Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Mission Accomplished!

Whew! I did it!! I made it through 12 weeks of intense weight loss! It really has been challenging, emotional, frustrating, amazing, all-consuming and just a crazy experience!

Sunday night that all came to an end. Our final weigh-in was at 7:00...at night! It was a really hard day as I usually gain 2-3 pounds by the end of the day. Over the past 2 weeks, we stopped getting the email updates so I had no specifics on how the other contestants were doing, and how close or far away anyone was to gaining on me. (Or losing I guess!;0)) I did find out right before the end that I had finally taken first place after being in second for weeks. I was SO excited but figured that I must still be pretty close to the other contestant based on prior numbers. That last week I was quickly approaching my goal weight as well, so the scale was not being kind to me...what a week for that! I ate as well as I could, worked out and continued to kep track of everything I ate. I had a feeling it wouldn't be enough but gave it my all anyway. I knew it would be better to completely know I had given everything I had, every step of the way.

On the night of the final weigh-in, there were only about 5 woman that showed up out of the original 44. The woman I was in direct competition with weighed-in before me...and lost 10 pounds! My heart sunk. I couldn't believe it! Hard to know in that moment that I had lost it...and be in a room full of people when you want to cry for a minute. I was able to recover quickly, there are just a lot of emotions that go into this intense of a competition. When you literally put your whole life into it for so long.

I did end up with a solid second place with a percentage of 17.8% of my body weight lost!! That really is an awesome accomplishment! First place was 19.9% and third, 13.1%. My total pounds lost in the 12 weeks was 33!!! =0) And I am not looking to find any of them!

I am so happy that I did this, even with all of the emotional ups and downs. I set out to lose weight and accomplished all of my goals! I lost 13 more pounds than I had hoped to, and I never gained during the entire 12 weeks! (Even with a trip to the mountains and Vegas!) That I am proud of. I feel healthier. It has reset my outlook on food. I am highly aware of how many calories and fat are in everything. I again know how to make better choices when eating out, and to pay close attention to my "full meter".

This leads me to the work it's going to take to maintain. I am taking the week off from writing things down and then I plan to pick that up again. I want to find that "sweet spot" I need to maintain.

Thank you to those that have been such an encouragement to me! My husband has been great and so have my boys! My mom and Crystal, you have been so awesome as well, always full of praise and kind words! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So to sum it up, I am SO glad this is over with, I'm very happy with my results and I'm pleased I set out to do something...and did it well! =0)

(P.S. I finally have pictures to add but for some reason blogger is looking really weird and there is no spell check or link to add photos... ideas anyone??)

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Quote of the Day


It's been awhile, need to pick this back up! So today we went to Disneyland and the kids saw Captain EO for the first time. After leaving the show, Zachary is walking with Craig and says, "I didn't know Michael Jackson was a girl!" So Craig asks why he thinks he's a girl and he answers, "Well, because of his voice!" =0)

Alexis at 7 Months



Thursday night baby girl turned 7 months! How I love that sweet little bundle! She is such a happy baby, beaming at her family, sharing little giggles with us. So different from the first months of her life! The only time she really gets fussy now are if she's sleepy or hungry. And she would still rather not be in the car. She started sitting up this month which was a huge milestone! She really loves being able to sit and play with her toys. I think this new view on the world has really helped her to be even more content. Here is Alexis at 7 months old.

*She now sits on her own. Falls over occasionally.

*She's eating some solids. Yes, we did finally start, the day after her 6 month blog actually. She still is not the biggest fan of solids but has done better. She really needs to learn how to eat from a spoon as she still licks at it like she's nursing. While attempting to eat she can often be seen "shuddering" at whatever we just put into her mouth. So far she has had squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, pears, bananas and most recently, apples. It seems that she likes the bananas best which fits in perfectly with her brothers whom we affectionately named, "The Banana Brother's" due to their love of the fruit! She has also tried sweet potato puffs.

*She still needs to be swaddled. Seriously hope she can get over that soon!

*At her 6th month check up she measured in the 3rd percentile for height! I can't believe she is so short! The boys were always so long and Craig and I are so tall it's really surprising!

*As a result of her shortness she is still in 3-6 month clothing. We are using size 2-3 Swaddlers on her. They smell sooo good (when clean of course!)

*And on that note, she is now a pooping machine, making up for lost time I guess. The bad part about that is it often does not stay in the diaper. We can pretty much count on her pooping everywhere at least once a day. Not fun, especially when we are out and about!

*She had her first out of state trip this month. We traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada where Craig had a conference to attend. She did really well and enjoyed being outside by the pool everyday. She sat very contentedly on a towel playing with a few toys and just really enjoyed the atmosphere. Cute story, on our last day there, Craig was able to come to the pool with us. We went in the Lazy River and put Alexis in her little boat floaty. We went around quite a few times and she kept sinking lower, and lower and her eyes got heavier and heavier until she was out. She was so relaxed in the water it put her right to sleep!

