Mom made a little progress

Down 3 this week, one more to go to get back to a couple of weeks ago. What a struggle! I'm super tired so I'm going to bed.

Anna Staying Steady

looks like I'm down about a half of a pound.  It kinda sucks cuz I'm constantly thinking about food and what and when I'm going to eat next and I haven't really changed weight all summer.  It's a lot of mental effort ya know?

I went to the gym yesterday for what they call "Saturday Seminar." It's just a class and its hard.  I was already kinda sick with a head cold and half way through I felt like puking but I made it through.  They made me race against my friend Tamara in a weight pushing contest...I lost...she's five years younger than me and I was feeling sick so that's my excuse. 

I meet with Mitch the trainer a week from tomorrow and I really want to show him some results so I'm going to go hard this week and be ready for that. 

Amy, your house looks great! I love the floors and the kitchen is like a million times better than your old house!  woo hoo!

Amy in the house!

Amy, congrats on the house. Looks great! It looks like a good amount of space. I'll bet you enjoy the open larger kitchen, too- no more orange box !


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Checkin' In - Mom

Not much to report. Some slippage with exercise . The elliptical is out of order, the pool is freezing - feels like a lake, so that leaves me with the step aerobics tape. Not my first choice so I've only done it twice this week. Evenings continue to be my downfall calorie wise. It's hard to stop eating when I'm just satisfied, not full, but it feels like I made some progress anyway . We'll see tomorrow.
Paul - beard looks good, but maybe a change is due? I'm going to make a change this week too - some darker 'lowlights' in my hair to tone down the blondness.

Not much new here--Amy

Not much new here either. But I did sneak a weigh in the other day and it was another pound less. Don't know why except maybe the whole fat weighs less then muscle thing. I might be losing muscle since it's been a while since I worked out. I really haven't been doing well with routines over the past month. But like I said before, I think a better routine will be developed next week. The best time for me to work out is in the morning but Owen gets up at 6 and I can't really do much without him being at my feet. I wish I could get him on a better sleep schedule. And next week I'll have more time to explore running trails/places around here. I have a bad feeling I won't find much here but that I'll have to drive to Burlington to run. But I guess I'd do that if I had to.
I know you want pictures of the house. I have some taken but not everything is put away and the house doesn't look perfect in them but they will give you an idea of what it's like. I don't have them on the computer yet. Maybe during Owen's nap I'll do that. Right now he's climbing on me and trying to type with his feet.
Paul.....I think you should shave go for it with the beard. But that's just me.

posting for postings sake

So, nothing really new to tell, "just postin". I suppose my eating habits are still improving. I stopped eating large lunches that left me useless afterword. Now its lighter and healthier lunches that make for a better second half of the day, and an overall lighter feeling. Wish it was cheaper to eat less since I eat out for lunch everday, but it doesnt seem to be. Yep, thats about it though........thinking of shaving the beard, any thoughts?

Ben's excuse

So I don't really have a good excuse for my lack of posts and lack of real effort lately. Living in others peoples homes (even when they're on vacation) just tends to take motivation away. We are getting very close to moving in. We're trying to get a lot accomplished before our week in Bham. Kitchen counters, interior paint and window trim etc. will all be done by the time we get back. Then it will only be details like faucets and flooring. So, we're optimistic, but it won't be too soon.

I need to make time to get back to the gym, that would be a good move for me.

Anna be busy

lack of posts due to combo of business and laziness. didn't gain or lose last week (same with mom) so looking better for most this week I guess! I started the volleyball season this week so I'm gone from 7 am to 6 pm mon-Fri now...ugh. it will be over in Oct...looking forward to that already! looking forward to pics of your house Amy :) hope y'all are having a good week.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

I'm Here Still--Amy

Hello! All moved. No Pictures yet. I will when I think things look decent enough. We don't have really cute furniture or anything so it doesn't look as good as it can. But it's getting there.
So I was daring enough to weigh in this morning and it was 3 or 4 pounds less than last week even though I haven't been working out or eating right. Maybe it's just all the moving, I don't know. I've GOT to get back on a routine, though. I think that might happen starting next Wednesday when the boys go back to school. I will have all day to myself and Owen. I can explore looking for running trails and parks and stuff. I will do what I can to exercise before that.
So, what's going on with everyone else?

