Both Darrin's and the family portions of the competition will be about 24 weeks long ending on June 21st. Official weigh-ins have to take place monthly and at then a final one at the end on June 21. Darrin's portion of the challenge is won solely on the percentage of weight loss by body weight. Darrin will need to lose over 100 pounds to win the massive grand prize of $7500! On the opposite end of the spectrum there are many components (some mandated others optional) to win the family portion. We are asked to keep track of our progress, and attending already planned competition events and planning a community event will help our odds to win! I have ideas for everything, but it will be a work in progress!
Taking this on will be a HUGE commitment. Not only will Darrin be attempting to lose tons of weight, but he is also starting his second difficult semester of the RN program and working over-nights in the ER all while being a father and a husband. Then you add Tommye-Lynn's, our 9yr old, schedule of homework, piano and soccer practices in with me, a mommy working part-time and entertaining Brylee, our four year old and Heston whose ten months....yikes, this is going to take some hard work! I didn't think I could help lead my family in an anything else, but like I said, I just can't keep thinking about it. I DREAM about it! Anyone who knows me, knows that my dreams are vivid and many times are set in action. Sooooo, I'm going to set this family challenge into action!
What is the point of all this hard work you say?? Well, for a while I've been wanting to lead quite a few changes in our Hodgkiss lifestyle, but I am never ambitious enough to follow through. I remain ignorant because ignorance is bliss right? I already know our family should do a lot more, be a lot more, and eat way better, but, have chosen to keep my blinders on and continue on in our unhealthy ways. In the long run, choosing ignorance now would prove to be much more challenging than this challenge. These lifestyle changes will be for my children while they are young, so as they grow into adults they can be better parents for their own children. We won't be changing our overall family health, we'll be changing generations of family health! Ignorance is NOT bliss, its disabling. And of course the catalysts are the prizes! Not only can Darrin win $7500 as an individual, but as a family we can win a dream vacation package valued at $2500!! So, we get to become a healthy family, Darrin loses pounds AND we win money and a vacation???? AWESOME!
So here are the things we plan to change and the plan, to get'r done....
Just to preface, all of these changes are going to apply to the concept of overall health, so they will encompass and create healthy bodies AND healthy minds!
- Change what we are eating! - My kids hate most vegetables! I take full credit for this disability. I've chosen to take the easy peasy road because I have felt at many different times that is wasn't worth the battle. I am certain that we are in the same boat as many other parents. Why, do this?? Healthy food develops a healthy body and mind in more ways than one....physical fitness, brain development and actual body development that affects our internal organs, brain development, vision, physical growth, and immune systems.
- Lower Carbohydrates/High Protein - Cutting as many unhealthy carbs as possible. Darrin will focus most of his carb intake on fruits and vegetables. There will be a lot of chicken in his diet and we will throw some steak into the mix as well. Lots of green veggies are in his future!
- Cheat Meal - One cheat meal a week will be allowed for Darrin. He doesn't have to have a cheat meal, but can use it if he feels like he needs to.
- LOSE WEIGHT! Darrin would like to lose as much as possible. He will need to lose over 100 to win the challenge we assume. And we would like to at least see around 70 pounds which is 2-3 pounds a week on average.
- What? Vegetables, fruits, breakfast and lunch food items and water intake. During this challenge we are focused on vegetables, fruits, breakfast and lunch food items because that is our family's main battle. .
- Overall I will be making healthier dinner meal items (chicken, pork etc..) however the more intensely healthy foods that my children don't like will be added after the competition ie...fish, soups, more chicken etc...
- I am a HUGE advocate of portion control. Its been the reason for my individual success in the past 3 years losing 50 pounds and maintaining. Overall, my children eat a very moderated amount at meals naturally. Over eating is not a plague for my kids, thankfully! For Darrin, it's an ongoing battle that he always fights. I also continue at many times to fight that "overeating demon".
- How? *Fact* Scientifically it is stated that it takes some individual palates twenty separate attempts or tastes of a certain food before they can learn to enjoy it. (Info from twin sister and registered dietitian Tiffany Topliff ) :)
- Fruits and veggies (This is all experimental!)
