Victory to the Biggest Loser

For the last couple of days, my hubby and I have been making an effort to eat more healthful meals and to do more exercising. It’s been tough since we have such busy schedules and such weak willpower, so there are days when we slip and go back to our usual bad habits. Yesterday, while we were reading in bed, my hubby turns to me with a brilliant idea to help us in our “get healthy” regime. His idea is we would be more motivated to maintain our healthier lifestyle if we had an incentive – something to look out for is we kept at it (a reward of some sort) and something to dread if we slacked off (a punishment, if you will). It totally made sense and so we spent a few minutes coming up with outrageous ideas.

After we came up with our perfect plan, I told Jojo that I would post it on my blog to ensure we kept our ends of the bargain. So here is our perfect plan:

We would both eat healthy and exercise, and after a 5 month period (July 12 to be exact), we would see which one of us lost more weight and body fat.

The "rewards" would be:

If Jojo wins, he gets to buy a Mac computer with all the gizmos and upgrades that his heart desires. (I’ve been opposed to his getting one since he has a perfectly good PC right now).

If I win, I get to choose when and where we will be spending our one-week vacation. I’ve been wanting to either go on a New England fall foliage tour or visit Ohio and Michigan (to tour my mom’s alma matter and the place my parents got married-- Jojo has been hinting at a trip to Orlando instead). For my "victory vacation", I also get to choose staying in bed and breakfasts (which I look forward to – but Jojo thinks is too quaint for his comfort).

The “punishments” are:

If Jojo wins, I can not complain about any Mac-related purchases, about where he installs the Mac, and if he spends a lot of time on it. Also, I have to willingly go with him to the computer fair for a whole day (or more) to scope the best deal possible (and interact with all the IT techies there).

If I win, Jojo can not complain about any of my vacation choices (lodging, attractions, restaurants, and people to see or meet). He has to be a willing travel buddy, smile for all the pictures and not object if I want to go shopping all day. He also agreed to no complaining about early morning and/or late night activities during our vacation.

The rules:

1.) No sabotaging each other’s health regime – for example, since I cook our meals, I can not sneak extra helpings of butter, salt and oil into his food. Nor can he hog the exercise machine by moving it into his office (since I need it in front of the tv).

2.) We have to encourage and be supportive of each other.

And lastly:

3.) No sore losers!

So yesterday, after we celebrated our Valentines Day early with brunch at The Alpine Village, we headed over to Trader Joe’s and stocked up on healthful goodies (see below).

Let the battle begin!

Lots of fruits and vegetables, fish and seafood (calamari and shrimp),
nuts, tofu, pomegranate juice, cranberry juice, green protein juice,
Reddi-egg egg whites, multi-grain bread, and brown rice.