Fatty got skinny

Fatty Get Skinny celebration dinner

As I blogged about here, my husband and I have been on an extreme health challenge/competition for the last 2 months. It finally finished on Friday, and results were quite amazing - across 10 people (5 couples) we lost a total of 130 lbs, 30 of which were lost by my husband and I.

The plan itself felt quite sustainable...we were not hungry (except late at night, since we weren't allowed to eat after dinner) and the cravings for sugar and refined carbs subsided fairly quickly.

What wasn't sustainable was the level of exercise we were doing. Everyone became insanely competitive, and it wasn't uncommon for me to be riding my bike for an hour and then running for an hour or more every day. And would you believe we came in measly third place?

We are now trying to figure out how to sustain the results. ...we are thinking of just aiming for 4 points a week....to put this in persepctive, this would mean that if you had 2 food infractions (click back to the original link here to see what this means) you would have to run for an hour 3 times a week (or equivilant)...this seems reasonable/sustainable to me. ...I may feel differently in the dead of winter!

With so many long runs under my belt, I've had a lot of time to reflect on this competition, and what parts of it I value. I've realized that I don't really care about the weight loss. I certainly want to be at a healthy weight and feel good in my clothes, but beyond that I really don't want to focus on my weight. We've been really careful to call it a health challenge because I never want my daughter to think that I'm on a diet or that I'm unhappy with my body. I just want her to think I'm strong, fit, active, and healthy...and that I am at peace with my body. It has successfully birthed two healthy children; I think it deserves a little respect!

Any reactions?

PS: Obviously the name of our plan - "Fatty Get Skinny" - is in jest :)....I realize it's a bit at odds with the musings in this post!

Fatty Get Skinny

My husband and I have a competitive group of friends. ....very. competitive.

So as incentive to get healthy, we are embarking on the Fatty Get Skinny Couples Challenge (our own creation), beginning tomorrow. The rules are as follows, but in essence points are gained for exercise and lost for food infractions. The challenge runs until September 9th, when we will all celebrate at Hy's Steakhouse. The losing couple pays for 40% of the bill; 4th place couple pays for 35% of the bill, 3rd place couple pays for 25% of the bill, and the first and second place couples split the tip!

Activities resulting in point accumulation

- Exercise (0.5-4.0 points per activity, depending on duration and type) (I can send you the details if you're interested)

- At end of competition, additional points will be awarded for weight loss at a rate of 1 point for every 2% of initial body weight lost.

Violations resulting in 1 point loss per 'incident'

- Deep fried foods

- Refined sugar

- Dessert

- White flour products

- White rice products

- Pasta

- More than 1 whole grain bread product, and or any whole grain product consumed after 2pm (ie – one serving of whole grain bread product allowed per day before 2pm)

- Consuming alcohol between Sunday 5pm-Friday 5pm

- Smoking cigarettes or cigars  (1 point per cigarette/cigar..none of us smoke so no biggie)

- Eating after dinner (fruit and vegetables permitted)

Let me know if you want the Excel point tracking sheet I created and you can start your own competition!