Go HERE and vote, vote, vote! You can vote once a day PER COMPUTER and in each Browser (IE, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, etc.)
Cristina really needs our help as it's down to just her and Nicole on the Brown Team. So, we are asking for your help to send her to the FINAL 2!
After that, the winner is crowned based on percentage of weight loss!
Cristina has lost 29 pounds in 10 weeks and is feeling soooo good. Not only about her weight loss, but the outpouring of support from all of YOU! I can attest to the positive change this has had in her life!
Also, we will be giving a little incentive for voting! We will be giving away TWO $25 gift cards to the GAP! Check out sarajoyner.blogspot.com for more details (later today she'll have the details)!
So what are you waiting for?? Go VOTE: http://atlbiggestloser.com and tell all of your facebook friends and family!!
This week has been a hard week. Schedules were different, I was sick for three days, then when I got better, Naomi was terribly sick! The kind where you are holding your child all day. Poor thing ruptured her ear drum. She feels much better now. So, as soon as I could I got back to working it hard. Working out mostly three times a day. I'm a little tired now. During this last week I watched the scales go up and down. I did some good workouts this week, and I really think I gained some muscles! I went into train and my trainer forgot to call and cancel, but there was another trainer, Kelly, there doing P90x so we did it together. It was so fun! I felt that one for a couple of days. I've learned some good tips, too, that I will be sharing with you!
We had our weigh in today! I am down about another 4 lbs! I feel so good. I weighed 150 before I got pregnant with Naomi. But I am happier now than I was at my skinniest. You have given me that gift, because of your support. Because of your support I am challenged more and I want to work harder. Because of you, I've made it through to this round and I don't want to let you down or myself! So thank you for this wonderful gift of losing weight and feeling better. You are helping to change my life!
Wednesday, I will be on our local show again at 11:00! So, that means it's voting time again! This is the last time you will need to vote! I am up against Nicole this week and the winner this week makes it to the finals and will then be up against the Pink team! And whoever has eliminated the biggest percentage of weight wins! The grand prize has yet to be announced, but the winner last year won 2 round-trip tickets anywhere and he is now the spokesperson for Good Measure Meals! So this is crunch time! This is the one that counts the most! I need your help one last time!
I will send out an email when voting has begun!
Love you!
Cristina Packham Atlanta's Biggest Loser, because my family and friends, and friends of friends ROCK!!
P.S. Voting will begin Wednesday at Noon ET and go until Friday at 10 a.m. ET. And, as always, you can vote once a day per computer and on each Browser, too (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.)!
The winner of $20 in gift certificates to Amazon.com is....
Amber Smith!
Thank you so much to everyone who entered the contest and voted for Cristina!!! We will be doing this again in two weeks when Cristina will need your votes again!! There should be just one more vote (between her and Nicole, the final two on the brown team) then the final 2 is decided by total weight lost, we believe.
Here is the video from today's show when Cristina found out she was safe! Holly Firfer is quite the Ryan Seacrest with her method of delivering the good news. Check it out!
Win Win! Remember you can vote again today! If you have different log-ins on your computers, you can vote once from each of those, on EACH computer you have access to. (And different browser allow votes, too!) Voting is open until 10 a.m. ET tomorrow (FRIDAY), so you can vote again tonight at midnight ET!!
And -- remember that you can comment below EACH time you vote, which increases Cristina's chance to win and your chance to win the $20 to Amazon giveaway. It's a total win-win situation! CLICK HERE and vote for Cristina :)
Choose CRISTINA to stay (you are voting for who STAYS)! Enter the six-digit verification code and you're done. (until the next day!)
You can vote once a day from each computer from now until Friday at 10 a.m. EASTERN TIME. So you West Coast people will need to get up early that day (or vote late on Thursday!)
And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have everyone you know vote or post something on their blog, too.
This is such a small-scale contest in reality, so your vote WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Last time Cristina was on the block there were just under 5000 votes cast and Cristina won BY 13 VOTES!!
Cristina is NOT done and is so motivated to win this thing!
AND -- here is where we bribe you. I'm adding a $20 Amazon giveaway as incentive to vote AND spread the word!
Here's how to enter:
1. Comment on this post AFTER you VOTE for Cristina.
2. Post about Cristina on YOUR blog for FIVE extra entries. Comment again, and let me know your blog link (if I don't already know it). You can copy/paste from my post, if you want. Just be sure to include this link: http://ATLbiggestloser and tell people to vote FOR Cristina, because we're voting for her to STAY. Tell everyone to go vote and then leave a comment here (honor system, people!).
Here's what you could win: On Friday, once the voting is over, I will give away $20 in Amazon gift certificates!
