Biggest Loser/Healthy Habits
Spring 2014 Challenges
Week 1 – Choose Your Challenge: Accountability Partner or Extra 200 Calories/day
Week 2 – Health Tip for Newsletter (smoothie or favorite at-home exercise)
Week 3 – You Bite it You Write It
Week 4- Share an Activity on the Staff Wellness Calendar
Week 5 – Analyze Your Intake – Sugar and Veggies
Week 6 - Plan to Succeed (Easter)
Week 7 & 8 – Get Drinking and/or Get Moving (water challenge or staff wellness calendar activity)
Week 9 – Finish Strong (extra 2 hours of exercise this week)
Week 10 –Celebrate Success
Week One: Choose your Challenge
1. Choose an accountability partner from outside of the school. You have lots of GREAT support here at Central, but think about who you spend time with outside of school. Maybe you'd like to design your own competition with a friend or family member, or maybe you can just share what you're doing at with the Biggest Loser competition and ask them to help you stay on track when you're not at school.
2. Find a way to burn an extra 200 calories per day. Park further away, take the steps more often, do exercises over a break on lunch, or even while correcting papers. Find more ideas at:
Week 2 Challenge: Health Tip for Newsletter
Share a health tip with Samantha Wentworth by Friday, March 21to be published in the April newsletter. Choose from either:
1. Your favorite healthy smoothie recipe (Be sure to try it first!)
2. Your favorite at-home exercises
If you need ideas, you'll find endless recipes if you Google "healthy smoothie recipes." Or if you prefer, check out one of the following links:
Page 24 at
Weekly Challenge #3: You Bite It, You Write It!
Track EVERYTHING you eat and drink this week. Start after your weigh-in today and continue until your weigh-in next week. You may choose from any one of the three options below:
- Use any piece of paper or the attached form.
- UseMyFitnessPal.com. This is a GREAT tool for tracking your fitness efforts. Take some time to check it out and see all that it has to offer! You may also find it helpful in future challenges. A quote from their web site: "We believe — and medical studies prove — that the best way to lose weight and keep it off forever is to simply keep track of the foods you eat. Gimmicky machines and fad diets don't work, so we designed a free website and mobile apps that make calorie counting and food tracking easy." There is also the option to set up "groups" on this web site so that we can encourage each other and share ideas about healthy eating and exercises.
- Do you already use another tool for tracking food and exercise? "Reply to All" or put a note on the Staff Wellness bulletin board in the mailroom explaining what it is and why you like it so that others can benefit from it as well.
Forget the snow…think swimsuits!
Weekly Challenge #4:Record an Activity on the Staff Wellness Calendar in the Mailroom
Many of us exercise regularly and would welcome some company and the opportunity to encourage fellow staff members. Here's how it works:
- Record an activity that you will be doing on the calendar on the Staff Wellness Bulletin Board in the mailroom. It can be one you do already anyway, or you can plan something new or special.
- When you put it on the calendar, it's simply an invitation for others to join you.
- Since the calendar space is small, please place a more detailed description in the binder near the bulletin board. A sample form is attached.
Examples:
Go for a ride on the bike path after work, plan a hike, do a DVD workout in the Wrestling Room over lunch, lift some weights in the Fitness Center, organize a team for the YMCA's Outdoor Obstacle Course Adventure, go to a class at a fitness facility. The possibilities are endless!
Weekly Challenge #5: Analyzing Your Intake - Sugar & Veggies
Choose your challenge:
For three days this week, adhere to one of thefollowingchallenges, or if you're anoverachiever, do both!
1. Track your sugar grams for the entire day. If you're female, consume 25 grams or less; if you're male, 37 grams or less. Natural sugars such as thosefound in fruits and vegetables do not count. Use food labels or tools such as MyFitnessPal to determine the amount of sugar invarious foods. (Note: You do not need to have a smartphone for MyFitnessPal; you can go directly to the web site using yourcomputer.)
2. Eat a vegetable prior to eating anything else. Combining foods in this manner helps to keep blood sugars level, and sometimes eating the veggie will be just enough to convince you not to havethat tempting treat. Enjoy the nutrition!