- Every week, during the first 20 weeks of the challenge I will pick out one to two different veggies and one fruit that the kids would normally shun, and they will try that item (Each food will get a total of three weeks,but on an alternating random schedule.)Three weeks = 21 tastes of the food = like or dislike
- I don't expect my children to be able to incorporate EVERY item into our diet because there are some foods that people just don't like or some tastes that develop with maturity.
- This should result in approx 14 different vegetables and 7 different fruits. We will have to leave room for error!
- Breakfast and lunch foods
- Our 9-yr old daughter Tommye-Lynn will be the main focus here, she is our pickiest and most complicated eater. She hates or won't try most breakfast and lunch foods.
- Breakfast - Because it's the most important meal of the day.....we are focused on easy prep meals as she runs off to school every morning.
- Snacking - Tommye is in school all day and unfortunately can't monitor whether she eats her meal or not. So on the weekends and after school we'll focus on different healthier snacks.
- My goal here is to have the veggies eventually used as snacks!
- Dessert - Only having dessert two times a week...on family home evening and on Friday, Saturday or Sunday night.
- Water Intake - We simply need to drink more water. We purchased a water bottle for every family member. We are going to be conscious of how much we are drinking and the goal of how much we drink will be determined by our weights.
- Change Physical activity - Why?? Physical activity ultimately keeps us live! It keeps the heart healthy and keeps many chronic conditions at bay. Darrin is on high blood pressure medication, so one of our goals is to get him off these meds. And of course it keeps our bodies fit and lean which results in the ability to take part in many daily things that otherwise one cannot enjoy while being over weight.
- He will need to workout every day of the week except Sundays. We strongly agree that Sunday is a day of rest to honor the Sabbath. And thank heavens for this, cause everyBODY needs a day of rest! On Sunday we will take a family walk or leisure bike-ride :)
- Exercise will include:
- LOTS of cardio - at least 90 minutes a day...we will be mixing in elliptical, treadmill walking/running, spinning classes/outdoor biking. A lot of this will take place at the YMCA.
- Crossfit workouts which Darrin is so dang excited about!!! This wasn't in our original plan cause it can get expensive. BUT.....Darrin's awesome sister who is a crossfit queen surprised Darrin with an unlimited membership! This will be highly motivational and effective for Darrin as crossfit incorporates much of what he loved about what he did his entire life....Football :)
- Body Bugg - and another quite amazing family member purchased a Body Bugg system that Big 'D' can wear every day. Because of his awesome mom, Darrin will be able to track how many calories he is burning a day with and without exercise and keep track of his intake of calories. This is an invaluable tool!!!
- Thank you Momma Hodgkiss, Linsey and Jordan for believing, supporting and having faith in Darrin. It means the world to him and our family. We love you!!!!!
- What? We will incorporate many different changes to make our bodies more efficient. Physical fitness and get more sleep!
- How? I believe one of the best ways for children to learn is by example. So Darrin and I will continue on in our separate workouts. Thank heavens for the daycare at the gym because I couldn't do it otherwise...and my kids get to see me workout everyday. Best example!
- Individual workouts as adults.
- My weight loss goal is 15-20 pounds
- Family physical fitness activity will be at least once a week. These activities will be decided along the way but so far include: Soccer, swimming, hiking, jogging, biking, tennis, hiking, etc... We will come up with more as we go.
- Attend as many planned family activities and classes set up by the Magic Valley competition.
- LEAD, coordinate and plan a community health event. To be determined.
- We also want to do a landmark activity as we get better in shape.
- Jump-Time activity Our "before an after" activity is Jump-Time. Darrin is too heavy at the current time to participate in our "before" activity, which is why it is our "before" activity. It is our hope that Darrin will be below 280 so he can participate in our "After" activity!
- Sleep! Simply to try and get more sleep :)
- Accountability!! Why? Because it is an awesome tool that helps us succeed! I will be posting as much as possible.... Darrin's weight loss stats as we go and his progress. I will also post updates on how our experiment of adding healthy food items is going and taking pics of our family activities.
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