Meet Paige

Name:  Paige

Age:  32

Where you live:  Utah

What you do for a living:  I'm a full-time wife and mother to 5 kids ages 3-12

Favorite Hobbies:  Studying, baking, writing music, playing music

Favorite Food (healthy or not):  I have a WICKED sweet tooth that is only exacerbated by my baking skills.  The ONLY thing I have going for me in this department is that I hate, Hate, HATE chocolate!  I can't tolerate the smell of chocolate baking and wouldn't dream of putting baked chocolate in my mouth.  But I would eat 1 dozen donuts (preferably maple bars), a pan full of homemade cinnamon rolls (hold the raisins), or any of my cookies every day of the week!!  Oh!  And gummy candy!  (Preferably stale!)

What is the hardest thing for you to keep up with in this challenge?  Actually, my personal point keeps biting me in the butt because I technically have to do 6 things to get it.  I have to take my vitamins and tell each of my 5 children something great about them each day. 

Which is the easiest thing for you to keep up with in this challenge? Any tips you'd like to share?   The sweets, in spite of my above answer, has been do-able because I'm an all-or-nothing kind of person. If you told me I could count my point if I only ate 1 sweet a day, I'd NEVER get that point. None I can do. One I cannot. 

Meet Heather

Name: 
Heather aka Heffalump

Age:  
39

Where you live:  
On the North Oregon Coast

What you do for a living:  
SAHM to seven kids ages 20 months to 15.  Six of them are boys.

Favorite Hobbies: 
 I collect hobbies that I hope to have time and energy to actually do someday.  I surf the web and collect tutorials for how to do things that I typically don’t have the time or equipment for yet.  I also like to read and cook.

Favorite Food (healthy or not):  
Strawberries are my favorite food, although I’m not one to turn down a Peanut Butter Cup or Lindt Chocolate.

What is the hardest thing for you to keep up with in this challenge?:  

Probably the exercise or the sugar.  I’m more likely to give up a point for the sugar, but I have a hard time with the exercise.  I only do it so I won’t have to give up points that I might want to use for other things (like eating a blackberry cobbler someone at church gave us). 

Which is the easiest thing for you to keep up with in this challenge? Any tips you'd like to share? 

  I think the water has been the easiest.  I use a ten and a half ounce Tupperware cup and keep it on the counter.  Every time I get a drink of water I make sure to fill the cup so I know I am getting at least ten ounces, and then I put a little dot in the water square on my chart.  Once I have five dots I check off the water for the day, although I usually end up drinking more than 50 oz.  I also do that for the fruits and veggies as well (dots on the chart I mean).

Thanks Heather! Also, Heather keeps a blog at http://iblogaboutnothing.blogspot.com/ if you'd like to follow along. AND she made the nifty chart for all of us to keep track of our points:)

Meet Connie

Name: Connie 

Age: Older than dirt

Where you live: Spanish Fork

What you do for a living: I'm a speech technician in an elementary school.

Favorite Hobbies:Reading, Eating, Playing with grand kids, 

Favorite Food (healthy or not): Mexican food - that could be healthy or not! 

What is the hardest thing for you to keep up with in this challenge? 
 water and sleep

Which is the easiest thing for you to keep up with in this challenge? Any tips you'd like to share? Believe it or not, the easiest for me is no sweets! When I'm craving sweets I have a banana with peanut butter and I'm good to go!

Connie looks great for being older than dirt! Check out her bloggity blog to see her beauty secrets.

Week 2 Winners

The winners of the random weekly drawing this week are:

Connie Langston

and 

Darla Adams!

Congratulations!

Why We Should Drink 50 Ounces of Water Each Day:

How are you doing on the water aspect of this challenge?

I had never really paid much attention the amount of water I drink before this challenge, but I can tell a huge difference in how I feel when I get at least 50 ounces of water each day.

There are many varying recommendations about how much water we should drink. Two common ones are to drink 8 eight-ounce glasses a day, or to divide your body weight in half and drink that many ounces. Because we actually get about 20-50% of our water from food (depending on the kinds of food we eat), we may not need to drink as much. The goal is to have clear urine, not to be running to the bathroom 10 times a day. 50 ounces is an achievable goal to keep our bodies hydrated without going crazy. Here are some benefits of staying hydrated:

1. Drinking Water Helps Maintain the Balance of Body Fluids. Your body is composed of about 60% water. The functions of these bodily fluids include digestion, absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients, and maintenance of body temperature.

