Week 7 Hot Topic

• What do you enjoy most/least about this Challenge, why?
• What weekly bonuses worked best/least for you, why?

Post a comment for 5 pts!

Week 7 Bonus

BONUS CHALLENGE:

PLAN AHEAD!!  This weeks bonus will take a little more planning! 

The challenge is no SUGAR or BROWN SUGAR. 

That means you will have to check labels!  There is sugar in a great deal of prepared foods!

For everyday you eliminate sugar you get 5pts, including on your sweet day!



INDIVIDUAL CHALLENGE
(optional, individual bonus points do not go toward the the team points, only for the dividual)

This week's indivdual challenge, is a little more challenging!!  Here's a link to the wellness blog where you can find more details:  http://www.4everwellness.blogspot.com/

but the challenge is, no sugars or sugar substitutes for the week!  She has listed the various names to look for on labels and some articles to read if you are interested. 

Good luck to all!! 

Benefits of Water

17 Benefits to Drinking Water:
These water facts are found at:   http://healthcave.com/17-health-benefits-of-drinking-water/

"Water is one of those rare free resources that has so many health benefits. Unless you are living in a desert, there is no reason why you should let yourself get dehydrated, when a glass of water every now and then can prevent that from happening. There are plenty of benefits of drinking water, from weight loss to proper kidney functioning, water plays a big part in our life. About 70% of our body is made up of water and from this we can understand how important water is for us.

Weight loss –Water is truly the best negative calorie food there is, a glass of water contains no calories and taking it before a meal will mean your stomach will be a bit full and you can get away without having to eat extra food.

Ph balance –The human body needs a 7+ Ph range so that it can function properly. Drinking enough water throughout the day helps to maintain this balance.

Healthy Heart –We have talked plenty about how to keep your heart healthy, but a study done in the Loma Linda university in California, involving 20k healthy men and woman in the age range of 38 to 100 years, came up with the results that those who drank enough water throughout the day (41% in women and 54% in men), were less likely to have a heart attack. But this does not works with other liquids, so if you substitute water with milk, tea, coffee etc. then you will have increased chances of heart attack, which is to be precise – in women it is 50% and 46% in men.

Healthy Skin –Those of you who have wasted plenty of time and money in expensive cosmetics will be quite surprised to hear that drinking enough water throughout the day is just sufficient for having a natural glowing skin. For long term skin benefits, just keep drinking water regularly.

Helps keep dehydration away –for keeping your body properly hydrated, one must drink enough water throughout the day.

Pain relief –Water is said to help people with joint pain, when the body is properly hydrated then muscles are more elastic and less strained and prevents joints pain.

Remove toxins –Water removes toxins from the body and keeps it nice and clean. So, water is a good cleansing tool as well.

Metabolism –Water improves your metabolism which is another reason why it helps you with weight loss. There are other foods that help boost your metabolism like probiotics for example, but water is easily available and costs nothing.

Kidney health –Kidneys requires enough water to keep filtering the liquid waste from our body, lack of water can result in a lot of problems as the liquid in the kidney needs to be diluted before removing.

Prevent cancer –Drinking a good amount of water everyday helps in keeping bladder and colon cancer away.

Restoring energy and feeling fresh – water keeps the body well hydrated which makes us feel fresh and thus restores a lot of energy by which we can easily carry about a lot of work.

Headache solution –while there can be many reasons for having a headache, for most common reasons, dehydration is responsible. Drinking enough water throughout the day can keep the headache away and also if you’ve got a headache, drinking some water can help cure it.

Constipation –Water, along with foods that are high in roughage content, like salads helps in curing and keeping constipation away. Several diseases like heartburn etc. can be kept at bay, if water is consumed regularly.

Body temperature –Water helps in controlling body temperature, this is especially important for athletes or those who are working out. Water is preferred over other liquids because our body absorbs water much better than any other liquid.

Helps sickness –Drinking water helps in getting well sooner as being sick leaves us with low water in our body. This can make us even more dehydrated and to prevent this, we just need to drink more water.

Nutrient transport –Water helps in sending the nutrients from one place in our body to another, thus making a constant flow that helps our body to function properly.

Pregnant woman –At the time of pregnancy, the body’s need of adequate water is very important to keep the nutrients flowing and keeping the infections etc. away.

There are plenty of health benefits of drinking water, however for most people; drinking water makes them feel good. Start your day with a glass of fresh drinking water; it is the best way to start a day."

