Winner, er....LOSER!

Last week was the last weigh-in for the 4th Frog Biggest Loser Contest. And we have a LOSER -- make that a winner!

Congratulations -- and the prize package of BL socks and the new BL 80s workout CD -- go to Cheryl, aka Ruby's Mom. In the course of the 7 weeks of our contest, Cheryl lost 7 pounds (3.78% of her total body weight).

Upon hearing that she won the 4th Frog Biggest Loser Contest, Cheryl said, "Wow, I'm surprised I won! I was so disappointed I haven't lost more. I haven't been able to exercise as much as I would have liked to because of having an infant to take care of."

To which I say, slow and steady wins the race, my friend. At that rate, a person could lose 52 pounds in one year. I wouldn't turn that down!

Cheryl also said "I have enjoyed reading your blog and will continue to follow it. I love your sense of humor!" Not only is she our Biggest Loser, she is obviously a smart woman!

So we can all learn from those smarts, I asked Cheryl a few questions about her efforts;

1. What did you change about your eating and/or lifestyle in the past 2 months?
I stopped drinking milk, tea and sodas. I have tried to cut out all sugary treats. I started eating lean meats and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. I eat large salad's made with romaine lettuce, tomato and some type of fresh beans.

2. What is your favorite "good for you" treat?
I love peach yogurt.

3. Do you have a favorite exercise? If so, what is it?
I bought a yoga ball to do physical therapy with my baby and found that I like to use it for myself. There are a lot of exercises for the yoga ball. I also like "Walk Away the Pounds" by Leslie Sansone and Yourself Fitness for the X-BOX.

4. What motivates you when it comes to weight loss?
Pictures of myself before I got pregnant with my baby, Ruby. I had worked very hard to lose 30 lbs and I look at those pictures and I know I can do it again.

5. If you were on the Biggest Loser, which trainer would you want to work out with and why?
I would pick Jillian. I like the way she yells and pushes the contestants to work to their fullest.

Not as easy as it looks

Tonight's another Biggest Loser night. It's the continuation of last week where we find out if nobody is going home or if two people are leaving the ranch.

One of my favorite parts of any Biggest Loser episode is where they show the ousted player and how great they look now. Generally, people kicked off the ranch go on to lose lots of weight at home as well.

This is where "reality" and "TV" part. It's not that easy losing tons of weight at home. Yes, it can be done. Yes, it's about making the right -- and sometimes tough -- choices. Yes, it's about calories in vs. calories out. And yes...it can be HARD!

We're in our final week of the 4th Frog's Biggest Loser contest. We started with 14 people. We're finishing with five. Sometimes life gets in the way. You know, vacations, work stress, urgent cravings, Girl Scout cookie season...

There have been no amazing losses, but it's been good to be accountable to someone. Our combined total of weight loss so far probably equals about what one player could lose on the Biggest Loser in one week. But the way I figure it, the only way to really lose this fun challenge would be to not try at all.

Contest update

Despite the fact that four boxes of Girl Scout cookies arrived at my house today and that 4 more are on their way, the 4th Frog Biggest Loser Contest is still underway.

The past couple of weeks have been good ones for me on the the food front -- amazing considering I've been doing lots of traveling. But I am NOT the biggest loser this week.

That honor goes to Michelle, who lost 1.89% of her total body weight last week! Congratulations, Michelle! Let us know what you're doing right.

Rough week for the 4th Frog losers

Popping in quickly to say this was a rough week for the 13 women who are participating in the 4th Frog Biggest Loser contest. This week's round-up:

• 3 losers
• 2 people with slight gains (under a pound)
• The remainder stayed the same.

This week's Biggest Loser is Annie who lost 2.2 pounds! The secret must be in those yummy smoothies.

Tracey and Smoochie Frog each posted a small loss as well.

This week's challenge: Let's go green -- Eat at least one green food every day this week. And no green M&Ms and mint chocolate chip ice cream do not count!

And we're off!

This is the first weigh-in week for the 4th Frog's Biggest Loser Contest. We have 14 contestants playing along. Sorry for the delay in getting this post up.

Seems like several of us got off to a slow start this week. No worries. Progress, not perfection, right? But two gals must have done something right this week:

Ruby's Mom lost 1.62% of her total body weight -- that's more than Damien lost on The Biggest Loser last night. Way to go Ruby's Mom!

