Final Awards

The following had "perfect" points and each got $60:

Ali, Chance, Jake, Kristen, Angela

(Laura had a $50 sourpatch kid. I like them, but not that much)


Jake won the mens division and Alana won the women's division of percentage of weight lost.

Congrats to everyone for being healthy and hope you enjoy the holidays!!!!!!!

Much Love,

Michelle

BTW If anyone is interested in using this blog for another challenge contact me. SIgning off~

Next Blog

IAMSOOVERTHIS.COM

(just kidding, um, but I was over it early on!)

On to the next one! Half-Marathon!!!

Actually- Anyone want to add the One Hundred Push-ups challenge to this?? Check it out-
http://www.hundredpushups.com/index.html

Just saying, Some rise to the occassion when a challenge is issued- and some are just suckers for a nice, neat schedule to tell them what to do.... Now if I only had a personal grocery shopper and CHEF!

Very tempting Malissa. How does the training schedule look like?

Post week 11 points here

That's right! See you at my house next Sunday night at 5:30PM.

Weightloss prize Formula- POST HERE ON 12/20

Here is the formula for % body weight lost:


(starting weight - ending weight)/starting weight = answer *100 = % body weight lost

For example, if Gretchen started the challenge at 250 lbs and ended at 238.5 lbs, it would go like this:

(250-238.5) or 11.5 lbs divided by her starting weight of 250 to get 0.046. Multiply by 100 which gives you 4.6 or 4.6%.

On Sunday the 20th, you can post your percentage below if you want to compete for the prize. ($50 for the winner of each gender).

More Half Details

You can all so do this.

Runner's World (http://www.runnersworld.com/) HAs training plans that you can personalize with your info, including how long it takes you to run a mile- how long you want to finish the race, etc. they are free- there are a bazillion popups to ignore, but that is doable for a free training plan.

Let me emphasize a couple points:

1. Cheaper race-$55

2. Major city- the peopel of New york will be going crazy to cheer us on and to make this race successful- they will have a cool course I can gaurantee it- with aid stations, and probably a lot of fun surprises! THey are actually going to have CLOSED course lanes for the racers- YES IN NYC! closed lanes????

3. Inaugural race- so you are a CHARTER runner in the first ever race

4. SATURDAY!!!!! No conflicts with CHurch, or guilt (if you're like me anyway...).

5. Lots o'sponsors=cool giveaways, and probably a cool vendor area before and after the race

6. 16 min per mile pace- meaning that you have loads of time to finish- YES EVEN IF YOU ARE WALKING 3/4 of each mile

7. there have been at LEAST 7 people from our area/group who are committed- it will be fun to do this all together!!

8. Really cool race logo= really cool shirts- "the party hits the Pavement"

9. We have FOUR months to train- people don't just wake up one morning and run 13 miles- you can WORK UP TO IT!!!!!!

10. If I can do it, so can you-

the picture up top is me at close to 200 pounds, but finished my first half marathon anyway, very close to my goal.

Come on, it'll be fun!! I CHALLENGE YOU to CHALLENGE yourself!

POST WEEK 10 HERE and an invite!

Home stretch! What do you plan on doing after the challenge? Are you going to stay off sugar? Endulge? Moderate? Not give any of this another thought for a good long time?

How about that half marathon? That sounds like a really cool life experience. Are you considering it?

We are delighted to invite you all to the closing ceremonies Sunday December 20th at 7PM when the challenge will officially end. (Take a moment and breathe....yes, that means it WILL end BEFORE midnight on Sunday night.) We believe that by holding it at this time, we will enable more people and their families to come. The prize money will be divided among those tied for first place, but the prizes for percentage of body weight lost will still stand. Those wanting to be considered for highest percentage of weight lost will need to let me know what percent it was by Sunday morning. So put it on your calendar and bring a treat to share (I will NOT be bringing potato chips)

Half Marathon-NYC, PLEASE READ AND POST!!!

ok, I found THE PERFECT race for us if anyone wants to dare.

http://www.131marathon.com/13_1_New_York/13_1_Info/Course_Details.htm

A major race, in New York City, and it is on a Saturday!!! This is an unprecented rarity!

