New Year's Resolution Numeral Uno

First thought that comes to mind when you hear New Year's Resolutions? Quick, what is it? 


For me, I always, always, always think CRAP - It's time to lose weight! 

I see how it is the top of most people's resolutions. I mean, we just got through eating our way through November and December like The Hungry Little Caterpillar and now we're plump and ready to hibernate turn into a beautiful butterfly. 

Like that little caterpillar I managed to eat my way into a bigger pair of britches cocoon and it's getting a wee bit uncomfortable. What's a fat housewife caterpillar to do but sign up for a Winter Health Challenge.

I really prefer challenges that have a monetary reward in the end. Money motivates me, people! Don't you judge. But, this challenge has no weigh-ins. It is more about health and life changes. I'm good with that as long as it will actually motivate me to lose weight. 

The last weight-loss challenge I was in, I was happy with the results. I hope to be this fit again in the very near future. Thankfully, I'm not starting out this time looking like my "before" picture. Whew! 

The challenge is for 8 weeks and costs $35 for an individual or $50 a couple. My best friend and I signed up as a couple. Mrs. Montgomery keep your remarks to yourself. What does that fee get you? It gets you access to ALL the fitness facilities in our town for the 8 weeks, weekly meetings, accountability groups AND a t-shirt! What would a challenge be without a t-shirt?!

Do you want to know what I'm really excited about? Danny Cahill, the winner of season 8 of The Biggest Loser TV show will be speaking at our first meeting Thursday night. Pretty awesome, eh? He holds the title of highest percentage of weight loss in the history of the show. I have to try and remember that I really don't know him in real life. I mean, I feel like I really know him because of watching the show and following him on Twitter and Facebook. He, however, has no clue who my happy self is! 

All I know is that I'm ready to shed this old cocoon and see a much healthier, prettier body when this challenge is over.  What are you doing to shed that cocoon? 

~Mrs. Albright


P.S. Go HERE for a FREE printable at How Does She? on achieving your 2011 goals.

Lose It with The RHOK: The Final Post

It's Tuesday and you know what that mean?  Right?  It's Lose It with The RHOK time!  And guess what?  I just got back from New York City.

Ne-ew York City?!

Get a Rope!

While I was there I completely fell off the diet wagon eating Halal street food from vendors, cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, and having multiple cocktails at multiple parties.  In my head this was all OK as I had to walk every where I went, and that burned everything off.  Right?  I hope so.  I just got home today, so I haven't weighed yet.

***Crossing My Fingers***

On my last day in New York, Soy Joy invited me to an event in which Cynthia Sass, MPH, MA, RD, CSSD, nationally know nutrition expert and co-author of Flat Belly Diet, Jackie Newgent, RD, CDN, author of award winning Big Green Cookbook, and Harley Pasternak, celebrity fitness and nutrition expert and bestselling author of The Five-Factor World Diet spoke about nutrition and fitness.

After seeing my pictures from the weekend popping up all over the internet, it was especially good timing that I attended this event towards the end of my trip to New York.  I really needed something to get me back on track now that I've arrived back in Oklahoma.  And I received a lot of good information from this panel about nutrition and fitness.


I thought it would be really appropriate, as this is our last week together for our challenge, to share what I learned with you.


Diet:


1.  Did you know you should never go more than 5 hours without eating anything?  It puts your body into starvation mode and your body burns muscle instead of fat.


2.  Did you know that you should use the 100 calorie rule for snacking?  You should have 100 calories per hour between meals.


3.  Did you you know you should treat managing your nutrition like managing your budget?  Sure we all would like to buy whatever ever we want, but that would put your budget into crisis.  Eating what ever you want puts your body into crisis.


4.  Did you know that smaller fish are lower in the food chain and therefore have less mercury?


Fitness:  


1.  Did you know that taking the stairs Monday through Friday (skipping Saturday and Sunday) equals a loss of 6 pounds of body fat a year?


2.  Did you know that the world health organization says we should take 10,000 steps a day, and the average American takes 2500?




Recipe:


1.  Did you know that you can bake an apple in the microwave?  Slice the apple in half, sprinkle it with cinnamon, and cook for 3 and 1/2 minutes.  Yum!




