Thought of the day - Chelsey

I need a burger....a big fat greasy burger that will clog my arteries on account of my bloods starting to run faster without one, and I would hate to come down with a dizzy spell.

Wednesday Revelation - Sara

Today I've realized my three favorite words in a work out video.

"Let's cool down."

Ahhh...music to my ears.

Yes, let's.

Chelsey- Monday Mountains

I've never posted a mountains post, but this week is a good one. Tomorrow we are leaving for our annual vacation to Yuma, AZ. ( Like to post a lovely thank you to Anselmo here who will be staying at our house and protecting our doggies) This will involove lots of eating out, and lot's of Grandmas cooking.. A grandma who cooks her hashbrown in bacon grease... How am I going to get to 189 while sitting in a car for 16 hours and then eating all this delicious food?? I will have to be very very strong... Smart choices, small portions...and go walking or biking everyday...phew.. Let's hope I can tackle this one..and survive 16 hours in the car with a Toddler. YIKES!

Chelsey- Week 4

It's official, I hate my body.

I didn't eat a single piece of candy on christmas day, no cake, no cookies, no pie, no candy. I Went jogging with the dogs EVERY DAY And this is how it repays me?!?!?!?!

My weigh in this week: 194... WHAT?!?!? ONE POUND? ONE FREAKING POUND?!?!

Okay...My temper tantrum is over....maybe.

How did I do on my goal? Pretty Good, I was food fit 4/7 days this week. And the recipses were all delicious! My favorite was the soft tacos with salsa fresco. Yummy. And I added to it by jogging with the dogs...which was more like running, they would go too fast and I would have to almost sit down to get them to stop. 200 pounds of dog pulling you isn't easy to stop. But then I think about it, and I almost weigh that much! *waaaaaaa*

I think what most irks me about this week is Sara is winning...And it's pretty easy to say out of the two of us, I am definatly the most competitive, and I HATE, I repeat, HATE losing. My own Finacee won't play games with me because I get too competitive.

WHat is it about having a child that completely screws your body's system? Before I had Brynlee I was a nice 155. And I ate fast food everyday, and I ate candy every day, and I never worked out. WHat happened? Now I exercise and diet everyday and I can't seem to get anywhere. I think once I pass that 190 line I will feel better. I jsut want to be 189... It would make me so happy. So that's my goal!

GOAL: TO BE 189 Lbs!!!! and since we are leaving to try to make smart dining out choices.

And Sara, Don't gloat for long...I will catch up to you.. mwahahaha.

Sara - Week 4

How did I do this week?

Pretty good, I think, considering the holiday.

Let's review:

My Goals for Week 3:

1. No eating after 7 pm
Failed! I did pretty well except for Christmas Eve when I ate some cookies for Santa and on Wed. when I had a sore throat and drank a fizzy soda late in the evening.
2. Limit sweets and avoid overeating too much (especially important since this week is Christmas!)
Passed! I really only overate for Christmas dinner. The rest of it I did good with portions. I even had all sorts of goodies, just in smaller amounts. Pumpkin cheesecake, chocolate cream pie, cookies, chips and dip, stocking candy. Mmmm, good stuff.
3. Do at least 30 minutes of cardio 4 days this week and at least 1 day of strength exercises.
Passed! I exercised every day except for Christmas.

And the numbers are in!

(Although they're tipped sideways for no reason that I can tell. I didn't even take the picture this way. Silly Blogger.)

Drumroll
*
*
*
*
*

Oh yeah!

Freakin' awesome is all I can say. Those workouts must be starting to pay off.

I have company coming this week and so my goals are going to remain the same - try to work out and limit the junk.

Wish me luck! I'm out to spank those pounds!

Food fit test One

Last night we had our first food fit meal. Here was the menu:

Dijon Chicken and pasta
Mesclun Salad
And for dessert: Carmelized Grapefruit

All in all it was pretty good. The Dijon pasta good have used more dijon, but I loved the rice vinegar in place of salad dressing in the mesclun salad!

Most Salad dressing goes from 40 to 100 calories per Tablespoon, and it was nice to only have 15 calories per Tablespoon. Plus, the rice Vinegar was sweet and tangy, and I noticed they have different flavors I'm going to try next.

