***It's Just Like You See in Television; We are our own reality show, just not nearly as entertaining!

A huge part of me has a love/hate relationship with reality shows, especially the "Biggest Loser". I used to sit and watch them all the time when they first started appearing. "Biggest Loser" was something that motivated me, same thing with" Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition". For years I would even at times beg Darrin to come and watch with me so maybe he could get motivated as well. Seeing the transformations to me was so awesome. It didn't work that way for Darrin, he never liked them until the finale end results. It wasn't until a couple years ago that I realized that those shows are so full of crap!! So much UN-REALITY! The people in these shows are hand picked and then given EVERYTHING! They get to quit their jobs, quit their families, quit their social lives. They are given healthy cooks and a kitchen full of healthy food. They don't show the hurting or the insanely sore muscles and the pains from their grueling workouts. They don't show the ice baths, the heating pads, the hot tubs, the stem machines, the body adjustments and all the supplements that heal these sore muscles and bones.  They are given a support group immediately and have a home provided away from all temptations and given trainers that kick their Aces! Sure they try to incorporate all that back in, but that's where everything goes wrong. The only "biggest loser" prize ever given should be to the people who can do what they do on the reality shows but all on their own living their normal every day life. Lets put hidden cameras on them...but then it wouldn't be entertaining. I know it wouldn't be, because we are that reality show, and I promise you we aren't nearly as entertaining as Bob and Jillian. So many lies!

There are however, some truths to what you see on TV. The truth....THIS IS HARD!!! I love how they have trainers that kick their butts, but that kind of training would be financially catastrophic. Our version of the trainers = ME, the crazy wifey, I will not let this man quit! I will be Big 'D's motivation by proxy. I'm as close to Jillian as we will ever get to! Hahahaha, which isn't very close, maybe even miles away :) The other version of those trainers is cross-fit, thank heavens for cross-fit, because the leader that is assigned to Darrin is very motivating for Darrin and he is doing things he hasn't done since football practices 12 years ago. And the expense isn't nearly what it would cost to hire a personal daily trainer. Cross-fit is working!

The other truth I in what we see on TV is that there will be times where we cheat and are in denial about it, and that we HAVE to get the truth out! Big 'D' hit that landmark this week where he cheated and made himself believe it wasn't a problem. And It resulted in NO weight loss this week. He's lucky he didn't gain. One of Darrin's biggest temptations (as crazy as it sounds) is milk. Who would guess right?? He could drink gallon after gallon a day if I let him. Milk, as healthy as they claim is full of sugar and calories, it makes you gain weight, in the consumption that Darrin drinks. When we were on WIC, the amount of milk that program hands out is absolutely ridiculous! Well, not to Darrin, he loved every gallon of it.  He gave it up cold turkey on Jan 4. Maybe that was the mistake?? Maybe he needs to incorporate a glass a day into his calorie intake? When he doesn't drink milk, a gallon in our fridge actually goes bad before the girls and I can finish it. When he drinks it, we were doing at least a gallon or more a day. No lie! That's not easy on the pocket book either.

Anyways we started buying half gallons cause we didn't want the milk to go bad. On Tuesday we had just put a new half gallon in the fridge. I remember seeing it before I left for work, un-opened. And then when I got home that evening, the entire half gallon was nearly gone. Maybe 1/2 cup left to put in the homemade mashed potatoes I was making for dinner. I knew all of our habits, so I went straight to Darrin with the milk jug in my hand and asked him if he drank all the milk (already knowing the answer). He of course denied it at first and said it was the girls, then was belligerent about it and confessed he drank it, but it was over a few days time, a sip here, a sip there. I knew this wasn't the truth. I begged him to please think about it. I begged him to drop his pride and to realize that he alone had drunk the whole jug all by himself. I told him he needed to realize this so we could move on. Also our 9 year old approached me around the same time this week and told me that daddy ate a lot of  peanut butter M&M's. She said... "Daddy handed me a big bag of M&M's that he bought for me as a treat, but when he gave them to me they were already almost gone. Mommy I know he hate them." She was sad for her daddy. She can see Darrin's inner demons at work when it comes to food.

Well, a couple days later Darrin finally humbled himself and confessed he'd drunk all the milk himself in one day and talked about the bag of candy. This my friends is one of the only truths you see on the weight loss reality shows. They do show the battle that the contestants go through with their temptations and its the trainers job to help them see there failures. This is a role I have been well trained on over our 12 years of marriage. I take this duty on completely. I will beat the truth out of my husband if I have to! I will not let him fail this time!! We were able to move on this week and get back on the band wagon. Darrin was able to realize that he is going to have episodes where he will cheat, and we are willing to work with that, but that he MUST come clean about it! This was the episode in our little reality show with our first break through. Now lets keep it moving!!! Here's to a good week!!!

The girls this week did GREAT! We tried asparagus, and once again, it.was.hilarious. I prepared it a few different ways, but it didn't matter, the girls still hated it it! We also went back to tomatoes and this week I also threw in Kale on our salads! Success!!!!! On Monday, our first try of the the kale on our salad, Tommye asked for another helping! A salad with kale, green leaf lettuce, and tomatoes! Oh my heavens, did this make my heart happy. Who knew that I could be this happy over my oldest eating healthy?! Brylee was sick most of the week, so I had to be more lenient with her. However she did taste all the above, but unsuccessfully. Which is OK as taste buds actually are deceitful when sickness is present. We also tried blueberries which Tommye somewhat enjoyed, Brylee hated, and Heston loved! All in all....a good "food" week!

