Okay Kerrie has lately informed me that I am a bit overweight.  She could have come right out and said I was FAT but perhaps she did not want to hurt my feelings.  Well don't worry about the feelings because you have given me the encouragement I need to start our NEU FAMILY BIGGEST LOSER CONTEST.

  The best part about this is that we can all be winners.  Here is the deal.  We each should start with two goals.  The first goal is what we want to lose before the family reunioin and the second is what we want to lose overall.  So I am going to be bold and start this thing.  I have wieghed in at work the other day and found that I weigh a whopping 225lbs right now.  So Kerrie you are correct in saying I am FAT.  So my goal by the reunion is to lose 25lbs by the reunion and 40 lbs overall.  So here is the deal.  If you want to be part of this contest we need to have rewards.  The rewards should be somewhere around the reunion and if you get your target weight then you should get something really special.  ( I just wanted to use the word special).  So if you are interested get back to me with where you are at and then tell me what your goals are.  If you want to tweak this contest a bit let me know that too.  Jon

Comments (26)

Jeffrey Neu said:

yeah Sharon!

May 02, 2007

Sharon Neu said:

I finished my 1/2 marathon on Saturday. Woohoo! I'm still alive. And I am starting to walk normally again. However, I ran at just under a 9 min. mile pace, so I'm not exactly speedy. And I gained what I keep telling myself is muscle weight.

April 24, 2007

Jeffrey Neu said:

well, after several days, more like a week, of fattening myself up good like a calf, it is back to the running mill. I tell you, when Jon and Anne come to visit, I think we should regulate calorie intake. I ate more cheese, ice cream, and other novelties, that i Think I killed the few month's worth of work in one week. But alas, I am back at it. Salads for me! YEAH!!

April 24, 2007

Emilie Harker said:

You can applaud for me now bc I've actually jogged more than 1 mile three times now! I'm getting closer to the 2.5- Hopefully I'll be at 5k comfortably by the reunion. And yes, Kerrie- these are all personal goals, so walking, biking, whatever, are all great.

April 12, 2007

Sharon Neu said:

Yeah Jefe! I thought the site was dead, with all the lack of reporting. I have my 1/2 marathon on the 21st of this month, and I am going to try to run 11-12 miles this week to prep for it. Wish me luck. And I plan to continue to run so I can kick everybody's trash in August. Except for Bob's of course. Bob's trash runs to fast for me.

April 03, 2007

Jeffrey Neu said:

Update: I can run 3 miles under 30 minutes! Yeah!

April 03, 2007

Kerrie J. Neu said:

Okay, so we'll update ourselves on this. I stayed pretty much the same for quite awhile and then last week had a renewal of time and dedication towards this. And VOILA! I was so excited to drop a little more. When I weighed this week I had lost 9.4 lbs over all. I may go back up again, but at least my clothes are fitting better and someone even noticed Not that it matters, but is always nice. I found out from my friend (who lost 21 lbs so far) that I burn more calories on the treadmill if I crank up the incline and walk slower than if I try to walk faster (since by back doesn't like the shock of running). So then I can burn 250 calories in a shorter time. Now if I only HAD more time I'm trying to eat healthy too, but it's so difficult. We'll see if I can maintain. Basketball each week helps too. Last night we won 37 to 20! Not bad for a bunch of old timers. Laurent is at a total loss of 13. He gained a lb recently and so that's his current score. As far as incentive, Laurent and I have made a deal with each other. He wants a gps if he reaches his goal. I decided I might like a video ipod or something like that. It gave me some new motivation. Massages are always nice. My friend's family has an excel spreadsheet, which they gave me. They record their weight loss each Tuesday morning. The spreadsheet calculates total body percentage like Jeff was talking about. They are doing 2 winners: actual loss and &#xlo;ss. They are also organized in teams with a captain. My friend says it helps her because she knows her team is depending on her. They also had a time limit such as 13 weeks or 16 weeks or something like that. I don't know if that's better or worse. She knows she just has to do this until March. But it may have already changed several habits for her like not drinking so much soda and exercising more. They say 21 days makes a habit. Anyway, those are some of my thoughts... all at once since I've had crazy busy weeks too. I'll try to check in each week. Maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. What do you think?

