Haven't Heard from Dee, so Just an Update from Me! lol

Well, I did NOT maintain this week, I actually lost. Not alot, but like I said before, a loss is a loss and I'll take it!!!!!.

This was my 6th week on WW, since my "break". I have only lost 1lb total in 6 weeks, but I haven't gained!

I am weaning Sariah. I am curious to see how my weight loss goes after I am done nursing. In the past I have seemed to lose quicker after weaning, so we'll see!

Can't wait to see what next week brings!

Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Mcklinky Blog Hop: Something Funny

Visit my other blog for funny quotes from my kiddos :) www.thesooner7.blogspot.com

This is a funny video of a young toddler "preaching". I put it up for it's funny effect, not for discussion of anything, there is plenty of that on www.tangle.com if you want to join in ;)



Visit my other blog www.thesooner7.blogspot.com

Click here to enter your link in the blog hop and view the entire list of entered links...

Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Update From Dee and Me ;)

This will be a short post, as I am on my way out the door to work.

I lost 1.8 lbs. this week for a new grand total of 39 lbs.

I am happy. :-)

Dee


Hello! Well, I just knew I would break the plateau by taking away my nursing points, you know, jolt the system a little, but I maintained. However, I am thinking it may take a week or two to see the results.

I remember when doing WW after I had Lydia (I lost 30lb) I would eat really bad one week, and my weight would maintain or still lose some, but then the next week I would work really hard and either I would gain unexpectedly, or maintain again. I think sometimes it doesn't show up until the next week, so we'll see. I am expecting a loss next week :)

I am also rounding the bend to quit nursing, the baby is almost 10 months. I do not want to buy formula, so I am pumping extra and saving it to last until she turns 1. She has got 2 bottom teeth, and the tops are swollen, so I am getting anxious to quit nursing! lol

Thanks for your support and love,

Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Update From Dee and Me ;)

Update From Dee ;)

Well friends, I FINALLY got back on my losing streak this week! 3.2 lbs. gone, which not only makes up the 2 lbs. I'd put on in the past two weeks, but adds another 1.2 to my total weight loss!! I am now at 37.2 in 17 weeks. Yea me! My next goal is to reach the 50 lb. mark, so I am so close I can taste it; after all, what's a measly little 12.2 lbs., right? LOL

Hope the rest of you are doing well in your weight loss journey.

'Til next week, Love you all!!


Update From Me :)

Well, this week I did not lose, and I thought that I would. I have to say I am a little bugged by this, but still know that for me nursing makes a difference. I am being positive and looking at it as I have already prepared for when I quit nursing, I will not have to make any major adjustments to my diet.

I did take away my nursing points this week, for I only nurse 3 times a day now. I figure since I am using my activity and allowance, this should not be a problem. Maybe it will give me the boost I need to lose some.

The good news is that I did not gain! I have also taken from Dee the idea of using my activity points before my weekly allowance. I hope next week brings a loss :)

Congrats to Dee...She is doing AWESOME! I hope to be following in her footsteps soon!

Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Mcklinky Blog Hop: Favorite Pictures

I love this hat (which I ordered from a link from McMamas blog) and I love this smile :)


I love this pic of my Sariah :)
Visit my other blog and see our pic! www.thesooner7.blogspot.com




http://getmotiv8d.blogspot.com/2009/08/mcklinky-blog-hop-favorite-pictures.html

Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Updated From Dee and Me :)

Update From Dee :)

Well, my news this week isn't good, but then again... Well, my news this week isn't good, but then again I didn't expect it to be. I gained 1.6 lbs., so now I am back up a full 2 lbs. I refuse to give up, though. I took time last night to examine what specifically has been bothering me and what I need to do about it. I prayed, read my Bible, and then prayed some more this morning. I feel much better now, and more encouraged. I have been in the dumps about my upcoming job duties change because I am not looking forward to it. At my WW meeting last night, we talked about my predicament some and what I can do to get through it. I am so happy to have a solid support system in place, because it is at this time in my weight loss efforts that (in the past) I would've thrown in the towel. Now, however, I am ready to pull myself up by my bootstraps and move forward. Praise be to God for all He has done for me in my life.

