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The John P. Health Challenge 2010 Official Rules!

John P.

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Ok folks, you’ve got less than 2 weeks of gluttony left before the Health Challenge starts again. We’re going to be getting in shape together after this holiday situation as a New Year’s Resolution, Ok? So who is with me on this?

And by the way, there are going to be a number of changes to the program this year based on our experience from last time. So, here come the rules – they are quite simple and few.

The Rules

  1. Eliminate as much sugar from your diet as possible. No more candy, cake or cookies. You are allowed Two otherwise illegal candy bars per week IF you follow all of the other rules.
  2. No sugary drinks like Coke (here’s why) or alcoholic drinks (huge calories)! In fact, nothing but water, unsweetened tea or coffee to drink! You are allowed Two otherwise illegal drinks per week IF you follow all of the other rules.
  3. Decrease food portions by 30-50% for all meals. Instead of eating whatever portion you are given, slow down while eating and stop after you feel full.
  4. Snack all you want, but only fruit, veggies or nuts are allowed!
  5. Exercise at least 5 times a week. This doesn’t mean long exercise daily! It means frequent bursts of exercise. Pushups and situps a few times a day for example.
  6. Publicly update the rest of us and encourage others to keep going! (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

The Health Challenge ends on Feb. 28, 2010.

A few things changed from last time based on our experience:

  • This time you get TWO drinks and TWO candy bars per week. That’s double!
  • I dropped the exercise requirement from every day to 5 days per week.
  • The Health Challenge is TWO months long instead of three.

Random Helpful Info

The last time I did the Health Challenge, it was something I was doing purely for myself. I was unhappy that I had gotten out of shape and I wanted to do something about it. I had no idea that so many people would join in! We had about 100 or more people participating. So this time I hope we do even better!

When I started the Health Challenge previously, I was at 188.8 pounds and 22.5% bodyfat. My number one goal was to get my waist size down from 34″to 31″. During the course of the Health Challenge, I documented things for about 6 weeks, but by the time the challenge ended I was down to 162 pounds and I did indeed achieve my goal of dropping down to a 31″ waist size.

In fact, I had to go and buy all new pants because my others were falling off of me. But I digress… The reason all of this is so important is that this was the first time in my life that I ever went on a “diet”. Up until that day, I just ate whatever I felt like, drank nothing but Coke, and sat on my ass. I should have weighed 400 pounds.

The moral to this story is, I achieved my goals by making very minimal sacrifices. I never exercised more than 10 minutes a day (though I did pushups, pullups, situps, curls, and squat-thrusts every day), and I ate the exact same things as I had before – I just ate half as much! The hardest thing was cutting out the 1,500 calories of sugar a day I was consuming.

But I did it, and it made me feel great! This year, my goal is to bring my waist back down to 30″ and have abs and a chest that I can be proud of once again. How about you?

Prizes!

This time, we are going to have weekly prizes! I’ve been giving a lot of thought to this one, and I don’t quite know how we’re going to do it yet, but I did have an idea that I thought I would run by you guys.

I was trying to figure out who would actually award the prizes this time. I thought maybe we should have guest judges? Like some of the celebrity bloggers I know or something. But the problem with that is that they might not be keeping up with things. So then I thought, how about if we ALL choose the weekly winners?

I mean, once a week we can all submit our nominations for that week’s winner based on how well they followed the rules, updated the rest of us, and acted to promote the overall efforts. We can figure out exactly how the nomination process works later, but the bigger question is, what do you think of the concept?

So, I’ll be looking forward to your feedback, and I’ll follow up later with the update on how we’re going to handle the remainder of the details.

How to Join the Health Challenge

Just like last year, if you’d like in on the Challenge, here’s what you do:

  • Follow me on Twitter or FaceBook and drop your link in the comments below so I can follow/friend you back (maybe you can follow each other too) – as long as you promise to stick with it and give us all updates as well! Motivation is key people!
  • You can give updates here in the comments on this blog, or via Twitter, or on your OWN blog, but your progression must be documented in order to be eligible for any sort of prize at the end.
  • The official hashtag for the Health Challenge is #GetHealthy. So use it on all your tweets and updates.
  • We may have one other method of doing updates this year, but stay tuned for more info on that…

(The image above is courtesy of pasotraspaso.)

