The Healthy Challenge

At the end of last month my sister in law invited me to join her in a healthy challenge group. I chickened out with everything that was going on in my life and decided I would do it "next time". Yesterday a couple of my friends TOLD me (not asked) I was joining them in a 5K run this coming July. There is a "couch to 5K" program that they told me I could follow and now I have 9 weeks to get ready. As I was doing my first day last night, I thought, "You know it might help a little if I was eating healthy too. Too bad I didn't join the healthy challenge group to give me a little incentive....WAIT! I could form my own healthy challenge group!!!" And this is how the Love 2 B Healthy blog/group was born. I pretty much copied the plan the group my sister in law belongs to with the addition of one point.

So, here are the details:

All contestants donate $10 into the pot. Winner takes all the money! If there is a tie, the money is divided. There are 13 points that can be earned each day.

Here is the breakdown:

• Healthy and correctly portioned breakfast - 1 point

• Healthy and correctly portioned lunch - 1 point

• Healthy and correctly portioned dinner - 1 point

What is healthy and correctly portioned? 1/2 of your plate should be fruits and vegetables, 1/4 should be whole grains, and 1/4 should be lean meat/protein, one serving of each. It doesn't have to be complicated. Just use your best judgment!

• 2 healthy snacks a day - 1 point
  

• Take muli-vitamin - 1 point

• Exercise at least 20 minutes per day - 2 points

• Drink 2 liters (or 67 oz.) of water - 1 point

• No Sugar - 1 point

This basically means no sweets. No candy, cake, cookies, brownies, fruit juice with sugar, soda pop, etc.

• No Unhealthy snacks - 1 point

This goes one step beyond the no sugar rule. Unhealthy is defined as any product high in fat or salt (processed foods like chips and hot dogs).

• No caffeine - 1 point
  

• No food 2 hours before bed - 1 point
  

• At least 7 hours of sleep at night - 1 point

FREE DAY: Each week you can pick the day of the week that will be your "free day". You will not keep track of points on this day. You can also not use your free day to "catch up" on points you lost during the week. No points can be earned on your free day. Be sure to plan ahead for family parties, date nights, etc.

The total you can earn in a week is 78 points (13 points a day for 6 days). You will then report your points every Sunday on this blog. When you sign up, I will put you in as an author on the blog (I will just need your email address). For every day after Sunday that you send in your points, you will will lose a point! This will give you a chance to see how you are doing in comparison to everybody else. (Obviously, a big factor in this competition is honestly!) You also can post how you are doing, healthy snack ideas, great dinner ideas, exercise routines, struggles, successes etc.

The competition will start May 24th and end June 21st (4 weeks). That will give us a week and a half to get geared up! All money is due by May 24th.

There are no requirements for weighing in or measuring, although it is recommended! If you don't win the challenge at least you'll be able to see if your body changes over the 4 weeks.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!