BL @ Work - Surprising Twist

When I got to work this morning there was an envelope in my box saying that I won 3rd place in the Biggest Loser at Work contest. The prize was $20. I'm not sure how I won. In the end I gained a couple of pounds overall. So I guess maybe the other 3 people didn't weigh in or they gained more than me. I know one lady lost 29 pounds and she didn't even exercise.

She drank a gallon of water a day. She ate at least one monounsaturated fat with each meal. She did a couple of other things, but I can't remember what she told me.

So, today I decided to stop planning and just to make myself do something. I met a co-worker at a local track and I walked 1 3/4 miles. I thought my knee was going to be in a lot of pain when I got home, but it hasn't. It actually feels a little better.

BL @ Work Finale

Okay today was the last day and I didn't lose a single pound. As a matter of fact I gained. I'm disappointed with myself for not doing anything. I just gave away $25.

$5 Obsession!

I'm realizing I have a new $5 obsession. LOL! Well, not really, but lately I've been doing a couple of things in fives and it seems to be working.

Even though I have a list of things to try for my Money Games each month. I usually end up saving the new five dollar bills. They are so pretty!

This past week I decided to spend no more than $5/day. It's been going really well. I usually spend it on lunch because I haven't been to the market. This entire week I spent less than the $5 and I put the excess in my money games each night.

I'm going to the market this weekend, so next week I shouldn't spend much at all. I just remembered that I'll be proctoring for the next 2 weeks at school again. They have breakfast bars, fruit, chips and water for us. That means I don't have to buy some of those things when I go to the market. I'm going to buy a couple just in case they run out at work and don't replace it. It'll save me lunch money, grocery money and gas since I won't drive to the food place or home. I'll go up to my office instead. This will also help me in the BL @ Work contest. Yay!

BL @ Work Revived - For a Limited Time Only!

I called the teacher in charge of the contest yesterday because I still hadn't received my refund. She told me that the majority of the other members decided to keep the program going until May 21st. That doesn't make any sense at all to me. Why risk $25 for 2 weeks? So, I'm stuck.

Bad News
I injured my knee last week and could barely walk on it, but it's nearly back to normal now. So I'm going to give it a shot for the next two weeks. It's going to be tough. I'm selling chocolate for my 6th grade daughter and her birthday was last week so there is still half of a huge cake left.

Positive News
I saw a friend from my last job on Thursday. She's lost nearly 30 pounds. She's on some program called Melaleuca. She eats a breakfast bar for breakfast, a meal replacement bar for lunch and has a normal dinner. She cut out snacking on junk food. She doesn't eat anything after 7pm. She's not even exercising because of her sciatic nerve. She said she was starving in the beginning and then her body finally adjusted. I forgot to ask her how long that took. It's going to be hard, but I'm going to attempt a version of this.

My Breakfast

• Special K Bar
• A piece of fruit

My Lunch

• Sandwich
• A baggie of chips or crackers
• A baggies of carrots

My Snack

• A piece of fruit
• Yogurt

My Dinner

• Whatever
• Watch my portions
• Don't come back for seconds

My Snack

• Healthy Shake
• or something sweet and healthy

I also just remembered that I proctored all last week. The students are taking the state standardized text. We are testing in the large gym, which is an indoor regulation sized basketball court. Each proctor is assigned to a row that is 20 students long and spans the width of the gym. One of the PE teachers was proctoring last week and she said that 8 times across is a mile. I'll have to clarify if that's across and back or just across. In either event I got a lot of exercise last week on my bum knee. We have to go across and back for each task listed below.

Tasks (across and back for each task)

• pass out pencils
• pass out answer sheets
• pass out test booklets
• check that they filled in their demographic info correctly
• check that they write and bubble the correct test version number
• check they are bubbling in the correct section
• pass out good behavior tickets
• collect pencils
• collect answer sheets
• collect test booklets
• we also rove the aisles several times to answer questions, pass out tissue, replace pencils and pass out magazines to the students who finish early

That's all before lunch. Most days we test after lunch as well and we repeat the same process over again. So assuming that it's 8 times across and back. I get in a minimum of 2 miles before lunch and another 2 miles after lunch. That's awesome.