Optional Reading:
How much sugar is recommended per day? It varies by person, and there is a lot of mixed research. Sugar and sugar substitutes are a hot topic. Some experts go so far as to claim that sugar is "toxic." Some elite professional athletes who seem to have outlived the average lifespan of a pro are those who choose to avoid sugar altogether.
A great source for fresh fruits and vegetables is Bountiful Baskets. They provide good quality, affordable fresh produce. Learn more at
Week 6 Challenge: Plan to Succeed
Easter weekend is just around the corner and may offer up a few temptations. Make plans to succeed! Printand completethe attached form and turn it in instead of paying $2.00 next week. It will challenge you to:
1. Plan your exceptions
2. Prepare healthy food choices
3. Enjoy a fun and active outing
On another note - thanks to all who wrote items in on the calendar in the mailroom. I have added those events to an online calendar at: would be greatif you'd continue to write activities on the calendar in the mailroom, plus add them to this calendar for the convenience of those who are interested in what's happening. In order to be able to add items to the calendar, I'll need to "invite" you in the settings on the calendar. If you'd like this option, please email me the emailaddress you'd like me to use for this purpose.
Weekly Challenge #7 & #8: "Get Drinking" and "Keep Moving"
To be "friendly" to your scheduling demands, this week we are presenting two challenges and giving you two weeks to complete them. When you weigh-in on April 28, complete the challenge form for one, and on May 5, for the other. Complete them in the order that works best for you.
Get Drinking
Set a goal for water intake per day (put it in writing) and meet your goal for six straight days.Here is a recommendation from the Mayo Clinic web site:
"So how much fluid does the average, healthy adult living in a temperate climate need? The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day. The AI for women is 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day."
Get Moving Challenge
Thanks so much to all of you who added an activity to the calendar.Did I see a beach run with Mandy on Thursday???
- Your challenge is to actually participate in one of the calendar activities. If you don't see something that suits you, add an item so others can join you. It's a great week to get outside on the bike path! (Remember, you have two weeks) Be sure to check out the email about the May 5 option at Core Connections.
- Ifthiscalendar doesn't mesh with your schedule or desires, here are a few alternative options:
◦NOFFS (Navy Operational Fitness and Fueling Series) offers world-class performance training resources using the latest sports sciencemethodologies. Try one of the awesome workouts at
◦7-Day Ab Challenge- The link includes videos for each exercise.
With any of the "Keep Moving" challenges, modify them to make them appropriate for your own personal level.
If you add items to the exercise calendar in the mailroom and would like them posted to the online calendar, please send me an e-mail. If we have the online calendar figured out (???) you can find it at:
Week 9 Challenge
"Finish Strong" is a theme we share with our students this time of year, so kick-it-in these last two weeks. Find a way to squeeze in an additional two hours of exercise this week - PLAN IT (put it in writing) and DO IT. Get up earlier, go for a hearty walk or jog in the evening, exercise over lunch or right after school, or take advantage of those hidden opportunities throughout the day (stairs, far end of parking lots, etc). Consider where your greatest needs are: strength, flexibility, or cardiovascular health/endurance and focus on that area. Need ideas? Reply to this email, or better yet, get some extra steps in and come see me.
I'll see some of you at CORE CONNECTIONS at 4pm today. Sweat and fun….a great combination!
Other challenges you may consider:
- Read a “healthy book” or article. Find a buddy and make it into a book study or conversation piece.
- Do not eat after 6:30pm. (If this is not a reasonable time for you, you can adjust it to meet your personal goals. Just put it in writing and follow it. Avoid eating in the evening.
- Eat a veggie before you eat anything else.
- Incorporate more Omega 3’s into your diet. Ratios, 6 to 3, etc.
- Try and experiment with a recipe for either 1) Healthy including green leafies 2) Fish, preferably salmon, mackerel, or trout, 3) a healthy soup.
- Choose your enemy: Give up something in your diet that you feel you’d be better off without: pop, caffeine, processed sugar, processed foods. You’ll see this challenge again.
- Go to MyFitnessPal.com. Track EVERYTHING you eat for one week. Altenative: Track your eating on paper.
Time mgmt. worksheet, drinking water, plan your meals, cut up veggies on Sunday, Fitness Center, Book Study, train for a challenge, healthy soul food in the morning, sleeping strategies