Big surprise, Dan O'Donnell wins, yeah for Dan! I guess it's time we all start trying a little harder. Dan is the biggest loser this week and the winner of a $30 gift card for Dick's Sporting Goods.

The second prize of the week is for most improved, Colleen Jennings. Congrats Colleen!!! Colleen won a subscription to Cooking Light Magazine.

Here are the final results:

1. Dan O'Donnell 93.75%
2. John O'Donnell 93.96%
3. Annette O'Donnell 94.11%
4. Mike Bell 95.55%
5. Sean McManamy 96.21%
6. Aileen O'Donnell 96.25%
7. Mary Jeske 96.33%
8.George Reyes 96.45%
9. Megan O'Donnell 96.79%
10. Tony Arendt 97.30%
11. Mary Lou Niewoehner 97.89%
12. Paula Andries 97.90%
13. Colleen Jennings 98.05%
14. Bill Jeske 98.22%
15. Ann Marie Bell 98.53%
16. Jim Norwood 98.85%
17. David Andries 100%
18. Brett Ferullo 100%

Good Luck with this week, let me know your results by noon on Sunday if you can, and as always, invite more people to join. JOD

will post results tomorrow night, still waiting on a couple.

need %'s by noon today, thanks!!

Well, everyone did just fine, but Dan O'Donnell won, AGAIN!!. Congrats Dan!!! Your prize is in the mail. I signed you up for The Shamrock Shuffle - Chicago ($40 value) March 29th - a huge and fun 8k run or 5k walk(I'll run it with you and hopefully others will also???).

2nd Prize goes to the most improved from last weeks posting to this week, George Reyes!!! George is down to 96.66% from 98.68% last week. George is the winner of a $20 Itunes gift card (George is it safe to assume you own an Ipod to put this gift card to use?).

Here it is:

1. Dan O'Donnell 94.37%
2. John O'Donnell 94.66%
3. Mike Bell 95.555%
4. Annette O'Donnell 95.558%
5. George Reyes 96.66%
6. Mary Jeske 96.77%
7. Megan O'Donnell 97.05%
8. Sean McManamy 97.23%
9. Aileen O'Donnell 97.44%
10. Jim Norwood 97.78%
11. Tony Arendt 98.01%
12. Paula Andries 98.10%
13. Mary Lou Niewoehner 98.24%
14. Bill Jeske 98.45%
15. Ann Marie Bell 98.53%
16. David Andries 100%
17. Brett Ferullo 100% (2 weeks in and no weight loss whatsoever, it's almost as though he doesn't know we're having a competition!)

Good Luck with week 3. We will have a big loser as well as a most improved again. And as always, please invite more friends and family to join in. thanks, JOD

Just a reminder, I need your %'s by noon today. Please send in an email to johnmeganod@yahoo.com.

That is the % today of your day one weight.

Let me know if any questions.

Thanks,

JOD

Alright, week 1 results are in!!!!!! Dan O'Donnell is the biggest loser I know and also the winner of a brand new Ipod Shuffle. That's not all, he is also the winner of one rockin' workout mixed cd to put on it, congratulations Dan!!!!!!! Your prizes are in the mail.

Everyone else did great too this first week. Here is the complete rankings w/ percentages.

1. Dan O'Donnell 95.41%
2. Annette O'Donnell 95.95%
3. Mike Bell 96.11%
4. John O'Donnell 96.28%
5. Aileen O'Donnell 97.38%
6. Megan O'Donnell 97.59%
7. Sean McManamy 97.90%
8. Mary Jeske 98.16%
9. Mary Lou Niewoehner 98.24%
10. Ann Marie Bell 98.53%
11. George Reyes 98.68%
12. Bill Jeske 98.85%
13. Jim Norwood 98.89%(congrats to Jim for 31 lb loss in last 10 weeks!!)
14. Tony Arendt 99.09%
15. Brett Ferullo 100.008%


We will have a few more people starting this week that will be posting for the first time next week, so they will have some catching up to do. Please feel free to get some more people in on this, the more the merrier. If you were not close to being the biggest loser this week, don't be discouraged, next week there will be an additional prize for the most improved. Always remember what your orignal(day 1) weight amount was, you will use that same amount every week as your original weight, in other words original weight amount doesn't change on a weekly basis. Good luck with week 2!!

For more motivation, click on Biggest Loser members Aileen and Annette's blogs. The links are to the right. Also, the Bungalow Kitchen Blog is cool too (run by a friend of Meg's).

How's everyone doing? I started REAL strong & already started to slip a bit last couple of days. Gotta get it going again Fri, Sat and Sun Morning.