I found out yesterday that I'll be proctoring Monday - Thursday for the next 2 weeks. On Fridays I'll be in my office, which is upstairs and I'm sure I'll get plenty of stair work in.

BL @ Work Is Over

I got a note in my mailbox at work from the teacher that's running the contest. She said that it's fizzled out and that she'll return my money if I want her to. I said yes because even though I've weighed in each time, except for last week, I haven't been exercising or eating right.

I weighed myself this morning and I was down 3 lbs. from the last weigh-in, but still up from the original number.

I am still going to push myself to join 24 hour fitness. I read my horoscope somewhere and it said it's not enough for me to know what to do. I need to put it into action. Wow! That's me - 100% knowledge 0% action. LOL!

I'm Trying to Stay On Top

Children
I've been feeling like I'm on the verge of being overwhelmed for over a month now. There is so much to do. My oldest daughter is graduating from elementary school and going to middle school. The middle schools in our district aren't very good, so I'm trying to get her into one of the local charter schools. We've been writing essays, making copies, filling out applications, attending informational meetings, etc.

On top of that her birthday is May 7th and last year when my life was simpler I promised her that she could have a slumber party with 3 of her best friends at a hotel. So, I'm also party planning. Her birthday is during the week, so we are having the party next weekend. I pre-planned most of it, but now I have to do all the shopping and I hate shopping.

The science fair is coming up and this year both of my darlings are doing projects. They are picking them out as we speak and I'm sure right after the party we will get right on that.

Work
Work has actually calmed down just enough for me to try to catch up on some of my data entry, but they keep trying to find other things for me to do. It's driving me a little nuts.

Home
Tomorrow I have another appointment with the Homebuyer's Organization. Maybe I'll actually get some concrete information about my situation this time. That reminds me that I really need to get a handle on things and get that second job before the summer. I'm thinking about applying at a bookstore, since I love to read.

Money
My sister repaid the loan I gave her. I'm happy about that. So in a few days once the check clears my EF will be back at it's proper balance.

I can't wait to get my Stimulus Rebate, so I can repay my Savings account for our Spring Break Vacation. Some of it will go toward my car note. I slacked on that a bit this month. I'm also going to put a little aside to repay my mom. I can't wait until I have it all saved up to pay her. She's not expecting it and I think she'll be so happy.

I've been buying bottled water by the case and keeping it in my car for lunch. I usually go through 2 cases a month. I've been saving the bottles because my mom recycles. She takes all her bottles and cans once or twice a year. I decided that I'm going to recycle my water bottles and put that money into my money games account.

Books
I've been listing more and more of my books on Paperbackswap.com. I have a bunch that I need to mail out right now. So far all the books that I've ordered have been in excellent condition. So I've been trying to read at least 30 minutes each evening with my little darlings. I read for a few hours on the weekends to relax. I've been going through about 2 books a week.

BL @ Work
I was supposed to weigh-in unofficially yesterday, I think, but I forgot again. I've really got to start making my health more of a priority. My head is hurting right now and I hate that because I rarely get headaches. Of course I'm sitting here typing like an idiot instead of trying to figure out what's wrong with me. I guess I better go.

BL @ Work Week 8

I didn't weigh in this week. My youngest daughter had a fever all Tuesday night and I stayed home with her on Wednesday. I will weigh in on my scale this Wednesday, since I didn't think about it last week.

I think I've lost a few pounds. I've been eating at home more and I've been watching what I eat a little. I still haven't done any exercise, but I found an exercise buddy at work. Maybe this week I'll get around to actually taking her up on her offer to exercise and use my free 30 day 24 hour fitness pass.

BL @ Work Update

I didn't realize that I hadn't posted my weigh-in results. It was not intentional. Thanks, Heather for reminding me.

I have only been weighing in on the officials days which are every other Wednesday. Here's the breakdown so far.

Week 2: - 2.5lbs.
Week 4: +2.0lbs.
Week 6: +6.olbs.

Overall I'm up 5.5lbs.

It's my own fault. I haven't been exercising or watching what I eat. I've been eating out a lot more again. Week 4 my Aunt Flo was visiting and that was fluid. Week 6 was the week after Spring Break and I probably did gain a couple of pounds while on vacation. I'm sure at least half of it was water retention because I had misplaced my blood pressure medication and hadn't taken it in almost a week.

