A New Start for a New Year

Finally we are ready to get started. We would like to thank everyone who has decided to start this journey with us to a new and healthier you in 2012. Sorry for the delay in updating the blog. We were waiting for a few final contestants to get signed up and weighed in. We now have 27 people who have committed to our contest. That is fabulous. That makes the prize money we can distribute at the end very enticing. Here is how the money will be distributed on Mar.31

1rst Place $500

2nd Place $350

3rd Place $250

4th Place $150

And we will award 2 participation awards for $50 each.

A quick explanation of how you can win the participation prize. To be eligible for this prize, you need to have NOT placed in the top 4, you need to make it to at least 10 out of the 12 weigh ins, and you cannot have gained additional weight from your first weigh in. At the time of money distribution anyone that meets these requirements will put their name in a drawing and the first place winner will draw it out. If any of you are confused, just ask me questions next Saturday when I see you. There is a lot of money to be earned so I hope everyone stays motivated!

If you've ever wondered why some people are able to shed those pounds and keep them off, it's probably because they know the five secrets to lasting weight loss...and now so do you.
1. They eat breakfast
2. They eat fruit and/or vegetables with each meal
3. They have protein with each meal and snack
4. They're physically active
5. They plan their meals, their snacks, and their exercise.

Weekly Challenge

This week's challenge is to journal. I can not stress enough how important this one little step is on your weight loss journey. This means to write down everything that you eat good or bad. I think most of us signed up for this contest because we liked the idea of having to be held accountable each week by weighing in. Journaling is the same concept. It holds us accountable for the things we eat. I think many of you will be not only surprised but shocked by the amount of actual calories you consume each day when you start tracking them. This will help you look back on your days and know where you need to improve or add different food items.

Maybe your goal is to keep track and not to exceed a calorie maximum. To lose 1 pound a week you need to eat 500 less calories a day than you burn. The average person burns around 2000 calories a day. So to lose a pound a week you need to limit your calories to around 1500 a day. If you add exercise to the mix you bump up the amount of calories you burn. If you walk vigorously for an hour you can burn an additional 500 calories making your deficit for the day 1000 calories which should equate to a 2 lbs a week weight loss. This is not an exact science but it is a good rule of thumb to follow. Bottom line...try to limit your calorie intake each day to around 1500 or less and try to get some sort of exercise every day. Then you should see a healthy 2 lbs a week loss.

There are several great websites for calorie counting such as calorieking.com, spark people.com, my fitness pal etc. All you do is click on the food, search, and then enter the food you have eaten and follow the prompts to figure out the calories. For those that have a IPhone or IPad, a free app that I have had recommended to me is Calorie Counter by FatSecret. This will truly help you in your success to shed those pound.

I would also recommend buying a food scale. They are fairly inexpensive and you can find them at Walmart, Target or other similar stores. Get in the habit of weighing your food, checking portion sizes on the food labels etc. I think we all tend to underestimate our food portions that we eat. I keep my scale on my kitchen counter with a notebook and pen next to it so I can jot down the exact measurements before I enter them in on the computer. It can be a pain at first but it is so worth the effort. Just make it a new habit. This has made such a difference in my weight loss.

Eating out is no excuse for not tracking calories. On the Internet you can google just about any food item that you can purchase in a fast food joint or restaurant.

OK I will get off of my Food Journal soapbox for now. Let me say again how excited we are that you have all decided to join with us. We would like to make this blog a motivational tool and support to help you along the way. We plan on posting recipe ideas each week along with the weekly challenge. We encourage your comments, success stories, struggles you may be facing or even the occasional whining about how much you miss chocolate. We really want this to be a support group so please speak up and let us hear from you. If you have great recipes you would like to share please email them to me at sbillnlisa@comcast.net and I will post them on the blog.

Good Luck everyone. Can't wait to see how the first week went for all of you. The weight loss is usually pretty great week 1.