Update From Samantha...

Hello all,
I am writing to let everyone know that there has been some serious family issues going on for a while. We have been through alot lately and are trying to get back to our normal day to day lives. It may still take some time so we ask that you all continue to check in until we are posting regularly again. We appreciate everyones support and we are sorry for letting you down. Thank you for your understanding and we hope to be back soon better that ever...
Sincerely,
Samantha

Second Week Weigh In for Samantha...

Hey everyone, have to write really quick today because I'm so super busy! This has been a really hectic last couple of weeks. Please forgive us as we try to deal with some personal issues in our lives. I will write again as soon as I am not overwhelmed. I weighed in today and have only lost 1 more pound:( But a pound is a pound and I would have been even more upset if I had gained a pound so have to stay positive and there is always next week to hope to loose more. Thanks to everyone that has stuck with us and look forward to chatting and more to come:)

Update On Family

(Added a pic of my doggy Sailor cause she's a sweety and always cheers me up. She never gives me any trouble and animals can be a good companion in stressful times.)

Hello everyone. As Faith wrote in the last post we had a family emergency...which ended up turning into several. Alot to take in in one week. Sorry we haven't been able to post. We will be back to posting again tomorrow. I am going to be discussing dieting and exercising while under stress or dealing with traumatic events. Until then, I would like to hear from all of you about how you are doing and any tips, advice or comments you have. Love hearing from you guys and hope you continue to read our blog. We will be doing our weekly weigh-ins on Wednesday of every week now so looking forward to this weeks results. Have a good Monday everyone:)~Samantha

Sorry...

Sorry about the delay in post this week...We had a family emergency. We will post again as soon as possible.

2 Healthy,Yummy, and Quick Breakfast Drinks

I was given these recipes by a friend and thought I would share them, because they are so delicious and simple.

Strawberry/Orange Drink:
- 1 cup strawberries
- 1 glass orange juice (about 1 cup)
- 1 glass skim milk (about 1 cup)
- 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Blend all ingredients in blender until mixed thoroughly.

Strawberry/Banana Smoothie:
- 1 banana
- 1 cup strawberries
- vanilla yogurt (add to desired consistency)

Blend all ingredients in blender until mixed thoroughly.

*If you would like you can also add ice and blend it in with either drink.

~Faith

Faith's First Week Weigh In

Well, according to the scale I have lost 3 lbs....I went from 245 lbs. to 242 lbs.. It has been a rough week (we had a death on my husband's side of the family), so I was actually surprised that I lost 3 lbs.. This is the 1st time in quite sometime that I have seen the numbers on the scale going down instead of up, so I am pretty excited. So far it has been a pretty simple strategy that I am sticking to in order to lose the weight: I am watching my portion sizes, I am not eating past 8 PM, I have restricted my daily calorie intake to between 1,500 and 2,000 calories, I am watching what I eat (I do however allow myself one cheat day to eat some of the foods I enjoy, but I now consume them in much smaller portions), I am walking on my treadmill for half an hour to an hour each day, I am drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day, and I am trying to be more active. Hopefully, by this time next year I will be healthier and at a much healthier weight.
~Faith

First Week Weigh In (Samantha)...

Hello all. Today I weighed myself which I am now choosing to do on Wednesday of every week to check my progress. I am super excited to report that since Memorial Day weekend I have lost 12 lbs!!!!!!!! I couldn't be more excited. I know I can do this now. I just wanted to share what I have been doing and changed to get from 223lbs to 211lbs...First off, I cut way down on soda intake. I have no more than 1 a week. I drink water like crazy. I make sure to have at least one glass of milk and orange juice a day though. Next, I began taking a women's multivitamin everyday. Third, I did what I told you all about in my last post as far as not having any junk food in the house. I cut it all out. I don't eat perfect yet but I make sure I DO NOT ever eat cake, cookies, pies, candy etc. I also started walking and riding a bike. I realized I was doing too much in the beginning. If you start out doing something that is too hard for you it will bring you down and discourage you. You have to start with something easy. I used to think that walking really wasn't going to help me lose weight but I realized its the best way to begin exercising because its easy on your body but prepares you to step up to more difficult exercising such as riding a bike. I try to walk at least once a day, even if its for only 15 minutes and I am currently biking about 3 times a week. I will gradually increase my activity as I get more used to it. I also have been eating 6 small meals a day as apposed to 3 large meals a day. I'm sure you have all heard this before but it really does keep me going better through the day. Try my tips out if you like and keep me updated on your progress and how your doing:)