My favorite part of the meal? Dessert! At 93 calories, it was tasty and delicious, who knew! I accidently burnt the brown sugar, but I jsut wiped it off, and all the yummy sugar had already melted into the grapefruit anyways. I think I'm going to like this fruit for dessert idea.

Here is the website for last night's menu
http://www.foodfit.com/recipes/menu?date=12%2F19%2F2010

Tonights menu:
Basic soft chicken tacos
Salsa Fresca
And Navel oranges for dessert!
http://www.foodfit.com/recipes/menu?date=12%2F12%2F2010

Monday Mountains

Standing in my way these next two weeks?

GOODIES!

Ah, Christmas goodies. I have a love, love, love, hate relationship with you.

I love you until you're gone and then I hate what you've done to my hips.

Fooey on you!

But I want you anyway.

Nay, I practically need you.

What's Christmas without goodies?

My game plan to tackle these tasty morsels?

Simple!

Portion control.

No, no, I said simple, not easy. BIG difference!

But I'm simply not going to say no to goodies. I already know that depriving myself will cause me to be bitter and angry and will produce later binging when I do finally give in. Followed by very low self esteem because I was so weak.

So instead of saying "No! None!", I'm going to say "Yes, please, just a little".

Now if you will pardon me, I need to go into a quiet room and summon all of my willpower.

Chelsey- Week 3

Here's my week wrap up:

Goals:
. NO Soda! - PASSED.
2. Go to the grocery store and make healthy food choices. PASSED. Carrots for snack anyone? I think I might be turning orange.
3. Go to town and get a Gym Membership. - FAILED. But there is a reason. Austin talked me out of it being we are leaving for Yuma here in a week or so and he didn't want to pay for a full month and have me use two weeks. I wish I could say I worked out to replace it. But I didn't. And I have some good excuses... But they are jsut that...excuses. Just because I averaged 3-4 hours of sleep a night doesnt matter, I should have got off my tired, lazy butt, because not doing so caused this:

Weekly weigh in: 195 *BIG SAD FACE HERE*

Goes to show what happens when you let your tiredness, laziness, and cramps take you over.

This week's GOAL. That's right, One goal, because I want to make this one a permanent goal I use for the rest of the year and that is...drumroll please.

BE FOOD FIT!!!

Awhile ago, Austin and I started getting our weekly recipes from FOODFIT.com, they have a weekly meal plan with every thing laid out for you. Sometimes the recipes sounded wierd, but they were amazingly delicious. We stopped when we got so busy with work, but now that I'm not working, I'm putting it back into place. And don't worry, I will test these crazy recipes like carmelized grapefruit and arugula pear salad and let you know how it is! They also come with a breakdown of your calories and nutritous info. Woot!

So here's to being food fit, which will hopefully make me body fit. I'll let you know how the first one turns out tomorrow!

Sara - Week 3

First of all here's my Week 2 Wrap Up:

My Goals for Week 2:

1. No eating after 7 pm
2. Make a meal plan to try and incorporate healthy food choices
3. Do at least 30 minutes of cardio 4 days this week and at least 1 day of strength exercises

1. I did much better this week at not being tempted. It is getting easier to just stop eating once dinner is done in the evening and just drinking lots of water.
2. Monday I went shopping and got all sorts of healthy snacks and food for my meal plan. The only thing I didn't count on? Having to make a pan of fudge and a batch of cookies for a work Christmas party. We ended up with a few leftovers, but I was very good and limited myself to 2 small pieces of fudge a day. 'Cause I know I'm not saying no to fudge.
3. I did awesome with my workouts this week! Between cardio and strength exercises (and trying to make up for the fudge) I did ten total workouts. Ten!! None shorter than 30 min a day. Uh, yeah, I'm as shocked as you are. I normally HATE working out! But I found some "Dance off the Calories" workouts that actually keep me interested because I do love to dance.

And so it's time for this morning's weight in.

******

Excuse me, what?!?

But I did twice the workouts I aimed for!

And ten times more than I was doing before I tried losing weight!

And I didn't even eat the dang fudge like I wanted!!!

Can you say disappointing?

Bummer.

Serious bummer.

I talked to my husband about it and we've decided that perhaps, with all my workouts, I started gaining muscle. I think I need to stick with it and see if I can get that muscle metabolizing and burning off all the extra fat.

