Wow!  Brandon decided to weigh himself this morning and weighed in at 281.6!  WOW!!  he is officially OVER 20 lbs lost!!  I am so proud of him!  He is doing so good, even while eating the not-so-great food choices that have been his only options this week.  At least he is going for the healthiest alternatives he can get his hands on!  I am hoping I'll have as *GREAT* of a weigh in after my birthday (Sunday).   Yes, our birthdays are 3 whole days apart... lol  *It's kinda cool, but we usually only celebrate them as one, which can kinda stinks sometimes... but we ARE married and do everything together anyway*

SO... Give a big WaHoo! for his amazing success this week! :)

~joi~

So, I got home last night instead of today... we picked up a surprise for Brandon's birthday (tomorrow) and I couldn't just keep her at my parents overnight... :)  I'm pleased to introduce you to Matilda, the newest member of our family! :)  She is a 2 yr old pit bull terrier mix and is the sweetest, calmest dog I have EVER seen!  

First of all I hope you all had a Happy Easter!  And hopefully you all ate way better than WE did... lol   We had two places we had to try and avoid temptation...  There was a breakfast potluck at Church  and then we went to Brandon's brothers for dinner...  UGGG!!!  I am SOOOO not a ham eater and it kept calling to me, evil brown sugar glazed ham!!! GRR!  I ate soooo much less than I would have in past times, but I still wasn't happy with my food choices by the end of the day. 

We won't be posting our weights tomorrow because I'm going out of town in a little bit... I'll be back on Wednesday so our weigh in may not be until Thursday... EEK!  But that also gives me a bit more time to work off some of the weight that I KNOW I gained over the weekend.  lol  So, please don't think we dropped off the face of the earth! :)  WE ARE STILL IN IT!!! 

~joi~

I don't know how many of you know... but I design clothes... mostly children's clothing now because they are just so much fun and it has always been a passion of mine...

WELL... I think I'll have to design a breaking through 200 debut outfit too... :D  I NEVER make anything for myself anymore and what better milestone can you think of for me to start?!?!  :)   I think I have always looked at it as a waste of fabric because I've always had this train of thought that "I'm not going to be this size that long, so why do that?"  Boy was I right?!? lol Well, I've just gotten bigger and bigger over the years... lol  So now that I'm SHRINKING I think that I can "splurge" on making something for MYSELF for once.... Lord knows I have enough fabric lying around... lol  *you should see how FULL my studio is*

It's time I start taking the time to create  for ME!   I'm worthy of wearing my creations, too... AREN'T I?  Sooo... I'll be working up a super hot design for the NEW ME!!  I won't start cutting until I'm closer, as I have NO CLUE what size I would be at 200 (Haven't weighed under 215 since I was 15 years old)... lol 

~joi~

So, as I've discussed with a few of you it seems like hitting that 15 lb mark has been the hardest thing to accomplish!!!  I DID IT!!! On the NOSE!  That is only a .6 lb loss this week, but it got me right to 15 lbs even (with a current weight of 237!)  THANK GOD!!!

Brandon blew me out of the water, he lost 4 lbs this week and is now 2 lbs away from the 20 lb mark!  WOW... he is still amazing me!  I found a really cute sweater on a clearance rack for him and figured I'd get it for him and it would probably fit good next winter.  He put it on and IT FIT!!  And my Lord, was he ever a little hottie!!  ALL MINE LADIES!!!  lol


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So, I figured out my next incentive!!! I  am part of a program called MyPoints and you earn points for opening emails and linking to the sites they send... or on online purchases you make and with eBay being on there... I've racked up some pretty good points.  Well, you cash these points in for Gift Cards from some pretty cool stores (most major stores are listed).... I have almost reached the $100 gift card mark since the end of July... not too shabby!!  And that was missing a lot of the quick, easy and free points up until the end of January because we only had dial up so I just didn't do those.  BUT I am going to cash my points in for a $100 gift card for either, Gap, Lane Bryant or something else that grabs me and when I reach 215, (maybe 200 depending what size I'm down to) I am getting some *new* SMALLER clothes!!  Not that $100 is a lot... but how fun will that be?!?  A free mini shopping spree! :)

If anyone is interested in MyPoints, let me know!  They rack up pretty quickly!  I've "earned" close to $400 in the last few years...  pretty cool! :)  Not to sound like an infomercial or something, but it's kinda fun to rack up points that actually do something! :)

~joi~

So here is a glimpse of how my short visit from Rachel  went... lol  I'm sorry, it may be painful at points... lol  Try to enjoy... lol

And then we decided to get some video... I'm sorry for putting you all through this... lol


 

This is an introduction of where most of the remaining videos came from... lol it ain't purty... but we had fun!

 

Trying to revive a song we learned in choir... ;) well, TRYING is the key word here... lol

 

And this is where shear stupidity begins... with lots of crazy "singing".... lol my lord, can't i keep my mouth shut... lol  

 

This actually gets okay after the first 20 seconds!!! LMAO Ironic, don't you think?

