Part of the reason I chose to post these family challenges as a blog, is because this gives us the option to have multiple authors. Using the blog lets me limit the number of emails that are sent out to the whole family, but still be able to post new information on a regular basis, and anyone else who wants to contribute is welcome to do so.
We can post healthy recipes as we each try new things and find things we like to make. We can write about new foods at the grocery store or gadgets that make healthy living easier.
If you are interested in posting to the blog, let me know and I can get you set up as an author. It's very simple to get signed up, and you can starting posting immediately!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Health Challenge
With the "Biggest Loser" up and running, it's time to roll out the second part, our "Health Challenge". I’ve talked to several people about different ideas, and we have not come up with a way to incorporate everyone’s individual goals, and still run it as a competition, with a winner at the end. So here’s what I’ve come up with:
Every week, on Sunday, I will email a weekly topic or goal, and we will all try to make that one thing a priority for that week. As the weeks go by, we will hopefully all find new ways to incorporate many different healthy habits into our daily lifestyle. Several times throughout this Health Challenge, the goal for the week will be to weigh yourself, calculate your BMI, and take your measurements, so you can use that information as a measure of your progress.
If anyone has any other ideas to incorporate, or ideas for the weekly goals, please send them to me and we will make sure they get included.
Every week, on Sunday, I will email a weekly topic or goal, and we will all try to make that one thing a priority for that week. As the weeks go by, we will hopefully all find new ways to incorporate many different healthy habits into our daily lifestyle. Several times throughout this Health Challenge, the goal for the week will be to weigh yourself, calculate your BMI, and take your measurements, so you can use that information as a measure of your progress.
If anyone has any other ideas to incorporate, or ideas for the weekly goals, please send them to me and we will make sure they get included.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Week 1 Winner (Unofficially)
Since I only had weights for 4 people from the week before last, Week 1's weight loss will not count for the challenge, but I still felt I should recognize my dad for winning the week! I had "Week 0" weights for him, my mom, Becky and I, and he lost the highest percentage of weight. He had a total weekly percentage of 1.03% lost. Congratulations!
Participant List
Here are the participants so far:
David
John
Mary Kay
Becky Hazen
Rob
Alison
Beth
Amy
Donna
Brian Balasia
Sarah
Jean
Lenny
Becky Sumner
Nancy
Gary
Katie
Kyle
If you thought you sent me a weight and you're not on this list, please re-send.
If you would like to participate but didn't get a weight recorded for Week 1, that's fine, just send me your current weight and your chosen Weigh-In Day. I'll just record it for Week 2 and record the losses from there through the end of the competition.
David
John
Mary Kay
Becky Hazen
Rob
Alison
Beth
Amy
Donna
Brian Balasia
Sarah
Jean
Lenny
Becky Sumner
Nancy
Gary
Katie
Kyle
If you thought you sent me a weight and you're not on this list, please re-send.
If you would like to participate but didn't get a weight recorded for Week 1, that's fine, just send me your current weight and your chosen Weigh-In Day. I'll just record it for Week 2 and record the losses from there through the end of the competition.
1 Week Down!
Well, the first week of the challenge is over, and the weights are recorded. So far, 18 people have logged a weight, which I think is fantastic! I'm so excited to have so many participants, and I would love to see even more people decide to join us.
I feel like I should take a minute to give credit to the weight lost before this challenge started. A few of us have been trying to lose weight for a while now, and while that will not count for our challenge, it certainly deserves some recognition!
Uncle Rob was down 40 pounds this year, before we even started talking about doing this as a family, which is wonderful!
Four of us (Nancy, Gary, Becky Sumner and I) have been on Weight Watchers, and have lost a combined total of 60.9 pounds! For those four, I have a recorded weight from the week before Week 1 of the challenge, so even though this does not count for our "Biggest Loser", I have to give credit because 8.3 pounds were lost last week, for a loss of 0.94% (calculated on just those four weights)!
If anyone else has a victory to share, let me know, because I think the key to this challenge is that we celebrate every victory and all progress, no matter how large or small.
I feel like I should take a minute to give credit to the weight lost before this challenge started. A few of us have been trying to lose weight for a while now, and while that will not count for our challenge, it certainly deserves some recognition!
Uncle Rob was down 40 pounds this year, before we even started talking about doing this as a family, which is wonderful!
