Hello I am Amy, but better known as smurf-I was a shorty growing up and the name started in K and I am still known by some (although I out grew them) as smurf

Accent: where T's are silent in words like mountain and clinton and there is no such thing as ing just in. Where we say oh my heck and oh my gosh

Best Friend: Greg (my DH)

Chore I hate: cleaning silverware

Dad's name: Keith

Essential make-up product: I don't wear much so when I do it is all essential

Favorite perfume: anythingfrom BBW or VS

Gold or silver? White Gold

Hometown: Grew up in Northern UT but now live in Southern ID

Interesting fact: I am 26 and a mom of 3 (ok I am not that interesting)

Job title: Professional Photographer

Kids: 3-J is 6 D is almost 4 and S is 13 months

Living arrangements: I live with dh and our 3 kids no pets in a house that is 130 years old no heater or cooler we build fires in the winter to stay warm and fans in the summer to stay cool

Mom's birthplace: Idaho

Number of apples eaten in the last week: 0 I can only eat apples I pick off of trees so I get my fill from July-October grew up on an apple orchard and store bought apples are DISGUSTING!!

Overnight hospital stays: I have spent a total of 12 nights in a hospital: 1 when I was born, 5 when I had meninjitis as a sophmore in HS, 2 with dd, 2 with ds, 2 with DD

Phobia: train tracks

Question you ask yourself a lot: What am I forgetting?

Religious affiliation: Christian LDS

Siblings: 2 brothers 4 sisters I am #3

Time I wake up: 6:30

Unnatural hair color: I had a spell of blonde but now mostly red, although I am not coloring for a few months as I am growing my hair for locks of love with my dd and it can't be color treated. My hair is a dull brown

Vegetable I refuse to eat: celery

Worst habit: finishing others sentences

X-tra info? I had a hard enough time coming up with the answers above

Yummy food I make: I LOVE to cook as long as I don't have to follow a recipe and I am a DANG GOOD cook

Zodiac sign: Cancer

GO BLACK!!

Yep, Anne, I stand by my original assertion. It was originally made out of admiration for your ability to make four ice cream bars last three weeks, but now the admiration is much more deep. You truly have overcome a lot and are making tremendous progress. Congrats on heading back to school, too.

I'm heading off to lunch, can't decide if I'm going to have some left over Indian bean dish or a pb&j.

Hi everyone! I'm excited for my first challenge and happy to be on the Black Team. I'm hoping to be out of the 200s by the end of the challenge, that would be great :D. I am a calorie counter and working towards becoming vegetarian and then vegan.

Accent: Don't think I really have one, in Central PA so don't have a Philly accent or a western PA accent (it's soda not pop!)
Best Friend: Emily
Chore I hate: Dishes, because I'm the only one who does them
Dad's name: Michael
Essential make-up product: chapstick, I have an addiction, but don't wear any other make-up
Favorite perfume: Ralph Lauren Romance
Gold or silver? Silver!!!!
Hometown: Mechanicsburg, PA
Interesting fact: I'm a diehard NY Yankees and Philadelphia Eagles fan!
Job title: Operations Research Analyst (math geek)
Kids: None, but 3 cats (Sephie, Ghost, Indie)
Living arrangements: Live with my boyfriend of 6 years in a townhouse we bought, right now we have a temporary roommate
Mom's birthplace: Harrisburg, PA (same hospital I was born in)
Number of apples eaten in the last week: 4
Overnight hospital stays: spent about a week in hospital for staph infection in my knee in 8th grade, then had surgery after the antibotic didn't work and spent another week after that
Phobia: Rollarcoasters
Question you ask yourself a lot: Do I really have to get up now?
Religious affiliation: Agnostic
Siblings: younger sister
Time I wake up: 6:30 am weekdays, whenever I feel like it on weekends
Unnatural hair color: Finally have all my color and highlights grown out, so it's my natural brown
Vegetable I refuse to eat: peppers
Worst habit: Binge eating
X-tra info? I'm really into movies, I worked at a theater for 8 yrs from high school through college and until I got a "real" job
Yummy food I make: not much of a cook, but have a great recipe for a hot artichoke dip but won't be making that anytime soon because it's loaded with cheese and mayo
Zodiac sign: Capricorn

Okay, I am going to pick and choose here and make it short and sweet!