That's plausible, right?

Here's the game plan for this week:

My Goals for Week 3:

1. No eating after 7 pm
2. Limit sweets and avoid overeating too much (especially important since this week is Christmas!)
3. Do at least 30 minutes of cardio 4 days this week and at least 1 day of strength exercises

Wish me luck!!

Wednesday Revelation

Getting up and moving makes your armpits stink more.

I'm just sayin'...



Note to self: Buy stronger deodorant.

Monday Mountains - Week 2

I have absolutely no problem thinking of a mountain to overcome this week. And I honestly have no great solution, so your input is greatly appreciated (read: needed!).

The obstacle?? A clingy 2 year old.

Okay, so the baby I can put to sleep and place in her swing. Easy peasy!

But the 2 year old? Fuhgettaboutit!

He HATES when I exercise. And I have no idea why he suddenly becomes a cling monster. Usually he wants little to do with me, he's quite independent. But the moment I turn on that video and start to march in place it's like I suddenly have a gravitational pull.

Oh wait! Perhaps, concerning my current weight, I should seriously consider that gravitational pull thing...

*ahem* Moving on...

The antics he pulls are as follows:
- "Mom, hold me!" Repeated while clinging to my leg.
- Throwing stuff at me or on the floor next to me (makes it hard to move)
- Screaming really loudly to get my attention
- Laying down at my feet (again with the movement thing)
- Telling me constantly that he has to poo (because he knows it gets my attention)

Seriously, he is acting out about me getting up and moving. WHY oh WHY?!

I have tried setting him up with a movie and a special snack. It lasted approximately 1 minute (until the snack was gone). And anyway, it's probably not good for me to feed my kiddo junk as I try to lose weight.

I also tried getting him involved and dancing with me. He will...for about 30 seconds and then he wants me to hold him.

He likes going out for walks, but it's honestly a little boring for me and a lot of work to get out the door. I don't want to have to do that every day.

Any suggestions?? Please, oh, please!

Even as I write this - I just finished exercising and he immediately took himself off to watch his movie.

Figures.

Chelsey - Week 2

I don't have a picture to drumroll too, But austin did make sure to verify my weight before he left to boston this morning so I couldn't cheat.

And the verdict is in, I now weigh: 193

Not bad. I wish it were more, but like Sara, I need to remind myself to be patient. I'm one of those who if I don't lose 10 pounds in a week I get discouraged and quit. Why did they make losing weight so hard? Blast.

My goals for this week:
1. NO Soda! I was hoping to delay this for longer, but let's get serious. If I want to lose weight, I have to stop with my Dr. pepper and Mt. Dew cravings. No more.

2. Go to the grocery store and make healthy food choices. More fruits and Vegetables, less easy dinners.

3. Go to town Tuesday and get a Gym Membership. Then Immediatly use said membership and use at least 3 times total by the end of the week. At least not having a job will help me with time to do this, and luckily our gym has free daycare. A plus since Austin is in Boston and can't watch Bryners this week.

DEEP BREATH. Let's do this!

Sara - Week 2

My weight this morning is....

*drumroll please*



Honestly, it kind of feels like not much for a week's worth of focus. However, I am reminding myself that 1-2 pounds a week is considered a healthy weight loss - so 3 pounds isn't bad. I just have to keep taking it a day at a time and be patient.

Yes...that's my problem, being patient. Ask my hubby, he'll tell you.

But I am determined to give it my best!

My 3 Goals for the Week:

1. No eating after 7 pm (I like this one, I'm sticking with it)
2. Make a meal plan to try and incorporate healthy food choices
3. Do at least 30 minutes of cardio 4 days this week and at least 1 day of strength exercises

Chelsey - Week 1 Goal Wrap Up

I guess it's time for my goals to be wrapped up too. I am very proud of myself for my activity and eating Monday through Wednesday...However Thursday through Sat did not go so well for me and they made me not want to post anything. But I'm holding myself accountable, and now that I know what the shame feels like,I am determined to do Better this week!

