Biggest Loser Wrap Up

Initially this was a 6 week competition, but it got chopped down to 5 weeks because of conflicts.  My team's name was Phat No Mo. Our biggest competition was Slimmer Skimmers (Accounting) and Weapons of Mass Reduction (Marketing). We were neck and neck for half the race, always trailing behind in 3rd. That is, until week 3 when we got ahead of the WMR by less than a percent. Then on Week 4 we passed WMR and were .07% behind Slimmer Skimmers.

This competition was solely based on weight percent lost - not fat percent lost. A gallon a water weighs 8lbs. The day before the last weigh in, both Janel and I didn't drink anything beyond lunch time, and what we did drink that day was all caffeine or lemon based to squeeze all the water out of our systems. We woke up early on weigh-in morning, Saran-wrapped ourselves, and sat in the steam room for 15 minutes.

Needless to say, I lost almost 9lbs for that weigh in. My standard loss was about 3-4lbs a week, so I lost 5lbs of water!

I was so thirsty that morning. We went up early to be the first to weigh (and the first to grab some water afterwards).

Everyone gathered in the first floor lobby at 2pm for the winners to be announced. There were 13 groups of 5 at the start. Most didn't show up for the final announcement, but there were a number of cheerers. Weapons of Mass Reduction came in 3rd (5.25%), Slimmer Skimmers in 2nd (6.03%), and Phat No Mo in 1st (6.61%)!

I have to mention that we won even with one of our team members bowing out of the race early on. From then on, her weekly weight loss was counted as 0, and we kept her total weight in our tally - and we still won!

I got a special prize for being the person to lose the most pounds out of everyone (27). I really expected Janel to win this because she lost about 10% whereas I lost 8%. PLUS, she deserves a LOT of the credit for our team winning. Not only did she pull huge numbers, but without her, I doubt I would have done as well.

She inspired the heck out of our whole team and we won because of it. She's the one who got me to join her at Star Fitness Center (although she did win an iPad from it ;) ), and she's the one who figuratively held my hand through my first exercise classes.

Our team got:

• Biggest Loser Gold Medal!
• An Exercise Band
• $50 Visa Gift Card
• Cold/Heat Press Pad
• Year Membership to Holiday Fitness
• 30 Minute Massage Gift Certificate
• $5 Smoothie King Gift Card

As the Biggest Loser, I got:

• Biggest Loser Trophy
• 4GB SanDisk MP3 Player
• Fancy Water Bottle

Zumba Class

I did Zumba for the first time tonight at Star Fitness with Janel. It was complicated but fun.I didn't realize how many different dance moves there would be. Each time I started getting the hang of doing one, they would switch to another.

The time went by fast, and I had fun, even if I had trouble moving my feet like the instructor. Depending if Zane and I go to Ship Island on Saturday or not, I'll go to that class too. The Zumba teacher was very nice and told me I did well for my first time. She encouraged me saying how it's not about doing the dances perfectly as much as just moving. She also said what Janel has told me a couple times - you burn about 500 calories during the class. Well, as a man carrying 100 extra pounds on my back, I burn even more! Yay bittersweet!

Of Body Pump, Boot Camp, and Zumba, Zumba is definitely the most fun.

Oh, and there's even proof of me doing Boot Camp (aka Summer Slimdown) Tuesday on Star Fitness' Facebook page!

Biggest Loser started Monday. Round 4 of Summer Slimdown starts tomorrow. I'm going to win both, right?!

Circus, Afghan, Losing Weight

Thanks to my most fabulous coworker, Zane and I went to the circus Friday night for free at the New Orleans Arena. It was my first time (that I can recall) going to the circus. It was more fun than Cirque du Soleil but not as professional. I was excited to see live tigers, but they didn't actually do much. Whatever happened to the flaming hoops? The elephants and ponies were much more entertaining, and oh-my-god elephants have large poop. The circus was READY with many a pooper scooper.

They fell a number of times during acts, something I never saw at Cirque, and it didn't take away from the awe of everything else. My favorite part was definitely the seven dirt bikes riding around in the steel sphere. I'd put pictures up from it, but Zane wouldn't let me use his phone!

For Father's Day, my sister got Dad a gift card to Lowe's and packaged it in a mini tool box. I'm still working at the afghan and will be for at least a month. Last night I got bored of making squares, so I started stitching them together. After I took the picture, I made a quick mock up in Photoshop of the finished pattern. Thankfully, I did that before finishing because I made a change to it!

I was contemplating making a time-lapse video of some of the process, but I need to see if my camera has that option. I'm not going to go through the process of editing normal footage. That's more work that I'm willing to put into it.

Speaking of WORK, one of the great things about my place of employment is their encouragement to live a healthy lifestyle. Starting July 11th, they're going to do a "Biggest Loser" campaign pitting teams against each other for weight loss. I joined, but I'm also not actually interested in losing a ton of weight fast. It's just a fun incentive to keep things interesting and is a good motivator to keep going to the gym. I'm content with the progress I've made so far: about 20 pounds in two months.