Mom's muddling along.

I dread Sunday's weigh in because this has been a rough week health-wise. I haven't exercised since Monday and have snacked too much off and on. Between work and helping Amy and Dave to move or babysit, there hasn't been time for anything else. Not that I'm complaining. I'd have the guilts too and would feel like a bad momma if I wasn't helping out. You all know what moving is like, especially with young kids underfoot.
Here's an anecdote to end on that I'm sure you'll find amusing. Last night I took my car in to have brakes done and I borrowed one of Dawn and Greg's cars for a few days. They left it at Amy's when I was watching the kids and when I left to go home I had a terrible time figuring things out in the dark. I didn't know where any of the controls were and couldn't find the interior lights. The doors had locked me in and I couldn't get the key in the ignition. As it turned out I'd been trying to put it in what I think is the 4-way flasher. I must have sat outside their house for 10 minutes trying to orient myself enough to going. I didn't think I'd ever get home. I was feeling trapped and finally I just started pushing every button I could find until the lights finally came on and I made my escape. The car sits so much lower than mine, probably like my old car but I could barely see over the steering wheel. I'm sitting on a pillow tomorrow.

The Daily Grind

I've been doin just alright this week, meal times are easy and well structured but after dinner I kinda lose it on treats.  I use stupid excuses like "I deserve it" and what not...but truly, I deserve better than treats, right?  I've gotta start thinking THAT way.  And I try to brush my teeth within an hour of dinner so I won't be able to eat again after that.  I went to the gym twice this week which really is kinda hard with work and I feel bad cuz I go pick the boys up from the after-school day care then we drive right over to the gym where they go to the gym's day care...it makes me feel like a bad momma...so much guilt.  Then by the time we get home there is no time for anything except dinner and packing lunches for the next day, getting the boys showered and making sure their homework is done.  (Not that Luke's homework is all that stressful...today he had to run in place for 2 minutes and see if his heart was beating quickly). 

Checking In--Amy

Hello.
Sorry for the lack of entries. Been a busy week. Dave and I have been going down to the house every night this week to paint, build shelves, install appliances, etc. It's been very expensive, but the cost of moving in will slow way down when we move in. Why does paint have to be so darn expensive? But really, thanks a lot, mom for all your help with the painting and the babysitting. I know you are tired so we really appreciate it. I've been trying to make dinners for us before we leave and bring it with us so we are not getting fast food for dinners this week. It worked great Monday and I made the healthy meal yesterday but we didn't have a chance to eat it. So Dave pulled into McD's and I did get something. So I will eat the healthy dinner for lunch and try and find something more healthy that is grab and go for tonight. Any suggestions?
I did get a chance to go running yesterday morning at 6:30. I have so much to do that fitting in exercise during the day is really hard this week. It may not happen. When things settle down I will figure things out.
I like the idea of weekly goals. My weekly goal for this week is to be down at least two pounds. But with the madness this week, I won't be down on myself if I'm not.

And hello Paul! Nice to see you joining our efforts.

Here's to a better week.-Mom

Hey Paul, good to hear from you. You look like you don't really need to lose weight but its always good to be eating better in general .

Today feels good- lunch out with the elementary secretaries - Chef's salad at Cascade Pizza. Not hard to resist temptation when you're lunching with 15 women. At least 10 of us had the Chef Salad special. Does that make me one of the 'ladies who lunch'? -( reference to a Barbra tune.)

2 steps fwd...

Welcome paul. Good to hsve you, even if only sporadically. Yeah, a vegetarian influence can only be good- calorie wise.

My week was bad too. I reported 185 but I'd been down to 183 earlier and I totally lost my good mind all together today and yesterday. I had 2 carls jr burgers today and a container full of choc covered almonds and 2 cokes. Yesterday I ate an entire $5 bag of choc covered macadamia nuts in one sitting. Emilys back now so that will be a stabilizing influence on my wild ways. Now I know why Genesis says "it is not good that man should be alone".


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A tough week...put it in the past.

