Thanks to the lovely Nancy, we realized we FORGOT to announce the winners of the Globetrotter AND the Shrink-a-Versary Challenges.

Yipes. I’m blaming the holidays. Yup. That’s it.

So, without further ado, your winners:

Shrink-a-Versary Biggest Shrinker: Renee a.k.a. CutieBootyCakes! She lost a grand total of 11 pounds – whoa, girl! You rocked it. Incredible job.

and

Globetrotter Challenge Winner: With the highest total mileage, the winner is Brooke! She logged a total of 107 miles! Wowza. Impressive, no? And, we must give honorable mention to Dawn for her incredible 106 miles. SO CLOSE. Both of you – BRAVO!

Thanks to all who participated. Are you joining us for Rethink Your Shrink? Tomorrow is Weigh-in Day!!!

It’s true! Today is the final weigh-in for our Shrink-a-Versary Extravaganza Challenge. First thing I want you to do is reach around and give yourself a pat on the back for sticking with the challenge through Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday season. WOW!

It’s been 7 weeks, and hopefully you’ve had some great losses! If you haven’t lost much, don’t get down! This is the holiday season afterall, and any loss this time of year should be celebrated. Just don’t celebrate with sugar cookies or rum cake, m’kay? (see first paragraph. pats on back do not contain calories. neither do happy dances!)

So hop to it! Go weigh yourself, blog all about it and come back here and share your permalink. We all want to know how you did, so be sure to let us know what you total loss was for the challenge. We’ll be doling out a very special badge to our Biggest Shrinker. Also, don’t forget to give us your final tally of miles for the Globetrotting with the Sisterhood challenge. We want to see who did the most Globetrotting, and we’ll have a special badge for our winner of that as well!

With Christmas quickly approaching, holiday parties in full swing, baking, parties, and more baking happening, please don’t lose site of your goals! Whether they be to drop a few pounds, lose a little more than a few pounds, eat healthfully, or be more active, YOU CAN DO IT. It is possible to lose or maintain this time of year, you just have to set your mind to it.

And now it’s time for some bullet points!

• Our 12 Days of Weight Watchers giveaways are in full swing! Lots of amazing giveaways every.single.day, with the big prize on Christmas day!!!
• Next Wednesday will be a non-challenge weigh-in! Don’t be a slacker and let all of your hard work go to waste over the next 2 weeks. Be sure to check-in with us and let us know how you’re faring.
• Our next fantabulous challenge will begin on December 30th, and we’re working really hard here at the Sisterhood to make sure this challenge will carry you through the new year with everything you need to successfully KEEP your New Year’s resolutions!
• The 6-week EA SPORTS Active More Workouts challenge is still in full swing, and it’s never too late to join.
• We will officially begin our 1/2 marathon training with Virtual Team in Training on January 1st! If you’re still on the fence, get off already and register! You can email Kirsten for the registration forms and more information.
• If you haven’t joined the ‘hood yet, please do. You’re totally missing out. Just sayin’.
• As always, don’t forget to do some blog hopping and share the comment love with all your Sisters (and Brothers). Everyone needs extra high fives and pats on the back this time of year :)
• Have a fabulous shrinking week!!! That’s an order.

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Join the ‘hood.
Subscribe in a reader.

Glee is on tonight!

No wait, sorry.  That’s not why we’re here.  Silly me!  We’re here to weigh in!!

Go jump on those scales and then come back and tell us how you did.  Do you have something to celebrate?  Did you have a major revelation?  Next week is our last weigh in!  Do you need to make that final push to meet your goals?

While I was watching the Biggest Loser Finale last night, I let out a huge AMEN! for Rudy’s comment:  “It may not come off 10 pounds at a time, it may not come off 50 pounds at a time but it does come off.”

That’s the gist of it folks!  If you do what you KNOW  you are supposed to do (and all of you…and me…KNOW what you are supposed to do), it doesn’t matter how much you lose a week or how quickly you lose it.

All that matters is that it’s coming off.

So take those .2 lb losses and cheer!  DON’T MAKE EXCUSES FOR WHY IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE! You lost, and that’s what’s important!

And if you gained, you probably know why you gained.  Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start again.

You CAN do this.  You can.

It is the Wednesday after a major (U.S.) food-centered holiday and, as I’ve read, there were also birthdays (Brian!) and children’s birthdays and husband’s birthdays going on this past weekend, and well, it’s been an eating nightmare to many people this past week, to be perfectly honest.

How has it been for you? A dream? Or a nightmare? Did you play it safe? Did you make exceptions? Did you work off the excess?

Let’s find out! Head on over to the scale, weigh in, blog about it and report back in the comments below! If you don’t have a blog, leave your progress in the comments! And if you don’t live in the U.S., be thankful you didn’t have a country-wide gorgefest going on this past week!