Week 5 Points

Way to get your points in soon this week!!  Everyone was so on top of things!!  Nice!

Okay here are the teams in order:

Dark Force is at #1 for the 2nd week in a row!  Good job guys!
Light Side is in second place
and Tallest and Smallest falls in at #3

The new Individual winner is Daniel at 186!  Go Daniel!
He also is the biggest intentional gainer for the week at +2.2 lbs.!

Okay everyone, let's have good week this week.  As my High School P.E. teacher used to say, "Git 'er done!"

Week 6 Hot Topic

Idea from: http://www.4everwellness.blogspot.com/

What type of workout is working for you?  What do you enjoy the most?  Something at the gym, a video at home, something outdoors?

Post a comment, worth 5 points!

Week 4 Points

We had some technical difficulties, so that's why these numbers haven't been posted yet, but here are the teams in order:

We have collectively lost (or gained, depending on our goal) a total of 33.2 lbs.!  That's pretty good!

The Dark Force is #1!  Go Dark Force!
The Light Side at #2
Tallest and Smallest at #3

Ryan is the individual winner for the week with 188 points!  Wow, go Ryan!
And The biggest Loser for the week was Mindy!!!  She lost 5.1 lbs!  Totally awesome!

Second place was Ryan at 3 lbs. lost.
And Kellie in third place with 2.2 lbs. lost! 

Great job guys!  As soon as I have all week 5 points I'll post those numbers!

Week 6 Extra Challenge/Individual Challenge

Okay, so here's the Extra Challenge for this week....

You have to do 3 days of outdoor workouts AND one new workout you've never done before!  (You can combine outdoor and new.)  It's ALL or NOTHING this week!  Worth 35 points!!  Go Evans Fam!

Here's the Individual Challenge....

You don't have to do this, it does not go toward your team!!  It only goes toward the Individual Challenge! 

Track sodium levels consumed in one meal a day (breakfast, lunch OR dinner) then share it with your team.  It doesn't count if you skip a meal!

Soduim levels for 1 meal and share with team x 5 pts./day = 35 pts./wk

At some point during the week you have to track 1 breakfast, 1 lunch, and 1 dinner. 

Week 5 Hot Topic

Which facet of this competion is working best for you and why?  Having more fruits and veggies, exercising, water, extra challenges, limited sweets, 9 pm, or team contact?

Rememer it's worth 5 points!  Anyone is welcome to email me, and I can post it for them if that works better!

We Are 1/2 Way There!!!

Today is the halfway point! Yippee!  How does it feel? 
*add all lost inches together i.e. arm, leg, waist, etc.*

This week, take your measurments again.  Here's the chart to remind you of how/where to do it!  Add your points to your total at the end of the week.  And keep track of how many inhes lost!

"How many points do we get for inches lost? 5 pts per 1/2 inch lost!! Example: Jane lost 3.5 inches total so her inches points would be 35 pts. Your pts submitted should ALWAYS end in a 0 or 5. If it doesn't, RECALCULATE."

From: http://www.4everwellness.blogspot.com/p/measure-weeks.html

Week 3 Extra Challenge

Okay, okay.  So after talking with Mindy, Rich thinks this is unAmerican (the water/no pop challenge) for the challenge since this  week is Independence Day.  So we will post-pone this Challenge...but be sure, you will see this again!!  Mindy and I both really enjoyed the interval training, so this will be the challenge again for this week!

Interval Training!

The link below will lead you to the 2nd challenge that talks about interval training!  Good Luck!

http://evanschallengeblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/week-2-extra-challenge.html

Also, mindy will be helping me keep up this blog! 

Comparing Calories

I really liked this illustration!

Color Wheel of Nutrition

Do you ever wonder what benefit you get from your food?  Here's some information I found at: http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/fruits-vegetables.shtml  they have more information you can read on their website. 





Red Fruits and Vegetables
Contain nutrients such as lycopene, ellagic acid, Quercetin, and Hesperidin, to name a few. These nutrients reduce the risk of prostate cancer, lower blood pressure, reduce tumor growth and LDL cholesterol levels, scavenge harmful free-radicals, and support join tissue in arthritis cases.

Orange and Yellow fruits and vegetables
Contain beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, flavonoids, lycopene, potassium, and vitamin C. These nutrients reduce age-related macula degeneration and the risk of prostate cancer, lower LDL cholesterol and blood pressure, promote collagen formation and healthy joints, fight harmful free radicals, encourage alkaline balance, and work with magnesium and calcium to build healthy bones.

