Biggest Loser "No Excuses" 2012 Team Challenge for Losers and Maintainers!!!

[cclovesdis]

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

We are headed to WDW in December. Both DH and I are in the midst of losing weight and are wondering your thoughts on the DDP and losing weight/maintaining weight. We are torn about whether we would be tempted to each too much or if it would be good to have so many choices. Does anyone have any thoughts and/or experience? We'd really appreciate any feedback - thanks!

Also, my sister and I went in early January when they offered a $200 gift certificate with a room/tickets package. We were there for 6 days and struggled to finish it. We paid OOP for one TS meal and the rest were CS meals. I ate very well and we were never hungry. With the park hours and low crowds in early January, we had time to relax and do things we hadn't done before like visit resorts and see shows like Nemo. If you eat CS at a resort, you have a lot of options beyond hamburgers and chicken nuggets. Captain Cook's at the Poly has flatbreads and Roaring Forks has sandwiches. I hear Contempo Cafe and Wolfgang Puck's has lots of options. I love the CS at the Land Pavilion. My rambling is basically saying that CS has plenty of options, IMO.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[ChelleyB]

cclovesdis & Janis,
Thank you - we're leaning towards OOP. We aren't dessert eaters either. Plus, we'll be celebrating DD's birthday, so we'll probably have a few cupcakes to share along the way at TS

 

[pjlla]

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

We are headed to WDW in December. Both DH and I are in the midst of losing weight and are wondering your thoughts on the DDP and losing weight/maintaining weight. We are torn about whether we would be tempted to each too much or if it would be good to have so many choices. Does anyone have any thoughts and/or experience? We'd really appreciate any feedback - thanks!

My feeling is there is NO WAY I would do the DDP if I were trying to lose or even maintain my weight. I feel like it would encourage me to constantly "try to get my money's worth". I might end up eating more and/or more often than I really needed to, in order to not waste my credits.

I personally would get the BEST room rate I could for my visit (DDP requires you to pay rack rate) and save the extra for special meals. You will still have just as many restaurant/meal options.... there aren't any "special" restaurants that are DDP only.

That all said, I must admit that we definitely do NOT go to Disney for the food. We usually eat breakfast in the room or in the hotel food court, lunch is counter service or even just snacks, depending on our hunger level. And dinner is counter service except for one or two special meals that we preplan (we usually have at least one character meal for each trip). As the kids are getting older, it will be nice to be able to enjoy a "real" meal occasionally.... I have yet to try most of the nicer restaurants at Disney. But one or two big sit-down meals in a week is more than enough for me!

Janis: This is a great idea! I was just thinking about doing something like this as a way of saving for when I move out. I am thinking about buying gift certificates for places like grocery stores, CVS, JCPenney, Target, Wal-Mart, etc. now while I'm not paying rent so I can pay for things when I am. It's much easier for me to spend cash (even with how cheap I am ) than it is for me to spend a gift certificate. I'm also thinking of taking a shoe box and cutting a small hole in its lid and then duct tapping the lid to the box so that gift certificates and loose change can go in but not out. I figure any trick I can use to save/plan is worthwhile.

Chelley: Last I knew, you could buy a Disney gift certificate at Walgreens in any amount you want. Well, I should say, I believe it has to be between $5 and $500. Not sure where you live, but some grocery stores offer gas points when you buy gift certificates there. I know the one by me occasionally runs a promotion where you get double gas points when you buy gift certificates.

These are all great ideas. I had suggested to someone else here who was saving for a trip that they make themselves a poster about "daily" spending versus saving activities that could help them make the budget for their trip. And DD would like me to make up another poster like that for us, as she is determined to do another trip to Disney with me before she graduates next year. If and when I get the time to do the poster, I'll share it.

**************

Happy almost-sunny Wednesday morning! It rained all day yesterday and was very cloudy this morning, but the sun is finally bursting through, so I can get that towel load on the clothesline!

Eating has been right on point for me this week, but the exercise..... not so much. Really struggling to get back into a good routine with this.

