Saturday Extravagnza and Fun Run

The first month of the competition is over and to celebrate the group got together for a little run, a little fun and a little food. For those who missed it here is a quick update.

The morning started with a run some chose the 1.2 mile option others chose the 5K option. As contestants used their free agency to choose their distance,they had to accept the consequences. . . . fun.

Upon finishing the run contestants were treated to a fantastic spread of a low fat/low calorie feast, prepared by Karen (bless her heart). Stories were shared, weight loss tips exchanged and tears shed during consumption. Joe's biceps grace the top portion of the picture

Official weights were taken for those looking to receive the 1st months prize as well as be eligible for next months. For dramatic affect the tomato scale was brought back out of retirement.

The Awards and cheesecake slices were handed out to the rightful recipients. Above Travis accepts his week 3 Biggest Loser award


Ciara's award was accepted on her behalf by Chance.



Kim receiving his award for the Biggest Loser of the month by dropping 10.5% of his weight. Kim said he will hang the award in his garage over his #1 ribbon for the West Valley Tri as this is now the greatest moment of his life.

The Standings

1 Kim 10.38
2 Kelly 8.16
3 Chance 7.55
4 Ciara 7.50
5 Joe 6.36
6 Nannette 6.31
7 Curt 5.67
8 Chelsea 5.45
9 Nikki 4.96
10Jennifer 4.78
11Gentry 3.94
12Frank 3.82
13Karen 3.38
14Cynthia 3.30
15Kami 3.28
16Aubray 3.26
17Misty 3.16
18Cole 3.01
19Travis 2.93
20Chris 2.73
21Hailee 2.68
22Chase 2.39
23Scott 2.37
24Chaz 1.71
25Joani 1.60
26Breanna 1.18
27Savannah 1.0

Team Terry once again planted their flag in the loamy soil of the Biggest Loser competition, reclaiming the top 3 spots. Kim jumps to the top of the leader board with his monster week. Kelly jumps a few spots to second place, while Chance stands his ground in third place. The big mover was sadly Travis dropping 8 spots, but look for a nice rebound as he has a renewed commitment to the competition as he is inspired by an amazing new read. Karen has some nice movement as she jumps 6 spots.

The group total weight loss for the first month is an amazing 220.4!!

Week 4 results

Week 4 results

Once again Kim comes up big dropping 4.07% in week 4. Kelly with a 2.69% loss comes in second and Nikki posts a 2.54% to round out the top 3. The groups combined weight loss for the week was a nice 36.9 Pounds!!

1 Kim 4.07
2 Kelly 2.69
3 Nikki 2.54
4 Nannette 1.95
5 Cole 1.48
6 Joe 1.44
7 Karen 1.40
8 Hailee 1.36
9 Chance 1.31
10Jennifer 1.19
11Misty 1.19
12Curt 0.88
13Ciara 0.75
14Aubray 0.13
15Breanna 0.00
16Chase 0.00
17Chaz 0.00
18Chelsea 0.00
19Cynthia 0.00
20Frank 0.00
21Gentry 0.00
22Joani 0.00
23Kami 0.00
24Savannah 0.00
25Scott 0.00
26Chris -0.40
27Travis -1.02

One For The Money Two For the Show

The first official weigh-in is finally upon us. If you want to be eligible to score the monthly prize (25$ bout time gift certificate) you must have an official weight to end the first month or begin the second month.

Prior to the weigh-in we are having a Biggest Loser fun run on Saturday morning at 9:00 AM. Starting at Joe and Karen’s there will be a 1 mile route and a 5K route for you to choose from.

The group weigh-in will follow the run at 10:00AM. If you are unable to join us Saturday morning you can weigh-in Friday morning or earlier Saturday morning. If you decide not to do an official weight just send your weight as normal via text.