Update From Me :)

Well, I actually lost a pound this week! Yeah!!!! I am excited! Now, if I can only do it again next week! lol

Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Mckliny Blog Hop: Encouragement

I went through my pictures, and so many were encouraging. It was so hard to choose!
I finally narrowed it down to 4 pictures, 2 in which I will post about in this blog, and the other 2 in my other blog (www.thesooner7.blogspot.com).

Finding Encouragement in the Word

I find this picture encouraging because it shows hope. It shows that the hope in the world is found in the Word of God, and only God can give you the peace and hope you long for. I am encouraged by God's word, and my husband when he speaks from the Bible.

The fact that I can sit and read the Word of God and know that He is not done with me on this earth, and that He has His arms around me at all times, knowing what I need and when I need it, loving me and guiding me, allowing me to talk to Him in prayer, dying on the cross for my sins so that I can live with him eternally and giving me His Word so that I can share it with others...this is encouraging.



Encouragement for Others

These baskets are for those who find themselves with child and are confused. Maybe it was an unplanned pregnancy, maybe the father has already left, maybe they are children themselves, or maybe they just don't want to disappoint their families...whatever the case may be these are gifts for the mothers who carry these precious living beings in their wombs.

These are gifts of encouragement, they direct these women to specific places in the Scripture that shows them the sanctity of life and that God can help them overcome any obstacle. I hope that when these mothers receive these baskets they are encouraged by the love of others and the love of God.




Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

"Let's Not Sweat a Maintain" by Dee

Well Erin, you aren't the only one who just maintained this week! I "officially" gained 4/10's of a pound, but I kinda figure I got rid of that shortly after I got home from my WW meeting, if you get my drift. LOL But, let's not sweat a maintain! If you are like me, if you get too worried or frustrated about it, you will binge on all the wrong things, & that is not good.

I also have to brag on Mary for a moment; she went to the Y with me last Tuesday night and tried out the water aerobics class! She did a great job, too. I felt a little bit bad because there was another new lady in the class, and the instructor always has me help the new people out, but it left me unable to help Mary learn as much as I would've liked to. Thank goodness she has no problem diving in head first & just going for it! Pun intended. Mary, I hope you will seriously consider joining the Y; it is a great little place to workout, and has lot's of options even though it is a small facility.

Does any one else watch Ruby on the Style network? I have fallen in love with the show, and often times she brings me to tears with her struggles and her victories. I was SO happy for her when she got under 350 lbs.!!! If you have the Style channel, I strongly suggest watching the show; it is very encouraging to watch someone put her weight struggle out there for everyone to witness. She is a gem!

Hope everyone has a great week, and although I hope to have better results this coming week, I have a sneaking suspicion that I am in another "maintaining stronghold."

Love to you all!!!


Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Maintaining is Making Me Crazy! lol

Okay, seriously, I am sooooo tired of maintaining. I have done so many things, and cannot seem to just lose! I knew camp food would do it! lol.

Seriously, I am trying soooo hard. I can't wait to see a drop, it will be such an encouragement! I know it has to be just around the corner, because I have been trying soooo hard!

I am not discouraged, but annoyed! I lost 30+ on WW before I got pregnant with Sariah, and I know I can do it again, but when will my body let go! I have let go of the "bad" stuff, well, most of it. Now I just have to be patient. My time will come!

I am still sitting at 35lbs away from my goal weight. 35lbs left to go, for 5 months now!!!! A friend gave me the excuse, that it takes 9 months to put on baby weight, and 9 months to lose it....ummmm....9 months is TOMORROW!!!! I still have 19lbs of prepregnancy weight, and then an additional 16 beyond that!

I could always weigh this way!





