Week 3

    Heather reports 112 points for week 3 and Jimmy reports 110. (ya, I finally beat him- hehehe!)
Next week's bonus challenge is:  ???  Write down your own personal goal for the week, and if you are successful in accomplishing your goal, give yourself the 6 points.

Week 2

Hello to the few remaining challengers!  This challenge must be harder than people thought, because I had 12 people tell me they were definitely in, and a few more maybes.  Looks like they all tried it the first week and ???  Oh well, I would still do it even if I was doing it all by myself.  I know we are really not in it for the money anyway.
   Week 2 was a little more challenging than week 1 for us due to being in Boise for 3 days.  It's a lot harder to eat right and exercise when you go out of town, but we still made a valiant effort!
  Heather reports 102 points and Jim reports 109.  We both used myfitnesspal.com (also a great app for your ipod/ipad/iphone and it's free---check it out) to track our eating for 3 days in a row.  I am always surprised how many calories are in certain things that I would never have thought about being so high in calories.  It would drive you crazy to count calories all the time, but once in a while it's a good reminder to be careful about your food choices. :)
  So, on to the challenge for week 3. (Sorry we're already at the end of the first day of this week) Eat 5 servings of fruits and/or vegetables for 5 out of the 7 days...I know we already missed out on today, but if you happened to get your fruits and veggies in today, yay for you!  So an example of getting your required amount in the day could be this: banana(1) with breakfast, an apple(2) and some carrot sticks(3) with lunch, steamed veggies(4) and watermelon(5) with dinner---pretty easy right?  If you do get 5 servings 5 out of the 7 days, give yourself 6 points.  Otherwise, just give yourself 1 point for each day you do it.
Keep up the good work everyone!

Week 1

Sooooo I'm really slow.  My total points for the first week was 113.  Wonder if I'll ever be able to do that again! :)  Exercise has been my downfall.  I agree with Tammy an hour is too long for me.  For my new exercise I used the cardio-glide that has been in my basement for as long as I can remember.  Seriously, for as long as I can remember, I've never even sat on it.  I hope that counts!

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  

Week 1 Total for Tammy

Okay I'm a big old lame-o because I'm only going to post 76 points for this week.  I would really like to implement the "No seconds" rule and the "No eating after 7" rule and the water rule for the rest of my life.  I'm pretty sure that exercising 60 minutes a day would not really be realistic for me.  30-40 minutes five days a week for some reason is a lot more do-able for me. 
   Here's my confession....I feel like if I blow it in one area then all bets are off and I give myself permission to blow it other places too.  I better get that idea out of my little pea-sized brain.
   I WILL BEAT MY OWN POINTS FOR NEXT WEEK!!!!

How to "Post" on this blog

This is for you mom and mom-in-law :)

Go to jh8weekchallenge.blogspot.com (yep, you're already here:)  There is a little link on the top that says "sign in".  Click on that, then enter Jim's e-mail address (james_laran@hotmail.com).  The password was given to you in the e-mail. (if you can't find it, call me).  Once you're signed in, you'll see a tab that says "New Post."  Write whatever you want, and sign your name at the bottom so we know who is posting.  Then click "Publish Post" (big orange box at the bottom).  That should do it!
If you want to comment on someone else's post, make sure you are not signed in as james_laran@hotmail.com. If you are, sign out first.  Then click on the "comment" link and sign in as a google account, which will be your own e-mail and password.  Clear as mud?  :)
Can't wait to hear how everyone did on week one!
~Heather

Let's Get Started!

Welcome to week one!  I hope we have a lot of people excited to start this challenge with us!  I haven't heard back from quite a few people that I sent info to, so if you want in on this, either send me an e-mail, post a comment on the blog, or send me a text.  It would be nice to get a head count so I can let everyone know how much money we are competing for :).  The $10 is due by October 7th.  I work in BL next Friday the 7th if that is easier for some of you to get me the money.  Otherwise, you can mail it to me: 779 W Eldredge  Pocatello, ID 83201.
The rule about no eating after 7pm is going to be just that.  NO eating, including fruits, veggies, and diet soda.
Now for the 1st bonus challenge:  Try a new type of exercise that you have never tried before.  Even if it's only 10 minutes, try something new!  Then after you try it, post what you did on the blog, and hopefully it will give everyone some new exercise ideas to mix things up a little.
Good luck everyone!
~Heather

 

Welcome!

We are having a challenge to give us a little boost in our weight-loss/healthier bodies goals.  This challenge will last 8 weeks, starting on Thursday, September 29^th and ending on Thanksgiving day.  There will be a $10 entry fee, and whoever has the most points at the end of the 8 weeks wins the pot!  (If there are ties, the money will be divided accordingly)  This blog has been set up for each participant to report their points each week.