Comments

  2. Today is the last day of the John P Health Challenge. I’ve made some progress in the last two months despite giving my daughter away in marriage and getting sick in the last week.

    I’ve lost 11 pounds, am eating much healthier, and have almost met my exercise goals. It’s a great start to 2010. Thanks John.

  3. Okay folks, it’s the halfway point and I’ve updated my blog to share some results. The bottom line is that the Health Challenge is working!

    I’ve lost 7.2 pounds, am eating less, and the exercising is going pretty well. Thanks John, for getting everyone started.

  4. I just found the challenge and I would love to do it.
    I’m fighting an up hill battle though – I’m on a medication that one of the side effects is weight gain (and I have gain about 15 pounds from it)
    In addition to that – the reason I’m on it is nerve damage in my leg – so exercise is difficult at best.

    But I’m going to give it my all …..

    I love a challenge
    @hushmouth

  5. Totally bummed I won’t be joining ya’ll on this one! I just can’t give up my waters (they’ve saved my butt and gotten me healthier than I was) or the sweetNlow in my coffee. Just not ready to take that step yet. Maybe on the next go round!

    Thanks so much, John – for posting that article about diet Coke making you fat – the video with that post really helped to explain it all!! I’m doing a challenge in SparkPeople for now – maybe catch you guys on the next one!

  6. Nevermind. I went ahead and made one. ;) I got everybody that posted their twitter accounts here and those that have been using the #gethealthy tag as far back as twitter would let me search. I don’t have a lot of people on it just yet, but if anybody wants to tweet @susandyoung I’ll add you to it. Here’s the list: http://twitter.com/susandyoung/gethealthy

  7. Is everybody that’s on the #gethealthy challenge on a twitter list somewhere so I can follow it? If not, I’ll start seeking people out using the hashtag and make one. :) I just don’t want to duplicate what’s already been done.

  8. Alrighty, I’m all in. Just finished an early morning entry for Day #1 (my official start anyway) of the Health Challenge. We’ll see what the next two months brings.

  10. Hello folks, count me in…

    I created a blog just for the health challenge. I will be joining a bit late, but better late than never

  13. Patty,

    Believe me, you’ve never known anyone who wants sugar more than me!!! I PROMISE! And if there were any way to get that fix safely I would be doing it. But the artificial sweeteners make you pack on more weight than even sugar! So that’s why they are not in.

    I wrote a blog post all about it here.

    John

  14. Nick,

    A few things…

    First, I’m really glad to have you on the Challenge! And believe me, I know how hard eating right is on business travel! I was a VP of Sales for many years, and traveled and had to wine and dine clients just about every day. It’s hard not to overeat in those situations! But honestly, the Health Challenge is your perfect excuse. Just tell the people you are with that you are on some “crazy ass diet” and blame it all on me! I don’t mind. :-)

    Secondly, glad to hear that you are getting involved in the Web. And that you started a blog. You may want to read my article on 45 Ways to Power Up your Blog in case it gives you any ideas.

    Finally, I agree with you – New Year’s Resolutions suck! No one ever sticks with them, and partially because they always seem to be taking away something we love! But the Health Challenge is going to replace something we love, with feeling even better than those things make us feel! So it’s the kind of thing that will be worth it all the way through. Plus it is more fun when we all do it together!

    Cheers,

    John P.

  15. Holy Good Lord Gregory! You’re going to make me look bad with your 12,000 reps of anything! :-)

    There is nothing I hate worse on earth than situps. I would rather have the plague than do situps. So, instead, I’ll do extra squat thrusts, and I also do a highly modified pullup… What I do is, I obviously do a pullup, but as I’m raising my chin to the bar, I also lift my knees to the bar as well. So it makes for a very high degree of difficulty crunch and pullup combined. Every one of these counts for like a dozen situps. ;-)

    By the way, there is one little thing that follows the health challenge, which is International Pushup Day. This is a 24 hour period where everyone tries to do as many pushups as they can in one 24 hour consecutive period. Last year only one person was able to mostly keep up with me, but it sounds like you might be able to give me a run for my money this year. So keep in mind that will be coming later!

    Cheers,

    John P.