Yikes, looks like it was a tough week this time around!  Hopefully that should give us all resolve to stick to our guns a bit more, right?  How about setting some short term goals...weekly goals?  and posting on the blog more often...??

And wow, nice to see a new face 'round here!  Hope you're able to check in every now and then, Paul.  Love the prison work out btw...nice!

I'm Here now! Dont expect much from me as my internet at home is useless. I'm at work now and whenever I start typing the phone rings or someone comes in(pesky customers:)), so I realy only get a few minutes here and there on-line.
So, I dont currently own a scale so I will have no idea if I lose weight other than when my pants start falling off...I am eating a lot better, thanks mostly to my calorie concious vegetarian girlfriend, and I do my "prison " workout, sit ups, push ups and what not...Over the last month or so I feel a bit lighter than before so somethings working.
I gotta bounce, I'll try and keep up...

First major setback - Mom

Yikes! - gained 4 last week. I see how much effect a few indulgences can have. Back to school treat time for me too at school. Pizza party for all elem. secretaries, nibbling too much in the evenings. Good job of resisting temptation, Anna. I'm still exercising but not as much I guess. Back to the plan. Goal for this week is to get back to where I was a week ago. It'll be hard to get exercise in this week, between work in the day and helping Amy and Dave paint in the new house in the evenings ( or babysit while they paint). It's 6 am now, so I think I'll go do some steppin' with the workout girls.

Anna Anticipating the Weeks Ahead

Tomorrow is my first day of school so back to a strict schedule and not many breaks.  I am setting a goal to lose 3 pounds this week, I know it is within realistic limits cuz I weigh about the same thing I did a month ago, only lost 3 since we started tracking.  I want to lose 7 more at least. 

So that is my goal by Thanksgiving.  After T-day I will set a new one, MAYBE won't be a weight goal, maybe a measurement goal instead?  I personally think after Thanksgiving this blog should not change at all in terms of structure.  Just set a new goal and keep posting.

This week we had breakfast provided 3 times and lunch provided once and ice cream on Friday.  By the third breakfast I'd had enough so I ate my own low cal breakfast and passed up the cinnamon rolls.  With as much stuff as they offer I should start making a list of foods I did not eat and you can see how fast and easy it would be to pack on a few by hanging around a teacher's lounge.   On  Tuesday I declined cheesy pasta lunch and cake.  And on Friday I declined the ice cream but it looked really good.  My principal asked why I wasn't eating it and i told him I had to weigh in on Sunday for the blog and he thought that was cool.  He is a big guy and has lost a lot of weight over the summer.  He didn't eat the ice cream either FYI.

I also went to the gym yesterday for the first time in over a week!  I don't know how much I'll be exercising for a while. :(

Accepting August 15 results now

Please email, or text, your weekly results to Anna.  Thank you :)

Running late

Running late for the bus on the first day of school!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

mom jumps in again.

I'vemissed several days; been very busy. All of a sudden my leisurely summer is gone and I'm thrown back into intense mode for a while. Meetings, meetings and more meetings at work to introduce updates in procedures, etc. and a couple of new programs that are pretty time intensive to learn. The first of the year is so crammed full that I can't wait to get home and get into the pool in the evening when the sunny bunnies have retreated. My house is pretty torn up with unpacking all of the boxes that were packed a year ago. My goal is to get everything back in good order before Ben et. al. get here in Sept. I'm purging yet more stuff and it feels good to get even more organized. I definitely don't want to end any of the blogging. And the health practices will always be part of our lives from now on, and we can continue to contribute whatever we want. Just not so structured maybe? I feel that I'm doing ok this week, but not spectacular. I want to be spectacluar!

Anna Reports: Back to work, Been Sick, Saw the Safstens...This one's got it all!

Insulation in the house...great progress!  And the time out picture...so sad );  (Mom, that is a frowny face with a tear...now there is no end to the emoticon education you will get you know.)

Anyhoo, this was my first week back to school without the kids.  It has been just alright.  They are feeding us a lot (breakfast every day and lunch tomorrow for the coaches) so it hasn't been perfect but better than the last few weeks).  I also have had a hard time this week cuz I've been a little sick, just a head cold with lots o' coughing, but I haven't been able to get to the gym because of that and because of work so the real world is difficult to deal with.  I'll go to the gym this weekend but don't know if i'll be able to go much more than that through the year.