2. Water Can Help Control Calories. For years, dieters have been drinking lots of water as a weight loss strategy. While water doesn't have any magical effect on weight loss, substituting it for higher calorie beverages can certainly help. Water-rich foods include fruits, vegetables, broth-based soups, oatmeal, and beans.

3. Water Helps Energize Muscles. Cells that don't maintain their balance of fluids and electrolytes shrivel, which can result in muscle fatigue. During exercise, they recommend that people start drinking fluids early, and drink them at regular intervals to replace fluids lost by sweating.

4. Water Helps Keep Skin Looking Good. Your skin contains plenty of water, and functions as a protective barrier to prevent excess fluid loss. You can also help "lock" moisture into your skin by using moisturizer, which creates a physical barrier to keep moisture in.

5. Water Helps Your Kidneys. Body fluids transport waste products in and out of cells. When you're getting enough fluids, urine flows freely, is light in color and free of odor. When your body is not getting enough fluids, urine concentration, color, and odor increases because the kidneys trap extra fluid for bodily functions.

6. Water Helps Maintain Normal Bowel Function. Adequate hydration keeps things flowing along your gastrointestinal tract and prevents constipation. When you don't get enough fluid, the colon pulls water from stools to maintain hydration -- and the result is constipation.

(Info from here)

Week 1 Winners!

I know I said I would do the drawing for the weekly winners today at noon, but everyone had their points logged in, so I decided to go ahead and draw 2 names!

The winners this week are:

Camille Evans

and 

Rachel Watts!

Congratulations!!

One Week Down, Seven to Go!

How did your first week go? Did you find some choices were harder to make than others?

If you didn't do as well as you had hoped this week, don't give up! The first week is always the hardest. Just remember, once you get in the habit of making healthier choices, it won't be as hard to choose an apple instead of a cupcake:)

Remember to enter your points for this week. I will be doing the weekly drawing tomorrow at noon, so make sure you have your points in before then! (And if you didn't get over 50 points this week, that's ok! Enter your points before tomorrow morning anyway to be entered to win the prize for "always entered weekly points on time.")

Have a good week!

Fruits and Veggies: How Much is One Serving?

So, how was your first day? Did you get all your fruits and vegetables in?

image source

When I started a challenge like this one over 2 months ago, I had no clue exactly how much of a fruit or vegetable counted as one serving. Just in case you're as confused as I was, here is a guide for you.


(Also, as stated in The Rules, only ONE serving can come from liquid form per day. If the liquid contains more than one serving of fruits/veggies, it still only counts as one serving. The rest must come from fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables.)

Keep up the good work!

Here We Go!

The time to start making healthier choices is NOW! We can do this. Start tracking your points daily!

Which healthy choices do you think you're going to have the hardest time with? Mine will be the 7 hours of sleep, since I'm obviously awake at midnight writing this blog post...

Get crackin'. I think you'll have fun with this!

photo source

(I sent out an email, and if you didn't receive it, please email me. I may not have your email address. jill.kaufusi@gmail.com)

Track Your Body's Changes

The main purpose of this challenge is to motivate us all to make healthier choices, but with that might come a little body change. If you REALLY want to see how you change through this 8 week process, I suggest measuring yourself before we start on Monday, and continuing to do so as the challenge goes on.

Here is a little measurement guide for you (click to enlarge):

Welcome, Welcome!

Are you ready to get healthy? I sure am. Let's make it a competition! We start Monday, May 14th and end Sunday, July 8th.

This 8 week challenge will have you loving your life and slipping on skinny jeans. Well, I actually can't promise that you'll find a new love for skinny jeans, but if you follow all the rules, you will definitely be healthier. The rules can be found under "The Rules" tab at the top of this blog.

Want in? The cost is $10. Five of those dollars will be used each week for weekly drawings, and the other $5 is thrown into a pot with everyone else's dollars.

In order to keep ourselves motivated, we will be reporting our points each week, and each week you are above 50 points, your name is entered in a weekly drawing for $5! If that's not motivation enough, the grand prize winner with the most points will win the giant pot of cash. Boom.

But to spice things up, there will be more prizes as well. Did you get above 50 points each week, but didn't get the highest points? You're entered to win another fantastic prize. Did you report your points by Tuesday morning without fail (even if they weren't above 50)? You're entered to win a different fantastic prize.

Because we love prizes so much, we will award more based on the number of participants. So, invite your friends! Everyone is welcome to join. 

Please be honest with your points! Nobody likes a liar.

Pay your money by Monday, May 14th to join. You can mail me a check, bring me the cash, or pay by PayPal. Please include your mailing address, phone number, and email address with your payment.

Questions? Contact me at Jill.Kaufusi@gmail.com

Let's get this party started!