Faith's Tip of the Day for Father's Day or Any Holiday

First of all I would like to say Happy Father's Day to all Father's. Now when it comes to holidays my sister and I have different opinions on what to do (as you can see from her post below), but this just proves in my opinion that there is no 100% perfect diet or weight loss plan for anyone. I personally feel that each person is different and that you have to find a weight loss plan that that is right for you. For some people my sister's holiday tip is the best, but for others, such as myself, it isn't. For me personally I have to allow myself cheat days in order to stick with a diet. If I did not allow myself days to enjoy dessert or the other foods I love I think the temptation would become too much and I would never stick to my diet. Now do not get me wrong, I am not saying stuff yourself to the point to where you can't eat anymore on holidays or cheat days, but eating small portions of the foods you love on these days is reasonable in my opinion. I allow myself one cheat day a week and if a holiday happens to fall during the week then I arrange my cheat day to be on the holiday. You have to be careful though when you allow cheat days in your diet...You have to make sure that you have the will power to only allow yourself one cheat day a week and to only eat small portions. So on that note I am going to get off of here and go enjoy the holiday with my family. Have a great day everyone!
~Faith

Samantha's Tip Of The Day on Father's Day...

Make sure to wish all daddy's a Happy Father's Day today. I wanted to just post something real quick while I was thinking about it. We have all heard about the dilemma of eating on holidays. Father's Day is not one of the big ones we worry about, but I just so happen to be going to my hubby's grandparent's house today for a cookout. His grandma always makes sweets and I used to pig out on them so she makes a bunch for everyone and hands me a plate without even asking. Here are my pointers for today...#1: If you have someone who does this to you on holidays, make it a point to tell them ahead of time that you are on a diet. Ask them when they make the sweets to not even offer them to you. It may even be a good idea if you have a good enough relationship with this person to ask them to kindly remind you of your diet goals if they see you going in for some sweet delight;) #2: Don't tell yourself that it is a holiday and it's only one day you allow yourself to have whatever you want. This leads to telling yourself that more often than you should and makes it harder to stay on your diet in the long run. Instead, tell yourself that the gift your giving yourself on these holidays is the weight loss you will eventually achieve! Good luck. Keep me posted on your progress too. I have added a pic to this post of my hubby, my boys and myself since it is Father's Day. ~Samantha

P.S. I would just like to remind everyone that these posts are offering opinions and suggestions from my sister and myself only. We do not have degrees and you should consult a physician or dietitian while dieting:)

Samantha's Tip for the Day...

If any of you have children you may know how hard it is to eat right when your little ones want all that junk food from the store. My biggest advice for this is #1: Don't take them shopping with you. They will make it very hard not to buy unhealthy stuff. If you have to take them with you, try to avoid the junk food by pointing out healthier things or ask them questions and get their attention off all the pretty bags and boxes. When you get to the healthy stuff, let them help you get it off the shelf and put it in the cart. #2: Tell yourself before going to the store that you are not going to buy any junk food and don't put any on your shopping list. If you don't have the bad stuff at home, you wont be tempted to eat it. When the little ones want something to snack on, I give them alternatives. #3: I set out a few different things to choose from so that way when they are disappointed that its not what they want, they still are excited to choose what they get. If they are hungry they will eat it. If they complain and skip out on a snack my doctor promised me they wont starve, lol. And in the end this helps me with my diet immensely and it helps me get the kids to eat healthier as well. Try it out and tell me how it goes for you.
-Samantha

I just wanted to add while on the subject of grocery shopping always remember to never go grocery shopping while hungry. I am sure most have heard that advice before, but I cannot say it enough. The fact is if you go shopping when you are hungry you are more likely to buy things you had not intended to buy and of course you will also spend more money, so save yourself some money and stick to your list by eating before shopping. Also, I never ever go shopping without making a list ahead of time and I always stick to my list despite sales or anything.
~Faith

