Just a spoonful of music helps the exercise go down

I don't know about you guys, but I have a particular exercise that I HATE. This is not your small little dislike, but rather a full-on hate. We all have that one thing, right? Mine is basically any exercise that works my abs. Dumb, I know, because most people could do crunches all day. I, however, will do anything if it means I don't have to do crunches.

Well, I've found a way to get me to just do 'em anyway. Music! My roommates have been great at encouraging me to be good, and the other day Whitney had me sit down and do 50 sit-ups in the time it took for one song to play on her computer. That made it so much easier for me! If I know a definite time limit, it makes me want to hurry and just get them done. I usually listen to music when I do a long set of exercising (like running or being at the gym), but I had never thought to listen to just one or two songs while I did the "little" exercises. Try giving yourself a specific length of time in which to do your exercising, and it might help you get it done. Plus, music makes you think about the good song instead of how much you hate the exercise!

Jump Rope

Has anyone else tried to do the 10 minutes of jump rope? MAN, that is HARD! I made it, but I had to set the timer and stop it for drink breaks (and breathing breaks!) in the middle. Am I just out of shape, or did that get anybody else sweating?
:)

No Car? No Problem!

On a day when Whitney isn't closing at Hobby Lobby, she comes to pick me up from work. We try to go to the gym in the evenings together. On days that she does close, I get a ride home from somebody at work (she often doesn't get home 'til 9:30 or later on those nights), but I don't get to go to the gym because I don't have a way to get there.

Recently, I got smart! I started asking people at work to drop me off at Hobby Lobby. That way, not only do I get to pop in and surprise my cutie, but I can then drive the car home and then to the gym.

Today, I got even smarter still. Whitney is closing, but I had a friend drive me home. I changed clothes, stretched, and ran to the gym! I worked out there and then ran back! I ran over two miles just getting there and back! I still prefer to go to the gym with Whitney, but it was good to get the miles and the workout in without her.

I think the weekly totals is a good idea to go along with the running totals. From now on, put your points in like this:

Person: (Running total), (weekly total)

That should work out very well.

Stayed tuned...soon I'll post something Whitney and I like to eat lately.

Consistency

Can we vote on a way to be consistent with the points now that we have more than one week to report? I've seen several methods (a=week1 b=week2, z=grandtotal):
a,b
a+b=z
z

I think it helps with individual progress and to see comparison with other team members when we do point-wise week to week (1st or 2nd method). But also, a grand total lets us know overall the points gained through the entire competition (2nd or 3rd method). But, while we are in the time frame of points being entered, the various methods make it hard to tell who has entered week1 only and who has entered week1 and week2.

What are your thoughts?

Lifetime!

This is a post about my progress. Yesterday at my Weight Watchers meeting, I made Lifetime! For those of you who don't do Weight Watchers, here's what that means.



To make Lifetime, you have to:
Set a goal weight within your healthy BMI range
Make it to that weight
Maintain that weight for 6 weeks as a paid member of WW


Once you make Lifetime, you never have to pay for a meeting as long as you are still an active member. To stay active, you have to:
weigh in at least once each calendar month
be no more than 2 pounds over your goal weight


If you do fall off the wagon and later want to re-join, you never have to pay a registration fee again. So yay for Lifetime!

This is a picture of the awards I've earned so far with Weight Watchers. The keyring was when I lost my first 10%. The silver weight was when I lost 25 pounds. The clapping hands say 16 and represent when I attended 16 WW meetings. The bronze weight is when I lost 50 pounds. The 5K is (obviously) when I participated in a 5K. The silver star was when I got to my goal weight. And the gold key I got yesterday for making Lifetime.

Thanks again to Mike who has been an AMAZING support to me in all of this! I love you, honey!

120.7

That is right I biked for 10.8 miles and also swam 2 laps and I am taking those points if there are any objections tough, just like Emily and Mushrooms

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Progress Post

Here's the Hansens with our latest news: During the first week of The Biggest Loser challenge, Jon lost 7 pounds, Emily lost 5, and Luke maintained. (Probably good for him, since he'll hopefully learn to crawl soon and we don't want him to get carpet burn on his head from it getting any bigger! :) ).

