My Goal for 2009

Well hello everyone, a Happy New Year to you all.

So, I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions. But I decided to this year. No, I'm not trying to lose weight. Or quit smoking. Oh wait...

But I am trying to get healthier.

The girls I work with all decided to take this Healthy Challenge. It lasts for 12 weeks, but I started a week early so that I could get in the swing of things more easily. So I began on January 5th, with our official date starting on the 12th. We'll "end" on April 5th. I say "end" because in order to make something a habit, it takes 21 days. And since I'll have done the challenge for 13 weeks, hopefully it will be more than just a habit, it will be a regular part of my lifestyle.
I've listed how the challenge works, so you can see just what sort of adjustments I'm making.

The Healthy Challenge
There are a total of 8 points possible for each day and a total of 56 for the week.

Here are the points:

1 point for getting 7 hours of sleep. This does not have to be consecutive. If you don't get seven during the night you can take a nap during the day to make your total of seven hours.

1 point for drinking 64. oz. of water each day. 32 oz. need to be plain water but the other 32 can have Crystal lite or some other additive.

1 point for no carbonation each day. Nothing carbonated.

1 point for exercising 30 minutes a day. This does not have to be consecutive, just a total of 30 min. Sundays are a free day for exercise so you get the point regardless.

1 point for not eating any sweets. No candy, cookies, cake etc.

1 point for not making any un-healthy food choices each day. No fries, chips, crackers etc. Whole grain crackers and baked chips are okay.

1 point for not eating after 9:30 every night. If you get home and have not had dinner and it is 9:30, go ahead and eat dinner, just don't eat anything after that.

1 point for eating 5 serving of fruits and or veggies every day. 8oz. of fruit juice counts as a serving. 1 piece of fruit or about 1/2 cup of veggies equals a serving. 2 cups of leafy greens like lettuce equal one serving. V-8 actually counts as 2 servings! That is an easy way to get them. You will notice that you do feel better if you actually eat fresh fruit and veggies but dried are okay.

Each week we each get three "flex" points. These can be used to make up for a point if you lost one or to treat yourself to something yummy. If you use one of these points during the day you can violate that rule throughout the day. You can not carry these points over from week to week.

We also get three "free" days throughout the challenge. On the free days you do not have to do any of the things to earn points but you get the eight anyway. You may need them if you get sick. Use them wisely and strategically!

We will each put in $5, so whoever has the most points at the end of the challenge gets the money!

So there it is. Feel free to try it! That's one of the reasons why I posted all the rules. I've already successfully completed a week and a half, 11 and a half to go! Wish me luck!