A Junk-Foodaholic's Journey to a Healthy Lifestyle: 2/1/09

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Dane Patterson Is Not The Biggest Loser

I was surprised to see Dane voted off last night. I felt sure it would be Ron, with him having a bum knee and all.

At this point in the game, it would make more sense to vote the weakest player out and wait a few weeks before sending home the toughest competition.

Ron lost only 5 pounds this week. Compare that to Dane, who lost an amazing 13 pounds, for a grand total of 100 pounds lost in eight weeks (a Biggest Loser record)!

Dane Patterson, a 27-year-old real estate appraiser from Mesa, AZ, weighed 412 pounds when he first arrived on The Biggest Loser ranch. He lost 100 pounds while at the ranch and at the showing of his "Where Are They Now?" video, he had lost a total of 132 pounds!

This week was interesting because all the players competed in a challenge that resulted in everyone trading in their couple-team t-shirts for either blue (Bob) or black (Jillian). One member from each team participated in the challenge. The first-place finisher, Tara (of course), got to choose which team she wanted to be on (she chose to remain with Jillian) and the remainder had to put their fate into the hands of a coin toss.

Jillian kept Tara and Laura, gained Sione, Felipe, Mike and Helen but lost Dane, Mandi and Aubrey. Jillian to Felipe: “I don’t care if one of your legs falls off or one of your lungs explodes.”

Bob kept Cathy, Kristin and Ron, gained Dane, Mandi and Aubrey but lost Sione, Felipe, Mike, and Helen. It was kind of humorous watching the cry-fest of Bob holding onto Sione, Felipe and Helen. Bob: "This is the hardest thing I have ever been through on The Biggest Loser."

Oh the drama! :)

During the weigh-in, Cathy (Mom on the purple team) was the biggest loser, dropping an amazing 14 pounds! She was thrilled since she only lost 1 pound last week. Cathy's daughter, Kristin, also pulled a huge number - 10 pounds. Tara (the machine) dropped 11 pounds, out-losing everyone else on her team.

The two teams competed against each other with a 24-hour bike challenge. The black team won with Tara logging an amazing 58 miles! She out-did all the guys. I'm telling you, she's a machine! For the black team's prize, they won a 3 pound pass at the weigh-in.

Following is Dane's "Where Are They Now?" video transcript:

"My weight got in the way of doing the things I wanted to do with my family.

I was always a physically active person. I loved to go hiking. I loved to play sports. And when I gained the weight that I did, it stood in the way of that.

The ranch is kind of a place where it's really hard to fail. You know, I lost a hundred pounds in eight weeks. It took a lot of work for me to get there but it was easier there. Now I'm at home, any weight that I lose at home means a lot more to me.

After being on the ranch, I've made working out and being healthy one of the main priorities in my life.

When I first arrived on the ranch, my wife started training for a marathon. When I got eliminated, I realized the opportunity I had to run that marathon. At the time, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. But I knew if I committed for it I would have to do it.

It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life to be able to run side by side with my wife for an entire marathon.

Crossing the finish line, I couldn't help but get a little emotional. I mean I usually don't show my emotions a whole lot but I felt a little bit teary eyed - just that feeling of completing such a hard task and the fact that I was there with my wife."

Dane's wife: "It was an emotional moment for me. It wasn't just a race for us, it was more than that. What we did today symbolizes what our future's going to be like. "

"The things that I learned while being on the ranch, those things still apply. Being healthy needs to be a priority and it needs to be a priority in my life. That's something that now it is. And I'm hoping that with my wife, with her support, with my family, that after the show, I'll continue to be healthy and continue to exercise with my wife and continue to run many more marathons."
-- Dane Patterson

According to this article, Dane and his wife did not complete the marathon. Instead, they were picked up by a van along the course and dropped back down somewhere prior to the finish and then he crossed the finish line. Neither was listed as completing the marathon. I don't know why people can't be honest. Anyway, he and his wife did run 23 miles which is a heck of an accomplishment.

Thanks for reading!

Laura

My Other Websites: The Experts Agree On Something. Finally. | Are Your Vitamins Safe? | Affiliate Link

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Yummy Yummy Vegetables

Several months ago, I found a recipe for Roasted Vegetables on AllRecipes.com (my favorite recipe site). Out of 610 reviews, it has a 4-1/2 star rating. I knew it had to be good. Me being a detail-head, I read most of the reviews and decided I would have to make this. Then I promptly forgot about it.

Once I joined Weight Watchers, I went to their site and checked out a few of their recipes. Vegetables have a zero point value so naturally, I wanted to check out all the vegetable recipes.

