First things first...

Hello All!
From the suggestion of my sister in-law Joanne, I am starting this blog! Let me explain why...

I work at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC. Back in December, a few people decided to start a NICU (Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit) Biggest Loser competition. I decided to join in hopes that I'd lose a few pounds. It was $20 to join, and $2 at every weigh in, which happens weekly. There's 6 teams with 7 people on almost all the teams. The team I'm on is "Slimderellas" which is full of some great, motivated people! The competition is 12 weeks long, and at the end of it, the team who loses the biggest percentage of weight will get half the money pot, and the individual who loses the biggest percentage will get the other half! Nice motivation!;)

So let me get the hard part over with... the first weigh in! Ugh. It's so embarrassing to put your weight out there for everyone to see, but if I'm going to keep you all updated on my progress then I guess I have to!

My first weigh in was January 9th. Weight - 231.4:( Wahh!!
Here are my weigh ins since then...
Week 2 - 229.2
Week 3 - 225.6
Week 4 - 221.2
Week 5 - 219.2

Which brings my current weight loss to 12.2 pounds! I am super happy about that!:)

Here's what I've been doing...
First off, I downloaded a (free) app on my DROID called "MyFitnessPal" which is amazing!!!
You start off by entering your starting weight and your goal weight, then how much you want to lose a week. Which it stops at 2 pounds a week, because that's what's "safe." Then every day you can enter what you eat by either searching for it, or scanning the barcode of the item you're eating! It's so easy! And it's full of lots of foods, even things from some restaurants! It will give you a daily limit of how many calories you should be eating, as well as fat, carbs, sugar, etc. My daily calorie limit is 1,440. There is also an option to add exercises you've done, and it will tell you how many calories you burned! Awesome, awesome app! Love it!

So every day I have been staying UNDER my calorie limit, rarely actually reaching it. I have also been exercising EVERY DAY! It's a must! If I don't do it every day, then I will lose my motivation and never do it.
I have been rotating between Jillian Michael's (from The Biggest Loser) DVD's. 30 Day Shred, Target Your Trouble Zones, and Boost Your Metabolism. When I have more time, I also try to walk my dog Chief for about 30 minutes.
The DVD's are great! They're between 30 and 45 minutes each, and really give you a GOOD workout! I love them:)

Food wise, I've been eating lots of the same things every day. It helps me to be consistent. I eat a lot of lean cuisines, light tuna fish, fat free yogurt, light string cheese, fat free cottage cheese, sugar free jello, fruits, vegetables, spinach and strawberry salads with low calorie dressing, and ONLY WATER. No sodas. I do have juice every once in awhile, but only the serving size!
When I go grocery shopping, I ALWAYS check the calories and fat on the back of things now. Most things I get are fat free, sugar free, low calorie or "light."

So far my methods have been working! I just have to keep up with it and hopefully I will reach my goal weight one day! For now, my mini goal weight is to at least get down to 200 pounds.
My true goal weight is 160 pounds, but that will take me AWHILE! lol.

Well, that's all I have for now! I will be weighing in this week, so I will update again with that! Hopefully it's at least 2 pounds!:)
I'll try to update this blog regularly.
If anyone has any questions, just leave a comment!

xoxo,
Anna

Me on October 26th, 2010

Me on February 14, 2011