SO glad I didn't get called to work today. I am feeling really behind the 8 ball with my scrapping projects, housework, and planning/executing the going away party for the coach this weekend. And I made a beautiful banner for the party and then DD informed me that there is no hyphen in "good-bye"! (Usually I'm a great speller!!) So now I have to cut off the end of the banner and reprint it. Shouldn't be too hard, just a PITA. Also need to order the cake today, take a "food inventory" from the email responses we've gotten to make sure that there will be enough food and a decent selection. I was hoping to avoid bringing anything myself, as I have spent enough time and money on the decor, but I'm always afraid there won't be enough food, so I took a fridge/freezer/pantry inventory last night and will try to create a potluck dish with my overages.

Off to check up on the summer thread.................P

 

[pjlla]

For those who were interested, here are a few prom pix of DD!

Under our flowering crab tree. We were keeping our fingers crossed that the blooms wouldn't go by before prom day.... and then a week of rain and cooler temps helped us out with that... the blooms were perfect on Prom day!

Dress colors look true here, but the house looks faded. oh well!

This one is of the bouquet I made her.... but it also shows the waist detail of the dress well.

Thanks for looking!.............P

 

[myweegirls]

Janis, I love the gift card idea! We have the Disney Rewards Visa and save all our rewards points for our Disney trips, but I think I may start using the gift card collection as an added way to pre-pay our incidental expenses. Thanks!

pjlla, your DD looks absolutely lovely! I especially love the waist detail on the dress. I hope she had a great time! I'm still a good 8-10 years away from proms, but I have a feeling it will sneak up on me...

Major toe recovery milestone this morning - I did my first unmodified 30DS since breaking my toe! It felt pretty good, actually, and I think I'm going to take a real walk outside tonight with tiny little jog intervals to test it out. That's orthopedist-approved, so I don't feel like I'm overextending anything. But I am getting SO tired of the exercise bike. Even though I break an incredible sweat on it, I just want to get back out there already. Here's hoping we don't get rain/thunderstorms this evening so I can go out after DD7's gymnastics and dinner...

Hope everyone's doing well! Work has been nuts, and I think it's going to stay that way pretty much right up until we go on vacation - 4 weeks from Friday! I'm going to leave on this trip with a huge sense of accomplishment, for sure.

XO
Liz

 

[::Snow_White::]

Pamela, your daughter looks gorgeous!! I love her hair and her dress! Beautiful.

Melinda--Congratulations!! Glad you had a new PR!! And thank you so much!

----
Thank you for all the encouraging comments, you all are awesome!! I don't have a marathon in mind yet. I went from 4 miles to a half marathon in a day so I don't want to push my legs too hard yet so I'll probably just be working with half marathon distances before start marathons. I'd love to run a Disney event sometime in the next few years though!!

I worked all day at the new job Monday and Tuesday. It went really well!

Well, folks. I usually do pretty well with keeping up here but since I will be leaving for WDW tomorrow I have tons of things that need to get done tonight and I'm too excited! I may be able to stop in tomorrow morning for a quick post but if not I will see you all on the BL summer thread!

I hope you all have a wonderful next couple weeks!!!

 

[Disneywedding2010]

Pamela -- Your daughter's prom pictures are BEAUTIFUL!

Well, sorry I've not been around much lately. I'm trying to find a balance between this BLC and my BLC on Sparkpeople. We had a freggie (fruits & vegetables) challenge this weekend. I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried different items:

Red peppers
Spinach
Green Peppers
Peaches
Pears
Black Olives

I didn't really care for the pears or the black olives. I still have squash and zucchini that I need to cook up and/or figure out how to prepare it. I'm 6.1 pounds from ONEDERLAND as of this morning, (my weigh in day for Spark).

We live 15 minutes from Disney World and Sunday we decided to spend some time at Grand Floridian relaxing. We took some pictures, ate some lunch, did a little shopping, and just hung out. We swung by Wally World on the way home and bought some stuff to make my mexican pizza for dinner. No, its not a recipe I found its just something I totally made up off the top of my head. Turns out Alan LOVES it.

Monday I did strength training, Tuesday I did cardio, and today I'm going to do some more strength training. I still have no clue what's for dinner so I think I need to get that figured out. Well, the dryer stopped time to switch loads over!

 

[pjlla]

pjlla, your DD looks absolutely lovely! I especially love the waist detail on the dress. I hope she had a great time! I'm still a good 8-10 years away from proms, but I have a feeling it will sneak up on me...

It definitely will sneak up on you!