March 02, 2007

Sharon Neu said:

Alright, so my money idea is lame. I get it, I get it. It WAS with the thought in mind to put it toward something the winner would like (aka a massage, dinner gift certificate, new power tool, what-have-you), but that's fine. Tell me I'm lame. I've been called worse. I'm over it. What's this about slacking, Jon? I'm shocked. You've only got a wife, 4 kids, a job, the bishopric and ... are you going to school right now???? I don't see what could be distracting you. I expect more.

February 26, 2007

Jonathan Neu said:

Okay I agree with Jef. Money is a bit of a lame reward. Nothing personal Sharon however if we did give money then we could put it toward something nice like that masage Jeff was talking about or a nice red ten-speed bike with things that blow in the wind on the handle bars (sorry don't know where that came from). Anyway I also like the idea of Jeff cooking something fantastic. Personally I believe Jeff should do this anyway because I believe I am bigger than he is and well anyway it sure would be nice. So whatever the prize is I am still in. By the way I have floundered this last two weeks and am going to try and get back into the swing of things again. Love you all. Jon

February 24, 2007

Jeffrey Neu said:

Money is fine with me, but I think it is a bit lame of an incentive. Just my opinion. I am ok with chipping in $15. How about the winner gets a full body massage!! Now that sounds like a reward to me. Or maybe a paid for visit to a nutrionist or something like that.

February 22, 2007

Sharon Neu said:

Well, I must say, getting back in shape has perks and frustrations. I'm getting into the gym about 3x/wk, which is my goal, and I am able to run farther without hurting so badly afterwards. ButI'm gaining weight because I lost so much muscle while I wasn't working out (at least that's what I tell myself. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the cheese, chocolate and ice cream in my diet). As for incentives, what about money? I find that I like money. I'm happy to pitch in $15 towards a fund for whatever the biggest loser wants.

February 21, 2007

Jeffrey Neu said:

Oh, I am also in on the 5k. That sounds like a great idea. Are we going for times? I will run a 5k in 2 weeks and time it....so I can set some sort of a goal, being all out of shape and all.

February 19, 2007

Jeffrey Neu said:

So, I have been thinking about this biggest loser contest, and Kerrie's comments for motivating factors. Weekly weigh ins can be good, and I am all for it. I think Kerrie started with it. How does that sound? As an added incentive, I will cook the winner the best dinner they have ever eaten!! I have been practicing a few things! Any other ideas for incentives?

February 19, 2007

Jonathan Neu said:

Well I am sure we are all trying hard to be the biggest loser. The kids in the YM program at church would say I don't have to try hard, but yet I find it necessary to bring myself to lower levels as I try again and again to become the biggest loser. I must admit that I was not aware at how hard it would be to become a loser (I know again the kids say I have already mastered that) but it is very hard. All I have done for the past three weeks is lose 2 lbs and then I think I gained 3 back so I am at a 1 to date. However my pants do fit a bit better and I was sick all last week and only worked out once. Well I am off again to a valiant try at losing a little more weight. I hope to kick all your rears as I try once again to become the biggest loser. (that really sounds depressing). Jon

February 11, 2007

Sharon Neu said:

I've had friends who would reward themselves with a 25 or 50 dollar gift certificate to their favorite store if they stuck to their fitness goals for 3 months or so. We could try something like that or figure out what the prize actually is going to be for people. Was a prize for the biggest loser contest every actually established?

February 01, 2007

Jeffrey Neu said:

I've been thinking, (not about Kerrie's comment, more on that later), and decided that I think we should measure the winner of the biggest loser contest by percentage of body mass lost! Perhaps that will give those of us without a chance of being the winner of the overall number more inspiration!

February 01, 2007

Kerrie J. Neu said:

This week I (Kerrie) have only lost 1 lb and Laurent has lost 1.5. This seems to be a tough point to stay motivated. Any ideas of how we can incorportate a "team" effort into this so we help each other and motivate each other would be great. I could use some ideas.