I think I attribute most of it to keeping points with Weight Watchers - it really keeps me honest, and Jon semi-so. By that I mean that I am the one actually tracking my WW points, but consequently Jon is more aware of what he eats, so he's also doing better. Soon I will reach my pre-Luke weight, far from my lightest, which is more my end goal. But, I'm excited for a milestone to be reached! I'll be posting more of these as we lose more weight (or maintain, as Jon gets there, or gain, as Luke gets increasingly taller and keeps eating...)

How are you all doing in reaching your health goals?

Fruits & Vegebles

I was just thinking about getting those 5 servings of fruits and vegetables in each day. I have found a few things that have helped me accomplish that most days, and wanted to share them in this forum:

1) I find that if I eat at least one fruit with breakfast, it's easier to get the other 4 fruits or veggies in, two at lunch and two at dinner. Good ideas are: strawberries or bananas in your cereal, a cup of fruit juice, fresh fruit on the side with your cereal, etc.

2) Fruits are great snacks for the middle of the day! So are those ever popular carrot sticks from Weight Watchers days!

3) Often I find that the natural sugars in fruits help me need less artificial sugars that are in other junk foods.

4) Go for big salads for either lunch or dinner! This is a great way to have lots of servings of vegetables (or even fruits, depending on the kind of salad) in one shot. And if you watch the extras and amount of dressing, it's very low in fat. A nice grilled chicken breast on top will give you some protein for the meal. And, with Blaked Goods, you've got lots of other ideas for salads this summer!

Hopefully those ideas will help out. As winter comes, go for soups and stews that have lots of veggies, too! Remember to get your 5 a day!

Heart,

Emily

teamwork

[No, I'm not counting my mini-golfing as a sport for half an hour (4 points), but it'd be funny if I did!]

We are working as a team to be healthier people. Read Mom's post. And, by calling people (I bet a lot more calls have been made to family members recently....), reading the blog, asking for point acceptance, etc, we are a team as a family. Since I don't live with a family member like most of you guys do, I have to count on the blog and calls to act as my encouragement/reason to try harder in my pointage. Thanks for being great team members. May we all win the goal - to be healthier.

Habits are easy to form. I haven't parked at the end of the lot when I have people with me (except once when it was Heidi and my roommate) because it's kind of awkward to make them walk further if they don't want, but when I park by myself, I'm in the habit now of parking far away every time. I'm in the habit of at least being more aware of my fruit/vegetable intake, even if I still don't get that seemingly easy goal each day. I've found that doing crunches at night or during commercials isn't that hard (and getting less hard to remember to do so).

Goooooooooooooooooooooo TEAM!

Encouragement from Mom

So . . . , I didn't do two separate blogs today just to get two different points. But this second one, I thought of after I thought of the first one. I just want to say that based on the points from last week, it might be obvious who is most likely to win this "Biggest Loser" contest. However, I think that no matter if you get the highest score or not, you are a "Biggest Loser" (or actually winner) if when we finish this game, you are a healthier you. In other words, if you have gotten in the habit of drinking more water, or of walking more than you used to, or if you worked your way up from not even being able to do any push ups to doing 10, then later 20, or if you become more conscious of eating more healthy foods, or even if you lose some weight but not as much as you wanted to, then you have bettered yourself. Even on the television show The Biggest Loser, the people who participate but don't win the money, have certainly been winners in my book. When you look at pictures of those people before and after -- they became a better and more healthier person in the process of losing however much weight they lost. So don't get discouraged and think, "Well, I'll never win this, so why try." Let's all try to become better selves. I just want to become a better and more healthy Sister Blake. Love you all for the fun we're having together.

I like calling people to encourage and/or discuss how things are going for the Blake's Biggest Loser WHILE I am going for a walk around the neighborhood. Double points! Don't know what kind of points I'll be getting these next 6 weeks because I will be in a companionship where I have to stay with her all the time. Can't just go for a walk in the evening when I feel like it.

Backpacking trip with the deacons

Well I just wanted to share some pictures from my recent adventure and exercise where we went into the uinta mountains and hiked for thirty some miles. it was a blast!

This is the fish that I caught and it is by far the biggest one that I have caught since I have started fly fishing. It was really nice to have fish to eat instead of dehydrated food as well.