The only limitation is that the course closes at a 16 minute mile. They start the "close clock" as the last person crosses the starting line. The course looks beautiful and awesome. Many major tourist attractions, and a few closed traffic lanes at least. COurse cloese at 3 hours, 30 minutes- a VERY doable time, even if you walk it.

We had been tossing around doing the National Marathon in DC in March, but I was concerened because it has qualifying times, that I am not sure every one would get (I am knocked out by 3 minutes in one race, and 1:30 min in another, and the one where I am the closest isn't considered as a qualifying race!!! ARGH!)

The price is not too bad as major races go. discounts if we register by February 18th. We can SO do this!!!! We have time, it is close to us, and the price is not bad. It would be fun to train to togehter and so gratifying to stretch our limits and challenge ourselves.

In full disclosure, since this race is on April 3rd, that is probably conference weekend- no probably, it is..... but the race starts at 9ish, and we could be home, or go to a local stake center for morning session. Personally, we DVR it, and if this is a deal breaker for anyone, I would be glad to host a post race conference session later in the day.

I am really excited by this opportunity. I have always wanted to do a race in NYC but they are ALWAYS on Sunday! You know this is going to attract some awesome vendors and sponsors, so the schwag bag alone is going to be worth the entry fee (LOL). Yes I race for free granola bars and water bottles!

PUH-Lease let me know if you are the littlest bit interested!!! we can do this, I can help develop training plans and such, and we can organize a running group to train once a week at least. and all of you out there in Cyber land who joined Michelle's challenge and are far from the area, you could fly in for this!!!

ANyway, Please post any interest, questions, concerns, complaints etc.....

Love, M (as in Malissa, not Michelle)

Week 9 Post Here

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Well we have made it through the two toughest weeks of this challenge, Halloween and Thanksging. This is the first Thanksgiving in I do not know how long that I have not had pie, and I did not miss it as much as I thought I would.

Well we are in the home stretch now. Nine weeks down three to go.

Jake

The Next challenge

Several people have said they wanted a new challenge to keep going. I said I wanted to put one together, but I feel now I have to decline this. I had a couple elements I wanted to through in. Journaling what we are eating to see if you are in a healthy range for everything- fats, cholesterol, sodium, etc, and for the grand finale, I wanted to throw in a half marathon in DC in March! IF anyone is interested in that part of it, it would be fun to have a gang involved in a race.

But with all of that said, it is just not going to happen. I have ran the idea by some members with mixed results. I will develop a training plan, and a nutrition standard, but I am not going to expect anyone to follow unless you want to.

Thanks! Malissa

Week 8 POST HERE

We only have four weeks left~

comment

I can't post a comment again this week. I tried several times. I can't figure out why.
Anyway, Anna - 28. Danny - 28.

Post WEEK 7 Here

Hey Everyone...

Post your points in the comments sections below.

stuck at 21, 2 pounds lost. needs more hours of the day to include exercise. hoping this challenge will continue. i am figuring half a pound a week means 20 or so pounds lose in a year which is what i exactly need. need to really think how to lose half a pound a week consistently.

Comment

Something won't let me comment. 28 for Anna. 28 for Danny.

POST WEEK 6 HERE

Okay, so today is Wednesday, but with kids out of school and several sessions over the weekend, I wanted to work ahead as much as I could.

Something for you to "weigh in" on...as long as there isn't crazy sickness, we wanted to host an end of challenge get together at our house. Everyone can bring a food they missed. I will not be bringing potato chips, because I did not miss them as much as I should have. The only problem is that Jake and I can't do Monday the 21st. We can either do it Sunday the 20th in the evening or Tuesday the 22nd. Families are invited (it will be soooooo cozy in our townhome ; )

What do you all think?