Major toe recovery milestone this morning - I did my first unmodified 30DS since breaking my toe! It felt pretty good, actually, and I think I'm going to take a real walk outside tonight with tiny little jog intervals to test it out. That's orthopedist-approved, so I don't feel like I'm overextending anything. But I am getting SO tired of the exercise bike. Even though I break an incredible sweat on it, I just want to get back out there already. Here's hoping we don't get rain/thunderstorms this evening so I can go out after DD7's gymnastics and dinner...

Hope everyone's doing well! Work has been nuts, and I think it's going to stay that way pretty much right up until we go on vacation - 4 weeks from Friday! I'm going to leave on this trip with a huge sense of accomplishment, for sure.

XO
Liz

So glad your toe is improving and you are able to get back to your regular exercise/running program.

Pamela, your daughter looks gorgeous!! I love her hair and her dress! Beautiful.

Thank you! I think she looked lovely too!~

Thank you for all the encouraging comments, you all are awesome!! I don't have a marathon in mind yet. I went from 4 miles to a half marathon in a day so I don't want to push my legs too hard yet so I'll probably just be working with half marathon distances before start marathons. I'd love to run a Disney event sometime in the next few years though!!

I worked all day at the new job Monday and Tuesday. It went really well!

Well, folks. I usually do pretty well with keeping up here but since I will be leaving for WDW tomorrow I have tons of things that need to get done tonight and I'm too excited! I may be able to stop in tomorrow morning for a quick post but if not I will see you all on the BL summer thread!

I hope you all have a wonderful next couple weeks!!!

Have a great time at Disney!!!

Pamela -- Your daughter's prom pictures are BEAUTIFUL!


Thanks! Wish we had gotten a few better ones of her that were full length.


Well, sorry I've not been around much lately. I'm trying to find a balance between this BLC and my BLC on Sparkpeople. We had a freggie (fruits & vegetables) challenge this weekend. I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried different items:

Red peppers
Spinach
Green Peppers
Peaches
Pears
Black Olives

I didn't really care for the pears or the black olives. I still have squash and zucchini that I need to cook up and/or figure out how to prepare it. I'm 6.1 pounds from ONEDERLAND as of this morning, (my weigh in day for Spark).

I love the freggie challenge! Did you have specific stuff you had to try or did you get your choice?? Proud of you for trying new things!

I agree with you on the black olives.... not my favorite, but definitely great on a pizza or nachos! Pears.... maybe you need to try a different variety. Some are much better than others.... they are all different. Some are sweeter, some are milder, some are softer. My current favorites are Packhams.

I eat peppers and spinach pretty much every day.... either in a salad, in a wrap, in eggs.... lots of ways. Pears I mostly eat in season (fall), but if I can find good ones other times I might buy them. I love them with cheese. My favorite lunches last week (when I had some ripe Packhams on hand) was lean turkey breast with Laughing Cow light swiss cheese and sliced pear. I spread the cheese on the turkey, layered on the sliced pear, and rolled it up. YUMMM!

As for peaches..... they are truly a seasonal fruit. They are at their best in late spring to mid-summer around here and if they are good, they are GREAT..... but if they are lousy... ick!

Zucchini and summer squash are super easy to prepare, but try hard not to overcook them. They get mushy fast. They are great sliced the long way, brushed with a bit of EVOO, and grilled. Also good sauteed, and steamed.

We live 15 minutes from Disney World and Sunday we decided to spend some time at Grand Floridian relaxing. We took some pictures, ate some lunch, did a little shopping, and just hung out. We swung by Wally World on the way home and bought some stuff to make my mexican pizza for dinner. No, its not a recipe I found its just something I totally made up off the top of my head. Turns out Alan LOVES it.

Monday I did strength training, Tuesday I did cardio, and today I'm going to do some more strength training. I still have no clue what's for dinner so I think I need to get that figured out. Well, the dryer stopped time to switch loads over!

How did you do the mexican pizza? I make mine with refried beans, lowfat cheese, and sometimes salsa.

**********

Just a post-lunch drive-by posting here! ................P

 

[::Snow_White::]

Just popping in to say a big thanks again to CC for doing HH!

I got my HH package in the mail today. It was adorable, I will definitely be taking some of the things to Disney. Thank you!!

