Who is still interested?

Sorry I kind-of fell off the face of the earth there for a while. :)

I'm posting this (and it should be e-mailed to everyone on the fisher list) to see who (if anyone) is still interested in doing the Fisher Family Fitness thing. In January it seemed to be just me, my mom and Tracy and Amber. I'm not sure if more of you did it in February, but the only people to ask me about reporting points were Tracy and Amber again.

This is partly my fault, because I haven't kept up like I should have, but before I get back into the full swing of things, I thought I'd make sure people are still interested. So, let me know if you want to do the fitness challenge with points, if you are just interested in getting helpful hints for exercise, diet, recipes, etc... or if you would rather just do your own thing... please everyone who is interested in anything at all, post a comment or send me an e-mail so I know where we are. :)

Thanks!!

You snooze you lose!

You probably think that this is something about not winning because you didn't turn in your points! Actually, it's about how sleep affects weight.

Dr. Nancy Sniderman (medical expert often appearing on the Today show) says, "Sleep is as important as the food you put in your mouth."

An estimated 63% of Americans don't get enough sleep, and roughly the same percent are overweight or obese. Could there be a connection?

Glamour Magazine recently did a study to see what affect more sleep would have on participants' weight. They asked them not to make any diet or exercise changes, just to get seven and a half hours of sleep every night. At the end of the 10 week study the women who participated had lost 6-15 lbs!

If you are interested in the science behind why this works, click here to read the full article in Glamour, and/or watch the video from the Today show. (It's really quite interesting, I recommend it.)

If you don't care how it works, but just want to get the results of better sleep, here is what the article suggests:
#1 Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day (you can go to bed a little late on the weekends, but make sure you are getting those 7 1/2 hours!)
#2 Start a bedtime routine. 45 min to 1 hour before you plan to go to bed, turn off your TV, computer, blackberry, cell phone, etc, and do something relaxing. Light reading, a hot bath, stretching... this is the perfect time to earn an extra point! Doing some relaxing yoga can count as a toning point, or reading can count as a 30-min something-you-like point, or you could read your scriptures and get that point!
#3 Watch your caffeine and alchohol habits. Okay, I know this one is probably not a problem for anyone here, but if you do drink caffeinated sodas or teas, make sure you don't do it after 2:30 pm.
#4 Experiment with how much sleep you really need. If you’re snoozing seven and a half hours and still can’t wake up without your alarm, you need more. Try hitting the sack 15 minutes earlier each night until you reach the perfect time for you — it may take a week or so before you reach your own ideal sleep number.

There is one part about the study that they sort of indirectly mentioned that I think needs a little emphasis. When they talk about getting 7 1/2 hours of sleep, they don't mean random sleep. They are talking about normal, regular sleep/wake cycles. ("Sleep hygiene" they called it.) I think it is best put in the Doctine and Covenants, "...retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated." (88:124)

Winners!!!

Tracy and Amber are our big winners for January! I cannot believe how amazingly well they did. Amber got a total of 437 points!!! WOW! And Tracy got a total of 427 points!!! If you want to beat them in February, you'd better be doing your very best. :)
They both got ALL of their spiritual points for the month, and Amber did cardio and toning every day! Amber, you are a superwoman!
And, here is what you have all been anxiously waiting to hear, their wonderful prizes!!! :::applause:::
:D
They will get a great book, Please Pass the Scriptures: From Reading to Feasting by John Hilton III (Brad Wilcox and John Bytheway gave it rave reviews) for doing so fabulously well on their spiritual points. Amber will get to pick one yummy smelling lotion out of my Bath and Body Works stash for being our weight loss winner for the month, and as our grand prize... (drum roll, please!)
Tracy and Amber both get a free one month pass to 24 hour fitness! YAY!
Congrats you two, and keep up the good work!

