Alright all Biggest Loser fans tonight was awesome!  I love that Ali is back, and she is right to believe that she does not have allies on her team at this point.  However, the best thing for the black team would be to be-friend her.  She is the only one with a positive attitude right now, and they really need to get their mentalities up.  As for Jillian taking up for the girls at weigh-in tonight...it is awesome to see how much heart she puts in her job.  I love that she cares about those girls enough to take up for them the way that she did.  As for Bob's response...not bad.  However, the host there seemed extra preturbed.  Even when Brittany stepped on the scale there was a grimmace in her eyes.  I understand that her role is to be the cold hostess, but sometimes it would just be better to leave things alone...like telling Brittany that she was below the yellow line after the hostess knew what was going on...there was no need to exclaim it...everyone was well aware that Brittany was below the line.  Admittedly Jillian probably would have been better off by not saying anything either, but if she is fired the dynamic of the Biggest Loser will change.  I know that I wouldn't watch it if Jillian wasn't there.  Does anyone else have thoughts about Jillian?

Okay...Real World Biggest Loser Challenge...definitely has its challenges.  I really think that since it is required for cans to label...we could make it a requirement to label restaurant menus.  That would really be nice...I'm not saying they should have to take into consideration special orders...but the regular product should have to be publicly documented.  I think this would really help restaurants to keep a closer eye on what they are serving. 

 

That is only one challenge...let's look at the stress of every day life that is closed to the campus.  Let's see...the stress of performing at work...preparing for my best friend's wedding which will occur in 3 weeks...trying to help my closest friend from work get ready to move (haven't been much help there)...getting things in order to go on a trip to Tokyo (found out this weekend and will leave in 3 weeks (if I get my passport!)...learning Japanese...getting shots...making hair appointments...finding time to tan...AND THEN...exercising...journaling(has not even been attempted yet)...and cooking (this is a struggle)!  Oh yeah...what about the one thing that should be my first priority...spending time with God?...What about making time just to hang out with friends?...What about the online communications class I signed up for?  I need one of those phones that creates a million of those little mini-me's.  That must be it...I don't have the right phone! :)  How do people find time for all of this?  What if you had a family or a husband?  I know it is all about priorities...but in our culture...aren't you really expected to do everything at once...multi-task???  I am still learning.  If anyone has suggestions that will help me to be a better multi-tasker please let me know!  I am open for any suggestions.

 

As for weight loss...let me say that shopping for a bride's maid's dress has been my toughest challenge yet.  Here it is my best friend's wedding...and I can't find anything cute to fit the cinderella theme of her wedding because I am too fat!  Definitely an eye opener!  Honestly...it made me wnat to throw in the towel.  I was ready to give up...but my best friend and my mom were very encouraging!  I am so glad to have encouragers in my life...if you don't have any find one...they can make a world of difference!

 

As for mom...she had a few hard knocks this week too...then stepping on the scale tonight and gaining everything she had lost... :( ... it's just devastating to work hard for three weeks and gain it all back in one! 

Man this week has been discouraging.  It is just one of those where it seems that things are hitting from every direction.  I didn't expect to lose any weight tonight, because I was home sick for about 3 days last week. I didn't eat right, and I didn't feel like exercising either.  I haven't done anything I really need to be doing for almost a week now.  I just started walking the past two days again, and I've tried to get back on a healthy diet for the past 3 days.

 

I have to say emotions really do play a big role in this whole diet.  A few weeks ago, one of our family friends was killed in a car accident.  Even though I tried, it was really difficult to want to eat.  Then I found out a good friend is moving off for a new job.  Kudos to her!  She has two weeks to pack her house, and get everything moved to a new city.  Then I found out that my best friend is getting married in four weeks.  WOW!  Neither of us have a clue as to where to start, but with the wedding just around the corner, I guess we can jump somewhere in the middle and work til it gets done.  Tomorrow we will find out results from a test my brother had to take.  In the mix of all of this, I have not been able to keep a journal.  Half the time it is hard to find time to eat.  I was really grateful for the tip Jillian gave tonight about the Ziploc steam bags.  I will definitely be putting that trick to use.  With all of the commotion, my will power is becoming more and more drained.  I want so badly to go to Los Angeles for the finale, but the hope seems to be getting further and further away.  Without the help of a community of people supporting me, I would not have even made it this far.  I'm glad my mom and I are in this together.  She has definitely been a great help this week.  My bosses and co-workers have also been providing encouragement along the way.  Even my online friends, especially Carla, has been extraordianarily helpful.  I definitely could not make this journey alone.  I guess I need to keep my eye on the goal of getting healthy.  Even though I would like to go to LA, it is not really the ultimate goal in all of this.  The ultimate goal is to feel good about myself, and enjoy every day life even more!

 I hope that the way Trent played tonight helped more than just me.  It was such a good reminder of what we are doing.  He will be around to see Lincoln grow up.  He also walked away with his head held high.  Even though I almost cried, his actions really helped me to re-focus on the importance of what my mom and I are doing for ourselves.  I won't have to deal with many of the pains my mom has had to deal with, and my mom will have more energy to play with her grandkids when they come home. 

