I'm following a book - The New Lifting Rules for Women. I'm enjoying it a lot, although being a true beginner I took the option of lengthening the first stage (so instead of 16 days of lifting ~5 weeks I've done 24 days of lifting - 8 weeks). So I have two 'special' workouts next week and then I do think I'm due for that one week rest period. I'll just have to adjust my calories down (which I think will be fairly easy - they're pretty high now and some days I have a problem meeting them).

Friday night is always hamburger night around here. Although tonight I dropped the bun and covered them with some onions cooked with a little barbecue sauce. Added a side of broccoli to it to fill up the plate. My mother had a bun and a side of potato chips. (hate her sometimes) Oops - and as always a salad to finish with some kind of homemade oil-free salad dressing. I haven't had it yet (just going to). Tonight's is I think an italian type blend. I really should label the bottles.

I have had an incredibly busy week at work leaving me tired and less motivated to do my usual gym routine in the evenings, but I need to push myself there if I'm going to make the challenge this week. Macy's is having their annual "Friends and Family Sale" this weekend, so I also need to get myself there and buy some suits for an upcoming meeting and because I've lost some weight and will hopefully look good in them now! It's nice outside right now after a whole day of rain so I also want to go outside and excercise - aaaaah too much to do this evening and not enough time to get it all done!

Edit: Changed my mind. I am going to walk outside for a while and go get a movie to watch tonight to relax instead. I will use the gym in my building later tonight to go watch "Diners Drive-ins and Dives" on the Food Network. I don't have cable and that show always has me craving an omelette after I watch it.

Hey black team,

I am so stoked. Tonight I did 30 minutes on the elliptical. Last night I was thrilled to do 20! I should be able to earn my first badge tomorrow! Even though I'm not posting in the Black Exercise challenge, I'm working out hard. I keep telling myself that Ali didn't become the biggest loser without lots of hard work and sweat.

I want to wear a pink tank like she did and look good in it too!

Tonight's dinner was roasted chicken and mediterrean veggies. Yummo!

Clearly I'm going to have to get my rear in gear and keep up with the postings by my fellow BLACK teammates!!!

I've had a great week and I'm down 2 pounds. I've done some sort of cardio every day!! Made really good and healthy food choices, though I need to up my calories some and protein every day (I'm trying to build up muscle mass so my metabolism will be better). I need to some weight and resistance exercises though, that's definitely an area I need to work on because I need to get my % body fat down!!! I'm thinking of getting "The New Lifting Rules for Women." I'd sure like to get some muscles in my arms and especially find a way to get rid of my flabby upper arms (in the back area of my arms, KWIM? ).

Does anyone use a Wii to do some of the games for exercise? I challenged my husband to a game of tennis (as soon as we find the power cord for the unit). Also, I pre-ordered Wii Fit and I'm thinking of asking for DDR for the Wii for Mother's Day. I just want to find more ways to incorporate exercise and activity on a daily basis (in addition to cardio & weights).

Happy first weigh-in and have a great weekend!!

for Julz and blueeyedlvr for breaking those plateaus! And another to Terri for 30 minutes on the elliptical. I love hearing these great NSVs so early in the challenge.

We went shopping for a dogwood today and ended up with two 3 gallon sized roses...double delight and cherry parfait, they are so pretty. It was a lot of work planting them, but will be worth it. I have been looking for these two roses for awhile and Lowe's had only one of each today, and we had to dig them out from the center of a huge crowded table. We looked through every single rose there making sure they were the only ones there that I wanted, and there was only one of each. I felt so lucky and happy bringing them home My empty flowerbeds are starting to fill out, finally.

Since that took up most of the day, I got only 33 minutes of exercise today. RealCdn, you are smokin' me and I can't stand it

Hey Black Team,

I'm way behind on reading posts, but I'll try to catch up over the weekend. I'm so excited to be part of the challenge. It's really been motivating me.

I've had a good week. Down 5 pounds (lots of water weight & not eating as well as I should have) and exercised 4 out of 5 days. I've been OP all week which is good for me.

I'll try to be much better about posting once I'm caught up. Have a great weekend!!!

Ahh, tonight, I went to a movie...saw Iron Man.
Well, although I did eat before the movie, I guess I wasn't really satisfied. Because I ended up eating some popcorns and chocolate covered raisins. Sigh... Well, other than that, I worked out for about 85 minutes in total and did good. Oh, and tonight's dinner was Korean dumplings. I sautéed them with cooking spray. It was like 187 cal for 7 pieces. =)

I have a driving class to go to tomorrow so that I won't get points for a ticket I got last year. It's at 8 in the morning, so I better get going and get some sleep.
Hope you ladies have a great weekend!

