Game On! and Pounds Off! (I Hope)

Summary: The Game On! Diet is not a diet. It's a bold new approach to fitness that turns the latest, smartest, most successful health science into a fun, fierce, and exhilarating game. Developed by Az Ferguson, to help Grey's Anatomy writer Krista Vernoff shed forty pounds of postpregnancy weight, it is the ideal program for busy people who should be working out but have a thousand good excuses not to.

Az keeps you motivated and Krista keeps you laughing as they show you how to organize opposing teams, set goals, and compete to earn points for daily exercise, healthy meal plans, and positive lifestyle changes. With The Game On! Diet, the process of losing weight, for the first time ever, is actually fun. After all, what's better than a bikini body . . . and bragging rights?

Get out there and lose . . . to win! Game on! -- Harper

THE GAME ON! DIET: KICK YOUR FRIEND'S BUTT WHILE SHRINKING YOUR OWN by Az Ferguson and Krista Vernoff sounds like an awesome concept for losing weight. I had a lot of success last summer when I lost over 20 pounds with Weight Watchers and exercise, but I've noticed that a few pounds are creeping back on the past few months. After reading about Book Club Girl's endeavor, I admit that I was a little interested in this health plan. And then when I saw her success, I became very interested!

Here's the premise in a nutshell:

Rather than focus on losing weight, you get to focus on winning points -- this idea definitely appeals to the competitive side of my personality. You can earn a maximum of 100 points a day for doing the following:

1) 30 Meal Points - 6 points per meal -no snacks
2) 20 Exercise Points - 20 minutes of exercise per day
3) 10 Water Points - 3 liters a day
4) 15 Sleep Points - at least 7 hours a night
5) 20 Transformation Points - 10 points for a healthy new habit and 10 points for dropping an old unhealthy one
6) 5 Communication Points - being in contact with your team members every day

You can also lose points if you:
1) 10 Points - snack between meals
2) 20 Points - if you collude with another player
3) 25 Points - alcohol penalty per portion

The diet does cut you some slack:
1) One day off a week when you don't have to follow any of the rules
2) One meal off a week when you can eat what you want and have one unit of alcohol
3) Each day you can have 100 calories of anything as a bonus treat

Admittedly, dieting is not a good time for me; however, I think the Game On! plan does sound kind of fun. A group of fellow book bloggers has agreed to take on this challenge along with me. We have been divided into three teams; and we will compete against each other to see which team gets the most points.

The Twinkies:
Dawn – She is Too Fond of Books
Jenners – Find Your Next Book Here
Jenn – Jenn’s Bookshelf
Candace – Beth Fish Reads
Denise – M. Denise C.

The Ding Dongs:
Tina – Book Chatter and Other Stuff
Amy – My Friend Amy
Jill/Softdrink – Fizzy Thoughts
Jill – Rhapsody in Books
Me!

The Ho Hos
Kathy - The Brain Lair
and her three friends who will be writing about their experience on Facebook

Our challenge begins today, June 29th and ends July 26th -- it's a four week program. All of the participants will be blogging regularly (at least once a week) and tweeting to keep everyone in the loop about our struggles (oops -- I mean efforts.) You can follow our discussion on twitter by using the hashtag #gameondiet. We haven't worked out all the details, but I'm pretty sure that the winning team members are going to get some good prizes!

I am very excited about this but also very nervous. So far, the thing that scares me the most is that I have to give up my diet soda -- that's my drug of choice. I try to limit my soda to one per day, but I still consider myself addicted! At least, I can still have my coffee and iced tea. I think I'll be okay with the exercise part because I already run three miles a few days a week; and I know I can stick to the diet if I set my mind to it.

As far as the Transformation Points go, it's not going to be easy. For my healthy habit, I am going to do five Sun Salutations each day. For my unhealthy habit that I need to kick, I'm going to stay off of my computer for two hours a day and spend more time with my family. That's something I should be doing anyway, but....

Wish me luck -- I'm going to need it! And to the Twinkies and the Ho Hos -- GAME ON!