Encourage me friends :) lol

Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Annoyed

I am annoyed! I found that my blog counters quit working, so I have to guesstimate what I remember seeing them at last! Oh well, worse could happen! lol

As a side note, I did weigh in last Fri, and MAINTAINED! Booooooringgggggg! We'll see what tomorrow's weigh is! lol

Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Mcklinky Favorite Kid Photo(s)

These are some of my favorite photos of me and EJ lovin each other...Mama's little boy :)






See my other series of picturers at www.thesooner7.blogspot.com





Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

"Rising Every Time We Fall" by Mary

Erin's Confucius quote is very meaningful to me at this point in my weight loss journey..."Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising everytime we fall."

I've battled my weight my entire life and over the years I have failed previous attempts at a healthy lifestyle because I was trying to change my eating habits for someone else, not for myself. Finally, in January 2008 I chose to take care myself for me, not to please another person. It wasn't a diet, it was a healthier lifestyle I was embracing.

The pounds began dropping off and I could tell the difference in the way I felt on the inside. Subconsiously, I changed who I was "working" for and when that relationship ended, I reverted back to my old habits. I mourned the loss of someone I cared about and literally fed my depression just as I have done throughout my life.

At first, my weight maintained at a consistant level but it only took a few weeks for me to see the results of my poor choices. Additionally, I could feel the difference on the inside--I wasn't feeling as well as I had been.

Yes, I had a "fall" but I'm gettting back on my feet, dusting myself off, and getting back on the path to a healthier me. My melonchally still lingers but I'm not going to let it defeat me. I'm thrilled that early on I recognized that I'd reverted back to my pattern of "self-destruction" and am making a positive correction. Perhaps that is proof that I'm learning from past mistakes. It's not to say I won't trip over the pebbles on my path in the future but if I keep my eyes open, I'll be able to step around them with greater agility and confidence.


Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Weekly Updates From Dee and Mee :)

Update From Dee:

Had my weekly weigh in tonight, & I am happy to say I've lost another 1.6 lbs. for a 14 week total of an even 36 lbs. Hope you are all having a wonderful week, and have lots of great activity planned for this weekend. Keep moving!!

I also want to say that Zumba ROCKS!!!

Update From Erin:

Well, I was gone all week sponsoring teen girls at Cedar Hills Teen Camp. I did not track points, and was not here to weigh in. The food was pretty good actually, but I did not over eat, or go for seconds. I did drink alot of leftover snow cones from the kiddos though. I may weigh in the morning to see the how my scales say I did!
Of course, there was no working out, but there was alot of uphill walking and stroller pushing. I am pretty sure I got my exercise in!
So, maybe tomorrow I will weigh in, or I may just wait until next week!


Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Mcklinky Blog Hop: Recipe: Oreo Bon Bons!

SUPER YUMMY OREO BON BONS!

Buy: 1 pack oreos, 1 package (8oz) cream cheese, white and or chocolate almond bark.

Do: Crush whole package of oreos semi fine, mix with warm cream cheese (like 30sec in microwave). Roll into balls and put on wax paper. Freeze about 30-45 minutes. Melt chocolate (using both white and chocolate is best) in microwave following directions on package (hint: add a little Crisco, makes for easier dipping). Take cold balls from freezer and dip some of your balls in choc. and some in white choc. using a toothpick or something similar. Lay them back on wax paper, and when done dipping all the balls take a spoon and drizzle opposite color of chocolate on the balls, so drizzle white choc on choc. balls, and choc. on white choc. balls. Let stand until dry, about 10 minutes (enough to let outside dry, and inside melt) and serve! Yummy. It usually takes a few times until they are "perfect". It is worth it! Oh, and if you decide to use the white choc. and color for a shower or anything you have to use oil food coloring, or it ruins the ability to dip pretty. Enjoy :-)


Serving size: 1 bon bon (batch makes 45)
Calories each: 89
Fat each: 4g
WW Points each: 2
Fiber each: less than .5



MckLinky Blog Hop" src="http://www.mcklinky.com/images/MckLinkyBlogHop.jpg" width=300 border=0 longDesc=http://www.brentriggs.com>


Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Weekly Updates by Dee and Mee!

