Sorry dear blog reader. I have not had a lot of time to sit down and write out my thoughts. Apparently for months! Oops.
This past February, Steve and I started our Healthy Wage challenges. I was going to lose my pregnancy weight by A's first birthday (so I was going to lose 24 pounds in 9 months) and Steve was going to get down to below 200 pounds by the following February. Steve is still working on his challenge (and is doing great so far), but I have completed mine! Wahoo!! I have an extra $1141 in the bank as a result. This is the real deal!
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| On the left: a still from my first weigh-in in February On the right: a still from my final weigh-in on November 1 I'm probably not really more tan now, just lighting. |
Here's how it works. You determine how much weight you want to lose, and in how much time you want to do it in. Then you pick an amount you would like to invest in yourself each month.
So for me, I said I would lose 24 pounds in 9 months, and that I would put in $100 a month. If I lost all the weight I said I would by the end of 9 months, I would get my $900 back, plus some prize money ($241 in my case, for a grand total of $1141). If I did not lose the weight, then I would not only NOT get a prize, but I would also be OUT the $900 I had invested in myself.
I say invested instead of wager, because that feels like a more accurate description to me. Wagering to me seems like you are taking a risk on something that you really have no control of the outcome, whereas if you are investing in something, you are still taking a risk, but there is a certain amount of care involved...a connection to what you are investing in.
Anyway, whatever you call it, there is a monetary risk involved, and for me it served as a great motivator. We can't really afford to lose $900, so if I had the choice to eat crappy food or get my $900 back, I almost always chose to try to earn my money back.
The more challenging your weight-loss goal, the more risk involved, the higher your return will be (the bigger your prize). They don't care how you lose your weight (so if you are doing some kind of program....Weight Watchers, 21 Day Fix, etc -- great, or if you are just doing your own thing, great too), but you have to unofficially weigh in once a week to show that you are losing it in a healthy way. Whoa, whoa, whoa I'm getting ahead of myself.
So first you set your goal, you say what you will lose and how long it will take and what you will invest (I think you have the option to pay it in all at once, or to pay it in monthly installments).
Then you have to get your weight verified. There are a couple ways to do this (which are on the Healthy Wage site); we chose to take a weight-verification video. So you basically take a video of yourself stepping onto a scale with a newspaper next to it showing today's date. Easy-peasy.
Then it's up to you to meet your goal! You need to check in with your weight once a week (hint: set a reminder on your phone), but other than that your job is to figure out how to lose the pounds. You may do your final weigh-in video any time within a two-week window of your goal date. So I said I would lose my weight by November 12, and I did a weigh-in video right away at the beginning of the month.
How did I do it? No specific program really. I am an avid breastfeeder, and that is a way that has worked for me to shed pregnancy weight (but I know that that does not work so well for all moms). I try to stay away from high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils (lots of label-reading)...try to eat real, unprocessed food, more fruits and veggies, smaller portions, protein for breakfast, I don't drink a lot calories (but lots of water), walk when possible, try not to eat a ton of sugar, snack on nuts and seeds, and not too hard on myself when I treat myself. We did the Daniel plan detox for ten days, and that helped shed lots of inches, but I didn't stick with it once ten days was up.
So a little of all of that! Being Steve is also doing a challenge, it helps that we are in this together. We can encourage each other and are not alone in our decision to make healthy choices.
So a little of all of that! Being Steve is also doing a challenge, it helps that we are in this together. We can encourage each other and are not alone in our decision to make healthy choices.
But I don't think there is one magical thing that helps everyone. Some things that work great for me might not work at all for you (and vice versa).
So anyway thanks for reading this far. If you have any questions, I will try to remember to check the comments. Otherwise we have found that the Healthy Wage folks are pretty good about checking their email and answering questions, too. If you have been thinking about losing some weight, but need a good motivation, I would recommend looking into it. And clicking my links, haha.
Ok, that's the last you'll hear about this for awhile. I might do another post about it around the New Year when you are making your resolutions to lose all your holiday weight, otherwise I'm not going to push it.
Also! If you're not really into individual challenges, but would like to try a team challenge, I get a little something for each team member that uses my link as well.
Ok. Carry on.
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