Sunday Confessions

It's confession time again - and I am proud to say that I have been SO good with my diet this week! I can't think of a time that I've cheated even once (this may be a first)! I've really tried to construct my diet around a realistic, healthy new way to eat. But more on that later.

Just because I haven't cheated on my diet, however, does not mean I don't have anything to confess. I've been extremely lazy about exercising. I'm here to confess I haven't done a single workout since last Saturday! And I don't mean yesterday-Saturday, but a week ago Saturday. In fact the only reason I'm still losing weight is because I've been so good on my diet! This morning when I did my weigh-in it occurred to me that if I would just do my workouts, I'd probably be losing weight like crazy. I struggle so much with time though.

There are 1,440 minutes in a day, and I need to set aside just need 20 of those. 

Somehow. Somewhere.

So what is your confession for the week? Eat a whole box of cookies (been there)? Have fast food every day for lunch at work (done that, too)? Let's hear it!

Adding a Little Spice to Your Life

Let me be honest - I'm a wimp! I'm pretty tough for a girl, but in a rediculously delicate package! I cannot handle the sun in any form thanks to my beyond fair skin, let's not even start on my blue eyes, and I wouldn't even go near mild salsa until I was about 17. I AM A WIMP! Or I should say - was. Then I met someone who cooks the most wonderfully authentic Mexican food. It was "man" up or loose out on an amazing experience. After about 6 months it became clear that I was actually better at tolerating spicy foods than he was! I actually eat whole jalapeños and dump hot sauce on 90% of what I eat now. My son actually said to me "why don't you just use the whole bottle of hot sauce on that tostada?!" To which I replied, "because I might want seconds!" Little did I know, the benefits of eating spicy foods are great!

Did you know that spicy foods can speed up your metabolism? They contain capsaicin {the element that gives chillies their heat} which increases your heart rate and your body tempeature upon consumption - which speeds up the rate at which your body burns calories. Unfortunately the increase is at only about 8%, strength training exercises being your best bet since muscle is a more effective calorie burner. You would have to make an extreme diet change to see a larger effect. But it is still something to consider the next time you go out to eat, stray from your diet, or are just looking for a snack. It should also be noted that similar effects were also found with black pepper and ginger. Capsaicin has also proven to be an appetite supressor - studies suggest that people who consume spicy foods tend to consume 200 calories fewer than those who didn't eat spicy foods. In addition it is a natural blood thinner, an anti-inflammatory, helps to reduce allergy and asthma symptoms, releases good endorphins to the brain, and even helps to control pain!

So keep exercising, keep eating healthy, but don't be afraid to add a little spice to your life!

Our Hunger Games

In the interest of staying committed and motivated in our effort to lose weight and get healthy, Sandie and I have decided to have a little sisterly competition.... Sandie has dubbed it:

The Hunger Games

The rules are easy... to win the competition you have to be the first person to lose 50 pounds. For every pound we lose, a dollar goes in a jar. If you gain any of the weight back, that money stays in the jar and you still have to pay when you re-lose the weight. At the end, whoever hits 50 pounds first - and maintains it for a month - gets 175% of the money (meaning the money in their jar plus 75% of the other person's money).

It's that simple.

Aside from the whole "losing 50 pounds" part.

I'm going to find a way to post on the side bar how much money is in each of our jars, and if you look at the very bottom of this blog you'll be able to see where we are at in our weight loss. Currently I'm about 2 pounds ahead - HA! IN YOUR FACE!

...although to be fair, I haven't weighed in since Friday, and I DID just eat a big bowl of ice cream while celebrating a coworker's birthday... not to mention I still have 45 pounds to go....

anyway...

We are both just competitive enough that this might work for us! We'll keep the blog updated on our progress, and we'd love to have someone else join in with us! Maybe on a smaller pound goal? If we decide we are brave enough, maybe we will even post progress pictures. Maybe.

Wish us luck, and maybe a little encouragement!