Making Changes in Order to Meet My Goals

Got a new treadmill and a new set of wireless headphones, so I am going to be spending a lot of time on the new treadmill attempting to burn off some of my daily calories. We also have a garden growing in our side yard that will hopefully help me to start eating healthier (thanks to my sister-in-law and husband's hard work :)). The garden is doing beautifully and we can't wait til the veggies are ready to eat. So far today I have done rather well with sticking to my diet and I am hoping to get some time in on the treadmill tonight. I think since I am so overweight and out of shape I am going to start slow on the treadmill (maybe a half hour at a time to start), then I will work my way to longer periods of time on it. I have to be honest I knew losing the weight and sticking with a diet would be hard, but I thought it would be my cravings for all the foods I love that would get the best of me...However, I have discovered it is the constant feeling that no matter how much healthy food I eat, I still feel hungry that is getting the best of me! I am sure that as time progresses this will stop, but for the time being I hate it. I can't do anything without thinking about being hungry, even though I know I shouldn't be hungry. My diet isn't anything too fancy or anything that cost too much...I am just watching my fat intake and calorie intake, plus drinking plenty of water. I am eating 2,000 calories a day (the recommended amount for someone my age per the American Heart Association). Hopefully, as long as I stick with the 2,000 calories a day and a half hour to an hour on the treadmill I will start to notice results soon. I honestly thought, as I am sure a lot of people may think, that losing weight was going to cost a ton of money and be a big hassle, but now I realize it doesn't have to cost that much or be such a hassle...I decided to get a treadmill instead of paying for a gym membership which of course saved me a ton of money (my treadmill was $300 new with a warranty and will last for years, much better than a $400-$700+ a year gym membership)...Our garden cost very little to get going...Also, I have decided to buy healthier food at the grocery store instead of buying food through one of the many weight loss programs out there, because it is much cheaper to buy it at the grocery store, plus you can get enough for your whole family. I am starting to realize while this may not be the easiest thing I have ever done, it is definitely possible and I think my sister and I will succeed!

~Faith

Samantha...The Facts

The picture at the top is from Christmas 2008. The picture on the bottom is one of my senior pictures, which was taken in 2001. I, unlike my sister, don't care to have my picture taken. Everyone sees and knows what I look like, so a picture doesn't make a difference to me. However, when I see myself in the picture I am disgusted. I don't FEEL like I weigh that much. Sure when I try to go up the stairs in my townhouse, ride a bike with my boys or even try to workout on my elliptical I get out of breath, my knees hurt within 1 minute, my arms and back ache, I get tired, and want to go lay down, but I used to not blame it on my weight. I would say, "Well, I smoke. I'm getting older. I had 2 kids. I'm just a sickly person. I have bad knees from gymnastics." I was in denial. But the truth is, I AM OVERWEIGHT! Actually, if u check my BMI, I am categorized as OBESE. I should not feel this exhausted from going up stairs, or riding a bike, or working out on an elliptical for just one minute at the age of 25! I was diagnosed with depression when I was only 14. I married my high school boyfriend at the age of only 17. He was 18. I only weighed 125lbs. Then I became pregnant 6 months after we married. I gained 50lbs with that pregnancy. After I had my first child I went back down to 150lbs for a few months but then slowly went to 190lbs. At this point people would always tell me that I did not look like I weighed that much and honestly, I didn't. And even 190lbs wasn't taking its toll on me as bad as my current 215lbs. When my son was 2 and a half he began to have seizures. We were in and out of the hospital and could not get them under control. I had no regard for myself at this time and then when we finally got his seizures under control, I became pregnant with our second child. I gained 30 lbs with my second son. I was at 220lbs and after the pregnancy of my second child and dealing with the seizures from my first child I finally had time to think about myself. It kind of slowly hit me. I felt awful, my medicine was not working very well for my depression anymore and when I finally admitted to myself how heavy I was I knew something had to be done. My children are junk food fanatics. They ask everyday if we can have one of the many many fast food places we have around here for at least one meal in the day EVERYDAY! I used to give in because we were usually always in a hurry at some point in the day and had a lot of things to do so we would end up at one of the grease pits. Then about a year after I had my second child my oldest started vomiting and having diarrhea. He was admitted to the hospital and in the end it was discovered that he had a slow moving duodenum, which is part of your intestine that digests your food. All that fast food was a lot of work for his duodenum to handle. The doctor said he needed to be limited to eating out to at most once a week. I realized then, not only was I hurting myself but my children too. We were unhealthy and I was making my children that way as well. I didn't want them to be a part of this new epidemic of obese children. We finally started eating better and I started trying to exercise more. Its going to be a rough road, but I became a member of a local church and was baptized on Christmas Eve two years ago, so I have faith (ironic) that I can do this if I really want to. I want to lose 85lbs to get to 130lbs, so here we go!....

