Hi there. I'm the missing editor, Denise. We no sooner started this challenge than I went on vacation. Great timing, huh! Actually, it was a stay-at-home, working at church kind of vacation. I spent the week chasing about 100 kids at Vacation Bible School. That should have been good for me, except for the daily snacks. Peanut butter on celery... mmmmmm. I never make it for myself, but when someone sets a whole tray of it out there among the melon and popcorn and cookies, I just can't resist.

I wasn't here last week for the big, end of the first week weigh in, but I did weigh at home and lost a bit, so I'm pleased with that. Just to give you some perspective, I'm the oldest in the group at 43, and I'm also the perpetual dieter of the group. My mom used to say I was born heavy, and I never got over it! I've tried my share of diets, including the dreaded Cabbage Soup Diet, with mixed results. I actually feel like I'm on a perpetual diet, because if I'm not paying attention, my weight just starts creeping back up. So getting motivated for this challenge is tough. Right now, I'm about 30 pounds down from my all time high (over 200 pounds... you don't need to know how much over!) I lost the 30 with a combination of Weight Watchers, which really does work if you're motivated to do what they tell you, and a diet my church sponsored called Prism. It's really hard core... don't eat anything processed and only 1200 calories a day. I'd never survive it long term.

So here I am. Still over 30 pounds above my goal (which, by the way, is a weight I haven't seen since elementary school!) Even with my "motivational issues", I must say that I am eating better knowing all my officemates are watching. This is a pretty good time to "start" a diet, since so many fruits and veggies are in season. Now, if I only had a personal chef to chop them up (and slather them with peanut butter... oh, wait, that's not on the diet, is it?) I'd be in great shape.

Don't expect much from me by way of exercise, either. I fully intend to go to Curves three times a week, although it seems to average out to two times more often than not. I meet a friend there at 6 a.m. (not my best time of day!) so I can get to work at a reasonable time. My knees aren't as young as they used to be, so running and such things are out of the question.

My goal is to get my weight to start inching down instead of creeping up like it's been doing, and to do some overall toning of my sagging self. Even if I don't win the challenge, that will be a personal success for me, and a good step for improving my health. Wish me luck!

Posted by Denise at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

People with birthdays need to stop inviting me to celebrate. Birthdays lead to sugary goodness and sugary goodness leads to fatty thighs. Definitely not the way to shed pounds for the Shape Up Showdown.

A couple weeks ago, I had dinner with some friends to celebrate a former co-worker's birthday. Her husband made a tasty blueberry pie. While I only had a tiny piece, I don't think it helped me reach any dietary goals.

Yesterday, I went to MacAlpine's Soda Fountain to celebrate my friend Kristin's birthday. Originally opened in 1928, MacAlpine's is the oldest soda fountain in the Southwest. They have phosphates, sundaes, egg creams, banana splits, malts and all the other ice creamy things someone trying to lose weight should avoid. I had a milkshake. A sweet, delicious, probably-not-calorie-free milkshake.

I can't do this anymore. It's too hard saying no. Either I need to take a stand or start friendship divorcing my friends.

So I am declaring the next 7 weeks birthday-free. There will be no more celebrations, no more temptation, no more sugary goodness. Birthdays can wait until after August 14.

Oh wait...my birthday is August 10.

Shoot.

:-(

Posted by Brian at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The plan for this past weekend was simple. It was going to consist of a stack of rented movies, a little house cleaning, and lots of air conditioning. That's not quite how it turned out.

Friday night started out on track, we went out to dinner. We had some amazing Ecuadorian food, and I think it was fairly healthy too. Saturday morning continued as planned, with some laundry, and egg sandwiches for breakfast. I had a moment of motivation, and knocked out a quick dumbbells workout.

But by lunchtime, cabin fever had already set in. Chatting about how much we missed our friends up North, we decided to pack up the kid and dogs and head to the hinterlands for the weekend.

By the time we hit the road, it was 4pm, and we had to grab something quick to eat, for the road - KFC. Ack, I was off to a terrible start. I got the buffalo Snackers, some potato wedges, and a diet soda. I picked most of the bread off the Snackers, and only ate half my wedges, but still, I felt icky.