---------

By the way, as the emotional points winner for the month of January, I am giving myself 4 hours of guilt free reading today! Yay for me! :)

Really, I DO want your points. ;)

Tomorrow is the last day to turn in January points. I haven't heard from very many of you yet.... are you out there Melissa, Holly, Heather...?
And, if you haven't started keeping track of points for February, it's not to late to start! :)

February Chart

Here is the chart for keeping track of your points for February:

Get Fit February!

It will print a little better/bigger if you make sure your printer is set to print it "landscape" style.

If anyone has trouble loading or printing it, just let me know, and I will e-mail you an attachment of the original spreadsheet. :)

Good luck!

Call for points!

It is time to turn in your points for January! I hope all of you had a great month, and are excited to turn in your points. You will have until Friday to turn them in (leave a comment on the blog, or e-mail me) and we will announce winners and prizes on Saturday.
I am going to turn my points in to all of you as an example. I don't think my points totals can be any more embarrassing, but maybe that will make you guys feel good! :)

Dietary: 134 pts
Spiritual: 65 pts
Emotional: 101 pts (at least I am emotionally healthy!)
Physical: 11 pts (I know, it's really bad!)

Weight loss Bonus: 2 pts (for gaining an acceptable amount)
Goal Bonus: 4 pts (I didn't quite make it, but I did pretty good)

Total Points: 317 pts

I would like you to turn in your points with that format for now. We're still not sure exactly how we are going to award prizes yet...

ALSO! I think the consensus on making weight loss fair (from the 2 or 3 of you who actually responded) was that we should divide weight lost by weight desired to be lost for a percentage... to make it a little more fair. If you need help figuring it out, let me know. :) Here is an example:

If I want to lose 35 lbs, and I lost 13, I find my percentage of weight lost by dividing 13 by 35: .37142... so that gives you 37.14% (That would be really great, by the way.)

So, I want to lose about 60 lbs, and I gained 4, so my percentage of weight lost is negative 6.67%. Just kidding. ;)

If you have any questions, just let me know!

Bonus for next week! (And Prize talk)

We are coming up on the last week of our January challenge. I hope all of you are feeling good and having fun. I would like to encourage you to share your ups and down on the blog, if you feel like it. Sometimes it helps to hear others' successes and stumbles, so we know we are all trying together. My big stumbling block is the no sweets point. I think I've only gotten it about 5 times this whole month! I just have a big sweet tooth, I guess. The exercise points have also been a little hard for me now that I am entering my third trimester. I just feel like I don't have any energy for anything extra. BUT, two weeks ago I found out there was a pre-natal yoga class in my area. It has been so much fun, and has shown me some things that I can still do to keep my body working, but not over do it.
SO, if any of you are feeling a little discouraged as you look at your chart and see a bunch of empty squares in one line, we have decided to give you a little extra incentive this last week. Pick the point that is the hardest for you to get, and during the last week any time you qualify for that point you get double points! So, if the no sweets point is hard for you too, you could pick that as your hard one, and then any day you make it through without sneaking something out of the candy cupboard, you get 2 points instead of just one. Hopefully that will motivate us to work a little harder this last week! :)

Also, as we are winding down, Laurie and I have been discussing prizes. (Wahoo! Are you excited?) We have what we think are some good ideas, but would love your input. (Especially since we will have prizes all through the year!) So, if you have any good ideas, or prizes to donate, or can donate a dollar, or two, or ten, ;) please let us know. :) Thanks!!!

Smile!

I hear that there have been questions about the smile point! :)

This got me thinking, and I came up with some good ideas. SO! However you awarded yourself smile points in the past was fine, but NOW I have some new rules. The new requirements for the "smile" point are as follows:

1- You must smile at yourself in the mirror. (Try to think some happy thoughts in your direction, but at least smile!)

2- You must smile at every person living in your house. (Occasionally--if you are having a very bad day--you may smile at those people while they are sleeping, but most of the time you should smile at them while they are awake.)

3- If you go anywhere outside your house, you must smile at one stranger. (Ex: a cashier, another shopper, a librarian, a customer, a moron driver, etc... If you work in a place where you don't see any strangers, smile at a co-worker.)

