Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown Final Weigh & Bonus Points

As we move into the final week of the 2013 Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown we just wanted to update you on how we are going to wrap things up as well (as promised) let you know how bonus points will be awarded.

We have modified the end date by a couple days in order to allow us to get a full 7 days of Habit 7 in the books, to be consistent, and to keep the point system stable.

Due Dates:

Monday June 3, 2013: Your final weigh-in is due by this date. You can do it anytime next week up until that day. Once we have it recorded, that is your final answer.

Tuesday June 4, 2013: Your last card with your points will be due. Captains, please remind your team to get them in, tally up their points and record on your sheet. We are going to be spending some time checking point tallies and making sure there are no tally errors. It’s going to take a bit of time, so the sooner you get them in the sooner we can announce the winners! 🙂

Bonus Points:

We have not revealed the bonus points to this point for one primary reason. The most important thing  about S3 is not whether you win or lose (although that’s a lot of fun!), the most important thing is you understand that the habits you have learned are fundamental to your health, body composition and weight control. The scorecards are a way of keeping us accountable to the daily choices we are making that count over the long term. We wanted you to focus on the behavior – the habits, not the outcome.

I love to compete, and I love to win, make no mistake. But it wouldn’t do me much good to win a contest and then in 3 months revert back to what I was doing that made me overweight and unhealthy to begin with.

Let me remind you about the word “Habit”.

The Free Dictionary defines it this way:

• A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.
• An established disposition of the mind or character.

I absolutely love those definitions.

A habit is something that is 2nd nature to us. We don’t even have to think about it, we just do it.

Are the “7 Habits” truly habits in your life now, or something you are just doing so you can win a game?

Now I know that many of you think that Nancy and I are psychos because we eat this way the vast majority of the time. I assure you this did not happen overnight, but as we began feeling better and getting healthier it was natural to keep eating the way that made that happen.

I mean why can’t a spinach salad with strawberries, walnuts, blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette be your dessert? Why do our plates have to be piled high with potatoes and pasta? Why do we use so much sugar and cream in our coffee? Reclaim your taste buds and start enjoying your food again.

Ok, back to the matter at hand. Final scoring and bonus points.

Keeping the cards and tracking your habits daily is crucial, as we said before. But we also want to keep ourselves honest, and the truth of the matter is if you are consistent with your behavior – the habits, you will most likely see the desired outcome, which is better body composition.

The bonus point structure is super simple. You will be awarded 1 bonus point for every 1% of body weight lost. While we would rather use bodyfat %, our studies have shown that the 1 point test that we did to begin the contest was not as reliable as we wanted to be a fair measure, so we are going with straight body weight.

Here’s an example:

Bobby Sue started her transformation at 155 pounds, and at the final weigh in she weighs 145 pounds.

Bobby Sue lost 6.45% of her body weight, and is awarded 6.45 bonus points for her team.

We are excited to see how well you all did!

Don’t stop now.

Keep Making It Happen!