Do any of your friends spontaneously plan a family fun 5K for all their girls when they’re 38 weeks pregnant? Do they print out their own number stickers for all of their friends and provide a time-keeping board, finish line tape, water, snacks and placement ribbons?
Mine do. I know. You are jealous.
I have a group of 20 friends who’ve formed an accountability group to help each other with our goals of healthy weight loss. We get together weekly with our leader who is a personal trainer and fitness instructor and cute as a stack of buttons and we talk about how we’re doing and encourage each other to put the chocolate down and get moving.
At the end of this summer we’re planning a 2-day healthy girls’ retreat as a reward for all our hard work. The trick is that you can’t come unless you earn the right to be there. You can earn it by losing 20 pounds, at one point per pound or you can earn points other ways.
Each week over the summer we have a challenge. One week it was to drink enough water each day, and by enough I mean enough that you’re running to the bathroom every 15 minutes like Magoo, except unlike Magoo you make it to the potty most of the time before your personal flood waters erupt. One week we had to work out 5 days. This week we need to remember to take a multivitamin every day.
For each challenge you complete, you get a point. If you look at my butt, you’ll find that I’m getting most of my points this way, not on the scale. You get half a point for each meeting you attend which is hardly a chore as it consists of chatting with your girlfriends and giving each other snaps for each time you got up off the couch to do something other than head to the fridge.
The biggest way to earn points fast is by entering fitness events. I got two points for that 5K where I slaughtered that old lady. Today I got two more for walking 3.2 miles around an elementary school track while again chatting with my girlfriends. I am very good at this.
I’m number 8 in the back and I got a ribbon for “perseverance.” It means I came in last place but I’m cuter than anyone else except the pregnant lady. Yes. It really does. The pregnant lady can’t win because she was handing out the ribbons and doing all the work and there’s no prize for doing all the work. Kind of like at my house.
So now I’m at 10 points with 6 weeks left and I’ve got to melt me some serious calories or jump on every challenge there is and run a marathon. There is no way I’m missing this weekend.
I’d also like to lose just a little weight so my Wii Fit will stop gently hinting at how rotund I’ve become. There’s a fine line between motivation and 7th-grade-worthy harassment.
That sounds like an absolutely inspired amazing idea! I wish my friends would be that organized and committed!
One thing that is rather off-topic. I know you’re teaching a young ladies Sunday school class and I’ve found a book that would possibly amazing for them to read at some point. It’s called Lady in Waiting and it uses Ruth as a primary model and is about becoming the right woman while waiting for the right man. It might be most appropriate for high school and college ladies. The edition I bought has a guided journal for each chapter and a set of 40 meditations that are supposed to be done whenever (they advise not to let them become a daily religious routine so you can get the most out of them). Anyway, shoot me an email if you want to know more information.
And good luck on the points! You deserve a girlie weekend.
#8 –
You totally rocked it yesterday! I’m seriously filled with gratitude to be part of that group of 20 so that I get to benefit from the support and collected knowledge of the group!!
(Lori – what’s the name of that book?)
FWIW, you’re totally slimmer and fitter than what that camera did to you 😉
The title is Lady in Waiting and it’s by Jackie Kendall and Debby Jones. I hope you like it. It’s been such a blessing for me and I’m scarcely halfway done.
It’s official. Y’all are the coolest group of friends ever.
Can I just say, one of the reasons it’s such a cool group is that we have amazing people like you in it. Chatting with you at group meeting is too much fun.
And I know your an inspirtation to me and everyone out there to keep plugging on even after your yard waste bin and back attacked you this summer.
I know you can get all your points.! You go girl!
Your blog is great! I am also an LDS mom living in the Seattle area! I’m sure we have lots in common! 🙂
Oh my gosh, I’m so jealous! This sounds like a really great idea! I go to weight watchers & so I get the “group” idea sessions, but how neat to be able to include all of your friends.
And, congrats on the ribbon – I was always the slowest in a summer running training session (8 weeks of speed work) and started the summer at a 10 minute mile. By the end of 12 weeks I was at a 9 minute mile & was the most improved out of the group! It is a great feeling (even when you’re dead last) to cross the finish line.
🙂 Becky
http://www.stinkylemsky.typepad.com/
An ACCOUNTABILITY group? Good grief. My friends and I hang out in inner tubes in the river and drink. We are fat and buoyant.
Wow – your friends rock. That is so cool, and I am so jealous. Good luck with the remaining 6 weeks. You can do it!
All I can figure is your pregnant is somehow trying to induce herself with all that activity….?
you are so freikin FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHHA This post is s riot. not lol b/c people are SLEEPING.
Great Idea. I do need a support system like that!
What a wonderful idea! I need to find a group of friends who want to do something like this.
“The pregnant lady can’t win because she was handing out the ribbons and doing all the work and there’s no prize for doing all the work. Kind of like at my house.” -Can I relate to this or what?
Seriously. Keep up the work. Having an accountability group is pure genius.
What a great way to stay active and motivated! I love it! I’m impressed that you know so many people willing to be active…I’m always trying to con people into running with me (it only works on my husband though).
i would love to do this with my friends! can you share the “rules” and point system in a little more detail? that would be rad
I should go into it on the blog but here’s a short run-through:
We meet once each week and share a fitness or wellness thought. At the end of the goal period we look at how our weight has fluctuated and earn one point for each pound we’ve lost. We get 1/2 a point for each meeting we attend. Each week we come up with a challenge and whoever completes the challenge gets a point. This week it was to do 2 forms of exercise we’ve never done before. Once it was to drink 64 oz of water each day. One was to not eat after 8pm at least 5 of 7 nights. We make them up as we go. Each of us gets 2 points for any organized fitness event we complete like a race or walkathon. That’s about it. We have other rules, like if you don’t come to 4 meetings in a row without good reason you’re out and we have an email group where we mail back and forth throughout the week. It’s really been wonderful. The group started out small but as people have heard about it, it’s grown and grown.
Can I just vent for a moment about how discouraged I am by the comments my Wii has been making about my fitness level as well?? I never imagined when I shelled out all that money for the thing that it would be INSULTING my sweaty efforts to shape up.
Best wishes in earning the rest of your points! You go, girl!
Someone told me today that the Japanese Wii Fit is way more harsh. Yeah. I wouldn’t be all over that one.