Best Friend: sister

Chore I hate: dishes

Essential make-up product: lip gloss

Gold or silver? platinum

Interesting fact: I have 2 master's degrees (<---lol, I look nerdy!!!!!)

Kids: 2

Living arrangements: own a house; currently working with an architect to maybe build on land we own.

Number of apples eaten in the last week: 0, but I ate 2 mangoes last night.

Overnight hospital stays: 5- ish?

Phobia: driving in storms

Question you ask yourself a lot: Lately, and in a good way: "Is that really MY a$$ in the mirror!?"

Siblings: 1 sis & 1 bro

Time I wake up: 6:30 - 7:00am

Vegetable I refuse to eat: waterchestnuts

Worst habit: nail biting

Yummy food I make: all of it

Zodiac sign: Aquarius

What type of music do I listen to when exercising? Mostly classic rock from the 70's and 80's. Usually when I listen to it while working out I get so involved in the music that I don't pay attention to my heart rate and it gets to be up around 190 or so. Maybe that's a sign that I'm not as young as I think I am and maybe I need to get different music!!!

When I was going to the gym, I used to love lifting weights, too. It made me feel so strong. :strong: It gave me a sense of accomplishment to feel the muscles in my legs or arms getting firmer. I hope I like doing it at home as much as I did in the gym. Do you do it at home or at the gym? Did you do your plan today? 70lbs! Wow! That's great! :carrot:

You remind me that I need to load my iPod with some music and some decent audiobooks. I actually workout mainly with the television on - it's in line with the treadmill. I've been working my way through Charmed over the last little while (at the end of season 7 today). However with the weather nicer it's maybe time to put some tunes on the iPod to listen to when outside.

Thanks. Some days it's almost insurmountable (ie. how much further I have to go) but I still manage to push through. FWIW I'd pick the Indian bean dish - sounds interesting.

I workout at home. Partly because I already had the treadmill so it seemed silly originally to go somewhere else to workout. Also, I break it up during the day (don't think I could do 2 hours at once, but broken up today it was relatively easy). The 70lbs was the easier one. The 30lb dumbbell shoulder presses almost did me in (my left arm is slightly weaker and I didn't think I would make those last few reps). The concept of the program is to increase the weights with every workout... but I'm not sure how Friday will go. Although technically since I did 27.5 / 27.5 and 30 today as long as I do two sets of 30 on Friday that would be good. Usually I try to do the first sets with the highest weight from last time and then bump the weight up for the last set. I'm not sure if that will be possible on Friday. I've just got used to this set of exercises, and after next week they'll change. Oh well, I suppose that's the fun part. :dizzy:

Wow Im gonna have to check in two times a day to keep up with this group lol

Accent: Hoosier w/a southern drawl ;)
Best Friend: Tina
Chore I hate: Cleaning dog poop
Dad's name: Belford
Essential make-up product: lipgloss & mascera
Favorite perfume: Hypnose
Gold or silver? Silver!!!!
Hometown: Hammond In
Interesting fact: I build cars for a living
Job title: Assembler
Kids: None, but 2 dogs (Justice(boxer) Brooklyn(am bulldog)
Living arrangements: Live in my own house w/dogs
Mom's birthplace: Jackson (Yazoo City) Ms.
Number of apples eaten in the last week: 7 1 a day
Overnight hospital stays: Partial hysto @ age 32
Phobia: SPIDERS
Question you ask yourself a lot: Why did I get such big dogs
Religious affiliation: N/A
Siblings: younger sister
Time I wake up: 3:00 am weekdays, whenever I feel like it on weekends
Unnatural hair color: GOLD was trying for red lol
Vegetable I refuse to eat: Okra
Worst habit: Smoking
X-tra info? Last year I started my own photography business!
Yummy food I make: Crock pot pizza
Zodiac sign: Aquarius

My goal is to be the best that I can be and to lose 25 pounds along the way!
GO BLACK

Smurf! I'm an Idaho native, too!! :)

Dolphin4 Doug - What is crock pot pizza??

Caitbeans - You crazy girl! Get one of those exercise tickers!! I think mine is working today. (It's been on the fritz lately.)