So that was really interesting right?  I hope you enjoyed the information.  


Mrs. Albright and I have really enjoyed the past 6 weeks doing these posts for you.  We hope that you have gained some insight and support regarding fitness and nutrition.  And also, we would love to hear from you about what has and has not worked for you in your journey.  E-mail us!  Leave a comment!


We would love to hear from you.


~~Mrs. McGillicutty

Lose It, Or not!

Okay folks, I have totally fallen off the weight-loss band wagon this week. I know the reason why. This past week was one very busy week full of lots of fun get togethers. And we all know when women get together there is bound to be food and possibly drinks.

Last week the Collinsville women business owners had a Girls Night Out to show their appreciation. Every store had the most awesome appetizers and of course, I had to have one of everything. And because I love my Collinsville girls I have to plug their businesses: Soiree'- the ultimate party place, Gypsy Rose - Very hip clothing and lots of bLiNg, Simply Vintage - a furniture/accessory consignment store and Too Blonde Salon - a great salon with lots of bling, bags and shirts! If you haven't been to Collinsville you must go and check these ladies out. It's worth the drive!

The girls of Collinsville are front and center.

Aren't they gorgeous?!?

Also last week, we had cooking club. And it wasn't just any ol' cooking club this time, it was a Mad Hatter Tea Party!! There is always great food and because I didn't want to hurt any one's feelings, I ate a LOT of it! Ha! (I'll be sharing more about the Mad Hatter Tea Party on my personal blog tomorrow. Of course there will be some cRaZy pictures!)

All of the food didn't even fit on the plate so I had to go back for more! Oy!

Here we are having tea. Oh, wait! We didn't have tea. We had Pink Lemonade Shooters!

I'd love to tell you that was all the excitement I had for the week, but it wasn't. Friday night a bunch of us got together to celebrate my friends' husband's birthday at Full Moon. I ate the best fish tacos and had a margarita or two. We had so much fun singing along with the Dueling Pianos! And, if that wasn't bad enough, later that night at my friend's house she whipped out a cheese and meat tray. Good Golly Thunder Thighs!

Do you understand now why I didn't do so well on my diet last week? To top it off, I didn't even make it to the gym one time. I'm feeling like a beached whale right now. Blah! I need to get back on course THIS WEEK!

So what am I going to do this week? I'm going to hit the gym - AGAIN and count calories every day.

~Mrs. Albright

Lose It With the RHOK! - Pain

So yesterday I had a hard time making it up the stairs to type this post. You see my office is up stairs. And me, well I had a hard time finishing my horrific workout and the stairs? The stairs made me want to cry. By the time I crawled, and yes I literally crawled up the stairs, to my office, drug myself up enough to sit down screaming at my desk and painfully typed out this post, I was out of energy.

It reminded me of the time I did this to my scale.

Yeah. Good times.

So why do I do this to myself?

It's pictures like this one recently taken where my hips body seems GINORMOUS is why.

(In case you were wondering.  That's the Trivia Champion Belt, yo.)

So today to honor the pain I'm in I thought I'd offer a few tips to deal with post workout pain. Keep in mind these are all tips I've gathered through the many, many years of working out, and I don't remember the sources. So take them with a grain of salt.

OK?

Getting Rid of the Pain Tips

1. Eat a banana: Why? Postassium is good for the pain. I don't remember why. Just do it. They're tasty.

2. Drink lots of water: Why? It's something about helping your muscles recover. I just do it because I sweat like a man when I work out, and I'm always crazy thirsty when I'm finished working out.

3. Take Ibuprofen: Why? So you can make it up the stairs is why.

4. Have a glass of wine: Why? Are you kidding me?

5. Don't have a second glass of wine: Why? Are you kidding me?

6. Have a Full Day's Rest Between Workouts : Why? To help your muscles recover.

7. After a full day's rest, workout the same muscle groups.: Why? Apparently there is some toxin that builds up in your muscles that is causing your pain. So if you can manage to work out again 2 days later, it will release that toxin and help your pain. What's the name of the toxin? I don't know. It just works. OK?

