And the winner is ...

... about to be Jennifer. Anyone else want to submit a score before she gets the jackpot? Remember prizes are still available for second and third ...

I will wait until EOD Monday for results to be posted. Otherwise you're out of luck until the next challenge. :)

Jennifer ~ Post your address just in case ...

Week 12!!!

I rebounded somewhat this week ending with 56 points. My weeks in the 40s and 50s killed me, but at least I feel I have rebounded somewhat for the holidays! I end the challenge with 689 points and down five pounds. I had hoped to get more off, but considering I did lose 5 pounds and am now 21.5 weeks pregnant, I think that I did pretty well! I hope to continue during the holidays, and the next challenge will once again push me to modify and improve my daily habits.

I hope you all have wonderful holidays!!!

Please post results by Friday so I can get money in the mail to the winner. :)

final week

This may be our final week of this challenge, but I have to continue, for my own health and the future health of my children. I struggled with fruits and vegetables again this week, but I also had a hard time finding time to exercise. (Although watching twin infants should count as exercise, the keep me busy enough) I only scored a 53 for the week, losing points for lack of exercise and fruits/veggies. My final total is 707 (715 if we are doing bonus points for posting on Monday's). I've learned a lot about my self and my bad habits during this and I now know what I need to do to change.

On another note, I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season!

** New Challenge, New Rules **

As we end this challenge, I thought I'd post a little blurb about the next challenge. I've had several friends regret not joining this one, and a few of us would like another chance at this whole weight-loss/healthy lifestyle thing ...

A few things will change to keep it fresh and to encourage us to broaden our healthy ways. Each day there will be a possible of 10 points per day:

• 1 point for keeping a food journal
• 1 point for drinking 8+ cups of water
  
• 1 point for not eating any treats
• 1 point for not eating after 8 p.m.
• 1 point for exercising 30+ minutes
• 1 point for taking a multi-vitamin and/or calcium
  
• 1 point for eating 4+ servings of fruit/veggies
• 1 point for getting 6.5+ hours of sleep (adjust as necessary for babies :)
  
• 1 point for no soda pop
• 1 point for doing something that reduces your stress level in some way
  

Also, there will be 1 bonus point every week that you lose weight (1 point for losing weight, not 1 point per pound); and there will be 1 bonus point every week that you post on the blog how you did. There may be a bonus point for posting 1 healthy recipe a week -- thoughts? Other bonus points (probably 5 points) will be available for sending your money ($15) during the first two weeks of the challenge.

Winner will take the pot. Second-place and third-place winners will get the same prizes as were listed for this challenge. (Click here to see prizes for second and third.)

This challenge begins Jan. 4, 2010 -- just in time to get off those holiday pounds and fulfill new year's goals! It will go for 12 weeks and end on Mar. 29, 2010. Round up your friends and let's make this challenge bigger and better than before!

Week 11 and I'm out of rhythm ...

Well, I gained only 47 points this week. Yes, I started strong and then withered. We had a stressful week or two, and then I knew my test was coming for gestational diabetes and didn't want to give up treats again knowing I will have to for months for a healthy baby. Good news is that I'm still not gaining, so I feel accomplished to still be down and be more than half-way through with a pregnancy. I'll try to do a little better this week (early gestational diabetes test results come back tomorrow). In the meantime, anyone got any good boys' names?!?

Week 11

61 points. I'm finding it easier to exercise and harder to eat fruits and veggies. It was easier to eat veggies when I could easily pick them from the garden and add them to my foods, now I really have to think about adding them before I start cooking. I maintained my weight, but I've lost 1 inch around my middle (YEAH!).

Week 10 and I failed again ...

Why can't I get back into the swing of things? And how did I fall so quickly! I got 46 points for week 10. I exercised more, but I didn't cut out the snacks or make sure I got veggies. I'll really have to buckle down these last two weeks, especially since the holidays are approaching!!!

Good news is that I didn't gain any weight, which I don't understand ...

Good luck these last two weeks!!! I hope we all end up on a high and looking and feeling at least a little better than we did when we started this challenge. Although I've had a bad few weeks, I'm still down four pounds from where I started. I'll call that success ... although I'd like to get at least two more to get into the 2-teens.

BTW, I'll be posting about another fitness challenge soon that will begin in January. This is a chance to continue what you've started; get off those holiday pounds; and/or get those new-year resolutions kicked off. The rules will change a little, but more details will follow after this challenge is over. For now, let's kick some tail these last two weeks!

Week 9 and 10

So I didn't post last week. I was on family vacation. We spent 5 days in So. Ca. and 3 in Disneyland. It was warm (hot) and beautiful. Despite being away and having to choose carefully when eating out I found that the grocery store and Subway were my best friends. I was able to choose wisely and only had dessert twice. Spending all day walking has made it hard to sit at home (yeah!) and I'm actually exercising more (one of my biggest weaknesses). I was able to score a 59 for week 9 and a 62 for week 10. I didn't officially lose any weight, but I do have jeans that no longer want to stay up. I don't see how I will meet my goal, I wanted to lose 10 lbs during this challenge, seeing that I still have 5 lbs to go, but I'll feeling better and that's just as important.

Prizes for 2nd and 3rd place!!!

So, I mentioned a bit back that there will now be prizes for 2nd and 3rd place. Ready to find out what they are?

Second place gets a choice of one of the following DVDs, or can choose the third-place prize instead:




Third place gets to choose a custom-designed announcement -- baby, baptism, graduation, Christmas card, etc. You just provide me w/the picture(s) and I'll plug them in and send you back a .jpg for you to print. Here are a few of the samples to choose from:

Baby announcements:


This one is Christina's cute baby:



Adoption announcement I did for my 15-year-old this year:


Graduation examples (my baby sister is a pharmacist!):



And here is a baptism example from my first child, Tyler:


Christmas Samples:


2

Week 9 and I crossed the line ...

Another bad week -- 41 points worth. I am hoping to do better this week or I'll end the holidays where I started this challenge! I didn't gain any weight this week, which surprised me. Hopefully I can still get into the 2-teens by the end of the challenge, but only if I really kick it up into high gear the next couple of weeks!