The standings

The Standings
1.Ciara 6.80
2.Kim 6.58
3.Chance 6.32
4.Kelly 5.63
5.Chelsea 5.45
6.Joe 5.00
7.Curt 4.84
8.Nannette 4.44
9.Gentry 3.94
10Travis 3.90
11Frank 3.82
12Jennifer 3.63
13Cynthia 3.30
14Kami 3.28
15Aubray 3.14
16Chris 3.12
17Nikki 2.48
18Chase 2.39
19Scott 2.37
20Karen 2.01
21Misty 2.00
22Chaz 1.71
23Joani 1.60
24Cole 1.55
25Hailee 1.34
26Breanna 1.18
27Savannah 1.00

Group weight loss for week 3 was 17 LB's
The groups total weight loss is 183.5 Lb's

Abdominal Fat

Although this picture depicts an extremely overweight man, this article applies to dangerous types of fat inside the bodies of both men and women... and this discussion also applies even if you only have a slight amount of excess stomach fat.

Did you know that the vast majority of people in this day and age have excess abdominal fat? It's true -- as much as 70% of the population in some "westernized" countries such as the US and Australia are now considered either overweight or obese. The first thing that most people think of is that their extra abdominal fat is simply ugly, is covering up their abs from being visible, and makes them self conscious about showing off their body.

However, what most people don't realize is that excess abdominal fat in particular, is not only ugly, but is also a dangerous risk factor to your health. Scientific research has clearly determined that although it is unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout your body, it is also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.

There are two types of fat that you have in your abdominal area. The first type that covers up your abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.

The second type of fat that you have in your abdominal area is called visceral fat, and that lies deeper in the abdomen beneath your muscle and surrounding your organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that "beer belly" appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.

Both subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Both types of fat greatly increase your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases.
Excess stomach fat has also been associated in studies with higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), an indicator of inflammation within the body that can lead to heart disease and other health issues.

Part of the reason visceral fat is particularly dangerous is that studies show that it releases more inflammatory molecules into your system on a consistent basis.

One of the major reasons that some people accumulate more visceral fat than others can be from a high carbohydrate diet that leads to insulin resistance over time (years of bombarding your system with too much sugars and starches for your body to properly handle the constant excess blood sugar) ... and studies show that high fructose intake particularly from high-fructose corn syrup can be a major contributor to excess visceral fat.

If you care about the quality of your life and your loved ones, reducing your abdominal fat (including reducing visceral fat) should be one of your TOP priorities! There's just no way around it. Besides, a side effect of finally getting rid of all of that excessive abdominal fat is that your stomach will flatten out, and if you lose enough stomach fat, you will be able to visibly see those attractive six pack abs that everyone wants.

So what gets rid of extra abdominal fat, including visceral fat?
Is there actually a REAL solution beyond all of the gimmicks and hype that you see in ads and on commercials for "miracle" fat loss products?

The first thing you must understand is that there is absolutely NO quick fix solution. There are no pills or supplements of any sort that will help you lose your abdominal fat faster. Also, none of the gimmicky ab rockers, rollers, or ab belts will help get rid of abdominal fat either. You can't spot reduce your stomach fat by using any of these worthless contraptions. It simply doesn't work that way.

The only solution to consistently lose your abdominal fat and keep it off for good is to combine a sound nutritious diet full of unprocessed natural foods with a properly designed strategic exercise program that stimulates the necessary hormonal and metabolic response within your body. Both your food intake as well as your training program are important if you are to get this right.

I've actually even seen a particular study that divided thousands of participants into a diet-only group and an exercise & diet combined group. While both groups in this study made good progress, the diet-only group lost significantly LESS abdominal fat than the diet & exercise combined group.

Now the important thing to realize is that just any old exercise program will not necessarily do the trick. The majority of people that attempt getting into a good exercise routine are NOT working out effectively enough to really stimulate the loss of stubborn abdominal fat. I see this every day at the gym.

Most people will do your typical boring ineffective cardio routines, throw in a little outdated body-part style weight training, and pump away with some crunches and side bends, and think that they are doing something useful for reducing their abdominal fat. Then they become frustrated after weeks or months of no results and wonder where they went wrong.

Well, the good news is that I've spent over a decade researching this topic, analyzing the science, and applying it "in the trenches" with myself as well as thousands of my clients from all over the world to see what works to really stimulate abdominal fat loss.

