Team Mickey - Biggest Loser "No Excuses" 2012 Challenge

[myweegirls]

I do not envy you snow-bound people your snow! I spent my whole childhood and young adult life in New England and have had my share of it. It's 66 degrees here in NoVa, and I'm looking forward to wrapping up work and going to pick up DD5 for her dance class later. Bring on spring!

QOTD: I have a lot of things I like, but there are just a couple of absolute favorites. One of them I've only ever seen seasonally - the pumpkin spice funnel cake at the kiosk outside American Adventure. Holy WOW that is so good. DH and I got one last year when we went down for Food and Wine, and it was amazing.

My other favorite is at Karamell Kuche in Germany...the dark chocolate cookie with caramel. About half the time I go, they're out of them, so I always get one when they're in stock. They are just amazing.

Worked out this morning with Jillian's Ripped in 30 and on the bike and enjoyed some beef barley soup leftovers for lunch. That soup is awesome - it's a Wegmans recipe, and I made it at home for the family to see how easy it would be (you can also buy it at the store). I have leftovers that'll last me clear through next week, and it's so yummy!

XO
Liz

 

[GaRain]

I have been so darn busy this past week I haven't been on here much.
I must play catch up now....since I didn't report in either (I broke even, so it doesn't matter).

 

[GaRain]

THURSDAY QOTD -- What is your biggest guilty pleasure food item at WDW?

I would say a Dole Whip - but that is fruit, so its healthy, right?!!?!? Oh a Premium Mickey ice cream - yum!

Goals for March. Stay on schedule, sleep better, clean the house, file taxes before the last day and lose some weight!1

 

[MelindaRuns]

QOTD:

We always go to Crystal Palace in MK. Our whole family loves that place. Other places we go to every trip: Via Napoli in Epcot for the awesome pizza, SciFi Dine In (spinach artichoke dip and Blue Moon - yum!), in DL the bakery on Main Street which is now closed (moved, rather) to get Matterhorn Macaroons - my husband's absolute favorite. I love the smell of the popcorn but I always think it smells better than it tastes. Someone once told me the pipe in the smell so you want to buy it, but I don't know. Anyone else ever hear that? I love Mama Melrose for the service more so than the food. I pretty much love all the food at WDW.

 

[tigger813]

QOTD:

We always go to Crystal Palace in MK. Our whole family loves that place. Other places we go to every trip: Via Napoli in Epcot for the awesome pizza, SciFi Dine In (spinach artichoke dip and Blue Moon - yum!), in DL the bakery on Main Street which is now closed (moved, rather) to get Matterhorn Macaroons - my husband's absolute favorite. I love the smell of the popcorn but I always think it smells better than it tastes. Someone once told me the pipe in the smell so you want to buy it, but I don't know. Anyone else ever hear that? I love Mama Melrose for the service more so than the food. I pretty much love all the food at WDW.

In one of the podcasts this week max Teresa and Max mentioned something about the popcorn smell being piped in! I love the smell of popcorn!

Tubing was postponed again. I called the park and they said that people were only getting halfway down the runs so we will make one last attempt on Monday evening.

I brought the Wii back up and we bowled a tournament and now the girls are boxing. We are going to do some Toy Story Mania and tennis and maybe some Disney Universe, Winter Sports, and Guilty Party. Maybe we will even do some dancing!

Broke down and fixed a drink for Brian and me! It's been such a rough week that I thought we deserved it!

Still snowing though the roads just seem wet!

I do plan on getting on the elliptical for at least one programmed ride later. I really enjoy them! I watched an episode of Big Bang Theory! Can't get enough of that show!

Girls are playing tennis right now. All tied!

Burgers for supper with some fries! Enjoy quiet days like this! I think Ash got all of her homework caught up! Tomorrow after school she has dancing and then is performing in the talent show at school!

