Week 27: Fighting PMS

This blog post contains spoilers to The Biggest Loser Season 8.

Welcome to the 27 th (completed) week of Extreme Makeover: ME Edition hosted by the incredible Amber Filkins!

Let's weigh-in...

Last Week: 208 pounds
This week: 208 pounds

LOST....0 pounds

TOM is here. But did you notice? No weight gain! A couple months ago, I started taking Evening Primrose Oil along with my vitamin D supplement. I was having such horrible hormone crashes, migraines and food cravings. And it would take me a full week to recover from it. This is unacceptable!

This month...I didn't even realize that TOM was about to arrive and thought I might be pregnant! He quietly showed up without the fanfare of a day ruining headache and I didn't have to hide in the pantry with a bar of baking chocolate.  The real bonus here?  I haven't wanted to kill my husband...yet.

Evening Primrose Oil is rich in gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), which is useful in treating a number of conditions including endometriosis, autoimmune disorders, benign prostatic hypertrophy, eczema, diabetes, and migraines. It helps relieve symptoms such as irritability, bloating, breast soreness, and depression occur before and during menstruation in many women. Clinical studies show that the GLA found in evening primrose oil contains essential fatty acids that seem to alleviate symptoms.

I am taking 3-500 mg pills for the first 2 weeks of my cycle and then 6 pills (3 in the AM and 3 in the PM) for the last half. It's working out great!

Fitness: I ran TWICE last week. YAY!  And I was supposed to run yesterday...but my daughter came down with a fever and I was up all night with her.  So..tomorrow I will be onto Week 1 DAY 3 of Couch to 5K which works out great because then I will be on track with my friend Jessica (who really needs to update her blog...just sayin') who is doing the program too.

This week...Amber wants to talk about The Biggest Loser and how it's inspiring me. Hubby and I have watched this show together for a couple seasons now and I believe that we learn so much from it.  There is always some tidbit of information that we might not have thought of before.  Like what an AHA moment I had last night when Jillian was showing the Brown Team to make a week (or a few days) worth of snacks and line them up in the fridge!  It really only takes 10-15 of prep time to make sure you can grab and go what you need.  I love this idea because I used to rely on those protein bars as a quick on the go snack.  NO MORE!  Next time you go to the store...look at the labels on those.  HIGH FAT and SUGAR!  You might as well eat a candy bar.

This week on The Biggest Loser....I was all kinds of pissed off at Julio.  It didn't look like he was working very hard but then he came through with a 19 pound weight loss and blew everyone out of the water.  He confided that he was working out on his own....and then I understood.  I do the same thing.  This is why I don't join gyms and I run around an unlit track in the pitch blackness of 5am!  Crazy right?

I was so glad to see Tracey back but I'm irritated that they won't tell us what is wrong with her.  She can't work out with everyone else?  WHY! I think she did great even though she was only walking and swimming. Jillian must be right...Calories In...Calories Out!

I loved the conversation between Bob and Jillian about killing Julio and when they were playing tug of war with that big guy (still struggling to learn all of their names) and I cried when Sean found out he was having a baby girl!  I wish they would have Curtis Stone on every week because that man....oh lord was I happy to see him!

The best part of this episode was that everyone (except Julio) worked as a TEAM and lost 155 pounds that week!  No one went home!  I'm really liking Bob and Jullian working as a TEAM also but I know that can't last....

 Coming Next week...progress photo! 

Week 26...Biggest Loser is Back!

This blog post contains spoilers to The Biggest Loser Season 8. The name of the contestant that went home has been written in WHITE to conceal their identify.

Welcome to the 26 th (completed) week of Extreme Makeover: ME Edition hosted by the incredible Amber Filkins!

Let's weigh-in...

Last Week: 208 pounds
This week: 208 pounds

LOST....0 pounds

Did I tell you about the candy? Oh right...I did. F-ing candy. If I never see another Twix bar it will be too soon. And my husband's birthday is three days after mine so there was cake. Now there aren't any birthday's until March. Thank goodness!

Last Wednesday...I started the Couch to 5K program...and I had to restart it today because I didn't get a chance to run since then.  Okay...that's not true, I had a chance I just chose not to.  And I had to run last night when my sister's dog got out.  That is all about to change because my biggest motivation of all time just started last night!

It's on like Donkey Kong!

I love The Biggest Loser.  Watching that show every week keeps me motivated and I sometimes I learn something.  I love Jillian...she's my favorite!  But I would crap my pants if she were my trainer.  So...in addition to updating my progress each week, I'm also going to talk about the show.

My  favorite contestants....Tracey, Amanda, Rebecca, Abby and Liz.

