Detox Water

We have been making this water every few days and drinking 1 - 2 glasses of it each day. I love it!! It is so refreshing! And anytime I feel bloated, I have a glass and I feel so much better! It helps to detox your body also. Give it a try!
                                                                      Detox Water

First 3 Weeks

Wow the time that we have been doing this has been flying by! It seems like it was just yesterday I was ready to start this. But it's been 3 weeks already!
A lot has changed in 3 weeks!! A month ago, we wouldn't have thought twice about driving through a fast food place to grab something to eat, now, I don't think you could pay us to do it. We have got pizza one night. We ended up getting the take and bake pizza and instead of ordering 4 family size pizzas and we all get stuffed, we ordered 2 and there were leftovers! We opted to do the very thin crust and not get extra cheese like we use to. I would like to think that we would never go out to eat but we have 3 kids, and a life that never stops, so there will always be something that comes up. It's just learning how to order something better then you use to.
If you have been following us since the beginning you will have noticed that I didn't like exercise... OK I hated exercise. But Nathan and I knew that nothing was going to change if we didn't get off our butts. So we signed up for our local gym, North Hill Fitness. I LOVE IT!!! Yes, you read that right.... I love to workout. So far I am just doing lots of cardio but I will get to weights too. I have to be honest with you, when we started it was hard! REALLY HARD!! The first day I went, I walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes on a speed of maybe 2-2.5. I was out of breath, sweating all over, praying that no one was looking at me in the corner. Truth is, who cares if people look... I dreaded walking into the gym, and sometimes I still do. But now, even if I am feeling like I don't want to be seen at the gym, I am still there!!!
So first day, I did 20 minutes  on the treadmill. And I felt good. I was dying while doing it, but afterwards it was like I had 10 cups of coffee. So later the same day I get a phone call from a dear friend of mine, she was going to the gym later that evening and wanted to know if I would like to go. Hmmmm do I think that I might not want to start out with 2 workouts a day? Haha, NO! I can do it..... Yeah not so much! I went with her and we were on the elliptical for 3 minutes, not kidding, I was seeing spots and thought I was going to pass out after 3 minutes! I remember getting off of it, knowing I had to make it to the treadmill which was about 4 feet away, but that 4 feet felt like I was hiking the grand canyon! I walked about 10 more minutes on the treadmill and was done. The next two days were hell!! I had completely overdone it!! It was all my legs could do it walk up and down our stairs, sitting was so painful! But about the 3rd day, I was starting to feel normal again. I thought I would try the gym again, this time.... starting slow. I go about 4 times a week now, and really wish I could make it there more. My goal is to be there 5 days a week, and I will get there. I have to tell you, I really can't believe how much your body changes over 3 weeks of working out! 3 weeks ago, I couldn't walk on a treadmill and talk because I was so out of breath. Today, I am up to about an hour on the elliptical (yes the same machine I couldn't do more then 3 minutes on before!!) and 30 minutes on the bike or treadmill. I change things up, but that is about a normal time for me, 1.5 hours of cardio.

Now for weight loss..... Our first weigh in I was 285, the second weigh in (2 weeks later) I was 276. So I was down 9 lbs. Nathan is dropping like crazy! He started at 340 and by the second weigh in he was at 224. I really wish women dropped weight as quick as men did!
So if your waiting for your spark to get up and get moving. Do it today. Get to the gym, try it for 3 weeks. Not hard, your not training for a marathon, just something little. Try it! Let me know your story!  Believe me, each day gets easier!! You can lose it too!!

Rori's Story

I still can't figure this one out.... They have a pill for everything from the flu to curring baldness, and they still have not came up with one to help me lose weight overnight? How come someone is not funding that research? I bet they would make millions! I sure as heck would want one. Hot date tomorrow, take a pill today, class reunion tomorrow, take your pill today. See what I mean? - Can someone work on that darn pill please!! OK really, it would be nice to have a pill like this but we all know that the only way to take the weight off and keep it off is to exercise and eat right. We have all heard it a million times! I'll just be honest with you though, I'm lazy. There I said it. I would much rather pop a "skinny" pill then get off my butt and walk for 30 minutes. But the feeling with this is, I think a lot of people would much rather do that. And I can bet, that is probably why I look the way I do right now.
Now there is a lot of stuff I can blame to make me feel better because I am fat. Lets see here.... My family, I have a large family so I will just be big. I am depressed, I eat when I get emotional. It's raining, - that is my favorite one since I live in Seattle. But the one that I went with for YEARS is "I have PCOS - Polycystic Ovary Syndrome". PCOS is a hormonal imbalance that causes you to have irregular menstruation, ovulation-related infertility, polycystic ovaries, excessive amounts or effects of androgenic hormones, resulting in acne and hirsutism; and insulin resistance, often associated with obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol levels. So once I found out that I had PCOS I gave up on weight loss. Everything you read tells you that your obese if you have PCOS. So I just went with this. And now, I am over being fat!! I just want to be "normal" again. Now I don't mean normal like size 0, model. I mean, not have to think about sitting in a chair because I don't know if it will hold me or not, not having to worry about how my kids friends see their fat mom, not having to worry about going out to eat and having everyone stare at you when you slide into a booth and you and your husband have to adjust the table to both fit, that is what I mean by normal.
I haven't always had PCOS and I haven't always been fat. In around 2003 I started putting on weight for no reason. I could not figure it out. We were planning on getting married in 2004 and I was working out, and eating right and nothing was working. So I went to the doctor and this is when I was tested for PCOS. By the time our wedding rolled around in Aug. of 2004 I had went from around 140 to about 200 lbs. I was so unhappy in my wedding dress. I couldn't figure out how to lose this weight. So I stayed around 200 - 220 until around 2006. In the end of 2006 I got pregnant with my daughter. When I got pregnant I was about 210, and when I gave birth I was about 230. I was really happy! That didn't last long though. Within about a month of having my daughter I started gaining weight like there was no tomorrow, and I never changed my diet or anything at all. Within about 4 months of having her I had went from about 230 to 280. I was freaking out! I went to the doctor again and told him that this couldn't happen even if I was going to McDonald's 3 times a day. It was crazy. So I ending up getting put on Metformin. It is a pill they use for diabetics but it helped even out my hormones, which helped to even out the weight gain. But no matter what I did, I couldn't lose the weight. So I just lived with it. I convinced myself that since I have PCOS that I can't lose the weight and that I am just going to be fat the rest of my life.
Over this last year, I have got winded walking from my car to the store, walking up my stairs at home, anything I do. I even went to the Doctor for that - trying to convince myself that I had asthma or something, in no way could it be that I was out of shape, caring too much weight for my heart and body. Nope... it couldn't be that!
Well it has to be my weight. I am now tired all the time, I never want to do anything but sit on the couch, and exercise is the farthest thing from my mind. But now I know I have to do something. I know there is not going to be some little pill to help me lose weight. There is no reason to not lose this weight - but there are a ton of reasons to do it.