We had the Arizona-Safsten bash at our house last Friday and that was totally fun.  Camille, Kaarin, Miriam & John, Danny & Laura, and Shaerna & Kevin came with 10 of their kids between them all.  For the food record, we had sub sandwiches and they brought salads and desserts.  I did really well for caloric intake on that meal btw.  We laughed a lot about the old neighborhood and our families and decided that we are both very lucky families to have had such great neighbors and all that.  We decided that when Mom comes to visit here in October that we will have to do it again and that Ben will have to make a drive to Phoenix then too...they'd LOVE to see you! :)  It is weird that they all live here in my neck of the woods and we haven't managed to get together till now.

end date and pics

When we say 'end date' we mean the end of this leg of our journey on healthy eating and/or weight loss. It should NOT end the blog. We may want to restart with a new diet challenge after Thanksgiving. It's just important to have a goal to look forward to when doing this and I think Mom's idea of T-day is a nice date.

Here's some pics of the kids and house.


You'll get a kick out of this one. I"M IN BIKER SHORTS!!!. I totally got peer pressured into this biking excursion with the Clark boys and dad and Steve. This was not bad - good exercise, but definitely not a picture I ever envisioned myself to be in (i'm 3rd from left).












Here's little Brady in "Time Out" for screaming too much. Breaks my heart. Tough love.


















And here's Nikki at Temple Square last week - trying to look thoughtful with her new $2 book of mormon



















and Brady, not so thoughtful, but what a big boy he is (actually, he's still small for his age)


















A shot of the inside of the house now. not very easy to see what's going on, but there you have it

Question--Amy

So, what do you mean by "end date"? Do you mean ending the blog? Ending the "Diet"? What's going on? I don't see why we need to end at all.

My Wednesday was ok. I didn't exactly count calories. I got busy with packing and stuff and just didn't. But I snuck in a weigh in and I'm already down two. Don't report it yet until Sunday. It's amazing what one little vacation can do to you and if you just cut out all the junk and snacking that a little weight can be lost.
That's all for now.

Today is signing papers day for the house and tomorrow we close! Yeah!

Tuesday's Report--Amy

Yesterday was another good day. I met my calorie intake and I did run for about 45 minutes or so. I really didn't want to go. I had NO motivation for it. So I called mom and asked her if she could watch the boys while I ran so that gave me a reason to go. I couldn't back out then.
Ben--I didn't mention that I didn't change the logo because I was gone for a week and didn't know until I got back and by then everyone had already talked about it so I felt no need. Good job on your 2 pound weight loss. I hope to have something like that this week.

Down 2 lbs

Anna,
I apologize for giving underserved credit to Amy. Funny how Amy never mentioned that I was giving her credit for Anna's work....hmmmm. I don't know why I assumed it was Amy, I just did.
Red meat theme is actually kinda cool for the food blog.

Mom, I am trying not to smile when I envision you doing the step video 2 steps behind the instructor and almost stumbling off into a fall. I feel for you, but you gotta admit, it would be a funny sight for someone watching. Like "Knee on root of tree" - painful for you, but still makes me smile.

I'm doing well this week, even w/o working out. I'm down to 183. That's 7 from the beginning!

Anna, consider that my official text/emailed weigh-in. 183, started at 190. I'll be more discreet about it in the future, but since it's already out there. Will you be reporting back people's % weight loss number? I think mine would be a 3% loss from the start. I'd like to be 175 one of these days.

Yeah, let's aim for a Thanksgiving Day ending. What a great way to end it! There is a slight possibility we'll be with Anna on that day anyway. I can just imagine the amount of chocolate pie we'll be consuming on that day. I think I said "that day" too many times.

Emily is in Utah for a week. The house is still more than a month from being done. It's wearing on all of us. I sure hope it's worth all this! I'll send pics soon.

