days in the life of a
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November 2011
click here to read older November 2011 posts....

November 28, 2011
A HOUSEFUL OF FULL HOUSES
























Before...


























...AFTER!


























For the first time, we hosted the House family Thanksgiving celebration. 

Mama and Dad were there with half of their children (that would be me and my sister Barb).

Kim and I had half of our children there.

Barb had half of her children there.

We may have been at half-Housepower, but the 14 of us there had a great day of family fellowship, laughter, and of course...


























...FOOD!

I didn't really feel like Kim and I were cooking very much, but by the time Mama and Barb and Sarah and Dana and Emily pitched in with their yummy contributions,...


























...we had MORE THAN ENOUGH, to say the least.


























After skipping out on desserts the past 12 weeks during the Biggest Loser contest (more on that tomorrow!), I especially savored the delicious array of sweets.

Oh. So. Very. SCRUMP-Diddly-UMPTIOUS!!!!



























It is quite difficult in our kitchen to get everyone in one photo, especially since they were chomping at the bit to start chomping on their feast.

I really needed a W I D E angle lens to capture this gang...



























And I realized later that Karter and Austin way down at the other end of the table were hidden behind the big people, so I snapped another one mid-meal.

Hello, my sweet Karterman!


























We missed our sister Maria and brother Mark (and they certainly missed out!), but these two House sisters always have fun when we get together.



























While the women chatted around the table and watched the children, the men crashed in the living room to watch football, check out the Black Friday ads, and sleep.

I'm not sure where Dad was when I took this photo, but I did see him walking around outside checking things out.  It was a beautiful Thanksgiving day!


























So that was our Thanksgiving celebration, thankfully shared with...

...a houseful of full Houses!!!




November 29, 2011
AND THE WINNER IS.....



























Way back on August 30, 13 weeks ago, I joined 23 other men and women in a Biggest Loser competition through Facebook.

A few of those people I knew, but most I didn't.  I'd been planning to kick my weight loss program into high gear anyway and this was just a little extra motivation to stick with it for the long haul.

So I mailed in my $15 entry fee (thinking "what the heck...I've wasted $15 on less things than this...") and on August 30 I had my first official weigh-in.

Let me just say, it was not a pretty number.  Pretty disgusting, in fact.

But that way-too-high-number helped kick in my competitive juices/stubbornness and, from the beginning, I was "in it to win it."

The first week I surprised even myself by losing 9 pounds, getting off to a blazing start which was very motivating and gave me the psychological boost I needed.  During the next 11 weeks, some weigh-ins were better than others but every single week I lost at least 2 pounds.

Our final weigh-in was last Tuesday morning.

The moment of truth.  Thrill of victory or agony of defeat...

And the winner is...


























...ME!!!!!

Yep, I WON!!! 

Official loss of 49.2 pounds for the 12-week contest!  I have to tell you I was a tad bit disappointed that I didn't hit my very-lofty goal of 50 pounds, but I'm pretty thrilled with 49.2!

I still have my life-long nemesis, that "spare tire" around my middle (although it is a smaller spare tire than it used to be...) and I'd like to lose a little more weight to shrink that (I long ago gave up the hope of ever totally getting rid of it!), but I sure am feeling and looking a lot better than I did 13 weeks ago.



























I guess I should have taken a "Before" photo, but this is the closest I have.  This was taken the end of July and is about where I was when the contest started.  (Gotta love the "beach hair"...)

No full body shots for me if I can avoid it, especially when I'm too heavy...


























This photo of Kim and me was taken just last weekend.

49.2 pounds lighter. 

Oh, yeah...and I forgot to mention, $216 richer, which was the first place cash prize for winning the contest.

And yes, not only is the body better, the hair is definitely better (which is just about as important...).

My quest is not yet over.  I'm hoping to lose another 8-10 pounds by the time we ring in 2012.

This is the first time in my life I'm proud to be The Biggest Loser!!!