Happy Birthday Jamie!

Today is my Sister-in-law's (Doug's brother's wife), Jamie's, birthday! I just wanted to give a shout out to her. I really admire Jamie! She is a positive person who has more faith and optimism than I could ever hope to have. She is a hardworker and when she decides to do something she does it and does it well. Hope you have a good one, Jamie!

I tried to steal a picture off her blog but for some reason I couldn't get it. And for some reason I can't find any pictures of her. So use your imagination... She's really cute!

Before & After

Here are my official before & after pictures.

And here's a little bit better picture of my team:

We're Losers

The biggest losers, that is!!!!! Our team won. We won by 2 1/2%! Woo Hoo! Our team lost a total of 207.6 pounds. That is 1 large person or 2 small people. All in 8 weeks, pretty amazing! We were given the choice between $500 cash or a family membership (1 year) and our Body Bugg. I chose the membership and Body Bugg. I actually think Doug is as excited as I am. I'm thrilled that we won, but I do have to say that I'm not as excited as I thought I would be. The 35.8 pounds was way more exciting to me. The 13 mile hike was more exciting and definitely the relationships formed were the best!

I am very sad to not have the daily interaction with my team, but we are going to try to continue to go hiking on Tue. mornings. I'm getting up tomorrow morning and going to water aerobics. I am going to try to give my knee a break this week so I will be doing lots of swimming and water aerobics with the exception of my Tues. hike. Hopefully, by next week I'll be able to get back to walking and hopefully a little more running.

Ok, sharing my goals so that I have some accountability. I am going to try to continue to update my weight loss weekly- sorry you have to deal with it. They are going to be doing another Bodybugg challenge in September. I am planning on joining it again, but by then I want to lose another 20 pounds. I'll keep you all updated.

Here are a few pictures from Saturday morning. Sorry they aren't great but they're what I have. I'm working on getting hold of some of the others.

My team: Felice (trainer) laying across us. (LtoR) Anita, Bobbi, Mic (Biggest loser % of the whole contest), Evelyn, Natalie, Diana, Me, Lee













This is us getting our "big checks". Notice Bevan had to be right with me- what's up with that? So grateful that our families were there to support us! We couldn't have done any of this without them.

Weighing In!

True story; DON'T ever take a laxative hoping to lose water weight if you're also not eating. :) It doesn't work until you start eating again and by then it's too late! So, the moral of my story is; none of my "cheating" worked! I went on a walk and to the sauna last night and by the time I got home my kidneys were hurting so I had to drink! Oh well, it's all good.

Weight loss this week: 4.8 pounds! That makes a total of 35.8 pounds for this 8 week period!!!!!!! I am so proud of myself. I worked hard. And had some great experiences and learned so much more about myself.

We haven't found out which team won yet. Tomorrow morning at 8:00 we have our meeting where they will give out the prizes. I can't wait (or weight!). As soon as my "before and after" pictures are available I'll post them. Don't get too excited- I'm not brave enough to post my swimsuit pictures. Maybe when I've lost 100 pounds I'll post those pictures! ;)

How do I find time?

Andrea left a comment and wondered how I find time for all the exercise I am doing. I've been thinking about this A LOT. Mainly because I am trying to figure out how to keep my good habits up. First of all, remember a few weeks ago when I had the post about being frustrated with not being able to get everything done? That is just a normal part of my life, and I'm beginning to be ok with it. My blog is boring, my house is messy, I have projects left undone, etc... But, I weigh less, I feel healthier, I'm happier and I'm stronger. I have been dedicating HOURS per day to my exercise for the last eight weeks. I know this will not keep up. My goal for the rest of the summer is to get up at 5:30 and get a good, hard exercise session in. Then I hope to be active with my family for the rest of the time so that I can keep my calorie burn up. I know that the rate at which I lose will slow down, but that's ok, as long as it keeps going down. I do have to say, the week that I went to Holly's I only walked about an hour/day and I had a 5 pound loss that week. So, maybe cutting back will be ok.
I've also cut my calories down too low. I have only been eating about 1200 calories/day. Because I am eating so many veggies I have not felt hungry at all, but that is a few too few calories. I have been feeling a little burned out and I'm sure it's because I don't have enough calories to fuel my body. So, I will be going up to about 1500 calories per day.
Tomorrow is the final weigh in. Our team really has a good chance of winning. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I'm really hoping! I think we're all doing crazy things to ourselves today. I would normally be VERY against these things but when 1 pound could make the difference, I think it's ok to sacrifice for one day. So, on top of the water pill and laxative I'm off to hang out in the sauna tonight and then again in the morning. I know that this is weight that will come back on the minute I eat or drink, but I will deal with that and next week I'll be back for the true weight loss.

13 miles!

That is the number of miles I hiked today. Yup, that is about 1/2 marathon. And believe me, there was a lot of steep up hill hiking! My legs just about sat down and told the rest of my body they would catch up later. We started at the Nature Center, went up to the rock quarry, then down to Spring Hollow, up to Malibu-Guinavah, across the street to Wind Caves and then went back down the same way. 3100 calorie burn, baby! That's a whole days worth in a few hours. This had better be a good weight loss week, that's all I can say! :) Actually I am really enjoying the outdoors and the river and all the wildlife (4 snakes today).

We did 8 miles yesterday. I can't believe how much easier that was the 2nd time. Maybe I'll have to try the 13 miles again. Hmm, then again maybe not...

Bend it like Beckham

So, this is a post I should have made a long time ago, but it also happened about the same time as my Body Bugg Challenge so I have been a little distracted. ;)

This past Christmas my family decided that instead of exchanging gifts we would pick couples and take them out for a date. It seems like it has been fun so far. We tend to spend a lot of time in big groups, but not really individual, so this is a good thing.

Anyway, Doug and I had Alesa and Justin. We decided to take them to a Real game. (The professional soccer team.) We decided if we were going to go we might as well go to the game where Beckham would be playing. It was SO much fun. There were crazy fans and some truly good soccer. The game ended in a tie- weird!

Beckham was WAY hot. But I have to say, some of the other players were just as hot! ;) (Don't tell our husbands) At the end of the game Beckham took off his jersey and gave it to a girl in the audience. I bet she was dying!