From my research, two of the most important aspects to getting rid of visceral fat are:

1. The use of high intensity forms of exercise and full-body resistance training. Low intensity cardio exercise simply isn't as effective for removing visceral fat in particular. High intensity exercise such as interval training or full-body weight training are very effective at helping to improve your body's ability to manage glucose and increases insulin sensitivity, a crucial step in removing visceral fat. These types of high intensity exercise routines are also very effective at increasing your fat-burning hormones and creating a hormonal environment conducive to burning off abdominal fat, including visceral fat.

2. In addition, it's vitally important to get blood sugar under control to help restore insulin sensitivity through the right nutrition. This means greatly reducing sugars and refined starches in your diet (including fully eliminating any use of harmful High fructose corn syrup and focusing more of your diet on healthy fats (such as avocados, nuts, seeds, coconut fat, olive oil, free-range eggs, fatty fish and fish oils, etc), as well as increasing protein and fiber intake. The standard diet recommended by the government, which contains an unnaturally high grain intake is NOT conducive to controlling blood sugar and reducing visceral fat!

Reducing grain-based foods in your diet and getting more of your carbs from veggies and high fiber fruits such as berries can go a long way to helping to solve this problem.

I generally only plagiarize some of the information this one however, is completely plagiarized. To give full credit you can find this at http://www.truthaboutabs.com/abdominal-fat-dangers.html

The standings

Ciara takes the coveted 1st spot of the biggest Loser, breaking up the power grip the Terry family had on the top 3 spots. This dropped Kim down to 2nd place after being on top for week one. The top two contestants have both received the cheesecake prize so hopefully we will see them drop in the weeks to come. Chelsea steps up to round out the top 3 with a great week. Good luck to all the contestants.
1. Ciara 5.98
2. Kim 5.50
3. Chelsea 5.45
4. Kelly 5.17
5. Chance 5.09
6. Joe 5.00
7. Gentry 4.35
8. Scott 4.09
9. Frank 3.82
10.Nannette 3.54
11.Curt 3.42
12.Jennifer 3.35
13.Cynthia 3.30
14.Kami 3.28
15.Chris 2.73
16.Chase 2.39
17.Aubray 2.22
18.Chaz 2.13
19.Travis 1.95
20.Misty 1.90
21.Nikki 1.65
22.Karen 1.61
23.Joani 1.52
24.Haili 1.34
25.Cole 1.07
26.Savannah 1.00
27.Breanna 0.44