So we started "getting off my ass and doing it!" Sigh, and it sucked. - Sorry guys, just being honest here. Since I know that I will come up with a reason for everything and a way to quit this diet, I thought of something different. This time I called a few friends, and asked if anyone would be interested in doing a biggest loser contest with me. Wow!! I was thinking maybe about 5 of us would jump on board and maybe we could do $20.00 each to enter and we would win $100.00. But no, this was way bigger then I ever thought!! I got 22 people to sign up! I was pretty excited about it. Tomorrow everyone meets at our house and we all do our first weigh in. We will go from March 5 to June 5. And let me tell you, not only are these some of the greatest people around, but they are the most competitive people I know. And I LOVE THAT!! I started a group on Facebook so we could keep in touch and know where we were meeting and so on, and there has been so much trash talking lol, I love it!! Not only can I win about $400.00 but I can beat a few people I know. I hope this will be the motivation I needed. Not only am I doing it, but so are Nathan, my brother and sister in law and my Dad. My Dad has I believe 4 kinds of high blood pressure meds, 4 kinds of high cholesterol meds and so on. So I am very happy that people that mean a lot to me in my life will be right there doing it with me and getting healthy too.
Before I forget to tell ya, Nathan and I started up at the local gym. About 3/4 of us that are doing the biggest loser signed up for the local gym. I have been twice - still surprised that I can still walk - but I did it! I went there twice. And I plan to go there again tomorrow!! Shhhh don't tell anyone this but I felt so much better when I got done with it!! I wanted to keep going! The biggest part of the gym that I didn't like is sweat! I hate to sweat and I really hate to sweat in front of people. But WHO CARES!! I am doing this for me, not for anyone else!! So here we go, nasty sweat and all! I will let you know how it goes tomorrow!!

Starting Out

I always thought that I would never get fat, but then when I did, I thought, oh it will come off, I don't have to do anything. I have never been a big exerciser, ok lets be truthful here - I hate to exercise! I went to a Junior high and we ran the mile and the "fun run" - which was never fun, twice a week. I hated to run and wearing bright "Barney" purple colored clothes while doing it, never helped. So ever since I was about 13, I have avoided exercise at all cost. Don't get me wrong, I have joined a gym for a few months before, and then made up some excuse and quit. So why is this time going to be different? Well first I don't know if it will be, but I really hope it is! Second, we have to do something!! We are missing our whole lives because we have got to the point where we can't do anything.

So let me share a bit about us.... Nathan and I (Rori) have been together for 10 years. We have 3 kiddos, 14, 10 and 5. We always seems to be busy with something. Nathan works full time and I stay home with the kids. I volunteer on the PTA, different school clubs, and some city boards, so it seems like I have a different meeting each day of the week. Between work, meetings, kids homework, games, etc. we are lucky if we see each other let alone have time to make healthy meals or go workout.

So since Nathan and I have been together we have both totally let ourselves go!! There is no question about that. We have both put on over 100 pounds, stopped what little exercise we did do, quit caring about what we ate and have decided that relaxing on the couch was way better then what we looked or felt like. When we first got together 10 years ago, I was working for a weight loss center, (kind of ironic hu?) So it is not like I don't know what to do, or how to do it. But when we started dating 10 years ago, I was a size 8, today, I am a size 24. Ouch!! I still have kept a pair of jeans from when I was a size 8, I don't think I could get one leg into them now.

Through this journey we hope to lose a combined total of around 300 pounds or about 150 each. We know it is going to take awhile - even though I would love to have it happen over night. We will each post on this page to talk about our ups and downs, exercise, our food, before and after pictures, etc.

This will be one of the hardest things we have ever done, let alone a very personal blog. We invite your questions, comments, support and so on. But please remember that this is a very hard thing to do, let alone do publicly.

Thank you for your support and help along the way!!