86 lbs and counting!

April 2010

September 2009

I am so proud of my husband, John. He started watching the Biggest Loser late last summer for the first time and he got motivated by it. He saw people his own weight (345 lbs at the time) losing weight through good old fashion diet and exercise. He decided that if they could do it, so could he. He knew he wouldn't drop the weight as fast as they do on the show (Where they have little else to do but exercise all day.) but he would do the same things at a pace his schedule allowed. I am proud to say that at this point (28 weeks since we started.) He has lost 86 lbs! On the "Ranch" on Biggest Loser a lot of people lose this in 14 weeks so I'm very proud that it only took him double.

John (and the rest of us- its a family thing) exercises about one hour a day, five times a week. In the fall we walked and did exercises in our yard (as a family), during the winter we bought three Biggest Loser work out videos and did those and now that it is spring we are walking, biking and jogging.

Diet wise... John avoids sweets and junk food/food with empty calories. He watches his fat intake and counts calories. He has learned to make healthy food choices and control his portions. We avoid fast food and most of the industrial stuff called "food" at the grocery store and opt for real food. Fruits, veges, chicken, turkey (instead of beef- it's leaner) fish, brown rice and whole wheat pasta, home made from scratch everything as much as possible. We eat well and he is never "starving". Grocery shopping is also quicker these days as I can skip almost all of the aisles in the store and just shop the perimeter.

I usually have some homebaked goodies for the kids and I (or Oreos... I'm weak, what can I say.) But if John wants something "snacky" he eats pistachios (the kind in the shell as it takes time to shell them and that slows down the eating and makes the snack last longer.) or he eats sugar free jello at only 10 calories a serving or chews sugar free gum at five calories a stick. We don't usually like to partake in sugar substitutes- they'll kill you quicker than the real stuff- but during his weight loss we allow those couple things.

The whole family is really enjoying our new healthy life style. The kids still complain about the exercise videos, though. We are looking forward to hiking and walking and maybe even rock climbing or other things we've never done before. We even included all our newly learned knowledge into homeschool lessons. The kids can look at a plate of food and know about how many calories they are putting in their bodies. This helps them to make right choices.

I'm sure there is more I can say but I'll let you all ask questions if you have any. (Oh... I've lost 23 lbs doing this and trimmed up my waist and built muscle. I actually look good in short sleeve shirts and have calf definition once more in my legs, not to mention having more energy.)