Being a couch potato

Ok, so for all my big plans to start exercising today (I thought I'd try running after work, then thought Mom & I would take a walk tonight after she got home from work..), I ended up going to bed WAAAAAY too late last night, then sleeping badly because I was worried about missing my alarm (5.20am comes sooo quickly if you're not careful!), and consequently have done nothing at all since getting home from work this afternoon - other than taking a 1.5 hour nap on the sofa, that is!

Still, food-wise I think I'm doing pretty well. Today started with a bowl of fruit salad at 5,45am, then a banana at 7.45am; after-work snack was a slice of sugarfree angel food cake, then lunch was tacos - believe it or not, 2 tacos with 2 tablespoons of meat & dressing is only 250 calories! I was psyched to see that on the box! - followed by a large slice of watermelon. And then this afternoon the only thing I've had was a 100-calorie bag of cookies. Who knew you could buy different varieties of cookies in 100-calorie bags??? That's too cool... And now to round the day off, I'm going to finish off the grapes I bought the other day as a bedtime snack, since I'm feeling definitely peckish. Even if I succeed at nothing else, just changing my junk-food snacks for fruits will make a huge difference in my overall health, I'm sure!

Oh, and I've only had one Diet Coke today - not too shabby! :0)

Now if I could just get my rear in gear & get off the sofa, I'd be doing so much better!!! Still, tomorrow is a new day....

bad end to a good day....sigh

Okay, so I should not have been so boastful earlier. You see.....dieting with a full time job, plus 3 kids, plus a totally insane schedule is more then a little complicated! Plus, Esther put into my mind that maybe not going cold turkey on the soda is okay...and maybe just try one a day. Suggestions like that KILL me. So...I gave in and had a soda. Then my afternoon schedule got completely out of control, and so we ended up at Chick-Fil-A for dinner. Almost disaterous. I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich, NO fries, but a small peach shake. Okay, Okay, that was bad. So, the sandwich was AWFUL, so I ended up not even eating half of it.....but the shake was, ofcourse, yummy...so I sucked that on down.....SO...does half a sandwich and a small Peach shake equal out okay? Certainly not on the health food front, but maybe on the caloric intake front I may just be alright...we will see on Thursday....

NO DESSERT.....well, maybe a peice of fruit or a yogurt......

AND why is no one else posting???

So...today my head is more in the game...finally. I started today with oatmeal and apricots and that was a satisfying start to the day. Followed that with a lunch of Hummus sandwhich on these neat little sandwhich rounds I found, just 100cals for the bread....a vanilla yogurt and a peach. So not too many calories there I don't think. Not that I am counting calories...that gets WAYYYYY too complicated. So, tonight, fish fingers, veggie and rice. I am going to eat off of a small plate, that way I will not load it up as much...and one serving only. And stalls and barn chores tonight will be my exercise...weigh in day is only a few days away, and I have that trip to make up for, so hopefully I can still make it to being the biggest loser!!
Thats it for now...
Eileen

Official day one for me...

UGH....so my head is totally NOT into this diet yet, and I am STARVING. Today I have barely done "okay". I had a banana for breakfast, a banana and half a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, and then a piece of cake(I know....I know...but it is out of the house now....). 1 peach, a Caesar salad for dinner, a really unsatisfying rice pudding and a slice of no fat angel food cake. So...now I am done for the day. And really, I am not starving anymore. It was before the angel food cake that I was feeling so terribly deprived. The good news...I have made it through the day with NO soda.....I am craving it, but fighting the urge....I know that that is the biggest let down in my diet as it is right now. If I can kick the habit life will be easier...and cheaper. I figure I was drinking between 3 and 6 bottles a day....and that adds up.....Tomorrow I plan to have oatmeal for breakfast. It is low cals and fills me up with a lasting fullness....and then I have these neat little bread circles that are 100 calories a pair and I bought some hummus so I will have a hummus sandwich and some sort of fruit....and we will go from there.....

Day 4

Well, I've gotten this far without falling off the wagon, so to speak. Esther Marie told me she cheated and looked at the scales (I'll let her surprise you with what it said!), but I have been SOOOOOOOOO good. I maybe faltered a bit last night when I had about 6 pretzels while I was "granny-sitting" which I do for about five hours every week-end, but I don't know how many calories pretzels have, so I'm not sure how serious that was. We got this idea from watching Julia and Julie, where Julie blogs her experience of cooking one recipe from Julia Childs cookbook every day for a year. If you haven't seen the film - DO! I've had my glass of oj and my two prunes this morning - now I'm off to eat some cereal before church. I guess it will have to be Cocoa Krispies, leftover from BD (before diet). I really do not like to waste food, no matter how bad it is for me!

Grocery shopping - KA-CHING!!

Boy, you can sure understand how & why people end up eating less than healthy food in this country! I went grocery shopping this afternoon - primarily for fruits to make up a fruit salad - and decided to also check out some other low-cal options. After spending NINETY DOLLARS!!! on what is largely short-life, perishable items, I'm definitely seeing the value of fast / junk food - it's cheap, it's largely filling, it's easy to make....

Still, we're in this for the long haul, and eating better is a good portion of losing the weight we need to lose. So fruit salad, salads, fresh fruits, here we come!

PS I could not resist the sugar-free Angel Food cake though... but at only 60 calories per slice, it really can't be all that bad, right?!

Last night of freedom.

So, we are now at home, and I have no other good reasons for putting off starting this thing for real. I just finished my last Diet Dr Pepper, my first big goal being let go of the soda.....even though it is diet, I know that if I can kick the habit I will be half way there. Okay, so maybe a third of the way there.....