I have a VERY good feeling about this Black Team!!! ;)

For protein - Egg Beaters. If you're doing WW 1/4 cup is FREE. 1/2 cup is one point and they are filling. I love them on the Western Alternative Bagels (1 point) with either some reduced fat cheese, or some Canadian style bacon. Yummy and filling.

OH . . . and my new FAVE country song is "Gunpowder & Lead" by Miranda Lambert. Love it!!

Quick check in to answer some of those questions:

Chore I hate- packing away laundry and making beds

Essential Make-up: mascarra

Gold/Silver: Silver

Kids- 2 DS

# of apples past week 2-3

Phobias- bugs, especially spiders

Time I wake up- 6:30- 7:30 a.m

Hair color- medium brown

Questions to me- how can I get social life back on track?

Living arrangement- in my own home

Hey Black Team - I just wanted to jump in and say "Howdy"...even though I am a red team member this time around, I wish everyone much success during the challenge.

~ Vanetta

Accent: NEPA... well, not really. Not much of an accent, I just slur my 'Scranton'... or, as I say it, "Scr-aaa-nn-'in"

Best Friend: Gina

Chore I hate: Scrubbing the bathtub

Dad's name: Ray

Essential make-up product: Mascara and/or black eyeliner

Favorite perfume: Juicy Couture or RL Romance

Gold or silver? Silver

Hometown: Moscow, PA

Interesting fact: I love my fandoms! My current flavor is Twilight B)

Job title: Cashier/PTI

Kids: None for a long time, hopefully!

Living arrangements: parents, brother, 2 dogs, 2 horses, and a fish

Mom's birthplace: Bayonne, NJ

Number of apples eaten in the last week: at least 5

Overnight hospital stays: none

Phobia: spiders!

Question you ask yourself a lot: What do I have left to do today?

Religious affiliation: Apathetic, really... some form of Christian, spirtualist...

Siblings: 1 little brother

Time I wake up: 5:20 or 6:30

Unnatural hair color: just coming off a non-ammonia black (from my senior spirit week), so it's starting to turn my natural chocolately brown again!

Vegetable I refuse to eat: sourkraut... does that count?

Worst habit: binge eating, shoe-buying

X-tra info? I want to become a print model/actress during college (aka in a few months) so I'm trying to take off some weight this summer!

Yummy food I make: alfredo sauce, quesadillas, panfried apples over ice cream...

Zodiac sign: Gemini

Ok here is the second request for what is crockpot pizza? And how do you cook okra? See it in the store but never had it growing up. Might give it a try.

ggmugsy! It is always fun to find someone online *close* to where you are, and when I say close I mean in the same state it would be a good drive to come visit, but maybe one day :)

Julia I have only ever had fried okra but seeing how that takes the healthiness of the veggie out I wont tell you how to cook it that way. I would think you could cook it just like any other veggie (sautee, boil, steam) but I haven't ever done it that way.

So what plan is everyone following? Me I am trying to just eat sensibly and watch my portion sizes. I have counted calories, but I have an obsessive personality and it became too much for me and my family so I would like to not resort back to that, BUT I know it works so if I need to I will. I am also working out 1-2 times /day x 4-5 x a week. I am trying to do a strengthening workout in the am like yoga, pilates, weights and then cardio like walking or running at night. I am really hoping to get a bike and buggy (for the kids) for my birthday in July, but we will see.

Today I am going for a run/walk while the clothes are in the dryer.

I assume this is what you are looking for:

Pot of Pizza
8 ounces extra lean ground beef or turkey
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup (one 2.5 ounce jar) sliced mushrooms, drained
1 3/4 cup (one 15-ounce can) Hunt's Tomato Sauce
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1 teaspoon pourable Splenda
3 cups cooked whole wheat noodles, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup shredded fat free or soy Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded fat free or soy Mozzarella cheese

In a large skillet, sprayed with olive-oil-flavored cooking spray, brown meat, onion and green pepper. Stir in mushrooms, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning and Splenda. Pour mixture into a slow cooker sprayed with butter-flavored cooking spray. Spread noodles over meat mixture. Layer cheddar and mozzarella cheeses evenly over the top. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours/ Mix well before serving
Serves 6 (1 cup)