I like Tracey because she's a homemaker and we have to stick together...plus, she has drive.  Unfortunately, she drove herself into the ground and spent the first week in the hospital.  I'm concerned because they never told us what was wrong with her.  Thanks to her teammate Couch MO...she got to stay.

I like Amanda because I voted for her to be on the show last season.  I think she has a good attitude but I wish she had been able to lose more this week.

I like Rebecca because she is cute and I liked her hair.

Abby....broke my heart.  I want to her to succeed sooo much.  She has an amazing attitude and spirit.  I love her already.

Liz...is the older lady of the group and I thought she looked MUCH older than 49.  I don't want to look like her when I'm 49 (in 10 years).  She is a wake up call to me.

In the end Alexandria went home and lost 60 pounds.  She talked about meeting someone at the ranch and being excited to get to know him.  Who could it be? She's only 20 so it's got to be either Antoine or Daniel. *The contestants name has been printed in WHITE so that those that haven't seen the show yet will not know who went home.


I announced my race schedule last week! Did you see it?  I'm being a little ambitious but I like to have goals.

P.S. My hubby left for work late this morning because he has a doctor's appointment to check his blood sugar levels.  (he was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in January 2008)  So I had a chance to talk to him and I talked him into doing a Biggest Loser Weight Loss Challenge with me!   YAY!

P.P.S.  Please go over to my friend Tricia's blog and support her quest to lose weight!  She working really hard on WW and needs some bloggy friends!

BOTR: My Races

I got so busy with celebrating my 39th birthday and my new early bedtime because I suddenly can't keep my eyes open past 9:45pm that I forgot to post about my races.  I feel really badly that I blew off the race I was going to do for my 39th birthday.  I just restarted my training so I decided my punishment...would be to run more races and to challenge myself when I can.

Just the fact that I'm doing the training and races in THE FALL/WINTER is a huge challenge for me.  I tend to hibernate and work on my winter fat to stay warm in Utah but this winter is going to be different!

Connie's Race Schedule:


October 11th ~ Run walk The Rocks 5k in Morrison Colorado


October 31st ~ Harvest Run 5K Wellsville Utah


November 26th ~ Anthem Turkey Day 5K Broomfield, Colorado

Speaking of my birthday...you will NOT believe what my family (husband and sister) got for me.  Me, the woman that has been busting her ass running on the track and cutting her sugar grams....

CANDY! 

Can you believe that?  Granted...it was my FAVORITE candy but I don't need it.  And I should have threw it all in the trash...but I didn't. 

Week 25...I love Sugar

Welcome to the 25 th (completed) week of Extreme Makeover: ME Edition hosted by the incredible Amber Filkins!

Let's weigh-in...

Last Week: 209 pounds
This week: 208 pounds

LOST....1 pounds

I'm slightly disappointed with that ONE pound but I'll take it. I can tell you right now why that is only ONE pound and it's my own fault. I ate Pizza last night. I forgot to take anything out for dinner and my husband told me to order a pizza. It's like the single worst thing I can eat. I pay for it for days!

The good news is that I've been exercising again. YAY! Altering my kids' nap schedule has been working and they have been sleep through the night! I'm also leaving for my run a little bit later so that it's not quite so dark. It was funny last week though...Friday morning, I left the house at 5:55am. It's a little under 1/2 miles to the track and I ran part of it so that I would get there quickly...then I started walking around the track (which is not lit) and came across one gal. As the sun came up and I could see my surroundings...I saw that there were 6 people there and we were all spaced out and never ran into each other. It was a little strange and felt like I was in a scary movie.

I'm working really hard to keep my sugar to 30g a day and my sodium to 2400mg. The sodium hasn't been that hard...but the sugar is killing me! I'm going to keep working at it because once I get my sugar under control...I'm going to work on my kids next! Which brings me to Amber's question of the week:

How are you being a healthy role model for your children?

I don't think I am yet. At the moment...I am working out before they get up for the day so they aren't seeing me exercise. I'm working on making better choices and eating small portions which my daughter already does but my son has a big appetite for a 3 year old. We have not been good about not giving them candy and ice cream. In fact, I think my son is craving sugar because he gets up in the middle of the night looking for stuff he isn't allowed to have all the time. Last night he was after a jar of tootsie rolls! Thank goodness for the Toddler Alarm we installed (my sister in the room under the kitchen). She put him back to bed for me. This sister-wife thing is working out GREAT!

Right now...I am working towards getting into shape so that I can be active with the kids so that they grow up with a childhood full of activity and fun. I don't want to raise sedentary people. I don't want them to end up like me....

