Congratulations everyone to a wonderful week and a wonderful wonderful wonderful 3 months!!!
This week's tally was 27.95 pounds!!
Which brings us to a challenge total of: 474.49!!!!
Just a small shade under our 500 pound goal! So all of us, ALL OF US TOGETHER LOST 474 AND A HALF POUNDS!!!!!
IMAGINE THAT!!!
We're going to throw the earth's rotation off balance!!!!! How awesome is that???? Congratulations to us!!! I am so proud of us!!! Seriously though, isn't that an amazing number when you think about it?
Just awesome. *sigh*
Well, I'll get on with the other good stuff, the prizes! We'll see what Mr. Random dot org has to say about the winners! Here we gooooooo!
Prize #1, a $50 gift card to Victoria's Secret and an awesome SPI Belt goes to....
Jessi at Table for 4! She found us 2 weeks late but has not missed a weigh-in since she found us, and she's lost 10 pounds in the challenge! Congratulations to you!!!!
Now, Mr. Random dot org, who are the other winners? Here we go!
Prize #2, the book "Send Yourself Roses" by Kathleen Turner: Seashore
Prize #3, the book "How Not to Look Old" by Charla Krupp: Julie at Live, Laugh & Love
Prize #4, anything from my shop, Inspire Me Chic: Lisa @ Stop Eating all the Chocolates
Everyone who has been part of the Hot for the Holidays Challenge, no matter how long or short, everyone, gets a baby blue silicone bracelet that says "Strength, Focus, Discipline" on it. I wore it today during my workout and when I couldn't push one more rep on the shoulder machine, I looked down at my wrist and found the last little bit of whatever it was I had in me and got it out. I love it. All you have to do is e-mail me your snail mail address and I will get it out to you! christieo_7 at msn dot com.
And all I have to say is wow for this: There is actually a 20 Pound Club going on here!!
PUBSGAL who is the biggest loser of the challenge with 24 POUNDS!!!
And SPARKS who lost 20.4 pounds!! That's amazing you guys!! A little bling for you.
Thank you. I've said it a million and a half times, thank you. I'm so proud of myself and I'm so proud of you for committing to be healthier in our lives. Thank you to all of our sponsors, and if you haven't gone and visited them yet, please do. I hope everyone has a blessed holiday season and feels hotter than hot at your holiday parties this year!!
Anyway, I hate goodbyes, so I'm not gonna say it. In fact, I don't want to lose momentum and I don't want you to either. So if you're with me on the next challenge, I'm posting it tonight at midnight so we can get started right away. Won't you join me on my "Quest for Greatness" ??
Let's take over the world...
Saturday
Finale Finale Finale! Waaahhhhh!
Friday
Fat Ticker Friday: The Series Finale
I just can't believe it. I just wanna thank everyone for all of the motivation and support you all have given me over these past couple of months. I have had so much fun! I hope you have too!
Prize #1 goes to a randomly selected winner who has weighed in throughout the challenge at least 10 times:
A $50 Gift Card from Victoria's Secret sponsored by Lissa of The Anderson Clan --ooh la la!
AND
A SPIBelt, sponsored by Runner's Lounge. A SPIBelt is short for "Small Personal Items" Belt, and it's a must-have for any outdoor exercise. It's revolutionary as far as its lightweightness and the amount of stuff you can fit in it, and its maker, a brilliant female athlete, was featured on Donny Deutsch not too long ago, I saw it. I love this thing! (I want one myself!!)
Everyone who weighs in today will be eligible for the following prizes:
Prize #2: The book "Send Yourself Roses" by Kathleen Turner
Prize #3: The book, "How Not To Look Old" by Charla Krupp - fast and effortless ways to look 10 years younger, 10 pounds lighter, 10 times better, both books sponsored by Laura at Adventures in Juggling
Prize #4: A necklace or bracelet from my Etsy shop http://www.inspiremechic.etsy.com/
And everyone who weighs in or leaves a comment who has ever been a part of Hot for the Holidays will get a baby blue silicone bracelet engraved with the words, "Strength, Focus, Discipline". And it's actually really cute, I got them in yesterday!
When you weigh in today, make sure you leave your loss for this week along with the total loss for the challenge.
For me:
This week's loss: 1 pound!! Yay!!!! A new decade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Grand total: 9 pounds!!!
Woohoo!! Ok, so I didn't reach my goal for the challenge, which was 18 pounds. But that's ok, because I am still working and I am very very close to the end! Since April, I have lost 31 pounds and I have met my original goal of losing the babyweight. My husband's holiday party is next week and I'm actually EXCITED about shopping for a dress!!! Woohoo!!! I'm not gonna be the fattest one at the party this year for once!!!
All I wanted this year for myself was to feel good about myself again. And I can't believe it sometimes, I actually feel so good that sometimes I have to pinch myself and remind myself that yes, I did all that work this year and it wasn't just some sort of a crazy dream.
I know everyone here has it in them to keep going and finish the job! So go ahead! Link it up!! Got some before and afters?? Do share! And let's here it everyone!! How did you do this week and even more importantly, this challenge????
