WEEK 16

Can I just say... INTO THE 70's!!!!  Well.... just barely.  I weighed in yesterday at Jenny Craig & lost 3.1 lbs & am now 179.5 lbs.  I haven't been in the 70's since Alex & I got married. I FEEL AMAZING!!!!  I just have to say that I love VO2 Max soooooo much.  Here is a list of things I have done within the last 2 weeks that I NEVER thought I could ever do...

1) Push ups from my toes rather than just my knees (like 8 sets of them at a time... so like 50 push ups!)

2) Box jumps... totally overcame a psychological fear I had of trusting myself to jump (with both feet at the same time!) onto a wooden box.  (The one I jumped on was a lot shorter than the one featured in the video in the link)

3) Full sit ups... My abs were terrible & when doing crunches I would get stuck at about 5 inches high... but last week at bootcamp one night, I was just able to do full ones & have been able to do them ever since & it's amazing!!!

and today....

for the first time ever....

I flipped a 330 lb tire...by myself!!!

That is the size of the tire I flipped... And believe me, it was intense.  I'd flipped it with another person before, but I was a goal of mine to do it by myself.  I tried last week & couldn't do it...but today... I got 'er done!  It felt fantastic & I'm not gonna lie, after screaming for a bit, I had a couple of tears of joy in my eyes. 

So that's why I'm so grateful for V02 Max, because without that facility, I never would've been able to accomplish these things.  And I feel so empowered every time I'm there & make it through a bootcamp.

Today was our 2nd Biggest Loser challenge.  We had to do 16 over head presses w/ 15 lb weights, then step up onto a wooden box (not jump) 16 times, then run through a rope grid, then run 4 bean bags back & forth a 10 foot distance, then run across a balance beam, THEN row 500m.  Fastest time wins.  So I went first & booted it & got everything done in 3:39.  I was in first place for the whole thing until Troy went (last) & creamed me with a time of 3:03. 

So it was almost a sweet victory of a 2lb advantage at Monday's weigh in...but once again... Troy got it. That's okay though because the 2lb advantage doesn't count at the finale & as long as I don't get eliminated on Monday, I should still be good to go. :)

Here are the pics Meaghan took of me last week & today...

Gotta keep going!

WEEK 15 & Week 3 Biggest Loser Weigh In

Well.... nothing overly spectacular this week... If I wasn't in a competition right now, I'd be perfectly thrilled with my accomplishments this past week, but because I want to be the Biggest Loser, I'm not as happy with this week's results.  So when I weighed in at Jenny Craig on Friday, I'd lost 2.2lbs & was at 182.6 lbs.  Then, when I weighed in today for the Biggest Loser, I lost 2.8 lbs, bringing me to 180.2 lbs.  So... I'm almost into the 70's!  But I had been hoping for a bigger drop (thanks Lady Time) ... but oh well... at least I'm stll losing & it's a step closer to my goal.

But one really good, positive experience from this week... I went to go visit my good friend Meaghan Purnell (she'd left me a really nice comment on my last blog entry, basically saying she wanted to see what I looked like, since she hadn't seen me in so long) So I went over to her place on Saturday, having not seen her since Christmas, & she freaked out!  She said she thought I looked so good... she even used the word "thin" (which I thought was hilarious...because I still feel sooo huge)... but it was a really nice boost to my self esteem to seesomeone I haven't seen in a few months react that way.  She even wanted to take my picture to show her husband... I'll post it as soon as she emails it to me.

So.... I didn't win the weigh in today... but it's okay... I'm still in the running & I'll keep working hard to win overall. :)

WEEK 2 WEIGH IN of the Biggest Loser Competition

Fan-friggin-tastic is what I say!

This week's weigh in was at the Powder Room & for those of you that are unfamiliar with it, it's this amazing store that sells all sorts of things that I LOVE... like really nice bath products, hand creams, etc.  So I knew I wanted to win their prize.  So it was A LOT of hard work...but... I DID IT!!!

I lost another 7 lbs, am down to 182 lbs & was the overall winner of the weigh in today & won the prize from the Powder Room!

So here are some shot of the awesome prize I won...

So I'm really happy! I'm going to keep working really hard this week too, because next week's weigh in is at Mirage Holistic Spa.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Here are some shots of our groups & Janine (our trainer) & I...

Week 15

Well... another awesome week.  I worked so hard (elliptical or treadmill in the mornings, stairs at work at lunch time & boot camp or other exercise on most evenings) & ate everything I was supposed to with Jenny Craig (as opposed to cutting way back on calories) & I lost 3.7 lbs! I am slightly more than half way through the 80's & hope to be in the 70's by Feb 25th. 

Things have been so good. I try to get as much exercise in as I can (mostly for the competition ~ if I wasn't in the Biggest Loser I might only be working out once a day), but have taken measures to not get burned out. For example: this week I had a sinus cold & so I skipped my evening workout on Tues & my morning one on Wednesday, to get some extra rest.  And I didn't beat myself up about it.  Also, I try to get as much sleep as ssible...even if it means going to bed right after Owen goes to bed.  I am missing out on some things I'd like to do (like watching some TV shows, hangng out with friends, etc), but this is something that I'm working towards right now, & I know that although it's a huge investment of my time & effort right now, it won't always have to be that way.  I know that eventually I'll only have to do "maintenance" workouts rather that the full on workouts I;m doing now.

Things went well with the Biggest Loser weigh in as well.  They had initally weighed me in at 196lbs & then on Monday I weighed in at 189lbs.  So I lost 7lbs & came in 4th overall. You can view the results here.  And if you want to see all of my fellow contestants, you can see them here.  And if you'd like to see pictures from the contest, go here. And... I just found this out... there's videos too!  So it's been pretty fun so far... Lots of hard workouts with Janine at V02 Max.  And our first challenge is tomorrow...so cross your fingers that I'll win!

Week 14

Well... things have still  been good. I lost 1.5 lbs this past week, bringing me down to 188.5 lbs... into the 80's! YAY! I don't know where the heck the 90's went, but I'm now smaller than I was when we moved here almost 4 years ago & am almost as small as I was when Alex & I got married!  I've been trying on clothes from that time & the pants are fine...but man, the shirts are soooo short!  I have to donate them all.  I can't believe I wore shirts that short! (Not immodest short, of course, but the styles are just a lot longer now)

So I am a little disappointed by the 1.5 lbs, because I had been hoping for more.  Last week was the first 3x/day workouts & I was SUPER diligent about my eating.  So when I saw 1. lbs I was a little let down, but Jill & I reviewed my eating for the week & a lot of nights I was just eating sauteed spinach with shrimp & no carbs & I skipped a few of the Jenny Craig snacks (I gave my cheesecake to Alex) & she estimates I was eating less than 1,000 calories per day, which sabotaged my plans for big weight loss.  I had been thinking "the less the better", especially if I was burning so many calories, but I guess I was into "fat storage" mode...  So this week I'm going to eat everything on my Jenny Craig menu (knowing that it will keep me at a healthy 1,200 calories per day) & nothing more.

My first weigh in for the Biggest Loser competition is later on today, so we'll see how that goes... I'll add to this post with the results later!