We rolled into town, dropped off our boy at his friend's house, the dogs at our old house (which is STILL for sale!), and headed over to Sedona to say "hi" to my folks, and then meet our friends at the Brewery. Sedona was eerily quiet. Seems the fire has scared away a lot of the tourists, which I am sure is bad news for the local businesses. The food damage for Saturday: KFC, two glasses of wine, 1.5 pints of stout, and some Dibs.

Sunday morning, we had planned to spend the day swimming in the Creek, which should have burned some calories to boot. Alas, the forests were closed due to the fire hazard situation. Nonetheless, at the house, a month's worth of weeds had to be pulled from the garden and the flowers dead-headed. That totaled about 45 minutes of stooping and digging. My hamstrings certainly feel like they got a workout.

Then we were faced with a breakfast dilemma. There is no food in the house, nor pots, nor plates, etc. Every place in town would be PACKED at that hour, and we had to be at our friend's house soon. Hello, McDonald's. I figured an Egg McMuffin wouldn't be too bad, if I skipped the hash browns. Alas, no more breakfast was being served. So we hit up Taco Bell. Ulgh. I got one of those chicken enchirito things. It was pretty nasty.

Then we headed to our friend's house, who was making stuffed manicotti. Sheesh. I did my wine spritzer strategy again, and I think it worked pretty well. Three hours went by, and my bottle was still pretty full, almost to the neck! I also had a huge salad with vinaigrette before tucking into that luscious pasta.

Our friend sent us home with some homemade fried chicken and gravy, which we had for dinner. I had brown rice with mine, instead of white, and peeled the skin off of the chicken, and I served it with a pile vinegary cucumber salad - not too bad of a finish to a challenging weekend.

This morning, I didn't have much time, but I hit that elliptical machine HARD, trying to make penance for a weekend of sins. I don't have high hopes for Wednesday's weigh-in. At this point, I'm aiming to just hold the line.

Posted by Korina at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I didn't lose very much weight at all. But I'm already feeling the effects of eating better and exercising. I'm more energized throughout the day, my jeans aren't quite as tight, and overall, I feel less "jiggly." Progress! ... Balanced by a few minor setbacks.

They finally got to me - the Coronas that have been lurking in the back of my fridge for weeks. I had one last night with dinner (pasta + chicken). At least it was a 110 calorie "Light", and darn refreshing. I honestly didn't have anything else available to drink. OK, water. But that doesn't count! I drink water all day. After dinner, I did finally make some ice tea. And I had one of my popsicles. I would totally make those again. Sweet, but not too sweet, and full of good stuff.

This morning, I had a lot more time available for my pre-work workout. I started, as usual, with the elliptical. That didn't last for long. After about 5 minutes, I felt a funny twinge in my hip. That's not good! I decided to switch to the treadmill. That started off well enough. Feeling confident, I eased up from walking to jogging.

Two minutes in, I got another ouch. This time, in my knee. Despite my high ambitions, I was left to do a slightly uphill, fast-paced walk for about 30 minutes. I finished up with a series of pretty heavy duty dumbbell moves. Now every time I get up from my chair, I feel it in my quads -- those darn walking split-squats! I don't have much planned exercise-wise for the weekend, so I'll have a couple of days for my achy muscles and twingey joints to heal.

The weekend of temptation has already begun. Since I'll be working late, we're going out to dinner tonight. I think I picked a place where I can get some healthy options. Now if I actually choose those options, that will be an achievement!

Posted by Korina at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another day, another family function full of food temptations. Last night, the menu involved a cheesy chicken casserole, and a "salad." It did have lettuce in it. However, it was primarily beans, cheese, Fritos, and copious amounts of Catalina dressing. I love my family, but wow, sometimes they make it hard to be healthy.

Oh, and the remains of the wine that I left last time I was over there was still in the fridge, though not for long. Again, I diluted it with diet tonic. But it still added up to at least 2 glasses of wine.

