WE CAME, WE SAW, WE KICKED THE MILE!!!!!!

This is the blog I have been waiting to do for the past five weeks. I was going to enter it last night, but was so busy with interviews and stuff yesterday, we crashed at the end of the day.

So after 5 weeks, Erin has lost 24 pounds and I have lost 19. This is deffinately an exciting time for us. Because we are not even close to being done, and we have no intention to quit.

Thr most anticipated day was here yesterday. The Blue Mile Run. Over 2000 people running or walking downtown and stoppong traffic. You know, when you watch the marathons on tv, I either think, that doesn't look so hard or I'm never going to do that. Boy was I wrong. Cold, windy weather didn't help with the first run. But it was great feeling to do the race. There were times when I had to walk, but when it came time to get to a stop light, I ran as hard as I could. I didn't want the cars that were waiting for us to pass think I was lazy. But when I saw the the final stretch.... with the blue line, that was more reality than I expected. WE FINISHED THE BLUE MILE!!!!! To the doctors who said that Erin couldn't run....GO BACK TO SCHOOL!!!! I am so overly proud of her to do this. I wouldn't have done it without her. But this was a powerful experience.
And we are looking to go even further.

Oh yeah, the numbers so far. Erin finished the mile in under 15 minutes and I finished in 11.45 minutes

And to date, she has lost 24 pounds and I have lost 19.

We would like to thank ALL family and friends who voted for us and has been behind us 100% in our journey. We have only just begun.....wait.....no I won't sing. But we have begun something really big to be smaller. Keep an eye out on our blog for more updates.

And what's next? Rebecca is wanting to know if we might be interested in the Crush..... ummm baby steps.. but you never know.

Working to Stay Healthy
Brad and Erin

Day 28 - The Struggle

Well, here we are at the beginning of another week of healthiness. But what a rough weekend it has been. But let's start with the numbers. As of right now, Erin has lost a total of 20 pounds and I have lost a total of 14 pounds. She is now shopping for new clothes and looking great. I am now officially on the last notch of my belt. Time to get a new one.

Here is where the challenge comes in. Let's start with Erin. Yesterday she was diagnosed with strepp throat. She is completely out of commission for the next couple of days. I feel bad for her since I will be working out without her. I am trying to cook smooth foods for her. Thanks to Rebecca, I made spaghetti squash last night. It was totally awesome! I am hoping she gets better soon.

As for me, I faced my biggest challenge this weekend. This was the first wedding that I have done since I started the challenge. Besides my meals fbefore the wedding, I had to have something to eat at night. They had chicken strips, meatballs, fried mushrooms, and of course, cake.

I got a plate with 2 of each.....not the cake and mushrooms though. But when I sat doen to eat, I had this really heavy weight of guilt on my shoulders. I was afraid to eat it. So I texted Rebecca freaking out. She said that it was ok. She said I could even have a small piece of cake. I LIKE HER!!!!!!!

But it has been a real challenge to not only get our workouts in and update our journals, but to also update the BodyBugg and also balance everything else out. I am starting to get a little stressed on that matter. I am going to see if a morning workout would help.

On the plus side, I was able to kill my mile in 14 Minutes on the treadmill. And Erin got a dress that really made her feel great. We are doing well.

Oh and check out whipit180.com for an updated video on us. You will notice one of the biggest differences. We are a lot happier with the results so far!!!!!!!!!

Working to Stay Healthy

Brad and Erin

Day 23 - Did She Just Put An Avocado In Our Shopping Cart?

Wow...What a week this has been. For the days we have been working out, we really have been pushing ourselves. I am especially proud of Erin. I on the other hand am disappointed in myself since I did not get a workout in today. But Erin pushed herself on the bike really hard and I am more than proud of her!!!!!!!

Tonight, we met with Rebecca at Hy-Vee for the big shopping day. The goal was to learn about healthy foods that we can get away with eating. I guess that takes the Chips Ahoy Cookies off the list. But there were a lot of things that we were able to learn. We got a lot of new foods that we have never even considered using. For example, we bought a Jicama. I'm sure that some of you are asking what the heck that is. It's ok, I am too. But she described it as if a potato and a pear had a baby, this is what you would get. I guess I'm up for trying something new. But then the odd event happened.

She put an Avocado in the cart and said this is an awesome thing. Did she really put that in the cart? What the heck heck are we going to do with that? I know there are recipes for guacamole, but I'm not crazy about that to begin with.

While we were there, we ran into Katie and Rachel, two of the other people that are also involved with this 5 week program. They were on the search for Larabars, which I am totally addicted to. Good thing they are on sale with now. It's really cool to see some of the other participants of the event. They both cam up to us and said , "Hey, didn't we see you in the paper?"

That reminds me. If you haven't thrown out todays Des Moines Register, there is a big article in the Iowa Life section of the front page. Check it out.

But in the end, after 3 hours and 45 minutes of shopping and over $214 dollars later, we are home and read for bed.

Tomorrow will be a new day, and I am looking forward to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Working to Stay Healthy
Brad and Erin

Day 20 - Rebecca Does the Happy Dance

BUSY BUSY BUSY. When does the madness end? We have been so busy catching up on work, family and health, by time we get to the night, we are beat. But that's a good thing I think.

Yesterday, we weighed ourselves in and we both have lost 2 more pounds. We are extremely happy with the result so far. Check back to the Whipit180.com site later this week and there should be new video showing our progress. But wow, what a work out day yesterday. Rebecca ran/walked with us. Nothing like chasing a truck with a camera in it that is shooting us. The funny part was when we turned a corner, the camera guy went back to park and started walking around the complex with the camera and audio equipment. WE LOST THE PAPARAZZI :)

But when we got back, Erin was having extreme pain with her knees and can't run until the Blue Mile Run. But we have other exercises to do to help her heal.

