Grrrrr....

I had a super bad week and half...no working out and lots of junk food. Today I am back on track. I hit the gym. I did a pretty killer upper body weight lifting session and now I can barely move my arms.  It feels good. Can't wait to get stronger!

Mike is in...

the 200's. My goal is to get my knee fixed and then start rehabbing the heck out of it. I would like to be walking normally and be able to go on any of the rides. Maybe I should bring crutches so we can skip lines! I joined Planet Fitness and have been riding the stationary bike to keep my knee loose and it has been working. I have also been a guinea pig for the PT students to practice all the tests. That hurts. If there was a way to naturally make body hair go away that would be my goal. I'll just shave it off.

Actual numbers....

So I finally went to the gym yesterday...and the actual weight I am at is 163...lame. On the plus side...I have now worked out 2 days in a row.

Juicing

I am just throwing this out there because it has been something that has helped me feel better. Late in 2012 Tait and I watched the documentary "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" it changed our lives. We decided to re-examine how we ate...it wasn't good. We saw our selves on a very fast track to very bad life long health problems because of how we ate. I planned meals around my carb of choice that day. We drank lots of soda...I ate insane amounts of sugar. We didn't feel good. After watching the documentary we decided to change. We bought a juicer and started juicing. We noticed a difference in our energy. I bought an app called 7 lbs in 7 days that has all these different juicing recipes. I lost about 10 lbs over 2 weeks of strict juicing. And my energy soared. No joke I started to feel so much better. No more naps during the day...no more gas and bloating. It was pretty awesome...now don't get me wrong it was HARD. But now I juice as part of my normal diet. I may have juice for breakfast or lunch or both. But I try to drink juice at least several times a week so that I am drinking and actually absorbing the vitamins I need. Vitamin supplements that we take are mostly just wasted money. We need to eat more nutrient dense foods. I discovered Kale...something I thought I would NEVER eat. I juice it regularly now.  I started ordering bountiful baskets so that I had more fruits and vegetables on hand. When it has something i don't know what to do with I google recipes and learn how to eat it or cook it.

We now eat very different. Our dinner may consist of just a piece of chicken and a *huge* portion of asparagus or fresh sauteed green beans or salad. No carbs. We try to eat something green every day. I only buy the organic multigrain bread from bountiful baskets. I simply don't buy white bread anymore.....every now and then we splurge on the fresh backed costco garlic bread...:) But overall we are trying to be more conscientious about what we eat...and more importantly what eating habits we pass on to our kids.

Now don't get me wrong...I just made an incredibly delicious and not at all healthy chocolate ice cream cake for Tien's birthday...but that is the exception NOT the rule. My problem is that over the last 9 months I started thinking "well I juice so its ok to eat 3 doughnuts today...or half a bucket of ice cream...or an entire bucket of Costco chocolate covered toffee in 48 hours...yes all of those things actually happened all to regularly. I have to stop eating the sugar and still eat the healthy.  I am SO ADDICTED TO SUGAR. I dream about it when I am not eating it. I think about it all day. This is very hard for me.

For this contest I am trying out the Body for Life program in which you eat super healthy for 6 days a week with one "cheat" day where you eat what you want...I am super looking forward to my cheat day this week!!! I feel my sugar cravings all day long. It isn't easy...but it is worth it.

If anyone is interested you can pick up the Body for Life book at any Library I am sure. Or check out bodyforlife.com. It has some pretty motivating before and after shots.

Anyway I just wanted to share. If you are needing some extra motivation check out "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" pretty sure its on Netflix or you can probably find it for free on the internet. it is very very motivational. I think I need to watch it again.

Valeri's Before Pictures...

 

I can't believe I'm posting these! Ugh! But here's all 203 pounds of me! My only goal other than getting down to 180 before the reunion is toning up my arms. Even when I was at my skinniest they were big and flabby.

 

keep in mind, I've already lost 32 pounds... yuck! I'm so glad I didn't take pictures when I was that heavy.

 

 

Heidi's In!

You know I mean business when I put on my purple stretchy pants.

 

Alrighty, here's the deal. I have gained weight with each child. That's normal. But I told myself that 180 would be my limit; my "this has gone too far" weight. Well, I'm at 186. Not cool. But at the same time, I haven't wanted to put forth the effort to change it. I HATE exercising. And I LOVE chocolate. I'm hoping, and I think it will work, that doing this with my family, whom I ADORE, will be the motivating factor I need.

 

My goals are not all pound/weight related. They are....

 

1. Be able to wear my wedding ring. That's right. I haven't been able to wear my mother's wedding ring for 2 years now. It sucks. This is my #1 goal.

2.  A smaller stomach pooch. I don't need rock hard abs, I just want a smaller pooch.

3. Lose at least 15 pounds. Oh my gosh, that scares me to type. Can I really do that? Maybe I should put 10 instead. But no, I will push myself (something I am not good at doing!).

 

Love to you all!

Heidi

Bootylicious is in

I am so glad that so many of us are signing up and I am loving the posts and comments! This is going to be so great.

I spoke in church in November and I spoke on being Self Reliant... something Mom and I learned a lot about last year. One of the ways of being self reliant is in our health. Something I lack is impulse control. Some people have drug addictions and some people are alcoholics. I could easily be both. Thankfully I have the gospel and I am able to avoid those things. I am not so good at controlling my impulses when it comes time to avoid chocolate cake, jelly belly's, butter, etc.

While preparing that talk I also thought about the pioneers. I do not see how anything short of miracle would have gotten me from Bonners Ferry to Sandpoint the way that I am now. I have 2 very active boys. Like, Liz wants to do with her girls, I want to be outside playing with them and still be able to breath.

I too am at my heaviest weight. When I hit 220 I told myself that if I ever hit 230 I'd check myself into a program or something. I weighed myself when I got home from work this morning and I was, I kid you not, 229.9 lbs. First thing that I wanted to do when I saw that number was eat cinnamon toast and climb into bed. I wasn't motivated I was depressed. 

Which brings me to why I am so excited to be part of this blog now. I am going to be honest so that I can be accountable. That is what I need to do. I'm tired of being depressed about my weight. I want to be better not sadder. So that's my goal.

I'd love to be down to 160. That's 70 pounds away. 70! I'm going to do it though. I'm the only one holding myself back.

PS- I weigh 87 pounds more than my husband. That's hot.