl. The MAIN thing I am taking from this challenge is, it isn’t about how fast you lose the weight. Yes everyone wants to lose it fast (who wouldn’t) but for the FIRST time in my life I have been ok with slow weight loss, I have changed my way of thinking. I’m no longer eating healthy simply to lose weight.  I’m eating to feel better. A few bad eating choices here and there no longer put me into a downward spiral. When you look at the big picture that piece of candy or cookie is one thing you are eating, one day amongst thousands of days. It is so minute, it is not worth the beating yourself up and guilty feelings most people usually have for that sweet pleasure. I’ve also learned that for me, when I get to the point of wanting to eat everything and anything I shouldn’t it is best to plan a day of doing just that. By planning I no longer feel that I’m cheating or making a bad choice, I’m allowing myself ahead of time to do what I need to do. Once I get it out of my system I’m good to go. I guess basically what I’m trying to say is I’ve learned that eating healthy is a way of life. Exercise is important to my life and makes me feel great. If I make a bad food choice or miss a day at the gym it is not the end of the world, it is just simply MY LIFE.

Another big change that has come from this challenge, is I have taken steps to get away from my computer and being inside all the time. I have always been somewhat of a computer nerd. I recently semi-retired as a scrapbooking designer which was a tough decision for me. I love to create and I love my work as a designer, however I would spend 10 hours a day on the weekends on my computer. I found that as I became healthier and exercised I had so much energy and I wanted to share it with my family. My weekends are now full of the kids sports and outings with my family and friends. I couldn’t ask for a better gift from this challenge!
 
Sorry to be so long winded I just have so many thoughts regarding this challenge and how it has changed how I think, eat, and feel I wanted to share. With that said I’ve lost a total of 10 pounds during this challenge and I can’t wait to post more. Here are some progression photos of when I FIRST began this journey in June of 2007, the beginning of the BL Challenge and  today. By looking at them I can tell how far I have come, not just in my weight but the happiness in my face. Looking at my current photo I feel that my 10lbs of weight loss, lost during this challenge looks great on me, and that I’ve done more then lose weight, I’ve really started to shape up my body and enjoy my life!

 

I was writing my post regarding my final thoughts and came her to post and read yours first. First I want to say from the bottom of my heart.

I was SOOO hoping to see a post of 199 pounds before this challenge ended. You have done an AMAZING job. I’m so excited to see you reach such a HUGE milestone.

Second I’m sorry about your injury, that really sucks!

Third, is there anything that will keep you down? Many people would use the excuse that they are hurt and can’t exercise, you still get up in the morning and get down to the gym to exercise. I’m inspired by your dedication and you embody what this challenge is about. Changing your life!! I’m so excited for you!!
 

Hugs your friend and BL partner

Colleen

First the Milestone...I weighed in at 199.8 on Saturday! I have no idea what prompted me to weigh in, just felt good about myself that morning I guess. But, I'm glad I did...as I will take this as my last weigh-in for the challenge. Gonna end this one on a high note !!!

Now the injury...UGH! I wish I could say I injured myself doing a 5k or something more glamorous...but it's always the silly, stupid things that you wind up regretting. I took my kids to a birthday party on Saturday afternoon to a place where they have indoor bounce houses and arcade games. My kids were playing a "virtual" jump rope game where a moving light moved around a circle and you had to jump over it when it got to the bottom. They both wanted me to try, and I thought "ok" why not? Well, I wound up severely pulling my calf muscle...as I landed I felt it "pop" and the burn all the way to my toes! OMG I've never felt anything like it before...I couldn't walk! I iced it immediately and when I got home I rested it, but I was still in a lot of pain.

Sunday wasn't any better, I barely slept because every time I moved I woke myself up. Tim took me to an after hours clinic just to be sure that there wasn't anything else going on, like a stress fracture, blood clot...who knows. The Dr. told me his thought was that I pulled the muscle pretty good and I probably have some tendonitis. He prescribed some pretty potent anti-inflammatory meds and gave me instructions that if they don't help within 48 hours to go to the ER for an x-ray/sonogram.

Well the good news is that they helped. I am able to walk a bit better today, still with a limp, but I'll take it ! I did go to the gym today, but just did upper body weights and crunches. Looks like I will be out of commission for a while regarding any cardio, which explains my early weigh-in post. I am really bummed that I will miss my last hip-hop class this Thursday too! We were all set to "perform" our dance for the other classes...UGH! I was so looking forward to that. I just have to rest and let my leg heal. This actually is a re-injury...I've "tweaked" this calf muscle 2x in the last 8 weeks and thought it was ok...guess this was just the breaking point.

Well, I can look on the bright side...my upper body should be nice and buff in about 3-4 weeks!

~ Cindy