Current Stats

Dan weigh in

This morning I was 190.2. Thats 2 pounds

Chew On This!

By counting 25-40 bites before swallowing almonds it releases more heart-healthy fats and vitamin E, a fat-soluble vitamin that can help prevent disease and muscle loss.

-American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

(just a fun little blurb I read in Oxygen this morning)

-JoAnn

Rest

We all know we need to eat right and exercise to lose weight and be healthy. Here is an article I found that helped me see that sleep is right up there too! Simply stated, our body produces two hormones that are important for us to understand when we are trying to lose weight and be healthy, ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin tells us we need to eat, and leptin tells us we are full. Lack of sleep causes the body to produce more ghrelin, and less leptin. See the problem? Also, if you are tired it is hard to find motivation to work out, and work outs become less productive because you are tired and it is hard to stay focused.

Not to come second in order of valid resources, President Brigham Young taught: “Then let us seek to extend the present life to the uttermost, by observing every law of health, and by properly balancing labor, study, rest, and recreation, and thus prepare for a better life."

Let's all get some rest! Keep up the good work!

-JoAnn

Weigh In*

*Nate told me I was not allowed to postpone my weigh in. I figured since it is the end result that mattered I would not worry about it. However, according to him, I am not allowed to do it again.

JoAnn: 153 lbs (1.4 lbs)
Nate: 139 lbs (.4 lbs)

I talked with Alissa this morning, and she made a point that really hit me. She feels more in control, and when she said it I realized that I did too. With so many things around us that we cannot control, it feels really good to have something that we can.

Keep up the good work everyone!

-JoAnn

Week 1

I agree with JoAnn everything was great until this weekend. I was eating normal but small portions and walking or running everyday. And then Friday came and we went to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, Halle's favorite. I was discipline there but when the ice cream broke out when we got home I dived in. Saturday was good. Sunday should of been good after all Wes found a lowfat shrimp recipe and made it for me (What a nice Honey) but I told myself it was Valentine's Day and I didn't care and I ate a Healthy dinner but really unhealthy snacks all day.

So through it all Alissa lost 2 pounds this week.

Happy Presidents Day

I am going to postpone my weigh in until tomorrow. I was very dedicated for the first of last week at meeting my calorie goal, drinking my water goal, and exercising. With company in town, celebrating birthdays, and Valentine's Day (hope everyone had a wonderful one, by the way), things went off track. I think that by posting today's weight it will not show the work of last week. It would be the same as blowing off my plan, and then eating extremely cautiously the 2 days before weigh in, and having it appear that I dropped 2 lbs.

Today is just a re-set day. I am going to go back on my schedule, nothing more, nothing less, and I will see what tomorrow brings. I hope everyone is still excited about this plan, because I know we are at our house.

AND, if I may have a cheerleader moment, great job Dan. When we gave blood on Friday, I looked up and saw Dan talking to Gregg, and I could see the difference in him. The face particularly. You looked younger Dan, your face looked more defined. No one has a LOT to lose. This challenge to me is more about being healthy than loosing weight. So to see a difference in someone is an accomplishment. Keep up the great work!

-JoAnn

Going Out

Last night I ate at subway. I got the foot long turkey for $5. I ate half which is 300 calories. I put on all the vegetables and mustard, vinegar and pepper. It was good. This will be mine and Steph's next $5 date. 3 a day is only 900 calories, worked for Jared.

Hope your finding healthy foods you enjoy because being healthy is something you want your whole life. The contest ends in 3 months but eating healthy goes on until you decide you want to be fat, sick and sluggish. I love my protein shakes with bluberries, Oatmeal with bluberries, scrambled eggs or eggs with vegetables, spinach salad with lowfat italian, baby carrots , all fruit, grilled chicken breast or salmon and Louise's white lightning Chilie (taco soup) its in her cook book.

Be of Good cheer

Alissa don't be sad. I'm down 4.6 from Mondays weigh in. But really Al one of the main things is not to get discouraged. Even if you have a bad day and eat a whole bag of M&M's wake up the next morning with a new resolve to do better because your worth and your closer than you think!

A little Sad:(

I feel like I've been very discipline the last 3 days and I was pumped about my weighin tonight. We don't own a scale but the college I play volleyball at has one and I decided I would weigh myself every Wednesday night. Well, I was shock to see how much I weighed. I'm a little discourage but If I can continue eating healthy, small portions I know in time the weight will come off. Hopefully I'll feel happy next week when I see the scale.

Alissa

JoAnn is so proud of everyone

JoAnn almost shed a tear when she saw that everyone posted something. She wasn't sure if you guys would do the blog or not but now she is so happy. I'm doing spin class in the morning at Epic Biking. It start at 6:00 am and costs $6. I'm pumped

The Biggest Loser Meal Plan

If you're like me, you use The Biggest Loser as a source of motivation. The tough part is that the contestants on the show are in a controlled environment being told what to eat and how to workout and when and why. As for us voyeurs, well not so much since we have to fend for ourselves in the real world.
I have always been interested in what they eat on the show, so it was interesting to see what a sample meal plan would look like from The Biggest Loser's kitchen. It looks like the plan calls for three-meals and two-snacks per day and is broken down to 45% complex carbohydrates, 30% lean protein, and 25% fats. To see a sample of what a day's worth of eating looks like, just read more

BREAKFAST1 cup berries on top of ½ packet cooked plain oatmeal (about 1/3 cup depending on how much water you put in), sprinkled with 1 Tbsp slivered almonds or walnutsAND1 cup liquid egg whites (Egg Beaters) whipped and scrambled with 2 cups chopped veggies (peppers, mushrooms, onions, tomato, spinach)

LUNCH2 cups garden salad consisting of the following: 1 1/2 cups field greens topped with 1/4 cup red bell pepper, 1/4 cup red onion, 1/2 cup pear wedges, 3 oz. (size of a deck of cards) grilled chicken breast, and 1 Tbsp sunflower or pumpkin seeds (dressed with balsamic vinegar)AND1 small whole grain dinner roll

DINNER2 oz. grilled salmon2 cups grilled vegetables, lightly misted with olive oil (eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, asparagus, artichokes) and sprinkled with herbs such as oregano, parsley1/3 cup wild rice1 cup grapes for dessert

SNACK 11 cup grape tomatoes2 slices rolled up deli turkey5 large olives

SNACK 2Combine the following:½ cup pineapple chunks1/4 cup nonfat ricotta1 tsp walnuts

Yummy!

