And the Winner Is . . .

Drum roll please

Tiffany Moser with a 341!!!

Those in the running for second place were

Laree Kilgore 326
Jessica Norton 316
Emily Welchaman 313

So the second place winner (chosen my random.org) is.....Laree!!!!!! (i will come bring you your $$$$)

You did it!

So the 6 weeks have ended!!!!!!! Congratualtions to all those who stuck with it. I hope that you all don't hate me by now for suggesting that you do this stupid contest. I have not been very good with my numbers, but I am at least more conscious of the choices that I am making about my health and also promoting some good habits. I am also very happy with the fact that I am still not drinking caffinee, which was a very hard habit for me to break. If everyone wants to email me your numbers I will get the $$ to the winners. Thank you all for keeping me motivated. Keep up it up!

Keep It Up!

So it’s the start of Week 3! I know all of you are doing a great job. You all had great personal goals (being a better wife and mother, writing in my journal, quitting soda, etc.) I am feeling much better now that my headaches are gone (for the most part). I am still mad at myself for getting so addicted in the first place. If you fell a little behind last week on points, I am in the same boat. It is hard to get all your points when life gets crazy, but hang in there. I know that I am finding myself making better choices, and many of the cravings that I thought I couldn’t live without are getting less important. I have been asked who are the players, and what are we all playing for. So here is the list of those I have marked as paid.

Adele Heslington
Danjee Moser
Emily Welchman
Jessica Norton
Jessica Slade
Kirk McLaws
Laree Kilgore
Me
Tiffany Moser

If I am missing anyone, please let me know. I know that some are playing without $, that is cool too. So the grand prize would be 80% or $144 and second place (randomly drawn from those over 300 points) would be 20% or $36. Send in your numbers for weeks 1 and 2, I can keep track and post them.

Week One (from Adele) *post edit*

I must admit,  sugar is defiantly one of my weaknesses.  That means that I have not gone at least 3 hours without having some.   Let me describe some for you, I would make a batch of cookies and eat the entire batch.  To say the least I had a rough few days.   But by the end of I really started to notice a difference.  Especially after my cheat day,  I could tell what I put in my body really translates into how I am feeling.   So today it felt great to be back to no sugar, and white flour, but am having a huge craving.  I found this recipe for blueberry muffins and its made with whole wheat flour and honey.   They are actually in the oven as I type this, so I am not sure how good they really are, but I thought I would share. 

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup honey
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups blueberries

*Beat eggs.  Stir in milk and oil.  Mix in remaining ingredients, except blueberries, until moist.  Add blueberries and mix.  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  Makes 24 muffins.

I got it off of becomingbetty.blogspot.com

* Muffins weren't bad,  Very heavy though, so they will stick to your ribs for the most part of the morning.  They remind me very much of a bran muffin, with blueberries.   I probably would make them again.



The Challenge (From Tiff's Perspective) :-)

Okay, I am so proud to have this first week under my belt.  Now that I have this little calendar and plan for a "better" me,  I just keep thinking, "I need to live this way for the rest of my life."  Don't get me wrong, it has been difficult.  Before, I was not getting even close to eight hours of sleep. This last week I have had to totally go out of my way to get those eight hours in.  Also, I decided to quit all caffienated sodas as my personal challenge.  I had to take an advil again even today for the headache!!!!  My cheat day tomorrow has kept me motivated.....seriously, but really, why couldn't I live this way all the time?  I have to admit, I feel GREAT (besides the caffiene headache).  I can totally tell a difference.  I am excited to see what the next five weeks will bring. :-)

Report from Day 1

From Jessica:
Rachele this is my report for the first day... feel free to post it on the blog. Love the blog already by the way!

After my first day, I am in awe. I tend to let good habits slip away and I tend to not even realize I am doing it!

I am in awe that the human body is so resilient. That I have literally gone days without drinking water or eating anything nutritious and I still function... even function well.

Weight gain? Yes. Fatigue? Sure. Irritability and a host of other problems? Absolutely.

But I get out of bed, clean my house, play with my kids, eat, laugh, love, and all of it essentially running on empty.

But I went on a walk with Jennie tonight and we talked about what it means to be a good woman. We discussed possible pitfalls in her near adolescent future.

While we got our heart rates up, we also opened up to each other more than we have in a long time. And it opened my eyes to the haze I have been in. The survival mode I have surrendered to.