See ya
Ben

Spark People

Hi
I just wanted to share with you the website I use to track my eating. You can use this for lots of things but I find the calorie counter most helpful. It also tracks the sugar, fat, carbs in the foods you eat also. You can track your exercise also. You get points for everything you do. Not sure what points get you other than a trophy on your site. But you can also join blogs and message boards and talk to other people about goals and things. I don't do that but you might find it nice. So here is the website. Check it and see what you think. It's free to join.
http://www.sparkpeople.com

Good and Bad--Amy

My first day back to healthy living was good and bad. I didn't eat any junk food all day and I ate 1500 calories. So that was good. The bad was I never did exercise. I was unpacking from Pearrygin and packing up boxes to move in a couple weeks and doing butloads of laundry. But really those are just excuses. I could have gone running after Dave got home. But we just got to talking and time went by too fast. So today is a new day and I will do something during Owen's nap whether I like it or not.

Still progressing - Mom

Down 3 lbs. for last week. total of 13. I don't expect it to be really notiecable until 20 or so. I either do the step aerobics or swim almost every day. ( I've been doing the step aerobics without the step the last couple of times - ever since I missed the step while watching the girls and stumbled and almost fell. I still do the steps and feel like I've had a work out.)

Back from Pearrygin

Hello! I'm back from the lake and vacation. It was a lot of fun and it was hot but it did rain a lot more than I wanted it to. It was POURING with thunder and lightning the day we got there for set up. It sucked. We were all shivering and trying to keep the kids occupied while trying to set up tents in the rain. Ovarall though it was a nice time. Both Javen and Jaxon tried knee boarding but didn't like it. Jaxon went twice and Javen tried once. They both say they will be willing to try again next year. Jaxon also tried another new thing. He jumped off the rope swing. It was a different rope swing this year. Not as good as last years. The parks department chopped down the tree the rope was on so people wouldn't do a rope swing. Liability reasons. But that didn't stop someone from hanging another rope on another tree. But this time the rope didn't go out as far and you dropped into the weeds. Jaxon still did it twice and Javen once. I have pictures but I haven't uploaded them yet.
Anyway, as far as eating went I was definetely on vacation. It's way too easy to just get up and grab a snack. And it's too hot to have the energy to cook something really healthy. We have some Pearrygin tradition foods that we only have once a year so I lived it up and ate those foods knowing it would only be for the week. We always get costco muffins for the week there. Again, the only time we eat them all year. We always bring Juice Squeeze drinks that you just have to have at Pearrygin. And stuff like trail mix, licorice, cookies, etc. And of course trips to town for ice cream. I said I would try for one time but that one time turned in to four. But twice I had a child size serving. Does that count? So I did give in to peer pressure and went there with the whole family group and took the boys more than I thought I would. I did eat a lot more fruits and veggies than I normally do there because of my prepared bags. But I didn't eat all that I made. But I'm back to being really serious about it now. I have written down what I have eaten so far and will log my calories right after I'm done here. I will do some aerobics today as well. Probably during Owen's nap. I weighed myself this morning and I'm up three pounds. :( But hopefully that will change very soon. Oh! One more thing....Dave and I went running three times while we were in Winthrop. But we only ran three miles each time. Could have been better, but Dave didn't want to go further so I just ran with him.
Anyway, here's to a successful week!!!!

Send Weekly Results to Anna

In an effort to keep accountability (some of you are slackers...haven't seen much activity on the blog) and need to get on the ball) and a healthy spirit of competition please email or text this weeks results in terms of pounds lost to me so I can tally our "scores."  Perhaps there might be something (along the lines of a fancy gold star...don't actually have something in mind but I will accept your ideas :) ) in it for each week's winner!  Woo hoo!

I gotta few things to say!

It is NOT muscle!  I ate like CRAP for 3 weeks...tons of sugar and candy and I didn't work out for two weeks.  Don't go making me think it's all good and not to worry about it. 

Can we be clear that Amy is NOT the one who made the logo...I made it and now that Ben mentioned it, it DOES look like raw meat...maybe I can look into changing that.

As for end dates...maybe we can go till thanksgiving then start over again with new goals.  When I brought up end dates I did not intend that we should stop doing the blog afterward.

P.S. from Mom

Ben, how did you know it was Amy and not Anna -or me?-:), :), :) who changed the blog logo?