I did find something out about myself this year. I couldn’t physically sit down and eat as much as I could last year. I wasn’t halfway through my pile of food before I was full already and I couldn’t even fit dessert. That’s a food victory to me! I also spanked that 10k on Thanksgiving Day, coming in more than 11 minutes faster than last year’s!

The days that followed, however, were the most troublesome for me.  The opposite of food victory. I’m not proud. The leftovers, the birthday parties for my two-year-old… So we’ll see how that translates on the scale.

Tell us all about your week! Tell us what you did, how you’d have done it differently or if you’d have done it differently. Did you learn anything? What will you take with you to the next round of holidays? By the end of this weekend, my body was screaming for a green bean or something even remotely healthy.

I just want to say here that this is the time when so many of us fall off the wagon and undo what we’ve worked so hard for. I beg you, don’t. If you’ve fallen off for Thanksgiving, just get back on. A few days off will be a lot less damage than 30 days off. We still have challenges going on here and motivation and support amongst each other, so please, if there’s any week to go and visit your sisters and brother, it’s this week. We must get through this holiday season and we must do it together!

Whatever happened, we hope you had a wonderful holiday with your families.

So get to it! We wanna know! How did you do?

Keep in mind that our current challenge, the Shrink-a-Versary Extravaganza Challenge, doesn’t end until December 16th. We also have 2 fitness challenges going right now: the Globetrotting with the Sisterhood challenge and the EA SPORTS Active 6-week Active for Life challenge.

I would like to take a moment to thank each and every one of our prize sponsors. Without them, the last month’s Shrink-a-Versary certainly wouldn’t have been as exciting as it was!

• Gock’s Frocks
• Proctor & Gamble
• BornFit
• Moving Comfort
• KOR
• One More Mile
• Kellogg’s
• EA SPORTS Active
• RoadID
• Run U Mother
• Hungry Girl
• J & Ds Foods
• Steph Enos
• Simply Salads Cookbook
• Weight Watchers
• Desperately Seeking WordPress
• Melt It Off
• The Healthy Pantry

For a complete list of our giveaways, click here. You’ll find links to all these fine companies (and more) there!

**Updated** The winner of the Yellowstone River Collection from The Healthy Pantry is…

mamatisca !

Congrats! Shoot me an email (melissa@shrinkingjeans.net) with you mailing info and your prize will be on it’s way!

Wow! Can you believe it is Day 30 of our Shrink-a-Versary celebration already?? Where did the time go?

Today’s giveaway is sponsored by The Healthy Pantry! After receiving a wake-up call that he needed to eat healthier and lose weight, Keith Lauver joined up with a former colleague and chef, Tony Sobiech. Together in 2008, the two launched The Healthy Pantry, whose mission is to provide healthy, affordable meals that taste great! Now, those of you that know me personally, know that I am not a big fan of cooking elaborate meals for my family of six. When my husband happens to be home, I gladly let him take over the kitchen duties. When I was approached about reviewing meal kits from The Healthy Pantry, I jumped at the chance! I’m all about easy AND healthy!

We tried out the skillet lasagna last night. The meal kit includes: Canned tomatoes, whole wheat noodles, Parmesan cheese, spice pack. You provide: 1 lb ground beef or turkey, 1 tsp. olive oil, and 8 oz ricotta cheese. We used 97% lean ground beef and added in some onions. The lasagna was super-easy to make and tasted delicious! The best part? MY KIDS LOVED IT! I am excited to try out the rest of the kits! The Healthy Pantry has everything from cookies to pasta to fish.

The Healthy Pantry is giving the Yellowstone River collection away to one lucky reader! This kit includes: Skillet Lasagna, Turkey Wild Rice Cranberry Stew, Cowboy Chili with Blue Cornbread, and your choice of cookies! YUM!

To enter:  Leave a comment telling us which Healthy Pantry item sounds the most delicious to you!

For extra entries (MUST do above entry method and leave a separate comment FOR EACH entry!):

Become a fan of The Healthy Pantry on Facebook.

Follow them on Twitter.

Tweet about this giveaway!

Become a fan of The Sisterhood on Facebook.

Become a member of The ‘Hood.

The contest will end November 30th at midnight Pacific time. One winner will be randomly selected and announced the following day! Good luck!

Disclosure:  Melissa received product from The Healthy Pantry to sample and review. The opinion expressed is my own! The Healthy Pantry is providing the product for giveaway.

