Yesterday was the day!  We ended our 4-week Game On lifestyle challenge.  Here’s what I’m taking away from it:

We’re two weeks into The Game on Diet challenge … if you’re not sure what I’m referring to, you can see my review of the book here, and results from Week One here.

Here’s a quick run-down of how I did with Week Two:

Meals: No problem.  I’m in a good routine with my 5 smaller meals [...]]]>

We’re two weeks into The Game on Diet challenge … if you’re not sure what I’m referring to, you can see my review of the book here, and results from Week One here.

Here’s a quick run-down of how I did with Week Two:

Meals: No problem.  I’m in a good routine with my 5 smaller meals a day; discovering new foods and rediscovering old favorites (I eat an orange instead of drinking OJ in the morning – more fiber, less sugar, and so satisfying!).  I enjoy my weekly Meal Off (J and I went out to celebrate our anniversary this week), and the Day Off (weekend grilled burgers!)

Exercise: Definitely hitting a great stride with this!  I’m committed to the daily exercise, and look forward to it.  On Saturday I did an 11-mile training walk for the upcoming Breast Cancer 3-Day – and felt great after!

Sleep: I have to watch the clock to get to bed on time, but I’m definitely benefiting by being more rested during the day.

Water: After my near-drowning last week, I’ve quickly adapted to the daily 3 liter requirement.  I bring my water bottle with me everywhere; it’s as attached to me as sunglasses and my iPhone!

New Habit / Old Habit: Ah, here’s where I hit a bit of trouble, which tells me I picked the right habits both to conquer and integrate.  I’m so used to popping on the laptop throughout the day that I’ve slipped and read email during my “off” hours of 6-8pm.  Jenn at Jenn’s Bookshelf suggested setting an Outlook reminder, which is now keeping me on track.  Last week Jenners wrote that she wished she had chosen a relatively straightforward one-step habit as her 30 minutes of decluttering each day can be a drag.  I think I would have enjoyed her new habit, as she can see steady progress; if/when I play The Game again I’ll choose something similar.  One of those “the grass is always greener …” type of things.

Communication: No worries here.  We all, teammates and competition alike, are in daily contact.  Helpful hints, morale boosts, and twitpics of donuts – it’s all fair game

The Weigh-In: Ugh!  This part I don’t like, which explains why I didn’t own a scale until I started this challenge.  After following all the rules of the game this week, I weigh exactly what I did last Monday, I didn’t lose an ounce!  Maybe I should be glad I haven’t gained anything, but I was hoping for that 20% bonus in my score for losing 1% of my starting weight.  I know we need the weigh-in for an objective measurement, but I’ll tell you that I can also measure my energy level, skin tone, overall healthy attitude, and comfort in clothes that were a bit snug a few weeks ago … I’ll focus on that.

How are the 3 teams doing?  Here are the current standings:

HoHos Week 1 (682) plus Week 2 (645) = running total:  1327

Twinkies Week 1 (775.60) plus Week 2 (734.80) = running total:  1510.40

DingDongs Week 1 (794.60) plus Week 2 (838.80) = running total:  1633.40

Stayed tuned, there are still 2 weeks to go!  Clearly I need to send some more cyber-treats to the DingDongs to throw them off!  We’re vying for some very cool prizes … but we’re all winners (or happy losers, depending on how you look at it!)

Last Monday I wrote a review of The Game on Diet by Krista Vernoff and Az Ferguson; on the same day I began playing The Game on a team of 5 book bloggers, competing against two other teams.  If you’re on Twitter you can follow our updates with the hashtag #gameondiet.  Else, visit my original [...]]]>

Last Monday I wrote a review of The Game on Diet by Krista Vernoff and Az Ferguson; on the same day I began playing The Game on a team of 5 book bloggers, competing against two other teams.  If you’re on Twitter you can follow our updates with the hashtag #gameondiet.  Else, visit my original post, which has links to each of the participating blogs … we all have a lot to say!

