A "Comment" Worthy of Being a Post!

Andrea said...

I can definitely feel the struggle to shed off the last few pounds! It is not as easy as it seems!

Studies have shown that people who make goals are more successful than those who don't! So I think it is high time for me to set a new goal since I have met my last one and am now struggling to move forward. My new goal is to keep putting in at least 2 hours of exercise a week and get down to 150 lbs by July 6. My new weight goal is 145, and I hope to be there by August 3.

Honestly, I think that the hardest part is keeping the weight off for good! I think that I will probably struggle with my weight for the rest of my life, but I want to make sure that I am doing my best to make good decisions that will keep me healthy and active for a long long time.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

News from Andrea!

Gord (my Dad), Paula, me, Stephanie, Nathaniel (my brother)

A lot can happen in a month! As most of you know, I graduated from the University of Southern California on May 15, 2009 and received my Masters of Arts in Teaching. My family came out to support me and celebrate with me!

AT GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY
Anthony, Paula, Stephanie, me

We had a wonderful time together. This is a picture of all of us (excluding the photographer, my father); which is fine because I just realized that the rest of us are on here! Anyhow, we are at the Griffith Observatory. When we arrived we were surprised by how popular the place was and soon discovered that the parking lot was closed; we had to park a ways down the road. As luck would have it, the entire walk to the observatory was uphill! Just as we passed the entrance to the parking lot, it was deemed empty enough to open up; yes, this was our lucky day alright! Ha! However, we were able to console ourselves with the fact that we had gotten some good exercise!

This blog has seen some great positive change in the last month as well!

First, Aunt Carol-Ann gave the blog a bit of a face lift, and now we are current and up to date!

Second, Stephanie has decided to join us, and she is off to a fantastic start! I’m pretty sure everyone who reads this is familiar with all the participants, but I’ll give a little introduction anyway. Stephanie is my older sister, and she decided to join the blog when she came out to visit me in CA for my graduation. We got to work right away exercising and eating healthy (well, most of the time, anyhow).

With all the excitement, I figured it was time to do a proper wrap-up for the month of May...

In the past 31 days we have put in a total of

22 hours and 40 minutes of exercise

and
lost a total of 9.0 pounds

We are well on our way to being winners by losing! Keep up the good work, team!

A Post from the blog Administration!

Congratulations to all you stick-to-it Winners! I'm truly amazed by the numbers that have been crunched to smaller sizes here! And congratulations, Andrea, on your graduation! Lots of hard work in every direction!

Now it is time to crunch the sidebars of this blog to have it truly reflect the current activity.

In the next little while all inactive members will be transferred to an alumni file and all active members will be given the more lofty positions in the sidebar. If you find yourself in the file and would like to be put back in the open sidebar, just leave me a note in the comment section. Remember, this is a "Winners" blog -- you are always rated "A" in our books! "A" for Alumni or "A" for Active!

Pretty good, eh?

Milestone for Andrea!

Andrea has broken into the 150s!!
Great job, Andrea!
Way to go!

Your goal is in sight!

Thanks, Andrea!

Just check out what I got in my email last night! Impossible to ignore, that's what this is!

Aunt Jeanette!

I am here to demand that you weigh in tomorrow! You cannot tip toe around the issue any more. It is time to face the music.

And you will also set a new short term goal and write a little blurb on the blog about it. We are here to keep you accountable, and we will not let you down. Because if we did not demand this, we would be letting you down. (This is all in love)

So I am excited to see you get back in the game, put in at least 30 min of exercise, weigh in, and make a new goal this week. You can do it! We are all rooting for you.

Love you,
Andrea


So I am pulling myself together! Actually, I had already had a consultation with myself about this very thing, but getting this email was the clincher!

Here's my plan:

• I will weigh in today
  
• I will exercise at least 30 minutes this week, probably more
• I will write down everything I eat (the way that works best for me)
  

As to the new goal, I want to lose 15+ pounds by June 15. That sounds ambitious! And maybe it is. But at least I've said it, so the real work can now begin!

An update from Andrea!

It’s that time again…
Spring is approaching and the warm weather outside reminds me that I should be out THERE exercising instead of in HERE watching TV!!! I’ve gotta get out there and start enjoying the fresh air. I know that if I make it a priority I can fit it into my schedule, but when I start putting it off I never get around to it! Time to get in motion!

I also have a quick update on how everything is at school. I can’t believe that it is almost May! The colors on the exercise log for May are gold and maroon; I chose these colors because they are my university’s colors, and I will be walking across that stage on May 15th to get my diploma! Whew! And then I can relax!… oh wait… I still have to write my thesis over the summer… and finish all my assignments from this semester… and pray that I passed my project (the Performance Assessment of California Teachers). But receiving my diploma will be a milestone for me, and I can’t wait!

My student teaching is going pretty well. Today was the first day I have seen my class since Spring Break, but it went really well! In fact, I got my first ‘excellent’ review from the math coach who comes and observes me once a week. That felt really good and I am feeling ready to be in my own classroom. I really think that I will love my job (once it is official) because it inspires me!