After dinner, I swam around in the pool for a good long time. I splashed around with the little ones, and burned off some cals at the same time. Then it was time for dessert. *Insert dramatic music here*

Since I snacked on some nacho chips before dinner, and had two big wine spritzers, I decided to forgo dessert -- apple turnovers with vanilla ice cream. Since it didn't involve chocolate, it wasn't too hard to resist.

Today was supposed to be an off-day for the gym. But I actually woke up raring to go. I think I'm finally in the swing of things, and getting up early to go work out is no longer a disruption in my life, but part of the usual schedule.

However it was a short-ish workout. I only had 30 minutes to work with, and that included getting cleaned up and changed into my work clothes. To switch things up, I tried the bike. But I couldn't figure out how to lower the resistance. It felt like I was trying to bike up Mount Everest, through mud, with flat tires.

I ended up going back to the elliptical, and watched the Ghana v. USA match. (A shame, that was.) I did that for about 20 minutes, at an unusually fast pace, and then did 15 biceps curls. It was really pathetic, with my string bean arms. And I finished up with 10 incline crunches.

I think it's been a pretty good week so far, but the weekend is looming on the horizon, and that always means potential trouble for me. So tomorrow I planning a pre-emptive strike that includes an extra-long workout, and super clean eating.

Well, that's the plan anyway.

You can get a good idea of what all I ate and did by checking my FitDay log. Of course, their database doesn't include things like beany-cheesy-Fritoey "salad," so some things have been re-created or estimated.

Posted by Korina at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After our weigh in yesterday I was a bit discouraged. So discouraged that I binged on a Starbucks Banana Creme Frapuccino. I know I KNOW it's terrible and I'm completely ashamed. I've been craving one for a week and was so good about staying away. I figured though, it's best to have my bad food day 7 days before another weigh in rather then two or three. Anyhow, I got it out of my system and don't think I'll be wanting another for some time now, or at least until next weeks weigh in.

The rest of my day went ok. I think I ate four apples for breakfast (they came pre-sliced so I dont know EXACTLY how many apples it equalled.) I was starved though. I didn't drink any water :( . I got to work and realized I forgot my gigantic eight glass jug I drink out of everyday. Not good. I had 1/2 tuna sandwich and salad for lunch and a 6" turkey sandwich at Subway for dinner.

I worked out last night for about an hour, 1/2 hour on the elyptical, about 10 minutes on the bike (that thing kills me) some arm exercises and sit ups. Unfortunately, I have to moderate my exercise due to the fact I get migraines a lot and very easily. Every little wrong move, change in diet or stress kills me. Every night since I started going to the gym, I go home with a slight pinch in my head which tells me a migraine is coming on. It's unfortunate but it's something I've lived with for a while.

I still have my eyes on the prize, so I'll just keep chugging along. Hopefully there will be better results soon.

P.S. If you're wondering why I'm always eating at restaurants, it's not because Im lazy, my kitchen has been ripped apart for some time now. Hopefully soon I'll be able to cook healthy meals for myself.

Posted by at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Doh! Yesterday was weigh-in and I gained a ½ lb. Although it’s only been a week, my perfect balance might be a little off. I think I might have had a few too many cheat foods (salmon pizza with cream cheese and AJ’s Chocolate Flourless dessert) and beverages (Guinness and wine) last week.

But the good news is, I’ve introduced more fruits and vegetables to my diet and I’m back in the gym. I’ve been running two miles at a time consistently for about a week and half now and I introduced my body to weights again. I didn’t over-due it with the weights, just three light sets of 12 reps. each with three exercises per body part. I’m actually feeling pretty good.

This weekend I’m going to up my running to three miles and slowly add more weights. And, of course try to eat as healthy as I can with more fruits and vegetables. AND, even though the scale says I’ve gained a ½ lb. I have more energy and feel better; it’s getting easier to get up at 5 a.m. to drive down to the gym. I’m actually enjoying it.

My biggest challenge is eating lean. In the next five days I’m going to dinner with some friends, two baseball games and an engagement dinner for me and my fiancé with all my favorite wines, cheeses and chocolate desserts. What are you going to do? I’m definitely going to indulge a little, but I will try to keep things in proportion so I don’t do too much damage. Wish me luck! I'm still in search of the perfect balance.

