I've tried for three days to post. This is the first time that blogger hasn't given me an error message. Thank goodness...

I don't have much to report. I wish I could say that I was doing better with my weight loss, but I'm not. I guess I'll just have to accept whatever happens and move on...cuz what else are you going to do? I'm glad that some of you are doing SO well. It really does give me hope and strength. Good luck with the weigh in everyone!! I'm rooting for you!!!!

hello again

I feel like I've been away from this blog for forever!! I need to get my butt back in gear and start blogging my progress (or lack of). It's been up and down. We've officially moved into a new house. We're short selling/losing our other house and it's been very emotionally draining. I've decided that it's MUCH easier to make healthy living a lifestyle when you're in a good place emotionally. I've had good days and bad days but I haven't given up...which at this point is a major hurdle for me! Thanks for your continued support. I'll try to get on here more often so I can read what you guys are writing and doing - maybe get myself some motiviation.

Three of the reasons I do this...

plodding along

Hello all!! I'm trying to be more pro-active about looking on all the websites and keeping myself on track, but lately I'm just so ding-dang busy. We're moving from one house to another and it's taking more of my time than I anticipated. I'm still doing fairly well. I could do better, but I could also be doing a lot worse, so I'll just keep striving to do better. I've read a bunch of your blogs and I'm so impressed with how hard so many of you are working and the results your getting. It really is an inspiration to me.

weighed in - not good!!

Okay, so I didn't so much rock this month. I actually gained two pounds. With the month I've had I'm almost surprised it isn't more. BUT - my sister and I decided that this is OUR month. March - bring it on!!! We are going to rock this month! I'm pumped and ready. I hope everyone else had a better month than I did. I'm rooting for you ALL!!! Good luck with the weigh-ins everyone!!!

I hate computer viruses!!!

Ugh!! I hate computer viruses. This is the first time this week that I've been able to get on my computer without having a slew of problems. Last night when my hubby was helping me figure out what was going wrong, he was talking about backing everything to an external hardrive and re-installing everything on my computer, I was freaking out! My life is on this computer. This is when you have a love/hate relationship with technology.

On the weight loss front, that has been sucking big time too! These last couple of weeks have been pretty emotional for me for a few different reasons and I'm finding it really hard to care about what goes in my mouth. I don't want to revert back to my old habits, so I'm trying to care but sometimes it's super hard. I'm hoping at this next weigh in to be at least maintaining my current weight loss. Next month is going to be better...it really is!!! One of the things I decided that I need to do that really would help is to blog every day. I find that if I'm doing poorly, I'll avoid my blog, and other people's blogs because I don't want to hear it, see it, deal with it, etc. If I get on my blog everyday and look at other's blogs it really is more of an encouragement thing for me. I have a feeling that if I want to get over this slump I'll have to spend some serious time trying to get my head back in the right place.

Sorry, this post has turned into one big fat rant. I apologize, but really needed to get that out of my system. Trying to purge the bad out so I can concentrate on what needs to happen now. Good luck to everyone out there. I can't wait to see everyone's progress at this weigh in - I'm sure it will help kick start my butt into gear!!!

Girls Weekend

Having a fun weekend in St. George with some girlfriends. It's been so fun. Not doing so great with eating...but I'm feeling good about the changes I've already made and I know I'm still headed in the right direction. I'm starting a new exercise routine as a friendly competition with my sister. We are both trying to improve the amount of time we spend MOVING each day as a way to stick to our goals and stay with it. We have a goal to work-out and move at least 150 minutes each week, beginning Monday. We will tally up the minutes at the end of each week, then at the end of 4 weeks the 'winner' gets a little prize. We mainly want to help encourage each other, and also push ourselves and we are hoping this will do the trick. Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I am!!!

Having a harder time

Maybe it's because it came off so easily before...maybe I'm just thinking too hard about it, but I'm having a harder time losing weight. It's been one week tomorrow since the weigh in and I've lost less than a pound this week. I haven't done anything differently really. I do need to work out more and I guess if I really want to stay consistent I should be better about keeping track of my calories. I know I'm not going over my goal intake, but I'm a little worried that if I'm dropping way below then my body may think that it's not getting enough and start storing what I do eat as fat. I HATE, HATE, HATE keeping track of what I eat. I KNOW in my head that keeping track will make a difference and it might make all the difference in the world. I know that in my head...however, I HATE keeping track. I don't know what my problem is. I think I'm just fundamentally lazy. Ugh! That's not going to be easy to fix. :)

Oh well, I guess I'll just keep plugging away and eventually all the changes I've made to my lifestyle are going to make a difference.

