2nd Week Weigh In

Just a heads up...week 2 of the Biggest Loser weigh-in WILL SUCK. Most of us won't have the numbers we put up in the first week, and really, we shouldn't expect to. But...hang in there and the numbers will turn back in your favor if you have patience and persistence in what you are doing.

I'm guessing you aren't in this because you want to "win a contest". While the prize at the end is a nice small bit of motivation, I'd speculate that the real reason you are doing this is to jump-start a healthier lifestyle. So...no worries about what the number in front of you says tomorrow. Maybe it'll go down...maybe it won't...maybe you'll scream in celebration of a landmark weight loss goal....maybe you'll burst into tears, falling in a heap on the floor for hours, leaving Susan wondering if she should hug you or ask you to leave (this may happen when I arrive so someone should make Susan aware of this)...or maybe...just maybe...you'll figure out that regardless of what is on the scale, your ability to walk in there and face it again makes you better than you were the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that...and each day you ARE getting better and better. And that will make it all worthwhile.

A Warrior's Story

We've been blessed to have formed friendships with some pretty amazing people in our lives. And one such person is Brian Hilton....a MMA fighter out of Wichita. He has also had struggles with weight. In fact at one point he weighed 263 pounds and was in the worse shape of his life. 


Here, I'll let Brian take it from there (this is a message from one of our correspondence together, shared with his approval):


"Stephanie, I want to tell you a story about something that had a profound impact on my life about 7 years ago. One day I went to donate plama just because I had some extra time and extra money is never bad. Before I went, I had eaten a sausage biscuit form McDs. Nothing else. No eggs, cheese...nothing. Hours later I went to the lab and they had to bring over a supervisor. They couldnt get any plasma separated from my blood. The supervisor said, "Do you see that cloud stuff in the tube?" "Yes", I said. She mentioned that it was fat...and that I would not be able to donate today. It was too thick, Stephanie. I put that in myself. I was horrified...I will never forget it. How could we put this SHIT in ourselves. They dont care about us. I actually worked with an operations manager in fast food that said "Why do I want to get healthier food? I want people to stay fat and keep coming in!" He was dead serious. I beg you to make a change. Dont let these people define who you are.."

This is Brian now. Still working out hard in the gym...still battling his demons...but not willing to quit!

Brian is a Warrior. Just like we all are. A Warrior is not defined by the war, but defined by the fight you put in it. Every day you gotta' pick yourself up, take the hits life gives you, duck the punches when you can, and counter each of those with our own desires, dreams and power. You've got it all in you. Don't let this war on food...exercise...old habits keep you down. Keep fighting!

Don't even calculate your BMI!

What does BMI mean?

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a calculation based on your height and weight used to determine how at risk you are for many obesity-related health problems. However, because BMI only takes height and weight into account and not body fat percentage, it's often a flawed form of assessing your health risks.

Since we are less than a week from SUPERBOWL SUNDAY...let's look at our top quarterbacks for the game. Tom Brady weighs 225 pounds and stands at 6'4". Eli Manning is also 6'4" and tips the scale at 218. Both these athletes fall under the "overweight" range on the BMI scale. Tom's BMI is 27.8...Eli's BMI is 26.5.

Here's a breakdown of that scale:

Below 18.5 Underweight
18.5 -24.9 Normal
25 - 29.9 Overweight
30 & Above Obese

Do these guys LOOK overweight to you? Even more importantly, do you think Tom Brady irons his own shirts? 

Don't sweat your BMI, folks. I know in this competition you are looking for any and all ways to gauge your weight loss in order to get an edge...but this is not the way to go. 

Working out on an empty stomach

Yeah, I used to do it. Work out before eating because I thought that instead of burning the food that I just ate, my body would finally start burning the fat I had around my midsection. WRONG!

(Doritos not recommended, but you get the point!)

A report published this year in Strength and Conditioning Journal concluded that the body burns roughly the same amount of fat regardless of whether you eat before a workout. But you’re likely to lose muscle by exercising in a depleted state, the report found, and without fuel to aid the workout, exercise intensity and overall calorie burn will be reduced.

Now, I'm no expert by any means....but I'm just throwing out a wicked guess that you don't want to lose your muscle.

