The Biggest Loser

May 10th, 2008

Way back in the beginning of May, Paul and I joined our community in "The Biggest Loser". The contest ran for 10 weeks, and the goal was to lose weight. The judging was not in how many pounds you lost, but in how much of a percentage of your body weight you lost. We needed to lose weight, so we figured this would be a great motivation to get started. We weighed in every week, and the winner of each week won a prize. Paul won the weekly prize twice.

For the last two weeks, we have worked so hard. The grand prize was $200 cash, second prize was $100 cash and a $50 gift card to CVS, and third prize was $50. We needed that money for our vacation! Last week, Paul lost an amazing 6 pounds! I, after working so hard, lost only a pound and was very discouraged. But we got right back to it, knowing that if we wanted to win, we needed a great week this week.

We walked like crazy this week. We averaged about 5 miles a day this week, and my feet and legs are so sore and achy today. We were very careful with what we ate, limiting ourselves. Today was the big day. I was so nervous getting on the scale after what happened last week. Another big disappointment. I only lost 1 pound again. sigh. Paul got on. Another disappointment as he only lost 1 pound. It's very discouraging to work so hard, and see so little return. But we can honestly say, for the past two weeks, there is nothing else we could have done to lose the weight. I have no idea why we didn't see a bigger weight loss this week, but I can't do anything about it.

Then it was time to announce the prizes. She started at 10th place and worked her way up. I was so sure I was going to come in fourth, but I ended up coming in third and Paul came in second. It's not what we wanted, but we were pretty pleased with the outcome. I lost a total of 33 pounds and Paul lost 23 pounds. I actually lost the most weight of anyone in the competition. We are glad that we did it and we will do it again in the fall. It's a great motivator and we feel great.

July 12th, 2008

Now it's time to get ready for our massive vacation in a few days. There's much to be done before we leave. We also had an elderly man in the church die this week, so the funeral will be on Monday. It will take up most of Monday, and church will take up most of tomorrow, so we will really be busy the rest of the time. But it's an exciting kind of busy!