This is the group on our first day of the trip! I was the best dressed and in fact one of the boys asked me why I wore a nice dress shirt and I had to explain that it was for protection from bugs and the sun. Overall it was a really fun trip! I was wondering if this counted the same as a hike if I had to carry a 34 pound back pack? Well any way hope that ya'll are doing great!

Going out with the Children

So I went out to the zoo with the girls, and I was walking for 2 hours straight, granted it was slow, but it was walking. So I was wondering if we can add a line that we don't know how far we walked but just how long we walked and have about 5 points per 30 minutes walked?

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Let's Get Together

In honor of us getting together as a family to be more healthy, my roommates and I created this lovely danciepoo. Please feel free to make yourself some popcorn (it's a semi-healthy snackiepoo, afterall), sit back, watch, and enjoy.

*No animals or people were harmed in the making of this film.
**No mocking of the fat that is evident in the onesie pajamas is allowed.
*** Pay careful attention to the line "We could be sharin' ALL we got." The twang in "all" twas a favorite in our apartment.




Cast, in order of... well, in description of clothing color and hair style:
Green with pigtails: Whitney Ricks
Green with side ponytail: Kara Wilkinson
Blue with braids: Becky Lindenlaub
Blue with red bow: Yours truly, Heidi Blake

And, in the style of Feature Films for Families, I've created a few content questions for you to consider:
1. Based on the kickline scene, which girl has been a dancer? What makes you draw this conclusion?
2. Why is it important for us to "get together?" How did these four girls get together in the making of this movie?
3. Who does Heidi imitate when she runs up to the camera at the end of the film?

Video Help

I've done a dance with my roommates, but because it's so long it doesn't seem to want to load on this blog. How should I go about uploading it if it still hasn't uploaded after at least 4 hours of waiting? I'd like my points for uploading, plus I think you guys might really like our dance. :D

This week I want to be better at stretching and push-ups each day. I started off so well, but I lost it for the second half of the week. What specific thing will you do better this week? I find that it's easy to look at the spreadsheet and think, "I should be so much better at so many of these things," but it's probably better to pick a specific thing or two to be better at. Remember the whole eating an elephant lesson? I'm gonna eat it bite by bite this week. What about you?

And did we ever finalize prize/reward ideas for whomever wins?

Week Two

So, what is the protocol for Week 2? Since we all filled in the spreadsheet already, should we have Spencer email an updated spreadsheet with all the changes that have been brought up this week? That way, we can just use a new one and make sure everybody is using the corrected points for the new week.

Also, the spreadsheet does seem to be a weekly thing, although the blog counter, as far as I can tell, is asking for a cumulative total. Perhaps we should add a section for cumulative points on the spreadsheet, if that can be done. Otherwise, is it just up to us to add our own points to the previous total? (Which I'm sure is also possible, us bein' all smart and stuff...)

Just wondering...

I've enjoyed the challenge so far. It seems like Mike will whoop us all, but hopefully we'll all be better for the experience and still give our all.

PS... Spencer, Jon didn't get any emails. Could you please make sure he's on your list for the Biggest Loser stuff? I added him as an author, but can't add him as an administrator, if you'll also take care of that, too... Thanks!

Walk it off

This last week has been a lot of fun. While I haven't been running or doing a lot of the other activities we have been walking..... a lot. I do however feel that the hikes should be worth more because a hike in Utah is a lot harder than a hike else where. Just food for thought. Keep it up ya'll!!!!

Why I Run

I never ran to get in better shape. I never ran to lose weight or impress girls. In fact, most girls said we looked like a bunch of escaped POWs running down the street with our ribs and collar bones sticking out. I knew from about 7th grade on that no one was coming to watch a bunch of skinny kids run in circles. No cheerleaders, no marching bands, no pep rallies.

I ran to feel better about myself. I ran to be faster than the next guy during a race. I ran to see how fast I could go. I ran because I knew I could go faster next time. I ran because math was hard and running wasn't. I ran so I didn't have to go home after school. I ran because I found friends that way. I ran because I got to travel. I ran to race the Olympians. I ran so I could go to college. I ran so I could see my name in 4 pt. print in the newspaper.

I run because it is a gift.