TTFN

 

[lovetoscrap]

Not much exciting to report. Feeling rather stupid subbing for a secretary when I really know nothing about how to be a secretary! It was fine and dandy for just an occasional day but the reality of several weeks/months is hitting along with just how much I don't know! I do have instructions on how to make the coffee in the morning so as long as I don't screw that up maybe they will let everything else slide.

I had to make up my own little phone message notecards because I keep forgetting to get the important things, like names and phone numbers! Today I learned how to answer the phone when it rings to their office through their direct line. Easy peasy, right? But there are 3 offices with 3 phones and I can't tell which one is ringing! I am only supposed to answer if it is person A's phone but they all sound exactly alike when they ring! I did manage to use the super duper copy machine without breaking it.

I am really liking that I get to interact with the kids as something other than the mean teacher sub that assigns busy work and has to discipline them. I get to be the sweet, caring, helpful person that I really prefer to be.

THURSDAY QOTD -- What is your biggest guilty pleasure food item at WDW?

Probably a Mickey Bar but there are lots of other things I allow myself that I normally wouldn't like danishes or cupcakes or just about anything from the French Bakery!

enjoyed some beef barley soup leftovers for lunch. That soup is awesome - it's a Wegmans recipe, and I made it at home for the family to see how easy it would be (you can also buy it at the store). I have leftovers that'll last me clear through next week, and it's so yummy!

XO
Liz

Recipe please?????


Packing my lunch has worked well and I am really glad I have meals planned out. I dragged my kids out grocery shopping on Tuesday night since I knew that would be the only time this week to get what we needed. Not able to get much water though. I have more flexibility than if I were a teacher I don't want to be leaving the office every 30 mins! I can only use the "I am going to check the mail" excuse so many times. . .

Everyone have a great On Plan evening and day tomorrow! Here's to great weigh in's

 

[50sjayne]

Feeling a little frustrated right now. Weighed myself Tues. and was up a pound--.0 but still....Worked out Tues and Wed. 45 minutes on the elliptical, 16 reps a piece or more on the ab machines, arms and did my back exercises. Then I swam-- only 15 minutes tues, and 10 mins today but I did swim 45 minutes + working out Saturday. I haven't been overeating-- been watching my drinking, my work is very physical. It's just getting a lot harder to lose weight...I also eat very healthy-- no junk-- and drink a ton of water. Was reading Health mag and Self and feeling like I probably do eat a lot more than most women who diet but I can't imagine eating less than I do now...I've been waking up hungry every morning..Weighed myself today-- still 145.0. It is before my period and I'm 43--almost 44 so I could be perimenopausal and I always gain at least 2 pounds of water weight before my period so that could be it. I'm also having just horrific pms-- worst I've had for awhile. Guess I'll just keep popping midol and try to stay away from the salt tonight.

 

[buzz5985]

WIN! - March 1

It's that time again - grab your tape measure and send my your numbers!!!

Janis

 

[ohMom]

lisa -- thanks for watching the video

my surgery is one week from today! March 8 -- reality is setting in

i reading all the yummy indulgences at WDW!!!

 

[Rose&Mike]

have a MAGICAL time!!!!

quick note -- you all have been so supportive to me with my health issues, may I share a short video with you...a friend of mine on an online Cushings support group made this short video for awareness as today is Rare Disease Day...my 'numbers' are different from hers, but my story is the same...

http://youtu.be/8qwzokg1Euk

and at the end is a collage of photos...i'm in there a couple places but i'm definately the one in the black dress standing beside Pirate Minnie on the Magic I'm in the bottom right too with my daughter, another DCL photo for watching!

 

[cclovesdis]

Healthy Habits Results Week 7: Beauty and the Beast

Congratulations to all our participants!

Team Mickey had 6 participants:
cclovesdis
glass1/2fll
KDIPIAZZ
MelindaRuns
myweegirls
yanni2

Team Donald had 6 participants:
4HOLIDAYS
belledreamer
D73
jillbur
luvpoohandcompany
ougrad86

It's a TIE!