Monday
Motivation Monday, the Series Finale
Is it really already December???? Seriously??????
This is the last week of Hot for the Holidays! I'm listening to Christmas music, we're getting a tree on Tuesday, the holidays are in the air, it must be true that the holidays must be here already!
I just can't believe it.
I'm almost as choked up as I was about my son's first birthday! Oh how I hate goodbyes. But I hope it won't be goodbye. I hope that you'll stay with me. I still have some work to do and I hope you'll help me and vice versa. I'm so proud of all those wonderful milestones I've watched everyone reach. 5 pounds, 10 pounds, even 15 POUNDS, every single victory no matter how large or small was a wonderful victory!!! Thanks for letting me be a part of it!!!
This week, I have so much to say I can't even keep a straight thought in my head!! Where to start, where to start! Let's start first with prizes. I know at the beginning I said that there would be one grand prize. But we ended up having A LOT of prizes and sponsors, so I was able to save quite a few of them for the end!!! There will be 5 prizes up for grabs this week! 5!!! And I will announce them on Wednesday. The "grand prize" will go to the first randomly drawn name. That person will have had to weigh in almost every week (10 times to be exact) throughout the challenge and I will go back and count to make sure. But there will be four other prizes to anyone who is drawn who weighs in on Friday with their Final Results.
**When you weigh in this Friday, make sure you have this week's loss, as well as the final tally for the whole challenge. (Show it off, baby!!)**
Oh and guess what? Everyone who weighs in, and yes, EVERYONE will walk away with something!! Because I have a little something up my sleeve and I will share that on Wednesday too. It's just a little something for you to take away from this challenge so you can continue on to meet your goals. Even if you haven't weighed in since October, if you weigh in on Friday, you can get one of these little ditties. Because I don't care if you were most dedicated or least dedicated, I know that you can do this one day when you have that final epiphany. Maybe you weren't quite ready this time around, but I know you will be. And you'll do it. I have faith in you.
OK Second, is this week's challenge. And it's two-fold. First, let's show our before and afters. On Friday, link it up and post a before-challenge, after-challenge photo. And, since it is the last week, I also challenge you to lose at least one pound. Everyone. Me, you, you too over there, and you hiding in the corner.... Let's eek out one more pound, everyone! More would be nice, but one is fabulous too! Just one! (I wonder if it's possible to have a week with all losses!Hmmm. Interesting!)
Today, I'm beginning my Hal Higdon's Half-Marathon training for dummies novices program. I am actually going to try (key word being "try") to train for a half-marathon. We have a really big one here in March, and gosh darn it, I'm gonna try for it. Of course, I'll need some help... and that's where the next version of HFH comes in. Stay tuned!
Have a wonderful wonderful week everyone!!!
XOXOXOXOXOX
Saturday
Saturday Results: the Post-Thanksgiving, Baby's Not a Baby Anymore Edition
It is with great sadness that I must report that yes. It has happened again. Another one of my babies has turned a year old (well, technically it's Sunday but today we celebrated his birthday so really it's all the same..)
How does it happen? How do these little eensy-weensies get so big so quickly? All I could do on the way back from my mom's where I threw his party, as I was stuffed in the back of our minivan with presents, tables, chairs, and decorations piled all around me, was look up at the planets twinkling above me and think about my little baby and get all teary-eyed. Then, I feel eyes on me and see him smiling at me with his little Irish eyes and start laughing because he is literally. always. smiling. And then I get teary again because next week we'll have to turn the seat around to face forward because that's just another one of those steps that tell you your kid's about to go off to college and leave you.
Maybe that's a stretch. But I bet you I'll be blogging about that before I know it.
Should I get this week's weigh-in out of the way now or later? OK, so it wasn't a banner week. But it was Thanksgiving, so we should give our final week here at the HFH the ol' heave-ho and pound out just one more week (and if you're up for it, a few more after that...)
Our loss this week:
Friday
Fat Ticker Friday: The Post-Gobbler Edition
Good morning everyone!!!
How was your Thanksgiving? Did you cook? Have family around? Travel??? I hope everyone had a blessed holiday!
Well for ours, we had to improvise.
Basically, I had to call off Thanksgiving.
*Sniff*
Well, not entirely. I just had to uninvite those with little-to-no immune systems in my family because of our sickhouse. Like my mom who has Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis, my 93-year-old grandmother, and my aunt, who is currently battling breast cancer. I thought that if we were done with all the colds by last weekend, our house might have a chance at recovering too. But we were still sick come Monday, and even though I disinfected everything, I wasn't convinced that the house would be completely clear of germs for everyone and I wasn't about to take that chance on my family. One time long ago, my son caught a cold, he recovered, I disinfected the house and two days later my mom came over. And she caught it. Somehow. I swear, germs hide everywhere. So our guest list went from 18 to 6. And 1/2 counting Mini.