Ok -- now go VOTE! And spread the word! You could win by helping Cristina win. :) Ahhh yes, spread the love!
P.S. If I get over 100 comments on this post, I will draw for an extra prize on Friday! You can comment each time you vote (be honest)!
I have decided to pay more attention to the daily goals. So, my goals are to write down my caloric intake and burn over 3000 calories a day! That should be easy!! LOL! It doesn't matter to me what I need to do to get there. Run, walk, Zumba, swim, clean, whatever. After every one putting in so much effort to keep me in this. I knew I would need to figure out a way to step it up to be in the top % and guarantee a spot in the final two on my team. The reason why my goal is high is because it takes 3500 calories to say goodbye to one pound! That's incredible isn't? So, I've decided to not only be accountable to myself but to you!
Monday I ate under 1200 calories, and burned about 3300 calories! My lunch was my favorite ... i had a small piece of salmon, acorn squash, and an awesome salad! The salad included baby spinach, sprouted lentils, pea shoots, cucumbers, de-shelled edamame, sprinkled with a little Olive Garden dressing. It was pretty good! To burn all my calories I did my workout with my trainer, hiked Kennesaw Mountain with our family and some friends (Dustin and Robyn, then we all went to the park to let the kids play while Robyn and I walked and sprinted the track. Then my friend Sherri and her kids came and we continued to walk the track until the kids had to go to bed.
Tuesday, I went to my Zumba class and since I felt a little dizzy I decided to just walk the inside track with some 3 lb dumbbells until we needed to pick the kids up from school. After the kids ate lunch and took naps I went back to the gym for some more cardio and swimming. I want to do at least 3 miles of cardio and on the days when it's just cardio get 30-45 min of swimming in. Which definitely means I need more sleep and more stretching! I heard the other day that your body associates tension with stress and associates stress with producing more adrenaline. And too much adrenaline, not so good for you! Here's an article on it....
So stretch and breathe it out! My friend Kate came over and we ended up only having 20 min. to work out so we did jumping jacks, ran around the yard, did kicks and tried to be really cool and do the wheelbarrow. Do you remember doing that as a kid? We aren't that cool yet, we both fell on our faces in a good laugh! I ended up at about 3600 calories burned!
Today I have done great! I stayed at 1200 calories, eating a banana mango protein shake for breakfast, which was excellent! There was a cup of soy milk, 1/4 cup frozen mangoes, 1 banana, Alka Slim powder and protein powder equaling about 370 calories but I made enough for Drew. So it was actually about 300 calories. I worked out with at my trainers studio and did some cardio there. Then went home and had lunch. I split up a Good Measure meal to have one serving for lunch and another for a snack at about 3:00. I had a fish taco for dinner. Then went to the gym with my very fun friend Kate! We did 15 min on a cardio machine and then did our Zumba class! Which I absolutely love and adore! I had a banana in between those two workouts. Once home I cleaned the kitchen, swept the floors and mopped! That put me at 3988 calories burned today! Say goodbye to about 2 more lbs! Because all the calories burned add up or so my trainer tells me ...
A very important part of saying sayonara to those extra pounds is believing in yourself, and loving your body. If you keep telling yourself, "I'll never look like I want" or "It's impossible, I'm too old" or "I can't get rid of my cellulite" then how can you possibly reach your goals? You would only be setting yourself up to fail. The important thing here is WHY? What is your fear that is keeping you from dropping the weight? Is it loose skin? Is it success? What is it? I know what mine is, find your fear and face it. And then take the next step to believe in you and your body's ability to heal and do what you ask of it.
It is possible. You can do it! It's called hard work, and wanting it bad enough. You can do it!
Loving my Body? How can I love my body when it looks like this? Doesn't not loving my body give me motivation to look better? No. Think about this. What ends up happening when you look in the mirror? Do you say "I am beautiful"? Most likely, no! You say look at the fat on my .... and the wrinkles there ... stretch marks ... cellulite. You end up pointing out the things you don't like. How do you think that is making you feel? Making your body feel? Is your body going to support you in your goals when you are putting it down all the time? Your body has done nothing wrong. It has already done what you asked it to. It has taken me a long time to learn this concept. I have known about this for over a year and have not been able to apply it. But I get it now!!! Our bodies are the best example of cause and effect! Our bodies support us every day, no matter what we end up fueling it with, no matter how we treat it. Our body does the best it can with what we end up choosing to do. Whether it's good or bad.
So, the next time you look in the mirror, instead of telling yourself how bad you look, ask for forgiveness and appreciate what your body does for you every day and "send love and joy all over" as my yoga instructor would say! Learned how to love your body and yourself no matter what it may look like now or what stage of learning you are in.