Here’s some of what I’ve experienced and learned over the past week:

• Water: The Game requires us to drink 3 liters of water a day.  This was a shock to my system on the first and second day.  I thought I generally stayed well-hydrated, but my frequent trips to the bathroom (sorry, it has to be said!) and smoother skin tone (espcially noticeable on my hands) tells me I was fooling myself.  Speaking of fools, for the first two days I was filling what I thought was a 1.5 liter of water twice a day, to make sure I drank the required 3 liters.  Imagine my surprise on the third day when I discovered that the pitcher was 2.2 liters – no wonder I felt so waterlogged!  After that, 3 liters a day was a breeze.  And, truly, my body got used to it, and the water requirement is no longer an inconvenient challenge.
• Meals – yeah, this is still a tough one!  Eating 5 smaller meals a day (with specific carb, protein, fat, veggie and fruit requirements) is a big change for me.  I’m in a good routine for my first two meals, but I need to do better planning from mid-day forward.  The book has several recipes and I’m hoping the Game On Diet website includes more.  Here’s something neat – all the players (team-mates and competition) have been super about exchanging meal and snack ideas; we really want each other to succeed!  We have a homemade yogurt recipe from Kevin (aka Bro Ho Ho), who is a teammate of The Brain Lair, sharing his experience with his friends on Facebook; and Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelf has promised her husband’s recipe for a Game-friendly version of his Jamaican jerk chicken.  Oh, and I really enjoyed my Day Off and Meal Off – everything in moderation.
• Exercise – If I weren’t getting my Game On, I’d exercise 3-4 times a week.  Since I have 20 points per day riding on it, I’m sure to get in my daily 20 minutes of exercise. I’ve been walking (a good 3.6 MPH pace for an hour), occassionally running (well, dragging my 4-year-old for a 1 mile on July4th), doing yoga, and – thanks to Stephanie’s nudge – swimming!
• Habits – I lost points this week for neglecting to do my “old” and “new” habit once each (in addition to my Day Off, when we’re granted amnesty from all requirements).  Despite my slip ups, I am really working to make these part of my daily routine, and am happy with the changes.

At the end of Week One, I’ve lost 3.4 pounds, and my clothes seem to fit better.  I love that I’m doing the daily exercise, it really makes me feel good about taking care of my body.  I know I’m eating better and snacking less (well, not at all! No more dipping the knife in the jar for a “taste” when I make those pb&j sandwiches!).  Meals are still a challenge, a big challenge … I think better planning will help me with that.

How did our teams do?  Here’s the tally for Week One:

• HoHos:             682
• Ding Dongs:     772.6 794.6
• Twinkies:          775.6

I’m pleasantly surprised that we Twinkies are in the lead, but we’re not letting our guard down!  With virtual ice cream, chocolate cake, and beer floating around Twitter and emails last week, we all teased and had a lot of fun.  And we boosted each other up, teammate and opponent alike.

** update 7/11/09 – remind me to send Jill at Rhapsody in Books a calculator!   She had mis-calculated her score, so we have a new Week One total for the Ding Dongs: 794.6.  That puts them at a comfortable lead, but we Twinkies are doing our best to overtake the #1 slot this week (abiding by the rules of The Game, of course!)

Going into Week Two, I hope we’re all still having fun – especially since this was my idea!  We’re playing for some really great prizes … do you want to know what they are?! Game On!

Back of the book blurb:  The Game On! Diet is not a diet. It’s a bold new approach to fitness that turns the latest, smartest, most successful health science into a fun, fierce, and exhilarating game.  [...]]]>

• The Game On! Diet by Krista Vernoff and Az Ferguson
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; 1 edition (June 30, 2009)
• ISBN-13: 978-0061718892

Back of the book blurb:  The Game On! Diet is not a diet. It’s a bold new approach to fitness that turns the latest, smartest, most successful health science into a fun, fierce, and exhilarating game.  Developed by Az Ferguson, to help Grey’s Anatomy writer Krista Vernoff shed forty pounds of post-pregnancy weight, it is the ideal program for busy people who should be working out but have a thousand good excuses not to.

Az keeps you motivated and Krista keeps you laughing as they show you how to organize opposing teams, set goals, and compete to earn points for daily exercise, healthy meal plans, and positive lifestyle changes.  With The Game On! Diet, the process of losing weight, for the first time ever, is actually fun.

She is Too Fond of Books’ review: This book had me hooked in the introduction, Az Ferguson (co-author with Krista Vernoff, and a Body-for-Life champion) sums up the philosophy of the plan with this metaphor:

Optimum health is actually our natural state of being; our bodies naturally gravitate to what they need.  Think of a baby in her first year of life.  She eats on a regular basis, lots of small meals.  She gets most of her meals from fluids, which keep her fully hydrated.  She sleeps for large portions of the day to aid her growth and recovery.  And when she wakes up, she’s raring to go!