It was really hard to have all those empty chairs at my house. But we still cooked our 25 pound turkey and my husband's family came over and we wore headdresses to celebrate our Native American half (yes, my side is Mohawk! And by the way, the one I'm wearing actually started out as a napkin holder if you're looking for inexpensive, pretty tablescape ideas for next year, thanks Martha!)
But earlier in the day, you may remember I RAN A 10K!!!!!!! With my husband who didn't run a single inch over the last couple of months! Can you imagine running a 10k cold turkey? Booger. (And yes, really bad pun intended...)
He walked a little but he crossed the finish line with me at 1:12:50-something!! Woohoo!!!
Somewhere around the 4-mile-mark something happened as it seems to do nowadays on my long run where I reach some sort of a happy place and the run actually, (get this) gets easier! And as I rounded out mile 5, a song came on that I have to credit Maggie for (thank you for making me add this to my playlist!!!) "Lose Yourself" by Eminem, specifically hearing the following lyrics, when the chorus played...
"You better lose yourself in the music, the moment, you own it, you better never let it go. You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime..."
And as it played and I came up toward the finish, I felt like I was yelling the lyrics (in my head) and I felt my fists pumping and the adrenaline rushing and yes, there I was, getting all teary on the 10k. Because it wasn't about the 10k. It was about the journey. And not just the six-mile one. This whole year. Because are you kidding me??? I'm running a 10k? (The only thing that would have been funnier would've been if the movie that song came from was called "6.2 Mile" instead of "8 Mile". Ha!)
I was lost in that moment and I'll never forget it. This whole year was my moment. And I captured it. I could've let it slip, I could've let another year go by. But I didn't. Thank God I didn't.
I felt so happy and so proud to have run that yesterday and so thankful, really, for the culmination of this whole year, this very long, difficult but so utterly rewarding year of mine that's coming to a close, where I learned that yes, I can lose this babyweight, and yes, I am an athlete under all of this blubber, and yes, I can make my mind up to do something and DO it. And that yes, I can keep going when the going gets tough and when I feel like I can't run another inch, well, yes, I can do that, too. This year was made up of millions of little tiny victories, instead of excuses. I feel like I finally have a defining moment in my history. When I could have defined myself with who I was, instead of who I am.
And there is no way on earth I'd have been able to do it alone. So I am thankful for blogging. And thankful for bloggers, you, those of you who have inspired me day after day, who showed me that results do actually eventually show even when it feels like one lonely pound at a time because you didn't give up. And when you didn't, I didn't. So thank you. Truly.
Sadly, I only have one picture of the whole event. And that's because we grossly underestimated the number of people participating in this run and we had to park a mile away in front of Hector's Market, and had to keep the giant Nikon in the car during the run because neither one of us were going to run with a giant Nikon strapped to the front of them. So here I am. Post-race, in front of Hector's Market. 
Oh, if you just could have seen that four lane road, closed down to runners only. And standing at the top of the hill looking down at the thousands of runners before me, I wish I could show you what that looked like. If only I could show you the picture I took in my head. The sea of heads...
My loss this week was a big whopping zero. But I focused less on weightloss and more on getting healthy for this run, because as of Tuesday, I couldn't run an inch without landing myself in a coughing fit, and by the time I ran on Thursday, I was all clear. So I'll count that as a success.
Tomorrow morning we're celebrating my son's 1ST BIRTHDAY!!! Woohoo!! So I'll be posting the results in late afternoon. Happy Friday!! Thanks again to Angie for hosting this week's prize!
Monday
Motivation Monday
Good morning!! It's Thankgsiving week!! And I am thankful that whatever hex has befallen our home in the form of germflubronchialitisness has been lifted. (Almost. There's a lingering cough but mostly we're getting there.)
Bad news is, I missed a few of my final week before 10k runs, but since whatever it was was all in my chest, I think I had to in the name of getting better so I can run the 10k at all. Whatever exercise I had attempted had landed me in a coughing fit, so I think I will have to rely on the consistency of the runs of the past couple months and try to get in a 2 or 3 miler tomorrow just to get moving, then VOILA! The Turkey Trot! I can't believe it's upon me already!! And I'm not even nervous!! Can you believe that???
I will purchase my ceremonious new-outfit-before-the-run this week and hope for the best. Meantime, I have plans in the works for the next version of HFH...just saying..
This week's prize comes to us from Angie of Losing it and Loving it! Thank you Angie!! She has a wonderful blog about her weightloss journey that includes tips and recipes along with her progress. And she's come a long way, losing more than 70 pounds!! That's amazing!!! Angie is offering a surprise goodybox chock full of weightloss and fitness goodies. So if you want to win the prize package this week, ya gotta remember to weigh in! It's like Christmas only earlier!
This week it's about being thankful. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the whole year. This week you can do one of two things. Take a picture of what you are most thankful for, or something during your thanksgiving celebration. OR talk about what you are most thankful for. And link it up and share. That's pretty simple.
