Beautiful Leah!

I'm so sorry about not getting these pictures up any sooner!  Monday and Tuesday combined I worked something like 28 hours.  So, not too much extra time on my hands.  But, today!  I don't have to leave until 11am.  So, I weighed in for our Christmas challenge and I'm about to do some exercising, yeah.   So, I thought I'd finally load these pictures from Leah!  Here she is along with her hubby, Peter and doggy, Pria!

Speaking of our challenge.  I've only heard from Dana as of yet.  8:30 central time.  I've heard from Leah and Amanda that they were also playing.  But, I haven't heard from anyone else.  I'm going to send out reminders to you all today.  But, if I don't get your weigh-in today, I'm going to assume you're not playing.  (Which is fine!)  Happy Wednesday!

Meet Me Monday - Leah

Good Morning ladies!  Today we get to meet Leah.  Well, I guess most of you already know her.  But, a few of you don't.  Leah is my oldest friend.  Wait, that didn't sound right.  I mean, we've been friends for the longest time.  We met in 2nd grade, Mrs. Love's class.  And, we lived in the same neighborhood, where we a year later added Dana to our posse.  She's great.  I love her.  It's early.  I can only speak in short sentences.

Here's Leah!

"Hello!  Sorry this is so late!  Thanksgiving went longer with our family than expected, so computer time was limited.  No complaining here!  I joined Skinny My Minnie because I wanted to be with all the cool kids trying to shed a few pounds.  Having always struggled with my weight since the dawn of time it seems, any chance to be motivated to lose weight usually catches my eye.  I've known Jenny since second grade, so that is how it all came to be!

Currently I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with my super husband, Peter and perfect dog, Pria.  I'm not biased, not at all.  I am a full-time student getting my masters in social work with a certificate in gerontology.  I also work as an older adult caregiver, which I truely enjoy.  In August, I pan to finish school and move back to Bloomington, Indiana to be closer to my parents and other family and friends.  Then, maybe we'll think about having kids?  I think so, most probably.  My main goal for the competition was to get to a healthier weight to prepare my body for having kids.  I know my own weight can not only affect the pregnancy but also my babies health, so I am trying to be healthy as much as my motivation  permits.  Thank you Jenny, for this oppurtunity and her's to one more month of being mindful of what we do to our bodies!

Here is a delicious, cheap, and fast bean soup recipe I love!"

Delicious Black Bean Soup, Serves: 6

2 T olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
3 cloves minced garlic
2 (15 oz) cans black beans
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth
1/4 t cumin
1/2 t salt
Ground pepper to taste
Dash of chili powder, oregano, and red wine vinegar to taste
Garnish with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream as desired

Heath the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Stir the onion, bell pepper, carrot, and garlic.  Cook 5 minutes until tender.  Mix in one can of black beans and chicken broth. 

In a blender, puree remaining can of beans until smooth.  Mix into the pot.  Bring soup to a boil.  Reduce heat to low.  Mix in spices and vinegar.  Simmer 20 min.


Thank you, Leah!  The soup sounds delicious!  And, I love all of the baby talk!!  Yeah!!!

Hope you all have a great week and I'm excited to get your weigh in's on Wednesday!! Don't forget!! :-)

***UPDATE***  I've been trying to post Leah's pictures for a few hours now, and my computer here at work is being all wonky.  I'll try to get them added tonight or tomorrow once I'm at home.  Sorry, Leah!!

I'm noticing a pattern here...

Ok, so maybe I should just go with it and say the results will now be posted late on Sundays!  But, let's face it...if I say that I probably won't get them up until Monday then!!  So, I guess it is what it is.

Anywho, here are the results for the first week of December.  I know, right?  December....you've got to be kidding me.  I can't believe this year is almost over.  It seems like it just started.  On a side note, speaking of December, we had the first snow of the season here this past week.  The snow made me want to bake.  So I did.  Delicious. Chocolate. Chip. Cookies.  I ate way too many, and I blame it all on mother nature.  Thanks a lot.  Thus my .5 pound loss for this week.  Really, I thought it was going to be worse.  I also never made it to the grocery store for the week and we ate pizza, Cheddars-twice, and a lot of junk food we had in the house.  Yeah, I know, I'm surprised I lost too.  Thank goodness for the cold I sort of had.  I think it helped me to be a bit dehydrated.  Uh-huh, healthy.

Right, yeah, on to the results.

The winner this week was Betty!!  Yeah!!  I know she has been having a rough go at it due to the fact that her house is completely torn apart.  I didn't get to the grocery due to my work schedule and let's face it, plain laziness.  But, she doesn't have a choice seeing that her kitchen appliances are all in her family room.  (See previous post about her house flooding!)  So, it's tremendous that she had such a great loss this week.  I'm sure stress had nothing to do with it!