But as great as that accomplishment is, it's not quite enough to name you this week's 4th Frog Biggest Loser.

That honor goes to Jennifer L. who lost 1.89% of her body weight! Congrats Jennifer!

It would be great if both Rubys Mom and Jennifer could leave a comment giving us some tips on what went well for them this week.

And if you didn't do as well as you'd hoped, no sweat. The great thing about this contest is that no one gets kicked off at the end of the night.

If you have been on the fence about joining our contest -- jump off now and join us. E-mail your current weight to 4thfrog70 at gmail dot com.

This week's challenge: The weather here has been cold and icy, so getting outside to exercise has been tough. This week's challenge is to come up with some kind of physical activity you can do for at least 10 minutes at a time in your house or at your office. It could be climbing the stairs. Or turning on the radio and dancing. Once you figure out your activity, do it two to three times a day. Come back here and let us know how it's going.

Have a great week!

Biggest Loser: Do I smell gameplay?

How gullible can I be? Were you?

Did you feel like this whole show was just baiting you along, leading you to believe that Joelle was going home and tomorrow's headlines would have Carla knocking her senseless with a dumbbell?

The exchange between Carla and Joelle back in Detroit proved good comedy. I think my favorite line was when Carla told Joelle "This competition is about being the biggest loser -- not the biggest whiner!"

But Joelle's life was spared -- her life on the ranch and her actual living, breathing existence -- in what I think was the first hint of gameplay we've seen this season. Think of it, if you are playing the game would you want Damien -- a guy with lots of weight to lose -- or Joelle -- a reluctant participant with a lackluster history of weight loss -- to stay on as your competition?

So Joelle was spared tonight, only to be casted off in the next week or two. And boy didn't she look irritated?! Clearly, this woman wanted to be sent home.

In other BL news tonight...

I just love Filipe! His reaction on the scale tonight was awesome.

Does anyone else find it curious that Tara, the former model, is the one who is always throwing up? And really, do we have to watch it?

In case you didn't catch Jillian's 3-step workout advice, here it is:

• Jump squats: 10x
  
• Bicycle kicks: 20x
  
• Jogging in place: 3 minutes on, 1 minute rest.
  

Repeat the entire sequence twice.

If you are part of the 4th Frog's Biggest Loser Challenge:

• We have 13 players right now. If you haven't signed up yet, e-mail me at 4thfrog70 at gmail dot com with a full body pic and your starting weight.
• If you've already signed up, please be sure to e-mail me your weight. I'll post the week's winner and challenge tomorrow.
• To review the details of the contest, click here.
  

Weekend Update

Long and slow exhale...it's Friday night! The crazy busy work week is over and I've got about 48 hours to re-charge, despite the fact that I've got plenty on the to do list. But that will have to wait for tomorrow. Tonight, it's me, my laptop and TLC on the boob tube.

Thought I'd toss a few random selections out here:

Mom Rap
In case you missed my link to it earlier, Liz sent me the file to share her Mom Rap:

Over at her blog, Liz also has an alphabet game going on. She gave me the letter G. I'll be back later this week with my G post.

Quick craft
Annie over at Junior Mints and Reese's posted this adorable quick craft. I'm thinking it would be a great gift for my Annie to give her 'tween friends.

4th Frog's Biggest Loser Contest
So far, I have 8 people signed up for this great contest. If you're trying to lose weight, why not join us? The first weigh in is Tuesday. Click here for contest details.

If you need some extra motivation, check out this site that Shannon found. Upload a picture of yourself to WeightView.com and they'll show you what you'll look like after you've lost up to 50 pounds.

The only bummer is that it takes about 48 hours to get your pic back. Although learning to live with delayed gratification is probably a useful lesson for weight loss.

Have a terrific weekend...I intend to!

Biggest Loser: Goodbyes and curse words

It's age discrimination, man! Say it ain't so! JERRY! Jerry! You're such a sweet old guy. I don't want you to go. Doggone it. I'm going to quit naming my favorite teams after the first show. It seems to be the kiss of death.

But did you see Jerry and Estella at the end of the show? Holy cow! I think AARP needs to sign them up as fitness spokespeople. Or Disney should invite them and all their grandkids to be Grand Marshalls in their parade. Or I don't know what else, but those two deserve more than two weeks on the show.

