Other prizes

So, I have been given a list of the other prizes:

1. 3 months unlimited Yoga at 9210Yoga valued at $375
2. $250 gift certificate for Day at the Spa courtesy of Salon Red
3. Home Whitening Kit courtesy of Fallsgrove Center for Dentistry
4. A 7 Plate Genesis water ionizer from Water For Life valued at $1695

I am truly blessed to have all of these sponsors offer such wonderful prizes. I am in awe and still in shock.

Thank you. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

And the winner is....

I am so excited to tell you... I WON! Can you believe it? I pulled it off with a 0.06% lead over Charles (from the red team). It was an incredible moment.

I won many prizes (besides taking the weight off), but I do not have a list of them yet. So far I have received:

1. 1 year membership to Rio Sport & Health
2. $250 gift card to Westfield Mall
3. $250 gift card to Whole Foods Market
4. $300 gift certificate to Wink Eyecare Boutique
5. 3 night stay at the Doubletree Hotel Palm Beach Gardens in FL
6. Airfare for 2 to West Palm Beach thanks to Bethesda Travel Center
7. A signed t-shirt from the Washington Freedom
8. One week of free meals with Diet to Go
9. $250 deposit in a Mid-Atlantic FCU checking account
10. $50 gift certificate at Flagship Carwash Center
11. $50 gift card at StetchAlicious

I am so thankful for this experience:

First and foremost, I give all my thanks for God. God has been with me ever step of the way. Without God, I would not have been kept injury free (remember I have a torn ACL that stop hurting in week 2), and definitely would not have won.

Secondly, my family. My husband, Lyle really picked up the slack and helped out with the kids and supported me throughout. And my children, Kiera and Brock sacraficed so much time with me. I LOVE you all so much.

Finally, I would like to thank my team and the trainers at Rio. I woke up on Monday really missing you. I hope we all stay in touch and keep the weight off.

Week #10 Weight Loss

Here are the results for Week #10:

David Drayer: -2.5 lbs.
Richard Feld: -3.0 lbs.
Susan Feidelman: -0.5 lbs.
Jen Green: -2.0 lbs.
Tina Hardy: -0.0 lbs. (did not weigh-in because she out of town)

I think the Blue Team is steady. I think we have the hearts to win... but aren't we already winners? Looking at each of us at Monday's workout made me notice that all of our body shapes have changed - for the better.

I have a confession: Week #10's weigh-in changed my focus, not for the better. With Charles losing .5 lbs, I was only behind him .1% - I started to dwell, stress, and worry about winning the whole competition. Instead of staying focused on the real prize: weight loss and keeping it off for the rest of my life, I began seeing myself win. Now, I know it is not a bad thing to stay focus, but we all know it is a bad thing when it consumes us. And without really knowing it, winning this compeition did.

Thanks to my ever faithful twin sister, Janet! She gave me some tough love on Monday night. It was what I needed to here. I need to continue to work out as hard as I can, not focus on the other team, encourage my awesome team and most of all trust God. God has kept me focused up until this point. My bible study the other day said that: I need to focus on not what God has done for me, but what God has done IN me. Can I get an, "Amen?" Now that is powerful.

So as the last week of the competition comes to a close, as we all try to find as much time as we can to work our bodies to the extreme, I pray that we are all thankful to what God is doing in us and not for us. Because it really isn't about the scale. It is about our life... and making sure we are living it the way God want's us too and that surely isn't worry about winning some competition.

Finally, if you want one more chance to meet us, our finale is at Montgomery Mall on Sunday, June 28th from 2-4. Come cheer on the Blue Team and be sure to introduce yourself.... we would love to meet our fans and pray that our journey has inspired some of you.

Week #9 Results

The results are published for Week #9:

David Drayer: -5.0 lbs.
Richard Feld: -2.0 lbs.
Susan Feidelman: -2.0 lbs.
Jen Green: -3.5 lbs.
Tina Hardy: -3.5 lbs.

At last night's weigh-in, I lost: 2 lbs. That makes my total 32 lbs. I am pleased that I continue to lose. Only 2 more weeks left. The anticipation for the finale is overwhelming.

4 for 4

As I posted earlier, on Sunday, we had our 4th and Final Challenge which was the Honest Tea Outdoor Challenge which was hosted at the Germantown Recreation Center.

