Where we ended up:

Congrats to all those who stuck it out for the entire TWELVE WEEKS - and GREAT JOB everyone - Linda proved to be "practically perfect in every way" and pushed me to be perfect as well. Man, I'm tired - but so glad I did this again this year. Thanks everyone for participating. I hope you were able to develop lots of great habits and that you'll be able to maintain them and reach your goals, if you haven't already. Peace out!

Mystery Point...

for the VERY LAST WEEK was "Read the Sunday School or RS lesson before church".  If you did this this last week, then add that point to your total.

Man, I wish this would have come up the first week instead of the last... I read a whole lot of gospel doctrine lessons for nothing... Just kiddin' - I have to assume I read the right lesson this week; being over in Primary I'm kind of out of the loop!  Job did give me a bit to think about... sometimes I think I have it rough...wow.

(My husband wishes that the "yardwork" point wouldn't have come up 'til the end  - he barely had to touch our yard the first few weeks of the challenge, lol. I DID mow and trim yesterday afternoon, though, before the monsoon hit! You're welcome honey!)

ANYWAY - I digress. I hope everyone enjoyed the mystery points. I know I'm conscious of it, and regularly wearing sunscreen now, I'm more often looking for opportunities to serve others, digging in and cleaning/organizing more often in my home than I used to, (versus trying to half-shut my eyes and ignore those spaces), shunning fast food more often than not, I've read almost every conference talk from the last year (usually all I get out of general conferences are really good naps), and I've got a semi-regular pedicure date with a friend now - which is an excuse for some good-old fashioned girl talk every couple of weeks.  How about you?

That's what this challenge was all about - DEVELOPING GOOD HABITS. If these mystery points have lodged themselves in the back of your brain somewhere, then that's what they were supposed to do - be reminders that we should be taking care of ourselves and others, plus exercising our minds along with our bodies!  Congrats everyone!

Point Tallies - JUST THREE MORE DAYS!

Oops - don't mind the "8" points on my last week there, it's just where I'm keeping track of my miles.

Mystery Point...

this week was "Do a service for someone outside your household."  When we're helping, we're happy...

I have a fellow challenger to thank for my mystery point this week - Rachel and Julie are in the process of moving and I went and helped pack up their house! Hooray!  (Er, not hooray that their moving, but hooray for me and boxes, I mean) 

Think back to what you did this week - did you give someone a ride? Take a meal to another family? Jump start anyone's car? Babysit someone's kids, who needed help?  I think going to the temple should count for this particular mystery point, too, don't you?

If you did some kind of service and gave of your time this week, add that mystery point to your total and please get me your points by tomorrow (Mon) night!

Hip hip hooray!

So how is everyone doing with the "5 small meals"? I love it, of course, because I feel like I'm eating all day long, and I have a deep love affair going on with food. (It goes way, way back. Believe me.)  Even though some of my meals probably haven't been as small as they should have been, I've already lost 1.4 pounds this week - amazing, considering I'm usually squeaking in with barely a pound lost on Monday mornings.   How about you?

1/2 Marathon.

Okay - after taking everyone's comments into consideration, this is what we'll do next week:

You'll get a point for every mile you propel yourself (run, walk, elliptical) with a max of 13 earnable points. You can do it all in one day if you like, or you can split it among the 6 days. Whatever. So instead of that weekly challenge being worth 7 points, it will be worth 13.  I think we definitely DO need to put a cap on it, or else I literally might kill myself trying to run 100s of miles.  : )  And if I'm dead, there won't be anyone to send you your winning check!

Every other weekly challenge we've done has been in ADDITION to the "Exercise 30 minutes" point. So, as much as I dread how much TIME this will take, we should keep it the same. Otherwise you'd be getting double points for running/walking each day. If you've truly been exercising for at least half an hour each day, for six days straight, for 11 weeks, pushing it up to an hour shouldn't be difficult - your body can handle it. There have been lots and LOTS of days when I exercise twice anyway, and I'm sure I haven't been the only one.

Plus, this will be a good, strong finish to our entire fitness challenge!  So say you run for an hour - the first 30 minutes will count toward your "exercise" point, then the rest of the mileage will count toward your "marathon" miles point. Get it?  I'm planning to break it up a lot and do, say, 30 minutes of a DVD workout, then run for 3 miles each day.

Good luck!

Week #11 Challenge: Eat 5 Small Meals a Day

The point of this week's challenge is to learn to control our PORTION SIZES. This is a HUGE, WONDERFUL HABIT to learn, that I absolutely suck at. But I'm not the only one. Us pudgy Costco-loving Americans are used to supersizing everything and seeing ginormous portions served to us at restaurants, so it's difficult to even understand what "a serving size" should be - instead we usually end up eating muffins that are the size of our head! Instead of just looking at calories, carbs or fat grams on package labels, check out the SERVING SIZES. You'll find that what you may have thought to be a "serving" is actually two or three in a lot of cases.

Take this week to contemplate how much you're serving yourself. Eat slowly. Stop when you are FULL, not when your plate is clean.  Five small meals each day should keep you satisfied and not hungry, so you do NOT overeat.  "Meals" is kind of a misnomer I think here - grabbing a piece of fruit, a piece of string cheese, or a few carrots, to give some examples, for a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack is ideal - and hopefully will keep you from binging at lunch or dinner.  I found this online:

Instead of trying to memorize lists of ounces, cups, and tablespoons, simply compare the serving sizes of particular foods to familiar physical objects. For example, a single serving of:

• Vegetables or fruit is about the size of your fist.
• Pasta is about the size of one scoop of ice cream.
• Meat, fish, or poultry is the size of a deck of cards or the size of your palm (minus the fingers).
• Snacks such as pretzels and chips is about the size of a cupped handful.
• Apple is the size of a baseball.
• Potato is the size of a computer mouse.
• Bagel is the size of a hockey puck.
• Pancake is the size of a compact disc.
• Steamed rice is the size of a cupcake wrapper.
• Cheese is the size of a pair of dice or the size of your whole thumb (from the tip to the base).

Good luck!