The final week of the challenge is fast approaching, so let's not lose momentum ok??? If you must throw caution to the wind this Thanksgiving, work in a plan to offset it. Build an extra workout in. Choose to enjoy or indulge without overindulging. Be aware of your every bite and enjoy it. The average American gains SEVEN pounds from Thanksgiving to New Years. If we all did that this season, we would completely UNDO everything we have worked for over the last three months and have to start over, like everyone else does, at the New Year!!!! We're doing this challenge so that we don't have to do that!!!! Seriously, let's not do that to ourselves.
Don't worry, I too will have to recite all of that myself on Thursday, when our traditional meal comes out to visit. (But I am working in the exercise that day -- I will have run 6 miles that morning -- which means burning at least 600 calories!)
Good luck this week!
Saturday
Saturday Results Show
Can I get a WOOT WOOT?!!!
I'm gonna lead off with the best news ever,
That's AMAZING!!! Let's list off things that are 444-450 pounds. When googled, I found the following:
-A Monster Halibut Caught off the coast of Norway
-The weight of fuel used by a six-seater aircraft
-35 shipments of berries
-A ginormous grizzly bear
-A Klamath Utility Boat
-A kids' moonbounce
-A Boss sport-duty SNOWPLOW
-10 of those huge, thick 45-pound weights
SEE WHAT I MEAN??? So let's not stop, let's keep going! Because the list of stuff that's 500 pounds is even bigger in every sense of the word!
I have to give "Mad props, yo!!" to everyone who's hitting those milestones and are getting those pretty 10 and 15 pound badges!! Like the following:
Rachelle, with 15!!!
BeckyJoMama with 15!!
Heather with 10!!
Jessi with 12!!
Michelle with 15!!
BerryPatch with 10!!
Am I missing someone from the "10 and over club"??? Please let me know! Toot your horn! This week's Biggest Loser is Dena from SunEGrl Loves to Shop with 7 pounds!!! Unbelievable!!
Everyone You all not only get pretty badges, but a giant puffy hand too.
So now comes this week's winner.
Michelle from The Journey to a New Weigh of Life!!
You get a lovely prizepack from StrollerFit! Congratulations!!!!
Great week everyone!!! Let's hang together through the holidays. Remember that Thanksgiving isn't just about the food, it's about family. It's about being thankful for everything we have in this world; the love, the friendship, the happiness and the unbreakable bonds that we share with those around us -- not to mention the basics, the air in our lungs and the roof over our heads. Have a great weekend!
XO
Friday
Fat Ticker Friday
Good morning!
Sick of hearing about my sickhouse yet? I am. It hit hubby today. Good times.
But as a result, and unsurprisingly, I have had no change. Yep. Zero. Nada. In a choice to remain at home or go to the gym as a sniffy-sneezy-coughy-achy-stuffyhead-person, I chose home.
It doesn't help that these last few pounds are clinging for dear life and that I need to do more, rather than less.
But the fact that I don't look like this anymore helps me:
This was my Aha! moment.
Lovely.
Things always happen in threes for me. The first evil thing was this picture taken at a birthday party earlier this year. HELLO! That alone should be the wakeup call. I cried when I saw that the fat chick holding the baby was, indeed, ME! That had never been me. How did that become me? Why? Why why why??
The next thing was when a family member said something to me, something about how I once was an athlete, the key word being "was" in the sentence. One of those things where you read way too much into a sentence but the fact that the word "was" was used was intriguing to me. Because at that moment, I wasn't. I was not an athlete at that moment, that much could be said. But the sentence made me think about who I actually am and made me really want to be who I thought I could be again. Make sense? And said family member should know, by the way, that saying this was actually a good thing because it became part of my trifecta of motivation. The third thing was when I did silly little things like parking really far away and gardening, really just in an effort to physically move around more and WHOA! I lost 5 pounds! It was magic! So I guess there were two bad things and 1 good (cup-half-full-girl).
So after all that self-pity and sorrow over who I was and who I had become, and the tears, my God the tears, I flopped onto the couch, opened up the laptop and signed up for the 5k in June. And I ran it 17 pounds lighter. Something was triggered in me, and it started like a lot of things do, with a picture.
Now I am a whole 30 pounds lighter, thanks to the fact that I kept going, and I am proud to say that right now, I AM NOT EMBARRASSED ABOUT MYSELF. I don't cry when I go into the dressing room, I have gotten checked out (in front of my husband!), I wear short-sleeves and tanktops with reckless abandon, I run around and wrestle with my kids, I'm not afraid of meeting new people, I can tell my husband thinks I'm cute (ahem), I probably can't even list the things that have changed since I started because literally, my whole life, outlook, self-image, everything has changed. Everything. Oh yes, and now I can run 5 1/2 miles.
So that was it. My "Aha". What was yours?
I'll be spending the rest of the weekend (again) in degerming and cleansing and trying to get back up to 100% but I have my final 5.5 mile run before the 10k and stay tuned, because some of you asked about keeping this going and I just may have another idea brewing...
Saturday
Saturday Results Show Completed Version
Good afternoon and welcome to the late addition of the Saturday results show. Oh, internet. Why oh why must you avoid me?? My internet was not working before I left for the horrid USF-Rutgers game this morning but it is now! Yes, USF lost, we left early because the score reached 30 something to something-teen and it was ugly.