So, what do you do for the pain on the days after a workout you can't make it up the stair without crying?

I'd love to know.

And now for our weekly goals.

Mrs. McGillicutty: So I successfully stayed off of the scale until Sunday.  And well, this almost happened again.

Yeah.  It was a shocker.  I guess I need to start the starvation watching my food intake again this week.  So, I vow to eat only healthy, nutritious foods within the calorie guide lines specifically set up for me for the next 5 days.  Why only 5 days?  I'm going on vacation.  I'm hoping the 5 days of good eating will make up for the 8 days of vacation eating.  (Shhhhh...Don't burst my bubble.)

Mrs. Albright:  I'm starting to see a cycle here with my goals. I suck at them. I drank pop again. BUT, I only drank it about 3 times through the week. That's fairly good, right?!?

I'm still watching my calories and doing okay with that. We did have a cookout Saturday night and I probably over-indulged a little then. Oh, and then there's the Long Island Teas that I drank. Darn those beverage calories!

My goal this week is to lose two pounds at ANY cost. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. I may have to give up a Long Island Tea .... or two.

What are your goals this week? For those of you who are trying like Mrs. McGillicutty and myself to lose weight, how's it going? We want to know! We need the encouragement too!

Lose It with the RHOK! - Working it Out

So a few weeks ago I started training with a personal trainer, also known as Satan.  Oh and before you jump all over me for calling her Satan know this, she said it was OK.  OK.  She didn't actually say it was OK, but she did send me a funny story where the ending line calls the trainer in the story Satan.  So, I'm assuming that it's OK, and that's what I'm going with.  Satan.

Anyway, when I started working out with Satan I was a little intimidated.  She's this tiny little woman who is totally in shape and seems to have just had the most audacious work out every time I talk to her.  On one hand I was happy that she is an in shape trainer, because you know we've all seen them...the fat trainers.

Nobody wants a fat trainer.

If I wanted a fat trainer, I'd train myself.  You know what I'm saying?

But on the other hand, because she's in such good shape, she is totally intimidating.  It is probably because I know for a fact that all in shape people in their spare time, spend time thinking of new, glorious ways to mock the little people, the little people being the fatter, less attractive people like myself.

No really.  It's true.  I heard it from some expert some where.

Anyway, she's totally tiny and in shape.  The first workout with her I practically passed out.  Sure I didn't eat before I went, apparently a monster no-no, but despite my mistake, her work out was a killer. I think I may have come close to passing out even if had remembered breakfast that morning.  I don't think I've ever worked out that hard before, and my last work out partner was a former trainer.

4 weeks later and I'm to the point where I'm starting to feel a difference.  I'm not really seeing a difference yet.  Apparently I have to start eating better or something so you can see the muscles underneath my fat, but I'm feeling a difference.  Those reverse crunches are finally starting to get easier.

In fact, I actually did three sets of 5 pull-ups last Friday.

FIVE!

OK.  They were supported pull-ups.

And I had to climb up a step to get to the hanging bar.

And they were apparently nothing compared the 60 unsupported pull-ups my trainer had done recently which caused her to be unable to straighten out her arms when she woke up the next day.

But hey, I did 15 supported pull-ups.  And I don't care what anyone else says, that's pretty darn awesome.

In the spirit of awesome, here are some of my favorite sites I go to when I'm looking for a little fitness and diet motivation.

Mrs. McGillicutty's Favorite Fitness/Diet Sites

1.  The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans:  This site offers a great community of lovely, supportive ladies.  They are constantly having challenges whether they be diet or work out challenges, and most importantly the writers on the site seem like real people.  There is nothing worse for me than looking for support and finding only what I call Workout Nazis who have never finished off an entire container of Oreo's in a single day.  If you haven't done that, than how can you possibly motivate someone like me?  Agreed?

2.  Couch to 5K:  I've always wanted to run a 5K, but being the truly honest person that I am, I have to tell you that I've never been able to run more than a block at time in my entire life.  Yes, even when I when I was my itty, bitty tiny self in high school.  I am not an athlete.  But this program, this program is doable, for everyone, even the master couch potatoes like myself.