Now the job search begins! Argh!!! Putting together a job resume is the first step, and I really need to get on it! So that will be occupying my time for the next week, and then I need to decide where I want to teach and go to job interviews. I will be sure to keep you all posted on my quest for employment!



And remember… it is a beautiful day outside and exercise relieves stress! Make it happen!

Hang in there!

Well, I hope that we have at least been holding our own this week. I got more exercise than last week, but I also ate very unwisely at times. The day after tomorrow, I am going to get on an airplane and go spend a week in Canada with Carol-Ann and her family and my mother. If it is like previous trips, I will get there, turn around twice, and it will be time to fly back again! And who knows how the exercise and eating will go while I am gone... Hopefully better than when I am at home, but we shall see!

This is not just about how we look; this is about something even more important -- our health. The older I get, the more I can feel it, too.
We can do it!

Weigh-In Day!

(Click on the cartoon to see it better)

All of our active members have had a GREAT week!
Congratulations, everyone!

February Progress Report!

By Andrea

This has been a really fun month on here, and each member has contributed to the rising energy on this blog. Therefore, it seems fitting that we take a minute to realize just how successful we have been!

February has been a record-breaking month for our group! (Go ahead, give yourself a pat on the back). In the past twenty-eight days we have:

Put in 27 hours and 10 minutes of exercise

Lost 7.8 pounds


This is a HUGE success! I’m so excited about and proud of our progress and dedication.

Let’s see if we can beat ourselves in March!

I have to admit it...

This has been a failure day for me. I hope the rest of you have done better. In my defense, I typed nearly 100,000 characters today. That is probably not much compared to what some people can do, but that was a lot for me. The energy had to come from somewhere, and my own fat cells just would not give it up!

Weigh-In Day!

Here's a cartoon for weigh-in day, just in case we need a little humor to lighten things up! Andrea and I have been searching these out and plan to post one each Monday if we can.

There's a grain of truth in this, even when it makes us laugh...
Any cutting back from what we have been doing is progress, so let's give it our best shot this week!

Happy Birthday, Jeanette!

You'll have to let us know after spending time lifting those weights: the biceps that now hang beneath the arm in middle age -- do they surface to the top again with exercise or do they just continue to swing low only with more bulk?

Happy 55th!


Jeanette's answer --

Thanks, Carol-Ann! I have had a very happy birthday. Funny thing, I don't feel any older than I did yesterday!

This afternoon I used my new age of 55 to my advantage!

The phone rang, right when I was in the middle of busy kitchen cleaning. Riiinnnggg.... "Hello," I said politely. A man with a slight accent answered, "This is Tom from the Delightful Research Company [or some name like that]. I have some questions to ask about what you watch on TV." Without pausing for breath, he rushed right on. I'm sure experience has taught him what will happen if he stops to gasp for air! "Is there a female in your household between the ages of 18 and 54 [note that he said 54....54!] who could answer my questions?" I just could not hold back the glee in my voice! "No, I'm sorry! The only one here in that age group is disabled and would not be able to answer any questions!!" Now he could breathe! "Thank you for your time. Good-bye!" Click! ... Yippee! That was easy!

Thus I have embarked on life as a senior!!

(Sagging biceps? Flapping upper arms?? Swinging wings??? Of what dost thou speak, dear sister???)

An Encouraging Story!

Thanks to Andrea, Anthony, and Paula, our little blog has some new life! I think the exercise log may have a lot to do with it. Since our son Trent moved out on his own, we have an empty room in our basement, so Barry repainted it, put in a new light fixture, and moved our exercise equipment in there. We have the treadmill in one corner, and next to it is the HealthRider. Then there is the weight bench with every imaginable size of weight that can be added to the bar. So now I have no excuse, not even bad weather!

Andrea enjoys watching "The Biggest Loser," and she sent me this link. What an amazing story! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did!

Ali Vincent's Story

If Ali can do it, so can we!

(Thanks for the link, Andrea!)

Ooooops!
Sorry to any who may have seen, but I posted on the wrong blog!
Ha Ha!

I was working on the telling of my love story for Valentines Day and had clicked accidentally on to the Winners Blog instead of MY blog! Post removed!

Hope you all are successful with your weight loss and exercise! I'm still 10 pounds above my goal and am wondering whether or not it is worth the effort to try to go the last 10!

Here we go!

Happy weigh-in day!

I got on the scale this morning... covered my eyes... took a deep breath... and squinted down through my fingers... Yes, just as I thought! Over this long food-filled break I have taken, I have definitely lost ground. But things could have been MUCH worse, I know. So I am feeling encouraged. And I hope you are, too.

With this new start, I am trying a different approach. I have set my goal weight at 10 pounds less than my weigh-in today. I am only trying to lose 10 pounds right now. When I get there, then I'll decide what to do about the next 10 pounds.

This last week, as I have been doing my medical transcription work, I have had to chuckle several times over the thoughts the doctor just cannot keep out of his tone of voice... "The patient's weight is up a WHOPPING 33 pounds since his last visit!" I grin, but I can identify with that patient. It is much easier to go up that whopping 33 pounds than down, isn't it! Let's make sure we are moving in the right direction!