The More You Know

Fat VS Muscle

Joe sent me the attached picture that absolutely blew my mind. In the picture is a model depicting 5 pounds of fat and 5 pounds of muscle. This led me to want to look into fat vs. muscle.
Fat
Fat is essential to have in our body fats store energy, insulate us and protect our vital organs. They act as messengers, helping proteins do their jobs. They also start chemical reactions that help control growth, immune function, reproduction and other aspects of basic metabolism. It’s when we have an imbalance in fats that they start to become a burden for our body and even deadly.
The cycle of making, breaking, storing and mobilizing fats is at the core of how humans and all animals regulate their energy. An imbalance in any step can result in disease, including heart disease and diabetes; it can also place strain and harden your arteries.
Body fat is completely related to calories, and the amount that we have is directly influenced by the number of calories consumed versus calories expended. Calories consumed obviously come from the foods we eat. It is important to recognize that when we consume any type of food in excess, whether it is carbohydrates, protein or dietary fat, it will be converted to body fat.
The flip side of the equation is calories used or expended. This brings exercise to mind, however, your body also expends calories in other ways. We focus on exercise because it is the method that can be most easily manipulated. Any form of exercise, at any intensity—aerobic training, resistance training, going out for a walk or performing a spring workout—burns calories and is, therefore, better than doing nothing at all. With all of this in mind, it is also important to understand that those thousands and thousands of individual fat cells that give us those nice love handles act as one unit and essentially have three options: 1.grow and possibly divide 2. rest as is or 3 shrink in size. The option your fat cells will choose completely depends on the calories you consume versus the calories you burn in your daily activity
When you burn more calories than you consume, your body uses fat (triglycerides) for energy. This causes your fat cells to shrink. In turn, triglycerides are broken down into two different substances — glycerol and fatty acids — which are absorbed into your liver, kidneys and muscle tissue. From there, the glycerol and fatty acids are further broken down by chemical processes that ultimately produce energy for your body.
These activities generate heat, which helps maintain your body temperature. The resulting waste products — water and carbon dioxide — are excreted in urine and sweat or exhaled from your lungs.
Muscle
Muscle is very different from fat. Each muscle is made up of thousands of individual cells, also called muscle fibers. While the number of muscles cells/fibers cannot increase, each individual muscle fiber has the potential to increase in size, density and efficiency. These changes may occur together but not necessarily to the same degree, however, all will translate to an increase in strength.
Unlike fat, strength gains are not related to calories; changes in the muscle physiology and resulting increases in strength do not occur as a result of dietary intake. Assuming you are eating a well-balanced diet, changes within your muscles are most influenced by the direct stresses that you place on each of them individually. These stresses can be through job-related activity, daily chores, aerobic activity or strength training. The key factor is that the muscle will only react if the stress placed on it exceeds the everyday stress it is accustomed to.
Again, this doesn’t mean you need to get to the gym forgo cardio and start lifting weights; however muscle is often associated with weight/resistance training because this is the easiest way to control and monitor the stress being placed on the muscle. It is also very effective because you can isolate any muscle and do so in a safe environment. A duke university study showed that when individuals ran consistently they reduced the amount of fat between their organs far more than those who strictly lifted weights. So a steady dose of both weight training and cardio will be the best bet to take care of all the fat throughout the body.
Muscle burns more calories than fat, according to the Mayo Clinic. Even when your body is at rest, you burn more calories with muscle mass than you do without. This is largely due to the fact that muscle is "metabolically" more active than fat, causing an increase in calories burned on any given day. Claims vary greatly on the average calories burned by muscle and by fat, which can make it difficult to discern a precise number. Some people claim that a pound of muscle burns upward of 50 calories a day, while others argue that each pound burns only an additional 5 calories over a 24-hour period. Regardless of who is correct, you're still burning more calories with muscle than with fat, since 1 lb. of fat is said to burn a total of 3 calories a day.
Fat has 3 times more volume than muscle. This is where the common phrase “muscle weighs more than fat,” comes from. The previous statement is a false statement because one pound of anything will weigh the same as one pound of something else. Although the statement is not correct the theory behind the statement is. Muscle is denser than fat and therefore takes up less room than fat. So if you burn 5 pounds of fat on your body and build 5 pounds of muscle in its place your body will have less volume. Often you will hear someone say I’ve been working out for 2 weeks, but I’m not losing any weight, at the same time their clothes are starting to be a bit loser. Losing fat and becoming healthy is not all about seeing results on the scale.

What we learned? fat is essential for our body to function and operate. It is when we have excess fat that it becomes an issue. Fat is created and stored when we intake food into our body and fail to burn this fat through physical activity and daily body functions. Muscle is built through placing stress on our muscle tissue. We cannot create more muscle tissue in our body, but we can increase the volume of our muscle tissue through exercise. Muscle is denser than fat, burns more calories, and makes the body leaner and healthier.

Does muscle weigh more than fat? No, but 5 pounds of fat has 3 times more volume than 5 pounds of fat.

Can I convert fat to muscle? Not directly, but you can make a swap for 5 pounds of fat for 5 pounds of muscle in the body through diet and exercise.

Does muscle burn more calories than fat? Yes, the actual numbers vary depending on who you talk to, but all agree muscle does burn more calories than fat in all states from rest to exercise.

Chris our grand master has ask me, and I have reluctantly agreed to be the
official photographer for WVBL the New you in 2-0-1-2 because the lens on my
I-phone hasn’t been scratched yet so I will be around this week with Chris's
gold thong for the men & I hope all you woman can get your own bikini for
the before and after shots I have attached a few photos from the after shots
from our last session so you can see a sample of what to wear and what not to
wear

Trunks? Left yes. . . Right NO!

The following couples are encouraged to take pictures together:

-Travis and Nikki

-Chaz and Kami

-Frank and Ah-bray

-Kim and Kelly

-Chance and Haili

-Joe and Karen

-Curt and Cynthia

-Chelsea and Breanna

Contestants are encouraged to do hair and makeup

Please NO orange body spray tan.