In a separate study published in 2002, scientists found an additional benefit from a pre-workout meal: Healthy women who consumed 45 grams of carbohydrates before their workouts ended up eating less throughout the remainder of the day. YAHTZEE! I LOVE THAT IDEA!

Simply put, you wouldn't go on a road trip without first putting gas in the car, would you?


According to Livestrong.com (a great website for information): If you choose to eat before your workout, eat a light 200 to 300 calorie meal with some carbohydrates and protein, according to Health Services at Columbia University. Examples of such foods are egg whites, cottage cheese, yogurt and protein shakes.
Keep the fat content low. Find a drink or food that settles well in your stomach and doesn’t create nausea. A proper pre-workout meal will fuel working muscles with carbohydrates and increase the amount of free-floating amino acids to control muscle breakdown.

We've also had good luck with having some beef jerky or a small ham/mustard wrap before we hit the gym. We also like wraps with turkey pepperoni, mozz cheese and a little bit of pizza sauce. Toss in the microwave to melt the cheese and get ready for your workout burn!

You Can't Do It Alone....

The headline of this blog post might be a bit misleading because there certainly ARE people out there that have successfully hit weight loss goals and obtained a healthy lifestyle on their own. And, maybe it's easier that way. You don't have to worry about fixing a meal that only you can eat....you don't have to eat when everyone else is hungry, you can wait until your body tells you to eat...really now that I think about it, I guess maybe it's more possible than impossible! 

But for me, I can't do it alone. I can't eat healthy alone because I lack the ability to THINK before I eat. I just eat whatever's in front of me. And in the past if I've waited too long to make those decisions, sometimes I would end up on the couch with six pieces of toast and a half gallon of chocolate milk. So...it's nice to have a co-eater (Ha, that's a funny title) along side to help make those calorie decisions. 

I also can't work out well alone. I'm good in the gym, if I have my headphones plugged into a TV in front of me but I'm really pushed when I have a workout partner to keep me accountable and to push me. Andrea does a great job of this. Before Andrea, I had a different workout partner. He was a little overweight himself. Pretty hairy. Panted even when we weren't exercising. And insisted on licking the outside of my knees if I stood still too long. It was my black lab, Cisco.

Back when I first started getting serious about losing weight and exercising...Cisco and I would take out for walks in the countryside. I liked him nearby because not only was he intimidating to creepy people who drove by me...but he also pushed me. Made me walk HIS pace, not my slow wandering lope. When we graduated up to jogging, we'd hit the highway and walk the distance to one telephone pole then jog the distance to the next, then walk the to the next pole, and then jog to the next...we did this for a mile until we hit the highway stop sign and then we'd turn around and do it again back home. Cisco would look back at me every now and then with this big goofy lab grin and made sure that I was keeping up with him. Our best day came when we pushed hard and ran our first complete mile together - NONSTOP! When we hit the stop sign to turn around I was so thrilled I yelled, "WE DID IT, BUDDY! WE DID IT!" Cisco stopped. Put his paws up on my waist and gave me a look that read, "I knew we would do it the whole time...YOU were the only one that doubted us!" And it's true. We humans ALWAYS doubt our abilities. We always say "I can't" before we say "I'm going to try that". You don't see dogs do that. They'll jump headfirst into a bush to flush out a cat without hesitating. When they take out on a walk, they don't think, "Oh, I can only go so far, and then I've gotta turn around." They think, "ALRIGHT, a WALK! This is the BEST DAY EVER!" I think we need that attitude, too. 

Now Cisco's jogs get shorter and shorter. While his heart wants to chase that stop sign down again with me, his body has other plans. We still go for walks. We still pay fetch...though his eyesight doesn't always allow him to find the ball as fast as he used to. But mainly, he's my reminder that rest and recovery is just as important as exercise. We lay on the couch with his big furry paws thrown over my chest and think about all that we've accomplished in the day. He's a good boy. And by far the best workout partner I could have started this journey out with.

I hope you, too, find someone to motivate you!

Saturdays are definitely the most difficult. I dont know if its because we are out and about and around more temptations or if its a saturday party day attitude that I automatically get. All I know is I really want junk food today. Its so ridiculous that food is such an emotional part of our lives but it definitely is. Heavy sigh......just keep on keeping on.

