Week one for Jim and Heather

I tried to post last night, but our internet was down from the storm--sorry!

     We made it through week one!  Yay!

Do we still have anyone in this challenge?  I have only received money from my mom and mom-in-law.  Money is due by Friday, the 7th!  I hope that all of you who said you were in didn't jump ship! Remember, we have 7 more weeks, so if this wasn't your best week, try try again! :)

   A few other little things:  this isn't meant to be a torture challenge.  For example, if you tried your hardest to eat dinner before 7, but had to eat dinner a little after 7, still give yourself the points.  The "no eating after 7" rule is mostly about trying to cut out the evening munchies.  Obviously you should still try to finish with dinner before 7, but I know that is not always possible.  Now maybe you can all add a few points to your scores? :)

   I have heard a few other people besides mom mention that 60 minutes seems like an awfully long time to exercise.  Here are a few things that might help:  Remember that you don't have to do 60 minutes all together.  Break it up however is easiest for you.  But, if you like to get all your workout done in one shot, here is an idea to make it seem a little more doable.  Do a 5 minute warm up, a half hour of cardio, 5 minute cool down, 10-15 minutes of pushups/situps/resistance exercises, then 5-10 minutes of stretching at the end- Warming up, cooling down, and stretching all counts as part of your 60 minutes.  That doesn't seem so bad right? 

    Here is Jim's report for week one:

He earned 117 points!  The new exercise he tried was a Spin class.  He said if he can walk tomorrow it will be a miracle :)   

    Here is my report for the week.  I got 114 points. (-6 points for more than one serving of a "bad" food...conference weekend was a little rough) For the bonus points, I tried a new class called Kettlebell Boot Camp.  You know that anything with "Boot Camp" on the end is going to be rough!  And it was!  The next day I woke up to sore muscles that I didn't know I had!  But, that's a good thing I guess. 

    Now for next week's bonus challenge:  Keep a food journal for three consecutive days- that means everything (and how much) that goes into your mouth for 3 days, write it down.  Then if you want to see how you're doing eating a balanced diet, find a website on the internet to record what you've eaten.  You can go to myfoodpyramid.org or myfitnesspal.com, or if you know of any other good sites, feel free to share them with the rest of us!  (I really like the myfitnesspal one because it will show you how many calories you have eaten, and how many calories you should eat if you want to be a certain weight) But, you don't have to do the internet part.  It's just kind of interesting to see if you're really getting what your body needs from what you eat.  Keeping a food journal is always an eye opener for me, so I hope it's beneficial to all of us! 

  Can't wait to hear how everyone else did with week one!  

~Heather