I am loving this challenge and am surprised how hard it was today. I got 8 points, on my first day. You would think I would get all 10.

So here is my report for the first day of the next six weeks of my life.

Thanks Jessica, You are awesome!

SUGAR??????

Sugars are a tough one. There are a lot of natural sugars in a lot of things. I know everyone is trying to figure it out (myself included).

Candy and Cookies are obviously out, but what about everything else?

My personal feeling is the whole purpose of this challenge is to replace bad habits with good ones. So if it is something sweet you crave, you need to train your body to accept fruit in place of something artificial. So go out and get some apples or grapes, or blackberries (on sale @ Fry’s). And when you think you need something sweet, go for that! Because what are you going to do when the challenge is over? The point is to retrain your body to enjoy healthier alternatives.


Also, check the ingredients. If sugar comes up in the first few items, that's a red flag. Make conscious and wise decisions and check your labels when in doubt. Try to take the time to learn more about the things you are putting in your body.


It is nearly impossible to eleiminate all sugars, but you can try to aviod it as much as possible, so if something good for you has a few grams of natural sugar it is probably ok.


so some good substitutes would be FRUIT, FRUIT, FRUIT, honey (sparingly), agave, stevia (both very strong natual sweeteners-just a tiny bit will work), and it you must..... sugar free treats.




Sometimes you just need something. I have tried to cut out sugar before (and I could live on a diet of cake, ice cream and cookies). It was tough but sometimes some sugar-free jello (with a dollop of sugar free Cool Whip) every night for dessert kept me sane and SAFE.


And by the way, has anyone had the Extra Dessert Delights Sugar-Free gum? There are a few different flavors out there, and I recently tried Key Lime Pie. Not the same as the real thing, but yummy.

The Challenge

Okay ladies....and gentlemen. So here is the challenge. 6 weeks (modified from the 8 weeks), 6 days a week, 10 points a day. The consensus was that a "buy-in" challenge with a cash reward will keep many motivated. So $20 is the entry fee.

Here are the categories:

1. Get 8 hours of sleep (this can include naps if you don't get a complete 8 hours at night)
2. Don't eat sugar (candy, ice cream, etc....natural sugars in fruits and other things are ok)
3. Don't eat any white flour foods (white bread, white pasta, etc.)
4. Get at least 30 minutes of physical activity/exercise
5. Read some kind of uplifting material for 15 minutes (scriptures, magazines, articles, etc.)
6. Drink 8 glasses of water (8 oz glasses)
7. Eat 2 fruits and 2 veggies
8. No eating after 8:30pm
9. Give service to someone outside of your immediate family
10. Personal Challenge

Temple Attendance -2 points (2 extra points possible/week)

I added personal challenge after a suggestion that I include not drinking caffeinated soda. I am admittedly a serious addict, and can’t start my day without at least 1 can of diet mt. dew. I guess it would be silly to do a health challenge and not stop doing the worst thing I do for my heath. (Don’t get me wrong I love, love, love sweets, but a nice cold soda from QT- it doesn’t get much better) I know not everyone is addicted to soda, but everyone has something that they would like to work on, so I decided to add Personal Challenge as the #10 point. I am very reluctantly adding no soda to my list. If you are an addict, like myself, feel free to add soda to your list as well. If soda is no big deal, think of something that is. MAKE IT GOOD!!!

This challenge is 6 weeks long and consists of 6 days each week. You get ONE free day! Feel free to continue with these 10 challenges on your day off, but know that you won't get points for them. So on your day off, you can do whatever you want....but don't get carried away....be smart! Try to stay on task and remember the ultimate ending goal....to better yourself all around! So out of the 6 weeks, you can earn up to 10 points per day, which can come to a max total of 360 points, or a 372 if you also attend the temple each week. There will be a cash prize for the 1st place and a randomly draw 2nd place (through random.org) for all those who have at least 300 points. There is a $20 buy in to help make the grand prize more appealing and to keep you motivated! The 1st prize winner will receive 80% of the money, 2nd place 20%. So even If you are not able to maintain a perfect score, don’t give up you will still be in the running for 2nd place.

Please let me know ASAP if you are interested. If you want to join in on the cash prize, I need your money ASAP as well. If I don’t have your money by Friday, I will assume you are opting out of the cash prize.

I want to know how everyone is doing send me emails with your point updates, stories and encouragement. I will post it to 6weekstoabetteryou.blogspot.com