Good luck to all this next week and Happy Valentine's Day on Sunday to each of you!!

For what it's worth

Karilynn asked me to please share some of the things I did this month to lose the weight that I lost. If you saw my pictures then you can see that I have A LOT more to lose. One of the reasons that I was able to lose 22 pounds is because I have so much to lose. I was looking at the pictures I took and could barely see any difference. I'm actually hoping to see more of a difference in the coming months. Anyway, I digress...sorry.

Here are some of the ways I lost weight.

9 out of 10 mornings I start my day with a bowl of oatmeal. 1/2 cup with hot water - sometimes a little honey to sweeten.

Then I don't eat anything until lunch. For lunch I will generally have a sandwich. I bought low cal meat (3 slices for 45 calories), I put it on 45 calorie bread and add sprouts, cucumbers, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and a little mayo and mustard. If I am still hungry I also will eat 1/2 cup to 1 cup of dannon light and fit yogurt. I also drink as much water as I can stand during lunch.

I eat one snack in the late afternoon like an orange, or I'll pop some 94% fat free popcorn. The popcorn is good because it also makes me thirsty and forces me to drink more water. Some snacks I enjoy are fat free saltine crackers, fat free cottage cheese, dannon light and fit yogurt, fruits, and veggies.

For dinner I stick with veggies, chicken, salads - sometimes I'll make myself a 'grilled burrito' with peppers, onions, chicken and put it in a low carb, low fat wheat tortilla, topped with fat free sour cream. I'm not a great cook so I'm always looking for easy things to eat. Sometimes it's just about eating a small portion of whatever my family is eating and loading up on the veggies. And sometimes, it's about making the best choice possible given your current choices. This month I've eaten McDonald's three times. Once I got a yogurt parfait and twice I ate a grilled chicken sandwich with no mayo.

The thing that has made the most difference to me (eating wise), I think, is not eating after about 6pm at night. I eat dinner and then I just stop eating...no exceptions!

I also have started to exercise, mostly just stuff in my front room that I can do myself. Maybe 10 minutes with the Biggest Loser tapes, or I'll run up and down my stairs until my legs burn, also wall sits are horribly hard and great if you want your legs to burn :) . I've started parking farther away at the stores and walking faster as long as I don't look too stupid. I lift 5-8 pound weights for my arms and I bought myself a kettle ball (I think that's what it's called) and I swing that around like they do on Biggest Loser.

There are SO MANY things I still need to learn. This diet for me is about eating less and moving more. It's really that simple. I just try to make better choices every minute of every day. I read all your blogs and you guys give me better ideas every day. I also receive a huge amount of motivation from all of you. I cannot even explain to you how much it means to me to finally be losing weight after years, and years of being the biggest sister/daughter in my family, or the biggest friend in my group of friends. I have so much more to lose but I'm finally on the journey that will take me there.

The last thing I wanted to say is...every time I REALLY want to eat something that I love I think to myself "I've had it before, I know what it tastes like, I'll have it again, just not right now" That one phrase has helped me through a lot of temptations.

Thanks again for all your support and love. I'm rooting for each and every one of you to be successful in this journey. It's one day at a time for me, sometimes it's one minute at a time, but I love that I can jump on my computer and pull up the blogs that give me the strength to say no long enough to get past that craving and eventually see the results on the scale.

I surpassed my goal!!!!!

I did better than I thought I would. I'm far from where I need to be, but my goal this month was 20 lbs and I lost 22.6 lbs. All those nights of not eating after 6:30 and going without some of my favorite foods is paying off. This is so empowering for me! I've needed to lose this weight for so long and I finally feel like I'm making changes in my life that are going to last and make a difference. I'm finally doing this for the right reason - just for me - so I can feel better and be a healthier person. I'm so excited! I can't wait to see how everyone else did. I'm so excited for all my 'friends' that are in this with me. I read your blogs and root for you each week. I hope to find continued success. My next goal is just to see a '1' as the beginning number on the scale. It's been WAY TOO LONG since that's been the case. I'm waving bye, bye to habits that have kept me weighed down for years - and I'm never looking back!

