It is the beginning of the New Year, and like most people in this country, I have indulged and over-eaten over the holidays and am ready to whip myself back into shape! I know the best way for me to do this and stay motivated is to create a diet plan for myself and to have a small trip planned at the end of it as my reward (day or weekend trip, nothing extravagant). Now that we have eaten our way through multiple boxes of chocolates that were given to us as Christmas gifts at the office, I had a feeling other members of our staff might feel the same way. So after my recent blog about how to challenge yourself to lose weight ( https://healthylivingpc.com/challenge-yourself/) I got the idea to create an office weight loss challenge to help us stay motivated and accountable to each other. To create even more motivation and accountability, I am now deciding to share my progress on our blog. Now I know I have to follow it:)
Here’s what we are doing:
- We are setting a four week challenge starting next Monday, January 13. This will allow us a little time to figure out a meal plan, get our groceries, and mentally prepare for dieting. We are each going to put $10 dollars in a pot. Our goal is to reach a 4% loss in four weeks, that way regardless of what our weight is to begin with, it is fair for everyone. To give you an idea of how much this is, for someone who weighs 150 pounds, that’s a 6lb loss. For someone who weighs 200lbs that’s an 8lb loss. For someone who is 250lbs, that’s a ten pound loss. This rate of loss requires effort but it is definitely doable. We are going to weigh in at the office every Monday morning so we can track our losses and stay accountable.
- Each person in the challenge can chose their own method of losing weight. Of course the best method would be one of the diet plans we give through our weight clinic in combination with some sort of exercise routine, but anyone has the option to do something different if they’d prefer. A few of the ladies have already asked me to create a weight loss meal plan for them, so I will be helping with that for the next few days until the challenge starts.
- At the end of the four weeks (February 13) we will compare our starting weight to our ending weight in office. Those who lost 4% of their starting weight get to divide the pot, and those who did not will lose the $10 that they invested. We are also trying to work out an extra prize to the person who loses the highest percentage loss, but that hasn’t been worked out yet.
My challenge:
I will post a couple updates each week to our Facebook on how the challenge is going and my personal journey through it. (No, I am not going to tell you how much I weigh, I’m not that crazy) But I will tell you my percentage weight loss each week and share with you my highs and lows of being on a diet. Maybe some of the ladies will let me tell you about their progress as well, but I won’t count on that just yet. I will also write another blog on the final outcome from our challenge on the day it is over, February 13.
Why am I doing this? I’m a Nutritionist, I should never have to go on a diet, right?
Wrong. I love cooking, I love food and I love wine. I talk about food all day long for a living, which makes me think about it more than the average person! Luckily, if I feel like I’ve been a little too indulgent and I put on a little weight, because of my career I have the knowledge to know how to get myself back in check before it gets out of hand. Hence, this four week weight loss challenge!
I will post the next update on this next Monday, the day we weigh in and start our challenge!