3.  Oxygen Magazine:  OK, OK.  I know I mentioned above that I can't stand the Workout Nazis, and this magazine is filled with them.  But if you can get past the Nazis, what you find is a magazine that has actually edible recipes that are great for your health, and having had the subscription for years I can honestly say that never once has there been a month where I haven't learned something new or seen a new variation on a specific work out.  I personally think it's the best fitness magazine out there.

4.  American Dietetic Association:  If you are like me you are constantly trying to find the right eating regimen for you that will help you reach your goals.   But for me, it's more important that I feel good than be really, really skinny.  So before I start any new diet program, and boy howdy I've tried a lot,  I go to this site to look for reviews, and to remind myself of all of the important nutritional requirements that my body needs.  This site is a great jumping off place to do just that.

5.  Calorie Counter Database:  For me counting calories is what I have found to be the most effective way to watch my weight.  And no matter what, when I'm out and about, this site is my go to site for quickly looking up calorie counts to see if in fact, I have enough calories left over for that dessert at dinner time.

Our Weekly RHOK Star Goals:

~~Mrs. McGillicutty:  I tend to get very obsessed with the scale whenever I'm trying to reach a goal.  I either spend my time after each weigh in berating myself, which is never good, or celebrating with food which is totally moronic.  So, this week I'm staying off of the scale until next Tuesday.  I may have to have Mr. McGillicutty hide it in order to accomplish my goal, but "whatever it takes" is my motto this week to make that goal happen.

~~Mrs. Albright: Hi, Ladies! Remember my goal two weeks ago? You know the one where I was supposed to work out three times that week? Well, I finally ( sort of) attained that goal this week. I made it to Pilates TWICE!  It hurt. But it didn't hurt as badly as I thought it might. I still had some left-over strength from when I got in shape last summer, I guess. My stomach muscles were sore for a few days, but I liked it! Yes, I said I LIKED IT! I love feeling like I got something from my workout.

My goal last week was to not drink any pop all week. Well, again, I failed. And, not only did I fail, but I failed the day we posted!!! I forgot and ordered a diet Coke with my Happy Meal! Duh!

I'm down 3 lbs. since we started this and I still have more I want to lose. I'm going to retry last weeks' goal again this week! No pop starting tomorrow. Let's see if by not drinking pop I can lose 2 lbs. this week.  Of course, if I don't lose (or I gain) it will totally be because I'm building my muscle back up in Pilates! I'm just sayin'.... 


So we've showed you ours, now why don't you show us yours?

Go on.

You can do it.

And remember that we all do better with accountability!  Also, if you have a healthy recipe or tips that you'd like featured here on The RHOK, please send it to The RHOK. We'd love some feedback here ladies. We are here to support YOU!

Lose It with The RHOK! - Week 2

How did your first week to getting healthier go? Did you set a simple goal and achieve it? Did you make a positive change this week you'd like to share with us?

Mrs. McGillicutty and Mrs. Albright are wondering if anyone is really interested in participating in this challenge with us. Initially we got a lot of great response, but we haven't had many send in their information. We are sticking to the challenge and welcome everyone who wants to participate. I know some of you are participating "behind the scenes." That's okay too, but please let us know. Remember, in the end, we are getting together and doing the Tatur Mud Run. Okay, it's called a RUN, but I'm certain we will all be walking and sloshing through the mud!

Our Weekly RHOK Star Goals:

Mrs. McGillicutty~  Well I achieved my very weak goal of not standing up my trainer again last week.  But I had a very discouraging week as I've gotten a newbie runner injury--shin splints.  OK.  I'm not actually sure if it's shin splints.  On my left leg I have this weird popping thing happening between my shin and my calf.  So on my third run of the week I got the bright idea that what in fact I needed to make it better was a longer run.  So, I added 50% more time to my normal run.  After I got off the treadmill and iced my leg down, I was sporting a brand new limp.  Needless to say when the trainer saw me the next day, I told her about my problem, and she guessed it was shin splints.  She benched me from running for the next two weeks.  If the problem doesn't go away by then, then I have to go see a doctor.