Green vegetables and Fruit
Green vegetables contain chlorophyll, fiber, lutein, zeaxanthin, calcium, folate, vitamin C, calcium, and Beta-carotene. The nutrients found in these vegetables reduce cancer risks, lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol levels, normalize digestion time, support retinal health and vision, fight harmful free-radicals, and boost immune system activity.

Blue and purple fruits and vegetables
Contain nutrients which include lutein, zeaxanthin, resveratrol, vitamin C, fiber, flavonoids, ellagic acid, and quercetin. Similar to the previous nutrients, these nutrients support retinal health, lower LDL cholesterol, boost immune system activity, support healthy digestion, improve calcium and other mineral absorption, fight inflammation, reduce tumor growth, act as an anticarcinogens in the digestive tract, and limit the activity of cancer cells.

White fruits and vegetables
Contain nutrients such as beta-glucans, EGCG, SDG, and lignans that provide powerful immune boosting activity. These nutrients also activate natural killer B and T cells, reduce the risk of colon, breast, and prostate cancers, and balance hormone levels, reducing the risk of hormone-related cancers.
Chart of Colored Vegetables and Fruit
(See bottom of page for printable chart)

Green Artichokes Arugula Asparagus Avocados Broccoflower Broccoli Broccoli rabe Brussel sprouts Celery Chayote squash Chinese cabbage Cucumbers Endive Green apples Green beans Green cabbage Green grapes Green onion Green pears Green peppers Honeydew Kiwifruit Leafy greens Leeks Lettuce Limes Okra Peas Sno Peas Spinach Sugar snap peas Watercress Zucchini

White Bananas Brown pears Cauliflower Dates Garlic Ginger Jerusalem artichoke Jicama Kohlrabi Mushrooms Onions Parsnips Potatoes Shallots Turnips White Corn White nectarines White peaches

Red Beets Blood oranges Cherries Cranberries Guava PapayaPink grapefruit Pink/Red grapefruit Pomegranates Radicchio Radishes Raspberries Red apples Red bell peppers Red chili peppers Red grapes Red onions Red pears Red peppers Red potatoes Rhubarb Strawberries Tomatoes Watermelon

Yellow/Orange Apricots Butternut squash Cantaloupe Cape Gooseberries Carrots Golden kiwifruit Grapefruit Lemon Mangoes Nectarines Oranges Papayas Peaches Persimmons Pineapples Pumpkin Rutabagas Sweet corn Sweet potatoes Tangerines Yellow apples Yellow beets Yellow figs Yellow pears Yellow peppers Yellow potatoes Yellow summer squash Yellow tomatoes Yellow watermelon Yellow winter squash

Blue/Purple Black currants Black salsify Blackberries Blueberries Dried plums Eggplant Elderberries Grapes Plums Pomegranates Prunes Purple Belgian endive Purple Potatoes Purple asparagus Purple cabbage Purple carrots Purple figs Purple grapes Purple peppers Raisins

Disabled World - Disability News for all the Family: http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/fruits-vegetables.shtml#ixzz1yrxoXjVG


Here's another one they had on the wellness blog that I liked too!   Thought I'd post them both.  http://www.4everwellness.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-06-25T06:00:00-06:00&max-results=6

Week 3 Points!

I thought this was an interesting image, and very encouraging.  It was posted on the wellness blog.  She was talking about how sometimes weight loss can come slowly, and if you are truely trying weight loss will come.  You may not be losing weight but perhaps inches.  She has a lot of good words if you'd like to read what she said follow this link: http://www.4everwellness.blogspot.com/2012/06/week-3-results.html

Here are the teams in order of most points for the week:

First Place: Tallest and Smallest (Yeah, Yeah!)
Second: Dark Force
Third: Light Side

The individual winner is Jenn - 2 weeks running!!  She got 166 even without the bonus points (she'll add those on to next weeks after her and Ryan complete last weeks bonus (since he had high Adventure))  Go Jenn!!

And the biggest loser for the week was Dad at .4 lbs!  Good job Dad.

Keep going everyone!  Everyday do something to get you closer to your goal!

Week 4 Hot Topic

Thanks Mindy for keeping me on track!  :) 

Here's the Hot Topic for this month, 

"How's your team supporting and keeping each other accountable and what's your contritubution?"