The one that stood out to me was their recipe for Roasted Vegetables. Their recipe called for some or all of the vegetables you see pictured above. The only difference between their recipe and the one listed on AllRecipes.com was that Weight Watchers instructed to cut all the veggies into similar-sized pieces, place them in a single layer on a foil-lined cookie sheet (I used two), spray with no-fat, no-calorie cooking spray, and finally sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme, and any other seasoning you prefer. Place them in a 450 degree preheated oven and let cook for 25-30 minutes. If you choose eggplant, squash, or zucchini, keep in mind that they cook faster than the other veggies so you might want to remove them sooner. I let everything stay in the oven for the entire 30 minutes and loved the results.

Here's the shocker: My husband and teenage son loved them! My husband, Paul, loves salads but other than that, he's not a big veggie lover. Neither is my teenage son. Well, they kept going back for more until everything was gone. Everybody's favorite vegetable was sweet potatoes, which was a big surprise as well.

Veggies in a bag

Once I chopped all the vegetables above, I put them in a 2-1/2 gallon ziploc bag and weighed them. They weighed 6-1/2 pounds! So we had enough veggies to make roasted vegetables for three days in a row! The following day, I tried the AllRecipes version and loved it - although, the entire family agreed that the Weight Watchers version was their favorite.

Roasted vegetables has become my favorite zero point dish and we've decided to make them often. In fact, I'm about to go to the store to buy some for tonight!

Last Thursday's Weight Watchers meeting was cancelled, due to our leader having to go out of town. So, I weighed myself at home Thursday morning and found that I lost 3 pounds!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It's 54 degrees and sunny here in central Arkansas.

Thanks for reading!

Laura

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Shanon Thomas Is Not The Biggest Loser

I really enjoyed watching The Biggest Loser last night. Following are the highlights:

Shanon Thomas, a 29-year-old massage therapist from Centerline, MI, was the contestant sent home last night.
Both the pink (Helen and Shanon) and brown team (Ron and Mike) won the first challenge which gave them unlimited access to the gym and shut-out all other players. It's interesting how that advantage did not keep the pink team safe from elimination.
Trainers Bob and Jilian had to get creative with their workouts since the gym was off-limits. Jilian hated being shut-out from the gym and let everybody know unhappy she was. Bob, on the other hand, stepped up to the challenge and seemed to enjoy every minute of it. He had his blue team doing everything from lifting chairs and benches, running on the beach, carrying giant logs, to doing rows with a TRX suspension band wrapped around a tree. But my favorite was watching the blue team wrestle in the mud. It was hilarious! Especially when Filipe was horsing around with Tara and Kristen. He's a nut! :)
Dane from the black team, won immunity by winning the rowing machine challenge.
Laura finally lost more weight than her teammate, Tara, which was a major victory for her. Laura lost 8 pounds and Tara lost 7 pounds.

Check out Shanon's "Where Are They Now?" video here. Shanon had lost 85 pounds as of the filming of this video but the most interesting part of the video to me was to discover that Shanon is training for her longtime dream of being in a roller derby! That's pretty cool.

Thanks for reading!

Laura

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

Sunday, February 15, 2009

How To Keep From Looking Like A Sumo Wrestler

1. Eat breakfast.

As part of their training, Sumo wrestlers skip breakfast and instead eat two gigantic meals later in the day.

The main reason they skip breakfast is because they cannot train 3-4 hours on a full stomach. The side benefit is that skipping breakfast helps slow down their metabolism.

By skipping breakfast and exercising strenuously for a few hours, the wrestlers are so hungry by lunch time that they are ravenous.

This is also what happens to average people who don't eat breakfast. They lose control of their appetites at lunch because their last meal was dinner the night before.

Weight loss experts say that one characteristic common to overweight people is that they seldom eat breakfast. Not only does skipping breakfast trigger overeating later in the day but it can also cause a five-percent drop in metabolism!

2. Eat 5 to 6 small meals throughout the day (and watch those portion sizes).

Sumo wrestlers go long periods between their meals - no grazing is allowed. If you want to keep your metabolism high and chugging along at a good clip, be sure and eat a healthy meal or snack every 3 hours or so. Grazing is good! As long as the food is healthy, of course.

Sumo wrestlers eat two gigantic meals, one at lunch and the other at dinner. Research indicates that eating one or two big meals a day makes your body more prone to hoarding fat compared to eating five or six small meals a day.

No one is born with the ability to eat that much food in one sitting so Sumo wrestlers have to progressively train their stomachs to stretch and accommodate larger volumes. They even have special massages to move the intestines around to enable them to consume more food.

So, what is a healthy-sized portion? Clench your fist and there's your answer.

If possible, try to make each meal consist of a portion of protein and a portion of carbohydrates. And don't leave out the healthy fats (avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil, cold-water fish, flaxseed etc.), which are essential to good health. The American Heart Association has a cool calculator that will tell you how much fat you should consume daily, based upon your age and body type.

