Monday, January 8, 2007

Monday Memo

The sign up sheet is closed!

We have this year's OC New Me participants:

1. George - weight and A1C

2. Scott - weight and A1C

3. Jenny - A1C

4. Sarah - weight

5. Kathleen - A1C

6. Julia - weight

7. Kate - A1C

8. Hannah - weight and A1C

9. Beth - weight

10. Lori - weight

11. Mel - weight

12. Kelly - A1C

13. Heidi - A1C

14. Erica - weight and A1C

15. Bernard - A1C

16. Allison (that would be me) - weight and A1C

Art-Sweet and Kelsey may be joining since they left comments last week, but I haven't confirmed what they are doing.

EDIT: Kelsey's too busy with her thesis and making a baby (as if that's a suitable excuse for not lowering her A1C... whatever... ;-) ), but Wendy joined the A1C Group! Woohoo!

Now you know who else is in your groups. Talk amongst yourselves. Share ideas, etc.

The first Weigh-in and Check-in is on Sunday, February 4th. Please send a digital photo of you on your scale if you are in the Weight Loss Group. Please send a download of your logsheet if you are in the A1C group. If you aren't able to send in a download, you need to write one by hand and send in a digital photo of your 14-day average.

Monthly Drawing:
Start the year off right!

Weight Loss Group goal: Lose 5 lbs.
Weight Loss Group prize: a one year subscription to Diabetes Self-Management.

A1C Group goal: A 14-day average of 170 or below, with maximum 7 lows.
A1C Group prize: The Ultimate Guide to Carbohydrate Counting by Gary Scheiner.

Drawing on Wednesday, February 7.

New Prizes:

Thanks to Kelly Close (and Challenge participant) for donating two one-year subscriptions to Close Concerns newsletter diaTribe.

Thanks to Amy Tenderich for donating a copy of her new book, Knowing Your Numbers.

9 comments:

Scott K. Johnson said...

Sweetness.

C'mon Y'all!! Let's Rock & Roll!!

I'm going to experiment with two key tools.

1) Kevin's awesome logbook - if you don't have it yet, and want it, let him know.

2) www.sparkpeople.com - this is a website that can be used to track foods, calories, exercise and all that jazz. I *think* I like it so far, but have only recently started using it. It's free and easy to use. Take a look if you are interested.

See ya on the flipside!

In Search Of Balance said...

I'm curious about how the monthly goals will be structured. I'd like to participate, but can't if it's 5 pounds per month. Do you think for the next one there could be some sort of percentage worked out, for example, 10% of your total weight loss goal?

My challenge, above all else, is maintaining a stable and healthy weight. I would love to have this be motivation to work towards that goal!

Allison said...

Beth,

That's a great question, and no, it won't be 5 pounds every month. Most people who are starting off losing weight can lose the most right away. 5 pounds in one month isn't that hard if you eat right and are exercising.

As the year progresses, it will be come percentages, and then eventually it will become maintaining your weight. If you have lost the weight, you will qualify for the drawing simply by staying within 2 pounds of your weight each month (but you have to be at your target at the end of the year- the 2 pounds is simply for bodily fluctuations and margin of error).

mel said...

Thank goodness the weigh-in is BEFORE the superbowl parties!!!! :)

Not that they're a good reason to overindulge, but... it's the superbowl!

Bernard said...

Allison

Thank you, thank you for organizing this. I'm looking forward to it all.

One question: what you define as a low? Below 70 mg/dL (according to my pump)? Or something else.

Scott, I'm just starting to use dHealth.net to track my steps per day. It looks like it may have possibilities, too early to tell for me.

George said...

WOW! This is going to be so awesome. I also signed up for Sparkpeople but have yet to really check it out and Scott is right, Kevin's logbook is awesome!

Good luck everyone! This is going to be so great!

Allison said...

Bernard,

Yes, a low is anything under 70 mg/dl. If I see a lot of 70s though, I might raise my eyebrows and send you an email about running your BGs to close to the threshold, but it won't knock you out of the drawing.

art-sweet said...

I'm in... I would like to lose 15 pounds by the end of the year & also to work out at least 3X wk. I contribute $2/pound... = 30$ to the motivational pool!

Anonymous said...

Allison let me join late, and I am in $20 for 20 lbs.
Scott, I am also trying out a new tool but I am sure most of you are already doing it.
I was at Urgent Care last week (with the flu) and when the nurse (a diabetic - they sent her in to test my bloodsugar, like they couldn't do it) was in the room I kept hearing a pump alarm. I asked her if it was hers or mine. It was hers reminding her to test her blood sugar 2 hours after her last meal. I think I was annoyed by that reminder when I first got my pump, but now it is interesting to monitor after meal levels.
Oh, and I asked Kevin for his logbook :)