Miles Challenge - Week 4, 5, & 6

Well, Team 1, we need to pull out all the stops for the remaining weeks if we're going to have a shot at taking this thing!

In week 4, Team 2 wins with an average of 10.800, while Team 1 averaged 6.395.

In week 5, Team 2 averaged 16.150, and Team 1 had 9.435.

In week 6, Team 2 wins by the slightest of margins - 11.884 to 11.870 for Team 1.

So participants, ask yourself, what can you do to raise your team's average?

Biggest Loser - Week 20, 21, 22

Well, I've gotten behind once again (as long as I have all the numbers right at the end, and we benefit from this challenge, it's okay, right?). I have 3 weeks of results to catch you all up on, so here we go:

Week 20's BL was Kyle, with a loss of 2.23%.
Other losers in week 20:
Katie, -0.54%
John, -0.48%
Mary Kay, -0.38%
Donna, -0.57%
Alison, -0.66%
Becky H, -0.67%
Nancy, -0.27%
Becky S, -1.37%


Week 21's Biggest Loser was Alison, with a loss of 0.66%
Other losers in week 21:
Mary Kay, -0.38%
Kyle, -0.21%

Week 22's Biggest Loser was Mary Kay, with a loss of 1.53%
Other loser in week 22:
Beth, -0.93%
Katie, -1.15%
Gary, -0.87%
Becky S, -1.06%

Overall, we are down 154.1 pounds as a group, which is a cumulative 3.81% loss. Go Gumbels!

Miles Challenge - Week 2 & 3

Team 2 has defeated Team 1 (now three weeks in a row). : (

In week 2, Team 2 averaged 8.813 miles to Team 1's 6.717 miles.

In week 3, Team 2 averaged 8.859 miles, while Team 1 averaged 8.650 miles. Week 3 was the closest match up, so we're gaining on them!

After 3 weeks, Team 1 has a total average of 20.221 miles, while Team 2 has a total average of 29.513 miles.

Now's the time to step it up, Team 1! We have 14 weeks to go until Relay and the end of our challenge, let's get out and earn those miles! Okay, I have to stop typing now and get ready to hit the treadmill this afternoon!

Week 17, 18, 19 Biggest Loser Results

Wow, I got really behind the last couple weeks, and I apologize for that. I'm not sure what happened, but I will try to stay on top of it in the coming weeks!

I have three weeks of results to give you for the Biggest Loser challenge.

In week 17 (2/6 - 2/12), the winner was Nancy, with a loss of 2.37%

Other losers in week 17:
Beth, -0.18%
Katie, -0.66%
Mary Kay, -1.46%
Donna, -0.75%
Alison, -0.65%
Sarah, -0.78%
Kyle, -1.61%
Gary, -1.94%
Becky S, -0.08%

In week 18 (2/13 - 2/19), the winner was Scott, with a loss of 3.30%

Other losers in week 18:
Beth, -0.37%
Katie, -1.64%
Mary Kay, -0.74%
Sarah, -0.21%
Nancy, -0.27%
Becky S, -0.56%

Finally, in week 19 (2/20 - 2/26), the winner was Mary Kay, with a loss of 1.49%

Other losers in week 19:
Donna, -0.38%
Sarah, -1.37%
Kyle, -0.40%
Nancy, -0.54%

I did not get 8 weights in week 19, make sure you're checking in every week, I know it helps hold me accountable! : )

Miles Challenge, Week 1 Results

The winner of Week 1 was....Team #2! (Boo, hiss...haha!)

Team #1 averaged 7.347 miles per person, while Team #2 averaged 8.279 miles per person.

I hope you're all working hard to earn miles in Week 2 (only today and tomorrow left to rack 'em up!). Don't forget, you can include other activities in your count, using the links below:

Click here to convert other activities to steps

Click here to convert those steps into miles

Amy pointed out to me that there is also an "activities to steps" chart further down the screen on that second link. It's a little more inclusive than the first link's chart, but you'll see that it will give you a number of steps per minute, so you'll just have to multiply that number by the number of minutes of activity.

If you have any questions about the activities or the conversions or this challenge in general, please let me know!

Now get out there and earn some miles for your team (especially you, Team #1, let's not let them beat us again next week!).