Update From Dee!





My Weight Watchers weigh in results for this week; 3.2 lbs., for a 13 week grand total of 34.4 lbs., so I am hanging on to the average of 2.6 per week.

Congratulations Dee! You are doing so great!

Erin's Update!




My week was not exciting, same ole thing! No loss, no gain, still only at 22 lbs since I had the baby, and she is 8 months!
Next week I go to camp, maybe that will be a shock to my body! You know, blah food and no YMCA! We'll see what next week brings!!!!

Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Mcklinky: 3 Things You Didn't Know About Me

1. If we cannot afford it...we don't buy it. We do not own 1 credit card and have paid off or rid of approximately 50,000 in debt

2. We want to adopt when some or all of our children leave home.

3. We encourage our children to live with us through college, to help with purity and peer pressurs and to save money and stay out of debt.

Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Dee's Response: Weight Watchers Questions

In response to your questions above:

1.) How many points do you get in a day?

I am currently at 29 daily points. I started out with 33, so my weight has come down through 4 "decades" as they say in WW.

Mine have not changed yet, but can't wait until they do :)

2.) Do you earn all of your activity points?

I am not positive what you are asking here. The only way to get activity points is to earn them. For example, and this is as I understand it, if you do something out of the norm for your DAILY routine, such as mowing the yard, spring cleaning the house (or simply cleaning the house if you only do it once a week or whatever), any type of exercise, etc., then you earn activity points. You aren't earning activity points if you are doing your normal, every day thing. The only exception I would think there is to that is if you're wearing the WW pedometer and have it set on "all day," because you have to take a certain number of steps before you start earning activity points. In other words, once you've input your weight, you have to take so many steps before you are burning more than your "fair share" of calories.

I meant do you earn all 24. We were told that 24 is the goal, and that's all they allow for to be checked off in the trackers. That's why later I asked what if you earn more than 24, can you use them or are they off limit? I always earn more than 24, I love to work out!

3.) Do you exchange your activity points for food?

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I try not to exchange ALL of my activity points for food. However, I do use my activity points before I start using my weekly allowance points. I personally feel like this helps me to not over indulge.

See, I always use mine, and all of them! I do plan on taking them away in the next few weeks instead of using them.

4.) Do you use your weekly allowance?

I have used them all, and I have not used any. More often than not, I don't use them. There have been times, i.e., company picnic, friends' grandson's b-day party, etc., where I have used my weekly points because I went over my daily points (and whatever activity points I'd earned that particular day). I try not to delve into the weekly points, but I know they are there if and when I want/need them. It's nice to have that "cushion!"

Once again, I always use these, every weekend. That's when we go out to eat as a family. I am starting w/ dropping my activity points, and then go from there :)

5.)If you earn more than 24 activity points in a week, can you exchange them for food?

I've never figured up how many activity points I've earned in a week. At the meeting I attend, we are, of course, encouraged to exercise and earn points (for obvious reasons!), but we haven't been given a set number to work towards on a weekly basis. I should clarify and say that since I have been attending these meetings, we have not been told to earn X number of points per week. But fyi, as I said before, I do sometimes use my points in exchange for food, but #1 I track my activity points at one point lower than I feel I earned (example, I feel I've earned 5 points on a walk, I will record 4 points), & #2 I try to not exchange ALL of my activity points for food. Again, this is just a method I use to ensure that I am not overindulging.

Like I said earlier, we were told a weekly goal of 24, and that is the spaces allowed to be checked in the trackers. I do plan on not using them for food exchange soon, but was curious, if I go do something crazy, can I use them? hmmmmm, I may google that one. I do like your idea of doing a point less. I do that on things that seem high, like the Zumba one I googled said my size could earn 8 for one hour, but I thought there is cool down and warm up, so I dropped it to 6.