I'll be honest.  There's a little part of me right now in a panic about stopping right now.  The last time I quit a work out program it was two years before I started again.  There's a part of me that's worried that that will happen again.  Hopefully putting it all out there will help me stay on track.  So let's make a deal.  If in two weeks you don't hear me whining about running again, feel free to throw out the term "lazy" or "slacker."  Don't worry about hurting my feelings. I'm going to need a little shame to get me going again I think.

Needless to say, my training schedule has changed.  So rather than focusing on the fitness part of my goals, I'm going to work on my diet.  We've just come off of the long holiday weekend, and well, you know I sure like my summer adult beverages throughout my entire holiday weekend.  Also, we went to so many functions this weekend with these adult beverages that the inevitable snack food buffet with every one's best recipes were a problem.  Let's just say that I didn't really use self discipline.  So this week, I'm vowing to get back on track.  I'm going to journal all of my food intake and am going to adjust my calorie intake to make up for the fact that I'm losing my running, a great cardio workout that really burns the calories.  Today is going to be a rough day, as it always is the first day you shrink your caloric intake, but I really have to do it.

Mrs. Albright ~ I have to be honest, I failed at achieving my goals I set last week. I was to work out three days and I didn't even work out ONE! Yikes! I plan on making up for that this week though. I'm also setting a new goal this week to not drink any pop, or soda for those of you that don't live in Oklahoma.  I'm doing Pilates in the morning. I'm doing Pilates in the morning. I'm doing Pilates in the morning. I'm doing Pilates in the morning.  Isn't it true if you say something enough you'll believe it?!? I'm doing Pilates in the morning.


Recipe:

We've recently started following Katie at Dishin' and Dishes. She lives in the Oklahoma City area and she has a fabulous food blog. She starts doing a weekly segment on July, 14th on KAUT43's Rise and Shine in Oklahoma City. She will be reviewing restaurant's from the Oklahoma City metro area. I'm really happy and excited for her.

We wanted to share with you a recipe from her blog that We're dying to try SOON! It's Homemade Poppyseed Dressing. We'll share the dressing recipe here, but you MUST go to her blog and see the salad she pours it on. Plus, she gives you step-by-step pictures for making the dressing. Oh, how we love step-by-step pictures. And oh, how we love her and her blog. She's just precious!

Homemade Poppyseed Dressing

INGREDIENTS:


1/2 medium onion (preferably Vidalia)
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 t. salt
2/3 c. vinegar
2 c. canola oil
3 T. poppy seeds

DIRECTIONS:

In food processor or blender, add onion, sugar, salt and vinegar. Blend for a minute or until totally liquefied. Slowly drizzle oil in top of blender or food processor and let blend for an additional 2 minutes to emulsify. Add in poppy seeds and then blend 30 seconds more. Can add a couple drops of red food coloring for a pretty pink color.


Websites and iPhone Apps you might find helpful:

Exercise Calorie Calculator ~ I think this will be quite helpful. If you're like me, then you like to know how many calories you are burning while you're sweating your butt off!

Fit Watch Exercise Log ~ I use an app on my iPhone to log my exercise. Well, when I actually exercised regularly I used it.

Food Log ~ Your Personal Nutrition Guide is a great site for free tips and printables. It's very, very important to log everything that goes into your mouth when you are trying to lose weight. I know it is time consuming, but it makes a difference. It will keep me from eating anything that's too high in calories.

Spark People ~ A great website for free diet plans. It is loaded with helpful tips, menus, recipes, etc.

Here are a couple of apps that we find useful for the iPhone:

Lose It ~ Set goals, create a daily calorie budget, record food and exercise, and view graphs of progress. After you enter your stats, you can create a custom plan, with an end date in mind, based on how much weight you want to lose per week.

StepTrackLite ~  A simple pedometer to measure and track physical activity while strolling, walking, or running.

iMapMyRun ~ This is an app that I see a lot of my Facebook friends using. I'm not a runner so I've never really checked this app out. My runner friends really seem to dig it!

Do you have favorite websites or apps that you use?

