Points for Health

Do any of your friends spontaneously plan a family fun 5K for all their girls when they’re 38 weeks pregnant? Do they print out their own number stickers for all of their friends and provide a time-keeping board, finish line tape, water, snacks and placement ribbons?

Mine do. I know. You are jealous.

I have a group of 20 friends who’ve formed an accountability group to help each other with our goals of healthy weight loss. We get together weekly with our leader who is a personal trainer and fitness instructor and cute as a stack of buttons and we talk about how we’re doing and encourage each other to put the chocolate down and get moving.

At the end of this summer we’re planning a 2-day healthy girls’ retreat as a reward for all our hard work. The trick is that you can’t come unless you earn the right to be there. You can earn it by losing 20 pounds, at one point per pound or you can earn points other ways.

Each week over the summer we have a challenge. One week it was to drink enough water each day, and by enough I mean enough that you’re running to the bathroom every 15 minutes like Magoo, except unlike Magoo you make it to the potty most of the time before your personal flood waters erupt. One week we had to work out 5 days. This week we need to remember to take a multivitamin every day.

For each challenge you complete, you get a point. If you look at my butt, you’ll find that I’m getting most of my points this way, not on the scale. You get half a point for each meeting you attend which is hardly a chore as it consists of chatting with your girlfriends and giving each other snaps for each time you got up off the couch to do something other than head to the fridge.

The biggest way to earn points fast is by entering fitness events. I got two points for that 5K where I slaughtered that old lady. Today I got two more for walking 3.2 miles around an elementary school track while again chatting with my girlfriends. I am very good at this.

I’m number 8 in the back and I got a ribbon for “perseverance.” It means I came in last place but I’m cuter than anyone else except the pregnant lady. Yes. It really does. The pregnant lady can’t win because she was handing out the ribbons and doing all the work and there’s no prize for doing all the work. Kind of like at my house.

So now I’m at 10 points with 6 weeks left and I’ve got to melt me some serious calories or jump on every challenge there is and run a marathon. There is no way I’m missing this weekend.

I’d also like to lose just a little weight so my Wii Fit will stop gently hinting at how rotund I’ve become. There’s a fine line between motivation and 7th-grade-worthy harassment.