And when I got home, internet was working, but the older little man had a 102.5 fever. What's up with that???!!!!
So, everything now in somewhat working order, the final tally was for this week:
I have to make this a two-parter and post results a little later. Bear with me today... sorry!
* * *
OK I'm back. Boy. It's been quite a day. Poor Poops with his fever and terrible cough that just keeps getting worse. The boys were crawling all over me and reaching into the computer and trying to get piggy backs when I was posting the above so I had to shut er down for a few until bedtime. Now for prizes!!
The winner of the yummy Snow Geisha and brilliant to-go teacup diffuser is:
Finally, if you hadn't stopped by Sanni's blog yet this weekend, you should! She's given all us HFHers all a little bloggy love!! A Kreativ Blogger award! Isn't that sweet?? Thanks Sanni!
I'll be passing it along this weekend myself! Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Stay focused! Just a few weeks left! Thanks for renewing your vows with me! (I feel so special!) Now to decide if I should grab a pillow and blanket and go hunker down on the floor of the little boy's room because he keeps waking up and crying with these terrible coughing fits... Oh my poor boy!
Monday
Motivation Monday
Good morning!!! Happy Monday! This week it's all about renewing our vows. Isn't that romantic? OK, I'll say it. We've been virtual dating (so to speak) for two months now, I may as well. So, here goes.
I like you.
(Whew.)
There.
I said it. I like you! All of you! It's a giant like-fest! I like you I like you I like you! (What a weight lifted -- I've been holding that in for weeks!) So now, as I mentioned Saturday, I think I'd like to renew my vows to you, and to myself, whom I also like (as it turns out...) So how bout it? This week, how about renewing your vows? Out loud. (On the computer). To yourself. To the blog. To the closeknit little pack that is the HFH. This Fat Ticker Friday link it up and release your fear of commitment! (My vows are at the end of this post but I'm gonna get to the other good stuff first).
For this week's prize, I'm gonna go back to the basics. Since we're all hopefully in cleansing-mode from our post-Halloween candycoma, this week's prize is going to be about detox. And it's one of my favorites. We're giving away tea! White tea! The queen of the antioxidants. It's crisp, it's friendly, a little fruity, a little caffeine and built to strengthen your immune system and metabolism (both of which I could sure use). I give you, Snow Geisha.
It's a Chinese white tea from Teavana, which combines dried cranberries and cherries, delicious and delicate and refreshing, healthy and lovely. You will also get this:
The Teazer mug, for tea to-go! It's a thermal mug with an infuser for loose tea. It's genius!
So make sure you weigh in this week for a shot at the prize! If you're not a tea-drinker, I'm pretty sure you'll be converted after this one.
My Vows, by Christie O.
I make the following vow to all of you: (and you know what? if your goals are even remotely near mine, feel free to copy and paste on your blog as your own. that's fine with me!)
-For the next 4 weeks, I will eat clean.
-Every time I want to sluff off a workout and/or a run, or I want to spontaneously stuff a donut in my piehole, I will think of this group and how it has pushed me to lose 8 pounds (your pounds here) already in the challenge and how we have lost 400 pounds as a group. I will think of how I have lost 30 pounds since April (your stats here) by staying true to myself and making myself a priority (for once). I will think about how I am only a stone's throw away from the healthiest me I can be.
-I will make healthy meals and surround myself with healthy choices. That includes (your events here) my son's 1st birthday party and Thanksgiving, (which is the day of my 10k by the way.)
-I will enjoy treats but only ones that I have planned in advance and in moderation, i.e. (your events here) small slice of birthday cake at son's party, small slice of pie at Thanksgiving, etc..
-I will run three times a week and work out an additional three.
-Above all, I will not comfort and/or reward myself in food. (No saying things like, "I deserve this." Because what I deserve is a healthythinnerhappier me. That stuff can wait.)
Have a great week everyone!! WWBD! It's off to the gym for me in a jiffy!
Saturday
Saturday Results Show
Good morning everyone!
Despite all the Halloweenieness going on throughout the week (and I silently urge you to do what I did and put the remaining little bits of lusciousness in a ziplock and bring it to work or send it to work with your husband for all your/his coworkers to binge on instead of you-trust me, no good can come of it being in your house!) most of us still lost and that's awesome!
Our total for this week is:
As for last week's fill in the blank, I mentioned that there was a part two...and by the way, I so loved everyone's answer! Everyone was so insightful, reading everyone's answers was so thought-provoking! If you get a chance to make the rounds and visit everyone, it'd be well worth the reading! Isn't it so interesting we can make our lives better with just one word? Some of the answers were time, confidence, motivation, energy, family time, perseverence, faith, and of course, money.
You told everyone, in so many words, (one, to be specific) what would make your life better. What you'll notice in everyone's answer was that nowhere, anywhere, was there a mention of a material thing (and I don't count money because more money could also be synonymous with stress-relief, problem solving, debt relief, etc and I'm pretty sure more of it would make most people's lives easier especially at this time in our country). Specifically, nowhere, was there a mention of more food. More candy. More calories. More fat.
