Hi everyone, my name is Heather. I am married to a great guy, Rick, and we have 4 amazingly smart, talented and beautiful kids (I can say that as their mom, right?). I work at a local grocery store as a Floral Department Manager. My husband and I also own and operate a pear and apple orchard.
For years I have struggled to become a morning person, being married to an orchardist/early bird has a few drawbacks. This summer I started worrying about being able to wake up early enough to get our oldest, Abby, ready for a church class before school. I have also been really good about putting exercise on my daily TO DO list, but could never seem to squeeze it in after doing everything else. In July I started encouraging Abby to run cross country as a great way to help her with her favorite sport basketball. I felt a bit hypocritical encouraging her to run, before her season started, when I was not doing anything. So I started waking up early to run. The first few weeks I hated it. In fact, I started looking up running blogs to figure out how to endure so I could love it. I am still working on the love part, but I have continued. Now that school and seminary are in full swing, I roll out of bed at 5:30 am, run for 30-40 minutes and then take care of the before school race. I have found that if I start my day off with exercise I don't have to find a way to fit it in. As of Monday, September 30, I have lost 12 pounds!
At the same time that I started running, I would zip home after work, feed everyone a quick dinner, then we would go out bike riding, usually 4-6 miles (that may not sound like a very long bike ride but with where we live any direction we take requires some steep hill climbing).Bike riding with the family was so much fun. Now that the sun sets earlier and the rain has started, bike rides are out.
My goal for this challenge is to continue with my early morning runs, in place of our evening bike rides I would like to rotate between a yoga dvd and weight lifting (I am encouraging my kids to join me in these as well). I would like to be able to do at least 3 pull ups by the end of this challenge. I've been tracking my food intake with mypersonaltrainer and will continue with that. I have been working on portion control, remembering my vitamins and flossing, I've been keeping flossers in my car so I can floss on the way to work or as I drive the kids around. I would also like to find a nearby 5k to run sometime during the challenge, I'd also like to sign up for a 10k in the spring.
I have really enjoyed reading everyone's intros and look getting to know everyone better.
This is a HIGHLY MOTIVATING, yet low key, group competition where you set your own rules (mostly) and goals, earn points, and report in here each week. The cost is $10, which ALL goes towards cash prizes for the winners at the end.
How To Earn Points
HOW TO EARN POINTS
5 points for paying $10 and posting your picture with an "intro post with diet plan" on this blog. (I can help if you if you don't know how to post. . .or you can scroll down to the How to Post instructions in RED) Deadline for paying $10 is Monday Sept 30th and deadline for posting intro is Friday Oct 4th.
2 points/day for following your own customized diet plan
2 points/day for keeping a food journal
1 point/day for each 1/2 hour of exercise, max of 10 points per week. (***Not counting extra pop challenge points. Note: you may lump all your weekly exercise points into one day but you risk the chance of loosing pop challenge points. . .see below right)
1 point/per day for drinking at least 48oz of water
1 point/day for taking a multi vitamin
1 point/day for flossing (hey, I'm a hygienist and I'm trying to rid the world of periodontal disease!)
3 points/week for: 1. weighing in (do not post your weight) 2. BRIEFLY recap your previous week in a post on this blog 3. updating your point total in your picture caption BEFORE midnight on Sunday of each week. Our weeks begin each Monday morning. ADD these 3 points in with the "just started week's points
At the end of the challenge you will also have a chance to win additional points for % of weight lost. You can win 1 point for each % of weight lost, IE: loosing 10% of your weight equals 10 extra points! These points will be taken once, at the end of the 12 week challenge.
This challenge will last 12 weeks, starting
5 points for paying $10 and posting your picture with an "intro post with diet plan" on this blog. (I can help if you if you don't know how to post. . .or you can scroll down to the How to Post instructions in RED) Deadline for paying $10 is Monday Sept 30th and deadline for posting intro is Friday Oct 4th.
2 points/day for following your own customized diet plan
2 points/day for keeping a food journal
1 point/day for each 1/2 hour of exercise, max of 10 points per week. (***Not counting extra pop challenge points. Note: you may lump all your weekly exercise points into one day but you risk the chance of loosing pop challenge points. . .see below right)
1 point/per day for drinking at least 48oz of water
1 point/day for taking a multi vitamin
1 point/day for flossing (hey, I'm a hygienist and I'm trying to rid the world of periodontal disease!)
3 points/week for: 1. weighing in (do not post your weight) 2. BRIEFLY recap your previous week in a post on this blog 3. updating your point total in your picture caption BEFORE midnight on Sunday of each week. Our weeks begin each Monday morning. ADD these 3 points in with the "just started week's points
At the end of the challenge you will also have a chance to win additional points for % of weight lost. You can win 1 point for each % of weight lost, IE: loosing 10% of your weight equals 10 extra points! These points will be taken once, at the end of the 12 week challenge.
This challenge will last 12 weeks, starting
TO POST: In the upper right hand corner you will see "New Post" click on it. If you are like me it may take you a second to find it but I promise it is there!!! You will be brought to a screen were you can enter a title for your post on the dash board at the top of the screen. Please put your name and the week the post is for. You can then add your entry for the week whether good or ill we want to hear it! That's how this works in a group competition. We are all here to cheer you on!!! When you are satisfied with the content go ahead and hit publish!
HOW TO POST YOUR PHOTO AND YOUR WEEKLY POINTS:
In the upper right hand corner, next to "new post" you will also see "DESIGN." If you click on that it will take you to "bones" of the blog. On the left hand side you will see a menu under "new post." click on "LAYOUT." It will take you to the actual layout of the blog. In the left hand column you will see a place to click on "add a Gadget" It will then pull up another menu. Scroll down to Image and click on the (+) sign. You can there down down load your photo. Your name will be the title and your weekly point total will be the caption. . . .as I go back and re read this it all sounds very confusing. If you need help just let me know and I will be more than happy to assist you!!!
*****Once your pic is up all you will need to do weekly to update your points is, click on the tool/wrench in the lower right hand corner of your pic. You can then put in your new point total for the week in the caption area.
This site will stay public until everyone who wants to join lets me know and gets me their email address and cell #. After that I will make this site private for our challenge group.
FIRST PLACE WINNER: Gets 60% of the cash
SECOND PLACE WINNER: Gets 30% of the cash
THIRD PLACE WINNER: Gets 10% of the cash
In the case of a tie the winner will be determined by % of weight lost over the 12 week period. So, don't forget to note your initial weight so we can figure it out at the end of the challenge in December
1 comment:
YAY, Heather! I'm so happy to discover that you are participating!! I had no idea that you had been bitten by the running bug. Good work!
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