 

[mikamah]

Pamela-DD looks absolutely beautiful. What a pretty dress, and beautiful flowers. From your garden? Thanks for sharing the pics. I'd love to try and make a plan to meet sooner rather than later. I'm hoping to get mon june 4th off, it's the day after my nieces graduation, but I won't know til the friday before. Maybe if you're free that would work out.

 

[buzz5985]

We have completed Final No Excuses “measure-in” for the WIN! Challenge.

This is TOTAL inches lost for the challenge.

glss1/2fll -- -4%
Sunshineminnie -- -6.8%
GoofyPredsFan -- -11.5%
KDIPIAZZ -- - 16.5%

and the winner for the "No Excuses" Total measure is.............................

jujubee727 -- -22.5%

Congratulations to all our participants!!!!!

 

[Disneywedding2010]

ChelleyB --

I was at Disney beginning of May for a week. I went with my best friend and we were on the basic dining plan. I live close to Disney so I was able to bring yogurt and granola bars for breakfast. We had counter service for lunch and a table service for dinner. I wound up losing .4 of a pound while I was there! We managed to walk almost 14 miles in a week (or somewhere around there).

I also brought a reusable water bottle (32 oz) and filled it before we left for the parks and carried it around in my bag. When it got empty I found a water fountain and refilled it.

As far as the dining plan I ate a lot of entree size salads. I loved the caesar salad at Cap'n Jacks at Downtown Disney. Some of the dessert I would eat the whole thing, I'd only eat a few bites, I'd split it with my friend, or I would get it to go and take it back to the room. My main way of not going overboard was controlling exactly how much I ate. I didn't go overboard and pig out.

It also helped that after I made all of my dining reservations I researched the menus online and decided what were good choices to eat.

Good luck!

 

[Disneywedding2010]

So glad your toe is improving and you are able to get back to your regular exercise/running program.



Have a great time at Disney!!!



How did you do the mexican pizza? I make mine with refried beans, lowfat cheese, and sometimes salsa.

**********

Just a post-lunch drive-by posting here! ................P

I buy the thin crust pizza shells at Wally World. I spray the crust with cooking spray (don't have EVOO). Then layer it with refried beans, grated cheese, mild italian sausage, and diced up green peppers. I pop it in the oven for 12 minutes at 450 degrees.

I know it doesn't necessarily sound like a mexican pizza but they are incredible.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Pamela DD is gorgeous!!! DS15 loved the dress! So pretty!

 

[myweegirls]

Kayla and Melinda, I totally forgot before to say CONGRATULATIONS on your runs! They both sound amazing, and I'm looking forward to getting into your groove!

And on that note, I got back out there tonight for the first time since I broke my toe! I set up a 25-minute course of walking alternated with 30 seconds of jogging, following the orthopedist's directions. It was a little tingly at first, but then it just started to feel normal again. I extended the last interval and jogged 3 1/2 minutes...and I can't wait to keep going. I bought a cool exercise app that lets me design my own intervals, so I'm going to use that until I'm ready to pick up the C25K again. It felt so great to be outside running around in the relatively cool evening air! Thunder in the distance...so I stuck to my 25 minutes.

XO
Liz

 

[ChelleyB]

ChelleyB --

I was at Disney beginning of May for a week. I went with my best friend and we were on the basic dining plan. I live close to Disney so I was able to bring yogurt and granola bars for breakfast. We had counter service for lunch and a table service for dinner. I wound up losing .4 of a pound while I was there! We managed to walk almost 14 miles in a week (or somewhere around there).

I also brought a reusable water bottle (32 oz) and filled it before we left for the parks and carried it around in my bag. When it got empty I found a water fountain and refilled it.

As far as the dining plan I ate a lot of entree size salads. I loved the caesar salad at Cap'n Jacks at Downtown Disney. Some of the dessert I would eat the whole thing, I'd only eat a few bites, I'd split it with my friend, or I would get it to go and take it back to the room. My main way of not going overboard was controlling exactly how much I ate. I didn't go overboard and pig out.

It also helped that after I made all of my dining reservations I researched the menus online and decided what were good choices to eat.

Good luck!

Thank you! Right now we are doing portion controlled meals and it's working really well for us. I was thinking that maybe we could get fruit instead of dessert....?

 

[ChelleyB]

pjlla - your DD looks gorgeous! Her dress is so lovely!
Congratulations

 

[Disneywedding2010]

Hey everyone...

