On the commute home...

On the commute home from work riding shotgun so I thought I would post a message. We have been busy these last 7 days with church activities so eating the right meals have been a bit challenging. However, we have continued to make this a priority. We have made it a point to not go out everynight to eat and continue to eat at home before church. Eating at home has definitely helped us continue to eat right. Last Friday, I weighed in at 190.25 pounds. This is the lowest I've been since about a year after we got married in 2001. Stephanie asked me the other day, how low I want to go. I told her it is not about the weight, but more of the bodyfat. History...over the last 15 years, I have fluctuated in weight with an "off-season" "in-season" bodybuilding mindset. I think this weight cut has been the best for me. At one point, I was stuck at a 275 pound bench weighing 185. Now at 190.25, I am still benching well over 300 pounds...not as good as when I weighed 260 and benched over 400, but at this point in my life, I am very happy where I am at in my fitness journey. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more. Scott

Did you drink your water today?

I know, I know - you're saying "yes Stephanie, I've heard it before."  One of the keys of weight loss/maintenance is water.  Now, I am definitely NOT an expert on this.  And yes, I have read multiple articles relating to drinking water, how much to drink, what it does for metabolism, how it reacts with your body, water retention - the list goes on and on.  If you're at all interested in weight loss, you too have read some of these articles - maybe more!

I used to laugh at my mom because when I was younger, the only thing she drank for the most part was water.  I would think, "Hello?!?!? Don't you want something different? Like milk or iced tea or lemonade??"  But almost always, she was drinking water.  I never understood why until I started wanting to lose weight.  To be very honest with you,  the very first thing I did when I wanted to lose the pregnancy weight I had gained with my son (about 5 years ago) was to force (yes I said force) myself to drink 20 oz of water before I ate ANYTHING.  So that meant that before I drank my morning coffee and ate breakfast, I slugged down 20 oz of water.  Then about 10 minutes before I would eat my lunch I would slug another 20.  And then the same before dinner.  I would also drink a little water through out my day.  Now, if you notice, by doing that, I was already at 60 oz of water each day.  The average "trend" these days is to get 64 oz of water each day.  I had it made!!!! 

What I noticed was that by drinking the water, I would be a little more full before I ate and so would not eat as much.  I can honestly say that by doing that and counting WW points, I was able to lose about 20 pounds of pregnancy weight.  Way cool!!!  Fast forward to my current weight loss/maintenance period - I find that if I haven't drank at least 80 or more ounces of water each day, that I end up 1. thirsty, 2. eating everything in sight and 3. not very regular (if you catch my drift!).  As a side note to #3 there - I was never very regular before I had my son 5 years ago.  I would go way more than 5 or 6 - maybe more days and would feel awful!  After having him, I started to become more regular and I always thought it was because of pregnancy hormones and all that.  Really - I believe I started to be regular because I started getting the amount of water my body really wanted - not just needed.  Course having fiber in your diet helps, but that is another post for another day.

For each of us, daily water consumption is different.  How and when you get it in is different as well.  I think the bottom line is that when you replace your soda, juice, and sugary drinks with water, not only will you lose weight, but your body will function better.  I know there is a whole lot more to say about this, but I don't want to bore you too much.

So, here's to all of us getting in our 64+ oz of water today and all the rest of this week!

Stephanie :0)

Friends

Hey all!  Just wanted to give a quick shout out to my lovely friend Leah at My New Ending.  Recently, I was asked to "guest" post for her and I was so excited to do so!  You can go here to read more of my story and then when you are done, check out the rest of her blog. 

Leah and I have been friends since we were babies......ok well maybe not that long, but as long as I can remember, I have called her my friend.  Since we have gotten older, our friendship has taken on a whole different aspect and I am so glad to count her as my friend and confidant!

When you are done reading about my story, and Leah's story, make sure to catch a guest post she has posted today by our mutual friend Sarah and the final guest post by another mutual friend Kelly.  You don't want to miss these exciting, yet different storys of how all of us as friends have had our own weight loss journeys.  And when you're there, make sure to leave her some lovin' comments!!!

Stephanie :0)

Well it's Monday!

And I hope you all had a GREAT weekend!  Stephanie here again just to check in and see how it's going.

We had a fairly low key weekend with not much going on.  I think we're gearing up for the coming weekend as it will be a fairly busy one with church activities, work issues, school and all that comes with every day life! 

Saturday is usually a day that we really try to set aside as "family time".  I know that in the future we may not be able to keep it as a family day, but for now, we really make it a priority.  My Saturday normally starts around 6:00 (I sleep in for a half hour!) when I can get up and do my daily Bible reading and prayer time before the kids get up.  After that I usually try to fit in my cardio "day" which normally is a run.  Due to our schedules, Saturday is the only day that I can run during the week.  (I know there's the whole jogging stroller thing, but that's for another post!) 

After that, we go to a little coffee shop here in our town for coffee and breakfast.  Now, our breakfast there used to look like this:

(Photo courtesy of http://hazybottom.blogspot.com )
Yep - you guessed it - homemade, delicious scones that are to die for!  What I would give for one of their White Chocolate Blueberry Scones.......heaven!  Well, unfortunately, those did not fit into the calorie budget, so now my breakfast looks like a Greek Yogurt Parfait.  Of course I bring it with me because I can guarantee my calorie count.  And it is my FAVORITE breakfast!

This last weekend we made a trip to our absolute favorite place........

(Ok don't tell me it's not your favorite place!)

