Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Nothing is wrong with me!

I just haven't been posting since it looked like no one was reading, what with the fire and all.

But I've been quietly racking up the miles on my bike and feet, and keeping my weight steady (140.4 today). Having missed my long bike ride the day of the fire, that put me back a week with adding distance, so this past Saturday I did a 36 mile ride. This week I'm planning two weekdays of cycling and two of running (both cycling days will be commuting) and a 40 mile ride on the weekend--my mileage should be just over 100 for the week. Then we leave on vacation for a week, which will drop my mileage down to nothing (except the occasional odd hike) and I'll have to start all over when I get back. But the Subaru is officially dead now, so I can see a lot of bike commuting in my future. I think I'll get back into shape quickly.

So does anyone want to join us in a round of Game On in September? It's a four week challenge, so that'll get us through the transition from summer to fall. We'd form teams (presumably two teams given our small numbers), choose a prize and everyone would contribute to that prize. In those four weeks you get points for diet, exercise, drinking water, sleep, communication with other players, dropping a bad habit, and picking up a new good habit; you lose points for snacking, collusion (that is, trying to convince a player on an opposite team to cheat along with you), weighing yourself more than once a day, and drinking alcohol. You get one meal off each week and one full day off each week (at which point you CAN drink alcohol, snack, stay up late, and ignore everyone). The diet is very specific--no refined sugars, no white flour, rice, etc. (all whole grains all the time). Each meal has to contain a lean protein, healthy carb, and healthy fat, with strict portion control of each. Five meals per day. Three liters of water each day. You get bonus points each week for reaching your goal, which could either be a weight loss goal (must be 1% loss each week; more is fine, but you can't set your goal to be lower than that) or a fitness goal (mine would probably be a mileage goal). Sleep 7 hours a night. Work out at least 20 minutes six days a week (and it has to be aerobic--you need to get your heart rate up for those 20 minutes. FWIW, in the game we played the players who only exercised 20 minutes a day didn't lose weight--more exercise led to consistent weight loss).

I'd recommend reading the book (I have a copy if you want to borrow it; I think libraries have it too. I got it from Amazon for about $10). You can also find more information here: http://www.thegameondiet.com/ The "how to play" tab is the most informative.

3 comments:

Amy said...

Of course I'm in! Can the game be played with individuals instead of teams competing?

Sarah said...

Yes, it could work with individuals, but part of the success is in being accountable to others--you might not care if you lose points, but you don't want to disappoint the team, and there is additional support from team members.

Emily said...

Count me in, too! I've ordered the book for me (since borrowing it from Maryland seems impractical and my library's catalog isn't working tonight, for some reason, plus the book was only $9ish). I think we need to do teams, as Sarah says, for all that I'm overly competitive on my own.