Four of us (Nancy, Gary, Becky Sumner and I) have been on Weight Watchers, and have lost a combined total of 60.9 pounds! For those four, I have a recorded weight from the week before Week 1 of the challenge, so even though this does not count for our "Biggest Loser", I have to give credit because 8.3 pounds were lost last week, for a loss of 0.94% (calculated on just those four weights)!
If anyone else has a victory to share, let me know, because I think the key to this challenge is that we celebrate every victory and all progress, no matter how large or small.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
A Challenge is Extended...
Two weeks ago, Becky posted on Facebook that she was going to do something for herself that day. In the conversation that played out in the comments, she told us that she was going to start on the Weight Watchers program. My parents and I are currently all following Weight Watchers, so we were excited to hear that we had another family member out there who was going to be going through it with us.
A few days later, when Becky posted that she was doing well with the program and was feeling good, my mom threw out the idea that we should have a family weight loss challenge. I think it's much easier to follow any kind of program when you have other people to lean on for support, so I ran with that idea. I contacted Sarah, who has done other programs with me in the past, and who has been a big support for me in the past, to see if she was interested, and she was "in".
I put the idea out to the family in a mass email, and got a lot of positive feedback. People I did not expect to hear back from were sending me emails, showing excitement for this idea. That got me more excited, and I emailed with several people to get ideas on what kind of challenge we could do.
As it turned out, many people were interested in participating in some way, and about half of those people wanted to do a weight loss challenge, while the other half would prefer to focus more on being healthy than on the number on the scale.
Before we lost momentum, I wanted to make sure we got the challenge started. I sent an email on Sunday to invite everyone to pick a weekly weigh in day, and send me their start weight. To date, I have gotten responses from 14 people with their weigh in information.
To be clear, Gumbels: This challenge will not change the fact that we are destined to have the "Gumbel Hips". Trust me, I wish I could do something about that, but I can't. Also, saying you are participating does not automatically mean you will magically eat better and have the energy to work out. We are all going to have to work together, and work hard, to make this happen.
What will happen: We will be able to encourage each other while we all work toward healthier habits. We've seen in the past that when Gumbels come together, great things happen (think Relay, and our lovely annual rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas). The more of us that choose to participate, the more likely we all are to succeed.
If you are not so concerned about losing weight, please consider joining us anyway. Even if you are not a contender for the "Biggest Loser" prize, you will still benefit from this, I'm sure of it. And we are still working on other ways to incorporate the other healthy habits into a second challenge, so please let me know if you have any ideas. We want to make this into something that works for everyone on some level, so feel free to chime in (Not that any of us are known for holding our tongues)!
A few days later, when Becky posted that she was doing well with the program and was feeling good, my mom threw out the idea that we should have a family weight loss challenge. I think it's much easier to follow any kind of program when you have other people to lean on for support, so I ran with that idea. I contacted Sarah, who has done other programs with me in the past, and who has been a big support for me in the past, to see if she was interested, and she was "in".
I put the idea out to the family in a mass email, and got a lot of positive feedback. People I did not expect to hear back from were sending me emails, showing excitement for this idea. That got me more excited, and I emailed with several people to get ideas on what kind of challenge we could do.
As it turned out, many people were interested in participating in some way, and about half of those people wanted to do a weight loss challenge, while the other half would prefer to focus more on being healthy than on the number on the scale.
Before we lost momentum, I wanted to make sure we got the challenge started. I sent an email on Sunday to invite everyone to pick a weekly weigh in day, and send me their start weight. To date, I have gotten responses from 14 people with their weigh in information.
To be clear, Gumbels: This challenge will not change the fact that we are destined to have the "Gumbel Hips". Trust me, I wish I could do something about that, but I can't. Also, saying you are participating does not automatically mean you will magically eat better and have the energy to work out. We are all going to have to work together, and work hard, to make this happen.
What will happen: We will be able to encourage each other while we all work toward healthier habits. We've seen in the past that when Gumbels come together, great things happen (think Relay, and our lovely annual rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas). The more of us that choose to participate, the more likely we all are to succeed.
If you are not so concerned about losing weight, please consider joining us anyway. Even if you are not a contender for the "Biggest Loser" prize, you will still benefit from this, I'm sure of it. And we are still working on other ways to incorporate the other healthy habits into a second challenge, so please let me know if you have any ideas. We want to make this into something that works for everyone on some level, so feel free to chime in (Not that any of us are known for holding our tongues)!
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