Fitness Challenge 2011

Put those New Year’s Resolutions right to work and join the Fitness Challenge 2011. This blog was started by a friend who wanted people over 200 pounds to have a place to discuss weight issues. I (Denise) have since hijacked it to become the meeting place for a fitness challenge in our quest to become healthier overall, including weight loss. Last challenge (fall 2010) we had lots of weight loss (I had 11 myself, but there was at least one contestant who lost more than 30 pounds!).

The winner of this challenge isn’t determined by who loses the most weight, but it’s sure a nice bonus. :) The winner is whoever gets the most points (explained below), and he/she wins 75% of the pot; second place takes 25% of the pot.

Here are the rules:

- You must have 15+ pounds to lose to enter the challenge

- You pay $20 to enter

- The challenge begins Jan. 3 and goes for 12 weeks

There are 10 possible points per day:

1 pt/day for keeping a food journal
1 pt/ day for exercising for 30+ minutes
1 pt/day for reading Book of Mormon 20+ minutes (spiritual health)*
1 pt/day for not eating after 8 p.m.
1 pt/day for eating 4+ servings of fruits and/or veggies (1 serving = 1 c. raw or ½ c. cooked)
1 pt/day for having no more than 1 treat of 100 calories or less
1 pt/day for drinking 8+ cups water (1 c = 8 oz.)
1 pt/day for taking a multi-vitamin and/or calcium
1 pt/day for not skipping any meals
1 pt/day for saying something positive to yourself in the mirror (I know this sounds a little cheesy, but we spend so much time looking for negative things in the mirror that I want us to break that habit and start looking for the positive when we look in the mirror. We are made up of so much more than our appearance, and I want that to be more of what we see when we look at our reflection.)

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 (but you must post on Monday to get the bonus point). Five bonus points will be available for sending your money ($20) during the first two weeks of the challenge. (If you don't send your money by the end of week 4, you are no longer eligible for the pot at the end, so get your $ in soon!)

Winner takes 75 percent of the pot ($15 for each competitor). Second-place winner gets 25 percent of the pot ($5 for each competitor). Last winner earned more than $250 for getting healthier and losing more than 10 pounds. Awesome!!!

This challenge begins Jan. 3, 2011 – perfect timing to get off those holiday pounds and start the new year right. It will go for 12 weeks and end on March 28, 2011 (although you don’t get points for March 28, just for the final post for that day). Round up your friends and let's make this challenge bigger and better than ever!

If you're interested in joining, just post a comment with your e-mail (feel free to use at instead of @) and I'll add you to the list of people who can post comments.

* If you’re not LDS you can read in the Bible for 20+ minutes – or give the Book of Mormon a try. :) Every person I know who has lost major weight has had a spiritual transformation as well. In any case, since they seem to go hand in hand, I figured I’d add it to this challenge. Just in case you wanted to know how it fit in with fitness …

You really like details? Here are a few more details about how this works …

- Scores are kept Monday through Sunday. Every Monday (starting Jan. 10) you will report the number of points you have earned by doing a post on this blog. (You will all receive invites to be authors for the blog. Let me know if you don’t.)

- You get one extra point for posting on the blog every Monday.

- You get one extra point if you lost any weight (not a point per pound, but a point total for any weight loss.)

- These extra points should be added to the next week's score since points end on Sunday. (It doesn't really matter too much which week you add it to, as long as you only add it once. :)

- Treats are going to be personally defined.

- You're all on your honor -- it's the only way this challenge can work.

- Don't forget to send me your money in by the end of week 4 so you're eligible for the pot. (And if you get it in by the end of week 2 you get 5 bonus points.)

- You are responsible to keep track of your own points throughout the challenge. This is why posting on the blog is a good idea -- then at the end you can just go back to your posts and add up the total.

- Total points must be posted by March 29, 2011 so the definite winner can be determined by March 30, 2011.

- Any clarifications or changes in rules will be announced through the blog – it is my way to communicate with you and it is your responsibility to read the blog for updates.

Good luck!!!