New Me November

November is here and bringing a few challenges (all positive!) with it. But I'll get to that in a minute.

My baby celebrated his first Halloween, which prompted me to realize that 21 days from today, he will turn 1. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. Last Halloween I was running up and down the stairs handing out candy. I was 9 months pregnant. This year was much better!

 

 

My other baby decided to be a ninja turtle this year. Specifically, the red one. He made it almost an hour trick or treating before the cold got the best of him. He spent the rest of the night helping me hand out candy. Glenn Jackson believes in giving out handfuls so luckily we don't have much left. I'd be a goner if we need.

 



I, for one, am looking forward to what November will bring. As you know, I'm in a competition with my brother to see who can lose the most amount of weight by November 26. I've heard rumors that he's exercising (what???), which means I'm kickin'er down starting now. Starting Monday, I am committing to waking up at 5:30/5:45 every weekday morning to get my work out in. If you know me, you'd know that this challenge might kill me. I loves me some sleep.

Glenn and I are also committed to meal planning, which should hopefully help us from making 12 trips to Target in a week. Today we planned out what we're eating for the next two weeks, made our grocery list, and actually stuck to it. I was so impressed with myself! I also made pita chips, roasted three batches of pumpkin seeds, and made some chocolate chip cookies. Rowan insisted on the cookies as he felt he needed to also "cook".

Only 27 days to Thanksgiving, which means only 28 days to Black Friday shopping. Ahh, my favorite shopping day of the year! I can't wait!

Oh Happy Day!

It is indeed a happy day. I stepped on my scale this morning and lo and behold, I am officially under 200 pounds! I haven't been here since December 2012. I. Am. Ecstatic!

I am now two weeks into my competition with my brother and I'm down 4 pounds. Six more pounds in the next four weeks seems like a lot of pull off but I'm going to do my very best. I just need to give away the 12 pounds of candy we have sitting in a bucket ready for the trick or treaters and I'll be good. Why is Halloween candy so tempting?!?!

Friday I'm allowing myself a cheat day. Glenn and I both took the day off work and are going to do a day date. We can barely remember the last time we went to a movie that a) wasn't a kid movie and b) we went to together. I'll definitely take an app and tap and a movie over work!

Next week I hope to report that another one to two pounds have hit the bricks. Wish me luck!

Operation: Beat the Brother Has Commenced

Last Wednesday evening my brother and I kicked off our official weight-loss competition. We are competing for 6 weeks with the final weigh in taking place the night before Thanksgiving. We figured that way we could enjoy the holiday and all of the glorious offerings it will bring. Like pie. And cheesecake. Maybe a little ham. And more pie.

So far I'm down 1.2 pounds from my starting weight. Ideally I would like to lose another 10 pounds from where I was following my competition with my sister-in-law but I'll take whatever I can get. I just need to lose enough to beat my brother. The loser of the competition has to take the other person's kids for a weekend. I would love to take Noah and Emma for a weekend but I would love it even more if Rowan and Keegan got to spend some time in Iowa. My sister-in-law is on my side as she really wants my kids for a weekend. Either way, it will be fun.

I've kicked started my workouts and am back to counting calories. I gave myself a bit of a break between competitions and not once did I feel guilty about it. Despite not keeping track, I didn't gain any weight back, which is awesome. The farther I go, the more I learn about my body. For instance, I am very dependent on protein but am not real good about getting my daily allowance. You'd think I would for all of the chicken I consume. Thank goodness for orange crème protein powder, the breakfast of champions.

Just over 5 weeks to go before my brother must bow down to the weight loss champ. Wish me luck!

Competition Results Are In!

The day has finally arrived. My final weigh in with my sister-in-law. I wasn't nervous because I know I've been making progress but I still wanted to pull out a good number. And a good number it was!

In seven weeks, Kate lost 1.3% of her body weight and I lost 4.1%. I lost 9 pounds, according to my mother-in-law's scale. And that makes me the official winner of our competition! Woot woot!!