I'm missing a weigh in for Holly-she went up to Chicago and doesn't have access to a scale.  And also a weigh in for Amanda.  I only have email access to her so, Raenetta, if you could remind her in another fashion that would be great!  So I will plug them in Monday or whenever I get it.  For now, I'm keeping them the same weight as last week and they will have to pay a $1 penalty.  But, if either posts a loss for this week she'll just owe the $1 and if she gains, she'll owe the normal $2.  Clear as mud??

Um, yep, the results...

1.  Betty lost 1.63% this week
2.  Dana up .73%
3.  Jenny .23%
4.  Raenetta .21%
5.  Amanda .13%
6.  Jessie .05%
Tie for 7th with 0% loss
7a. Heather
7b. Lesa
7c. Holly
10. Leah -.62%

And here are the overall results

1.  Raenetta 6.67% (2)
2.  Jenny 5.13%  (4)
3.  Amanda 5.03% (1)
4.  Dana 3.48% (8)
5.  Lesa 3.00% (10)
6.  Heather 1.28% (6)
7.  Leah 1.12% (6)
8.  Holly 1.11% (8)
9. Betty .98% (8)
10. Jessie -.98% (6)

I heard from Dana and Leah that they will be weighing in on Wednesday for the "All I Want for Christmas is a Skinnie Backside" Challenge.  That makes 3 of us so far.  So, are you going to play???  Just to push you over the edge in your decision making process, the number up there next to your percentage, in parenthesis, is what you owe so far!!  Have a great week and I can't wait get everyone's weigh in on Wednesday!!

December Mini-Minnie Challenge

The wait is over.  You can finally exhale.  I know you've been anticipating this since I first wrote about it last week.  Well here it is.  You can have your life back now.

The new challenge!  Now, I've been doing some thinking here on this one.  (With the few brain cells I have remaining after using the others for everything else that goes on in my life.)  And, I'm kind of excited about this idea.  This is going to be dubbed the "All I want for Christmas is a Skinny Backside Challenge".  Now, I can't remember what I've already said about it, and frankly, I don't want to go back and read what I wrote.  So, ignore any discrepancies between what was previously writ.  Is that the correct use of that word, not sure.  Forgive me.  Here we go.

This challenge will start Wednesday, December 7th and end on Wednesday, December 21.  So far, we're on the same track as the Turkey Challenge.  Wednesday to Wednesday and it's 2 weeks long.  Check.  Here's the difference.  Because we're coming to the end of the competition, I want for us all to be inspired and encouraged to do our personal best.  So, in this challenge you will be competing only against yourself.  What?!  Take it back-she's my worst enemy!  I can't possibly!  (Just a little inner dialogue-perhaps yours is the same??)  Oh, but yes you can!  Here's how she's going down!!  Up to this point, none of us have exactly been keeping on par with our beginning goal.  So, this shouldn't be too difficult for any of us.  To win this challenge against yourself you must lose 5 pounds or 3% body weight, whichever is less.  For example, let's say you weigh 200 pounds-3% of that is 6 pounds, so you would have to lose 5 pounds to win this challenge.  Let's say you weigh 150 pounds-3% of that is 4.5 pounds, so you would have to lose 4.5 pounds to win.  Does that make sense??  Feel free to ask for any clarification. 

Now, the reward for this All I want for Christmas is a Skinny Backside Challenge will be a credit to your account.  Ok, now I'm going to throw this out there and if any of you disagree with it, let me know and we'll come up with something else.  (Because this will change the amount of money the ultimate winner will receive.)  If you conquer this challenge, you will receive a credit to your account according to how many pounds you lost rounded to the nearest quarter.  In the examples above, if you lose 5 pounds, you get a credit of $5.  If you lose 4.5 pounds, you get a credit of $4.50.  If you lose, 5.3 pounds, you get a credit of $5.25.  If you lose more than the challenge, you will also get a credit for those pounds.  Let's say you lose 7 pounds, you get a $7 credit!  However, there will be a cap at $8.  (That's 4 pounds/week, and after that, we're definitely getting into losing weight in a non-healthy way.)

Ok, here's the kicker-there always has to be one, right?!  If you agree to do this competition, but fail to meet the goal, you will pay what you lack.  For example, if you need to lose 5 pounds and only lose 3 you will have to pay 2 additional dollars.  If you need to lose 4.5 pounds and lose 2, you will have to pay $2.50.  Capeesh?

This is the end of the end, ladies!  We must kick ourselves into gear!!  Are you in??  I'm in!  And, I need to lose 5 pounds!! YIKES!  That's half of what I've lost so far in the whole competition.  I must, I must, I must DECREASE my bust! :-)  That's some good ole Punky Brewster humor for you!

Ok, so if you're going to play, let me know on Saturday's weigh-in and then, weigh in again on Wednesday, December 7th.  Good luck!!!!

Results, finally!!

I'm a bad blog host.  I've gotten out of control.  Late again posting results.  I'm so sorry.  But, it appears as though I'm not the only procrastinator, seeing how I got most weigh-ins late Saturday and even some on Sunday!!  So, at least I'm in good company!!!

