Mom's Visit and Kayaking Tahoe

So this has been an awesome weekend. Mom came to visit for the weekend. We drank wine, talked and kayaked on Lake Tahoe. It was pretty fantastic. Most of my open-body-of-water activities lately have been done in the ocean, so it felt a little weird to not have waves and salt in the water. If you have never been to Tahoe, part of me wants to tell you to go, and the other part wants to tell you to stay away as it is already pretty crowded. But the weather was phenomenal, there was still snow on the mountains in the distance, and the water was just cold enough to cool the skin after playing in the sun. This was the third time that I have been Kayaking, so I am an old pro. There is something majestic about sitting on the top of the water and using your own strength to pull you gently through it. I think this is an activity I could get used to.

Bike ride to the River

I have been doing something recently that I think a lot of people do. I have been trying to lose weight...again, and I made myself a workout plan. I stuck to it on Monday and thought I was doing really well. Tuesday and Wednesday and I was still on the program. Thursday comes around and I was absolutely not going to do what I had planned for myself. So this morning I was mentally settling into the idea that I wouldn't work out, and I was perfectly fine with that. Instead of my strict workout schedule, I got on my bike and rode to the river. There is a motorcross track down there and a lot of little trails that run along the river that are only mildly challenging on a bicycle. I rode around for a half hour or so and then made my way back to the house. It was awesome! The thing that I had been doing was making working out into work. It doesn't have to be. It can be fun, if I just do the workouts that I enjoy. And I am going hiking tomorrow, so that is real good.

Sacramento

So Jessi and I have relocated to Sacramento. Actually, we live about half an hour from the city, out in the country. It is a nice little town where the people still drive big jacked up trucks and go to the river to cool down on hot summer days. We have started exploring and there is a lot to see. I will try to do updates and make this into an online journal...we will see how it goes!

Biggest Loser and Projects

So here is a real quick update before I get back to work this morning. As far as the biggest loser competition goes. I have lost 24 pounds. Which is kind of miraculous and I am super excited about it. There are tons of health reasons for losing weight and that was the deeper motivation behind this whole thing. It was time to start thinking, and acting, healthier. It was time to start using the body that was given to us to its potential, and not just setting it on the couch and waiting for it to slowly deteriorate. But when I see my beautiful wife (who has lost 18 pounds) with her thin waist, her face with the cheekbones that were there when I met her and the ability to be active all day without having to take a nap, my heart speeds up and I am reminded of another, much more superficial, reason we did this whole competition...and I'll tell you, my wife is hot!

As far as the projects go...Yes that's right we went plural and have the paint, drywall, spackle, mortar, grout, plumbers putty and sawdust, stuck in our nostrils to prove it! We are almost done with both. Jessi's closet-room is almost done and has been coming along wonderfully. She did an amazing job of picking out colors and accents and it looks amazing. I will post pics when I have a little more time. And the bathroom should be getting finished up today. It has been a wild ride and it has been more than a little stressful. But the time of two projects is coming to an end and we learned an incredible amount while we were at it. Like, don't do two projects at once! Again, pics to follow if you are so inclined as to check back later. If you don't want to wait, you can go to http://jjbateshome.blogspot.com/ which has a little more updated and pictureful version of the house projects.

Biggest Project Yet

I have started work on my biggest project yet...well, maybe not the biggest, cause the floor definitely was more square feet. But this one has the most diverse challenges so far. That's right, me and my beautiful wife will be working on...(drumroll) putting in a new guest bathroom. If you want to follow along with some pics and some funny stories about what NOT to do, go to http://jjbateshome.blogspot.com/ and follow along!

TBL update

So it has almost been a month and the biggest loser is on and going strong. It is amazing how quickly your body becomes used to a new routine. It adjusts almost immediately and somehow manages to keep everything rolling along relatively smoothly. The first week of the biggest loser was pretty mind blowing. Jessi and I lost a lot of weight in a little time and we both up-ed the amount of weight that we are hoping to lose by the time we are done. The thing that neither of us were counting on was the bodies ability to adjust to the minimized calorie intake and the maximized calorie burn.

The second week we both lost a pound...that's right. We went from losing 9 and 7 pounds to 1! Talk about a kick in the pants. Amazingly enough this did not make either one of us want to work harder, but discouraged us both immensely. Now we did come back and made the third week a little more productive. Jessi got down to 165 and I got down to 218. That is a pretty impressive loss! We will see how we did this week as we come up to one month of TBL09!!

The Biggest Loser 2009

SO! Jessi and I have started a competition with 9 other people to become the biggest loser...I immediately went out and got some braces, coke-bottle glasses and suspenders...I'm pretty sure I will win! Just kidding, this is obviously a weight loss thing and not a dork contest.

So the plan is to lose 30 pounds in 84 days. We started on the 1st of September and end a day or two before thanksgiving. Today was our first weigh in after we started the diet and exercise programs. And I am super happy to report that both Jessi and I lost (drumroll)...7 pounds! So we are well on our way.

This is the first time that we have tried two different exercise techniques. So we will see whose works better. Jessi is going to do classes at the local 24 hour fitness. I am going to run and strength train while trying to avoid the gym. I will let you know how it goes...before picture...well, I'll get one of those up when I can find it