To answer Anna's question, what would you bring?

Dec 21st Foods

This might have already been thrown out there (I think by Anna Frost) but what snacks, if any, are you planing to eat as soon as the challenge ends!? I know every time I go to the grocery store I think to myself, I might just have to buy that when the challenge ends! Some of the things I've thought about so far are, Reese's Peanut Butter Tree (I wanted the pumpkin!) and ice cream. For some reason, I'm drawing a blank right now. I know I've thought of other things but apparently I'm not craving anything... at this moment.

To those of you left, I have only one thing to say...

I was running around this morning and I noticed my little chart...the one that I wrote out determining which foods were okay and which weren't. It reminded that chips were not an acceptable snack. You know, on Saturday, I was thinking that they tasted amazing as I had a modest bowl, but I had forgotten that they were on my list. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't seriously bummed, but I know it will be good for me to keep going even though "perfection" is no longer possible. To those of you left with perfect scores, I have only one thing to say...

I am TOTALLY having dessert on Thanksgiving and I am going to enjoy every bit of it!

(I can't tell you how much I am HATING $#%$@ potato chips at this moment!)

21 going at snail pace

Post Week 5 Points Here.

Hi All,

Happy Halloween : )

Another week in the books! I don't know about you, but this was the hardest week for me so far. I feel like I kind of hit the wall and we had to get through Halloween to boot.

On a fun note. We challenged our girls to go with only one treat a week during the course of the challenge. Rachel, our 6 year old has done amazing, but was worried about how to handle her Halloween candy. We came up with the solution of putting it in a shoe box, wrapping it up like a Christmas present and then she wrote her self a little Christmas card. She will place the "present" under the tree and plans on opening it a little early.

On a sneaky note, at the ward Trunk or Treat, we know Chance that you put your son up to sending Michelle the little candy bar. Nice try!

Jake

family video

Now that we're almost to Halloween, it reminded me of Kristen's Halloween story when she was 11. I thought it was so inspiring, I thought I'd share one of my own. When I was little I was really big into working out w/ my dad, so I thought I'd share a video that was taken:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mztxYc3NUik

Enjoy and hopefully it adds a little motivation. If a 5 year old can do it why can't we!

Chance

Foods that are AWESOME

Hey guys- I would love to hear some of your ideas on what you snack on and stuff. We just ogt a trader joes and I have always loved this store- and now that it it close I can't stay away! One "trick" I came across there was Marscapone cheese- it is nearly ahlf the calories and fat of butter, but has a sweet and creamy flavor- it makes an amazing icing type on everything- the almost perfect TJ's fruit muffins, the pumpkin pancakes etc. It spreads and looks like cream cheese, but melts a little like butter. I have to HIGHLY recommend the potstickers, gyoza sauce and edamame beans that I could eat for every meal, every day.

I also found that Chobani yogurt makes 0% fat free pomegranate yogurt and it tastes divine! for you sugar tetollers out there, it is made with rice cane syrup, so a sweetner, but not technically the evil white crystals.

Sam's club sells the Da Vinci flavoring syrups that are sugar free and they are awesome in sugar free swiss miss with a small dollup of whipped topping.

and on the excercise round, I pulled up my little trampoline the other day and jumped and jogged and skiied while watching junk tv and it was so fun! AND never discount the but kicking power of SPIN (indoor cycling)!

Just wondering what you all are doing....to be healthy but still eat and excercise fun.

22 able to exercise twice this week but went on a binge on a day!!! Slow climb to 28! but keeping off the two pounds I lost....

POST WEEK 4 HERE

Hey Everyone,

I hope you are seeing some results, both Jake and I are pleased with what we've noticed. Ironically, I've been dying to join a gym to trim down and tone up, but the one I really want is pretty expensive. This challenge was a lot cheaper for similar results!