I want to be “raring to go”, so I continued reading to find out exactly what is involved in getting my Game On!  It’s a healthy competition, which is truly a health competition.  Players earn daily points for:

• eating 5 small meals
• exercising 20 minutes
• sleeping 7 hours
• drinking 3 liters of water
• maintaining a new healthy habit
• dropping a not-so-healthy habit
• communicating daily with both team-mates and opposition

Points maybe deducted for a variety of reasons, including snacking outside sanctioned meals/snacks and colluding (“let’s both cheat and call it even”).

Scores are tallied, averaged per team, and at the end of four weeks … the team with the highest score wins!  That’s right, not the team with the greatest weight loss, but the team with the most points!  What really appeals to me about Game On! are both the team aspect (support, celebrating victories, troubleshooting), but also that the plan takes into account the whole person – the physical and mental well-being of the players.

The book is co-written by Az Ferguson and Krista Vernoff.  As I mentioned above, Az is a Body-for-Life champion; he knows health and fitness.  Krista is a writer and executive producer for Grey’s Anatomy (and, no, you don’t lose points if you’re not a regular viewer of the show!)  Krista’s tone is funny, blunt, a bit flippant, and very encouraging … she’s like the friend who dares to tell you that, no, that dress doesn’t look good on you, but then she stays by your side as you keep trying on clothes and finally find the perfect outfit.

Here’s how she addresses one of the questions in the Exercise Q&A (note that players earn bonus points for losing 1.0% of their weight in a week; that’s 1.5 pounds for a person weighing 150 at the beginning of The Game).  It’s a cut and dried answer, but not cutting:

Q.  Can I get some of my points if I lost .99 percent of my weight?

A.  No.  Sorry.  We gotta keep the rule clean and clear.  But if you lost .99 percent of your weight, you rock and you know it.  That’s your reward.

The Game On! Diet covers all aspects of the various point-earning categories.  The chapter on Food includes a shopping list, sample recipes, and explanations of why certain foods are penalty-invoking.  Exercise gives ideas on how to add 20 minutes of exercise to your day, and outlines a nicely illustrated example of a High Intensity Interval Training routine.  Sleep explains the rationale behind the 7-hour rule, defines “sleep debt”, and discusses sleep strategies.  Transformation talks about selecting the habit you will drop during The Game, Healthy Habits encourages you to maintain a new positive action for 28 days; it may become a routine part of your lifestyle.

Each of the 18 chapters delivers information about a serious subject with Krista’s frank wit, Az’s viewpoint as a trainer, and opinions of various outside experts (yogis, dietitians, physicians, etc.).

The plan is solid, fun, and do-able!  My only quibble with the book is the title; I’m not crazy about the word diet.  We have a 13-year-old daughter, and I’m very aware of the messages we send to our girls (and boys!) about body image.  I’m participating in the Game On! Lifestyle Challenge, which doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, but the phrase works better for my family (hmm, maybe there’ll be an online addendum to address the vocabulary hang-ups of people like me!  I’m sure Krista would address my concerns and have me laughing!)

Yes, I’m participating in The Game!  We have three groups of bloggers who will begin the 4-week program on June 29, 2009.  We are,

• The Ding-Dongs:
• Julie from Booking Mama
• softdrink from Fizzy Thoughts
• Amy from My Friend Amy
• Jill from Rhapsody in Books
• Ti from Book Chatter and Other Stuff

• The Twinkies:
• Beth F from Beth Fish Reads
• Jenners from Find Your Next Book Here
• Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelf
• Denise from M. Denise C.
• Dawn from She is Too Fond of Books

• The HoHos:
• Kathy from The Brain Lair
• two of Kathy’s IRL friends who will be updating their progress on Facebook

You can follow our progress by searching Twitter for the #gameondiet hashtag.  We’ve been burning up the tweet-waves as we get ready to start the competition.  Already we’re encouraging each other, and learning that opinions vary as to which aspect of the Game will be most challenging.

My habits?  I have to admit that I spend far too much time online, responding like Pavlov’s dogs when I hear the ding of new email; I’m staying off the computer between 6 and 8 each night — I’ll have to turn off my laptop to do it, but I’ll do it!  My new healthy habit is keeping paper clutter down (which will result in lowered stress levels); I will sort/file/recycle every piece of mail and the newspapers daily.

There will be prizes for the team that wins the Game, I’ll announce those on the blog next week.