The Biggest Loser in the Family

This past weekend my mom and step-dad were in town for Anthony's baby dedication (another post about that coming soon). We all (meaning my mom and sisters) ate more than usual, because our family get togethers are usually centered around food. Lots of really good homemade food. So all this eating got everyone grumbling about their weight. With summer almost here and everyone feeling just a little fatter than they'd like, my mom has come up with what she thinks is a brilliant way to get motivated.

So once again I've entered into a little family weight loss competition between my mom and sisters. Only this time there is a $100 buy in price. There are 5 of us in so there's $500 on the line here. These are the rules.
1. diet starts 5/5/08
2. diet ends 7/4/08
3. the person with the greatest % of weight loss gets half of the money ($250)
4. on 9/4/08 if the winner has maintained all of their wight loss they get the other half of the money. If not, the other half goes to the next person who has lost the most % of weight since the beginning.

We started today. Nobody wanted to make their weight public knowledge so we are on the honor system here, but we are supposed to email ourselves our own weight so that we have it in a place that wont get lost with the date on it.

So to kick start my diet, I got up early and ran 5 miles. Then came back and had a healthy breafast of oatmeal and fruit.

Ha, ha, just kidding you guys. I really had biscuits with gravy, and I didn't get up and run, but I had you stressing for a minute I bet. I'm actually not off to the best start, since all the meals were at my house over the weekend, I have a fridge full of leftovers that I refuse to let go to waste. So instead they will probably go to my waist.
We all have at one time or another had a really successful dieting experience, but that's not the norm for our family. The norm is to start a diet and mess up, and start again and so on and so on. If I want to win, I have to be the exception to the norm and everyone else do the norm for our family. I can't wait to see who wins the money in the end. Happy dieting and exercising to all. May the biggest loser win.

Sun, Snow, Treadmills, and Pad Thai

SUN(SET)

The sunset on our last night in Naples

SNOWOur house the day we left for Florida, I suspect it will look the same when we get home.

TREADMILL

The hotel we are at has the coolest treadmills ever, I promise if I had one of these at home I would use it everyday.* It has a built in TV on the monitor and you can plug your headphones into it to listen to the TV or you can connect your ipod to it. It also has three buttons below the TV screen that say walk/jog/run and you can set them to whatever speed you like then during your workout you can switch back and forth between speeds with the touch of a button. Perfect for the c25k interval training. It has some other very cool features, but those are the two that make me want to buy one. So yes, this means I got all 3 runs in for the week.

*I am safe making this promise because I know I will never convince Todd to buy me one. The home version cost $7,999.

PAD THAI

We are having Thai food for the 3rd time on this trip, I think it is my favorite food. There isn't a Thai restaraunt anywhere near where we live, so I am getting as much of it on this trip as I can talk Todd into. Plus it makes good take out which we seem to be doing a lot of on this trip.

A day of firsts

Last night was the first time Anthony went 4 hours during the night without having to eat. He ate at 9:45, again at 1:45am, 5:30am and at 8:30am. This was a very good night for us. And he wasn't even that hard to get back to sleep after feedings. I was telling my sister how great it was, but she was not impressed, apparently her kids were better sleepers. Oh well, it was good for us.
I find it sort of ironic that yesterday I bought the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child to see if I could get some ideas for helping Anthony sleep better. I never really got started reading the book yet, but maybe just having it in the house was enough.

This morning Anthony took his first bottle, and I was able to escape the house and go to the YMCA (first trip to the gym post baby) without worrying about rushing back to feed him. I was however worried how this would go over since I had tried myself to give him a bottle 2 weeks ago and he refused it. People and books recommended I leave the house and let Todd give him the bottle and it might be better accepted. They were right, Todd didn't have too much trouble. Other than spilling the milk all over the floor when he tried to pour it into the bottle with one hand while holding Anthony in the other. I sure hope he doesn't do that too often, I don't exactly have a huge supply saved up in the freezer.

Another bonus for the day; I managed to fit into one more pair of pre-pregnancy jeans. Now I have 3 pairs that fit me, and only about 12 more pairs to go. I wonder if going to the YMCA is helping already!

All in all it was a good night and a good day. Unfortunately no day has been the same so far, so I am not expecting another night like last night, but I can sure hope.