If you comment you get 5 pts!

Week 4 Extra Challenge

**Good thing Derek is so smart!  I didn't catch the part about the regular teams from the challenge being made up of 6 people and we only have 4 per team.  So you still need to do the same amount of time per person, but each team total will be 400 mins. strength and 540 mins. cardio.  Good luck--You can do this!!**

Well, so I'm a little late this...sorry.  But here's week 4 bonus, we'll follow the http://www.4everwellness.blogspot.com/ bonus this week and that is:

"Your TEAM can earn 210 BONUS pts if you get _810_minutes of cardio and _600_ minutes of strength training , AS A TEAM, this week. You'll report 35 pts on your individual spreadsheet if your team gets ALL the minutes in, but if your team doesn't reach the total cardio/strength minutes, each member on your team must report 0 BONUS pts on Monday regardless of what you did on your own. (just bonus, not exercise pts) Yep, it's about working as a team this week.

Don't let those numbers scare you!! This is part of our normal exercise, NOT necessarily in addition to it. I'm not trying to kill us off here, promise. If you choose to divide the minutes evenly then it would be 135 min per person for cardio (3 days x 45 min) and 100 minutes strength training (2 days x 50 min). Not nearly so overwhelming, eh? The whole goal of this challenge is to keep us using a combination of cardio AND strength training each week instead of just focusing on one or the other. It is also meant to help you pull together and actually work as a team rather than just submit points under the same clever team name. This means we will have to talk to each other about our workouts to make sure we got all our minutes in for a TOTAL OF 210 BONUS POINTS. These minutes can be divided evenly or however you deem necessary, depending on your team's circumstances. I suggest planning ahead as to how many minutes each will take and how you will track the minutes. It doesn’t matter how you decide to do it, but THAT you decide to and really help each other!! Get to work!!!

Adapted from Dianne’s post 2/24/12 "     http://www.4everwellness.blogspot.com/

Sorry this one I wasn't going to try to re-explain.  Too complicated to.  Since we're working with our teams on this, I thought maybe if you'd like, we could comment on this post where we're at for exercise, so as a team we'll know how everyone is doing, and if we need more mins. to make it, or give more encouragement, etc. etc.  So anyway, use the comments if you'd like to help keep track of your mins.  For example, If say I worked out for 10 mins. strength today and 30 mins. cardio, I could just post that here in the comments and my team would know we had that many mins. toward each category so far and then they could post theirs etc. so we could keep track of how much more we needed to reach our goal!  AND that would count as a team contact for the day also!  Two birds with one stone!  Sweet!  (did all that make sense??)

What Constitutes strength you might ask?  Well here's a few suggestions/examples:

Push ups
Sit ups
Leg raises
Squats
Pull ups
Planks
Throw downs
Step ups
Use your canned foods as weights

And here's a link I found with lots of other ideas, http://www.mysoslife.com/?page_id=290
but they are not all just strength exercises, the difference?  Think "am I working on a muscle group or my heart"  and that's a little bit of a clue.  However sometimes you can do both strength and cardio in one workout!  But you all already know all this right?!

Week 2 Points

So have I kept you in suspense long enough??  This week I thought I'd list the teams in order of points. 

The Dark Force comes at number one!  (woo who!) 
Second is Tallest and Smallest
Third is The Light Side!

And the new individual winner for points for the week is Jenn at 191! (whistle) That's awesome!

Now, this last week Daniel was our biggest gainer...On purpose, since he's doing the opposite, gaining muscle weight.  He gained 2.4 lbs. Great job Daniel!

Second place is Rich at 2.2 lbs.
And a three way tie at 2 lbs. lost for 3rd are:
Dad
Scott
Mindy

Great job everyone!  Keep going!  Remember to encourage your teammates, that's what we're here for!  Go team go!

Week 3 Hot Topic

IMAGE SOURCE: http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/08/refined-enriched-whole-grain-understanding-what-these-words-mean/

For this week's Hot Topic post a recipe or a link to a recipe that has whole grain in it.  This can be any type of recipe your family likes! 

This link has a naughty word in it so I'm not listing it!  :)

I should probably add that, I did not get this last picture from it's actual site, but they did list the site, and I didn't like the site name, so I just crop it out of the pic.

Week 3 Extra Challenge

Okay... so I'm going to throw a curve ball....

