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!

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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!