Faith...The Facts

The picture on top is a photo of me prior to gaining the weight. The picture at the bottom is a photo taken last month at a photo booth in the local zoo. I, like quite a few people who are overweight, hate having my picture taken, so this recent picture is the only one I have for now. I will take another picture and add it soon. My current weight is 245 lbs. and I would like to lose at least 115 lbs.. That would put me at a weight of 130 lbs., which would be much better on my 5'1" body. My goal is not to be supermodel thin, but to be healthy, so that I can live a long, healthy, and active life with my husband and child. I was so shocked to find myself at 27 years old with high blood pressure and gallstones. I knew I had to do something about my weight due to my health problems and that I couldn't wait much longer. I feel that my weight gain was caused by the fact that once I had a family I had so little time to focus on myself...I was putting so much time and effort into everything else that I no longer paid attention to what I was eating or how often I exercised. Now don't get me wrong I love my family dearly and will always put them first, but looking back I see where I went wrong when it came to taking care of myself and the facts are the facts. My daughter was diagnosed at 2 weeks old with a heart condition. Due to her heart condition she spent quite a bit of the first 2 years of her life in the hospital. Thankfully, her doctor's finally found a good medicine dosage and medicine schedule for her and she has not had an episode with her heart since. Now, other than annual check ups with her cardiologist and taking medication 3 times a day she seems completely healthy and if you did not know she had a heart condition you could never tell. However, the high stress of those first 2 years of her life and more or less living out of the hospital at that time (I constantly stayed by her side and the furthest away I would go was the restroom) took it's toll on me, obviously emotionally and physically as well. I was constantly having someone bring me fast food or else I was eating out of vending machines (food also became a comfort for me during that time), so due to this I barely even lost any of the weight from my pregnancy. After my daughter's heart issues were under control and we were no longer constantly at the hospital, I still continued down the path of not paying attention to what I was eating or how much I was exercising. Of course my daughter screaming for McDonald's every time we pass the golden arches does not help my weight any, since I always find myself getting some yummy, fattening food when we stop l.o.l.. I am lucky, however that my daughter loves healthy food. My daughter loves to eat fruits and vegetables for snacks and due to her health I do try to make sure she eats healthy, but I still put myself on the back burner and usually just grab something quick, convenient, and unhealthy for myself. My food addictions are Chinese food and cheesecake...I think I could literally eat sweet and sour chicken, General Tso's chicken, terriyaki chicken, fried rice, pot stickers, and cheesecake 7 days a week for the rest of my life l.o.l..

Welcome and Hello!

First off we would like to welcome everyone who views our blog and we would like everyone to know that we appreciate any and all support we get via this blog. We truly hope that through the journey we are about to embark on that we will be able to inspire and support others with similar goals as ours. We have known for awhile now that the weight needed to come off, but deciding how to do it, finding the time to do it, and figuring out how to support eachother when we are 2,417 miles apart were challenges for us both. Finally we started brain storming and we decided that thanks to how advanced technology is today there was no reason that we couldn't support each other in an online environment. Granted we cannot physically be in the same area working out together or preparing meals together, but we feel that through blogging together, excercising together via webcam, and sharing meal ideas with each other that we can and will reach our weight loss goals. For anyone who would like to contact us without leaving a comment you can send an email to FaithandSamantha@aol.com.