Raining at Spinnaker Reach

First wet day in a long time. It'll get better by Monday. I go back to work Tuesday. Summer always flies by. Anna - you go back this week too, right? hey Anna - I loved your travelogue on your blog. I'm so glad you guys made it up here. I bet some of that 5 lbs. was muscle, since you were doing a lot of working out. Are you going to be able to continue on some level once you're back in the school schedule?

Someone suggested a possible end date for reporting on the blog. I was thinking maybe thanksgiving? I think by then I can keep going and won't slip back to the old ways- I really think that this time I've made some changes that will last- eating more of the right things and less of everything in general. I don't buy unhealthy stuff at all anymore except for special occasions like birthdays and I like to have some things on hand for kids, knowing they don't flip out over fruits and vegetables.

Nice to see that Mom used a real :) in her last post

I'm Baaaacck

So, I went camping. I was w/o Internet till late last night. I'm glad I wasn't blogging because it would have been non-stop self-criticism. Remember back in the day when we went camping for a week at Silver Lake? We'd have like 5 cardboard trays of Shastas - Orange, Root Beer, Grape, etc. Then you got your boxes of Chips Ahoy or Oreos, and a lot of crackers. Then you add your obligatory drive to "Der StorHausen" for squirt guns and candy. Anyway, my camping trip had all those elements, only the soda was diet.
I'm still in Utah till Saturday and still feeling like it's part of the camping trip so I'm not watching my eating as well as I should. If it weren't for you dilligent bloggers, this week might have been the week that my diet efforts just faded into oblivion as they have so many times before. So thanks for staying on it. I'll be back in the saddle again...again..again.

Oh, BTW, nice new "How Low Can You Go" logo on the blog, Amy. Kinda looks like a logo for raw meat for some reason...

Puttin my Shoulder to the Wheel

I had my workout with my trainer today.  I postponed it from last Monday but I think I would have been better off going then instead of today in terms of measurements and progress.  I did my workout with Mitch the Trainer which was difficult but he was not as hard on me as he could have been.  He wasn't in the mood to be hard-core cuz his girlfriend of 3 years broke up with him a week ago and he is broken hearted and he told me the WHOLE story.  Poor guy.  :(

Well the result of today's meeting with him is that since I started the gym I have GAINED 5 pounds!  What?!  The best way to describe this weekend was BINGE.  It's just been UGLY.  We had a little party with my friends on Friday and I ate a TON and I made a birthday cake for Anders which we all took care of Saturday and Sunday.  Michael and I also went out to eat on Saturday at a lovely little French crepe restaurant called Le Chalet which got mixed reviews from the both of us.  He's not much for ambiance...of which I LOVE LOVE LOVED and he's not much for eating whole wheat breads, of which the crepes consisted...that is whole wheat, so they weren't exactly light and fluffy but I enjoyed it nonetheless and I ordered from the low cal menu.  All good for me, but I will have to probably go back with a friend who would appreciate it sufficiently. (BTW...a note on the pictures: I do realize the little French chef is quite kitchy but he is not the reason I took the pic...the pic's focal point is intended to be the wood pile which is really a cabinet. I thought it was real wood.  I loved it and I want one in my own house...AND of course the Pay Toilet sign may not exactly be part of authentic French culture, but as I understand it there IS a guillotine in the men's restroom...now THAT's authentic!)

Well I'm facing the music and putting my shoulder to the wheel.  You can only expect positive reports from me in the near future.

Bring back any memories?

Every time I see one of these I think of you, my siblings!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

A little frustrated too, - mom

Status quo today for weight. It would have been a gain I think if I hadn't been exercising. Too much temptation being at home all day. Maybe I'd better rethink retiring in 4 or 5 years :) . Junk food isn't getting me- It's just good food in general in too large quantities. I can get away without buying real tempting foods because I live alone and don't have little kids or a spouse around all the time who want fun stuff to eat . Hang in there Anna.

Hey Ben, where are you?

I go back to the Dr. at the end of August and I want to have a good showing so, I'm gritting my teeth to strengthen my resolve.

Since I didn't do well at fasting today, I'm going to try tomorrow for a full 24 hr. and fast for family health and success. Keeping a prayer in my head about that all day will help. When I've been able to do it, I've really been rewarded.