I want to be off from a DIET before my daughter knows what's going on. I never want her to be on DIET. I just want my kids to be healthy and active...and happy!

Plan for week 26:

Wednesday: Couch 2 5K day one
Thursday: Lift Weights
Friday: Couch 2 5K day two
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Yoga
Monday: Couch 2 5K day three
Tuesday: Off

I almost forgot! I am issuing a challenge to help you get a jump start on the holiday eating! My friend Kara and I have formed a group called Bloggers on the Run! The challenge is to walk or run a 5k (or more) before December 1st. This is your chance to take personal responsibility for your health at a time when some of us fall into the couch and start eating all of their kids' halloween candy. Join the group by going to THIS POST leaving a comment, grab the button and start training. I'm going to do several races in Utah and Colorado and I'll be announcing them on FRIDAY! Do it for yourself, for your family and mostly do it for your country! We're all counting on you.....

Have a great day and don't forget to wear sunscreen, eat your vegetables, spay & neuter your pets and wash your hands.

Bloggers On The Run

Do you remember that one time that I wanted to run a 5K for my birthday? Yeah...well...Life happened and my training dropped off and I had to restart my quest for fitness. The other day when I was awake with my son in the middle of the night for the hundredth time, I found myself praying to God to help me with my motivational and sleep problems.

Soon...it came to me that I should adjust the children's nap time (from 1pm to 2pm) in the hopes that they would be more tired and actually take a nap and sleep better at night. After three days of this plan....I have been getting more sleep and have restarted my exercising plan! YAY!

And then my friend Kara told me that she wanted to get a group of bloggers together to train for a race (or series of races) with the hopes that we would all motivate each other and have a little friendly competition. I love friendly competition so I jumped at her offer!

All you have to do to participate is pick a 5k (or any length) in your area and dedicate yourself to walking or running it! We've made a cute little button so you can show off your walking/running pride, too! Once you finish your race, we want to hear about it! Go ahead and comment in any of my (or Kara's) blog posts when you finish it (be sure to tell us the name of the race, and what city you ran it in!) and we'll post it in our sidebars! We're hoping to get lots of people to participate, so tell your friends! Also, if you want...post about your progress while training so we can all support each other.

Oh, if you do more than one race, be sure to let us know that too! You get double the sidebar postage! I'm hoping to do a bunch of races in Utah and Denver! I'm super excited!

If you want to participate, just grab the button off my side bar, and comment to let me know so we can add you to the sidebar! I'll put your name up as a participant in "Bloggers on the Run!"

Week 24...Dark

Welcome to the 24 th (completed) week of Extreme Makeover: ME Edition hosted by the incredible Amber Filkins!

Let's weigh-in...

Last Week: 210 pounds
This week: 209 pounds

LOST....1 pounds

Okay....only lost ONE of those TOM pounds. I'm having some issues and I think they are sodium related. I'm working on eating more REAL food instead of processed and will see if that helps. I'm also trying to keep my sugar grams low. I posted on Monday that I was trying to stay until 15g. This is humanly impossible for me. I'm not going to shoot for 30g and work my way down. For example, I ate cereal this morning and I'm already up to 17g. I have to stop eating cereal. Let me tell you how helpful my Lose It iPhone application is for this....tells me exactly what is in my food. LOVE IT!

I'm having a really hard time with my exercise. It is too dark at 5:30am and I freak out easily and think there are scary people in vans down by the river waiting to kid nap me and take me to the Abbot cabin so they can turn me in to Victor Newman for a cool million. Wait...that's on Y&R...see how my imagination runs away with me?

I HAVE an elliptical machine in my basement but I don't feel like I get as good of a workout on it as I do walk/lumbering down the street. My husband suggested that I walk with the kids during the day...but they walk at a snails pace and stop to look at every bug, rock and leaf. At night, by the time I finish serving and cleaning up from dinner...I'm exhausted.

So...here is the NEW PLAN for Week 25:

Thursday: Walk at 6am @ track by my house.
Friday: Walk at 6am
Saturday: Off
Sunday: HIKE a trail by my house
Monday: Walk at 6am
Tuesday: Walk at 6am

Sugar grams under 30g
Sodium under 2400mg
More Water..less Dr Pepper
NO FAST FOOD

I liked walking at 5:30am because there is NO ONE out at that time. I worry about being hit by a car or something kidnapped so my new solution is to DRIVE to the track and walk my butt off.

Question of the Week: What are your successes this week?

Hmmm...I did walk ONE TIME. And when my husband brought me ice cream...I only had a small amount. Sorry, that's I've I've got!

Have a great week!