I love this soup and it's healthy too. To get the recipe click here.

Bishop's Post

(Kristin wrote this earlier under a comment, and I think that if I had given her more info, she would have posted it. So, here it is as a post, and I deleted the comment.)

I still don't know how I am supposed to add to this. Maybe JoAnn will have to call and talk me through it.

I bought 5 lbs. of Bosc pears at Costco yesterday for 3.99 and my family loves them. They ate 6 last night and 4 this morning. We also had Salmon burgers for dinner last night (the kids had quesadillas).

I love the picture of Wes and Alissa.

quoting for the day: Vacuming the entire house top to bottom burns enough calories to eat a hot fudge sundae guilt free. (Alissa you will have to use a bigger house or vacume your house 3 times.)

Keeping Track

I like the idea (especially when I am just starting up eating right) to keep track of everything I eat throughout the day. At www.livestrong.com you can do something called your Daily Plate. You type what you ate, and it will keep track of the calories. Also, you can set your weight goal, and it will tell you how many calories you should eat in a day, and then it tracks it for you. So this morning after our breakfast, it showed Nate and I how many calories we had left for the day. Another neat feature is that you can put in your exercise, and it tells you how many calories you burned.

It is free. You do have to create a login, and turn down the offer to upgrade :-) . We really like this, maybe you all will.

Live Strong!

-JoAnn

Bueno's Dia's

I know that the official weigh in is not until Monday but I just wanted to see if anybody else had gone down 3 lbs. last. Yes that is correct I am down 3 lbs. this morning. Dan's suggestion about going to bed a little hungry really helped. I wasn't even really hungry I just didn't eat my normal dozen quesadillas or atomic nachos before bed.
On another note I was at Costco yesterday and I bought some Salmon burgers. Im a little skeptical I'll let you know how they are.

Nate

Alissa's Post

Our starting picture:

McArthur's Post

Nathan weighed in this morning and was 239.4.
His goal is to be down 20 lbs., so 219.4 by May 1st.
He then started his morning off healthy with a bowl of oatmeal, blueberries, and soymilk. (Dan's recommendation).

JoAnn weighed in this morning and weighed 154.4.
Her goal is to be at 145 by May 1st.
This morning was boot camp for her, and she tried to do everything they asked (as opposed to previous mornings where she stopped when she was tired). She has also set a week goal for herself of drinking 77 oz. of water a day. She heard once that when it comes to water you should drink
1/2 your body weight in ounces each day.

Dan's Post

I just got back from running.

I thought of a ground rule.

Keep all comments positive. No one wants to here sarcasm or complaining. (yes this applies to me too. I will try to follow Steph’s example)

All words of motivation, quotes, recipes, links and your successes are appreciated!

Attached is an article that I get a lot of my eating ideas from*. Hope it helps.

Keep losing

*editors note: I cannot attach the document, but I can attach links. Is there a link for this article? If not, this post was one that was e-mailed to everyone, and it should be in your inbox.

Bishop's Post

Weigh in:

Joel is at 166 and his goal weight is 160.

Kristin is at @*&.2 and her goal is to lose 1 pound a week during our contest for a total loss of 11 pounds by May 1st which will put me at ***.2.

I want to buy the raw veggie tray from Costco, but we can't eat the whole thing before it goes bad. Does anyone want half of the veggies and pay half of the price?

Goal for the week; replace one bad food (chocolate) with one good food (raw veggies)

Kristin

Dan's Post

Hey Big Losers get up and post your weights.

I weighed in at 192.2. My goal is 180.

(That is what I weighed in college)

Elder Bednar told me that everything I eat, and all the exercise and good things I do, will make up the “impressive masterpiece”, my body.

We also learned in conference that the spirit and body together make up your soul. As we discipline our body it will strengthen our mind and spirit.

So when your hungry have a small healthy snack and be exited when you go to bed hungry because you know you will have a good weigh in the next morning.

THE RULES

This is what I have gathered so far:

The Biggest Loser competition for our family is beginning today,
February 8, 2010, and will go until May 1, 2010.

1. Everyone participating needs to mail Alissa $20.
2. Set a weight loss goal for yourself (keep the MAY 1st deadline in mind)

And...that's it! If you meet your goal, you will get your $$ back. If not, it is left with Alissa, and the person who loses the most weight in the end, AND has met their personal weight goal, will get it as a bonus.

(If I forgot anything, post it in the comments, and I will edit this post)

The Purpose of the Blog

I think this will be a fun and effective way to communicate back and forth. Post recipes, pictures, weigh-in's, thoughts, etc. Yes, it is one more (*groan*) place to go online, but bookmarking it, or saving it to your favorites will help cut down on time and brain power. If you can not break away from the ever tempting "Reply" button on the family e-mails (I don't know about you, but I am already LOST in the sea of "Re: Biggest Loser" in my inbox), I will copy and paste what you write to this spot also. It will keep things chronological, and easier (and more fun...lets not forget that part!) to look back at in the end.