Well, today has just been one of those days.  It started off by me waking up late.  However, after my workout following the Biggest Loser cardio DVD, I looked outside and it was still dark.  "Wow," I thought "I must be getting around faster this morning."  I started making the awesome omlette.  However, I think I burnt the vegetables while I was stirring the eggs, but I continued.  Then after a few minutes, I knew that I had burnt the eggs.  Oh well, I decided to give it a try anyway.  NOPE!  I can't handle burnt eggs! BLAH!  So I made myself a bowl of oatmeal...of course it was scalding hot, so I took my shower and got ready...when I finally looked at the clock...yep I was running late.  It was cloudy...NOT early!  I hurried along, swallowed my oatmeal, grabbed my backpack and headed out the door.  I thought to myself, "If it is raining I will drive to work."  However, when I got outside, no rain...AWESOME!  Here I go.  About a third of a mile down the road, it begins to sprinkle.  No big deal.  Well, by the time I had made it about half a mile, it began to really rain!  My work clothes wet, rain dripping from my eyelashes.  It wasn't all bad though...it was cold, but it reminded me of being a kid.  Unforturnately, a kid going to work in wet clothes, with an old friend (ex-boyfriend) watching me get drenched from his work window.  When I did get to campus, one ECU employee that I know saw me walking toward my building, and pulled her umbrella over me and walked me to my building's door.  Even though I was already pretty wet, I found this to be an extraordinarily nice gesture, especially knowing that she walked out of her way to get me to my building.  Once, in the door...we kept running into brick walls...we did not get a positive answer on anything all day.  At lunch I went to pick up a suit from the cleaners and drop-off my car at the shop to have my tires rotated in order to travel to a family friend's funeral tomorrow.  When I tried to get my clothes from the cleaners...they said "It will be $8.45"...Awesome, cheaper than I expected...I pulled out a debit card...only to be told they do not take any form of credit cards...only cash or checks.  Well, I had 4 credit cards, a $5 dollar bill, and no checks...I took a breath and explained that I would be back after work, and continued on to the shop to leave my car and walk back to work.  When I left work, I immediately felt the change in temperature...no longer 55...now it was like 40.  When I got into my car at the shop (that was now closed) to pick up my car, I found a note explaining that not all of the tires had been rotated because they had broken a lock on one of my tires...their suggestion was for me to take my car to the Nissan dealership to get the lock replaced.  Are you kidding?  However, the day is not yet done.  I went home excited to watch the biggest loser and weigh after a week of hard work and eating healthy...I lost two pounds...I was aiming for anything under 200...and I got 200.5.  Well, what can you do?  I am just marking it off as one of those days, and thanking God that every day is a new day!

Just to give a little background, I graduated from East Central University a little over a year ago.  Two weeks after I graduated, I was back at the university this time as a staff member.  I was hired in the IT department under a grant to help develop the campus portal.  Well, a few of my professors came to me a month or so ago, and invited me to speak at one of the campus club.  After a few weeks of weighing various options, the professors and I decided that I could speak about my experience as both a student and a staff member at the university.  Now, as I said, it has only been a year since I graduated, so I felt that I had a good handle on what to expect - one or two students, maybe a co-worker, and the professors that invited me to speak.  This was a privelege, but there was little pressure to perform, or so I thought.  I was completely off.  There was one student who ran my power-point presentation, no co-workers, one boss, about eight of my college professors, and the vice president of the university.  Not exactly the crowd I had prepared for!  :(  However, as I looked around the small room I could see all of the support and understanding being displayed by these former professors, current superiors, and one student.  What else could I do?  I took a deep breath, and nervously began my presentation.  When I finished presenting my last slide, a few professors had meaningful questions, and when it was over nearly every one of them came to me personally to say "Good Job!"  Wow!  If any of you are reading this...Thank you so much.   A little encouragement goes a long ways.

The other surprise tonight was during the Biggest Loser episode.  Bob...I really like you, but the way you divided the teams tonight made you look like a jerk.  I hope you did it because you know that Jillian can pull it off.  Either way, I can't wait to watch the new Black team stride ahead of the seemingly unstoppable Blue team.  In any case, good job to both teams tonight.

My mother and I may have more than 300 reasons that we should enter the Biggest Loser challenge.  However, only a few reasons actually pushed us to make the steps necessary to take part in this particular challenge.  First, we need to lose weight.  We have each had doctors explaining the importance of losing a few pounds.  Secondly, some of the people on the Biggest Loser started out at our weights.  Even though I could lie to myself by hiding my fat and even staying away from full length mirrors, I could not hide from the numbers when the contestants stepped up on the scale.  Thirdly, the Biggest Loser makes it obvious that the only way to fail is in failing to try.  Every contestant who put in the effort lost weight.  Finally, we want the Pink Team to know that their short time on the Biggest Loser was not in vain.

 

Our method for reaching our team goal of 100 pounds is simple: healthy diet and exercise.  Since we each weigh around 200 pounds, we will begin by following a 1400 calorie plan from the diet provided in the Biggest Loser book.  However, since our goals and limitations are different, we will be following different exercise videos.  My mother, starting at 194 pounds, wants to lose 45 pounds.  She will be starting with Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds.  My goal is to lose at least 55 pounds from my current 204 pounds.  I will be starting with the Biggest Loser's sculpting and cardio DVDs led by last season's crew. 

 

My mother and I want to be a part of the Biggest Loser finale in order to personally let the Pink Team and the trainers know that their time on the Biggest Loser inspired us.