Finally, a break through!

I've been waiting for this... I've been needing this... I was wondering when it was going to happen...

Back when I went to the gym on a regular basis I remembered really enjoying my workouts. They gave me clarity and peace. It was my me time, and no one was allowed in. I would run or swim and just zone out from whatever was going on in the world. I missed that feeling. It's hard enough knowing what you need to do to get to the end game you want. It's worse when you know that you're the only one getting in your way.

If you had asked me earlier tonight if today was a win or a loose, it was a big fat loose. There had been extra catering today at the office and not only did I eat way too much of that, I did it after having already eaten the healthy lunch I had packed for myself. I felt fat, I felt gross, I felt sick. For a good hour I kept telling my officemate how ill I felt. When would I learn? On the ride home I was exhausted but forced myself to go to the gym. I knew if I could just get into the locker room and get my clothes on I would at least make it through the workout. Did I mention how sick I still felt?

I started off with my warm up. bleh. Dragged my ass upstairs for my stretching. eh. Crawled my way through the circuit room. Should I still be burping hours later? Finally an end was in sight and I just had to make it through my cardio. All of the ellipticals with the TVs were taken (of course they were!), so I decided to hop back on the treadmill. Given my weight, and the early arthritis in my knee, I'm still walking on the treadmill instead of running. To increase my workout I adjust the incline every five minute and walk at a 3.6 mile. As I start to adjust I bump up my starting incline. Tonight as I got to the 20 minute mark I was feeling surprisingly good (especially given that I wanted to vomit in the circuit room). At 25 minutes when I hit my max incline, my arms were pumping and I was on a roll. At 30 minutes I could have gone another 30. What the hell was this? Why wasn't I counting down the last few seconds and contemplating lowering the incline. I knew this feeling. I LOVED this feeling. I was really enjoying myself again.

I can't wait to go to the gym tomorrow!

Biggest Loser Family Challenge Weigh-in #2

And the winner is.......Team F! They're doing great. If this had only been a two month challenge there would have been hundredths of a percent separating our two teams.

Team Monkey: 423.2 - 418.6 = 4.6 = 1.09%
Team P: 455 + 459 = +4 = +0.88%
Team F: 567 - 552 = 15 = 2.65%
Team L: 438 - 429 = 9 = 2.05%

Well, this month wasn't stellar for me personally. I caught myself stress eating a lot, and making excuses for not working out. I made it to the gym at least twice a week (probably averaged about 3 times) but really that's pretty pathetic for me. I need to recharge, I need to de-stress, I need to focus. Part of the problem has been alcohol. While I don't call hanging out with our friends a problem, I don't necessarily need to drink as much as I am when we do it. My goal for the next month is to regain control.

Biggest Loser Family Challenge Weigh-in #1

At the end of last year, my mom casually threw out the idea of a family Biggest Loser Challenge. Little did she know that I would jump on the idea and run full sprint out the door and around the house with it.

My family is heavy. None of us have chronic diseases because of it, but there's nothing to say that it isn't just a matter of time. My parents are nearing retirement and my aunt an uncle are in their 40s. Changing their lifestyles is going to be difficult. On the younger end of the spectrum is my sister, brother-in-law, husband, and me. All married for less than two years and looking to start having children in the near future. There's no way we want to pass our bad habits on to the next generation. Given that my husband loves anything competitive I knew he would be in. Now, I only had to convince the rest of the group.

The Challenge:
We broke into teams of two with one male and one female on each team. Each team lives in the same house, so there are similar support structures. The first weigh-in was January 2, 2009. Each month we weigh in as a team again with the final weigh-in being January 29, 2010. This will teach everyone that it's a lifestyle change, not a diet. We will go through each holiday and everyone's birthday and learn how to celebrate without jumping off the wagon. If we fall, we have someone there to pull us back on.

Game Play:
Each month, the team with the highest percentage of weigh loss for that month wins an extra pound off the final weigh-in. Given that the challenge is so long, we needed an incentive for people to not wait until the end to start loosing weight. Teams can use any weight loss and exercise regimen they chose.

The Prize:
Thirteen months is a long time, so a big prize was needed. Each team is tossing $150 into the pot and the winning team will walk away with $450 in cash. The challenge ends the day before our family cruise vacation, so that's a lot of party money! And we'll look fabulous doing it.

So how did we do??? Well, Team Monkey kicked ass and won the first month. Down a whopping 22.8 lbs and on our way to total family dominance!

Team Monkey: 446 - 423.2 = 22.8 = 5.11%
Team P: 464 - 455 = 9.0 = 1.94%
Team F: 588 - 567 = 21.0 = 3.57%
Team L: 436 - 438 = +2.0 = +.46%