So, think happy thoughts, and SMILE! :D

A little laugh

I was looking for something else when I came across this unique alarm clock. Take a look:

http://www.worldwidefred.com/shapeup.htm

Weight Loss

I got sucked into the Biggest Loser this week. I've never really watched it before--although I've seen bits and pieces, and I like their web-page--but I thought I'd give it a try, and see what I might gain from it... anyway, I enjoyed watching it. I appreciate that at least one "reality show" is actually helping people better their lives.
Well, that was a round about way for me to start what I meant to say! I've thought a lot off and on about the fairness of our weight loss bonus points. I tried to balance it a little with the points for those who are already at ideal weight, and for those who are pregnant, but it still seems a little unfair maybe. So, I am thinking maybe we should try doing something similar to Biggest Loser. The winner is the one who loses the highest percentage of their body weight, rather than the one who loses the most. This way, it doesn't put those who need to lose more at an advantage over those who need to lose a little less. So, I think we ought to do one of two things in one of two ways. :)
We can either award weight loss by percentage of weight lost, (If you weigh 250 lbs, and you lose 10 lbs this month, your weight loss is 4%) or we can award weight loss by percentage of weight desired to be lost, lost. (If you need to lose 30 lbs total, and you lose 3 that month, your weight loss is 10%) And we can do either of those by having you do the math at home and reporting, or by everyone telling me their starting and ending weights each month. (The advantage of the first is that no one has to know your numbers, not even me, and the advantage of the second is that you don't have to do any math.)
Everyone please let me know what you think! :)

Post from Camille

Hi Fam! and Friends,
Here is a post from Camille. She has some great points to make. Jennifer and I were going to make some clarification about the sleep thing. We know that some people need less. However, please be honest with yourself about that. Too often we stay up doing things that aren't good and then don't get the good sleep that we need. So, if you truly don't need more than say, 5 hours of sleep...you can still get that point. I know there are a lot of studies out there on the benefits of water. And I think Camille has a good point. But, we will stick to 64 oz. for the purpose of the challenge. (A lot of what we post on the blog will be based on government recommendations found on the My Pyramid page--link on right--and they recommend eight 8-oz glasses of water per day.) But, you are welcome to drink more if you can! And, that does mean water, not other fluids.
I am looking forward to checking out the book she recommends!



Hello!
Camille here. This probably isn't the right way to do this, but I couldn't figure out how to post on the blog, so I'm pitching in my two cents here.
I think the fitness challenge is great! I especially like the fact that you're looking at the whole person - spiritual, emotional, as well as physical.
I thought, given the approach, many of you may be interested in Dr. Bridell's Logical and Rational & Poetic and Beautiful & Completely Guaranteed Diet For All Your Appetites. (I know. The name is long, and it sounds really weird, but it's a really awesome book, and I totally love the approach. The author is LDS, and they integrate the physical diet, the mental diet and the spiritual diet. The diet is grounded well in the scriptures and Dr. Bridell discusses such things as the importance of drinking water, fasting (and feasting) properly, sleep, spiritual food, etc, as well as diet and exercise.
In reviewing the fitness chart, there are a couple of things you may want to consider: Since each person's sleep requirements vary, it may be better to just let each person decide for themselves how many hours would be a healthy night's sleep. Ditto for the water intake. In general, 64 oz of water daily may be adequate for some, but not for others. Typically, an adult should consume at least one ounce of water for each pound of body weight. If I weighed 64 lbs, 64 ounces would be sufficient, but I think most of us weigh more than that. (Also as a side note, juices and other liquid intake should not be considered part of the body's required water intake.) Since most of the body, and particularly the brain, consists of water, our physical and mental functions are impaired when water intake is minimal.
Anyway. It was good to see everyone at the family party, and we really enjoyed the singing time. Thanks to Micki for helping our family with "Breath of Heaven." Blessings to all of you for the new year!

Camille

Here's the chart!

Hopefully I know what I'm doing!