Please remember that we all do better with accountability! Let us know what you're doing to get more healthy. Also, if you have a healthy recipe you'd like featured here on The RHOK, please send it to The RHOK. We'd love some feedback here ladies. We are here to support YOU!!

It's Lose It Time!!!

Ready or not, it's time to get this party started.

(Though for Mrs. McGillicutty it's feeling like a not, but the call of the Tatur Mud Run and the fear she has of her trainer, is forcing her to get it going! Mostly it's the fear.)

If you still would like to participate in our Lose It with The RHOK please read here to get started. Mrs. Albright and Mrs. McGillicutty will be sharing weight-loss tips, exercise tips, recipes, and simple goals throughout the next six weeks as we work our way to being healthier housewives.

First up, we thought we'd dive in with a little discussion about diet. Now Mrs. McGillicutty has probably tried every diet out there trying to get this, um, baby weight off of her. (Oh hush up. She knows her baby is eight and a half.). And what she has discovered is that there really is no secret in losing weight. You have to eat less calories than you burn. Sure there are many people that swear by the low-carb, or by the cabbage soup, or by the clean eating diets. But if you really dissect these diets down to their basics, the fact of the matter is this. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat less calories than you take in.

Now the problem Mrs. McGillicutty has always had is that she has a monstrously huge appetite. Because of this appetite, Mrs. McGillicutty is always looking for ways to get the most amount of food for the least amount of calories in her belly. In that spirit, Mrs. Albright thought she'd offer up a couple of recipes that she found recently.

Recipes:

Pineapple Teriyaki Pork Chops

taken from

The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook

Olive oil in a sprayer (not store-bought spray that contains propellant)
4 (4 oz.) trimmed boneless pork loin chops (3 1/2 - 4 1/2 ounce chops are okay), about 3/4" thick
1 tsp. garlic powder
Salt, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
8 tsp. honey teriyaki marinade and sauce (this is not simple teriyaki sauce - look for Ken's Steak House Marinade and Sauce)
4 slices canned pineapple sliced in juice, drained

Preheat the broiler. Line a small baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray the foil with olive oil.

Lightly mist both sides of the chips with olive oil and season with the garlic powder, salt and pepper. Place the chops, not touching, on the prepared baking sheet and broil about 3" from the heat for about 2 minutes (be sure to leave the oven door open a crack when broiling). Turn the chops and brush or spread 2 teaspoons of the teriyaki marinade evenly over the top of each. Top with pineapple slices. Broil for 3 to 5 minutes longer, or until the pineapple and glaze brown lightly and the pork is barely pink inside. Serve immediatelyIs W
(Yields 4 servings)
Per serving: 199 calories, 26 g protein, 13 g carbohydrates, 5 g fat (1 g saturated), 75 mg cholesterol, trace fiber, 234 mg sodium

Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps

taken from

This Is Why You Are Fat (And how to get thin forever)

by Jackie Warner

Ingredients:

1 oz. diced roasted red bell pepper
1 oz. sliced cucumber
1/2 oz. diced raw onions
1/2 oz. bean sprouts
3 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup shredded carrots
4 oz. turkey tenders, diced
1 oz. peanut sauce
3 lettuce leaves

For the sauce:

1/4 cup low-calorie peanut butter
2 tsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp. brown sugar Splenda
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup water
Red chili flakes to taste

Preparation:

Mix all of the vegetables. Saute' the turkey tenders with the peanut sauce. Serve in lettuce wraps with mix vegetables.

For the sauce:

(Yields 4 servings.)
Calories: 395
Sugars: 8.85 grams

Don't those both sound delicious?

Also, every week Mrs. Albright and Mrs. McGillicutty thought it would be a good idea to post their goals for the week. Here they are.

Weekly Goals:

Mrs. Albright: I've been trying to decide what simple goal to choose for this week. I thought it was going to be the week I hit the gym regularly again. Wait a minute. Want to hear a quick funny story this JUST happened twenty minutes ago at Target? Okay, of course you do.