Congratulations to Every Participant on BOTH TEAMS for earning 7/7 on at least 1 of the 4 Healthy Habits!

Congratulations to KDIPIAZZ and MelindaRuns from Team Mickey for earning all 30/30 points!

Congratulations to ougrad86 from Team Donald for earning all 30/30 points!




Healthy Habits Results Week 8: TTA

Congratulations to all our participants!

Team Mickey had 4 participants:
cclovesdis
glass1/2fll
MelindaRuns
myweegirls

Team Donald had 3 participants:
belledreamer
jillbur
ougrad86

Team Mickey is this week's winner!

Congratulations to Every Participant on BOTH TEAMS for earning 7/7 on at least 1 of the 4 Healthy Habits!

Congratulations to MelindaRuns from Team Mickey for earning all 30/30 points!

Congratulations to belledreamer and ougrad86 from Team Donald for earning all 30/30 points!

This week's prize winner is myweegirls. Please PM me your address and I will mail out your prize.

 

[cclovesdis]

Healthy Habits Week 10: Crystal Palace, Cape May, Chef Mickey, etc.

This week's Healthy Habits were inspired by pjlla/Pamela and ohMom/Molli. Thanks you two!

No, these are not attractions, but they are places we often visit while in WDW. This week's Healthy Habits are designed to help us tackle the buffet.

For all 7 days:

1. Restaurant food frequently has more salt in it than food prepared at home. The best remedy for extra salt? Water! Drink 64 oz. of water or more per day. You can count up to 8 oz. of tea or coffee.

2. A good game plan for the buffet, as Pamela always says, is to have plenty of fruits and vegetables. Eat 5 servigs of fruits and veggies per day. Use your plan to determine what a portion is.

3. Cape May is just past the Boardwalk. Walking to Epcot from there is a great way to burn calories. You could do the same from Chef Mickey to the Magic Kingdom. Crystal Palace to Splash Mountain for a FastPass is a quick way to burn some calories too. Pamela often encourages us to change up our exercise routine. Each day, doing something for a mile. Examples: Stationary bike, elliptical, treadmill, recumbent bike, rower, mountain biking, walking around the neighborhood

4. Inspired by Molli, WDW offers some amazing treats. Some are huge like the cupcakes at Starring Rolls and others are "tiny" like the desserts at Cape May. However, they all have calories. It is so important that we do not deprive ourselves. Each day, have something to eat that makes you feel like you are indulging. Here are some examples: Strawberries with fat free whipped cream, diet hot chocolate, 1/4 cup frozen yogurt in diet root beer, homeade marinade on your steak (sirloin), sauteed onions on your turkery burger, fat-free, sugar-free pudding made with nonfat milk

Min-Challenges

1. Calcium is so important. Have a serving of dairy or take a calcium supplement at least 3 times this week.

2. Inspired by Molli as well, Do something special just for yourself this week. It can be as short or as long as you would like. (This was also choosen because often families eat at buffets because they have children and it is an easier way to meet characters, a good use of a child's dining credit, and/or to break up the day.)

Have a great week everyone!

 

[myweegirls]

Recipe please?????

But of course! Here you go - with notes because this recipe was designed by Wegmans to use their store brands...

Beef Barley Soup
Makes: 16 cups
Active Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Each serving (1 cup) contains 180 calories, 16g carbs (3g fiber), 12g protein, 7g fat (3g sat fat), 25mg cholesterol, 640mg sodium - 4 PointsPlus/serving

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 pounds boneless beef short ribs, cubed small
2 packages (8 ounces each) mirepoix (diced carrot, celery, & onion)
1 1/2 cups coarse ground tomatoes
1 1/4 cups Goya barley
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1 tablespoon salt, plus additional to taste
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper, plus additional to taste
64 ounces beef culinary stock
4 cups water
parsley, chopped, for garnish

1. Heat olive oil in a large stockpot on medium-high until oil faintly smokes. Add beef; cook, stirring, about 10 minutes until beef browns. Add mirepoix. Cook, stirring, about 10 minutes, until veggies are soft and slightly brown.