Week 16 Biggest Loser Results

The winner for Week 16 was Mary Kay, with a loss of 1.79%

Other losers in Week 16:
Alison, -0.65%
Katie, -0.24%
Sarah, -0.47%
Scott, -1.09%
Becky S, -0.95%
Donna, -0.65%

I did not get weights from 5 people last week. Overall, we are down 99.6 pounds since the start of this challenge. Great job, everyone!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 cups carrot, cut into chunks
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small can of mushroom pieces, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1 ounce white wine
6 cups chicken stock
4 cups water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 cup skim milk
2.5 cups (1 small package) Reames pre-cooked, frozen egg noodles

Directions:
Heat the oil in a 6 quart pot. Add the carrots, celery, onions, garlic and mushrooms, and cook until tender. Add the flour and cook a couple minutes more. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, then add the chicken stock, water, bouillon, oregano, rosemary and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. About 20 minutes before serving, bring the soup back to a boil and add the chicken, milk and egg noodles. Cook until the egg noodles are tender and serve. Makes 6 servings.

Nutritional Info:
241 Calories
4.0 grams fat
31.7 grams carbohydrates
19.7 grams protein
3.3 grams fiber
Weight Watchers PointsPlus value of 6*

From Katie: I created this recipe the other day, and each serving is a hearty bowl of soup. I tried to eat a little less than 2 servings for lunch yesterday, to finish off the leftovers, and I felt stuffed and couldn't quite finish it. All the spice and herb measurements are approximate, I would recommend adjusting to taste once it's all cooked together. I hope you enjoy!

*PointsPlus value and recipe have not been evaluated by Weight Watchers

Miles Challenge

Time to start counting those miles! The miles challenge started yesterday, so going forward, any miles earned can be counted toward your weekly total. If you do not have the tracking sheet, please let me know and I will re-send it to you. We did add one participant over the weekend, so here are the teams as they stand now:

Team 1: Nancy, Scott, Becky H, Roger, Katie, Sarah, Maureen
Team 2: Mary Kay, Donna, Beth, David, Alison, Gary, Karen

Just to clarify, only miles earned during exercise should be counted. Wearing a pedometer through your regular routine day does not count, as the purpose of the challenge is to add activity and exercise into your week.

If you are not earning miles on a machine that can track them for you, and you're not sure how to get a good count, let me know and we can figure out the best way to get an accurate number.

Good luck, Go Team #1! : )

Week 15 Biggest Loser

The winner for Week 15 is Alison, with a great loss of 2.53%. Congratulations, Alison!!!

Other losses in Week 15:
Kyle, -1.98%
Nancy, -1.07%
Gary, -0.44%
Scott, -0.72%
Beth, -1.09%
Becky S, -0.12%
Donna, -0.93%

Congratulations, losers! : )

Miles Challenge - Starts Sunday!

We are going to start the Miles Challenge this Sunday, January 30th. We currently have 13 participants, and I divided us into 2 teams. Since we have an odd number, and I'd like to leave this open for others to join us down the road, we are going to select the winning team each week based on average mileage. The only fair way to split us into teams was to draw names, so that's exactly what I did.

The only thing I manipulated was to swap one person, so that each married couple is split up. Hopefully this will help get some good competition going, and motivate you to one-up your spouse!

I'm sending out a tracking form to each of you, directions are on the form. All you have to do now is start earning miles. You can do this by biking, walking, elliptical, running or swimming. Log the number of miles you do, and make sure to record the date and activity type so that I can calculate the totals for each week. Submit your form to me each week, and I'll take care of the rest!

Alright, let's get moving! Go team #1! Hehe.

Week 14 - Biggest Loser

Week 14's Biggest Loser is Kyle, with a loss of 2.69%. Way to go, Kyle! Show that "Freshman 15" who's boss! : )

Other losers for Week 14:
Katie, -0.96%
Sarah, -2.19%
Gary, -1.72%
Scott, -0.71%
Becky S, -1.59%
Beth, -0.90%
David, -0.49%
Amy, -0.59%

As a group, we lost 25.8 pounds last week!

There was a request last week for some cumulative numbers. As a whole, we are down 85.4 pounds since we started this challenge. This is awesome, especially considering that includes some overall gains and maintains, and spanned a holiday season!

