Out of Last Years F-A-I-L Rises a Phoenix. –or- My Families super successful exercise Program.

Since January First I have exercised over 120 hours and lost 22 lbs.  The math tells me that 5.4 hours of exercise =  one pound lost.  Doesn’t it seem like it should be more?  I mean I’m sweating like a pig.  I drag my self out of bed at 6:00 a.m.  I don’t eat sugar.  But I’m not complaining.  My clothes are falling off me.  I’m getting closer toward my skinny jeans and I’m happy.   I’m so happy.  My smile gets bigger and bigger with every notch of my belt (I have to wear a belt now all the time.)

Don’t get me wrong, no one is signing me up as a stick fashion model.  I’ve still got a good 25 lbs to get back to my favorite college weight.  But I’m on the right track and I owe it all to my families exercise program. 

Like most Americans everyone in my family wanted to loose weight.  (except my sister Elise and her perfect 36-24-36 self.)

Last year we started our own the Biggest Loser program.  We all failed.  No one lost. 

Still wanting to loose but realizing that something had to change in order to get different results my favorite brother in law Marshall came up with the new 2010 program. 

We called it The Biggest Exerciser. 

The rules:

1.  Log more exercise hours than anyone else (aerobic or anaerobic.)

2.  Loose at least 15 lbs. 

The winner exercised the most and lost at least 15 lbs.

  

We keep track of everything in shared Google doc’s spreadsheet.  This has been the biggest reason for success.  We can daily see how everyone else is doing.  It is so MOTIVATIONAL to see that my little sister (who has 4 kids) has already exercised 4 hours this week.  Surely I can do better!  I only have a husband and a bird to take care of. 

 

Need more motivation than numbers?  Try seeing it in a pie chart. 

I’m Joanie the yellow-green color.  You can see that my biggest competitors are my husband (the avid cyclist) and my father (the surprisingly avid walker.)   

In the next chart you can see that I was neck-n-neck with my sister Jani and husband Marshall.  But I’ve pulled away.  I guess being a teacher on summer break will do that.  3 weeks ago I exercised 17 hours!

 (Can I get some appreciative “wow” comments?)

Each day I spend 20 more minutes at the gym, or riding my bike to the marina, or running up city creek canyon (I’ve got mace you psychos.) just so I can see the yellow line rising in the ranks.  

I’m telling you there is NOTHING like a multi media shared motivational chart to keep you going. 

And then the sweet part is:

The weight loss chart:

I’m down 22.

Jani (who had Baby #4 in December) is down 24

Marshall (who gained sympathy weight with Baby #1-4) is beating us all.  He is Down 27 lbs!

And if loose jeans weren’t reward enough: 

The winner gets $50

The runner up gets $50 (we knew in advance Spencer would win)

This has been a great family project.  And as I'm currently leading the top excerciser who has lost 15 lbs.  I'm number 1.

Now I want to hear from my readers:  What has been the most successful way you’ve lost weight?  What is your favorite way to exercise? What gets you out of bed?  Do you run?  Do you walk?  Does your family do something similar?  Do tell!  We all need motivation.  (except 19 year old Elise)