Now if you go by my scale and what I weighed yesterday when I was sans clothes, I'm actually down 11 pounds. It's amazing how much clothes weigh. But 9 or 11 pounds, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that I lost weight and I feel amazing.

I am proud of both of us. We went into this competition with the intent of dropping some pounds (check!), but I'm leaving with more energy, a lot of pride, and a huge sense of accomplishment. A huge thank you to Kate for pushing me to do this!

I'm on a roll and not stopping anytime soon. October 15 starts my competition with my brother. Whoever loses the highest percentage of weight loss by November 26 is declared the winner. We're purposely weighing in before Thanksgiving so we can enjoy the day. Loser has to take the other person's kids for a weekend. In actuality, it's a win for either one of us. Our kids love spending time together. I think Rowan is hoping I lose so that Noah can come to his house.

Through my sister-in-law, I've heard that my brother hopes I like my niece and nephew's company. Well of course I do. And to him I say "Bring it". I don't think he realizes what he's gotten himself into.

The End Is Near: 5 Days Until The Final Weigh In

Five more days until my final weigh-in with my sister-in-law and I couldn't be happier. Not that our competition is over, but for the progress I've made. I finally feel as though I've hit my groove. Now, granted, the last two weeks haven't been great on the workout front due to our hectic schedule but that still hasn't stopped me from dropping some lbs. I'm not ready to say how many but it's a good number, at least in my mind.

I'm not even done with this challenge and I'm already thinking about my next one. I believe I will be competing with my brother for about 6 weeks with our final weigh in taking place on the beloved turkey day. Glenn and I are trying to figure out our plan of attack. He wants to lose at least 20 pounds by Christmas so this will force me keep on my path through the end of the year. After that, the world is my oyster!

Stay tuned on Sunday to find out whether or not I crushed this competition!

The Scale Doesn't Lie...And That's a Good Thing!

My post today comes to you live from lovely Phoenix, AZ. I'm in charge of programming for a new conference in January so we're checking out the resort for planning purposes. So given that, I did my weekly weigh in this morning and was surprised by what I saw.

We were at my brother and sister-in-law's this weekend and I wasn't great about watching what I ate. I didn't overindulge but I certainly wasn't counting calories. And even still, I lost a couple of pounds. I am officially down 7.4 pounds in the last 5 weeks. Can I get a woot woot?!?!

I've got a little less than 2 weeks until my final weigh in. I would love to step on that scale and see a 10 pound weight loss but I'll take what I can get. It's definitely hard traveling for work. I'm trying to make good choices and walking around the property in this 101 degree heat certainly helps sweat it out but you don't always get to control what you get to eat. I've been implementing the "it's ok to not clean your plate" rule while I'm here. I just hope I don't see a weight loss gain when I get back.

On a different note, we took in a kick ass concert over the weekend. Nothing More, Hellyeah, Volbeat, and Five Finger Death Punch played the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. And let me tell you...Volbeat. Was. Awesome!! I would definitely go see them again. Too bad you missed it Jared!

Workout Challenge: Complete!

I didn't realize it until today but yesterday was the end of my 30 day workout challenge. I fulfilled all but one of those days but I consider this a huge win in my book!

What's so awesome is that the past month hasn't felt at all like a lot of extra work. Yes there have been times where the last thing I wanted to do was work out but I did it anyway. I'm still slightly in shock that I actually made it! 

Because this went much better than I expected, I'm pushing myself to another thirty days. Plus I'm adding to it. For the next thirty days, I'm going to actually measure my food rather than saying "yup, that looks like 3 ounces". I've only got three more weeks to beat my sister-in-law and earn myself that pedicure!

On a completely separate note, I'm considering selling Thirty One mostly to get out of the house at least once a month and earn a little extra money for funsies. Would anyone book a party if I did that? It's just an idea but one I'm strongly considering.