As a reminder, I need everyone's %'s by noon on this Sunday and will post the 1st week rankings and 1st winners prize later that day.

Here is another example of how it is done - my original weight is 150 lbs and I am down 4lbs to 146 ---- 146 divided by 150 is 0.9733, so I am 97.33% - be exact as possible so less likely to have same %'s as others - I don't want to have a tie for first place and have to go in to sudden death overtime.

The skinny Boston people have hinted they are doing really well, so I hope everyone is.

Good luck and stay motivated!

JOD

Yummy soup

Hi, It's Megan again posting under John's profile (he prefers that I clarify b/c apparently my posts aren't "cool" enough to be his.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know about some soup I just tried. I got it at Costco in the frozen food section.

CP Shrimp Wonton soup.
Calories per serving: 115
Fat: 2g
Sodium is kind of high at 1,110 mg
Protein 7 g
Fiber Less than 1 g

It's really yummy and there is one whole shrimp per wonton. You just add water (so I'm wondering if that decreases the sodium amount-it must because it's listed as just the soup concentrate-not sure though).

Anyway, I forget how much it cost. Not too much. You get six bowls in a box. Something to try if you like wonton soup!

Hope everyone's having a kickass week!

Souped up Green Beans

Here's another recipe from Aileen O'Donnell, in case you missed it:

Souped-up Green Beans
1/2 pound fresh green beans
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup liquid reserved from the beans
1 tablespoon salt-free chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon butter-flavored granules
1 tablespoon finely chopped green onions
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves, crushed
Pam cooking spray

In a medium saucepan over high heat, bring 2 cups water to a boil. Add the green beans and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium; cover, and cook for 20 minutes, or until crisp-tender. Drain, reserving 1 cup liquid and set aside.Spray the inside of a medium heavy skillet with nonstick vegetable cooking spray and place over medium heat. Add the beans, onions, bell pepper, salt and black pepper. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the reserved liquid, bouillon and butter-flavored granules; cook for 1 minute longer, then stir in the green onions and basil. Remove from the heat and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 3 people
57 cal per serving
1 gram Fat per serving

Barbecue Meat Loaf from Cooking Light

Hi, this is actually Megan posting! I wanted to share a yummy, easy recipe that I've been making for a few years from Cooking Light. Even some of my kids like it-and it's pretty satisfying served with a baked potato or brown rice and steamed veggies or sauteed spinach (my fave).

Barbecue Meatloaf
1 1/2 pounds ground beef, extra lean (raw)
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup BBQ sauce, divided
1 TBSP prepared mustard
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 large egg whites
cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Combine the beef, breadcrumbs, onion, 1 tbsp. BBQ sauce and remaining ingredients (except cooking spray) in a large bowl.
3. Shape meat mixture into a 9x5 inch loaf on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. (*NOTE: I usually do this in just a regular loaf pan & it's fine. It would probably alter the serving sizes though and thus the nutritional info though). Spread remaining BBQ sauce over top of meatloaf. Bake at 350 for one hour or until a meat thermometer registers 160. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut into 12 slices.
Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2 slices).

CALORIES 231, FAT 7.9g, PROTEIN 26.7g, CARB 13.2, FIBER 0.9g; SODIUM 764 mg.

As a reminder, this thing starts tomorrow. Be sure to weigh yourself tomorrow at whatever time of day works for you. Just mark the weight down somewhere and don't forget it because it will always be referred to as your original weight amount in the weekly competitions.

Next Sunday (Jan 11) try to let me know by about noon what % of your original weight you are. Dont post your % on the blog, Just send it to me in an email to johnmeganod@yahoo.com

A lot more people have joined up in the last day, I will post the whole list when we have it together. Also, I have changed my mind about something, if any one wants to join a few days or a week into it, it will be ok. They would actually be the one at a disadvantage.

Good luck!

OK, here is who we have so far in our competition:

1. John O'Donnell

2. Megan O'Donnell

3. Mary Jeske

4. Bill Jeske

5. Aileen O'Donnell

6. Dan O'Donnell

7. Annette O'Donnell

8. Ann Marie Bell

9. Mike Bell

10. Goo Niewoehner

11. Sean McManamy

Please invite some more people to join now, the more the merrier(and the better the weekly prize) but after Sunday it would be too late for people to join in, as latecomers would have an unfair advantage.

Does anyone have any questions? just post them on the blog. You can also post helful recipe ideas, etc.

Please remember to sign up as a follower of the blog, and to weigh yourself this Sunday. Lastly if you are definitely in send me a check today for 20 bucks, so I can start getting the prizes:

John O'Donnell

5512 N. Parkside

Chicago, IL 60630