I'm taking it easy today. I woke up and have been feeling really warm. I checked my temp and no fever I just feel like I've sat in a sauna all morning. Going to take it easy and hopefully I'll cool down. Alan made me a late breakfast and then turned the air down a little, turned the ceiling fan on high, and put another fan on me. I love him for helping make me feel better but I can't help but chuckle a bit. I think he's trying to get me to go from burning up to turning into a popsicle, LOL.

I had an apt to take care of something today but I rescheduled it until next week. I'm meeting with my doctor tomorrow morning to check my warfarin levels (also known as a PT/INR draw) and talk to her about a few issues. I have some questions about things I've been wondering and discussing with Alan.

Nothing much planned this weekend. I'll go to my apt tomorrow, Saturday we're going to hang out at the Grand Floridian and Polynesion resort and have dinner at Kona Cafe. Sunday, I'm going to do a little cleaning and maybe watch "We Bought A Zoo" on PPV. Monday nothing much planned other then possibly grilling out and swimming.

 

[tigger813]

Hi all,

Sorry I haven't been around this week. It was quite the eventful weekend that continued into Monday.

Ashleigh and I enjoyed the Relay for Life Friday night though it was quite cold. My family led the Survivors lap at the Relay which was neat! My parents got special shirts as Survivors. It was very special for them. I walked about 8 miles, only about half of what I did last year. Saturday I caught up on some sleep and went to both girls soccer games. Sunday we went to church for the Hunger Games discussion and then went to get stuff for Ashleigh's week at Nature's Classroom.

Sunday evening we had pork chops on the grill and while eating Dad starting coughing up stuff and couldn't swallow anything. He was breathing and talking but something just wasn't right. Around 11 I decided we needed to head to the ER. A client of mine was the registration lady so we got in pretty quickly and at that point the ER was pretty empty except for a loud man that may have been on something. We determined pretty quickly that he had pork stuck in his esophagus and would need some GI help. They hooked up and IV and within an hour they took him to do the procedure to push the pork down. That took about 30 minutes and they had to sedate him so we were there until about 3:30am. He took a while to come out of the sedation. When we got home we immediately went to bed. I had to be up by 6:15 to get Ash up to shower and pack the rest of her stuff for her trip. So 2 hours of sleep later I was taking her to school. Went home and got Izzie ready and then took her to school. I then went back home for another 2 hour sleep until some survey called and woke me up. Went to bed at 6:30 on Monday night though didn't get to sleep until almost 8. Was then awake at 3:30 so I watched tv.

Dad is fine and returning to eating normal food today. No more pork shops for him.

This morning a really loud woodpecker woke us up around 5:30 so I got up and took a well needed walk. I've been doing well with food so I think I can still lose that last 5-6 pounds before PCC3.0.

At work for another 30 minutes and then going to go home and gather the trash and go to the transfer station and then pick up Izzie. Ash will be home tomorrow. I saw her for a few hours yesterday afternoon. She's having a lot of fun but is exhausted! I bet she'll sleep most of the weekend! Izzie has soccer practice tonight so I will probably walk the field while she practices.

Doing cruise and FE stuff this weekend and catching up on shows. Hoping to only leave the house to walk in the Memorial Day parade with Izzie and other soccer kids if she wants to on Monday.

I may be really busy the next few weeks before the cruise as we are having a groupon run at the spa for microderm and hot stone massage. I don't know how it will go and hope it does not cause issues with trying to get everything done.

Need to decide on supper before I leave here so I can see if I need to pick anything up!

Thanks for listening! Hugs to all!

TTFN

 

[tigger813]

OMG!!!! I killed the thread!

Have to share something I just saw on my morning walk...

All of a sudden a GIANT wild turkey ran about 50 feet in front of me ready to take off to cross to the other side of the road. Cars were coming and the turkey didn't get up high enough and hit the side of a car. He was able to turn around and land again in a yard and went under a tree. I think he was ok as he was walking around. I'm sure it scared the driver and me as well.

Walked for 75 minutes this morning. Working and then picking up Ashleigh and possibly going to a quilt shop that Ash and mom like. Pizza for supper tonight so we can enjoy having Ashleigh back and play some games and watch tv.

Have a great Friday! I need to make breakfast for Izzie now and get moving!

TTFN