Pictures from: http://www.lds.org/media-library/images/dating-marriage?lang=eng&start=31&end=40#elderly-mormon-couple-studying-scriptures-501484

This week's extra challenge is, not the same as the wellness blog, instead you have to read your scriptures with your spouse for 10 minutes a day!  (Family scriptures doesn't count, if that applies to you)  You get 2 "whoops I forgot" days.  Each day you do it you get 7 pts. (max 35 for the week)!  If you are apart this week, find time to do it over the phone. 

Since we know that having a balance in our life is what will help us to ultimately be healthy!

 Good luck everyone!


***Amendment***

  Ryan is out of town with high adventure this week and cannot do this challenge, so if there is someone else out there who has a similar situation, you can do 1 of 3 things.

1. Do the bonus on the wellness blog. http://www.4everwellness.blogspot.com/
2. Wait until next week to do it, you could do this and the next week challenge all in the same week. and the points would be applied when you have completed it. (not this week).
3. Just skip it.

Week 2 Hot topic

Okay so here's the Hot Topic, make sure to comment to get your 5 pts!

What are you doing to make your workouts a priority?

Here's the link to the wellness blog:  http://www.4everwellness.blogspot.com/

Week 1 Points

Alright Everyone!  And here are week 1 point getters!  The team with the most points are Drum roll please...  The Light Side!!!  Coming in with 613 pts! (whew!)  Very impressive!  They also have the most weight lost so far at 7.6 lbs. collectively.

Individually:
         The contestant with the most points is Ryan at 178 --way to go! 
      Jenn and Derek tied for 2nd and 3rd at 175!  Great job guys!

The contestant with the most weight lost is Terrell at 5 lbs!  Wow!  Great job!  Do share your secret!  :)
         Second place is Derek with 2.8 lbs.  Fantastic!
         And Kellie in 3rd with 2 lbs!  Awesome!

You guys all did a great job, I think it's TOTALLY AWESOME everyone is doing this and trying!  Great job, hopefully the first week wasn't too hard on anyone, and good luck this week!

Goooooo Evans Clan!  Yea!

Week 2 Extra Challenge

Here it is, the next Extra Challenge worth 35 points if you complete it!!

Okay, okay, Scott didn't like that I copied and pasted her words--"plagiarism" he said.  (I did however put from and the link under it, but the rest was copied and pasted.)

But have no fear, your log charts I did make myself!  And not everything on this blog is copied, and I will do better at putting my own words on it!

So next weeks Extra bonus is INTERVAL TRAINING go to the blog to see the details!  Good luck ya'll!

  http://www.4everwellness.blogspot.com/

Doing the Bonus

I was talking to Mindy, she told me that she had read on the wellness blog that there are certain days for certain parts of the bonus.....I did not know this, and I don't think it matters!  As long as you get it done before you turn in your points on Monday!!

I guess I should have known it though, now that I see it on the day by day thing that I had copied and pasted on this blog!  Ha!

Week 1 Hot Topic

Here is her Hot Topic for the week-make a comment to get the points! : )

Share a favorite motivating quote/thought. If you do not currently have one, ask around and find one that "speaks" to you, then share it in the comments below.

***Be sure to take a few minutes this week to comment on this question to earn those 5 points!!***
From www.4everwellness.blogspot.com

Here's one I like, probably because this tends to be one of my failing thoughts.."Oh I'm too old to learn/do... (whatever)"

The Real Hunger Games

I thought it was an appropriate video for us, since we will are doing a "Hunger Game" ourselves! 

Week 1 extra challenge

Here's what the first week challenge is!  I just copied and pasted her words in here, I'll send you each an email containing all the excel charts you will need too!

I also love the quote she posted too: 

"You can't live a positive life, with a negative mind" 

There's some food for thought!  : )  Happy Gaming Everyone!! 


Welcome, welcome everyone!! It's wonderful to have all of you!! Before we begin on Monday, you'll want to be sure to familiarize yourselves with the "rules" and read through the "faq" to help explain any questions you may have. Please note the rules regarding late point submissions, refer to "submitting points" for detailed instructions. Points are due MONDAYS at 8 PM (MDT) *after 8 pm 15 pts will be deducted, after 10 pm ALL points will be void. You may also find this link helpful. FAQ: First/Last Day Questions

WEEK 1 BONUS:
I think we can all benefit from having a clear start and end point. This enables us to see just how far we've come when we finish the Challenge! This next week, starting Monday, we will be setting some goals, evaluating our current fitness levels and making a plan for the next 8 weeks. It might look a little overwhelming at first glance, but really most of these will require more thinking than doing and will only take a couple of minutes to complete.