We went to Panera, I don't know if you guys know what that is, but if you don't: it's a cafe/bakery that has really awesome sandwiches, salads and soups. Keeping in mind tomorrow's weigh in, I got the lowest things in sodium and calories that I saw. I got 1/2 of a "tomesto" chicken sandwich (roast chicken, baby greens, feta and sundried tomato pesto on yummy bread) and 1/2 a salad that had baby greens, walnuts, blue cheese and fat free raspberry dressing, plus an apple. The whole meal was 591 cals and fit into my calorie allottment perfectly. Delicious.

Terri in MO: way to go! That's awesome. I want to look like she did in that pink tank top, too.

Cheree: good going on the cardio, it sounds like you have a habit in the making! We don't have a Wii but we have a PS2 and Dance Dance Revolution and that is fun AND hard work. We haven't played it in a while, but maybe I will break it out. You should get a good workout out of that.



Today was a so-so day, I only had time to walk to and from school. I should give myself more credit than that: It takes 30 mins roundtrip, I've got a 20 lb backpack on me and it's up and down hills....PLUS it was hotter than a mother outside today. Also, went grocery shopping for a couple of hours. So, I was sort of active. Here's to better tomorrows!

Hi black Team,
Well we went to the restaurant, Galleria de Paco on thursday, and that young man is a very talented artist. We had several people in the group that had been to Rome and seen the Sistene Chapel and they said while not as big the restaurant was very impressive. The family that owns the restaurant are refugees from Bosnia, and are now US citizens. The Son, Paco did the painting and many others displayed in the restaurant, he is very talented and he uses spray paint as his medium. The food was great, nothing fried at all on the menu. I had the Paco Wrap, it was grilled chicken, lettuce, strawberries, mangos and avocado with a rasberry vinagrette dressing. I also had a salad with it that had lettuce apples, bluecheese, and walnuts with a rasberry vinagrette dressing. It was great. Ok, yes i did fall to peer pressure and had a dessert, I'll just say it really was worth it and I won't do it again ( homemade Baklava)
Thursday was a really good day, but today had some real down moments for me, I guess I'm a stress eater, because I not only drank a bottle of diet pop, I had icecream when I came home.
Tomorrow is going to be busy, I hope it doesn't rain, I am going to walk in a parade in the morning, spend a few hours at a renfaire then work in the evening. But I plan on enjoying every minute of it and to see a whole bunch of old friends. I won't dress up for the ren faire because of time constraints, I haven't been to one for over a year so I am ready.
I'm sorry this is so long and I haven't said anything to anyone else, but I and so amazed by the amount of exercise everyone is doing, great job and you are motivating me to get moving.
Have a great weekend!

I love reading about all you guys getting up and exercising. It's AWESOME!

Cheree - Congratulations on your two pound loss! Whoop-eeeee!!

Hope everybody has a fan-tab-u-lous weekend!!

My parents bought a Wii this Christmas, so I can only use it when I'm on break (I go to school 1200 miles from home). I don't necessarily use it specifically for exercise, but every time I play Wii sports (tennis is my favorite) after not having played for a while, my arms get SO SORE for the next few days. I hope they get the Wii Fit; I would love to try it out!

Hello Black Team - I'm way behind on reading posts. I hope to get caught up today, but we'll see what happens.

Last night was Relay for Life (American Cancer Society). I had a wonderful time, but overindulged a little. I plan on making it to the gym today, but if I don't I'll be using my parent's treadmill.

We have a Wii and my husband would like to get WiiFit. It doesn't come out until later in May. I can't wait to get it and try it out. Off to do something. I'm determined for the scales to be down at next weigh in.

Morning team,

I was up early and finished my challenge miles to the beach this morning with a PUSH.tv workout and intense housecleaning. I'm making extra effort to stretch and tone while doing the housecleaning. Since I have been so focused on getting my stamina built up for cardio work, I think this weekend will be about toning and stretching. Still counts as exercise time but gives the body a break.

Back to the cleaning!

P.S. LondonJulz - I loved your blog. It really spoke to me about the "mind" games. Thanks for sharing this.

Hey, Black Team--

Wow, this is a busy place! I'm having trouble keeping up. I made good progress this week, even though I haven't exercised as much as I intended.

This next week will be a challenge. I'm on vacation and that's always hard. It's a good thing I have this challenge to help keep me on track. I don't care about being named Biggest Loser (not gonna happen anyway), but I'd feel bad if I let my team down by eating everything in sight at the Cheesecake Factory.

Go Black Team!!!

Good morning fellow black team members. It is so encouraging to read how you are doing in this challenge! I have not read everything - wow! there is a lot! but what I have read continues to inspire me! Thanks for that!

I have had just an 'ok' week. I exercised three times this week (I like to do at least 4) but I am really struggling with writing things down like I should. I don't feel like I have been off in my calories but I am not sure. I haven't weighed in yet so I guess we shall see....