Week 1 Official Results

	WEEK 1 RESULTS
PLACE	TEAM	LBS LOST	% LOST
1	BLT'S	33	3.824%
2	Thin It to Win It	35	3.755%
3	Drop It Like Its Hot	42	3.733%
4	Donkey Kong	26	3.048%
5	Beauty and the Beast	23	2.995%
6	Apple Bottom B's	22	2.683%
7	Still Hungry	24	2.239%
8	Red Hot Oompaloompas	18	2.198%
9	Miss Fits	18	2.190%
10	Buff Bankers	21	2.126%
11	Beachbody Hotties	14	2.003%
12	Fat Cats	16	1.978%
13	Ballers	15	1.935%
14	Can You See Me Now?	13	1.708%
15	LEGGO!	18	1.653%
16	What is HE thinking?	13	1.461%
17	Pound Pushers	10	1.425%
18	De-Fat	10	1.307%
19	3 Girls and a Guy	10	1.242%

Sigh of Relief....

* Note to readers - actors portraying Andrea and Stephanie in this blog are Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman. 


One weigh-in down. As we let out a HUGE sigh of relief, we also are filled with nervous tension about next week, and the week after that, and the week after that. But we all took a BIG step today by walking into that KNRC office and jumping on that scale. We had the courage to sign up. We had the guts to fork over a $20 entry fee. We had the hypothetical balls of steel to follow through and commit to having our weights written down in ink.

The first weigh-in always runs the risk of sending your motivation souring or plunging...it's all how you take it. I've always believed if you don't like what you are seeing, you need to look at it through a different perspective. Maybe you didn't lose as much as you wanted BUT you started implementing healthy eating habits that you will be able to hold yourself to and continue.  I hope you all push forward. We've got a long way to go, friends!

On a different note...let us know what you want to see in this blog. Do you want recipes? Tips? Research-based information? Videos of our HILARIOUS comedy skits that we often perform in the car to our fake audience on the dash? Just let us know!

MMmmmmmmmmm

This soda is fabulous!!!   Wednesday is soda day!!!  And "cheat meal" day.   Why is that?  Because it's weigh day.  And after we weigh we allow ourselves to enjoy those things that we have given up all week in order to become healthier and lighter. 


This last week was very difficult at times.  There were times I was pretty sure one of us (Steph and I) was not going to survive the week.  There were days when I whined and complained and felt sorry for myself and wanted to be selfish.   And I wasn't perfect this week.    But getting on the scale today was much like giving birth. (And not just because Steph was asking for pain meds as soon as we walked through the door) :-)    There was so much waiting and anticipation and anxiety before hand.  But once we saw the number on the scale, then the pain and torture of the week we had just gone through seemed to diminish a bit in our minds.  In fact, we're actually feeling good about being able to survive another one!     


Our team as a whole did very well.  I don't have authority to share the others' numbers, so I won't tell you theirs or a total - but I will very happily tell you that I lost 6 pounds this week and Steph lost 8!!!!    That put us both just under a big milestone we've been fighting with.   I have no doubt that the rest of the weeks aren't going to produce numbers like this - but it does give us motivation to keep going and not lose what we've accomplished. 


That being said - I know some friends of mine who were discouraged by their numbers today.  But don't be.  Everybody's body is different, every week is going to be different.  And, life happens.   As long as we are better off today than we were yesterday.  As long as we are putting forth effort to better ourselves.  As long as we are replacing one unhealthy choice with a healthy choice, then we are accomplishing our goals and we have a huge reason to be proud of ourselves.   And I hope on a day when I'm down on myself that one of you will be kind enough to remind me of this.  And after I cuss at you, I will likely tell you thank you for being a great friend!!!


So, just a few more hours to enjoy the sweet poison of this soda that I love so much - then it's back to square one and back to the whining about not getting it!   Oh yeah, and back on the journey to make my body just a little bit healthier.  :-)

Staying on Track.

In a world full of nothing but temptation after temptation after temptation, being able to stay on track is almost impossible. But at the end of the day if you have...that feeling of empowerment is AMAZING!

We've managed to stay soda free for a week. Avoided our routine processed sugars. Committed to at least an hour workout a day. AND, most importantly, have caused no physical harm to our loved ones in the process. Though there were a few close moments!

The word "willpower" is a tough word to earn, but we can all do it. Take it minute by minute until it turns into hour by hour, then day by day, then week by week. Baby steps are still steps!