Welcome Everyone!

I'm so excited to see so many new people on board!! We're still in the process of figuring out whether or not to continue using the blog or go over to facebook completely, but will let you all know. If we stay here, you will all get administrative access and be able to post whenever you like.

So, a little tutorial on how the challenge works. On the right hand side of the screen is a list of points. The goal is to accrue the most points out of the group. The points are pretty self explanatory, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. You also get one free day a week, to your choosing (because we all need one!).
The winner will get a prize courtesy of all of the other participants (or maybe just bragging rights - we're still trying to figure that out). We plan on starting on Monday, January 5, ending March 21.

So, that's the basic gist of what we do on here! I hope you all are able to have a great experience with this and that we all becoming healthier together. :) I'm really looking forward to getting to know those of you I haven't met better!

And the winner is...

I think it is clear who the winner is this season! Great job, Sandra!

I've got 50+ pounds to lose, so I'd like to keep this going. Who's in for a Fabulously Fabulous Fall? I might have some people that want to join in, so hopefully we can get some lively competition going again. I know I need the accountability and motivation.

In the meantime, do you prefer bath and body works or some other e-gift card? Or something else altogether? I've got $10 coming your way.

:)

Is anyone still here?

I know Julie took a break when she turned off her internet....is anyone else still here? Did everyone give up? Post so I know you are still here! :)

proposed additional point

I have an idea for an additional "spirtual" point. At church on Sunday we were talking about simple sins that we commit or things that are sins that are ommissions and one of the things mentioned was journal writing. Keeping a journal isn't just a suggestion, it's something that we are supposed to be doing and something that I really struggle with. At girls camp we made gratitude journals and I encouraged the girls to write in them every day and I haven't written in mine once! Isn't that crazy? Anyway, so what do you all think if we add one point per day for journal writing? It doesn't have to be a novel every day, just a line or two to help us get in the habit. (or am I the only one with this problem?) Anyway, what do you think?

serving sizes?

I have always just counted one piece of fruit as a serving (or a cup of veggies) but I know that some fruits are bigger than one serving size. How do you do this? Do you just count one piece of fruit as a serving or do you know the actual serving sizes on fruit and measure them that way? Thanks!!

nothing to do with weight loss

but I wanted to share. I just saw this and it is very eye opening. We try to recycle and be as friendly to our earth as we can but we do use plastic bags. Joe was saying yesterday that we need to start using re-usable grocery bags...I think he's right.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/MULTIMEDIA02/80505016

Don't Forget...

When calculating your points to add 5 points for your 5 fruits and vegetables. I kept having to fix my points because I was so in the habit of only doing 1 point for that goal. :)

Happy 4th of July!

My issues

I'm having a hard time with the dairy right now. My body doesn't digest lactose properly. I've ignored the problem for years. Okay. I've ignored it for a decade. I had to go lactose free when I was nursing Timmy, but I could still handle some cheeses and he would be okay. I'm having issues with all dairy right now. I'm really bummed about it. I really just want a bowl of cereal with ice cold milk. The supplements don't really help and the lactose free stuff doesn't taste right.

I'll figure it out. I just needed to get that out. I feel better now. At least I do like soy milk -- sort of. It's good in smoothies.

agave nectar

Anyone heard of this? If you haven't it's a natural sweetener similar to honey but with a lower GI. Any thoughts? I have been using it for baking and making ice cream but I am also trying to stay true to the no sugar thing so I wasn't going to be eating any treats or ice cream, even with the agave, except on my free day. Having said that, there are certain times of the month that a girl just needs a treat and if the agave is not technically sugar and if honey is okay during this contest then would the agave also be considered okay? Here is a recipe for brownies that I made using this nectar, they were a big hit with the family.

1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup flour
*mix together applesauce and cocoa powder until powder is completely incorporated into applesauce. Add other ingredients and mix, but don't over mix. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes---a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out with moist crumbs on it. By the way, this is baked in an 8x8 inch pan that has been sprayed with pam or other spray. I used bakers joy and didn't have any sticking problems.

when I made these I also added 1/2 cup chocolate chips and the recipe actually calls for any type of mix ins that you can think of but I think the brownie is pretty good on its own.

Julie, Awesome background! Also I just noticed that it doesn't subtract points for more servings of sugar, soda or fried foods. Are we not doing that?

Thanks for inviting me! This looks like lots of fun. I just hope I can keep up!
Kendra

Welcome Kendra!

My friend Kendra up here in Logan is going to join in on this round of The Challenge! She's really fun and will be a great contribution to the group. :)
Thanks for joining us, Kendra!

Monday Start?

You guys good with starting the next round on Monday? This will give us a few days to regroup and recruit anyone we want to join.
Lets also iron out anything we'd like to ammend for this round, like the 7:30 thing. Should we move it to a later time or just take it out for the summer.
Let me know if you'd like to make any other changes.

Well.....

It looks like Julie won the first go round! Yay, Julie! Congratulations!! Where do we send you your gift certificates? Are you in transit?

Also, when are we starting the next contest? Let's get going!

Any Ammendments?

Do you guys want to change anything for the next round? I'm all for changing no food after 7:30 to 8 - the sun's not down till 9:30 now, and we've been out and about so much that it's hard to have everything settled by 7:30 - and I'm caught rushing dinner down very often.
What do you guys think?

Home Stretch

The challenge is set to end on the 19th of June, right? I'd like to start again for the summer if you want to keep the challenge going. What do you think? We can start on the first day of summer and go to the last day of summer. Who's in? Let's see if we can recruit others to participate too. The more the merrier!

girls camp!

I am going to girls camp next week and we're going to be hiking, canoeing, playing softball/kickball/volleyball, etc. all week. How am I going to count activity for that? Just count the 4 or more hours per day that we're going to be physically active and not count the less active walking around or ??? What would you do? I know I am going to be more active next week than I ever am! Last year there was one day where I only sat for about an hour during the whole day and I was running all over camp the rest of the day. What do you think?

My Favorite Salad

Baby spinach
thinly sliced red onion
sliced strawberries
toasted pecans or walnuts
light raspberry walnut vinaigrette dressing
grilled chicken breast
goat cheese (if I have it)
avocado

I bought some boneless skinless chicken breast on sale on Monday at HEB plus, and then I grilled all of it on Tuesday. I've had some wonderful salads this week!

Got Bored With the Background

..so I changed it. :) Hope y'all like it.

I decided to track my points as I go through the week and pick my "off day" at the end of the week, because I'm finding that there are some days I have more self control than others. So, in case you're wondering why my points aren't updating throughout the week, that's why. :)

Hope you guys are doing well.