  16. YEAH! I am the TweetMaster! Even if I do plagerize 20% of them! :-) The problem is… Now I have to try extra hard to defend my title for next year!! ;-)

    John P.

  18. I would like to join the health challenge for 2010. I think that this is a great way to start off the new year!!

  21. I’m in. On twitter, I’m @annaradiant, and I’ll post occasional blog entries at annasattitude.com

    Let’s get healthy! :)

  24. Strangely enough, this was the exact same diet I was on and off again this past year. I did indeed drop from a solid 260 to 245, however I plateaued after that. I figure since this is something that I’ve really wanted to do, now I’d have people to do it with me. My other “New Year’s Resolutions” (though I hate calling them that) is that I’d get more connected with the Web 2.0 to find out how it could help out my employer with their customer service. Therefore I just started a blog to talk about my projects while being a jack of all trades, and I have to say that John’s blog here helped motivate me to start. Looking forward to hearing about everybody’s progress….especially after tomorrow when I can start. :) The toughest thing for me is that I sometimes travel for the company as and many of you know it can be very hard to cut your portion size in half when you have a plateful of delicious free food sitting in front of you. I’ll be on twitter as @nickclute. Good luck everybody!

  25. Okay here are my exercise goals for the Health Challenge.
    – 12,000 core exercises (reps)
    – 25 hours cardio (bike, elliptical, stair climber, running, jump rope)
    – 25 hours walking
    – Light weights using dumbells (15, 20 & 25 LBS) three times a week (25 times total)
    – strength exercises for lower body: calves, quads, hamstrings (reps to be determined)
    – strength exercises for upper body: biceps, triceps, shoulders, back (reps to be determined)
    – 3,000 push ups

    That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

    P.S. John – Where are your sit ups?

  26. Okay John, you had 5 of my top 10 tweets for 2009, but before you get the big-head, only three of them were your original tweets. The other two were quotes from other people.

    You can see the full list here at my blog.

  27. Zach,

    I’m glad you decided to join in. I know its not an easy decision to make, and trying to lose weight and get in shape takes a lot of work and determination. But the rewards are SO worth it. Having more energy, feeling more confident, being healthier, a better sex life (yeah, why ignore this one?), more general endurance to take on everything life has to throw at you.

    I applaud your careful consideration, and I look forward to tackling the challenge with you!

    Cheers,

    John P.

  28. Glad to have you Joe! The accountability is certainly part of the motivation, but a little friendly competition also helps.

    Cheers,

    John P.

  29. Fair enough Argenis! :-) I might have to cheat a little on the first as well. We’ll just have to make up for it the rest of the time!

    John P.

  30. John, I’ve been debating whether or not to join the health challenge since you posted it a little more than a week ago, but finally decided to take the plunge and give my quest to loose weight a solid kick in the pants. Earlier this year I attempted to start a blog detailing my journey to health and happiness (DroptheX.com) with little success, but I think the social nature and accountability in your 2010 Health Challenge is just what I need. I plan to take pictures and blog everything I eat and the exercise that I do at DropTheX.com and Twitter @zachscott

  31. Ok, I’ve been looking for some motivation and a way to keep me accountable. I’m in! Twitter @scaryspyder

  32. I’ll be joining you guys on the second… the first is still an all you can eat holiday here.

  33. Fascinating. Particularly because I am reading your blog as a result of running a Google search for Tiropita recipe. I will keep it in mind.

  34. Yikes! (Yes, I’ve heard this before…) This would mean giving up my carbonated, flavored waters – those things have been a lifesaver for me in getting me off soda! I just still sometimes cave into an occasional diet coke. But I was drinking multiple sprites a day before….no good.

    I don’t know that I could give up my waters… But for my coffee, isn’t there a super low calorie sweetener that’s actually made from sugar? Swear I’d heard of one.

  35. Wow! I can’t believe I could monopolize like 40% of a list with my mindless tweets! :-) But I can’t wait to see which ones make it when #10 finally hits!

    Anyway, thanks for following along and also for joining in. We’re going to have a blast I do believe!

    Cheers,

    John P.