We don't weigh in again until next week and I plan to get in at least a couple of days of walking. Especially since I'm supposed to go out to dinner with the ladies from my old job this week and out to dinner with my best friend next week.

BL @ Work Week 2 Weigh-In **Official**

I lost another 1.5 pounds. I'm now down 2.5 pounds for the challenge. That's good and I'm really happy about it. Especially since I didn't workout all last week. I was disappointed in the amount of weight I lost the first week because I put in so much work. Although, I didn't exercise last week I still kept my eating more controlled.

I probably won't exercise much this week either because I'm quickly coming down with something. I feel tired, weak, cold, stuffy, etc. I also feel like I'm going to get a fever. I've been coughing for the past 3 or so days, but I thought a tiny piece of popcorn had gotten trapped in my throat because I didn't feel bad at all. My throat just felt funny. Then I noticed that my cough sounded funny and I wasn't sure why. So today all of a sudden during lunch something hit me and is coming on strong. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because my dad and my sister have been sick for over a month and both had terrible coughs.

Okay, back to the topic at hand. I need to get well and step up my game because I'm not going to win the $90 losing 1 pound a week. I'm going to ask the teacher running it if she will let us all know how much everyone is losing. That would motivate me a little. :)

BL at Work Week 1 Weigh-In

This is a PF blog, so I'll keep it short. I lost 1 pound this week. I'm one pound closer to my $90. I gave myself an exercise free day because this heat (it was around 80 today) has me exhausted.

Life Insurance

I read MP Dunleavey's article on getting life insurance last week. This weekend I went online in search of a policy. Well to my dismay I was quoted $173/month for a $1 million dollar, 20 year policy. I couldn't figure out why it cost so much when MP is paying only $62. She got her quote from the same websites I used. So I decided to try the second website she recommended. They quoted me $44/month for a Preferred Rating. I didn't qualify for a Preferred Plus rating because I take high blood pressure medication. Sounds great, right? Sure it does, but I won't get that rate. Why? I couldn't even find my height and weight combination on their charts. So I probably will end up paying $173/month and I can't afford that.

I'm bummed, but I look at this as another reason for me to win the Biggest Loser competition at work. In the mean time I have a $50k life insurance policy through my job. I hope that I live long enough to get my weight down significantly and qualify for the $44 policy. If I lose all this weight I'll probably be able to get off my medication and can get an even cheaper policy.

And the Contestants Are???????

I found out yesterday that 6 of us signed up for the Biggest Loser competition at my job. So far that means that $150 is in the pot. The breakdown is:

$150.00 - Total Pot
$90.00 - First Place (60%)
$37.50 - Second Place (25%)
$22.50 - Third Place (15%)

We also have to add $1/pound if we gain during the competition. At this point I'm hoping that the others gain at least a couple of pounds so that the 3rd place person can at least break even. I know that sounds mean, but really I think if you place you should get more out of it than you put in. I think that's only fair, but since the percentages were put in place before we knew how many people were going to join, the only way to get more money in the pot now is for someone to gain weight.

I really hope that I come in first place. That $90 would find a great home at Capital One and help me pay my car off $90 sooner. I'm also hoping this competition helps me stick to a weight loss plan for the long haul.

I've been on the grind this week. I've walked 3 days in a row and done my WATP 2 of those days in addition to the walking.

Biggest Loser at Work

I got a flyer in my box at work yesterday for a Biggest Loser type competition. One of our teachers is going to run it. It will cost $25 to join. It will run for 14 weeks from February 20 - May 21. We will weigh in on the first and third Wednesdays of each month during the competition. If we gain weight we will have to add $1/pound to the pot. There will be 3 winners. First place will get 60% of the pot, second place will get 25% and third place will get 15% of the pot.

I think I'm going to use the last bit of my birthday money to join. I think it's a great investment if I do what I'm supposed to do. It's a great opportunity to work on 2 goals at one time. I can get healthy and win some money to put toward my car note at the same time.

Just like I've created a budget for my money I've created a workout plan for this competition. I may use half of my $300 check to buy an exercise bike that I found at Wal-Mart to help me out instead of paying it all toward my car.

I'll let you know for sure on Wednesday if I join.