The people who have an overall loss over the last 14 weeks are:

Alison, -9.71% (WOW!)
Nancy, -6.72%
Katie, -6.50%
Kyle, -6.30%
Sarah, -5.55%
Gary, -5.00%
Brian, -2.07%
Jean, -1.97%
Scott, -1.77%
Becky S, -1.67%
Beth, -1.26%
Lenny, -0.82%
Mary Kay, -0.36%

Congrats and way to go, losers! : )

The "Miles Challenge"

Last week, I proposed a new type of challenge. I don't have all the details worked out yet, but it would go something like this:


- All participants are split into teams. Once we know who's participating, we can decide whether we would like to do several teams of 3-4 people, or just divide the participants in half.
- We select a timeframe for the competition
- Over that set timeframe, each participant logs as many miles as they can. Miles can be logged by walking, running, biking, swimming or using an elliptical machine (let me know if you think I forgot anything that should count for miles).
- Each type of activity has a multiplier assigned to it, based on the intensity of that activity:
Biking = .4
Walking = 1
Elliptical = 1
Running = 1.2
Swimming = 3.6
- After the challenge period is over, we will have a winning team (we could also have an overall winner for the men and for the women if we wanted).

So far, 7 people have responded and said they are interested in this challenge:
Alison
Donna
Mary Kay
Nancy
Sarah
Gary
Roger

(plus myself)...if you're interested, let me know right away. I'm also looking for feedback on the challenge structure - I adapted this from something Aunt Karen sent to me (thanks, Aunt Karen!) from her district, so if we need to change it up to make it work better for us, I am definitely open to suggestions.

Week 13's Biggest Loser

Sorry, I'm a couple days behind again! Week's 13's Biggest Loser was.......Alison! She lost 1.25% last week. Congratulations, Alison!

Other losers in Week 13 (ending 1/15):
Beth, -0.54%
Scott, -1.06%
Katie, -1.07%
Mary Kay, -1.07%
Donna, -0.09%
Becky H, -0.20%
Nancy, -1.06%
Gary, -1.07%

As a group, it looks like we have not completely gotten rid of our holiday gains - in total, we gained 24.5 pounds in the 2 weeks with Christmas and New Year's. Last week, we had an overall loss of 7.9 pounds. We're heading back in the right direction, but we're all going to have to step it up to get rid of that holiday weight....which leads me right into my next post, regarding the miles challenge (check back in a few!)

How about a new Health Challenge?

I'm working on a new challenge that would actually allow us to compete and have a winner or winners. Aunt Karen sent me the idea from a challenge her district is doing. It would involve teams of people tracking their miles over a period of time. Depending on the activity, miles would count for different amounts, and each team's totals would be used to choose a winning team. Let's get moving and losing in 2011! If you're interested in participating in a challenge like this, please let me know. For this type of challenge to work, I definitely need to get an idea of how many participants we will have, so I can structure it to work for us. Let me know what you think!

Biggest Loser - Week 9, 10, 11 & 12 Winners

Okay, so I'm a few weeks behind because of the holidays. As a group (and as expected), we had some gains over Christmas & the New Year. Now it's time to get back into our regular routines, work hard, and start losing again!

The winner of Week 9 was Kyle, with a loss of 2.32%

Other losers in Week 9:
Katie, -0.41%
Mary Kay, -1.43%
Donna, -0.62%
Becky S, -0.62%
Nancy, -0.78%
Gary, -0.65%

The winner of Week 10 was Becky S, with a loss of 1.32%.

Other losers in Week 10:
Katie, -0.65%
Alison, -1.23%
Becky H, -0.41%
Gary, -0.22%

The winner of Week 11 was David, with a loss of 1.47%. David was also the only person to report a loss in Week 11, which makes that a huge accomplishment, while the rest of us were gaining and maintaining!

The winner of Week 12 was Amy, with a loss of 1.78%.

Other losers in Week 12:
Katie, -0.65%
Alison, -0.62%
Sarah, -0.46%
Brian, -0.92%
Becky S, -0.16%
Nancy, -1.04%

We also have another participant joining us in Week 12. Welcome, Scott! If anyone else wants to participate, just send me your current weigh in results, and choose a day for your weekly weigh-in.

Now that the holidays are over, let's all push to get back in the swing of things, and start posting a loss each week!