My workouts:
Saturday
Cardio – Ran 2 miles
Weights – Chest & Shoulders

Sunday
Cardio – Ran 2 miles
Weights – Triceps & Biceps

Monday
Cardio- Ran 2 miles

Tuesday
Cardio – Ran 2 miles

Wednesday
Cardio – Biked for 30 minutes

Thursday
Cardio – Ran 1 mile
Weights - Legs

Posted by Lori at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I believe it was Warren Zevon who spoke such wise words. Last night I certainly did enjoy my Cuban sandwich - yummy grilled goodness, full of roast pork, ham, swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard. It probably wasn't the best food choice, but it certainly was good.

Unfortunately, after eating that, I was too full to try the popsicles I made. I wanted nothing more than to lie around like an anaconda after consuming its monthly meal, and digest. The other downside is, according to FitDay, that sandwich cost me about 780 calories (plus I had roast potatoes and a salad with it). Yikes! That put my daily calorie count to close to the 2000 mark. Whereas, I'm aiming for 1500 a day.

I did have a minor victory though. When I peeped into the fridge, there was a small army of ice cold Corona Lights lingering in the back. After I drove home in my steamy, non-air-conditioned rig, they certainly looked tempting. Yet, I managed to resist. Instead, I guzzled the remains of my diet Arizona iced tea.

However, that leaves me with nothing healthy to drink tonight. I think I'm going to take a cue from Brian, and brew up some homemade iced tea - once I get some Splenda. I am a semi-Southerner - iced tea must be sweet! Though truly, it should be made with sugar, and lots of it.

Exercise-wise, I actually managed to get to work almost a full hour early, and got into the gym! I did 40 minutes on the elliptical - while watching the Portugal v. Mexico match - and 20 reps on the chin/dip machine. Since most of the World Cup matches are broadcast only on Univision and Telemundo, I'm learning a lot of Spanish soccer terms. I guess working out can be educational to boot!

Oh, and the results of the weigh-in: I'm down 1.5 lbs! w00t!!

Posted by Korina at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We just had our first weigh in this morning and I've only dropped a half pound. This is a disappointment to me. I could easily gain that half pound back at any time today.

Since the beginning of this competition I've changed my eating and exercising habits. I eat fruit every morning for breakfast rather than my normal bagel or blueberry muffin. I have a salad for dinner every night and at lunch I usually check out the menus from local restaurants to find out if they have lower calorie meals (I find it really helpful that they post the nutritional information).

Applebees has a Weight Watchers Menu from which I had a Tango Chicken Sandwich and an Onion Soup. A total of 520 calories and very bland tasting.

Chilis has a guiltless grill menu with some delicious items on it. I've had their Guiltless Tomato Basil Pasta for lunch and for dinner last week tried their Grilled Caribbean Chicken Salad.

I find PF Changs Vegetarian menu to be rather tasty and have some meals that are lower in calories then any others I found. I love their Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps with only 370 calories and they work as a whole meal.

When I'm feeling like a snack during the day I've been turning to my apple snack packs or Ill grab a Special K Bar or my favorites, Quaker Quakes Rice Cakes.

My biggest pitfall of the week was probably the Father's Day get together where I ate some chips and dip. That night I stuck to the low cal plate at Pranksters Too in Scottsdale which is a burger patty (no bun), cottage cheese, salad and fruit. Unfortunately this was the only night I wasn't able to meet my goal of eating before 8 pm.

I've also made great improvements on my Diet Coke addiction, limiting myself to one a day (I have to for now or I get migraines) and drinking 8 glasses of water a day and 1 Diet Arizona Green Tea (0 callories) a day.

As far as exercise goes I've gone to the gym 4 times since last Wednesday and plan to go every day this week. As I mentioned I'm also getting a workout grouting my floors at home and painting door trim (my arms are killing me)

So, I feel I've made some good lifestyle improvements, but I'm impatient and like to see change immediately so we'll see how this goes. I usually get so frustrated when I dont see a difference and can't keep with it. Wish me luck.