Our family activity was insanely difficult as usual to incorporate in our week. Darrin once again studied like crazy this week and he had his first second semester exam. We HATE first exams!! Darrin added up the total contributing hours of study devoted to this exam and he came to 55 hours. EEEK! I knew he was studying hard, but yikes! Selfishly, what I heard with that number....that's 55 hours where I was a single mom supporting a full-time student husband and I began to cry by myself in my room, knowing I couldn't let Darrin see my selfish grief. But this is ok everyone! I've bounced back and I'm ready to be supporting again, I just needed a moment to myself, a moment to dwell on myself and not anyone else, and then to get back on my own horse, put my big-girl panties back on and get moving myself!  It's a new week! I am proud however to report that I lost some more weight and since the end of September until now, am happy to say I have lost around 17 pounds, 20 on a good day. (Other women will know what I mean). It took me four months, but hey its good! Another 15-20 to go.  We are all working on our own demons. Darrin's is food, mine is loneliness mingled with business. I am soooooo grateful for support. We couldn't keep going without it. You know who you are.  :)

Oh wait....You should all know.....Darrin got an 80 on his first exam!! One of the higher scores in his class! So proud! Now, that's a reality show for you!

Here are the pics of our family activity. We went sledding. What you can't see is my bad attitude because I was SO mad that the day before we had just gotten POUNDED with snow all day for the last two days, but then the very next day there was hardly any snow to get any productive sledding done!!! And I LOVE sledding, and I was looking forward to the workout that can come from it. NOPE, not this time. At least the girls could get some speed and they loved it inspite of the lack of snow, and that made me smile and my attitude shifted :)







This sled run actually had so much speed that they hit the fence and I yelled to Tommye "oh my gosh, hold on to Heston tight, don't let go!!" Good job Tommye, cause that's just what she did! Brylee actually ended up on the ground because of the force that they hit the fence, but her smile says it all!

Big enough pants?? I just realized that I have lived around 14-15 years of my life in state where it is cold and snows and I have NEVER owned my own pair of snow pants. These ones in the pic are Darrin's. I think its high time I get my own pair! Maybe at the end of this season when the prices are all marked down?? We'll see!

Daddy being a good daddy and giving us speed on the slow lack of snow hill. Also holding the tube so they could get some velocity!

 When we get another good snow fall, we plan on doing this WAY more productively!! Boo on the snow, you let us down!

Also, if anyone is interested I am attaching the plan I presented the board of directors at my work. I was so extremely nervous and I felt like I couldn't even talk anymore because my mouth was as dry as cotton! Cotton Mouth at its worst!! BUT......the board LOVED all my ideas and it's going to happen!!! I'm so dang excited. I have a lot of work to do ahead of me, but it doesn't have to be done all at once. What I am inserting here is the flyer that will get emailed to all the employees this week. Right now we are trying to determine the level employee interest. And then we can go from there. The actual flyer I have is in a more entertaining form, but for some reason this blog site won't let me put it on here that way.  So you get the boring and unorganized version, sorry! If your interested, all you have to do is click on the "read more" tab below!

Thanks everybody!! A better, happier post to come next week!! Love you all!!

Family Health Services

Employee Health Challenge 2014

Renew those New Year’s resolutions and get ready for Summer!!

Many details are yet to be determined and are contingent on # of interested employees. We are hoping that interest will be vast! Please respond to this email promptly if you would like to participate so we can get an accurate number. Once we get an idea on # of Participants more details can be planned and sign-ups can begin. Let’s get this challenge on its way! Dates may change contingent on interest as well. I have listed some basic info. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call or email Analisa Hodgkiss (Health Challenge leader) at 208-317-8723  ahodgkiss@gmail.com or dnahodgkiss@gmail.com Periodic emails will be sent out to participants with updated info. If you don’t have any weight to lose, please sign up anyways and commit to be healthier and be more active (i.e. give up sweets or quit smoking start exercising) or even just to be a cheer leader for a team and participate in our “End Goal” Outdoor Challenge/obstacle course! Providers are highly encouraged to participate and cheer on your staff!

12 Week Challenge

·      Begins March 1

·      Commit to lose weight or get tone/healthy etc...

·      Give up an unhealthy habit

·      $20 obligation fee (motivating factor)

o  pays for CSI obstacle course

o  FHS, booster and donations cover other misc. fees and prizes

·      Health Evaluations

o  BMI/Body fat % meas.

o  Blood pressure

o  Diabetes testing

·      Teams

·      Classes offered during the challenge?

o  Healthy dinner options

o  Weight loss classes

·      Ends May 24

o  CSI obstacle course,

o  picnic and prizes

Teams

•  Teams created by office/location. All
•  locations encouraged to form teams!
•  # of participants/team is to be det. Please feel free to form a team and we’ll go from there.
• Nominate a team leader
•  Someone who is supportive and encouraging
•  Records/reports weight loss of team members  
• Records/reports number of minutes of physical activity
•  If you don’t have a team let us know, please respond regardless
• Team will compete as a group to collect the most minutes of exercise/activity
• Encourage and support one another

            CSI Obstacle-challenge Course

• This is the big event we are working towards!
•   May 24^th (Sat) mark your calendar!
•  High/low elements of Challenge course
• Can be as physical as you would like; only do what you feel comfortable with on the course!
•      Highly renowned reputation
•    Customized course just for FHS needs
•     Marks our physical and mental growth
•     Unifies FHS employees
•     Will be a BLAST!!!!!
•  Prizes awarded (TBD)
• Individual with overall % of weight-loss
• Team with greatest over all minutes of exercise/activity
•  Picnic
•  Re-evaluate Health (BMI, etc…)

·   .