I ran into a friend and we were chattin' it up and somehow we got on the topic of working out. I told her I needed to start back at the YMCA this week, but then said, "Wait, I can't do it this week. Camryn (my little one) has swimming lessons everyday this week." I then started laughing and admitted to my friend that her swimming lessons only last 30 minutes everyday. Boy, we really do try to come up with any excuse we can to get out of exercising, don't we?!?

My goal this week is to make it to the gym two times and do a work-out video at home one time.


Mrs. McGillicutty: Today I was supposed to meet my trainer at the gym for one of our weekly workouts. At about 15 minutes after when I was supposed to be there I get a "Are you still coming?" text. Yeah. I had a 40 year old moment. So for the rest of the week I have decided to set a very simple goal for myself. I am going to put all of my workouts on my calendar. Then I am going to set a timer to remind me the day before and the day of of the actual workout. Hopefully the pressure of the phone beeping at me will keep me on track for the rest of the week. And in the mean time, I'm going to look for some Ginseng tea or something to try and get back what I've never really had, a good memory.

What? You are like Mrs. McGillicutty and forgot that today was the day to get started? Well that's OK. If you still would like to participate in our Lose It with The RHOK please read here to get started.

OK, OK, OK!

Mrs. Robinson thinks it's very important that we all finish off this post with a good laugh and some motivation as we begin our journey. She also thinks it's very important that we remember a certain large man. She for some reason thinks it will keep us motivated.

Motivational Words:

What's she trying to say?

~~Mrs. McGillicutty

~~ Mrs. Albright

(And ~~Mrs. Robinson)

Lose It with The RHOK

Do you remember when Mrs. Albright suggested you join her in her pain in a weight-loss challenge?  We were thrilled to have so many of you show interest in joining her on her journey. It some how makes the pain more bearable when you have friends in pain with you.  Don't you agree?  So with that in mind she and Mrs. McGillicutty decided to create a group challenge to help promote the spirit of this blog and our efforts in slimming down.

Introducing:

Lose It with The RHOK is an eight week slim down challenge starting on June 26th and ending on August 21st.

Here's how it works:

On June 26th e-mail us your weight (which we will keep confidential), all of your measurements, and your blog URL if you have one. Measure your arms, chest, waist, hips, and thighs. If you would like, include a "before" picture. (We highly suggest that you do this part.  It's a great feeling to see the difference between the before and after.)  The latest we will accept entries is June 28th as the post with all of our participants will follow shortly.

Then every Monday during the entire 8 weeks we would would like for you to make one simple weekly goal and e-mail it to us by 8pm CST.  They can be anything from giving up soda one week, making a commitment to joining a gym, not eating after 6 p.m., etc.   We believe that making goals and sticking to them will definitely help keep you motivated and on track. We will be showing every one's goals on our Tuesday posts, so include a link to your blog if you have one.

During the entire 8 week challenge we will be posting healthy recipes and tips. We want to see you succeed in this challenge.

So what's in it for you?

There's no great prize in the end, other than the reward of being a better, healthier YOU! What better motivation is there than that?  Pretty simple right?

Celebration!

To celebrate all of our successes on the last day of our challenge, Saturday, August 21, 2010, we will be doing the TATUR Mud Run. Basically it's a "fun one to two mile frolic through muddy obstacles such as the Super Slip & Slide, Terrible Tire Traffic, Herculean Hay Hurdles, Messy Muds Mashes, and the infamous Creepy Crud Crawl.  Proceeds of the run go to the Tulsa Firefighters Burn Camp."

Now before you get all intimidated by all of the "serious runners" out there, don't worry.  That won't be us!   What we want to do is the adult fun un-timed run (ages 13+).

Also, don't worry.  To participate in Lose It with The RHOK, you are not required to do the TATUR Mud Run with us; however, we would love to have you there!  More details to follow as our challenge progresses, and look for the sign-up information on future posts.

Needless to Say

Needless to say we are very excited to get this challenge going.  We both have goals that we would like to meet during this time period, and we know from personal experience that sometimes all we need to succeed is a little support from our friends.  So won't you join us?  We look forward to getting all of your e-mails.

~Mrs. Albright and Mrs. McGillicutty