Each day you will have an "assignment" worth 5 pts toward the weekly Bonus. A total of 35 pts is possible. This is NOT a Bonus I would skip, because come Week 8, this is going to look very familiar. *It really doesn't matter what day you do each of these assignments during the week, you could do all of them on Monday if that works best for you.

Monday - take a "Before" picture. (5pts) It's a good idea to wear close-fitted clothing, but ones that you would feel comfortable with others seeing you in, as you will be sharing this photo with your team. I know, who's comfortable in close-fitted clothing, right? Well, that's why we're here to push us out of our comfort zones!


Tuesday - complete the .pdf "Fitness Test" (5pts) found in the "Welcome" email you received earlier this week. Be sure to print it off and keep it somewhere SAFE! You will want it for a reference in Week 8 of the Challenge.

Wednesday - decide on an "Emotional" focus for this Challenge & post it somewhere you will see it everyday. (5pts) Some possible focus ideas might be: recognizing emotional triggers for overeating, identifying feelings when cravings hit, combating discouragement or identifying reasons behind wanting to skip a workout.

Thursday - set a measurable "Personal Goal" for this 8 week challenge.(5pts) Examples: lose x amount of pounds, have perfect points for all 8 weeks, not lose more than 5 pts a week, compete in a race, drop a pant size, be able to do x amount of push ups, ya know, something along those lines. Be sure to make it something you actually care about though or you might find yourself letting it slide.

Friday - decide on a NON-FOOD reward for meeting your "Personal Goal" (5pts) at the end of the Challenge. Such as a day to yourself, a weekend getaway, a movie night, new pants, mani/pedi or whatever might be motivating for you that does NOT include food.

Saturday - as a team, indicate a "TEAM GOAL" for this competition, (5pts) something other than winning such as; no late points, not letting anyone fall through the cracks, sharing a new healthy recipe each week, workouting together (if location permits), whatever you feel will keep you unified as a team and supporting each other.

Sunday - share your "Before" picture, "Personal Goal & Non-food Reward" with your team! (5pts)

7 assignments x 5 pts each = 35 pts possible

The Beginning

Hello!  Here's the start of the blog, where you can cheer for each other!  Post what you're going through, if your doing great, or need extra encouragement!
Here's the link to the original site:

www.4everwellness.blogspot.com

WHAT YOU NEED:

SCALE

TAPE MEASURE

EXCEL (or Mac version)

*You will receive a spreadsheet to easily track your points, weight, and inches. If you don't have Excel, you will need to ask more questions to make sure you're scoring properly.

POINTS:WEEKLY POINTS--Each Monday you will report weekly points.
Exercise:

7 pts x 5 days of exercise = 35 possible points

You can earn up to 35 points each week for exercise. You earn 5 points for doing 30 minutes of exercise and 7 points for doing 45 minutes of exercise up to 5 days per week. If you do more than 45 minutes of exercise or more than 5 days per week, WAY TO GO! But you do not get any additional points, and you can't carry the points or minutes over to future days or weeks of exercise.

Sweets:

5 pts x 6 days of no sweets = 30 possible points

You can earn up to 30 points each week for not eating sweets. Each day that you eat no sweets, you get 5 points up to 6 days per week. Each day that you eat one sweet, you get 2 points. If you eat two or more sweets in a day, you get 0 points. What is a sweet? Brownies, cookies, cake, ice cream, candy, donuts, or anything sweet that's preventing you from being healthy. HOWEVER, PLEASE NOTE THAT EACH WEEK YOU GET ONE "SWEET DAY" THAT DOES NOT COUNT AGAINST YOUR POINTS! Special occasions do not get extra free sweets, so use your sweet day accordingly. If you don't use your sweet day, you do not get any additional points.

Fruits/Vegetables:

5 pts x 7 days = 35 possible points

Each day that you eat at least 5 fruits or vegetables, you get 3 points. Each day that 3 or more of those are vegetables, you get 5 points. Generally speaking, one serving is approximately 1/2 cup, although leafy greens are approximately double that and dried fruits are about half that much.

Water:

2 pts x 7 days = 14 possible points

Each day that you drink at least 64 ounces of water, you get 2 points.