A Proclamation

-Whereas, for people like Mom, doing crunches during TV commercials is a non-issue, because they don't watch TV; and,
-Whereas people like Mom still do crunches each morning; and,
-Whereas people like Heidi have been doing 50 crunches and counting them as 50 sit-ups; and,
-Whereas people like Mike are doing real deal Holyfield sit-ups; and,
-Whereas doing 50 crunches is a heck of a lot easier than doing 50 sit-ups;

Now, Therefore, be it Resolved that I, Spencer J Blake, Creator of Drawn To Scale and the Blake's Biggest Loser competition, do hereby declare a new point category to exist, and it shall exist in addition to other point categories already in existence, and it shall read as follows:
"Do 80 crunches." It shall be worth 3 points, and it shall go into effect on Monday the 21st of June in the year of our Lord two thousand ten.

If players of the Biggest Loser have already counted points for crunches for week one of the game, let those points stand as they are, to absolve confusion and to acknowledge that those players were not meaning to exercise deceit.

Doing crunches during TV commercials, however, shall still be worth 1 point, because if you do that, you're still watching TV.

Please add that line to your spreadsheet (right click where you want it, insert a line, put in the three points, and call me or Eric if you have a question regarding how to format the new line so that it calculates points for you).

A few other items of business:
*Are people okay with the 6 glasses of water? I've always heard it should be 8, but Weight Watchers says 6. As of now, we've changed it to 6. Let me know if you think it should be 7.

*Anytime you post to this blog (provided you truly have something to say), you can count points for posting. A "picture of your progress" refers to pictures of you getting thinner, for example. Posting any ol' picture with your post doesn't count for more points. Commenting on others' posts is highly encouraged, but it's not worth any points.

*On a personal note, I did a couple things yesterday that I think are point-worthy. I spent a few hours helping a family move from an upstairs apartment to a house. I loaded and unloaded furniture and boxes a plenty. I feel like giving myself 5 points would be fair. Any objections?

*Also, I spent 2 hours mowing the lawn in mid-90s temperature with a real feel temperature at or around 100. I also feel 5 points for that event is fair. Any objections?

(For the record, I welcome you to propose point values for things you do that aren't on the spreadsheet, as I have done, if you feel they merit points).

*Whew*

I think that's it.

Great job on week one everyone! I'm excited to see how everyone's points stack up. It sounds like lots of you guys are really getting into it!

Run for Fun

Looking for something fun to do next month? Come and watch the 24th of July parade in Salt Lake City. And get there an hour or two early, so that you can cheer on our family as both Tanya and I will be in the 5k race! I'll be pushing the girls in the bike trailer (converts to a jogger - the only thing big enough to hold both girls, and this will be the last summer that Natalie even fits that).

Questions

I wonder if we will add activities with children, like going to the zoo, or the park and the more you do the more points you get and say anywhere between 5 and 10 points for each activity. I have been finding it difficult to exercise this week, as I have had nausea and heartburn, so therefore haven't lost any weight. I was just contemplating the idea of having points for taking the girls out and knowing there isn't really a line on the spreadsheet to put the activity, so I really haven't taken them out and they are raring to go and do something.

Any thoughts?

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Fruits and Veggies

Guess what?! For once in our married life, the fruits and vegetables we bought for the last few weeks (mostly at CostCo, in bulk) were eaten BEFORE any of them rotted! This is pretty much a miracle and we owe it to the Biggest Loser! It's been a lot of fun to make sure we are eating fruits and vegetables more and we are enjoying the challenge.

...Maybe this next week I'll work on the exercise part more and not just eating healthily alone... :)

What's a new fruit or vegetable you like that we should try for something new (okay, and for a few points...)?

Family Closeness

I love this. I most likely won't be the biggest loser, but if it gives me better health, I'm all for it. I am glad for early mornings and evenings when the weather is nicer for walking. It's too hot in the middle of the day. I keep a plastic cup at my desk all day long and fill it with the water from the water dispenser at the office. Although I am glad to read that the 8 glasses has been changed to 6. I realize how much I wasn't drinking enough water. Go family! Not only is this a good thing for our health, but it's been a fun thing for family closeness. I love family closeness!

I Tried Zumba

I thought it would be fun to do a class at the gym. I like to hit Golds right after I drop of Spencer at work so I looked at the schedule online Tuesday morning to see what was being taught at 9:30AM.

Zumba.

