You lose some, you gain some!

Well, this week was not too hot for a couple of us :[. Here are our results:

• I gained 4 lbs (we celebrated Christmas yesterday... oops!)
• Rebecca gained 5 lbs
• Crystal lost 0.4 lbs (Way to go, Crystal!)

Clarissa and Jason were unable to make it.

Today was an open discussion and we talked a lot about our psychology concerning food. I honestly have a ridiculously hard time leaving food on my plate and it also bothers me that my husband always leaves food on his plate. Therefore, I finish my plate AND his! My parents never made us clean our plates growing up, so I really don't know where this comes from. I also talked about how I feel left out if others are eating and I am not. Ironically, just last night, my husband and I were talking on this very subject and he is very bothered when he's full, so he never allows himself to get full. I, on the other hand, have a hard time if I DON'T get full... Why is this?! Then, last but not least, all traditions and social events seem to be centered around food... It wouldn't be Christmas without all the food and goodies, right?

How do we break these ties to food? We really do have power over our thoughts... we just have to really work for it. Rebecca was saying how she was able to "gross herself out" about finishing the food on her son's plate and therefore wasn't tempted. Years ago, when I was actively losing weight, I convinced myself that I wasn't a fat person trying to make healthy choices, I was a healthy person who had no desire to eat unhealthy things. It truly did work for a while.

With that being said, we are going to try to set goals for next year that concern positive food psychology. Until we have trained our brains to make healthy choices, the weight-loss road is next to impossible... take it from one who knows! Let's train ourselves to convince ourselves that being healthy is fun and wonderful!

Rebecca will be doing next week's post, as I will be out of town. Stay tuned and let's gear up for the new year!

Positive Results

Hello everyone. This is Rebecca. This week was a good week for everyone especially because it was 2 weeks before Christmas.

The Results

• Jason -3.2 (cheers for you!!!)
• Jerusha -0.8
• Rebecca maintained
• Crystal +1.2

This week was a quick meeting but we all shared how our week was. I started of my talking about how my goal to not eat fast food only last 5ish hours. I have been thinking a lot about that and reflecting that when I word goal as "don't, wont, stay away from" that is all I focus on-the thing I cant have. As the New Years is approaching I have been pondering this and have decided that all my New Years goals are going to be positive.

Positive. Here are a few examples:

• I will eat healthy homemade meals
• Eat a fruits and veggies as snacks.
• I will record and reflect things in my journal or blog weekly.

Remember to be positive and realistic. Make goal achievable.

Have a great week!!!!

Christmas Party Recipes

If you're looking for some great healthy recipes for your Christmas parties, stay tuned!

Sorry this post is late! I battled kidney stones all night Friday and all day Saturday... it was no fun! However, my faithful friends came over and weighed themselves in anyways while I was in bed... talk about devotion!

Results for this week:

• Jerusha +0.4
• Clarissa +0.4
• Crystal maintained
• Jason -1.4

We only had one maintenance and one loss, but the gains weren't too bad. Way to go Jason and Crystal! We'll catch you next week ;)

Great recipes this week!

Mine's easy... found it online:

Ranch Dip

Blend a 12oz container of cottage cheese (I used 2%) and add a ranch spice packet. Mix, chill, and serve with vegetables or crackers. 

It was deceptively good. In fact, a guy was standing there eating it talking about how he didn't like cottage cheese (not knowing that it was cottage cheese). I then asked him if he liked the dip, and he said "Yeah... It's great!" Then I told him the news. Haha! So there ya go... even people who don't like cottage cheese like this dip.

Jason and Clarissa shared the following recipes (all delicious!):

Carrot Cake

• 1 c. no sugar added apple sauce
• 1/2 c. egg substitute
• 6 packets stevia or splenda
• 1/2 cup sugar-free syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 c. Bobs Red Mills flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 T. cinnamon
• 3 c. grated carrots
• 3/4 c. chopped walnuts (opt.)