Posted by at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by Brian at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tomorrow will our second weigh-in and I'm a little nervous. I'm pretty sure I haven't lost any weight. I haven't really done much in the way of dieting or exercise in the last week. Laziness...she is a seductive mistress.

I am going to exercise tonight...finally. Mary and I are going to use the gym here at the office after work. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do tonight. I need to slowly get back into the swing of things, but I'm sure glad I'm finally doing it.

I think I'll also empty my snack drawer tonight. It's far too convenient to munch while I work as long as it's full.

Posted by Brian at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night, I made a pretty healthy meal out of a bunch of junk in my fridge.

Behold, the players: some hunks of leftover grilled pork tenderloin, boiled cabbage, a runny apricot glaze, pineapple chunks, cashews. Throw in a heap of diced fresh veggies, some soy sauce, and other savory seasonings, and the result is some not half-bad - and not too bad for you either - sweet and sour pork. Even the picky boychild gobbled it up. He didn't even know that I used brown rice in the fried rice. Shhh... he doesn't need to know!

I also made some popsicles this morning with mashed bananas, juice, and fat free vanilla yogurt. I can't wait to see (and taste) how they turned out!

On the exercise front, I don't think I can hit the gym every morning. I'm going to go for a MWF schedule. I opted to do my home workout today. I even took a cue from our own Chris Powell, and used two gallons of water as my heavy weights, since I left my 15 pounders up North. I used them for biceps curls, squats, and overhead presses. I have to stick with the tenners and fives for the other stuff.

Tomorrow is weigh-in. I have no idea how I'm doing!!

Posted by Korina at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here’s the recap for how things have gone since the weigh-in:

Wednesday was a 50/50 success/setback day. That morning, I was proud that I went for ten more reps when I did my quickie pre-work workout (dumbbells, crunches, and girlie push-ups).

Then we had the weigh-in, and I was pretty bummed about my weight. I had intended to walk at lunch, but I forgot my hat. And I had three heaping spoonfuls of Haagen-Dazs rocky road that night.

Thursday, I got up early, put on my exercise clothes, and headed to work early, so that I could use the gym. Alas, my keycard was not yet programmed to allow me access. Instead, I took a nice fast-paced walk around the block. At first I was annoyed, but then I was happy that I managed to be flexible and do something, rather than nothing. I also forgot my hat again. Grr.

Friday, I actually managed to get into the gym. I tried out the elliptical machine, and watched the Argentina v. Montenegro game (it was a slaughter). For some reason, watching soccer helps me keep my pace up. I also used the assisted chin-up machine. That thing is cool!

Food-wise, I did OK. I cooked a pork tenderloin in the grill pan, and added a yummy apricot-cranberry glaze. Though, if I recall correctly, I maaaaay have had a handful of Swedish fish before bed.

The weekend was fun and full of active relaxation. Saturday, we went tubing on the Salt, and swimming in the pool on Sunday. The bummer part was being so pooped after tubing, that we ordered pizza. I did limit myself to two slices though, rather than my usual three. Sunday morning I squeezed in 15 minutes of my at-home workout. That evening, we went to a family dinner that was full of steak, wine and cake – ulgh! I tried to minimize the damage by snacking on a bunch of raw veggies before dinner, and making wine spritzers with diet tonic, instead of drinking it straight up.

So far, so good on Monday - sort of. I got up an hour early so that I could get in a full hour workout before work. Alas, I left my keycard at home, and had to drive all the way back to get it. That left me with a 20 minute workout. Better than nothing I suppose. No World Cup games were on either. The analysis and pre-show had to suffice.

As always, you can get the nitty-gritty details of my foodstuffs here.