I had heard a lot of hype about Zumba already. For that reason, I wasn't super excited to try it because usually things raved about that much aren't worth the attention they recieve. "It's just an aerobics class, what's the big deal?" I thought.

But, I like trying new things, so I went. I Zumbad. I pranced around the classroom with about a dozen or so mostly middle-aged women and shook my booty. And it was actually really fun!

Will I now wear pants with "Zumba" emblazoned across the rear? No. Will I now update my facebook status to "Whitney is excited for Zumba tonight!!!" every evening? No. Will I one day aspire to be a Zumba instructor? No. But will I go back? Definitely. I love dancing! And even though I am not any good at it, I think dancing is a great way to get exercise.

Next on my list of things to try is PiYo. We'll see how it goes!

Suggestions

I don't know if anyone else has found this or not, but I kind of thought the points for 20 push-ups were too high. It only takes Mike about 30 seconds to do 20 push-ups, and he gets 3 points for it. Does anyone else second the motion that we move that down to 2 points? I haven't tried the sit-ups, but if crunches are the same thing as sit-ups, I'm assuming we would find the same thing on those (that perhaps they should be worth only 2 points). What say ye, bloggers?

Also, do people get the blog posting points for commenting also, or is it just for posting?

And about the water: at Weight Watchers, they told us that you actually only need 6 8-oz glasses of water per day to be healthy, unless you are nursing, in which case you should have the 8 8-oz glasses. Is anyone else finding themselves (like Jennifer) feeling a bit water-logged? If all were in favor, we could change that to be 6 8-oz glasses (for everyone except me and Emily).

Thoughts?

(And SJ, I think we're waiting for you and Whitney to actually change any points or rules since you guys are the ones "in charge," so be sure to give a final yea or nay after reading the comments. Thanks!)

Drink that water!

Man, I've found that if you don't drink water throughout the day (with meals and just other times as well), that it's really HARD to get all the water in in a day. I'm assuming that 8 glasses means 8 oz glasses... meaning 64 ounces of water a day. I have no problem when I have a big glass at dinner, during (if I remember to bring it) and after exercising, but, it's easy to get water-logged if you try for it all (or most of it) at one time. I do have to pee more because of the water, I have to say! And I thought I drank lots of water previously [since I am a camel]. Apparently not....

P.S. Do we get 4 points for each post (meaning if we post every day in a week we'd get 28 points)?

Point Changes

Emily and Michelle pointed out that a) not everyone has access to a gym, and b) doing an exercise video can indeed be just as hard as a workout at the gym. Therefore, participating in a workout DVD will now be worth 5 points, not 3. Those in favor please manifest it. Any opposed?

Also, Whitney and I made a discovery: 15 minutes is a LONG time to stretch. How 'bout we change that to 10 minutes and leave it at 2 points. Sound good? Good.

Make sure you change your spreadsheets so you don't forget and get cheated in the future!

Oh, and because it's bugging me, A40 should say "Don't eat anything for an hour before going to bed," because it's not parallel the way it's written currently. And that's bothersome.

Keep on walking...

Normally, when we go to Costco, Tanya tries to park somewhere near the yellow circle. But last night, we took this challenge to heart, and parked all the way out in the boonies where the green circle is (google maps is a bit out of date; that building has been razed and more of Costco's parking lot put in its place). And the girls had fun walking that far out, past lots of empty stalls! Seeing the aerial view after the fact kind of puts it in perspective.

Remember, parking's a lot easier, AND you get exercise (and points), by going to the opposite end.

Action Precedes Motivation

I learned this expression from my mom. It has been my motto many times in life. When it comes to exercise, there are many times you just have to decide to do it even if you aren't in the mood. If I don't feel like running, I put on my running shoes and go ANYWAYS. Lots of times, I find myself enjoying my run several minutes into it, though I didn't think I was going to particularly enjoy myself that day at all.

I think this applies to many things in life. Sometimes I have to read my scriptures, do the dishes, go to work, or start a project even though I'm not in the mood to do it. Intuition would tell you that you need to be motivated before you can get things done, or that you have to wait for inspiration to strike to get started. But I think it's very true that the motivation will often appear after you have begun and grow the harder you work.

HAHA

Look at you all trying to write posts and be encouraging.