I understand why everyone chose to vote off Jerry over Daniel. I get it. But I love Jerry! I guess getting to stay at the ranch is small consolation for the humiliation Daniel must have felt to be have to be pushed and pulled up that mountain. But it was totally cool that he finished on his own.

(Was anyone else freaked out by how close they were teetering to the edge of that mountain?)

Let's talk trainers for one second. Jillian is a total nut job. I thought for sure Dane was going to blow out his knees when she had him lifting all those weights AND Blaine with his legs. Jillian is addicted to inflicting pain, I think.

And then Bob... Who knew he had it in him? I was laughing to watch him drop a squadron of F-bombs at Joelle. If Daniel could run 7 miles an hour, Joelle certainly could have kept up pace for 30 seconds.

(BTW -- Did anyone notice Bob's t-shirt in the gym? Pizza Bob's? A gym full of fat people who would kill for a pizza and that's the shirt he wears. Maybe Bob is not so emotionally sensitive after all.)

I hope tonight's weigh in was a wake up call to Joelle to close her mouth and open her mind to getting serious about losing weight. If she had gotten voted off, I'd be really afraid that Carla might do Joelle some serious physical harm -- right after she finishes pulling up the crotch on her workout pants!

Best quote of the night: From Joelle -- "I just beat the oldest and the heaviest. There's no glory in that."

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4th Frog Biggest Loser Contest
Wishing you were at the Biggest Loser Ranch? Me, too! But since we're not, join me in the first ever 4th Frog Biggest Loser Contest. Rules and other points of interest are listed here. I promise, I won't wear a Pizza Bob's t-shirt.

Are YOU this blog's Biggest Loser?

It's Biggest Loser night! And here I am again, sitting on the couch blogging about other people losing amazing amounts of weight. Hmmm....seems like something should change. But what? I need to find some motivation to eat less and move more.

You too? Well, aren't you glad that you stopped by my blog tonight?! Because tonight is the first night of the

4th Frog's Biggest Loser Contest

Here are the rules:

1. All entries will be based on the honor system.

2. All participants must e-mail a current full-body picture of themselves to 4thfrog70 at gmail.com. You can send a photo in TBL weigh-in attire (gym shorts and no shirt/sports bra) or in street clothes. Your photo will not be share unless you are the 4th Frog's Biggest Loser -- and by then you'll be so skinny you won't mind what you used to look like.

3. Include your current weight in the e-mail. Your weight will not be published. I'll only publish # of pounds lost and % of weight loss. And yes, I know that some math whizzes out there could easily figure out your starting weight. But we're not gonna worry about those nerdy types.

4. Every Tuesday, participants must e-mail their current weight to 4thfrog70 at gmail.com. On Wednesday evening, I'll post the week's results.

5. At the end of the Tuesday TBL updates, I'll post a weekly challenge for contest participants. Feel free to stop by the blog later in the week to leave a comment telling us how you're doing in the challenge.

6. BONUS for BLOGGERS -- If you have a blog, take the button to the left and add it to your blog. If you do so, you'll earn a ONE POUND BONUS off your total weigh in. So if at the end of the contest, you've lost 17 pounds, you'll get credit for losing 18 pounds.

7. The final weigh in will be Tuesday, March 10, with the 4th Frog's Biggest Loser announced on Wednesday, March 11.

And what does the 4th Frog's Biggest Loser win? (Besides better health and more self-confidence!) A prize pack including:

and

The winner will also be featured in a Q&A with Before & After pictures on The 4th Frog Blog.

And just to show you that I'm in this too, I'll post a picture of me that Mike took yesterday (don't worry -- I'm wearing clothes!):

In this picture, I weigh 527 pounds. PSYCHE! Do you think I'd really post my weight here? People I know read this blog for cryin' out loud!

You can do this. And I can do this. And we're gonna do it together! So e-mail your pic and your weight to 4thfrog70 at gmail.com, copy the code below to your blog (1 pound bonus!) and put yourself on the path to be the 4th Frog's Biggest Loser!

<a href="http://4thfrog.blogspot.com/"> <img src="http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd292/shanryangraham/blogstuff/4thfrogsbiggestloser.jpg"></a>

PS -- Thanks to Shannon for making the contest button and code!