and the WINNER is.......

Congrats to Douglas Bean!  He won the weight-loss challenge, losing a total of 32.8 lbs and 12.3% of his total weight.  The silver medal goes to Christopher Whitney.  He lost a total of 29.8 lbs and 10.6% of his total weight.  The bronze medal goes to Valorie (Mom) Lystrup! She came from behind to lose a total of 16.6 lbs and 8.7% of her total weight.

Winnings are as follows:   Gold $170

                                                    Silver $61
                                                    Bronze $12

Here are the honorable mentions:

Aaron:           total of 25 lbs and 7.8%
Bob:                total of 19.6 lbs and 7.5%
Annie:            total of 16.2 lbs and 7.0%
Alison:           total of 9.8 lbs and 6.7%
Kim:               total of 11 lbs and 4.9%
Mindy:           total of 7.2 lbs and 3.7%
Kaden:           total of 2.2lbs and 2.1%
Kiel:              total of 1lb and .2%

*a few of us owe money:   Mindy you owe Doug $6

                                                     Kaden you owe Chris $1
                                                     Kiel you owe Doug $23

The total amount of weight loss for the group was an awesome: 171.8 lbs for a total of 6.7%

Great job everyone!! 

I know I really benefited from this challenge and it help me get a jump start on losing the extra pounds.  I definitely needed the motivation.  For those of you who want to continue to lose weight, I have another competition proposal for you.  The rules are a little different and ANYBODY can join and win!  Here are the rules (let me know how many of you want to do it):

1.  Everyone sets a goal weight (one that is worthwhile, but not impossible)

2.  Everyone votes on the fairness of the all the goal weights and adjust accordingly

3.  Everyone puts a certain amount of money into the pot (enough to make you really not want to lose it) (Think of it as a great way to save some Christmas spending money)

4.  For those who meet their goal weight and maintain it during the contest (Let's say until Thanksgiving day) they get their money back.  For those who don't:  they divide it among those who did. So basically you are competing against yourself for your own money, but you may end up with more.

5.  There will be a few surprise weigh-ins just to keep us on track.

6.  The first person to meet their goal gets to add some cushion weight to their final goal (so that they are more likely to get their money back)

It's just an idea...I know for me, this works better because I am working against myself but it is enough motivation for me to maintain my weight loss.  For those who want to join in, let me know and start thinking of a  weight goal and the amount of money we should put in. 

Once again....congrats to everyone!  Every single person lost weight!

Don't give up!

We only have a few more weeks left!  I hope that we use this challenge to jump start our healthy lifestyle change permanently.  I looked up some ideas on how to continue to be healthy and keep weight off.  I hope some of these will help us in next several months.

   1.) Plan, Plan Plan.  Whether it's planning out our meals or reviewing what food challenges you might encounter during the day, it will help us fight those extra calories. The prophets have told us time and time again to be prepared!
  2.) Measure yourself.  Keep tabs on your weight.  We need to periodically check  ourselves either by the scale or our favorite pair of jeans. Don't let your weight get away from you.  It's a lot more daunting to know that you have to lose 10 lbs instead just 3!
   3.)Get a Mini-Mantra.  Have a inspiring slogan that help you say no to unhealthy foods.  I have several times said to myself, "I WILL regret this." and it seems to help. 
  4.) Keep a picture of yourself.  Take a good picture at your current weight. Put it on the fridge or in your car.  Put it in places that you know you will see it when you have a craving for unhealthy foods.
   5.)Make it for good. Eating healthy foods only until you hit your target weight doesn't do much for your weight--or health--in the long run. Getting healthy is a lifestyle choice that has to last. As my dad puts it: "If you do what you have always done you will always be able to do it."  It may not be as fast or without aches.  This is why my dad, who is over 60, can run 6 miles without thinking about it.  If you exercise on a regular basis, you will be able to do so your entire life.
   6.) Take a Break. Don't take a break from eating healthy, just take a break from eating!  Have parts of your day where you immerse yourself in non-eating activities. The hormones that work to break down fat and glycogen need time to work, that means not eating for an hour or two.
    7.) Have a Love Affair with Exercise. It revs up your metabolism, making your body a fat-burning machine. This allows you to eat more and still have even better results than healthy eating alone.  The more we move, the more our bodies crave it! It becomes a "GET TO" instead of a" HAVE TO".
  8.) Find Support. Strength is all about numbers. Women, especially, have a chance to instantly create support groups (willing or not). If we buy, prepare, cook and eat healthy, our family will have no choice but to join in the fun.  This challenge has been the push that many of us needed.
   9.)Treat Yourself. Once a day, you can eat just to eat. What food lover doesn't love that? Don't  wreck your whole day, but make it tasty enough that you look forward to it. Also make sure that it's satisfying enough that you won't be craving more right away.
    10.) Enjoy life.  There is no reason that you can't enjoy being healthy.  If you can't find joy in your lifestyle change, it will never stick.  Find exercises and activities that you enjoy doing.  Set goals for yourself so that you can enjoy the satisfaction of accomplishing them.  Who's up for running the half-marathon (13.8 miles) in Vegas this year?  Wouldn't that be a huge accomplishment?  It's a great goal, and who knows, you might actually enjoy it!

Still in the lead

Congrats Doug!  It doesn't look like he is going to let go of his lead easily.  He wins this weigh-in again by percentage points! A big shout out goes to Aaron for losing the most weight - 9lbs.

As a group we have lost just over 142 lbs!  That being said, most of us seemed to slow down a little bit this past two weeks.  (looking at the weight lost alone)

I thought this would be a good time to use myself as a bad example.  I was by far the worst this week gaining one pound.  I have thought about this and I learned a couple of things that I will share with you.

            Being on vacation for a week made it really difficult to work out.  I did find opportunities to take walks and swim etc, but I didn't dedicate time to exercising.  I noticed two things happened because of this:

            1.  I was hungrier! It's odd to think that not burning more calories during the day makes you hungrier, but it did.  I didn't just eat more for the sake of it.  I really was hungry.  I don't know if there is any science behind this.  On days that I exercise hard, I notice that I don't crave snacks or even seconds.

            2.  I think subconsciously I knew that I wasn't exercising so I kind of gave up.  I noticed that when I did snack,  my choices were terrible.  Instead of looking for something healthy that would fill me up, I ate junk food. 

I have since got back into my workout routine.   I already have noticed little changes in my appetite.  I am eating and desiring healthier food.  Yesterday, I made the Cauliflower Mac and Cheese (from the eat-yourself-skinny website) and it was a big hit with the family.  I paired it with a cucumber salad which has almost no calories.  Basically, our dinner was around 350 calories and we left the table feeling completely full!  Yea!