Married to THE Biggest Loser

If you were to ask me to describe my husband, I'd have to respond by saying I am married to THE biggest loser.

Now, now. Before you think I've turned insanely rude, hear me out.

First, a little proof:
Exhibit A:

Here is a picture of Josh taken just over 8 months ago at our son, Jacob's, baptism.

While Josh might have been at the heavy end of the spectrum for his personal weight continuum, it had been such a gradual progression that none of us really noticed or considered him "over weight". He had undergone several surgeries in the past few years, including a knee surgery last September and ankle surgeries a few years prior, which had prevented him from exercising for long stretches of time as he recovered, completed adequate physical therapy and nursed himself back to health.

At the end of February, Josh was finally feeling like his knee was recovered enough to get serious about his health and fitness. He researched a lot of exercise & nutrition plans & felt that while many of them had good components, most were not sustainable long term.

Now enter THE BODYBUGG. The body what? THE BODYBUGG.

Basically, the BodyBugg is an arm band device which by way of 4 sensors collects data and in conjunction with the users body perameters (age, gender, height, weight) enables the most accurate estimation of calorie expenditure. (To read more about the science behind the BodyBugg, go here.)

Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight realizes that you must burn more calories in a day than you consume if you are to shed those unwanted pounds. The BodyBugg system not only allows for the calculation of calorie burn, but has an online computer program component as well, helping you to accurately track the amount of calories consumed. The program takes your body perameters into consideration, along with a personal profile evaluation you complete, your weight loss goal and then helps you to set up a realistic weight loss schedule, showing you how many calories you must burn and eat in a day in order to reach your goal in a specified time period.

It's A-MAZING! You simply plug the arm band into your computer via a USB cord and your personal data appears on the screen. Using their online resource of food nutritional values, you enter the data for the meals, snacks and beverages consumed during the day to arrive at your calorie deficit/overage for the day. The program even has a personalized menu plan, should you struggle with coming up with your own healthy menu options that fit your calorie needs.

I won't drone on and on about the marvels of this contraption. Needless to say, it worked!

Three months later Josh had turned his flab into fab, having shed approximately 50 lbs. There were no fad diets or insane exercise routines. Josh simply adjusted his diet to a more health conscious plan, added appropriate consistent exercise into his schedule and reaped some marvelous results!

Exhibit B:

Fast forward less than 2 months later and 8 additional pounds lost and now you have my BIGGEST LOSER, enjoying the fruits of his labor (58 lb. total weight loss) while vacationing in Hawaii. (**We are at the beach on vacation, thus the bathing suits.)

Top/Bottom--before/after:

Exhibit C:

After observing Josh's success, I too started on the BodyBugg, following the birth of our 4th child in May. I'm down just over 40 lbs. with a little more to go towards reaching my goal. (That's over 100 lbs. between the two of us!!) If I can stay away from the Halloween treats that are already popping up in stores, I should be finished with my goal in the next month. Wish me luck! I want BIGGEST LOSER status too!

A Day of Firsts...

Last Thursday was back-to-school day in our area. As irony would have it, my kids had just figured out what it meant to sleep in for once, and here it was already time to get back to the insane early morning routine. Go figure...

This school year will be a little crazier than usual. Not only do we have 2 in school, but 2 at 2 different schools.

Jake was fortunate enough to qualify for the 3rd grade "Quest" program (an accelerated class), housed at a local elementary school, but not our home elementary school.

His class starts 20 minutes earlier than Kaylee's school. Because of a crazy transportation schedule he has to be driven there each morning. I am hopeful that the differentiated curriculum and accelerated pace will be worth the extra effort and morning chaos. The verdict is still out on that one. Check back after a few frazzled months have past.

Our little Kaylee started Kindergarten and joined Jake in the "big kid" status department. She is thrilled to have a reason to have her own back pack and lunch box. She has already obsessed each day about her wardrobe and accessories, and I can tell there will be many high maintenance years to come (lol).

As for Landon...he was certain he was heading to school this year with the big kids. He insisted on loading up one of Jake's old backpacks with his favorite books, alphabet cards and snacks for lunch. He toted it around on his shoulders all morning long and was insistant on bringing it in the car with us on our morning errands. He begged for "cool dude" hair and literally forced me to take his picture with his backpack on when he noticed me taking the other kids' pictures. I have a feeling this will be a long disappointing year for him as he watches his best buddies leave for school each day and realizes he is stuck home with good old Mom for another year.

Crazy 8

I know, I know, I pretty much up and vanished from the blog world. I eliminated many "want to dos" from my to-do list and chose to concentrate on the "have to dos". Having 4 kids will do that to you. I mean, every mother of 4 knows that there are 4 unwritten "to dos" at the top of her list by default each morning. Mine happen to be named: Jacob, Kaylee, Landon and Max. If Landon's name were actually written down, it would be in all CAPITAL letters because he currently seems to be the one most of my energy is spent on and is probably the reason blogging has ceased as I once knew it.

I do have a handful of posts started, all saved in "draft" form, waiting for that little bit of extra inspiration needed to wrap them all up with a pretty bow. You know me and my need for "nice and tidy." As I sat down today to start where I left off about 6 months ago (with the exception of one mandatory "oh by-the-way I had a baby post" & one other "if I don't post something people will know I've surely gone crazy" post), my mind began to wander and it hit me that this past month marks 8 years in Washington! And, what a CrAaaaazy awesome 8 years it has been.


Eight years ago...

Since that photo was taken: Two houses, 2 Disneyland trips, 3 more children, 2 years of grad school (for Josh), 9 church callings, 1 new website business, 4 Kauai trips, 1 new car, 1 broken arm, 2 NY trips, 1 ankle surgery, 4 years of preschool carpool, 1 European adventure, 4 sibling weddings, 1 knee surgery, 1 Vietnam study abroad, the passing of 3 wonderful grandparents, lots of trips to Utah & the birth of too many cousins to count....plus a million other things I'm too tired to think about at the moment.

Here's our crazy crew, 8 years later. And yes...I realize I need to update our blog heading to include Max. Someday....

Here's hoping for another wonderful 8 years!