2. Add tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium, cook 10 minutes. Add barley and thyme. Cook 5 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, stock, and water.

3. Bring to simmer on high. Reduce heat to low; cook about 45 minutes until barley is tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Skim fat from surface. Ladle soup into warmed bowls; garnish with chopped parsley.

I've been eating our leftovers of this soup for days and am still loving it completely!

XO
Liz

 

[bellebookworm9]

Hello everyone! I'm Gretchen, and I'll be your coach this week. In case you don't already know, I'm currently working for the mouse and am very low on the totem pole, so my schedule is never the same. But I will try to post the QOTD the night before. I also do a Disney QOTD as well, so let's go!

If you use some sort of video game system to work out (Wii, XBox Kinect, etc), what's your favorite exercise game? If you don't use those, what's your favorite form of "non-traditional" exercise?

If you were able to be here for the leap day, would you have been like me, and avoided the Magic Kingdom completely, or been like my roommates, and spent the whole night there?

 

[sue and co]

QOTD If you use some sort of video game system to work out (Wii, XBox Kinect, etc), what's your favorite exercise game? If you don't use those, what's your favorite form of "non-traditional" exercise?

I am boring and either use a DVD, practice Tae Kwon Do (or go to a class) or just go for a walk. Occasionally I will use the kids Wii in which case Wii Fit or Just Dance are the games of choice but it's not very often.

If you were able to be here for the leap day, would you have been like me, and avoided the Magic Kingdom completely, or been like my roommates, and spent the whole night there?

I'm like you and would have avoided MK completely, I'm sure it was chaos.

 

[cruisecrasher]

Had two bad weeks (water heater busted leaking through DS ceiling, laptop busted then I snagged my thumb staking my sons bean sprout from school and got a DTaP shot, ouch!) but am finally back to where I was two weeks ago, with a clean house and about the same weight as at the beginning of all that drama. (a big deal, for me)
Grrr.
Just glad to be back on program.
QOTD:
I use wiifit to weigh myself but I prefer old fashioned "go for a run"
I like going nuts cleaning the house as fast as humanly possible and BodyFlow and mowing my lawn (push mower) for my non traditional exercise.
Id spend the night!
It's never happened before, who knows if it'd happen again?

I'm coming up on a weight I've "bounced off of" before, any advice? Thoughts?

 

[MelindaRuns]

If you use some sort of video game system to work out (Wii, XBox Kinect, etc), what's your favorite exercise game? If you don't use those, what's your favorite form of "non-traditional" exercise?

Well, we have a Wii Fit and I like it, but I haven't been on it in months and months. That will be my goal today to get that out and get it going right after I take the kids to school. I was thinking... hmm.. what exercise can I get in today.. ? I have a personal training appointment at 1:00 but I'd like to be able to do something this morning to get some extra calories burned. My BodyBugg said my Spin class was only like 450 calories, and RunKeeper said for my height and weight it should have been like 1200 calories. Of course I believe the BodyBugg because its a device I wear and not just a number cruncher, but still!

If you were able to be here for the leap day, would you have been like me, and avoided the Magic Kingdom completely, or been like my roommates, and spent the whole night there?[/FONT]

I would have been at MK the whole day and night! Our family of 8 once spent 17 hours at MK (within the last couple of years). My son, who was 18 or 19 at the time, went and found a place to take a nap. We had rest times built in, and it was super fun! We did soooo much! We always use RideMax so we feel we get to do everything we want in the parks, but this was like super, duper. I'd love to do something like that again. Not every day, mind you, but its kind of like an endurance event!

GRETCHEN!! So glad to have you coach us this week! And live from the mouse - how fantastic! I hope you get the "coach's whoosh" that I've heard about and have a great weight loss week.