It's not about the money

This competition for me is not about the money. It's all about finally getting on track to lose the weight that's been hanging around my midsection for the last 15 years. I'm turning 35 this year (in March) and I want this to be my year to get my skinny me zipped out of my fat me. I paid $40 just like everyone else to enter this comp, but if I don't see a dime of it back it will still all be worth it. I enjoy the camraderie, the support, and the encouragement I receive from everyone that's doing this right along with me. I appreciate Karilynn for taking the time to put this all together and the time she spends reading and commenting on all the blogs. I appreciate all the support that my sister, Elise gives me. She calls me almost every day and tells me how proud she is that I'm taking these first steps towards a better me. She's my inspiration. She's lost a bunch of weight and looks FABULOUS! I'm so proud of her! I have been doing pretty well this month and I'm very happy with my progress and the changes I'm making for me. It seems like every other diet I've ever tried I did it for someone else, or to look good for someone else. This is the first time that I've really decided to make a change for me and nobody else. I'm taking my life back one bite at a time (that pun was so intended :)) Anyway, before this first weigh in I just wanted you all to know my true intentions. I'm honestly rooting for each and every one of you. I know I need to be better about writing on all the blogs and sending encouraging thoughts your way. I do read what you write and it's because of all of you that I'm able to stay on track. This is the most empowering thing I've ever done for myself and I'm happy! I wish you all the best of luck tomorrow!!!

it's wrong, just so you know

Just so you all know, my ticker is wrong. I decided a few weeks ago not to update my weight loss ticker until the day of the weigh ins each month. I'm actually doing better than my ticker says, so I didn't want anyone to think I went on some rapid weight loss drug to get to my monthly goal. I will update my ticker on Friday. I'm looking forward to seeing all the weight loss of the people in the comp. I've been reading your blogs and they give me great support and ideas. Thanks to everyone!!! Good luck!

out of town

We're out of town this weekend. That's always harder, but I'm doing pretty good so far. I'm excited to get home and see how I did. I know it's just the start of the weekend, but I'm determined to do well. Portion size, counting calories, more water, etc. Have a great weekend everyone!

5 more pounds

I wish I only had five more pounds to reach my ultimate goal, but there's only so much you can do in one month :) I do, however, have only five more pounds until I reach this month's goal! I'm super excited and would love to make it happen. I have until the weigh in on February 5th to lose this weight and I know it can be done. I think it will help to have small goals that will eventually become my big goal. Every five pounds makes a difference. We are going out of town this weekend and when I'm driving it's always hard not to snack. I'm going to make a choice to not eat when I'm not hungry and to bring good, healthy snacks to eat when I actually am hungry. For me it's about planning ahead of time not to fail. Good luck everyone!

Biggest Loser Workout

The Biggest Loser 30 day jump start DVD just kicked my behind!!!! I only did 10 minutes of cardio. 10 minutes people - how pathetic am I? I know it's been a long time since I really worked out hard and those extra 90 pounds are pretty hard to heft around, but 10 minutes? really? how old did I get? seriously!!! I do feel good now though. I drank a bunch of water after I did my 10 minutes, plus I sat down and did some sit-ups and lifted my wimpy 8 pound weight for my arms, and I feel good. It feels good to do SOMETHING after doing nothing for so long. I know that I'll just get better and better (after I die tomorrow, I'm sure) so I'm not giving up. I'm sure that many of you can relate to my go, go, go, and then give up mentality that had me gaining all this weight through the years. Well this time, it's just going to be go, go, go, and never look back!!! Biggest Loser DVD day two (tomorrow) here I come. Wish me luck people!

still going, and going...

Sometimes I have to remind myself that even though this is a weight loss competition, it's also a lifestyle that I've chosen, so I need to cut myself a break every so often. I know it's about making good food choices, but sometimes, it's about celebrating your son's birthday and not stressing over the one meal that probably sent me over my goal caloric intake. I am proud of the job I've been doing, knowing that it took me 10 years to look this way. I would be thrilled if it only took 1 year to get it all off. Had to get that off my chest. Good luck to all, still rooting hard for all of your success.

second week blah!

So, I was watching the biggest loser last night and they all kept talking about the second week curse. I guess you don't lose as much the second week (as evidenced by my scale so far - and the biggest loser contestants weigh in's) The second week is proving to be harder than I anticipated. During the first week I was gung-ho and rearing to make this weight loss happen. This week, so far, I've had to do some serious self-talk to keep me on track. I haven't fallen off the band-wagon, I'm just saying that it's taken a lot more strength and will power this week to turn away the 'good looking' food and keep on track with the 'good for me' food. I appreciate all the support I've received so far. It's so nice to think how many other people might be going through the same things I'm going through. I'm rooting for you all!!! Power to the weight loss in the second week y'all!!!!!

revitalized!!!

