Biggest Loser Challenge

Jan 1 – Biggest Loser Start

Biggest Loser is an American reality game show that features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight. In the American Embassy there is a similar competition amongst the families that aims to:

1. Lose weight

2. Build support amongst the competitors but still build healthy competition

3. Achieve/maintain a healthy lifestyle.

            Although I am not overweight and don't see the need to lose weight, I have chosen to include myself in this event. My whole family is participating in the competition and our goals as a family are to

1.     Challenge ourselves/push us out of our comforts zones and maintain a healthy diet.

2.     Work together to support each others choice to lead a healthy lifestyle within a hectic work life

3.     Maintain this lifestyle after the competition has finished

This competition lasts 3 months but my family’s goal is to keep up this healthy way of living for the rest of our lives. We have chosen to start fresh and completely anew. We tossed out all the processed junk foods, unhealthy snacks/sodas, and replaced them with fruits, vegetables, healthy meat products and cereals. We plan and prepare the majority of our meals/snacks for the week so that later preparation is quick and simple. My parents and I all have busy lifestyles so we’re trying to make time to include a healthy meal in our every day lives without having to spend hours in the kitchen preparing it or just choosing take out when we’re too tired.

GOALS FOR THE WEEK

1.     Reduce caffeine intake

2.     Reduce refined sugars and processed food

3.     Exercise for 1 hour a day (in any way possible)

4.     At least one cup of fruit a day

5.     Reduce carbohydrate intake

6.     No sweets but can be allowed ONE cheat day a week

Day 1

            Today I am starting out slow in order to ease in to the diet rather than jump headfirst into it. I realize that in the past that jumping headfirst into a strict diet/exercise routine doesn’t last vey long because I get extremely tired and busy and can never work out the time to do any of it. I plan to reduce my caffeine intake and sugar intake because those are the two main things that make me extremely sluggish and tired at the end of the day. I drink coffee/energy drinks as often as I possibly can. In a sense you can say I’ve been addicted to anything caffeinated, but I choose to reverse this with the reduction of caffeine intake. On a normal day I’ll have about two cups of coffee… in a big cup. Some days I might have a couple Red Bulls or Monster energy drinks to keep me awake. I believed this would be the most difficult thing for me to do so instead of drinking coffee in the morning; I replaced it with a fruit smoothie. It’s quick and easy and tastes delicious. Coffee can suppress appetite and can lead to high blood pressure; I chose to slowly ease out of drinking coffee but it proved to be impossible.