Tomorrow I will start with cheerios too...but we have 2% milk in this household. Come to think of it...since the kids do not even really drink it, I could cut that down to 1% now. So after church I will go shopping for healthy, family food. That is the disadvantage I have over the other two...even if I am eating healthy, I still need to think if things that can be both healthy and kid friendly. Good thing I have non-picky kids.

So...this week....lose the most pounds AND give up soda....hmmm....could be tough....

So far, so good...

Well, it's day 3 now, and so far it seems to be going pretty well. My fast on Thursday was, I think, a good idea - I actually found that I really wasn't hungry at all during the day - very eye-opening, considering how much I generally "munch" during the day... My energy levels did, however, seriously go through the floor, and by the end of the day at work I could barely hold my up head, I was so tired!

Yesterday, I had a cup of Honey Nut Cheerios (good for your heart!) for breakfast with 1% milk, and a small glass of milk to drink. Mom made a really delicious poor man's stroganoff with mashed potato for lunch / dinner - we each had a small portion of that, along with several baby carrots. When I got home from work, I restricted myself to 3 prunes - although I could quite happily have eaten everything we had in the house!! I went to bed quite hungry, but feeling good.

Now today I've started off with the same breakfast again (I really do enjoy Cheerios), and am taking salads to Mom for lunch (she's at work all day). I'm going to pick up a lot of fresh fruit at the grocery store, as that was what I really wanted yesterday - plus it's something we should have on hand to snack on anyway - far healthier than potato chips and ice cream, I can tell you! :-)

Other than that, I need to decide what I'm going to do for exercise - I really can't afford to join a gym right now, although that would probably be my best course of action. I'm still thinking about running, but having never done it before, am not quite sure where - or how! - to begin... Hmm... Maybe I'll call David - he'll be able to give me some advice on that!

day one...sort of....

Okay so here we are, at the beginning of this diet. I was going to refuse, and do it on my own, but when they came up with the Heifer idea, I had to join in, seeing as that is one of my favorite ministries. And since I have failed so many times before, what can I lose???(well, hopefully some of these pounds for one!!)
Now, as I am heading for a funeral this evening, the funeral is in Ohio tomorrow, I have decided that I am not ACTUALLY going to start with eating right blah blah blah until I return from Ohio, which will be on Saturday at some time. I know that some of you may think this is a cop out, but I am being realistic, and know that I will not be able to do that trip, be in a very sad place, AND stick to a diet all at the same time. So, I am allowing myself to get through this before starting. But my weigh in weight from today holds....UGH. So I will just have to try do really well in the remaining time prior to the next weigh in.
I am planning on winning each weigh in....I don't have extra money to lose!!
That is all from me for now. I will fill you all in on some of my other plans when I return on Saturday...
Eileen(the fattest one : ( )

The Weigh-In - Day 1

So here are the official figures for Day One:

	Beginning Weight	Target Weight	Target Loss
Mom	213.5	179	34.5
Me	234	180	54
Eileen	262.5	199	63.5

We're in America, so all weights are in lbs.

The duration of this challenge - for the overall target weight loss - is 11 months, until July 2010. Hopefully a very workable target date!

Meanwhile, the first challenge is this: 12lbs by Thursday, September 10th. Fingers crossed that we all make it!!

And so it begins... I am kicking this challenge off with a 24-hour fast. I don't remember the last time I tried this, but figure it's a good way to start!

Oh, and I'm also planning on starting to run for the first time in my life.... For some COMPLETELY unknown reason and for the first time in my life, running has really started to appeal to me - it probably won't once I actually start doing it, but the theory so far is good! Watch this space for more details...

Carol

Good Morning! This is Carol, the matriarch of the clan - also the LIGHTEST - hahaha! We weighed in this morning and I am 213.5 lbs., headed, in 2 weeks, for 201.5. I have had 2 prunes (got to keep regular you know - besides, I LOVE prunes!) and a glass of orange juice. I thought I should halve the latter, but Esther Marie pointed out that the reason I am so healthy is probably because I drink oj every morning, so I'll keep that. I'm about to head out to the kitchen for one cup of honeynut cheerios with a bit of 1% milk (can't STAND skim) - I have a bit of a cholesterol problem. We've hidden the scales under the butcher block in the kitchen from whence we will retrieve it next Thursday. Roll on, Heffers for Heifer!!!!

And so it begins...

Well, tomorrow - ok, technically today - marks day one of our newest challenge. Mom, Eileen & I have challenged each other to lose weight - our ultimate goal being to each reach target goals we're happy with. More on those later....

Meanwhile, our first family weigh-in will be tomorrow (this) morning, and we will weigh in with each other every Thursday after this. The idea is that we will set "attainable" goals, both in terms of time and of weight loss; at the end of each period of time, whoever has lost the LEAST amount of weight will put a certain amount of money into the pot - exact amount will be determined tomorrow morning when we all get together. At the end of the challenge (again, final end date to be determined tomorrow - we've really thought this all through already, can you tell??!!), the funds from the pot will be used to buy an animal through Heifer International to help a third-world family better their living situation.

All three of us will be posting to this site about our efforts, successes, failures, frustrations and breakthroughs. We will also post photos - before, during and (hopefully!) after ones - as well as our actual weights at each weigh-in. We're not trying WeightWatchers , Jenny Craig, SlimFast or any of the myriad other diets out (at least, I don't think any of us is planning on doing that!), but rather each of us is going to be going at it from our own plan of attack.

Let the game begin!