.......where we picked up all of our major groceries for the next couple of weeks, ate lunch at the food court (Chicken Ceaser Salad w/out the croutons and a little dressing - AND frozen yogurt for dessert!) and then came home. 

I'll admit after a few hours of being home, the week started catching up with me and I started to shut down, physically and mentally, however, I was excited because Scott was able to go take a walk outside.  I know - that's not too exciting for some, but for him - it's awesome because his walk normally is inside on a treadmill at the gym.  Now, don't get me wrong - when he left I was upset because I was going to have to be with the kids by myself AGAIN, but after I started thinking about it - I was glad........so glad that I have a husband who cares about his health and wellness.  Glad that he can carve time out for himself without feeling guilty.  Glad that he is setting the example for me and for our kids of what a healthy life can look like. 

I will humbly admit that I still was a little grumpy when he came home, but not as much as if I had allowed myself to dwell on the fact that I was not having my own time away from the kids.  And don't worry - I got my down time......Scott played games with the kids for the rest of the evening so I got a chance to be alone for a few!

What I learned from this weekend?  Not everything goes the way we want it to, but if we focus on the good parts, the healthy parts, we can have a successful day anyway!

Hope you all had a tremendous weekend as well!  Here's to a healthy and productive week for all of us!

The Task

Hello there all!  Stephanie here and feeling a little unsure where to start, but here goes!

As Scott mentioned before, I have lost close to 70 pounds.  I could say that my beginnings with losing weight started about 2 1/2 years ago, but that wouldn't be all true.  Its just that this last leg of the journey has led me to a new way of looking at weight loss, exercise, eating, and overall healthiness.  I am one of the lucky people whose metabolism needs a jump start every morning just to get the cows rolling if you know what I mean!  The good thing is, my mom drilled into my head "you just gotta keep moving" and so I have.  Maybe not enough at times to warrant any type of effect, but I've tried to keep it moving just so that I never ended up with a huge weight problem.  I think Mom could see that if I didn't keep moving, that I could have been one of the obese kids who grows into an obese adult with some of the mental baggage that comes along with that.  Thankfully - I didn't have a lot of baggage to get rid of, but there definitely was some hiding in the closet - as I'm sure it is/was for you!

I'd like to preface some of what I say with the facts that I am not a trainer or am certified, (although those are definite thoughts that have been lurking in the back of my mind - just haven't taken shape yet), and so everything that I mention here in our blog is either from personal experience, or something I read somewhere or will need a "link" connecting back to a blog or source, because, let's just be real - I'm not an expert, but what I have done is working for me and can work for you too!  I'm not sure the exact direction that we are going for in this blog, except that, it is our desire to be able to help someone else along the way if only in a small way.

I have a just a leeettttlllle bit more experience with blogs than does my husband.  Some of my free time is spent "blog-stalking" and we have our own little family blog that has been sorely neglected since February of this year. So, I almost cracked up when he said "Hey - we should do a fitness blog.....do you think there's anything else out there like that?"  I just had to break his poor little bubble because there are so many wonderful blogs out in blog land - fitness, running, weight loss, body building, training, mom's losing weight, dad's losing weight, young people figuring it out, older people getting a new drive and kicking it - there is so much out there!  My blog roll is pretty long with all different types of blogs that I scan from day to day. Of course there are those whose blogs I check every day, and others that I check once a week.  Every day there is something new happening in someone else's experience that is very exciting.

So, in all of that, I hope that this bloggie doesn't bore you to tears.  We will get in a rhythm and know what our direction is.  This site can and will develop with time so hang with us!  If you have a question, you can email us at sandsteamfitness at gmail dot com or just leave us a comment of something you'd like to hear one of us talk about!

Stephanie

The Before and After.....What you all have been waiting for...

Hi all.  I wanted to start my next post with pictures of where our journey started.  As you recall in my first blog, I mentioned that I was about 270 pounds at my heaviest.  The picture below is from April 2008 when I visited my parents in Hawaii.  You can see that I work out at the gym; however, you can also see the extra weight around the mid-section.

This is a picture of Stephanie in April 2009.  She was about 170 pounds at this point and ready make a change in her life. 

This is a picture from last month.  You can definitely see the difference.  Stephanie is about 60 pounds lighter and I am about 75 pounds lighter!

Stay tuned...more to come!

Getting started...

Hello and thank you for reading our new blog.  We are excited to take you through the journey my wife and I have experienced as well as what we are currently doing to stay fit.

This first post will be an explanation of the title of this blog..."For bodily exercise profiteth little..." 1 Timothy 4:8.

Here we go...

Back in college, I was what you could consider a "gym rat".  I would spend multiple hours in the gym lifting weights and looking in the mirror :-).  Some of my church friends would quote the scripture in 1 Timothy and tell me that I was spending too much time in the gym.  While I could not disagree with their advice, if you read between the lines in this scripture, you will see that bodily exercise does profit...and let me add...it definitely profits as you get older.

My fitness/health journey has taken me from 140 pounds to 270 pounds and back to a current 192 pounds...all this at about the same height of 5'11".  I will explain in more detail later in future posts.  Now at 35 years old, I am in the best shape of my life and look healthier that I ever have.

My wife will share a similar story as a mother of 2 beautiful children.

We have found that being "fit for life" takes Discovery, Dedication, and Discernment...The 3 Ds that we have coined on our fitness journey.  You will see posts on this blog from me and my wife regarding tips for getting in shape and staying fit.

Take care and stay tuned...Scott & Stephanie