 

OKAY these last two were probably the most fun and right before we both passed out at around 8 am... lol

 

This one is "GREAT" If you only watch one... let it be this one!!!!! LOL

 

The funny thing is my 80's makeup in this was actually mascara running from laughing so hard I was crying in the upside down video... lol I didn't realize it until watching and Rach never told me!!! hahaha

OKay, I'm sure that was more than ANYONE wanted to see... but i don't have video editing software and there were some really cute, funny, ridiculous points on all of those that we wanted to share! We have even more too... lol but I'm limiting it... Now that you know how ridiculous we both act when we are together... lol I'm sorry!!! We turn into 13 yr olds when we get around each other... maybe it is a good thing we live so far apart! hahaha I love you Rachel and I am soooooo glad I got to spend a little bit of time with you!!! The kids are already asking "Where is Aunt Rachie?" Awww... ~joi~

So, in just a few short hours I will be sipping coffee with my best friend, Rachel!!!  She is from team Jerremey-n-Rachel.  We have been best friends for over 20 years and I am so excited to finally see her again after 2 Looooooooooong years!    We will be working out together for the first time in and EVEN longer time, so it will be interesting to see the changes that maybe photos don't show! :)  We are planning on a  video or two... and will probably post them on both pages! :)

So here's to you Miss Coffee-Drinking Long-Walk-Taking Soggy-Pizza-Crust-Stepping Long-Road-Trip-Taking Singing-At-The-Top-of-our-Lungs Besteristeded Friend ... coffees ready!!! 

~joi~

Can't wait to make these!

Ingredients
Directions

Okay, so I got some "final" pics up for the MPMU... but I think I will retake them because Brandon took them at a different angle and distance than the previous ones, and I want an accurate photo record of this journey.  I want to be able to say, "Yes, I know it is hard to believe with how amazingly healthy and trim I am... BUT I really did weigh 252 at the beginning of 2008..."   LOL  What is more astonishing to me is how far I have come before the Million Pound Match-Up started.

The highest I have been (without being pregnant) was 278 and that was AFTER balancing out weight wise after my son was born.  So, I'm 40 lbs down from there! :)  Not too shabby!!!!!    So, the fact I've yet to hit 15 lbs since starting MPMU doesn't get me down... I've come a long way and taking it off slowly isn't a BAD thing! :)




~joi~

We are posting photos  this weekend! :)   We know we were supposed to post them on Tuesday, but I was out of town for  medical appointment.  *uggg*  So, we will do it this weekend! :)  I am so excited about seeing it for myself ... I noticed a decent difference between the last two shoots, and that was only 2 weeks, this will be  just over a month!  *cross you fingers with me*

Jumping back on the treadmill tonight.  The last week has been TERRIBLE as far as exercise... I was having a very uncomfortable part of nature... lol  and pretty much couldn't move.  That and a stomach virus... YUCKY!!!  So, I feel WAY better now and am ready to burn some calories!!!!!

Well, we have an appraiser coming tomorrow to look at the house, so I should REALLY get to work on the bedrooms.  Does anyone else just have TOO many clothes in their house?!?  lol

~joi~

I sincerely hope we can all stick around on here!!  Many people have noticed how dead it seems to be around here already and the MPM isn't even over yet! 

You all are like my new family and we are all dealing with the same struggles and I TRULY hope we can continue to build these bonds that have been created!  

So here's to all of us... that our final Million Pound Match-Up weigh in will rock our socks off!
 WE CAN DO THIS!!!!!


~joi & brandon~

These are two separate readings that need to be added together!!  :)  *I had to take a potty break*

I'm stepping it up ladies...  4.5 miles during the show tonight!  WOO HOO!!!    I was feeling not so hot earlier tonight, so I took a hot bath and felt a million  times better when I got out... I didn't think I'd have enough motivation FOUR AND A HALF MILES!!!!  WOW!     and 617 calories to boot...

Okay, time for a shower now... lol

~joi~ 

Ohh... I also added this video to our main page... the song in this video was on a  Kohls commercial doing the show... and i LOVE LOVE LOVE THE lyrics... :)  So perfect for all of us!! CHECK IT OUT!!

  

I BROKE THROUGH!!!!!  Out of the 240's!!!!  I had gotten below a few days before/after weigh-in and then shot right back up by the time I was supposed to weigh again!!!  FINALLY on a weigh in day!!!    239.4   I don't care if it is only 6/10ths of a pound out of the 240's...  there is no 4 behind that 2!!!    I have been struggling with this milestone for weeks and weeks!!!     Now I need to shoot for the 220's!  Wee hoo!!! 

My original goal was to be to 220 by my 30th birthday ... which is in 26 days (March 30th)...   not saying that I am giving up... but I'm REALLY going to have to start busting butt  even more if I even want to get close to that... I think I'd "settle" for in the 220's... that sounds fair! 

Brandon went up this week, but not nearly as bad as I did last week!  *eek*   So, we need to reevaluate some things and getting on the treadmill more.  We mad a BIG mistake!  We had the cable guy come and install phone service on Thursday and folded the treadmill up and it hasn't come down since... NO MORE!!!  As soon a I get off of here, I'm going right over there and setting it back to the proper "easy to hop on and work out" position... lmao   What a stupid little mind game that is.  Like it would even take very long to put it down... grrrr!  

Anywho... hope everyone is doing great!

~joi~