*She swang in a swing at the park for the first time and really liked it! We bought her a baby one for our swing set at home but still need to put it up.

*Still no teeth (I am very happy about this!)but seems like she has been teething for months! She drools a ton and wants to chomp down on everything she can get into her mouth! I'm sure it won't be long now until a few make their way through!

*Her favorite toy is her Leap Frog doggy, "Violet". She loves for it to sing to her. She also still really enjoys her saucer.

Over all we are enjoying her immensely! There is always someone in the family going over to her, giving her kisses and sweet talking her. I have said it before but I feel so complete with her here. We all do!








Monday, March 15, 2010

Adventures in Vegas

I am sitting in a dark hotel room. I hear the shuffling of sheets and the occasional whisper of a child who is supposed to be napping. Currently 1 out of 4 are sleeping and I'm hoping that count is about to go up.

We are here for yet another of Craig's conferences. It's a great deal as the gas to get here, and the room, are paid for by his company. Since Vegas is within driving distance we usually try and come with him. Ironically the kids LOVE coming! There really are a lot of things to do here with them. This visit we are staying at the Mandalay Bay for the first time. I have always wanted to stay here because I knew they had an awesome pool area. We made it down to the beach area this morning and it was better then I thought! The beach part has sand, a huge wave pool, and a huge children's wading area that the waves roll into. The boys played without stopping for nearly an hour and a half. I finally had to call them out. Alexis wore her very first bathing suit and looked absolutley adorable! I sat her in the water with me for a bit and she did well with it. There are other pool areas (and spas!) that we will have to check out as well.

The view from our room is amazing. I will have to try and get a picture. We have an unobstructed view where we can see the entire pool areas, beyond that is the airport runway where we can see airplanes and helicopters coming and going...so awesome! At night we can see tons of lights that go on forever...it's a great room.

Tonight Craig has a dinner after the conference and then a party after that. So bummed! Today is going to be the hardest. He is going to come back in between all of that to help us navigate through the maze that is Vegas so we can get a quick bite to eat though. Whew! Last night we walked around "The Miracle Mile" mall, ate dinner and watched it "rain" inside. I ate a very yummy Chinese Chicken Salad. I really wanted a burger but that actually really ended up hitting the spot!

It's always weird stepping out of "normal" life but it's refreshing too. Getting away from the routine of life every now and then is really helpful. I'm missing weigh in today though which I'm bummed about. Two weeks left as of today. We have a cooler with us and lot's of food to help me stay on track while we are here. When the kids wake up I plan on doing my pilates video as well.

Looks like the baby is still asleep and Jacob is as well. Yay those are the two that really needed a good nap! Thankfully everyone did really well sleeping last night despite all 6 of us sharing a room AND the darn time change! We will see what tonight brings!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Weight Loss...Akkk!

At over 9 weeks into this weight loss competition, I am SO READY TO BE DONE!!!!! I am really happy with my progress, and have done better then I had even hoped. At this point I have now lost 24 pounds even and am in second place!! Hurray! In the school competition I have been in first place nearly the entire time. Next week is the end of that one, but I have to weigh in 4 days early since we will be out of town. So bummed!

And I am frustrated, tired of scales, tired of watching everything that goes into my mouth, tired of my life centering around weight...just tired! I'm tired of all the scales being different everywhere I weigh in and literally never knowing what to expect each week. I'm tired of being frustrated that no matter how hard I try, I can't get to first place. I have been able to stay so consistent the entire 9 weeks. Never losing less then a pound and a half every week. I have not cheated at all. And yet it's not good enough. There are so many times I wanted to eat something, or a lot of something, but I knew it would only hurt me. Even if no one else saw, I knew. So I didn't do it. I have also pushed myself to work out more. I enjoy using the Wii Fit because I don't completely despise it and I like how it keeps track of all my records. Last week I pushed myself to do the Island Lap 3 times in a row which meant running for over 40 minutes. It's been good to see the progress and to continue breaking my own records!

Now that I am so close to goal, it gets even harder to push the weight off. Nursing the baby adds another hurdle as I can't be stupid and starve myself for the babies sake. And my body reeeallly wants to hold onto the last ten pounds that usually does not come off until I'm done nursing. So adds more frustration. And days where I am a mess from stress, fatigue and not enough food. I'm thankful for my husband who understands how I am feeling and has been such a HUGE support to me through all of this! Listening to me talk and helping me through it...your awesome Craig!

At this point, I am itching for April when this is all over. I should be at goal by then and will just have to work at maintaining all of my hard work. I do not want to gain any of it back and that in itself will take some hard work. Oh the yummy things I want to eat....but all in moderation of course! ;0)

Sitting Pretty

My baby girl started sitting up on her own this past weekend. I don't know but it seems pretty early to me. I'll have to go back and look in the boys baby books but I thought it was more like 7 months until they sat on their own. Wow, how can it be that she has mastered this skill already?