9 p.m.:

2 pts x 7 days = 14 possible points

Each day that you stop eating before 9 p.m., you get 2 points.

Team:

1 pt x 7 days = 7 possible points

Each day that you are in contact with a team member by any method (email, phone, blog, text, voice mail, telegram, Facebook, U.S. Postal Service, etc.) you get 1 point. Through personal experience I've found that encouraging, motivating, sharing experiences, and staying accountable to others helps us to be more successful as individuals and as teams

Hot Topic:

5 pts x 1 comment each week = 5 possible points

You can receive 5 points each week that you post a response/comment on the "Hot Topic" posted each Tuesday on the Lifetime Wellness Challenge.

WEIGHT LOSS POINTS--Each week you will report your weight loss points. Please do your initial and weekly weigh-ins at approximately the same time and under the same circumstances each week (empty/full stomach, before/after exercise, etc.) First you must decide which of the following plans you want to do:

Weight Loss Plan: At the end of each week when you weigh in, you will get 5 points for maintaining your lowest previous weight and 10 points for each whole pound and 1 point per tenth of a pound you have lost beyond your lowest previous weight. *note: It is not necessary to measure to the tenth of a pound. You may measure in whole numbers, but you must stay consistent with however you decide.

IF ON "WEIGH-IN DAY" YOU:

*Gained weight, you will report 0 points, AND you don't get any weight loss or maintenance points in future weeks until you return to the lowest weight you had already achieved.

*Maintained your previous lowest weight, you report 5 points.

*Lost one pound, you would get 5 points for maintaining plus 10 points for that pound, so you would report 15 points.

ie: If you lost 2.1 pounds, you get 21 points plus 5 maintenance points, so you would report 26 weight points.
Weight Maintenance Plan: If you are trying to maintain a healthy weight which you have already achieved, you will choose the "Weight Maintenance Plan." This challenge is for EVERYONE trying to be healthy, not just those trying to lose weight. If you are maintaining your weight, you must decide what weight you are maintaining, and for each week that you are at or below that weight, you get 15 points. If you go over that weight, you get 0. *Again, you need not measure to the tenth of a pound, in fact, I'd encourage you to stick to whole numbers on this track.

Pregnancy Plan: If you are pregnant, please don't worry about the scale, but you must get at least 126 weekly points (90%) to get your 15 weight points per week.

BONUS POINTS--

35 possible points

Each Friday I will post a bonus challenge to push you a little further or get you thinking about your health a little bit more. Each week the bonus challenge is worth 35 points. I will give instructions how to score your bonus with the challenge instructions.

INCHES POINTS--

You will record measurements of your right bicep, chest, waist, hips and right thigh 3 times in this competition. **SAVE YOUR SPREADSHEET INFO**

*1st Day of the Challenge

*End of Week 4 (1/2 way through)

*End of Week 8 (Final weigh-in)

For each 1/2 inch you have lost at weeks 4 and 8 you will get 5 points. Thus, your inches points will ONLY result in a number that ends with a 5 or a 0. It is important when you are measuring that you measure in the same spots. I have included a visual to help. The thigh will be easiest to measure in the same spot if you measure where your middle fingertip falls next to your thigh.

WEEKLY POINT REPORTING: READ CAREFULLY
You will report your points at the end of each completed week (on Mondays) to me via the "Report Your Point" link. Points must be reported by 8 p.m.MST on Monday night. I will deduct 15 points from your team's total for each person who reports late. If your points are not reported by 10 p.m. Monday night, your points from that week will not count at all. Be considerate of your team's hard work and get your points in on time. If you find that Monday's are too hectic for you, then you may submit on Sunday but will need to be consistent with your submission day.
When I declare the team that wins each week, I will NOT be posting the points each team reported. Weekly Results are not cumulative, the Final Results are. At the very end of the competition, I will post the point grand totals, and I will rank the teams and declare an overall winner.

 I ask that everyone please be honest in your point reporting. Your integrity is not worth a few points, and your health will reflect your commitment to living the rules of this competition.Some info to know (this is all on their site)

You will use a measuring tape to measure at the the start of the challenge and again at the end of week 4 and week 8 (final weigh in). You will measure your right bicep, chest, waist, hips and right thigh. It's important to measure in the same places. See the visual below that should help. When measuring your thigh, measure where your middle fingertip falls next to your thigh. **ONLY MEASURE 1 SIDE (right) NOT BOTH!