Suggestion for this week: Try to make some food substitutions. This is not about starving but about making some healthy changes. Last week when I went to the store, I bought some mangoes, something I don't usually get. Several times since then I have found that one of those cut up and eaten piece by piece at my desk as I work is a really satisfying alternative to snack foods. I am going to try a different fruit next time I am at the store.

A Little Bird Told Me...

...that there are big happenings over here at the Winners blog! Just to look at it, you won't be able to tell just yet, but there will be some new additions to our sidebars, and I'm feeling pretty excited about it!

We have been struggling along, each of us fighting our own battles. Through this blog we have tried to join forces and work together, but our failure (what a nasty word!) has been really discouraging, not to mention the extra pounds we are still carrying around.

So... as you already know if you have been keeping up with us, Andrea called us back into action. She posted comments here, and every Monday morning a message from her popped up in my email: "Are we in?" I have to admit that I looked around at all of us and didn't see anyone responding, so I half-heartedly and without much confidence took a timid step forward and raised my hand! "Okay, Andrea, let's be a team of two," I said!

Last week, I cut out all the over-abundance of sweets that have taken over since the beginning of December. That was tough! Then this week I started writing down most of what I ate so I could try to get a handle on it. Second tough week. The lady at Wal-Mart must have wondered why anyone needed that much gum! I'm not sure the scales are showing anything yet except for the horrendous backsliding I have been doing, but I do feel a bit better and less achy.

Then imagine my excitement yesterday morning when my phone rang! It was Andrea! "Guess what?" she said after our pleasantries were over. "Anthony wants to come on the blog with us!" Anthony is Andrea's boyfriend, and he has thrown down the gauntlet with his claim that he is going to beat us all at weight loss!! I am so pleased that he is going to join us! But I know I am no match for the two of them on weight loss, so it took the next thing to REALLY lift my spirits!

Another email popped up in my inbox...from Andrea!

GUESS WHAT???!!!???!!!!

I have been recruiting, and my mother has agreed to join us! Attached is a very flattering picture taken of her at my graduation :) She says that she weighs in on Saturdays, and I am guessing that she will either tell you or me to post it for her. I really wanted her to join so that you two would have some support and accountability. You know, during those way-too-delicious-to-say-no Sunday lunches you put on every week or the calorie-laden Monday nights, you two will be able to join forces and help each other. AND even exercising for a mere 30 minutes together would be no problem!

I'm excited for our revamp of the blog!

"YES WE CAN!!!"


Now I am REALLY encouraged! Today Paula, Andrea's mom, called and asked if I wanted to walk this evening, so we put in 30 minutes of brisk walking around the neighborhood, and we made plans for a regular exercise regimen. (I'm afraid my legs will not like me in the morning, though!)

In the next few days, we will have new faces on the sidebar. So if anyone else would like to make a new start along with us, come and join in! And if you can, convince a friend to be your partner and join us, too. That just might make all the difference!

WHAT'S UP??

Fact #1: Andrea is pushing forward on her weight loss. She is putting the rest of us to shame!

Fact #2: For 2 weeks now, on Monday morning I have received an email from her entitled "Are we on?" (The question is: On what? Certainly not the scale, as I am afraid to do it!) But I know what she means...

Fact #3: I definitely need someone like Andrea prodding me to get moving, so here I am, challenging anyone else who would like to get busy again to join us. I am going to take the challenge from Andrea and start up again.

I know this might just be Andrea and me. Believe me, if you decide this is not for you, that is totally okay. Andrea and I have made a good team on lots of things in the past and had an awfully fun time doing it. (Cooking Sunday dinner comes to mind!) So if it is just the 2 of us, that is okay, too.

For starters today, here is some of Andrea's email to me last week. I think she is right about the short-term goal, so I'm thinking about it...

"I know its kinda dead on the blog right now, but I want to share my success anyway! Although I want to lose weight for myself I also enjoy telling my friends how I am doing. I have a new short term goal that I really think I can accomplish. I want to be down to 160 lbs by the time I graduate (May 15). So I have 17.6 lbs to go. If I keep eating right and saying "NO NO NO" to all the sweets I just might make it :)

Maybe it would help you to have a more short term goal to spur you into action. I know you really want to lose weight so if the blog is no longer a source of inspiration then you need a new one. I just went grocery shopping and I was soooo tempted to buy some goodies, but I walked away instead. I think to myself, "What harm could some cookies really do?" But then when I see progress and success I am so glad that I didn't do it.

All of this to say, if we still want to lose weight we need a new game plan. I would like to exercise more, but realistically I know that I have a hard time motivating myself to get out there. However, it isn't too hard to just not fill my cupboards with sweets. That is my new outlook, so I'm adjusting my focus. Don't give up! I know you can do this!"

How is that for a cheerleader/encourager? So... let's do it!

And here's a little thought for the day!

Proverbs 25: 27-28:
It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor.
Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.