Combine applesauce, egg, splenda, syrup and vanilla; Blend until smooth. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon to mixture. Fold in carrots and nuts. Pour into 9x13. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

Add cream cheese frosting to the top: 8oz fat free cream cheese, 6 oz vanilla yogurt, and 4 packets stevia or splenda. (12 servings: 130 cal or 185 cal with nuts)

Hawaiian Cabbage Salad

• 12 oz bag petite carrots
• 14 oz bag coleslaw
• 12 oz bag broccoli slaw
• 2 c. chopped jicama
• 1/4 c. sliced almonds
• 1/4 c. sesame seeds
• 20 oz can pineapple tidbits (in own juice) drained
• 1/2 c. raisins
• 8 oz sesame ginger Litehouse dressing

Combine all ingredients and enjoy :) 

Creamy Cranberry Salad

• 12 oz fresh cranberries
• 1 c. splenda
• 1 large box red sugar-free jello
• 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
• 3/4 c. no sugar added orange juice
• 1 apple with peel grated
• 1 can mandarin oranges chopped
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 c. finely chopped celery (opt.)
• 1 container light cool whip
• 8 oz fat-free cream cheese, softened

Process cranberries and combine with splenda.

Boil 3/4 c. water and stir in gelatin and let cool.

Stir cooled gelatin into cranberries and then add everything except the cool whip and cream cheese. Stir and refrigerate over night.

Combine softened cream cheese and cool whip.

Layer 1/2 cranberry mixture on bottom, followed by 1/2 cream cheese mixture, and repeat.

Hope you all had a great week! Give these recipes a try or give us some of your own recipes. Let us know how you're doing... We love hearing from you!!!

November Results and Dec Goals

Hey all! Sorry for not posting after Thanksgiving. Things just didn't work out well last week. I do have the results from the past 2 weeks and the month totals :)

Since the last time:

• Jerusha -0.8 lb
• Rebecca +2.2 lb
• Clarissa -1.2 lb
• Crystal +1 lb

Overall for the month

• Jerusha -2 lb
• Rebecca -1.2 lb
• Clarissa -1.8 lb
• Crystal +1 lb

Though I was named the winner of the contest this morning, after checking the math CLARISSA is our winner!!! I thought it was too good to be true ;) Congrats to Clarissa!

I also must say that though we were all far away from the goals we'd set, I'm proud of the fact that for the most part we had losses this month! I think this is the first November ever that I've had a loss, so I'm excited!

Since December is such a difficult month, we made calendars with specific goals geared towards the events we knew would get in our way. Here's mine so you can see what I'm talking about (sorry, it won't let me post them side by side):

Hopefully you can see that my overall goal for the month is no fast food. Then at the beginning of each week in black marker I put my goal for the week. Events that could potentially harm me are in red and green... and my daily goals are in black pen. You'll notice I have chores on there... I used to keep an immaculate home, but since getting pregnant and having Jayna, I've only kept it picked up... not very clean. Therefore, I've made that part of my December goals.

Here are our December goals:

• Jerusha - No fast food (I can only eat out on our 2 date nights this month and it has to be healthy) and I want to maintain weight this month. (I've gained 12-20 lbs every Christmas that I can remember... pretty sad. That's why I'm setting my goal for maintenance.)
• Rebecca - Lose 4 lbs and no eating out at all
• Clarissa - Only eat every 3 hours... no extra snacking (I should do this one as well)
• Crystal - Lose 3 lbs and lose inches (more toning). Only one treat a week.
• Jason - Don't eat any food from work, unless he takes it. (Brilliant for the month of December!)

Don't recognize Jason's name? Well you shouldn't because he just joined us this week!!! We're so excited to have our first male member! Hopefully we'll get some more guys now that he has set the precedence :) He needs some man pals! Meet Jason:

Jason is already well into his journey of losing weight and is going to give us a run for our money... Bring it on! :)

Hopefully you're on board for this Holiday Season. We all need all the help we can get! Start your recruiting now for January... I'm hoping we double in size after the holidays so we have even more competition AND support!