Well, I had a good weigh in this morning. Down 1.6 lbs from last week, making my weight loss for this challenge so far 11.6 pounds! This is my lowest weight of the whole challenge, so hopefully this yo-yoing of the up a pound, down a pound that I have been doing for a month is behind me. The scale is finally moving in the right direction!! I was getting seriously unmotivated by that! Now that I have had a loss this week I am seriously motivated to stay OP more than ever!!

Have a great OP day today everyone, and I hope everyone has a fabulous weigh in!

 

[MelindaRuns]

Had two bad weeks (water heater busted leaking through DS ceiling, laptop busted then I snagged my thumb staking my sons bean sprout from school and got a DTaP shot, ouch!) but am finally back to where I was two weeks ago, with a clean house and about the same weight as at the beginning of all that drama. (a big deal, for me)
Grrr.
Just glad to be back on program.
QOTD:
I use wiifit to weigh myself but I prefer old fashioned "go for a run"
I like going nuts cleaning the house as fast as humanly possible and BodyFlow and mowing my lawn (push mower) for my non traditional exercise.
Id spend the night!
It's never happened before, who knows if it'd happen again?

I'm coming up on a weight I've "bounced off of" before, any advice? Thoughts?

Wow! It sounds like you've had a hectic two weeks! Glad its slowing down for you. If bad things truly do happen in threes then you're done! Now for some smooth sailing! Congrats to getting back to your weight of before the two weeks from hades! Thats awesome! I love your idea of cleaning the house as fast as you can and treating it like exercise. I should do that around here! I'm sure my family would thank me! I'm with you for coming up on a weight I've "bounced off of" before. It has me . My plan is this: to work out every day a little more than I have so far in the challenge and to stay strictly OP until I am at least 3 or 4 lbs below that dreaded number that makes me feel like I am too close to yo-yoing back up. It's like around 184 for me is a trampoline, and all my weight goes down a bit, then springs back up the next week!!! I will feel lots more comfortable when I am in the 170's. Good luck to you!!

 

[MelindaRuns]

Does anyone have any advice as to where to purchase hand weights? I want to get two sets for at home so DD17 and I can work out together. I got the Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 and 30 Day Shred DVD's from Amazon, and need to get some hand weights. I would like to have 3's, 5's, 8's and 10's. Any suggestions?

 

[cclovesdis]

If you use some sort of video game system to work out (Wii, XBox Kinect, etc), what's your favorite exercise game? If you don't use those, what's your favorite form of "non-traditional" exercise?

If you were able to be here for the leap day, would you have been like me, and avoided the Magic Kingdom completely, or been like my roommates, and spent the whole night there?

Hi Gretchen! Thanks for coaching this week. Sounds like you have a busy schedule.

I have a Wii and the balance board and I use Wii Fit+ frequently. I like to do the Free Step. It isn't much of a calorie burn, but I am working on my stamina and it is helpful for that.

We always buy Park Hoppers so I might have went to MK around 9 PM. I probably would have assumed Epcot was pretty empty so started there and then went to MK. If it was as chaotic as I'm guessing it was, I would have left. I have a hunch I would have wanted to try going though. Stubborn me.

Does anyone have any advice as to where to purchase hand weights? I want to get two sets for at home so DD17 and I can work out together. I got the Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 and 30 Day Shred DVD's from Amazon, and need to get some hand weights. I would like to have 3's, 5's, 8's and 10's. Any suggestions?

I buy mine at Target. I think Wal-Mart sells them too, but I really like the ones I bought at Target. The ones I bought come in bright colors and have that coating over them so there is texture. I like that for grip purposes. They are frequently on sale as well.

I've also seen weights at Ocean State Job Lot. I know you can buy them at sporting good places, but one thing I like about shopping at places like these is that there is not a sales person on top of you within seconds of entering the store. That is my preference though.