Sunday Confessional

Welcome to the Sunday confessional! This is a new feature to the blog, and one that I'm hoping will be not only fun and humorous, but therapeutic and educational. The idea is that every Sunday a contributor will start off the confessional. Then all you followers can respond in support, ideas, and hopefully your own confession from the past week! Confessions can be big or small but need to be diet, exercise or health related - no confessing to pranks or serious life sins unless you can prove it tipped your scale! Since this was my *brilliant* idea, I promised to make the first confession!

Food carries too much importance to me - and it takes a lot to admit that out loud...or at least in black in white! It's not something I can just brush off - take or leave it. There is often a full on mental battle that goes on in my head when I choose to turn food down - one than can be hard to win with so many mental excuses and justifications! This week someone brought in a cookie bouquet! I took one look at it and then my brain screamed "your sister just lost 5 pounds on her weigh in today! Stop looking at that and run away!" At least I won that battle!! Burn Notice is open for confessions - please comment and please CONFESS!

dieting rules

I'm starting my new weight loss plan today. For reals. I did my first workout in a long time, and I'm doing my best to eat right! I always struggle with what to eat. I'm thinking I'm going to do a version of the Slim Fast diet. I like the shakes, and I love not having to prepare meals for work or while trying to corral two kids. The thing is though, I don't want to have a really strict diet. I want to have a healthier way of living so that this is a permanent change and not just a temporary diet that will end in me going back to doing things exactly as I was. I'm going to make some weight loss rules for myself and if nothing else, I must follow these rules. Here are the rules I'm creating for myself - and if anyone has any good ideas for additions to these then please share!

1. no junk food. period. (this includes all cookies, chips, soda, etc... and especially fast food)

2. drink nothing but water and occasionally crystal light (no juice or soda - a suprising number of useless calories are consumed this way)

3. drink a minimum 64 oz of water per day, but preferably twice that (twice that = 1 gallon)

4. no food after 8 pm (really I'd like to make this time earlier, but since Aaron isn't home from work until 7 we eat dinner pretty late... I'm not really sure of a way around this yet that doesn't involve not having family dinners)

5. get at least 8 hours of sleep per night (I wish this could be more as I have a sleeping disorder - but with a baby I think I'll be lucky to even get this much. We'll see)

6. always eat breakfast

7. only bring to work the food I plan on eating that day, and no more. (if I bring more, I will always find myself bored and munching on anything in sight)

I feel like there were a couple others I had thought of... I should have written them down when I thought of them. I'll add to this list if I think of anything. That's it for now... I'll comment on how my workouts are going after I've done a few more days of it... so for now I'll leave with a picture I found that I feel is a good motivator for me. It's a good thing to picture in my mind when reaching for some sort of junk that I don't need!

it's about time

Nothing has been posted on this blog in a very long time... one might think we didn't need the weight loss help anymore! The reality is, I have been getting fatter instead. Ok to be fair, I had another baby. That doesn't make me feel much better about the weight gain though... it does, however, mean I gained back all of the weight I lost last time around. Great.

So I'm starting from square one... I've gained all the weight back, plus I've lost the majority of the strength and stamina I had gained from 2 years of workouts. I plan on coming back to this blog and hopefully using it as an outlet and a form of accountability. My little Miles is now 3 months old and I've yet to do anything to start getting my old body back. I'm really struggling getting motivated what with being so tired and busy with a full time job and 2 kids! I NEED to make this happen. And soon. I'm starting to head in to that downward spiral which leads to me feeling completely depressed and hopeless about how I look and feel. So I need to {wo}man up and make it happen.

Anyone out there with me?

The end is coming...

*edited 9-9-10*

ok so... no one came for the weigh in! instead, we are going to weigh in THIS sunday. that gives everyone a few extra days... so work hard!

Our family weight loss competition ends this Sunday! Any bets as to who is going to win? I think not me... I'm kind of betting on either Tommy or Grandma (both seem to be kicking butt).

So who do YOU think will win the weight loss competition?
	Grandma - Marcella
	Sunny - Mom
	Greg - Dad
	Merry
	Sandie
	Jonathon
	Melanie
	Tommy
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