3. Lead an active life.

Sumo wrestlers take a 3-4 hour nap after lunch. After they eat dinner, they retire for the night. This makes sense for two reasons.

One, they want their wrestlers to conserve as much energy as possible so that most of the calories they eat will be deposited as fat.

The second reason is that sleep and rest are necessary for muscles to grow. Body builders know that it is during sleep and rest time that muscles are repaired and new protein is synthesized to add to the muscle size.

The weight loss lesson is that you want to stay as physically active as you can throughout the day to burn off calories and you definitely should not eat within an hour of going to bed.

No amount of exercise will make you lose weight if you eat more than you burn.

If you're new to exercise, start off s-l-o-w. A common mistake people make is biting off more than they can chew, and then they end up quitting exercise altogether.

I suggest a walking program because it's inexpensive, flexible and easy to track (especially with a pedometer). Start out with 10-15 minutes of walking and every day add a few more minutes.

In order to maintain health, you should get at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, five days per week, or 20 minutes of high-intensity exercise, three days per week.

Source: here

Thanks for reading!

Laura

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

Friday, February 13, 2009

Weight Watchers Results Are In!

I had my weigh-in yesterday and found that I lost 4-1/2 pounds! smiley face

I'm very excited about doing the Weight Watchers program. It has been extremely easy. I've been worried and intimidated about the 'counting points' thing for nothing.

Since we are creatures of habit (basically eating the same things over and over again), it's easy to figure out the points, then copy the info from one day to the next.

I wish I had joined Weight Watchers years ago.

Happy Valentine's Day Eve! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Blaine Cotter Is Not The Biggest Loser

Blaine Cotter, a 27-year-old college counselor from Gilbert, Arizona, started The Biggest Loser weighing 365 pounds. At the filming of his "Where Are They Now?" video, Blaine had lost 86 pounds, which put him at 279 pounds.

Blaine only lost 4 pounds this week. Add that to his cousin, Dane's, 5 pound loss and it's not hard to see why the black team fell below the yellow line. Big guys like that usually lose double digits each week.

Blaine begged the other contestants to send him home, as he was terribly homesick for his family (his wife had recently given birth to their fourth child). The contestants granted him his wish and voted him off the show.

Some things I learned or 're-learned' from last night's show:

1. With proper motivation, you can achieve amazing things. Case in point: Laura was having trouble with her boxing technique. But when Jillian instructed teammate, Tara, to slap Laura on the face if she didn't use proper technique, suddenly Laura did it correctly. Another example of proper motivation is my son, Dylan. We were weary of always having to remind him to do his chores. Once we explained to him that we were going to give him a list of his chores and charge him $5 every time he failed to do one, suddenly, we weren't having to remind him anymore! Now his chores are being done every day without fail! It's all about proper motivation! :)

2. If you don't eat enough calories (for your weight/height), it may hinder your weight loss, by slowing your metabolism. Case in point: 18-year-old Mike and his dad, Ron, had fallen beneath the yellow line for two weeks straight. Come to find out, the main reason was because Mike was not eating the recommended amount of calories each day. Mike confessed to trainer, Bob, that he had a mental hang-up. He believed that cutting out calories would make him lose more weight. Bob asked him, "So how's that been working for you?" Consequently, Mike ate the amount of calories he was supposed to and lost 13 pounds!

Following is the transcript from Blaine's "Wh ere Are They Now?" video:

"When I started on The Biggest Loser campus, I weighed 365 pounds. Now I'm down to 279 pounds.

The mentality before I went to campus was, 'I am an overweight big dude. That's just who I am and I'm okay with that.' But I learned there that I'm much happier and I'm a much better person being healthy. Not necessarily being thin versus being fat but being healthy versus unhealthy.

I feel fantastic. I've never felt better in my life. I have more energy, I'm happier, I'm better with my kids, I'm better at work. I've just become a better person. I can't believe how much my weight was slowing me down.

My weight never really got in the way of my life, it just got in my way. It stopped me from being confident.

The biggest thing I learned while I was on The Biggest Loser campus, was that I can reach down inside me and make me do things that are difficult. And so, my goal has turned into an Iron Man. I want to do an Iron Man before I go back for the finale.

To get ready for the Iron Man, I have a very strict schedule. I have to get up early, ride my bike to the gym. It's over a mile and a half of swimming, 80 miles biking, and a half marathon after that. A man and a half to an Iron Man, that's not bad - even if it is a half Iron Man, I'll take it. It's quite the feat but I'm looking forward to doing it.

While I was on the ranch, I lost 66 pounds and I want to lose another 66 pounds here."

-- Blaine Cotter

Related Article:

Joelle and Carla Sent Packing

Thanks for reading!