Just finished watching the season premier of the Biggest Loser...talk about motivating. WOW! Why haven't I been watching this show, this is so awesome! I hope I can keep this feeling of motivation through the week. This is a journey and my journey started on January 5, 2010 and I WILL accomplish my goals this time. I WILL lose weight and begin to feel healthier. I WILL make this happen for myself. This is MY TIME! Watch out world cuz HERE I COME!!!

the weekend is almost over

Weekends are hard!!! They are harder than weekdays for me. I have an easier time saying no to foods and regulating my diet on weekdays than I do on weekends. Our church now starts at 9am and ends at 12noon. This is hard cuz then for the rest of the day I have to try not to think about food. I also need to work on breaking habits, such as eating while watching tv or eating while working on the computer. Most of the time I'm not really hungry, it's just a habit. So, these are the things I'm working on this week. All in all, this week and weekend has been good. We are making some food adjustments in our household that are positive. We have switched to brown rice, wheat tortillas, and wheat bread (double fiber). My boys are still not on board with the double fiber wheat bread, so we are making some compromises.

Good luck to all this week! I'm rooting for all of you. It's so nice having others doing the same things I am, and rooting for me as I am rooting for all of you!

a step in the right direction

Went to a pizza place tonight with a friend, to help her with her son's birthday party, and I didn't eat it. That's a big step for me - I waited until I came home and ate some turkey and an orange instead. For me it's about making the small choices every day.

thanks everyone!

I really appreciate all the comments and suggestions I got after I posted last. It helps to be in this with people who understand and who support each other. I hope I can be as much of a support to you guys as you're being to me.

As you can see on my weight loss ticker, I'm down 3 pounds. I know that a lot of this is water weight, and I have a lot to lose, but it helps for me to see it come off a little bit more quickly at the beginning. Having the weight come off when you really are putting forth your best effort really makes it easier to keep going. I've started and stopped so many diets I cannot even tell you. I'm sure many of you did the same things I did. This time I'm determined to make it more of a lifestyle change than a diet. Right now I'm depriving myself of things that I love so I can lose weight. When I hit my goal weight I will just eat them sparingly. I keep telling myself that 'I know what it tastes like, I will taste it again' and that helps me get through some of the hardest times.

Again, thanks guys for your support. It makes a world of difference.

day three

Here we are on day three. I can't believe it's only day three. Changing your mindset about food is hard work - someone tell me how long is this going to take again :)

I had a good day yesterday but decided that I'm going to have to figure out more foods in more varieties that I can eat. I'm okay breakfast and lunch but the time in between lunch and dinner, and then dinner itself is really hard for me. I need a recommendation of a good and EASY cookbook for healthy recipes, or just some good ideas of food choices for snacks and dinner.

I'm teaching again today and it's always easier during the day when I do that cuz my mind isn't wandering towards food and my hands are kept busy most of the day. I have a turkey breast to put in the crockpot this morning so dinner is taken care of today also. So, it's going to be a good day.

day one

Today I had oatmeal for breakfast and progresso light soup for lunch. In between I ate a few pretzels with yogurt and a rice cake. (I actually love rice cakes, so this wasn't a sacrifice). I took my before pictures, can I just say OH HOLY COW!!! It's way different when you see yourself like that. It makes eating things that are good for you a little easier cuz I'm pretty disgusted at how far I let myself go. I've had good intentions for a long time about losing weight. Well, I'm ready now and my time starts now, I start making a difference today, and it's gonna be GREAT!! I'm at my heaviest I've ever been. I tip the scales at 230.6 lbs. I wasn't sure I was going to write that down, but in order for me to really commit I had to share that. I'm gonna take this one day at a time and make small goals. I'd like to lose 2-3 pounds this week, that's my first goal. I'm not going to think past that for now. I think that goal is attainable for me. Also, I need to go find a flexible tape measure because I want to also keep track of inches lost. I think that will help me with my motivation. I appreciate all the support and I appreciate Karilynn for sponsoring this competition, it's just what I needed to get my rear in gear. Good luck to all!! I'll be rooting for each and every one of you. If I lose weight and get healthier in these next few months it will be worth every penny spent to join!!

my first post

Hello all (or just me)

It's January 4th 2010 and I just joined a weight loss competition. This is my blog that will keep me on track. I LOVE food. I love it, I love eating it, I just LOVE food. I am going to miss being able to eat my favorite things, however, I am determined to lose weight and not be the 'fat' mom anymore. Now, to be fair, my boys have never called me fat. They would never even dream of saying something like that. I have good boys :) who value their lives way too much. I have three boys ages 13, 11, and 5, so I named my blog Fit for My Boys. I said fit and not skinny cuz that's my BIGGEST problem. I dislike exercising even more than I love food - which is saying a lot - so that is what I will be working on the hardest. This is going to be a bumpy road for me, but I think that the competition and the blog will help keep me on track. So, here goes nothing...