My goals this past week:
1) To do at least 20 minutes of a workout video and 20 minutes of weight lifting 5 times this week.
2) To stop eating after 7
3) To stop heaping cheese and sour cream onto all my food

How did I do?
1. Day 1: Accomplished! I did the video "hip hop abs" and Austin trained me in weight lifting that night. (Note: I don't plan on doing that video again, while it was kinda fun, I barely worked up a sweat, too easy)
Day 2 - Day 7: FAILED... Ouch. However, in place of the workout video and weight lifting, I did walk the dogs for 30 minutes every day. Usually austin and I switch off, but I volunteered to do it to make up for my laziness.

2. Accomplished! I thought this might be hard, but it really wasn't. I just didn't let myself wander into the kitchen. We usually eat dinner pretty early, around 4:30 or 5, so by 8 I'm pretty hungry, but I held that self control!

3. Accomplished! We did have tacos Friday night, but I limited myself to 1 tsp of sour cream. And when we had baked potatoes, I didn't even put any on.

All in all, I think I did pretty good. I know after wednesday I let my diet go to crap, but I had a stressful day Wednesday. So stressful I up and gathered my things and quit my job. I think lack of food was making me grumpy. (Not really, I've hated my job for awhile now)

Hopefully today's weigh in will show some sort of result, and I already have my new goals planned out!

Sara - Week 1 Goal [Wrap Up]

Time for a wrap up on how my goals went this week. Because hey, if I'm not accountable to you, I simply won't follow through as well. In fact, that's the only reason I made some of these goals this week. I knew I would have to come back and face y'all and I couldn't stand the shame of saying I didn't try.

My 3 Goals For This Last Week:
1. No eating after 7 pm.
2. Drink 2 jugs of water daily.
3. Go walking for 20 minutes at least 5 days this week.

How Did I Do?
1. Oh my goodness! I didn't realize how much I really do snack after 7pm. I was especially guilty of giving myself little treat after my rambunctious 2 year old was in bed for the night. Only...it was rarely a "little" treat. It was my way of rewarding myself for a day well done. Haha! Laugh if you will, but that was my thought process.

It was hard to stop. Really hard. I thought about grabbing something several times each night. So I began focusing on drinking water instead of snacking. Which actually helped me reach my #2 goal as well. Double win! I only failed one night when Zsolt dropped 2 m&ms and didn't want them - I picked them up and popped them in my mouth without thinking. Not a bad fail at all in my opinion. Other than that, I didn't have anything after 7pm all week. Yay me!

2. Was pretty easy actually. I just had to remind myself to do it...and take a few extra trips to the restroom. All-in-all though, not a hard goal to implement. And I liked it! Water is good and refreshing and it's nice not feeling dehydrated.

3. I actually did better than my goal.
2 days - walking, 30 minutes
1 day - walking, 10 minutes
1 day- aerobics, 60 minutes
1 day - dancing, 35 minutes
------------------------------------
= 5 days of cardio OVER 20 minutes (on average)

Whoopee! So it was a successful week goal-wise. We'll see if there's any difference in my weigh-in tomorrow morning.

I'll see you then!

And just for kicks:

This is what our entourage looks like all bundled and ready for walking.

Some days it seemed like a massive undertaking.

My son actually loved going for walks and would sometimes even bring me my shoes and tell me it was time to go.

And luckily I have an amazing view from my little neighborhood. It makes walking just a bit more pleasant.

And the Winner Gets...

Oh yes, we have finally consented on a prize for the winner of our challenge!

I'm sorry to say that Hawaii trips are a little hard to swing. :)

We thought that monetary gain was a great option. Earning money to lose weight? Heck yeah! That's a double win! We may even spend the money on going to visit one another, in which case it's a triple win!

At first I figured we would simply pay by the pound. However, my oh-so-wise husband pointed out that would be skewed in my favor because even though we weigh the same(ish) right now, I am much shorter, which technically means I am more overweight and may lose weight faster.

Touche, hubby, good point.

So instead we decided we would base the reward on BMI points (since BMI takes height into account).

The Stakes:

Loser will pay winner $15 for every BMI point lost.

Extra incentive for the loser: for every BMI point the loser drops, she gets to keep $5. That way if one of us falls behind we will be less likely to give up entirely because we can still attempt to keep some money from leaving our pockets.

What do you think? Sound good? Take our poll to the right and weigh in.

Hehe, weigh in.

Get it?

Oh yeah, I totally crack myself up sometimes.