Laura

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

Monday, February 9, 2009

Circling The Wagons Around Jessica Simpson

Jessica Simpson showing off her voluptuous figure

Okay, so Jessica Simpson has put on some weight. But in my opinion, she looks great!

Apparently, the bad press is getting to her because news reports are coming in that she is flubbing lines and crying on stage.

I just think it's a sad state-of-affairs the way the media and others treat celebrities when they pack on a few extra pounds.

Take a look at the picture of Marilyn Monroe and tell me she's not gorgeous. She was voluptuous and incredibly sexy.

I was pleased to hear Ashlee Simpson, Pete Wentz, Nick Lachey, Kim Kardashian, Heidi Klum, and Carmen Electra all circled the wagons around Jessica.

Jessica Simpson showing off her Daisy Dukes

Here's a recent photo of Jessica Simpson performing on stage in Madison, Wisconsin, last Saturday night. Again, I think she looks terrific.

Though I think she is a beautiful woman, I am not a Jessica Simpson fan. I never watched her reality TV show, any of her movies, and have never listened to any of her music, but I wanted to weigh-in (pun intended) on all the fuss about her weight gain.

So, what do you think?

Thanks for reading!

Laura

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

Friday, February 6, 2009

Back on the Bandwagon!

What do Jenny McCarthy, Tina Fey, and Sarah Ferguson - the Duchess of York, have in common? They've all lost weight on Weight Watchers!

I'm excited to say that I joined the Weight Watchers At Work Program yesterday!

I know Weight Watchers is an excellent program. I have posted several weight loss success stories where the person touted Weight Watchers as the program they used to achieve ultimate weight loss. In addition, I know several people at work that lost a significant amount of weight doing Weight Watchers.

I've been tracking what I eat for the last two days and I'm pleased to say it hasn't been difficult at all!

Stay tuned to hear about my progress... My weigh-in day is Thursday, so I'll publish a post next Friday to let everybody know how I did.

Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading!

Laura

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Joelle and Carla Sent Packing

Joelle Gwynn and Carla Triplett, The Biggest Loser-Season 7

Talk about drama! Tonight's show was full of it. If you've watched any of The Biggest Loser-Season 7, you know that Joelle was the show's 'problem child'.

Well, no more. Joelle Gwynn was sent home tonight. Unfortunately, her teammate (and ex-best friend), Carla Triplett, shared her teammate's misfortune and she sure didn't deserve it.

Carla lost an impressive 9 pounds, while Joelle lost no weight at all. ZERO! It's sad because Carla had to pay the price for Joelle's lack of effort.

The silver team along with the brown team fell below the yellow line tonight. It was up to the rest of the players to vote which team to send home.

Everyone had the impression that Joelle didn't really want to be on the ranch. She always claimed she was trying hard but nobody bought it.

Out of the five weeks she was on the ranch, Joelle only showed true effort one week - and it was that week she lost a significant amount of weight. After last week, I thought Joelle had turned the tide, but this week she was back to the same old Joelle.

This season's Biggest Loser has been interesting. Tonight was the fifth episode. Following is the order of the eliminations: first the white team was sent home, then the red team, followed by the orange team, and now the silver team.

Carla was The Biggest Loser's heaviest female to ever compete. She started out at 379 pounds. The first week on the show, she and eight other contestants were sent home. Over the last four weeks at home, Carla lost 20 pounds.

It's very impressive to me that Carla lost 40 pounds in five weeks, with four of those weeks being at home.

Since leaving the ranch, Carla has lost 47 more pounds for a total of 87 pounds!

On the other hand, Joelle has only lost 57 pounds. That tells you all you need to know.

Check out Joelle and Carla's "Where Are They Now?" video here.

Thanks for reading!

Laura

Related Posts: The Biggest Loser-Season 6

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

Monday, February 2, 2009

The Best Dad Ever: Backyard Ice Luge is 22 Ft High!

All I can say is, WOW! When I watched this video, my adrenaline started pumping. Wouldn't you love to have this in your backyard? I would!

John Mastrangelo builds a homemade ice luge each winter. He started small seven years ago, but he expands the project each year. Now, with the help of his family and Mother Nature, his ice luge is over two stories tall.

"It took a good 14 to 21 days of solid work," John told News 4.

The luge is a continual work in progress. This year its 22 feet high, the run is 200 feet long and this year its bigger than ever.

It's fun for everyone, the kids, the neighbors, and even Dad.

"It's become quite an obsession," John confessed.

"So cool, fun we get to go on it everyday," said Dante Mastrangelo, about having the luge in his yard.

As for next winter, John plans to make two longer slides. If Mother Nature cooperates you can be sure it'll be taller too.

Source: here

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

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Tuesday, February 3, 2009

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