Fire it up Red Team

I confessed that I had a lot of weight to lose. I said I would tell you how in a later post. Well here it is. In March of 2010 my sister called and asked if I wanted to join her in a 12 week health challenge hosted by her friend.

The Challenge:

In this challenge we have 4 teams of 10 people. Each team member pays $30.00 to the host before the challenge starts. The money is used for rewards at the end of the challenge. Who gets rewards: Person with the highest percentage of weight loss, the person with the most inches lost and the person with the highest personal points, and the rest of the money is divided equally between the team members of the team with the highest points for all 12 weeks.


The Point System:

Each person is responsible for these personal points:

Points per day:

1. 5 Fruits and Vegetables = 3pts OR at least 3 of them vegetables = 4pts
2. No Eating after 9 p.m. = 2 points per day
3. Drink 48 oz or more of water per day = 2 points.
4. No Sweets = 5 points (You are allowed 1 free treat per week! Not deprivation, but moderation... ahhh! That's the key!)
5. Exercise = 30 min. = 5 points OR 45 minutes = 7 points (6 days a week - you need to rest your body 1 day a week.)
   
6. Contact at least 1 team member = 1
7. A bonus challenge that changes each week totaling a possible 35 points (usually 5 points per day we do the challenge.

The first challenge my husband and I joined together. I lost 13 pounds in 12 weeks. An average of just over 1 pound per week. That is the best way to lose (1 to 2 pounds per week). I intend to never see this weight again. We had 4 weeks before the next challenge, which I just finished the first week of this challenge. I continued to lose as long as I continued to do the above list of things (- the bonus challenge of course). I lost the first three weeks and on the third week between sessions, I missed 3 of my 6 workouts getting the girls to summer camp and being a little under the weather. I also had a few too many treats. I had been keeping to the 1 a week, but I celebrated a bit with the boys and my hubby when the girls were gone for a few days. As a result, I gained the three pounds I had lost the week before back. Yikes! It was the first time I had gained any weight back since I started losing in April. Oh-well, I still had kept off the 13 pounds from challenge. Plus 2 more before crazy week, so a total of 15 pounds down, 62 to go.

Thankfully I'm back on a team and starting the second week. This first week I managed not to gain anymore weight back. Despite walking on treadmill for 1 1/2 to 2 hours three times this week I didn't lose either. I had hoped that would be enough to get those three pounds down again. I'm sure by the end of this next week, I'll lose those three pounds again.

Here's the Plan

I'm going to do the above mentioned daily items and make them good habits. THAT I KEEP EVEN WHEN OFF CHALLENGE AND ESPECIALLY HOLIDAYS!!! (We'll see how that goes this fall and winter.)

AND

This week I'm going to add some strength training and be more careful about portion control with my food.

If this isn't enough then I'll need to start using Dinner Plate again on a regular basis to keep track of exercise and calories.

Calories in < Calories out = weight loss.