Monday Mountains

Ah, just another manic Monday.

Our first week has come and it is filled with potential. I have a whole week before me to make the right choices. But let's be honest, I also have obstacles that will attempt to stand in the way of achieving my goal.

So I figure now is a good time to identify one of my obstacles and determine how I will try to overcome it.

For my first obstacle I was going to choose "having kiddos". No matter how much I love my little darlings, they can definitely be an obstacle to losing weight. But as I thought on it, I realized that it was far too broad of a category. While brainstorming I thought of at least 10 obstacles that come from having kids.

Yeesh!

Let's narrow it down a bit.

Obstacle #1: Being Postpartum
- I have a newborn and I'm breastfeeding. This makes me hesitant to really start restricting my diet. With little sleep and extra energy needed, I want to make sure my calories stay high enough.

Possible Solutions:

1. Count calories
- I thought of this first thing. But the problem is that I know myself too well. I have neither the energy, time, patience, or desire to count calories. No thank you!
Rejected!

2. Make smarter food choices
- This I can do. Instead of grabbing fruit snacks or m&ms as a snack, I can choose apples or string cheese. Much more nutritious!
Can do!

3. Add some light exercise.
- It is already my goal to go out walking at least 5 times this week. Hopefully that helps kick-start my metabolism just a bit.
Can do!

And now my Monday is more than halfway over and I'm on my way to climbing my mountains.
Feel free to comment if you have any other ideas on overcoming my Monday mountains.

Then get out and spank those pounds!!

Week 1: Chelsey's Before

The things a sister lets another sister talk her into. After I hung up the phone with sara when we agreed to do this blog, I promplty ran to the pantry and shoved a big piece of chocolate into my mouth. It was suprisingly calming.

I really don't want to post these pictures. Austin didn't want to wait for me to go get pretty so I am without a makeup and hair-do. But here they are, in all their not so glory.




Height: 5' 8"

Current weight: 196.5

BMI: 29.9 = Overweight (But let's be honest, it's only 0.1 away from Obese. Ouch)

Overall Goal:
To be 160 lbs before August 1st. Before I had Brynlee I was 155, but I'm being realistic and giving myself 5 lbs.

Whatever happened to this girl? I miss her.



I think Austin misses her too...Here's to hoping she comes back by August.

My goals this week:
1) To do at least 20 minutes of a workout video and 20 minutes of weight lifting 5 times this week. (One down today, 4 to go)
2) To stop eating after 7 (I stole yours sara)
3) To stop heaping cheese and sour cream onto all my food.

Week 1: Sara's Before

Whoa.

Let me say, this is a hard post to do.

It is hard to completely reveal my weight in all its *ahem* glory. Especially as a photographer, where I strive to only have the most attractive angles when taking pictures.

And that does not include these angles.

Or perhaps I should say curves.

Lot and lots of curves.

But no sucking in! Because I promised Chey I wouldn't.

Oh wait, my son decided that he needed in on some of this picture action.

What a goof!

Anyway, on to my starting week data:

Week 1 Weight:

197.8 lbs

Lookie! I even included proof. Just because.

Height:
5'3"

BMI:
34.2 = Obese (Ouch! Harsh, but true.)

Overall Goal:
To be 170 lbs (or less!) by August 1, 2011.

My 3 Goals For This Week:
1. No eating after 7 pm.
2. Drink 2 jugs of water daily.
3. Go walking for 20 minutes at least 5 days this week.
(Okay, so I'm starting with relatively easy goals. Every journey starts with a single step!)

Welcome To Sisters Spanking The Pounds!

Hello!! Thanks so much for checking out our blog and showing your support. Chey and I have a goal to lose weight. Although we love each other, we've always been a tad competitive so we figured the best way to cheer each other on was through a (friendly) competition.

Our goal date:
August 1st

Our first "weigh in" is going to be this Sunday, December 4th. Before then we will plan on posting some "before" pictures to get us stared (can you say terrifying?!).

What do we need from you at this point?
1. Your support! Please come back and check on us, comment, and generally make us accountable for ourselves. We NEED you!
2. Ideas! We haven't yet decided what the winner should get. Any suggestions? Leave a comment with any ideas you have.

We'll be seeing you soon,
Sara