Q & A

RedVelvette

This is the place to have your questions answered.

janetay01

Good morning! One quick question - the 8pm deadline on Sundays - is that 8pm US time or 8pm UK time? I'm hoping US time as it will give me a bit longer in the evenings to sort myself out with the submission but let me know. thanks!

RedVelvette

The deadline is 8:00pm Pacific Standard Time (which is 4:00am on Monday morning in the UK, so you will have some extra time on Sunday evenings!)

RedVelvette

On a team thread, someone asked if communicating with each other on their team discussion/thread would count as contacting a teammate. The answer is YES. You can contact each other any way you wish.

janetay01

RedVelvette wrote: »

The deadline is 8:00pm Pacific Standard Time (which is 4:00am on Monday morning in the UK, so you will have some extra time on Sunday evenings!)

brilliant - thank you!

miztessbert

Hi Jenn, thanks for putting this challenge together -- it's already having positive effects for me.

I do have a few questions about the spreadsheet:

1) I'd like to clarify that we can only earn points for a maximum of 6 days for no sweets/sugary treats and a maximum of 5 days for no alcohol for each week, correct? Example: If I don’t eat sweets/sugary treats nor drink alcohol for all 7 days of the week, I only count points for 6 days for sweets/sugary treats and 5 days for no alcohol (as opposed to all 7 days in both categories)

2) I can’t get the total possible points for weeks 2-8 to add up unless I put points in for 6 days in the “no alcohol” category – here’s an example of the totals I’m getting for Week 2
1 pt: Contact with Teammate x 7 days = 7 points
10 pts: 64 OZ Water x 7 days = 70 points
3 pts: 2 Fruit Servings (1/2 c each) x 7 days = 21 points
5 pts: 3 Vegetable Servings x 7 days = 35 points
5 pts: No sweets/Sugary treats (only 6 days/wk) x 6 days = 30 points
5 pts: No alcohol (only 5 days/wk) x 5 days = 25 points
5 pts: 20 min exercise OR 7 pts: 30 min exercise  7 x 7 days = 49 points
10 pts: Bonus for 3,500+ total calories burned for week = 10 points
Total points = 247
Adding 5 points to the "no alcohol" category total brings the total points to 252 -- can we earn 6 days worth of points for this category after week 1?

3) I track my exercise and step count using a fitness tracker and enabling negative calorie adjustment in MFP -- when counting exercise calories burned should I only report the calories burned for a specific workout or can I use the total “active” burn reported on my tracker which includes steps tracked throughout the day?

Thanks again!

RedVelvette

1. Yes, you are correct.
2. Ok, so I made a calculation error on the total points possible. You are right. Total possible would be 247. We can only earn points for no sweets for 6 days per week, and no alcohol for 5 days per week, on all weeks of the challenge.
3. Count all calories burned with whatever device you use. I don't have anything other than MFP so I just enter my exercises on this site and add them up at the end of the week. Walks totally count! The idea is to encourage activity!

I hope this helps answer your questions. Please let me know if anything else comes up.

~Jen

miztessbert

@RedVelvette - Thanks Jen!

jessicakahn606

Hey Jen,
What happens if a team member does't turn in the points by the deadline?

RedVelvette

That's a good question. If they notified you ahead of time, you just would not include their score in your average and divide your total by one less participant. If they didn't notify you that they weren't participating for the week, you would give them a zero but still count them in the number of participants. I know that sucks, because it could really bring down the team score, but the point of the challenge is to give us all some accountability. It's another reason why the contacting teammate aspect is so important, if you haven't heard from a teammate all week, it might be a good time to check in on them and see if they need a little extra help, or if they need to take the week off because, life happens sometimes.

campingma

Great answer RedVelvette - this is good info to have - suggestion: maybe repost your answer under week 2 so possibly everyone sees it.