Hope you have a great week

~M

Already Seeing the Benefits

We had a "check your numbers" day at work today and I had my cholesterol checked. At my last doctors appointment, my cholesterol was on the borderline high side. I was anxious to see where I would come in today. It fell within the normal range (just barely). It is cool to see benefits in less than a month of being on the challenge.

I also agree that the 7 hours of sleep has been the hardest!

Gotta go to bed - I have to get up at 5:30am

Good luck everyone!

Jake

week 3

21( long steep climb to get exercise into the routine. but lost 1-2 pounds though for now. )

POST WEEK 3 POINTS HERE

In the comments section below, please post your points. I'll update them as close as I can to Monday morning, but with my internet and local phone both down it will be when it happens.

Week 2

20(not successful in adding exercise to the routine!) let's see what week 3 brings.

WEEK 2- Post your points here

I know I am a bit early, but this weekend is crazy for me. Go ahead and post your points (for just this week) before Monday morning at 8AM.

A few things you might have missed:

I updated the prizes (added a few) now that the numbers are final. You can see them on the first post of this blog.

You can also add to the "finish the sentence" post a few days ago if you are feeling creative.

Hope you had a great week! I can't quite believe how much better I am doing this time around off treats.

~M

Finish the Sentence

You know you are doing the 12 Week challenge when...

Week 1

Hello all

I am Emma. Probably the oldest in the group. I am a very proud mother of one, he is now 22, served a mission in Jamaica, working for his accounting degree in BYU and lately a nice girl likes him a lot to be his grilfriend and now I am praying that there will be a wedding soon. My son, Albert, knows I will support him getting married even before he finishes college. As you can see I cannot wait to be a grandma. I do not know of anybody else who wants to be a grandma so bad. And since I am so excited he has a girlfriend I am attaching some pics.

My eating goal is portions control and eating a lot of veggies everyday rather than carbs, meat and junk. My personal goal is read the scripture daily for at least 15 minutes like Michelle, read at least one chapter of Jesus The Christ, search the scriptures with the goal of learning more how to be a disciple of Christ.

This week I had this uncontrollable urge to eat pastries and cookies which I did very successfully, and more than palmsize as well. But will do better this week. I controlled my eating for two days after that and fortunately I did not gain any weight.

Best of luck to everyone this week.

Nightmare!

Can I just inform you that last night, I had a dream, or nightmare, that I was at a ward activity and ate pudding and jello. First, I do not eat pudding and jello, unless the jello is in a single cup serving and that is not the case at ward activities. I did not realize I broke the rules until I was throwing my plate away and thought, Oh my goodness! I just ate junk! I looked up and Jake Wasden was standing there.  I repeated myself, so he could hear me. He then looked at his plate with shock, because he had made the same mistake!
I woke up scared that I lost a point, or maybe two!

A week late to sign in, but ready for some tough competition!

Well I'm a week late on posting my intro, my name is Chance Bagley and this has been an absolute great week! I love health contests like this... Sweets are easy to avoid, but I absolutly love food, so saying no to 2nds is going to be hard, but it'll be well worth it... This AZ boy may not be used to all this humidity, but is enjoying the 6 days of exercise... though I do have to admit the legs were a little tired by the end of the week. We've liked the idea so well that our boys are ready to start their own competition tomorrow, so we'll be tracking their points this next week as they've set their goals today.... Thanks Michelle for kicking this off!!!

Jake thanks for the App ideas... I'll be downloading them and of course we'll be using a spreadsheet as well! As Taji said "of course we will."

And to Michelle's Brother ... I don't know about making friends, but if the Monkey King can do this... http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&brand=msn%20video&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:c7dadb30-2d62-48d6-abcc-71e74b000d16&showPlaylist=true&from=IV2_en-us_v11HP&fg=gtlv2

I'm sure we can do 11 more weeks... go Monkey King! (not really relevant, but I thought the video was worth sharing. Good luck everyone!