Posted by Korina at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi there, I'm Mary, the genius behind this whole competition (and I WILL win)

I'm pretty excited about this, I always need something to push me to lose weight. Last year I did a weight loss trial and I lost 6 lbs and gained $140, so you can see, I'm motivated by money (not that 6 lbs is a lot, but when your doing a weight loss program over Thanksgiving and Christmas, I think it's quite an accomplishment)

When I was younger I never really struggled with my weight, I was always active snowboarding, when I got to college I walked everywhere in the 100 degree Arizona heat. I'd have to say the past 2 years (since I started dating my boyfriend) have been the worst for me. Before we met I was vegetarian for 3 years, but his great BBQ skills swayed me away from that. Now I think I'm just too comfortable in my relationship so I don't even think about my weight until it comes time to go to the beach. Just last week when I was obsessing over my weight he said "that's not fat Mary, that's love". Well I don't want to share this love with everyone in San Diego.

My biggest hurdle will be getting past my Diet Coke addiction and drinking more water, but I seem to be doing pretty well with that so far. I also need to start going to the gym and not eating so late at night. To my advantage I'm working on remodeling my house and It's quite the workout in itself. I've started eating more salads and looking closely at the calories. I hope in the end to lose around 15 lbs. and make my arms a little more firm.

Posted by at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello from the lone male of the Sweet Connection editors. So, if everyone jumped off a bridge, would you? Heck yeah if there is a cash prize at the end.

Having everyone in the office participate is a great way to keep us all motivated and on track with this challenge.

My goal isn't so much weight loss, – although I would love to wear the jeans I have in a size smaller – it's more about adopting a healthier lifestyle and being more active. A couple years ago, I was very good about exercising every morning. I used to go to the gym five days a week. On days I didn't work out, I still had a tremendous amount of energy that I would end up doing something active then too. I'd like to get back to that because I felt better and had more energy when I was exercising daily.

My biggest challenges are getting off my butt and into the gym and my dreaded snack drawer. To help combat the snack drawer, I brought a couple bags of pre-washed, sliced apples for all of us for our afternoon treat.

Ultimately, I don't think it will matter who wins this challenge because I think we will all end up being winners by being healthier.

Posted by Brian at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi, I’m Sweet Connection Editor Lori, I’m excited about this challenge because I’m competitive and this is what it takes for me to start exercising again, a good competition. AND, I’m getting married in April! I’m 29 and need to shed some of the fat and gain some muscle. I hate having cleavage in the front and back of my dress, if you know what I mean.

Eight weeks of competition… it’s going to be hard. I’m a socializer and my fiancé loves a good Irish pub and of course a nice cold Guinness, and frankly so do I.

My strategy is to eat as healthy as I can… fruits, vegetables, water, cut the caffeine and introduce some exercise. I like running and lifting weights although it’s been a while since I’ve done either.

I’m an ex-athlete who falls on and off the health wagon, so my goal at the end of the eight weeks would be to start a good habit of eating healthy and exercising so I can continue this until my wedding in April and so on.

I’d like to find the perfect balance (if one exists) of being able to go out and socialize and have a few of those bad foods from time to time and still maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle. Wish me luck! And, please send me some advice.

Posted by Lori at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey everyone! Wow, I'm stoked about this challenge! I've been whining for months about how squishy I've gotten. Now I finally have a deadline and a support system to really get me motivated.

I’m 33 years old and an off-and-on athlete. When I’m not playing sports, I get really out of shape. I haven’t played soccer in almost a year, and I completed my first level of karate about two months ago. To boot, I just went through a big move. So I’ve gained some weight, and my heart just can’t keep up like it used to.

At the end of the 8 weeks, I want to be a definite size 10 again. Right now, my size 10 jeans are pretty tight, and sometimes I have to wear a 12 -- the ones that used to be my "baggy" jeans! So I'm more like a 10/12.

To get there, I'm going to exercise more, and pare down on the treats. For the past couple of weeks, I've been working out with dumbells before work. While that's helped to tone me up, it's not burning enough calories. I'm going to add some cardio by going for walks, and hitting the gym.

Food-wise, I have a hard time resisting a heaping bowl of ice cream! I plan of still getting my treats, but I'm going to watch my portions, and not have them as often.

I'm using FitDay.com to track my food and exercise. If you'd like to see the boring details about my intake and expenditures, take a peep and my public log.

Posted by Korina at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)