There were two parts: A Physical Part and a Mental Part. The physical part consisted of a 1 mile walk/run with the pounds that we had lost in a back pack and a swim race to retrieve color coded bottles from the bottom of a 4 foot pool. The mental challenge was 3 questions based on Honest Tea trivia.

So we had to do the mile walk/run, take the quiz and then get in the pool. Due to techinical difficulties with the color coded bottles, it was decided to have a relay race. I am proud to say that the Blue Team came out the winner. Then it came to the results of the quiz... and by .4%, we edged out the Red Team.

That means that there have been 4 challenges, and we won all 4. Isn't that awesome? So at this point with the challenges combined, we are exactly .1% ahead of the Red Tea, Whoa, what a close race.

Come back tomorrow to see week #9's weight loss success.

New Goal

Having met my personal goal of losing 30 pounds in 9 weeks, I have been contemplating a new goal to be working towards. I had toyed with the idea of winning the entire competition; but with all of the stress related to that (who weighs what, how much are others working out), I received another idea.

During a phone conversation with a close friend, she was telling me that she was worried about my concentration on winning because she was afraid I would be disappointed if I did not win even though I have lost a lot of weight already. She really knows me and knows how much of a perfectionist I am.

It was revealed to me that I would be happy to weigh 150. Should I weigh less with my height? Yes, of course. But I truly believe that I would be happy at 150. So, my new goal is to reach 150.

And it is a realistic goal because there is no way I can lose 17.5 lbs in the next 2 1/2 weeks. Which means it is a goal that takes me past the Healthy Challenge and it is a goal that I know I can achieve. After losing 30 pounds, 17.5 pounds seems less daunting.

So, there it is. I am going to continue to work hard and continue to push myself and what ever comes off in the next 2 weeks is a bonus to the competition but will be helping me to reach my new goal.

Ahhh... I feel better. I feel less stressed. And I know I can do it! Yay!

http://www.gazettehealthychallenge.net/

I wanted to remind you to check out the official website. It has all of the articles each week that appear in the paper and it has some of the archived articles about our challenges.

Cooking Challenge
Soccer Challenge
5 Miler

I know some of our fans do not get the Gazette, so this is the best place to keep up with us (besides encouraging us in person).

Week #8 Weight Loss

David Drayer: +1.0 lbs.
Richard Feld: -1.5 lbs.
Susan Feidelman: -2.0 lbs.
Jen Green: -3.5 lbs.
Tina Hardy: -3.0 lbs.

It was a tough weigh-in but almost all pulled out a loss. I know I get more nervous with each weigh-in because we have such few left. I feel blessed that I have had a steady weight loss though. And boy did Tina rock this week.

And as for this week's results: I lost another 3.5, which means I have lost a total of 30 pounds. Can you believe it? I started to cry a little thinking about 9 weeks ago when I pledged to lose 30 pounds in 12 weeks. I thought it might be doable, but now to see that it was.

I have 3 weigh-ins left... dare I shoot for 40 lbs? Let's just say, I will still work hard and anything else I lose I will consider a bonus.

Check back in on Sunday for the results of our 4th and final challenge: the Outdoor Challenge.

I'm seeing colors...

I know I have mentioned many of our sponsors of the Gazette Healthy Challenge, but today's sponsor made me see colors - when my eyes were closed.

Salon Red in the Kentlands, one of our sponsors, scheduled my massage today at 2pm. My masseuse's name was Matt and he was wonderful! I had not really experienced a massage before (beside's my husband's which is awesome), but Matt really took all of my stress and pain away.

The room upstairs in Salan Red was a nice lavender color and the blankets were cozy. I had to get rid of my apprehension and allow myself to relax. He started with my shoulders and then moved to my hands, arms, feet, legs, back and neck. It was an hour long and honestly, the time flew by. Matt spent like 5 minutes of each hand, and while my eyes were closed, I saw colors. I cannot believe how just massaging my hands could put me in a state of pure bliss.

Matt asked me if I had any particular areas that needed special attention. I mentioned that my shoulders and upper back was sore form all of the upper body work we had been doing and that my legs were tight. Well, I am as loose as a goose right now.

If you are need of a massage then please, I am telling you, head over to Salon Red. Matt will take you places. And you won't regret it.

Challenge #3: The Cook off

I am pleased to announce, that the BLUE TEAM pulled out another win today at our 3rd Challenge. It was a Cooking Challenge hosted at Montgomery College's Marriot Hospitality Center and sponsored by Whole Foods.