Just thought I'd give you a tip of my own. Soups (especially broth ones and not creamy ones) are very low calories and are generally full of good-for-you veggies. If it's too hot to eat them, try finding recipes for cold soups. Like this one.

I just made an alphabetical listing of recipes on the Blaked Goods blog for your ease in getting around.

Everyone's Involved!

Today I read to some kids at the PG Library for an "Alpine District Reaches Out" service thing. Of course, we strapped Luke in his stroller and walked there and back! While we were there, I was talking to my principal about the Biggest Loser starting today. She immediately expressed interest in me emailing her our spreadsheet! Looks like we're reaching out to more than just our family!

Portion Control Tip

Do you have "red light" foods? You know, those foods like ice cream, crackers, chips, etc. that you just can't have in the house because you would eat the entire bag?

A tip I've found to help with portion control:

With someone around (to help keep you accountable!), divide the bag into portion-sized snack bags, Tupperware, etc. Then, you not only know exactly how many points (or calories) you are eating, but it's easier to stop with just one serving. Plus, it makes it very handy to grab a bag of crackers for the little one! :)

Good luck, everyone!

Boo Yeah

I'm the first to post since we've officially started.
Go, team!! Let's get it goin'!

Posting Your Points

I've made everyone who is already a blog author an administrator for the blog, also. With that power, you can just click on the edit tools on the bottom-right of the Point Totals sidebar to change your own.

Let somebody know if you're an author but not an administrator; you need to be both.

Yay!

Woot, woot! We are totally pumped! Thanks, Spencer and Whitney, for your hard work to get us all motivated to be our best selves. We are particularly excited about the original dances and wanted to post them on the blog even before we read that as an option for points! ...We might do one every week?! (Probably not!)

Go Blakes!

Starting Off

Here's the list! Each of these activities is worth points. Everyone should have a better-looking form of the list in an Excel file that I emailed to everyone. If you think something goes right along with the things on this list and it should be included, comment to let me know about it.

Good luck to everyone! This should be fun.


Drawn To Scale: The Blake's Biggest Loser
Activity Points

Physical
Go to the gym 5
Run 1 mile 6
Walk 1 mile 5
Bike 1 mile 4
Participate in a 5K 10
Do a triathlon 15
Attend an aerobics class 5
Participate in a workout DVD 3
Lift weights 4
Swim 4 laps 4
Stretch for 15 minutes 2
Go for a hike 3
Play a sport for half an hour 4
Go kayaking/Canoeing 5
Do jumping jacks during TV show commercials (per 30 min. TV) 1
Do crunches during TV show commericials (per 30 min. TV) 1
Jump rope for 10 minutes 5
Go for a walk around the neighborhood 3
Do 20 push-ups 3
Do 50 sit-ups 3
Choreograph and perform your own original dance 5
Schedule 8 hours of sleep* 2
Take the stairs when you could have taken the elevator 1
Park at the very end of the parking lot 1

Weight/Size
Lose 1 pound** 10
Lose 10% total weight*** 25
Take a fat percentage test 2
Maintain/gain weight for the week (ONLY if that's your goal!) 8

Food/Nutrition
Go an entire week without eating sweets (use your discretion) 7
Drink 8 glasses of water a day 3
Eat a fruit/veggie you've never tried before 3
Eat 5 servings of fruits/veggies a day 4
Not eating for an hour before going to bed 4
Turn down treats at a ward activity 4
Meet personal program (ie Weight Watchers) goals for the week 5

Blog/Encouragement
Post your points on the blog (on Saturday or Sunday) 5
Post a picture of your progress on the blog 3
Post any helpful hints/suggestions/feedback on the blog 4
Post a video of your dance on the blog 5
Call a family member to check on their progress 3

* "Schedule" because college, babies, etc., may not allow you to actually GET the full 8 hours of uninterupted sleep, but you still get points for the effort.
**Points are only calculated at the end of a week (you shouldn't be weighing yourself every day). Everyone should weigh him/herself at the beginning of the game. You only get points for losing a new pound that you haven't gotten points for yet. For example, if you start out at 190 lbs, then go down to 185, you count 5 lbs. If you then go back up to 188 and then lose 3 pounds, you don't get to count them. You'd start counting again once you got below 185.
***Once you lose 10% of your starting weight, you can start over by losing 10% of your new weight.