I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed your Thanksgivings!!  Christmas will be here before we know it!!  Sorry to bring it up, I'm sure you don't need the reminder!  Anywho, to the results!!

The winner for the week is HOLLY!!

1.   Holly went from 0% to 1.11% this week, thus netting a 1.11% change!  Good work!!!!

2.   Raenetta 1.04%

3.   Jenny .70%

4.   Amanda .42%

5.   Jessie .36%

6.   Lesa 0%

7.   Dana -.95%

8.   Heather -1.28%

9.   Betty -1.49%

There are only 9 players because Leah had immunity this week!!  

And, the overall top ten:

1.  Raenetta 6.46%   WOW!!!

2.  Amanda 4.90%

3.  Jenny 4.90%   we're tied for 2nd at the moment, actually!!

4.  Lesa 3.00%

5.  Dana 2.75%

6.  Leah 1.74% (based on last Sat weigh-in)

7.  Heather 1.28%

8.  Holly 1.11%

9.  Betty -.65%

10. Jessie -1.03%

All right everyone!  Time to really dig in deep!  We've just got one more month to play and get this skinny show on the road!  We can do it!!!  Tune in later this week to find out about the upcoming 2nd mini-Minnie challenge!!!  Have a great week!

Mini-Minnie Competition

Sorry for the long delay!  Just trying to build the anticipation! The winner for the Thanksgiving Challenge is LEAH!!!!!  Great job!  You can stuff your face full of whatever you want and will not owe us a dime come Saturday, no matter what!  Lucky. (said like Napoleon Dynamite)

Here is a list of the results, remember 9 out of 10 of us played.

1. Leah lost 2.35%!!!!!!
2. Holly 1.66%
3. Raenetta 1.53%
4. Heather 1.30%
5. Lesa 1.08%
6. Jenny .73%  (weighed in at 203)
7. Betty .65%
8. Jess -.16%
9. Dana declined to submit today, thus dropping out.

Ok, well, I am proud to say that this competition really did the trick for some of you guys!  You stepped it up into high gear and lost some pounds!!  Great work!!  Like I said previously, I think we'll do another mini competition-Tinsel Edition!  Now, Christmas doesn't really fall on the calender as nicely as Thanksgiving did.  And, let's face it, Christmas is all about eating pretty much the entire month of December, not just concentrated all on one day.  So, this will be a challenge with a different reward.  I'll talk more about this in an upcoming post!  It's going to be an exciting challenge, believe you me!  It's going to start Dec 7, prepare yourself, ladies!

I hope everyone remembers to count their blessings this Thanksgiving holiday.  Don't forget what is important in life, and cherish every moment!  May God bless you and keep you safe as you travel.  Now, go eat some turkey!

Week 7 Results-Halfway there!!

I had to work today...it was a long day.  I'm truly persevering here just to get this post up.   I noticed that most of you must have been busy today too since I didn't receive but a few weigh-ins this morning.  No biggie since I was at work anyway.  Thank you everyone for checking in today!

Anyhow, I'm actually sad that we're halfway through since I'm not at my half-way point in my personal goal.  What's even worse, I gained a pound back, 205.5.  I can no longer claim to be in the "10 pound down club".  That was short lived.  I'm really not sure how it happened because I actually had a pretty good diet this week and worked out on Wednesday.  I know, only one day...but that's all I could squeeze in this week!  I'm definitely a pity eater because after I weighed in today with an increase I had one two doughnuts.  Followed up by Red Lobster rolls, some crab linguine, and Orange Leaf frozen yogurt for dessert.  Yeah, now I feel awful.  Never fails.  Unless I do amazing in the next 4 days, you can pretty much count me out for the Thanksgiving mini-challenge.  I guess you never know, though.  That's my attempt at positivity!!

Ok, here's the winner for this week!!!

1.   Lesa up 2.2% loss just from last week!!  Way to go!!! WOW!!
2.   Leah 1.74% up from last week!!  Great job!!
3.   Amanda .56%
4.   Heather .43%
5.   Raenetta .35%
6.   Jessie .05%
7.   Jenny -.46%
8.   Holly -.83%
9.   Betty -.93%
10. Dana -1.68%

And the overall top ten:

1.   Raenetta 5.42% (taking back the lead!)
2.   Amanda 4.48%
3.   Jenny 4.20%
4.   Dana 3.70%
5.   Lesa 3.00%
6.   Heather 2.56%
7.   Leah 1.74%
8.   Betty .84%
9.   Holly 0%
10. Jessie -1.36%

I'm not sure if Holly keeps up with the blog, so I'll see if she's up for Meet Me Monday this week.  And, Leah is on the roster for next week!!  Great work, Leah!

Don't forget about the Wednesday mini-challenge weigh-in this week!!  I'll post Wednesday afternoon/night sometime who gets immunity for the Saturday after Thanksgiving weigh-in.  And, Leah is, in fact, in the running as well.  So there are 9 of us total!  Can't wait to see who wins!  Have a good week, everyone!!!