January 31, 2007

Jeffrey Neu said:

I think I am going to change my goal from weight to inches!! Mostly because I haven't lost any pounds yet, but I have already lost an inch!! We'll see how it goes, but I would like to be a 34 inch waist by the reunion.

January 29, 2007

Jonathan Neu said:

Weekly weigh-in. Well I am just writing for my weekly weigh in. I want to say that I have not lost anymore weight yet but I am still going to the gym and running a few times a week. So far so good. I should be able to do the 5k by next week. Its actually a bit dissapointing that I havent lost anymore weight yet but I am not dispairing. I was hoping to have 10-15 lbs worth of water wieght to lose but I think that was a bit too much optimistic. So it looks like I am going to have to do this the hard way. Hope everyone else had a great weightloss week. Jon

January 28, 2007

Kerrie J. Neu said:

So you want weekly progress. Laurent lost 12 and I've lost 5. I hope the 5K is walkable because I don't do jogging or running anymore unless it's up and down a basketball court! (By the way our women's team won Friday night. The old ankle held up so I'm encouraged). Chris and Emilie wanted to get in on the fun, but I told them they shouldn't be losing weight either. I told Emilie she could work on exercising and count minutes or miles or something like that. That would be healthier for the kids. Running the 5k would be good for them too. In schools they keep track of how many miles the children walk or run to see if they can collectively run or walk so many miles as a goal. Anyway, we'll keep working on the exercise and eating healthy.

January 21, 2007

Robbie Neu said:

I'm not sure losing weight would be healthy for me (my mom thinks i should gain weight, no idea why)but I'm in for that 5k! And now that i look at my comment, I see that I'm the only one that has a picture!! Come on I want to see who I'm commenting!

January 19, 2007

Jonathan Neu said:

Well since we are all game for this idea I want to say that I have already started. I found out yesterday that I gained 2 more pounds so now I am starting just a bit higher but that should help me lose more for the contest right. So I am just padding my numbers a bit. So we all have our goals and now comes the important part. For those of us losing weight we need to update others on how we are doing weekly. Yes weekly because it will help us keep it on our minds that way. I dont want to know how much you currently weigh (unless you feel comfortable in saying that off course ), but I do want to know how you are doing with your program. It just makes us accountable for this. Afterall I hope everyone is a winner here. As far as what Sharon suggested I think that is a great idea. If there is not a 5k there we will create our own. Heck we can even have some teeshirts made up to make it formal. Anyway I am excited about this. Good luck to you all and Jeff and Laur you guys are going down!!!!! Jon

January 17, 2007

Emilie M. Harker said:

Well, since I'm pretty sure I can't even get around my neighborhood without stopping to walk, a 5k would definitely be a goal to aim for (no more than that please!)... Since it'll be hot, I vote for something in the morning if we are going to do this. It could be a reunion 5k as opposed to a city thing where we just go and do it as we can: walking, triking, dragging...

January 17, 2007

Jeffrey Neu said:

Well, as alluded to, I am definitely in. My goal is about 25 by the reunion, but I am really gunnin for 30. Just remember, I'm gonna lose more than all of you!! Game on!

January 15, 2007

Sharon Neu said:

Once upon a time, the idea of a race or some kind of relay for the family to do together, was mentioned. While you're all planning to lose, what if we set a goal and found some sort of a race we could participate in individually or as a family,....like a 5k or something? Or is that too much all at once? I personally could use the extra incentive as working extra hours has made me lazy in getting to the gym nowadays.

January 11, 2007

Kerrie J. Neu said:

Jon, the only way in which I would say you're FAT is that you are a BIG FAT LIAR! I know you're only saying this to get me to respond, and it worked. But I want the record set straight! I didn't comment on YOUR weight, but I could comment on mine. So now, Laurent and I want to weigh in on the matter, I guess. Laurent says he was at 327 yesterday and wants to lose 50 by the reunion and 75 overall. For me I would like to lose 15. I think the idea of a special reward is good around the time of the reunion. I don't know what yet, but rewards are good. Laurent has some ideas for his. But we'll have to think some more about that one. Thanks! Kerrie

January 11, 2007

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