Since I’m not about to get into a sports bra and pose, Ali (from last season’s Biggest Loser) will have to do.
Our fabulous and creative neighbor, John, (responsible for all things fun in the neighborhood: Halloween decor, backyard campouts, all the street hockey equipment), has come up with something “fun” for the adults in his life. He sent out an email after Christmas inviting us to participate in his version of The Biggest Loser.
Here are the rules:
1. You contribute $25. The winner takes the pot ($350 for us).
2. You get 1 point for every day that you:
a. Have a good eating day (however you define it…for me, it’s eating around 1900 calories per day due to the extra nursing calories I get). You get 0 points if you have an okay day and you get –1 points if you “garbage out” as John puts it.
b. Exercise (7 points max per week)
c. Sleep 7 hours a night (thus, Ryan’s sleeping goal referred to in the whiny-wife post)
d. Keep your personal goal. It can be whatever you want…for me and Ryan it is writing down everything we put in our mouth and calculating the calories.
**That 4 points possible per day.
3. You get 5 points for every percentage of weight loss.
4. You get 1 bonus point (per week) for turning in your point total by Monday at 5pm.
5. You are honest with your competitors. The person with the most points wins.
This is really working for us (I’ve only missed one point in all of January) because
a. I’m super motivated. I gained way too much with Faith and cannot fit into anything.
b. We weigh on Monday. I’ve never done that before…I’ve always weighed on Friday or Saturday and so I goofed around on the weekends, figuring I had lots of time to make up for it.
c. This competition rewards the work you do, not just the weight you lose. I can’t fudge a little and hope that I lose weight anyway…if I’m not eating according to plan, than I lose the point for the day. I can’t always control how much weight I lose but I can totally control my points per day.
d. I can’t take days off. I’m the queen of “days off” and have figured out that, at this age, I really can’t take days off (read: blow my diet by at least 2000 calories) and still lose weight. I just can’t.
e. I really want that money! (I am currently in 3rd place, because there is a girl that is blowing everyone out of the water…I’m hoping slow and steady wins the race.)
In January I lost 10 lbs. Kind of a drop in the bucket, but this thing goes for the next couple months, so I have high hopes for long term results. I love doing it with Ryan (he’s one point under me in 4th place) and guess what? I feel a lot better when I’m not eating cookies all day—who would have guessed?
20 comments:
This is brilliant. Like you I'm great at the exercise and eating yet fall apart on weekends for all things baked. I want people to do this with.
I totally crash on the weekends. Not EVERY weekend, but if there is an event, I bomb. The workouts, however, I can always do. Easy. It's the good eating. I love that you're doing this. I know how important losing the weight after having a baby is. You look great, but I get it. Boy, do I get it. You could totally win by doing the dreaded 'cleanse'. I've decided to start on Monday after the superbowl feast. I just want to get ALL the way down instead of just 'good enough'. Know what I mean?
Get that money, girl! You deserve it!
I've never hatched a child, so I cannot relate to that aspect of what that does to a body...but I have recently lost weight, and it has not been all that hard. This is what I changed: run every morning for 20-30 min, do some weights 3-4 times a week, afternoon or evening walk mixed in most days. And weekends I do intense work out, 3 hr mtn bike rides, or a 2 hr hike and a run thrown in as well for extra fabulousness. And I watch carbs...eggs/shredded cheese and veggies for breakfast, apple/peanutbutter for snack, wrap with protein, cheese, hummus at lunch and dinner a protein, veggie mix, no carbs usually, well except for wine which I do consume sometimes. Hummus, apples, cheese, almonds, whole grain crackers, fish, veggies are my staples, oh and tofu also. it worked for me....
BTW- celebrate 10 lbs, that is awesome! you are good at committments and I am proud of you my dear....new jeans from Tammys closet may be coming soon!
Great idea, I too am trying loose the baby weight, not keeping as good of diet. But I did loose 8 pounds last month. Heres to keeping up the good hard work.
All the points and calculations make my head spin but I think this is a really fun idea.
(I would totally lose though. And not in the biggest loser way, either. I mean, would be the one with the least amount of points. I am not very good about keeping track of things. After about 3 days I would be fudging numbers because I didn't write anything down.)
10 lbs is AMAZING! Go Jessica, I am sure you will win, or at the very least beat Ryan. And if you win, I would spend every last penny on clothes from jcrew and gap.
This IS brilliant! Congrats on losing 10 lbs already!!!
Good luck & keep up the GREAT work!!!
What a great idea. Congrats on the 10 pounds. That's awesome!
Brilliant idea! What goood neighbors you have!
That is awesome.
10 lbs is a lot! You need to celebrate that 10 lbs!
10 pounds is no small amount!! That is positively fabulous!!
So, the girl that is blowing everyone else out of the water...does she have to prepare meals for a family of 7? You are doing such an amazing job, Jessica...all that AND taking care of a busy family!
I love to take days off, too. Great for you for being so disciplined.
control freaks do great with this kind of stuff.
10 pounds! Wow...that is NO drop in the bucket. Congrats. I want a more detailed diet plan, please.
Ten pounds is some serious work. That is impressive my friend. Your discipline is AMAZING!
Keep up the great work and I am totally hoping you beat them all!
I did a biggest loser competition with my neighbors it was awesome. I didn't realize how competitive I was and it was good for me to have accountability to others and not just myself. I need to find another group to do this again because I've got 10 more to lose, and my neighbors don't want to do it again. I guess they didn't like it when I took all their money.
One more thing...holy cow 10 pounds in one month that is amazing....I am impressed and now I am jealous. I want to lose 10 pounds in a month. You have motivated me....I can do this!
Wow!! 10 lbs! That's great! Of course, nursing a baby and chasing the big kids will certainly help. I hope you win!!
check out www.thedailyplate.com
It is a great place to track your calories and exercise.
and it's free!
Now I'm all curious who is the one blowing you guys out of the water.
I'll do it with you Paige and any other BCers. My friends here in Idaho are already skinny.
I'm the biggest LOSER because I can't stick to a diet of any kind. And heaven knows I need it more than anyone.
Good for you! I'm proud of you!
Hi Jessica, you don't know me. My neighbor Shauna knows you and reads your blog. She told me this summer that you go jogging pregnant (!!!) and ever since, I have been an occasional lurker here at the Everyday Romneys. You are a delightful family to read about and that new baby is seriously delicious!
So I'm revealing myself finally as a lurker because this contest totally inspired me! I read about it last week and decided to start my own contest. I was shooting for 6-8 players, just enough to keep me motivated to not eat cookies. We officially started today and there are 22 people! Holy crap! That's a $550 prize!
So, please tell your neighbor a big thank you for designing this contest. We tweaked it some by taking out the bonus weight loss points and adding a base rule (no treats/junk food) to the eating day point. Thank you so much for posting about this contest. And congrats on the 10 lbs! That is awesome!
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