See?
Believe it or not, that stuff is not important to you!!! No matter how much we think it may be important in our immediate life, food is not the priority in your life. More time with your family, more motivation, more perseverence, more self-confidence -- these are the things that are important to you. These are what this challenge is really about. Finding and creating your own reality and healthy you. All of which can be achieved and attained! Dare I say it, without food! Or at least crappy food.
That's my little rant. Feel free to discuss here today.
Meantime, the winner of this week's prize, the book "Living Beauty" by Bobbi Brown, sponsored by Laura at Adventures in Juggling who incidentally lost three pounds this week, three! Yay for you!! But I'm getting sidetracked... this week's winner is:
Have a great weekend! Stick to it, girls!!! We're in the homestretch! 96.9 pounds left! Let's do this!
Friday
Fat Ticker Friday: The Post Election Version
I wish I could vote on how much weight I'd lose each week and how quickly!
But I didn't see that on the ballot.
Instead, I lost one pound. We're back to that phase, one lonely pound at a time. One lonely pound away from the new decade of numbers. S-l-o-w-ly.
So:
Results: One pound
Goal for next week: Actually exercise. Yes, I did not exercise at all because I was all crazy sick this week but now that I am a little better I fully intend on exercising EVERY DAY. In some form.
Also, I left crazy kidcare-tipjar gym! And I found me a wonderland gym. A Christie gym. It has four-wall racquetball, indoor volleyball both of which I LOVVVVE and the kidcare does not have a tipjar anywhere in its vicinity! I can't wait to break it in!!!!!! Bye Bye old decrepit tipjargym!
Boy I'm talking a lot about me today! Sorry!!!! How are YOU? How did YOU DO THIS WEEK? Only a few weeks left!!! Do tell!!
This week's project was a fill in the blank: My life would be better if I had more ________.
Here is mine:
My life would be better if I had more CONFIDENCE.
I have a serious lack of this in my life. I compare myself to everyone and I waste a lot of time wishing when I could be doing. And the thing that stops me from doing what I want is the lack of confidence. I am quietly building it though. Things I would not want to do as my larger self: go to parties, take a group class at the gym, join a mom's group or actually go, work out, try on clothes, see old friends, do anything sociable really. Now that I've worked on things a little bit, I'm confident to try new things, like take a spinning class at the gym, or go to a Christmas party, or join the preemie mom's group I've joined. These are new developments. But I am still the one to sit back and let other people talk, I'm still conscious of the sound of my own voice filling up a room, I am conscious of what I may look like to other people and my self-consciousness has even affected my interactions at my son's school. I'm working to fix this too.
What about you? What would make your life better? It could be anything, by the way.
Happy Friday everyone! What an emotional week it's been, huh??!!! How did you do! Don't forget, today's prize comes to us from Laura at Adventures in Juggling, the book "Living Beauty" by Bobbi Brown. "Living Beauty is about creating a new ideal, a new reality, and a new aspiration for yourself. It's a guide filled with knowledge, secrets, and solutions to make you look and feel great."
Thanks Laura! Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRANNE!!! (My best friend in Georgia and also an HFHer!!!)
Saturday
Saturday Results Show
Anyway, fun was had by all in the end.
On to our grand total this week, which was:
Great job this week!! I know it was a particularly hard one being a holiday week and all and candy all up in everyone's grill. So here's to a week of cleansing!
And Berry Patch is having a particularly good week, wanna know why??? Because she's the winner of the blog redo sponsored by Summer at Designs by Summer! Congratulations!!! An e-mail is on its way!!!
Good luck next week as we enter the final stretch! Last few weeks! Time to motor!
Friday
WOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOOO! It's a Very Halloweenie Fat Ticker Friday + Peep Show!
Updated with weigh-in:
Weight: my contribution to the pot this week: 1 pound! wooee!
Goal for next week: MORE EXERCISE!
* * *
Apparently I love the fall and everything in it. Like homemade pumpkin spice lattes like I'm drinking right now. And baking things like Apple Crisp, Pumpkin Muffins, Spice Cookies, and making Pumpkin Rice (I just put this up on RecipeZaar it's that good!) and pumpkin-shaped grilled cheeses and monster pizza and today, for Halloween, mummy hot dogs and tombstone sandwiches. Yum! And yes, I've tried some of my creations, but the more decadent ones, only once and only a small serving. I just like tastes of things. I feel like I've been cooking up a storm lately.
The Firefighter
Trick or treaters: The Baseball Player, The Firefighter, and Snow White
And then he had a little too much....
But then his day went horribly wrong... ending very badly when my two-year-old walked into the room. Poor Peep. 
So that's it! Link it up and show me yours!
And how did everyone do this week??? I got some good runs in, (i.e. crazy 5 1/2 mile run that I didn't mean to do but my poor math skills made me do it) and ate pretty well, so I'll be weighing in at 8 a.m. and reporting back after that.