When it came time to measure us, Rebecca couldn't be more happy. Every time she was measuring Erin, she was doing a happy dance because the numbers are dropping for Erin and she is looking great!!! I had a few numbers drop too, which made her do a happy dance too. It's really exciting when your trainer is ubberly happy with you. :)

Erin is going to meet with Rebecca in a couple of days to go grocery shopping to learn about the best things to get. As of this minute, since the traffic is slow, I am entering this blog at the Hy-Vee Conference Center for the Everything Bridal Fair. I have never faced so much torture. Right in front of me is a cake vendor. And two booths over a vendor has a HUGE bowl of chocolate. Where is this fair?!?!?!?!?!? I have been in so much control I am proud of myself. I am also ultimately proud of Erin and want to do what I can to make her feel beter and more comfortable.


Working to Get Healthy
Brad and Erin

Day 17 - Sorry for the delay

Good morning. This was supposed to be posted last night, but due to internet problems, we could not access the account. One other note. I figured if we blogged every other day or so, that will add to the suspense and we can give more good news.

Every dog has its day, and yesterday, was not mine. I am really proud of Erin to say first because she was able to ride for close to 7 miles to pick up Ellie at pre-school. But as for me, I feel like I failed the day. I was only able to power walk on my lunch break for 20 minutes. That was all that I did. When I got home last night, I was getting ready to meet with a client and then the time came and when I got home, it was 10:15. But after that, I sat down and accidentally fell asleep. I guess you can't count calories for planning on doing something and turn out not doing it. I am hoping that today will be better, except I got up way too late since I didn't get to bed until 12:30 AM. I guess I am just venting my own personal frustrations. You can do that once in a while.

I didn't mean to make yesterday a slack day, but it just happened. But on the bright side, we are really doing well. On Tuesday, Erin and I rode for about 40 minutes around Altoona/Bondurant. It was a long and winding journey, but we were both able to do it. And the eating has improved very well. Tuesday, she made salmon which was very tasty. I am really looking forward to learning about new meals that we can both enjoy. But for the time being, we are doing what we can to succeed and I am not only very proud of Erin but I am also proud of myself. WE CAN DO THIS!!!!!!

Working to Get Healthy
Brad and Erin

Day 14

Before I get into the blog information, we want to thank all of our friends and family for the support and encouragement that you have given us. We are well on our way to a happier and heathier lifestyle.

Now on to the numbers. Drumroll please................................................. ......................... As of yesterday, Erin has lost 8 more pounds this past week. I am extremely proud of her. At the same time, I am concerned for her because her knees are really causing problems. Tonight, Erin rode around the complex twice and then walked/ran for a little bit. She couldn't do the entire lap. Hopefully the Campus will be good help for her so she can use the pool.

As for me, I also lost 8 more pounds. Originally it was 6, but after I got out of the shower, 2 more pounds were off. Rebecca said that can count. :) I also did a 2 lap around the campus on bike then ran/walked the third lap. Now my knee is paying for it.

So now we are trying new things and trying to eat out a little....but healthy wise. At Applebees, we had something from the 550 calorie menu. This totally helped with my steak cravings. And Chilis has healthy verions of some of the clssics. For the first time ever, I had a chicken sandwich with a tomato. Not bad.

One of my biggest concerns lately has been the steps issue. They say we need to get 10000 steps in a day. Very difficult when sitting at a desk all day. And trying to get over 8000 steps at night is tricky too. But at least the activity time and calories are met. Go burned calories.


Working to Get Healthy
Brad and Erin

Day 12

In one week, we are meeting with Rebecca to update her on our progress. Erin feels like all she has done is gone backwards since both of her knees have prevented her from doing the exercises that we started doing last week. I am concerned for her as well since I am also working on bettering myself and can't include her all of the time. We are hopefully going to take out our mikes tomorrow to change that by starting to ride again . Have warm weather, will travel.

As for me, I am concerned about the lack of variety in the lunch meals. I am either dong a Smart Choice meal or Subway. But that is better than McDolands every day. As for the exercise, I am hoping that the trips to the gym will help us for the usage of the pool. We will swim, oh yes, we will swim.

Working to Stay Healthy
Brad/Erin

Day 11 1/2

Sorry for the delayed blog. This week has been crazy. We have been running around like a chicken with our heads cut off.... I wonder how many calories we can burn that way.

So this is the end of the first work week back for us. For Erin, she has been busy enough to not think about the calories and exercize. As for me, I sit at a desk for 8 hours and havr had some low energy issues. I am attempting to balance out my foods so I am neither hungry or tired. This is week 2 without pop so it has been rough. I had a Monster Low carb drink on Wednesday. Its ok.....Rebecca said it was ok. Just don't drink it everyday. Problem is, the next morning, I woke up the next day with a Monster migraine. Not sure if they are connected.

Erin was able to get in some walking and stretches yesterday. I on the other hand didn't exercize at all during the day..... yet it said that I burned 3002 calories and 1:30 of activity. I felt really guilty. It was like I put the BodyBugg os our dog and tok her to go chase a rabbit while I sit and play video games. But I made up for it later last night.

Erins sister and her four kids came to stay at our house last night. Her two oldest kids Stephanie and Michael went out to run with me around our complex. A difficult task to do when both kids are very athletic. In fact Stephaine was running barefoot and Michael was running doing high step kicks....showoffs.

I got to point where I couldn't run for a bit. Steph said why did you stop? I'm sore. She asked why. I said I am older than you. She said, Its ll n your head.

My head, back, belly, bottom. Its everywhere. But in the end I was able to sprint to the end. I'm impressed.

We are going to join the Altoona campus for a short time. This way Erin can use the pool and not be stressful on the knees.

Working to Be Healthy
Brad and Erin