POST WEEK 1 POINTS in the comments section below

Hope you had a great first week! Tomorrow I will calculate the final prize amounts from the money that I have received. Hey, if you can do it for a week, then you can do it again!

By the way, feel free to check back and make sure that your tallies are correct in the side column. Let me know if your numbers look funny to you.

~M

Hi everyone, I'm one of Michelle's brothers, and I have just one thing to say: I'm not here to make friends! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0bOw1lqxBc

;-)

Ali H.

i'm an active 28-year-old wife and mother of one. i spent most of my formative years participating in individual and team sports and definitely would consider myself a competitive person. i've been training for a marathon for the last six months and, until i joined the church five years ago, i gave up chocolate for 40 days every lent; i'm keeping my fingers crossed that this puts me at an advantage where junk-food-and-sweets rehab is concerned. on the other hand, i often find vegetables boring (i can't believe i'm admitting this) and i'm wishing now that i hadn't been so ambitious in my "healthy food" requirements. but i suppose if this were going to be easy, we'd all be doing it already... good luck everyone!

p.s. i'm with jake. personal dashboards are crucial to success. plus, it feels really good to check off each requirement and watch those points grow. ;)

Anna F.

Hi. I'm Anna. I have two kids under 3. I thought, "Why not make it crazier by getting all caught up in a competition." Actually I'd like to think I'm doing this to have more balance in my life. I consider the exercise time my "me time" for the day, even if it is spent on my living room floor with my Jane Fonda Workout VHS from the 80's (leg warmers and leotards - oh yea!).

The healthy food isn't too hard. I'm about a 60% whole foods kind of gal already. Sugar and processed foods make me feel sick - literally. I think I have an advantage over others in this department. Three years ago I went on a no-sugar diet that lasted through Halloween AND Thanksgiving. When I say "no-sugar" I mean I didn't even drink juice or eat cereal and I had to count my carbs with exactness. I'm proud to say that I never cheated! (Yes, I did cry about it for like 2 weeks. Sometimes it was in public. That's natural right?) In the end I was 9 months pregnant and felt better than I ever had in my life.

My goal in this contest is tailored to me trying to be a better mom, and the sleep...that's the one I'm a little worried about. Does it count if I'm sleeping in the rocking chair while nursing the baby in the middle of the night?

PS - I have some really good chocolate ice cream and some popsicles in my freezer if anyone wants them. If you don't save them, we may just have to let them go bad. Who has the heart to let chocolate go bad?

PPS - Norah, Carrots - Shoprite brand has some really good ones that sell in 1 lb bags (whole not baby). When I say good, I mean they taste like someone grew them in sugar water or something. I just steam them - no salt. YUM!

Hi I'm Kristen Topham. When I was 11 I came home from Trick-or-Treating with a bag full of delicious candy. My dad offered me $100 to hand it over and give up candy for one year. The next Halloween I got $100 from my dad as well as a new bag full of candy to enjoy. Good luck to all!!

It has been fun to read everyone's introduction. I have heard through the grapevine that there are some very competitive people out there (you know who you are). I hope to give you a good run for the money. Two days and 8 points. I only have to do this 82 more times : )

A couple of fun tools I have found that I thought I would pass along:

1. Trailguru for iPhone or iTouch (tracks your time and milage as you run also includes your elevation. When you are done, you can post your run to the internet complete with picture if you choose.)

2. Lose it for iPhone or iTouch (Tracks your daily weight, and diet. You can set weight loss goals and it lets you know how many calories you can eat to hit your goal and then tracks your progress against that. You can also enter your exercise and it will take than into account as well.

A note on my geeky side - I like to track my progress against my goals in Excel creating graphs on how I am doing. As they say, you can not improve what you do not measure (or maybe that is just engineers who say that: ) If anyone is interested, I would be glad to share the format.

Good luck all,
Jake

And now.. Malissa A.