This recipe is a staple in my home and my children love it. I found this recipe for Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins on Spark People when I was diligently logging my calories (which I shall begin doing again as soon as possible, like right now, so as to avert potential holiday tragedy). Because they are so few calories, my calorie-tracker allowed me to have TWO of these muffins as part of my breakfast and they were so delicious with my coffee that now I’m going to make them and will probably be making them as you read this because now I am craving them and they are a very healthy craving and that’s the kind of craving I don’t have to feel bad about. And when I joined Weight Watchers, they were perfect on that plan too.

Sidenote: By the way, I shall claim “Victory!” in the world of healthfulness because my husband took the kids to a certain famous “Hamburger Place” the other day and my three-year-old wouldn’t eat the cheeseburger because he claimed it “wasn’t healthy”.   Yes!

So now — the recipe.

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup nonfat milk
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites (I’ve used EggBeaters)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
raisins or nuts (optional but I haven’t used either yet)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Soak the oats in milk for an hour. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray. Combine the oat mixture with the applesauce and egg whites, and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined. Add nuts or raisins if desired. Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough. Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan. Combine the cinnamon and sugar and top each muffin with some of the mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. These can be frozen and reheated in the microwave for a quick breakfast. I spread a little light cream cheese on them and they’re amazing!!

Number of Servings: 12
Calories: 92
Fat: .5
Protein: 2.9 g
WW Points: 1

Love them! Hope you make them! Enjoy!

Can you believe November is almost over? I can’t!! Today is Day 28 of our Shrink-a-Versary Extravaganza Giveaways and we’re giving away a Twitter Page Design valued at $50! If you don’t have a Twitter account, you should, and this is all the reason you’ll need!

Today’s giveaways is generously sponsored by Cathy at Desperately Seeking WordPress. Without her expertise and patience, the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans would be in shambles, and I would probably be hitting the bottle daily. She helps us keep it running smooth and is always available in a pinch! WE HEART CATHY!!

If you’re looking to start and host your blog, or move your current blog, I highly recommend using Desperately Seeking WP. Their prices are reasonable and they truly are the geeks behind the beauty.

To enter:

• Leave a comment letting us know if you’re Christmas tree is already up! If not, when do you plan on putting it up?
• For another entry, follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway. Be sure to leave an additional comment about your tweet!
• Another entry can be gained by following Cathy @ DSW on Twitter!
• For yet another entry, subscribe to our feed. Be sure to leave an additional comment letting us know you subscribed (or are already a subscriber).
• Join the ‘hood. It’s fun and full of great info and recipies! Then, leave another comment and let us know you’re a member!

Now for the fine print:

• Contest ends today, November 28th, at MIDNIGHT Pacific time.
• Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced tomorrow. Please be sure to leave your email address so we can contact you! Winner has 48 hours to claim prize, and unclaimed prized will be relisted for giveaway.

Disclosure:  Desperately Seeking WordPress sponsored this giveaway. We were not paid for our review, or given anything for it in exchancge!

Today, we are giving away an one year subscription to Healthy Cooking magazine.  I love to cook and this is one of my favorite magazines to turn to for ideas, recipes, and the like.  I already have a subscription and now, one of you lucky Sisters (or Brothers) will have their very own too.

To enter:

• Leave a comment letting us know what your favorite cooking magazine is or even if you have one.
• For another entry, follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway. Be sure to leave an additional comment about your tweet!
• For yet another entry, subscribe to our feed. Be sure to leave an additional comment letting us know you subscribed (or are already a subscriber).
• Join the ‘hood. It’s fun and full of great info and recipies! Then, leave another comment and let us know you’re a member!

Now for the fine print:

• Contest ends today, November 27th, at MIDNIGHT Pacific time.
• Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced tomorrow. Please be sure to leave your email address so we can contact you! Winner has 48 hours to claim prize, and unclaimed prized will be relisted for giveaway.

Disclosure:  The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans sponsored this giveaway out of their own pockets and goodness of their hearts.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I am going to make this short and sweet, because quite frankly, I am a procrastinator and have many, MANY things I need to be doing! I wish everyone a day filled with love and happiness!

We are giving away a $25 gift card to Amazon.com today! That’s right! $25 to spend any way you want! AWESOME!

To enter:

• Leave a comment letting us know how you “pay it forward”… big or small!
• For another entry, follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway. Be sure to leave an additional comment about your tweet!
• For yet another entry, subscribe to our feed. Be sure to leave an additional comment letting us know you subscribed (or are already a subscriber).
• Join the ‘hood. It’s fun and full of great info and recipies! Then, leave another comment and let us know you’re a member!

Now for the fine print:

• Contest ends today, November 26th, at MIDNIGHT Pacific time.
• Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced tomorrow. Please be sure to leave your email address so we can contact you! Winner has 48 hours to claim prize, and unclaimed prized will be relisted for giveaway.

Disclosure:  The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans sponsored this giveaway out of their own pockets and goodness of their hearts.