POINTS:

There are a few ways you earn points, so read thoroughly:

WEEKLY POINTS--Each Friday you will report your weekly points in seven categories totaling 170 possible points.

1. Exercise: You can earn up to 35 points each week for exercise. You earn 5 points for doing 30 minutes of exercise and 7 points for doing 45 minutes of exercise up to 5 days per week. If you do more than 45 minutes of exercise or more than 5 days per week, WAY TO GO! But you do not get any additional points, and you can't carry the points or minutes over to future days or weeks of exercise. 7 points x 5 days = 35 points possible each week

2. Sweets: You can earn up to 30 points each week for not eating sweets. Each day that you eat no sweets, you get 5 points up to 6 days per week. Each day that you eat one sweet, you get 2 points. If you eat two or more sweets in a day, you get 0 points. What constitutes a sweet? Brownies, cookies, cake, ice cream, candy, donuts, or anything sweet that's preventing you from being healthy. HOWEVER, PLEASE NOTE THAT EACH WEEK YOU GET ONE "SWEETS DAY" THAT DOES NOT COUNT AGAINST YOUR POINTS! Special occasions do not get extra free sweets, so use your free day accordingly. If you don't use your sweets day, you do not get any additional points. 5 points x 6 days = 30 points possible each week

3. Fruits/Vegetables: Each day that you eat at least 5 servings of fruits or vegetables, you get 3 points. Each day that 3 or more of those are vegetables, you get 5 points. According to https://www.choosemyplate.gov/, 1 cup of raw or cooked fruits/vegetables or 100% juice, or 2 cups of raw leafy greens can be considered as 1 serving. 1/2 cup of dried fruits is also a serving. 5 points x 7 days = 35 points possible each week

4. Water: Each day that you drink at least 64 ounces of water, you get 2 points. 2 points x 7 days = 14 points possible each week.  This is a hard rule to follow for some participants.  Please check with a doctor if you have questions with this rule.  It is an all or nothing score.

5. 9 p.m.: Each day that you stop eating before 9 p.m., you get 2 points. 2 points x 7 days = 14 points possible each week

6. Team: Each day that you are in contact with a team member by any method (email, phone, blog, text, voice mail, telegram, Facebook, U.S. Postal Service, etc.) you get 1 point. Through personal experience I've found that encouraging, motivating, sharing experiences, and staying accountable to others helps us to be more successful as individuals and as teams.  Just saying "checking in" is not as motivating or beneficial for you.  1 point x 7 days = 7 points possible each week.  **It really helps to have someone you see every day on your team**

7. Weekly Challenge-  Every team is different.  Before the challenge starts, I will post the first weekly challenge.  After everyone has gotten started on the first week, I will post the remaining 7 weekly challenges.  As a team you can look at each of the weekly challenges and decide which one your team is going to do for that week.  Your entire team needs to be working on the same weekly challenge. You cannot repeat a weekly challenge.  By the end of the 8 weeks you will need to have done all 8 challenges.  These weekly challenges are there to push you a little further or get you thinking about your health a little bit more. The weekly challenges are not necessarily things you should be doing every day, but things to help you realize your bad habits. Each week the bonus challenge is worth 35 points. I will give instructions how to score your weekly challenge with the challenge instructions.

WEIGHT LOSS POINTS--This challenge is for EVERYONE trying to be healthy, not just those trying to lose weight. The plan you choose to be on for this challenge (Weight-loss, Maintenance, or Pregnancy) will determine how you calculate these points. This is where many people get confused. If you use the excel sheet I send out it will do all the figuring for you. Please do your initial and weekly weigh-ins at approximately the same time and under the same circumstances each week (empty/full stomach, before/after exercise, etc.)

Weight loss Plan:

If you are trying to lose weight, you will choose the "Weight Loss Plan."Each week when you weigh yourself if you are at or below your previous lowest weight you get 5 maintenance points plus, for each pound you lose you earn 10 points (2lbs = 20 points). For each tenth of a pound you earn 1 point (.4 lbs = 4 points). (If you lost one pound, you would get 5 points for maintaining plus 10 points for that pound, so you would report 15 points. If you lost 2.1 pounds, you get 21 points plus 5 maintenance points, so you would report 26 weight points.)

If you gained weight, you will report 0 points every week until you drop below your lowest previous weight.

If you maintained your previous lowest weight, you report just the 5 maintenance points.

Weight maintenance: If you are happy with the weight you are at and are not trying to lose more, you will choose the maintenance plan. At the beginning of the challenge you will decide what weight you wanted to maintain throughout the challenge. For each week that you are at or below that weight, you get 15 points. If you go over that weight, you report 0 points.

Pregnancy Plan: If you are pregnant, you will choose the pregnancy plan. Please don't worry about the scale, but you can earn 15 weight points by getting at least 153 weekly points (90%).

Calculating Inches Points

At the start of the competition and again at the end of weeks 4 and 8, you will measure your right bicep, chest, waist, hips and right thigh.For each 1/2 inch you have lost , you will get 5 points. It is important when you are measuring that you measure in the same spot. To help give you a visual of where to measure I have attached this photo.

WEIGHT LOSS % POINTS--At the end of week 8, you will report your weight loss percentage points. You will get 1 point per 0.1% weight loss. For instance, if I lost 4.8% of my body weight during this competition, I would get 48 points.

For the weightloss plan calculate your weight loss percentage take your starting weight minus your current weight divided by your starting weight and then multiplying that number by 100. You now have your weight loss percentage.

To figure out how many points you get for total weight loss percentage, multiply your percentage by 10.

Maintenance Plan and Pregnancy Plan:

Because your goal for this challenge was not to lose weight, if you earned your 15 weight points for 6 out of the 8 weeks you will earn 50 points for weight loss percentage points.