I figured I should introduce myself too. I am a mom to two adorable and dramatic kids and wife to Derick. Last week, today at 5:30, I became one organ lighter- my gall bladder. I am trying to heal and recover, but find it difficult to do because I am a social beast.
In the days when I HAD a gall bladder, I was training for a marathon- to the point where I had already completed my expected 20+ mile runs, and it was three weeks away (October 10th). I had to let go of accomplishing that goal, and defer my entry. I am really trying not to be bitter, but it is difficult! I have been consoling myself with silly knitting projects and lots of reading.

Thank goodness my surgery kinda took my appetite away, because I am usually a big time over eater. After years of working with a nutritionist, I am going to strive to balance portion and eating times as my "good eating" - I have not done well in these challenges in the past because I am unwilling to go to drastic means that will not realistically be part of my day to day life. I know I will use sweetner in some form, and some type of flour and fat as well, but intend to use them better. I am a firm believer in calories and quality. I can eat less and better with slow churned ice cream than two pieces of toast and jam.

I often find myself motivated by deadlines, expectations and the support of others, so I figured this challenge could be fun. Using a blog to report will be a new switch as well. Best of luck everyone!

Intro

I'm Angela, and there's no topping that worm story of Michelle's so I'm not even going to try! I'm in this for the sleep, and might as well do the rest although I'm perfectly content with my figure.
Good luck all!

Introducing Laura Nielsen

Hi everyone!

I'm excited to participate with all of you and hope to make some new, healthy habits that stick long term.
I moved to New Jersey a year ago, and I really like it here. My husband is in graduate school at Princeton and I am working as a research chemist for a pharmaceutical company in the area. My husband and I have an adorable, spunky house-trained rabbit who keeps us entertained when we're at home. We have a blog if you're interested in keeping up with us. Good luck to everyone; it should be a fun 12 weeks!

Introducing Jake Wasden

Hi All,

I figured since Michelle was doing this, there was not going to be sugar in the house for the next 12 weeks and I was not going to get any anyway I might as well join. : )

I am looking forward to testing myself and trying to create healthy habits I hope to carry on past this competition. I have had fits and starts at exercising over the last year and have not been able to keep at it consistently, I hope this "peer pressure" helps get me over the hump. Good luck to all the way I look at it, we are all winners for just trying.

Thanks -
Jake

Virginia

I am excited for the challenge and am only motivated by the $$. It's sad but true. Apparently, only $$ motivates me to exercise every day and give up delicious treats. I have four kids, no pets, and a wonderful husband, (none of which would join this challenge with me). Today, the first day, I think to myself, I can do this for 12 weeks. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Introducing...Norah Wasden

Hello all!
So excited to join you all in the 12 week challenge! :-)
For those who don't know me, I'm Jake and Michelle's sister-in-law. I love snuggling with my debonair husband and trying to cuddle with my cute little 9 month old boy who likes to wiggle away from me. I also love being outdoors, traveling, singing karaoke, shoe shopping, and chocolate...I mean carrots!
OK, did anyone else go to town this weekend on the treats in preparation for the challenge? I ate two huge chocolate chip cookies from our local pizzeria (they're SO good), an Italian ice, and half a batch of brownies with mint cream cheese frosting. And, if I'd had time, I would have gone to the Bent Spoon for a cupcake and some dark chocolate sorbet and to It's Nuts for their cookie dough ice cream. Now I think I've made myself sick enough that I hopefully won't crave sweets for at least 2 days!!! I promise I'm a serious contender!!! ;-)

Get a good night sleep tonight!

I am hoping that you all are checking this tonight, but I bet there will be some who count their night at the other end of the day. I want to be able to write my points down for the day early in the day and be able to post on Sunday my week's total, so I will start tonight with the seven hours. If you do it the other day, no big deal...just keep track.

Do you have your diet and goal written out? Good. Let the games begin!

We ALL start at the same place and we all have the same holidays etc. After all, it is only 12 weeks, so...

