I was thinking this morning about weight and about keeping the weight I've lost off (I've gained about five pounds this summer). I've worked really hard this past year to keep the weight off and have been successful until the past few months. The reason is because I haven't been following the rules to maintaining my weight. I've not been gorging myself with food but I also haven't been as vigilant at not eating things I know will make me lose weight.
I started thinking about Michelle and Jason and the races they've been running. I thought about Lindsey and the contest she participated it that she kicked butt in. I thought of Adam, who is losing weight and changing his lifestyle, and Amy who is being so supportive and who is always looking for ways to make their family healthy. Plus, Dave and his mother-in-law are in a contest to see who can lose the most weight by the time Tana has her baby.
So I was thinking, we have so many bad genetics in our family. We all have things we really need to watch out for as we get older. It seems like we are all interested in being healthy and I thought maybe we could do something as a family.
I'm not thinking of something like a biggest loser type thing. I'm thinking more along the lines of having a family goal of exercise minutes or even miles walked or something like that. The minutes thing might be better because then we can participate in whatever way we want. Like Jess can count playing basketball or someone could count bike riding. I think it would be awesome to try and get every kid involved (not just the siblings but our kids too). If you kids play soccer or swim, we could count those minutes or hours. For Ammon, if he wanted to go for a "walk" in his manual chair he could count that because he has to actually push himself. Or, if there was a way to buy some wrist weights, then Ammon, or Dad, or anyone really, could wear those and count the time they had them on. You could just walk up the street and count that.
My thought is just if we chose a number--1000 miles or 1000 minutes and then we all kept track of our time and at the end of the year see if we reached it.
Losing weight takes more than just exercising and this wouldn't be about losing weight. It would really be about getting our entire family involved in trying healthy foods and figuring out how to really get our bodies moving.
I know there are limitations--obviously Jen and Tana would have more issues with exercise right now. And I know Mom and Dad have issues with knees and shoulders and stuff and Jess has a terrible back, but if we all did just the most we could, we could do this!
Anyone want to join me?
15 comments:
Sounds like a great idea. I'm in.
We did something like this in our Relief Society and it was fun. I'd love to do it! -Jen
I hit the treadmil for 40 min this morning! Yeah for me (especially considering the dumb a/c still isn't fixed and the room is HOT). I'm in!
I'm in. I don't know all I can do with the bad knees, but I'm definitely in need of some lifestyle changes. I'll count the number of times I get up out of a chair. :) Would that count?? (Just kidding.)
I think diet is important - not just a restriction, but smarts - eating the right kinds of foods. For all my years, my goal was to feed my family with limited funds. I always had to buy the cheapest meat, cheapest foods, etc. They aren't the healthiest foods. So Jim and I have been talking about changing some of the food we eat now that the kids are gone. That will be my task this year.
I'm in. I don't know all I can do with the bad knees, but I'm definitely in need of some lifestyle changes. I'll count the number of times I get up out of a chair. :) Would that count?? (Just kidding.)
I think diet is important - not just a restriction, but smarts - eating the right kinds of foods. For all my years, my goal was to feed my family with limited funds. I always had to buy the cheapest meat, cheapest foods, etc. They aren't the healthiest foods. So Jim and I have been talking about changing some of the food we eat now that the kids are gone. That will be my task this year.
Hey, Chris and I have been losing weight this week. I probably have lost four or five pounds. We have been so out of money for a couple of weeks that is just isn't much to eat. At least I have use less insulin that ever for week or so.
Mom doesn't eat too much anyway, she just has this sedantary job. She is still a chick anyway.
Dad Clark
I am in too, but if we do that we will need to get much larger number of minutes. I will be dancing from eight until twelve almost everyday in the fall. I would count that. But if you didn't want me to count that I would go to a gym or walk or run if it came down to that.... :(
I'm in too. We need to figure out some kind of calorie counting/food regimen with the minutes exercised too. My problem isn't the exercise, it's the eating. If we could some how have to account for how many calories we input and how many calories or minutes we output, that would be awesome! Just let me know. Great idea Adrianne.
Lindsey
You know im in yall. Hate being fat. I want it to be easy to find pants that fit.
Sounds great - this Clark fam is in, too!
Katy, I am thinking a lot more than 1000 minutes if everyone is in. I just said that as a number. Any ideas on how many minutes/hours. Linds, I'm in for any calorie thing if you want. I'm not sure how we would track that. On Mike's family blog he put a widget on the side that is a progress bar that shows how far along he is in writing his book. Maybe we could figure something out where we count our hours every week/month and then compile them and then we could put the number on the progress bar to show how many hours we are getting.
sounds good to me. We should put an overall weight loss goal for the entire family too. For example: lets say by the end of this year we should have a combined total weight loss of 150 pounds. That's just a number I threw out. We could figure out a more acurate number after discussing how much is resonable or how much to expect. What do you think?
Lindsey
Personally, I don't care so much about weight as I do % body fat. My goal is to be lower than 15%.
It can't be miles because that's not really available to everyone, plus I can put a lot of miles on my bike pretty quick (I'll put in about 60-80 miles this week). I like the minutes goal - then everyone can contribute in small or larger ways.I'm in...but let's keep it simple to begin with and then add things. The whole food thing as a group is hard because everyone's body reacts differently to different calorie amounts and types, etc.
Anyway, just a few thoughts. Good idea Adrianne.
Adam
I agree with Lindsey that if you don't watch your calories, you aren't going to lose weight. But I agree with Adam that tracking calories on a family level will be very difficult. My main idea is just to get the family moving. Lindsey, or anyone else, if you want to track calories, I'll do it with you. But I'm not sure how we can do that on such a big level. Does everyone want to do a weight goal also as a secondary goal or do we just want to do the minutes? If you want to do the weight thing, then I think the best way is for everyone to decide how much weight they want to lose and then we just add it up and figure out how much weight collectlively as a family we want to lose. I'm thinking we should start this Aug. 1 and get a good number for minutes. Any suggestions for how many minutes or hours you guys want to reach?
I'd say set a minutes/hours goal as a family and then still provide a way to track weight lost for anyone interested in losing weight. But that would be secondary data. -Jess
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