How did you do??!!! Do tell!! Don't forget there's a blog design up for grabs from Designs by Summer (thank you Summer!)
Psst. Did you know...
WE'RE IN THE FINAL COUNTDOWN PEOPLE! STARTING TOMORROW, IT'S NOVEMBER! IT'S THE LAST MONTH, THE LAST FEW WEEKS, OUR LAST HURRAH!!!!!!!!! I'M PUTTING A LOT OF EXCLAMATION MARKS HERE!! AND HERE! AND ANOTHER ONE HERE! BECAUSE THIS IS A BIG DEAL! LET'S GIT ER DONE! LET'S PUMP IT UP! LET'S CHEER EACH OTHER ON TO THE FINISH LINE!!!!!!!
Have a wonderful Happy Halloween! I'll be posting pics of the 2-year-old firefighter and his dalmatian brother riding in the fire engine wagon later on!
Tuesday
New Additions
Another new addition is "Expect Great Things" which one can and should always do of themselves, right?
Happy Tuesday everyone! How's everyone doing this week?
Monday
Motivation Monday
Good morning! Stay with me here because today's post is chock full of something or other. Like some bragging, some prize action, and a really fun HFH Halloweenieness.
First with the bragging (sorry!)
So I had a minor miscalculation. My runs on Sunday have started getting long. Like 5 miles long. These scare the crap out of me. So I and my wonderful math skills mapped out a 5 mile run for Sunday afternoon, a leisurely stroll at my somewhere-between-10-to-11-minute mile pace. And it's math because there are two trails that I run but one of them has no milemarkers, and the other one picks up about a quarter way through my route and does have milemarkers, so I have to add up and times by two if I go down and back and it all seems easy enough.And the run takes me a while. Much longer than I had anticipated. And husband had the kids and was walking with them while I ran and he had to abort and drive around in the car with one restless and one screaming kid.
I see him drive by me twice and wave, which my mombrain and I know as I'm running means things are not going according to plan. But I truck along because I am almost done, I'm in the homestretch, my feet are starting to kill but I'm in the last half-mile and I pick up the pace and I finish. Woohoo! 5 miles!
So when I get home I do the math because I think I took a little longer than I should've, I find out of course that I did do the math wrong. I didn't run 5 miles. I ran almost 5 and a half MILES!! ME! 5 1/2 MILES! And I didn't want to die afterward! Of course it took me like an hour, but I ran for an hour straight, no stopping, hills and everything (yes, in flat Florida I found the one trail with hills) and made it the whole way! How proud of myself am I?! Me who could barely run one. Me who ran 4 miles once long long ago and almost passed out and never did it again. Me who wanted to die after that whole run-for-30-minutes-thing on the Couch to 5k program.
I'm on cloud 9! That means, that when the 10k Turkey Trot comes along, I'm actually going to be able to run and finish. Because it's only a 1/2 mile longer than what I did Sunday! All that running, day in and day out, actually starting to pay off. Of course, the true test is the final run, but I am falling over with giddy-girlie-excitability.
Sorry. I just had to share.
So now that I started with the boring stuff, I'll get to the fun stuff. This week we have another fun prize. If you didn't get to win a blog makeover the first time around, guess what? We have another bloggy artist among us who wants to give another lucky blogger a new look! Summer at Summer's Nook is also a blog designer, and you can check out her pretty works at Designs by Summer. The prize is one full blog redesign, the package of the winner's choosing! How cool is that!? Thanks Summer!!! Just make sure to leave a comment with your weigh-in results on Friday to be entered into the drawing.
Finally, Halloween is Friday! How much fun! So this week, we're gonna break from all the self-scrutiny and introspection and goal-making, and have a costume party! Everyone's invited!! This week's project is to take a picture of someone or something dressed up, kids, pets, pumpkins, whatever! And link it up so we can all come by! Happy Halloween this week! And good luck! Remember, if you must eat some candy -- go for it, but not the whole bag!!!!!
Saturday
Final Tally Week 7
HI!
First off, did you know we're approaching WEEK 8 of this challenge?
Congratulations to everyone to sticking with it! To staying the course! You've all done amazing work! And how much fun is this doing this together instead of being all lonely and having to rely solely on self-motivation? That's no fun! Well it is sometimes, but why be a sole soul? A lone reed? (You've Got Mail).
But what does week 8 really mean? It means just over 4 more weeks left to goal! (Holy moley it's coming up quickly!)
So now would be a great time to either re-evaluate to see if your end goal needs adjusting and your plans for that goal need a-changing. Are you on your way to meeting that goal and surpassing it? Set a higher goal! Does it look like you might not meet your goal? That's ok! Set a new one and meet that one! Right on track?? Awesome! Either way, take a look at where you are now. You should have a good idea of what works and what doesn't. If you haven't quite dug your heels in yet and you know you can push just a little harder, think about this: there are only a few weeks left. In the grand scheme of things, a few weeks of saying "no" to things so you can lose weight is not that long. And it could mean being able to say "yes" to some things because you'll be in a place for "maintenance" instead of "weight loss". Think about it in terms of mini-goals. Reaching lots of mini-goals means eventually reaching that big goal! So it's the home-stretch, strong women, let's make the most of it!!