We began preparation by meeting at the Whole Foods in Rockville with Susan, the Marketing Rep, Claire and Mrisho our Coaches/Chefs last Tuesday. As you know Tuesdays we weigh-in so we were all starving by the time we reached the Rockville Whole Foods. Susan quickly ushered us to Whole Food's awesome salad and hot bar where were filled up our containers and grabbed a drink. We headed to the "back room" which was a true kitchen.

Once there, Claire began going over the recipes and proper cutting techniques. We then decided to break the dishes up as follows: Tina/Susan - Appetizer, David/Jen - Main Course, and Rich - Dessert. By now Mrisho joined us and coached Susan and Tina with some tips for making their appetizer: Spinach and Mushroom Quesadilla's with Feta as Claire worked with David and I with our dish: Sautéed Chicken with Mushroom and Spinach and Feta. Rich began examining his dessert: Oatmeal, Sunflower seeds, and Coconut cookies. After Claire finished with David and me, she provided Rich with some helpful hints regarding his cookies.

We left pondering our dishes and some of us even did a trial run at home to see if we could pull it off. Today's competition was more stressful than I imagined. There were 5 judges, 2 photographers/reporters, Access Montgomery County TV crew, 3 Montgomery College students, 2 kitchen managers,3 Whole Food's reps and the two teams and their families. I was ready to say: Get out of my kitchen. I think that is what made it stressful for me.

We had a 1/2 hour for prep (cutting all of the mushrooms - thanks Susan, slicing all of the jalapeño - thanks Tina, measuring out all of our ingredients, and just getting ready). At exactly 10am, we began our cooking for an hour. At 11am on the dot, we had to put down our utensils and the judging began.

It was a little tense just making sure we were following the recipes and not forgetting anything. The brown Basmati Rice was making me nervous because it took almost 50 minutes to cook. When you only have an hour, it doesn’t leave much room for error. Tina and Susan look like pros making their Quesadillas. They showed awesome team work. And Rich was so smooth with his cookies that they were out of the oven and we tasted them with plenty of time to spare. David was my calming factor as he just kept a clear head and always asking what else was there to do. He amazed me with his composed hand as he sautéed the chicken, mushrooms and spinach. I felt more like a chicken running around with my head cut off.

We plated and displayed our food with seconds to spare. It looked really good. I got nervous when the Red Team won the coin toss and chose to go first. I knew that cold spinach would not taste very good.

After the judges deliberated, the Blue Team came out victorious. I wonder if the recipes had anything to do with it as most of the comments were about the flavors, but I thought the Red Team did an excellent job on their oral presentation about their dishes. We did well too with Susan’s expertise and Rich’s sense of humor. The judges even overlooked me calling our Basmati rice, Balsamic rice – and thanks to Susan for setting me straight.

This means that the Blue team earned about 0.5% added to their total weight loss and the Red Team earned a 0.3% for second place. We have had 3 challenges and the Blue Team has won all three. Yay!!!!! Team Blue!!!

The next challenge is set for June 14th and it is an Outdoor Fitness Challenge. The Blue Team is ready, although we are not quite sure what to expect yet. I do know that we will give it our ALL!

Week #7 Results

David Drayer: -3.0 lbs.             Total weight loss: -21.0 lbs. (8.1%)
Richard Feld: -6.0 lbs.             Total weight loss: -29.5 lbs. (11.9%)
Susan Feidelman: -3.5 lbs.     Total weight loss: -18.0 lbs. (8.5%)
Jen Green: -2.5 lbs.                  Total weight loss: -23.0 lbs. (11.9%)
Tina Hardy: -0.0 lbs.               Total weight loss: -13.5 lbs. (6.0%)


Yay! We did very well this week. It wasn't enough to put us ahead, but we did win this week with the most percentage weight loss.

As for the recent Soccer Challenege, the BLUE TEAM came out victorious too. Read about it all at here.

And do not forget to read about us at: http://www.gazettehealthychallenge.net. There are more articles there and it is nice to check up on the Red Team every once in a while.

At tonight's weigh-in, I lost 3.5 lbs. Yay! I am down to 171 that means 26.5 pounds lost. Isn't that AMAZING? I am so thrilled and know that I can reach my goal.

Keep cheering us on! Each and everyone of you who recognize us in public and congratulate us makes a difference, I promise! And this Saturday is our next challenge and it is a cooking challenge. Wish us luck and check back for details. Go Blue!