Week One Results!

Sorry this is late! There are a few weights that haven't come in yet , but I decided to go ahead and post results anyway...

Lisa: 4%
Jeni: 3%
Rick: 3%
Anna Marie: 3%
Mindy: 2%
Crystal: 2%
Amber: 0%
Jen E: -1%
Melissa: No weight reported
TeriAnne: No weight reported

Congrats to Lisa for an awesome first week!

WARNING

Last night I was sitting on our couch relaxing when my husband asked, "Is this you?" I looked up to see that he was at the computer looking at our 'Muffin Top' website that I hadn't closed out of. I gasped in horror.... "You think that first picture is of me?" He repeated himself so certainly, "Is this you?" I again said, "Are you saying you think that picture is of me?" He finally said in frustration, "No, it SAYS right here, is this you? I was just reading it out loud." I was still in mortified shock. "Did you or did you not think that was me?" Again he repeated, "NO." Then he quickly shut up realizing that there was nothing he could say now to change our misunderstanding. We got a good laugh about it (after several minutes) and I warned him that I'd HAVE to blog about it to warn the rest of you.
WARNING..... . close out of our blog before you walk away from it just to avoid any confusion with your poor unsuspecting spouse who might read something out load that could offend you.

Week One Results

Hi Ladies (and Rick who doesn't read this anyway),

Email me your weight by the end of the day today. I will post our results (by percentage lost) here tomorrow!

Have a great weekend!

Anna Marie

All my children (I mean all my excuses)

I am Jeni, and I've been holding onto all my 101 excuses as if they were my own children:

1. Baby #3:

For some reason it has taken me longer with each kid to lose the weight. I'm not sure if it's because I'm ...

2. older,

3. busier, or

4. lazier, but those last pounds have become a bit too attached. I also think I have a harder time losing while ...

5. breastfeeding (or at least that's what I've been telling myself). I get really hungry.

My baby just turned one, and I'm in the process of weaning which basically means all my excuses are expiring at the end of the month. Yikes!

I live in Minnesota so the timing for this is doubly perfect because I currently can't use the

6. weather as an excuse or my

7. kids' crazy schedule, since in the summer things are so low-key.

My challenges are: ice cream, social eating, restaurant eating, and chips with salsa (especially because we make the best fresh salsa from our garden (oh yummy, I'm dreaming of it already). I am continuously trying to find a replacement for tortilla chips that would actually work well with salsa, so if anyone has any good suggestions I would love you forever.

I'm a visual person, so seeing pictures or video of me is the biggest motivator because I just do not look the way I'm supposed to right now. Does anyone want to post pics of themselves, or is that just too much?

I suppose I'll spare you the rest of my excuses and just get to work!

My Achilles Heel...

Yes. Shakes. Specifically chocolate with peanut butter cups. Summer or winter, I don't care, except in the summer I don't get cold eating it :)  So here is my other problem, I don't like fruit.  Never have, and I'm pretty sure I never will.  Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it, in fact a chocolate banana shake is pretty good... But I have never been a fruit eater, I will choke it down, and I'll eat a banana here and there, but otherwise I much prefer vegetables over fruit.  When I say this though, it does not mean that I eat a plethora of veggies.  Overall I have a horrible diet, that is something I am hoping to improve on with this challenge, and I am proud to say that I had a salad for lunch today :)  We just won't count the calories in the caesar dressing that I topped it with.  Anyway, I know a few of you mentioned your liking of sweets and chocolate, what food do you consider your "achilles heel"?  

Crystal

Another Green Smoothie Recipe

This is the green smoothie recipe I mentioned. It's very similar to the Breakfast Smoothie Minwimm posted below. When I tried it (the green smoothies were part of our food sampling with an enrichment class we recently did) it had blueberries so it was purple not green. On your first try I recommend adding blueberries to the green smoothie. Once you see how great a smoothie can taste with spinach or other greens it will be easier to move to the green smoothie. Thanks for getting this idea on the blog Minwimm, bottoms up!

Kristen's Green Smoothie Recipe
1 cup of fresh orange juice
1 to 4 oz of baby spinach greens or other greens
1/2 large banana, frozen
1 cup other fresh or frozen fruit--your choice

Add the juice to your blender and then add the greens. Blend until you get all of the greens liquefied. Add the other fruit and blend until smooth. Some people like to add protein powder or tofu. You can add these, but you may need to add some more water or juice. You can use water and frozen OJ concentrate too, but fresh is best! Strawberries and/or cherries will taste delicious but the resulting color will be funny. Adding blueberries will mask the green for the most part and is a good choice for a beginner who finds the bright green color a little too strange. :-) I also like to use peaches, pineapple, and mango. Citrus (as in the juice) helps to cover the taste of the spinach.

Breakfast

I have a neighbor across the street that is on a raw foods kick, she is constantly telling me about her latest and greatest recipes and how cooking is a way of the past. Like I could ever give up cooking, processed foods and dairy products!

Anyway, here is a breakfast smoothie recipe that she gave me. I tried it for breakfast this morning and was pleasantly surprised. It taste great and is filling too.

1 cup frozen blueberries
1 ripe banana (if it has a little brown it will be sweeter)
1 0r 2 handfuls of fresh spinach (I used two)
1/2-1 cup water (depends on what you want the consistency to be like)

Blend well