I hope this is of some help to you, or helps to answer some of your questions. Some of the tactics I use, though, may not be of benefit to you. For one thing, you are 14 years younger than me, and for another, you take care of 5 kids, a husband, and a house, so you are much more active than I am on a daily basis.

Thanks for the help! I like to find out from people who are successful at WW what works for them. It gives me ideas when I am "down" and helps me think of ways to spark things up again. I lost over 30lbs when I did WW after Lydia quit nursing. I am hoping, that like the last 2 times, when I quit nursing it will come off so much easier. It is still frustrating though, especially when I cannot fit into my pre pregnancy clothes and don't want to invest in new clothes and get "comfy" lol.

Thanks Dee ;)

I would also like to say to everyone else that I hope to see some posts from you soon! I would love to hear from you about ideas, suggestions, stories (good or bad...I've shared both!), etc.

Love you all!

Let's Do It!
Erin ;)

Let's Do It!

Okay, I am posting on my points usage for today (decided to go back to points).

I used all my points today (29), and 24 weekly allowance, minus the 11 points I earned today. So, I have 19 weekly points allowance left.

I earned 6 points in Zumba
I earned 3 points in SciFit
I earned 2 points on the treadmill

Those of you doing WW please share w/ me (if you don't mind) the following (you can copy and paste and leave in comments):

How many points do you get in a day?
Do you earn all of your activity points?
Do you exchange your activity points for food?
Do you use your weekly allowance?

I am just curious. I am at a huge straight line, partly my fault.....okay, all my fault, but I am going to get over the hump and move forward! I ate ABSOLUTELY NO sweets today. I have gone 1 day without sweets! lol

Another question, if you earn more than 24 activity points a week can you exchange them for food?

Side note: I read that Zumba earns you more points per hour than almost any other high intensity workout, and is one of the easiest to do! (read it on a health blog today, haven't actually researched it, but I did find that a person weighing only 160 can earn 7.5 points per hour class!)

My goal is to lose this week, yep, JUST LOSE! lol, even if it is just an ounce! lol

Let's Do It!
Erin :)

A Bloggersation Between Dee and Mee :)

From Dee :)

I had my weigh in tonight, & I am VERY happy! I have lost 4.8 lbs. for a 3 month grand total of 31.2 lbs.!! WOO HOO!!! Tonight I reached 3 goals I have been working toward; 1st, my 10% weight loss, which was 28 lbs., 2nd, my 30 lbs. loss which was just a nice "round" (no pun intended) number I was striving for on my own, AND I get to take one more point value off of my daily points!!

Ok, Erin...how'd you do, sister girl? I am keeping my fingers crossed that you have had a great week, too.

Erin's Reply:)

Well, I am not as happy as you but SUPER HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!!! That's awesome! I maintained....did not lose....did not gain. I know my problem, and it is called SWEET TOOTH! lol

So, my goal for this week is to not eat sweets. I know it seems drastic, but for me once I eat one I eat a ton! If I don't taste it at all it is easier than if I take a bite! I think if I get it out of my system that I HAVE TO HAVE THEM, the maybe I can begin to enjoy them in moderation again.

It is an addiction for me, like a smokers cigarette or an alcoholics drink. I know when I quit smoking 7 years ago, I could not quit when I would borrow or take drags off of other peoples cigarettes, the only way for me was cold turkey. So, I now challenge myself to do the same with sweets!

I must say, however, I am glad I did not gain!!!!!!!

Congratulations Dee, you won our first fun challenge :) I am glad I didn't find the weight you lost! lol

p.s. I have been getting the emails and will post the information and links on the blog inbetween our Thursday posts ;-)

Thanks :)
Erin

Now You See It, Now You Don't!

This post is a fun blog hop post with Mcklinky. I decided to do it on our weight loss blog for fun and because the picture is a rather good representation of my love of chocolate, only I have learned to hide the evidence! lol

Keep scrolling to the bottom of the post, that is where the picture is!

"Mom, I gotta magic trick....See the cupcake? Now you don't, it disappeared...magic!"