Thanks for bearing with me today, we got a late start for the pumpkin patch and you know how quickly windows can disappear with two children who need lunch, snacks, naps, etc. etc. etc.
Plus, can I go off topic again and show off this little beauty?
No! Not me, silly! Our new Nikon!!! OHMIGODISTHISTHEMOSTFANTASTICTHINGEVER.
I can't keep my eyes/hands/paws off it. It makes a cup of cheerios look pretty.
OK, ok, I'll save my random pictures for another day (i.e. the apple, wine bottle, etc..) And give you this week's final tally:
Way to go, everyone for a great week! We got some more fun prizes coming up over the next couple weeks so don't forget to stop back by to see what they are and don't forget to weigh in, even if the news ain't so good! Have a wonderful weekend!!!!
Friday
Fat Ticker Friday!
Good morning, ladies! It's Show and Tell Friday here for HFH this week! What do you have to share? A recipe? A tip? A favorite DVD workout you wanna tell everyone about? Do share and link it up!
How are we this week?
I'm so glad to be back in the swing of things. This cold is the one that just won't die, or at least it's dying a very slow death. I feel much better today than I have all week which is good, but as far as working out goes, I was lucky to get my butt out of pajamas at all, much less get in my long run and go to the gym. I did run two miles last night and do the Wii Fit for a 1/2 hour when I was starting to feel better. I don't expect much by way of a loss, but I don't expect a gain either, so we'll see what happens. I'll weigh in around 8 a.m. like usual.
Weight: 0 lost, 0 gained. This is a good thing. As much as I've been sick and trying to exercise in between, I am glad that I maintained. I ate healthy and exercised only a little, so I expected this. I'm pretty recovered except for some runnyness, so back to the drawing board!
Goal for next week: 2.5 pounds will send me into the next decade of numbers! Go 130's!!!!!!!!! (Uh oh, I just proclaimed my weight to the world! Oh well...)
How did you do???
For my extra-special show-and-tell, I'm going to feature a potpourri, a buffet, if you will, of information in my proverbial locker.
First, a list of my favorite things necessary for success in my personal weightloss and/or training:
-IPod with playlists for "training" "working out" and "race day".
-A pink Ironman Timex watch (I got on sale at Sports Authority for $30). It does every kind of timing you can think of, plus it's waterproof, sweatproof, and has a nightlight. I use it to count my time between reps and total workout time, along with running times.
-Ironman sunglasses that hug my face outside, Walgreens $7.99
-An affirmation necklace (that I made, http://www.inspiremechic.etsy.com/). Currently wearing: "Running is Cheaper than Therapy". Though I've been known to wear obsessively "Focus" and "Discipline".
-Lipgloss
-Under Armour Dri-Fit teeshirts that I got on sale at Sports Authority also -- amazing!
-When I can't work out the gym for lack of babysitter i.e. this week: Wii Fit!!! and Gilad on FitTv. Have you ever done his workouts? Can you say, "burrrrrn!" All my parts. On fire. Well not all of them.
Favorite low-fat recipes:
-If you hadn't read about this one on my blog, it's this one, the Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffin.
It looks like this and it's DEEE-LISH! I did make a few changes, like using eggbeaters and applesauce instead of oil...
But this is my favorite recipe and it's a slow-cooker recipe, and it's been a favorite in my house for a couple of years now. I call it my "Spanish Chicken". And the recipe is as follows:
-2 cups chicken broth
-1 cup red wine (I've used pretty much any kind and it turns out great
-8 skinless chicken thighs (boneless or not), you can use breasts too, but I find they become pretty dry
-1 onion, sliced
-3 tsp garlic (more or less, up to you! I'm a garlicky kinda gal).
-Spanish seasoning, I use the Cholula original (I used to use the roasted garlic kind but it's MIA at my store and has been for months!)
Directions: Pour the chicken broth and red wine into crockpot. Add sliced onions and garlic. Generously rub chicken with spice on both sides and put into crockpot on top of onions. Cook for 6 hours on low, or 4 hours on high.
Serve over yellow or brown rice with side of black beans. You can add a tiny bit of low-fat sour cream if you like, that's really yummy.
It's got a wonderful combination of protein and carb, it's one of our favorites and if you get ambitious you can even freeze it for later if you want.
By the way, you may notice I added "My Humps" to my blog playlist, I heard it and remembered that was one of my original workout songs when I first started this journey. Is that bad? It's such a guilty pleasure that one...
Thank you!!
And before I go, I'm raising babygoods for a sort of Virtual BabyShower to benefit families who have babies in the NICUs. I was there once and I know what it's like, and since my experience in 2006, I have wanted so badly to help other mommies going through this. If you want to send any baby goods along (read here to find out what's needed), please e-mail me and I'll send you my mailing address! Some of you have already e-mailed me and THANK YOU!! Happy FTF everyone! Hope everyone had a great week!!!