  36. I was going to do this anyway, might as well have company. I’ve been a long time Twitter follower of yours. In fact you have four of my top nine favorite tweets (waiting for that tenth before I publish the list). You can follow me for updates @OriginalVlatte. So let’s #GetHealthy together and spread the word.

  37. Bill,

    I’m glad you are joining in! And very glad to hear you’ve already had some success with the diet you’ve been on so far! And if you are willing to give my little program a try… well, all I can tell you is that I went from 195 down to 165 doing ONLY and exactly what I documented in my previous health challenge.

    I should also mention that in many ways this program mirrors what I went through in Marine Corps boot camp – though to a much lesser degree. But in any case, I watched it transform the body of many men in a period of just 3 months. So, I can just about guarantee you that you could be down to your goal of 185 in just 2-3 months if you do exactly what I’m advising here.

    The two main tenants are: cut your caloric intake (replace calorie filled drinks with water and cut food portions down to the minimum), and get in a lot of short bursts of physical activity (pushups, situps, squat thrusts, etc.).

    You’ll see how it goes, but don’t be shy about Tweeting regularly about things like what you had for meals and what exercises you did each day. You’ll see me doing it as well as others! Just make sure and use the #GetHealthy hashtag so everyone can follow along. It makes for fantastic motivation!

    Cheers,

    John P.

  39. John, I’m excited to see this post. I’ve been trying to work on my general well-being and lose some weight since August. Since August, I’ve lost 25 lbs., but I’ve put 3 back on in the past 2 weeks.

    My girlfriend and I started the South Beach Diet in August, and I’ve been very pleased with my results so far. I’m at 207 lbs. right now, and expected to gain a few pounds over the holidays, but we plan to go back onto “Phase 1” of the diet again on January 1. Unlike my “new year’s resolutions” of years past, I’m confident that I can stick with this one because like in August, I’ve decided I want to lose weight for me, and I know I can stick with it because of my results since August. While the South Beach Diet sounded silly to me at first, after reading the book, I view it more as a change to my eating habits than a “let’s do this diet until we lose weight and then forget about it”.

    I look forward to sharing my progress weekly on Facebook and twitter, and hope many others will follow your lead.

    Cheers!

  43. Awesome! Thanks for the info. Yeah, milk is 2% or less and I drink it plain. ;) This is actually the first time I’ve been excited about anything like this! Looking forward to it! :D

  44. For anyone wishing to find a subsitute for coffee, why not try a good potent cup of green tea? Actually, a few cups. I am in China at the moment, and I throw back a couple of liters of that in about 2 hours time or so, and that buzz lasts for quite a long time. And it’s a much healthy alternative to coffee.

    Good luck, y’all.

  45. This is great! I have been tryinto et in shape, Since I left High School and started working I have gained way to much!!! This will be a cool way and shold be really fun, I look foward to doing this and winning! (At least I hope)

  46. Hi Susan,

    Great questions! Here are answers:

    1. Yes, you can certainly substitute something like a cookie or slice of cake, etc. for a candy bar. I would say just try and keep it to around 200 calories or so for your treats.
    2. Absolutely, Milk is very good for you. The calcium actually assists in weight loss. But just don’t add chocolate or other stuff to it! ;-)
    3. How could I forget the veggies!!! I’ll add it now!

    Thanks for the reminders and I look forward to having fun together while making great progress!

    John P.

  47. I just followed you on twitter after my husband told me about this. My username is @susandyoung. This is what I need for the new year.

    I’m afraid I’m the one who will think of all the weird questions, but here goes:

    1. I don’t eat candy bars typically, can I sub a cookie or something for my splurge if I’m following the other rules?
    2. What about low fat milk among the drinks? Or is that a no no on this challenge?
    3. Don’t forget veggies for a snack. ;) (Not really a question, but yeah.)

    I’m looking forward to this. I tend to fail at things like this unless I have accountability with somebody, so great idea! :)

  50. I will join you on this one. I have been thinking of getting back to my 32″ waist, but it’s just the thought of no coffee or alcohol that is putting me off!
    But i’ll try!

  52. Oh lordy – haven’t even read yet. But I’ve been doing AWESOME all week – but having a girl’s night with Sammie and just ordered Domino’s!! Worth it for hanging with my girlie – will have to get back on track tomorrow! Now I better read these rules!!!