We realized that Mom, Jijaji, Didi, Ranj and myself all have fitness goals for ourselves but that we cannot seem to get our butts into gear. Some of us want to loose inches, some percentage of body fat, some just want to exercise more, some want to shed pounds and various combinations of it all. Of course we need external motivation and some friendly competition. Thus, we started coming up with point schemes and so forth.
Our wonderful Jijaji sent out and email today with the following list as a start to how are points will go. It'll get tweaked and there are some paramaters that need to be discussed but it's definitely a good start. It's going to be fun and if we achieve some of our goals then it's be healthy too!
1) 10,000 step days-- 1 point for each day you
reach 10,000 steps on a pedometer. The average
adult walks about 4-5,000 steps in daily
activities. So to reach 10,000 in a day you would need to
add a 30 minute walk or so (also about 5,000
steps) each day. This category encourages daily
walking, using the stairs, etc.
2) 30 minute workout--1 point each. You cannot
count steps during this workout toward category
1. Workouts can be at the gym or at home
(aerobics, cardio machine, yoga, strength training,
etc.).
3) weight loss--1 point for each pound lost
4) body fat percentage--5 points for each
percent decrease in body fat percentage
5) Breakfast--1 point for each day you have a
proper breakfast. This is universally considered
the most important meal for health and weight
loss. I think a proper breakfast needs to be defined
by all of us. I would say it needs to contain
at least 400-600 calories (about a third of the
daily need).
6) Penalty points/Indulgences- This category
also needs to be defined better.
-1 point for fast food (burgers, fried food,
Taco Bell, other ideas...)
I propose that the competition run from 10/1/2007
to 12/31/2007.
Each participant puts in $100.
We will award $50 for most weight lost, $50 for
most body fat percentage reduced, and $400 for
overall winner.
Everyone needs to keep a diary- I can put
together a spreadsheet to help with this.
Everyone will need a pedometer (I have an
Accusplit (Yamax) Eagle 170 Digiwalker Pedometer, about
$20 from amazon- it is accurate and fairly
inconspicuous).
Everyone will need (or have access to) a scale
for weight AND body fat percentage. We should use
the same method for body fat analysis.
Everyone should get a starting weight and a body
fat percentage (averaged over 5 days since it
will vary with hydration). Write it down on a piece
of paper and seal it in an envelope and then we
can keep them in a safe place to compare to the
final weigh in.
So, what do you think. This will require use of
the honor system. Let me know what you think of
the categories and how to better define #5 and
#6.
Ready for the "get healthy challenge"!!