Print out a copy of our chart to help you keep track of your points:

January's Fisher Family Fitness Challenge

To make it print right, please follow these instructions:
After you click on the link, go to file, and choose "print"
Then, before you print, click on "properties"
Find the "basics" tab, and click on that
Choose "landscape" orientation, and click ok
Back in the regular print menu, have it print pg 1 of 2
PRINT! :)

That's how it works on my computer. There is a good chance yours is somewhat different. Just make sure your orientation is set to landscape in your printer options. :)

(Hopefully that wasn't confusing!)

See the next post for in-depth explanations of how to earn points.

Good luck in January!


PS! I just decided I'm going to e-mail around an attachment of the chart in it's original Excel spreadsheet format. It's another option, if that's easier for you. :)

Explanation

Hopefully this will answer any questions you may have about the chart. :)

Dietary clarifications:

Fruits & Veggies
*you can eat a variety of fresh, frozen, canned or dried fruits
*it's a good idea to eat lots of different kinds of veggies--the easiest way to do this is eat lots of different colors (dark green, orange, etc.) Dry beans and peas also count in this category
*fruit and vegetable juices are also acceptable, but unless you are blending whole fruits at home, you'll want to limit this

Stop eating at 7:30
*studies show that it is better if we don't eat too close to bed-time, but if you are really hungry you could eat an apple, a few carrots, or other low-calorie, easily digested food and still get this point

No fried food
*we don't mean you can't have scrambled eggs for breakfast, or browned meat in your spaghetti :) this means, no french fries, potato chips, chicken fingers (unless they're baked) it's about cutting calories (and especially trans fats!) that come from a lot of oils

Emotional Clarifications:

Goals
*In the first post on the blog, I addressed the importance of making (and succeeding with) good goals. We want to encourage you to make a personal goal each month. Every day you do something to get closer to your goal, give yourself a point. (More on this in the Bonus section.)

Cleaning
*I'm not sure that emotional health is the best place for this, but it seemed to fit. AND, I know I feel better when I've done something to catch up on my ridiculous house! So, for clarification, this includes regular house-cleaning (laundry, dishes, etc.) as well as organizing, gardening, shoveling snow, etc.

"Me" time
*We are not trying to tell you to be selfish, just to recognize the importance of doing something you enjoy each day. Spending 30 minutes doing something you like (reading, cross-stitch, puzzles, running, whatever!) can relax and energize you, and really make a difference in how you feel about that day.

Physical Clarifications:

Cardio
*You get one point for every 30 minutes you are doing something that gets your heart rate going. This doesn't mean you have to go do power aerobics at the local gym. Walking is a great cardio workout--as long as you are walking fast enough to increase your heart rate. If you can carry on a slightly breathy conversation, you're doing okay. :)

Toning
*You get one point for every 20 minutes of toning you do each day. The most obvious example of toning is lifting weights. Lifting weights is awesome for your body, and if you can do it, you should, but this also includes any resistance workout. Whether you are using an exercise band, or just your own body weight (for example, yoga or pilates).

***It is possible to do something that fits both categories. If (for example) you spend half an hour doing a particularly intense yoga workout that really gets your heart rate up give yourself one point in each category.

Bonus points:

Weight loss
*We'd like to encourage you not to weigh yourself too often. Once a week is plenty, and once a month is not such a bad idea. Give yourself 2 points for every pound you lose.
*If you are already at your ideal weight, and you did not gain any weight this month, give yourself 2 points for the month.
*For our pregnant participants, give yourself 2 points this month if your weight gain was within what your doctor thinks is acceptable. (But do NOT beat yourself up if you gained more that you "should" have. Just keep making good choices, and don't worry about it too much.)

Goal bonus
*At the end of the month, re-evaluate the goal you set at the beginning of the month. Rate your success on a scale of 1-5. Give yourself 5 points if you reached your goal, 4 points if you came close, 3 points if you think you could have done better, 2 points if you sort-of gave up half-way through the month, and 1 point if you really didn't try.

If you have other questions, just leave a comment, and we'll do our best to answer. :) Check back in to the blog for great tips to help you get your points, and reach your goals.