All shots should be from the front. not running away

Please NO Blue spray tan

Week 1 Results (Week Terry)

Week 1 Results

Total weght loss for the group

96.6 Pounds

1. Kim 4.01
   


2. Chance 3.41



3. Kelly 3.32



4. Chelsea 3.18
   


5. Joe 3.18



6. Frank 2.83



7. Ciara 2.75



8. Curt 2.75
   


9. Kami 2.53



10. Scott 2.45



11. Nannette 2.32
    


12. Chris 2.04
    


13. Gentry 1.89



14. Haili 1.34



15. Cynthia 1.18
    


16. Chase 1.15



17. Cole 1.07



18. Savannah 1



19. Travis .98



20. Chaz .85



21. Nikki .83



22. Karen .81



23. Jenifer .76
    


24. Breanna .44
    


25. Aubray .37



26. Misty .24



27. Joani 0 (late entry, look for big numebers week 2)

Oven Fried Chicken Tenders W/ 5-spice BBQ Sauce

Oven Fried Chicken Tenders

With Blog Exclusive 5-Spice BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

3/4 cup(s) panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs)
2 tablespoon(s) sesame seeds
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon(s) Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
1 pound(s) chicken-breast tenders
1 tablespoon(s) olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup(s) ketchup
1 tablespoon(s) brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon(s) cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon(s) Worcestershire sauce

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. In 10-inch skillet, toast bread crumbs and sesame seeds over high heat about 5 minutes or until golden, stirring frequently. Transfer crumb mixture to plate.

2.In medium bowl, with wire whisk or fork, mix egg white, 1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder, and salt until foamy. Dip tenders in egg-white mixture, then in crumb mixture to coat. Place tenders on cookie sheet. Bake tenders 13 to 15 minutes or until they lose their pink color throughout. Do not turn tenders over.

3.Meanwhile, in same skillet, heat oil over medium heat until hot. Add onion and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until soft and lightly browned. Remove skillet from heat; stir in ketchup, sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and remaining five-spice powder. Pour sauce into small bowl; serve with tenders.

Myths and reality of Trans fats

Pain is temporary and trans fats are forever right? Trans fats were first processed to enhance the flavor, texture and shelf life of many processed foods. Trans fats are very rarely found in nature, however in beef and some dairy products it can naturally be found.

The consumption of trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart diseas by raising levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and lowering levels of "good" HDLcholesterol. Health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of trans fat be reduced to trace amounts. Essentially trans fats travel to your arteries and turn to sludge.

As stated earlier trans fats can be found in beef and dairy products. Interestingly enough when it is found naturally it has been shown to actually do the opposite of what processed trans fats do. Natural occurring trans fats generally raise HDL’s and lower LDL’s.

In 1994, it was estimated that trans fats caused 20,000 deaths annually in the US from heart disease. It was at this time studies were done and determined just what trans fat were doing to our body, and we began to see a decline in the production of trans fats. Luckily in 2006 trans fats were removed from Oreo cookies, because of a lawsuit. This was actually the first domino to fall as most other manufacturers started to reduce or eliminate trans fats in their products. Thanks Oreo’s!

So the age old question comes up. Do trans fats stay in the body, never to leave? The basic answer is trans fats get processed just like any other fat. If a person consumes large amounts and doesn't exercise, then the fats could potentially not get processed. So the main problem with trans fats is they reduce your good cholesterol and raise your bad cholesterol.
In the end trans fats are like any other fat, no good. So if you must eat trans fats make sure you eat them on the treadmill. So in the end pain is temporary and trans fats are forever if you don’t work them off.

Welcome to the Biggest Loser, The New You In 2-0-1-2.

This will be a 12 week competition featuring some of the greatest weight loss the modern world has ever seen. Over these 12 weeks you will be tested on hunger suppression, exercise, mental fortitude, caloric intake, craving yields, late night snack rejections, caloric burn, inner thigh rash and many other things if we discussed you may not wish to endure the competition. It will be a competition based on percentage of body weight lost, a simple formula of total weight, lost divided by initial weight for a winner take 75% battle. You will be pitted against man woman and child for an epic battle to determine who is the BIGGEST LOSER!