BRING IT ON!!!!!!!

Goals: Post yours here

I loosely remember reading about a Harvard study where they visited with the graduates about their financial goals. Something like two percent of the graduates actually wrote down their goals. Several years later they followed up with the grads and found out that the two percent that had written out their goals were making more money than the rest of the graduates combined.

Take the time to write out your goal, in detail. Post it below for added commitment. I am deciding between a spiritual goal or a piano goal at the moment. I am looking forward to hearing what others are doing.

Introducing the contestants:

Signed up? then why don't you introduce yourself after this post. If not, I could always write one for you...

MICHELLE WASDEN: loves long walks on the beach.

JAKE WASDEN: is the MAN. If he could play basketball every morning and have rootbeer every night, he'd be content. He likes New Jersey, but Idaho will always be home for him.

You don't really want me to write them, now do you?????

Here's the Deal- New and Improved with MORE prizes!

My sister-in-law did this 12 week challenge with about a dozen ladies earlier this year. I saw her her trim, healthy and relaxed as she turned down cake when it was over. She said that it was simple, fun, and everyone who completed it lost at least 10 pounds.

Here's how it works:

Each day you can earn up to 4 points for healthy choices:

• Healthy Food: 1 point if you don't eat any junk food or treats. You need to write down somewhere what you will or will not do. Does healthy eating mean no white flour? Does it mean no hamburgers? Again, it doesn't mean that you will never have an unhealthy food, it just means that you don't earn your point that day. If you eat more than a palm-sized serving over the day, then not only you don't get the point, but you have to take another point off.
• Enough Sleep: 1 point if you get 7 or more hours of sleep. I need more than that, but this is just what the minimum to earn the point is.
• Exercise: 1 point for your choice of vigorous exercise for at least 35 minutes--walking fast is OK (The woman who won my sister-in-law's challenge did a marathon--BRING IT ON!) Sundays are excluded--instead give yourself a point this day for posting your points on the blog before Monday at 8AM EST).
  
• Personal Goal: 1 point for working towards the goal of your choice. Goals are always more successful when you have to report to someone. You don't have to tell us what your goal is, but before we begin, you need to write it down so it is really clear in your own head what needs to happen for you to succeed or not earn that point that day.
  

It is an honor system, so don't sign up if you are going to be lame and fudge on your points. If you eat the treat, then enjoy it and do better tomorrow, but don't give yourself points like you didn't. Don't be lame.


The Prizes:

First Prize: $200

Second Prize: $60

Third Prize: $40

In the event of a two-way tie, the first and second prize money would be divided between the two winners. In the event of a three or more tie, all the above prize money would be divided by those who are tied.

Percentage of weightloss (men's division): $50

Percentage of wieghtloss (women's division): $50

(Don't worry, we'll give you a simple formula to figure it out)

How to Get Started:

The 12 Weeks start Monday, September 28th and ends Monday, December 21. Write out your healthy food guidelines and your personal goal outline. Go ahead and start keeping track of points if you intend on joining, but I have to have your $20 check by the end of next week. Once I have your check, I will add you to the official list. You have one week to decide if you want to drop out and get your money back (No refunds after October 4th--we need to be fair to those who are still in it.) After that, the check will be cashed and there won't be any refunds. Each Monday before 8 AM you need to comment on how many points you earned that week (28 possible for the week) I will keep a running tally going on the side. During the week, you can post comments, recipes, tell others about your goals, talk about what you did that day for exercise. I am thinking about capping the enrollment at 15 so I don't spend too much time on administrative stuff.

Honestly, if this is what you've been waiting for the support and motivation to make some positive changes, then write the check today and send it to Michelle Wasden 25 Manor Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540. Then (and only then) will you have a spot secured. I figure that if you aren't interested enough to get the check in the mail, then you probably don't really want to do this so I really don't want to mess around with "holding spots" and stuff like that. Make sense?

Let the change begin!