Catch Up time

Hello :)

Yes I know other than my challenge blog posts (well done to all the participants) I've been AWOL - apologies.

Life has been busy, I moved house and have had lots of visitors staying. My mother in law has been here for the last two weeks and flew home today, so I will be resuming normal service again shortly :)

So what have I been upto...

We took my mother in law to South Lake Tahoe for her 60th birthday and had lots of fun, we got there on the Friday afternoon and it was 99 degrees, when we left on the Monday it was 55 degrees, heavy rain and there was snow showers expected. Such strange weather. We had the heat the whole weekend we were there, which made it even nicer, we went to a Renaissance fair which was awesome, although not sure Dave was too impressed, as I got them to arrest him for walking off and abandoning me (they have lots of people in character walking around the event acting things out) and they put him in jail and he ended up getting drenched in the water barrel - those of you who are my friends on Facebook can see the photos from the event.

The biggest news for the last few weeks, which I'm sure that most of you would have read on twitter on Facebook, was that Dave and I became permanent residents of the US. We now have our green cards, so you are stuck with us for at least the next 10 years :) and it also means I'm now allowed to go and get a job (which is a scary thought after not working for almost 3 years). Although first I have the fun job of going to the social security office to get issued with a social security number - for those of you in the US - you know what a mundane task this is (much like a trip to the DMV!!). 

As most of you will know I signed up to do the Susan G Komen 3 day, 60 mile walk this September, which I was really looking forward to and had just started the official training (until the day I fell off the treadmill!!). Well unfortunately I am longer going to be taking part :( For those of you who didnt know, I have two herniated discs in my lower spine, I recently had an epidural injection to help with the pain, which worked great, but the last few weeks I have been in some pain again :( I went to see my spine doctor last week and he has said that he thinks I will need a second epidural injection soon, but there is no guarantee it will work, and there is still a good chance I will need surgery on my spine/discs, which can have a long recovery period. I discussed the walk with him, and he advised me against doing it with my back in it's current condition, as he said it would put too much pressure on my discs and possibly do more damage :( So I am no longer taking part. A special thanks again to everyone who did donate to such a great cause. I am still planning to do the two 5k walks next month, which my doctor said shouldn't be an issue as long as I stretch plenty and take it easy. So I will be doing the Do Life walk on July10th and The Color Run on July 14th.

I'm still busy sending and receiving postcards through Postcrossing, I have sent a total of o 20 cards and have received 16 so far, I look forward to the mailman coming each day now in case he has a postcard for me :) It's interesting hearing from people all over the world. I plan to make some kind of collage out of them when I get 20. Not sure exactly what or how, but there will be photos.

Weight watchers - erm........ well...... I haven't pointed in weeks :( and as a result I have gained a total of 5lbs in the last three weeks, taking my total weight loss since the beginning of the year to a measly 6.8lbs. So I now have no excuse to get back on track, I have no more visitors planned until October, and nothing else planned that I can use as an excuse to not track. Plus I joined my local gym yesterday and plan to start swimming again and attending aqua aerobics classes. Feel free to harass me on twitter and Facebook, and any other ways to keep me on track - it will be much appreciated.

Oh and I booked tickets to see The Lion King in SF for my birthday in November :)

If you have made it to the end of my lengthy blog post - pat yourself on the back you deserve it :)

Summer Challenge Week 4 Results

Sorry for the delay in posting this week's results, I've been a bit busy.

It looks like we all had a much better week this week, and between us we lost 28.9lbs which was a total of 0.81%. Although I feel I must confess :( I am the only one in the challenge who has actually gained since starting! Life has been a bit crazy lately, and I'm hoping it will settle down next week and I can get fully focused and back on track.

So how did everyone get on with their exercise this week? Did you make a conscious effort to get out and exercise everyday this week? You must have been doing something right based on the numbers i got from you all this week.

A big well done to you all for having lost weight so far in the challenge. As I explained at the start of the challenge I was lucky enough to receive some coupons from PopChips to hand out to the winner of the challenge, but turns out the expiry date is the end of June which is before the challenge ends, so that's why I decided to do the half way prize. The biggest loser for week 4 goes to Terri E (@feritae) who lost an amazing 3.34% this week, I know she is been doing lots more exercise this week, so well done to you. The overall biggest loser after the first four weeks goes to Lisa S (@LisascottLisa) who has lost a whopping 6.04% so an extra well done to you - that is an awesome loss. Now unfortunately for Lisa she isn't eligible for the 4 week prize as she lives in the UK, so it will go to our second biggest loser over the four weeks who is Terri E (@feritae) who has lost a total of 5.14%. If you can either email or DM me on twitter with your address I will mail the coupons to you.

Since moving house I have hardly watched any TV, so I was wondering how much TV you guys all watch. I think the challenge this week is going to be TV related. When you next sit down to watch a TV program I want you to also do some form of exercise, maybe squats, push ups, arm exercises - anything that means you aren't just sitting there doing nothing.

Good luck for next week and I'm excited to find out how well everyone does next week.

Summer Challenge Week 3 results

I think there must have been something in the air this week, as we had a few gains between us. Maybe we all over indulged on our Memorial Day celebrations!

We are almost half way through the challenge, so how are you doing? Are you where you wanted to be? Are you going to do anything different for the rest of the challenge? Last week I asked you all to try something different, what did you try? I must confess I never tried anything new this week :(

So numbers time. We sadly lost one person from the challenge this week so are down to 17 participants, that gives you all a little bit of a better chance of winning now. Between us we lost 4.15lbs which was a total of  0.12%.  After three weeks a total loss of 61.3lbs - so well done to you all.

Do you think you made the title of biggest loser this week? The title goes to Alexis A (@divaonadiet) who lost 1.78% this week. Well done to you and our overall biggest loser title goes to Lisa S (@LisascottLisa) who has lost a total of 5.49% in the challenge.

Remember next week is week 4 and we have a prize for the halfway winner. It could still be you.

Let's focus on exercise this week. How many of you can go the whole day and not get out and do any exercise? It's surprisingly easy for the day to pass. So this week lets try our hardest to get out for at least 30 minutes exercise each day, whether it be a walk at lunchtime or first thing in the morning.

Good luck to everyone for the week ahead