I liked a walking challenge that we had because I do a lot of walking. We just had a sheet of squares that we colored in for each mile. I kept track of my miles , days times locations on the back of the sheet.

We have been playing TOPSY bingo. The cards are 50 cents each/limit 2 cards. Numbers are called each week. If you lose or stay the same, you X the number, but if you gain, you circle the numbers. You can't get TOPSY bingo with circled numbers. When someone wins, they get half the card proceeds and half goes to the treasury.

Group Contest Ideas

We've had two group contests that have been very popular. The first has been a bead contest. I had come across this contest in my googling for ideas. You could also use beans. I used pony beads. We split into 2 groups, with equal KOPS on each team (just one each for us). One team is assigned purple beads, the other team is assigned green beads. (You could use whatever colors you wanted though!) The KOPS use yellow beads so we can tell them apart...and just since they're so darn special!

Choose jars that are not huge...the bigger the jar, the longer the contest will run. The first time we did it, i had jars that were too big and after about 2 months everyone lost interest. I ended up using the smallest canning jars that I could find...i think it's 4 oz.
The team that fills their jar first is the winner.

Each team has their own jar. I labeled each one, otherwise it gets confusing. The purple team fills their jar with purple beads; the green team fills their jar with green beads. You get to put beads in YOUR team jar for each 1/2 pound that you LOSE....so if you lose 2 lbs, you get to put 4 beads in your team jar.

The KOPS get to put their yellow beads in their team jar for one the following:
~If you are out of leeway, no beads are put in the jar.
~if you're over goal, but still in leeway, you only get to put one bead in the jar.
~If you are under your goal, you get to put 2 beads in your team jar
~If you are 7 under your goal, you get to put 3 beads in your team jar.

Now here's the kicker....if you have a GAIN for the week...you put your color beads in the OTHER TEAM's jar!! Obviously you don't want to help the other team fill their jar, so you're going to want to have a loss!! That's why it's fun to use different color beads for each team...you can see when someone on the other team gained because the other teams color is in your jar! Hopefully that makes sense.


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The other group contest is our baseball contest. We've played it every September for the past 6 or 7 years and everyone looks forward to it. We usually try to time it so that it ends the same week as the world series. It runs for 9 weeks, so we start in august.

Basically, we split the group up into 2 teams, with one KOPS as the head of each team. We meet at a church library, so we use the front entry way so we have enough room. We bring paper plates to use as bases and set up a little baseball diamond (there's usually about 10 steps between bases, so we don't need a ton of room). We usually designate on person to ask the questions and keep track of runs scored. The first person comes up to bat and each member is asked the same questions...if you answer yes, you get to move to the next base...if you answer no, you stay put. When you get to home base, you score a run. If there are still questions being asked, you can then move to first base again if you answer yes. You keep going until all the questions are asked, and then stay your last base when the next person comes up to bat. They can then help you get home by getting to different bases, just like real baseball. If someone else brings you home, then you are done with the bases.

The questions are:

*Did you wear a hat? (can be any kind of hat, but it must be brought to the meeting)

*Did you stay for the meeting (pretty much a freebie question!)

*Did you drink your water (8, 8oz glasses at least 5 days out of the week)

*Did you exercise? (20 minutes at least 4 days a week)

*Did you communicate with a TOPS member (we have some members who are really good friends, so we try to say to communicate with someone you don't talk with much)

*Did you keep a food record?

*Did you lose weight? You get to take one base for every 1/2 lb you lose.

For KOPS...instead of "did you lose weight?" we ask the following:
*are you in leeway (take one base if in leeway)

*are you under your goal? (take one base if under goal)

*are you 7 under? (take one base if 7 under - we have a member who has been at 7 under for most of the year)


Each member of team one gets asked all the questions, then we move to team 2. We play each week and keep track of the score throughout the 9 weeks. The team that has the most runs at the end of 9 weeks wins. Last year we got $10 gift cards for each member of the winning team (there were 7 people who we had to buy gift cards for). One year we got a movie gift card for each person. Our chapter does lots of fundraisers to be able to have decent prizes for contests and this year we were able to send 5 people to IRD in San Diego..paid their entry fee and hotel for 2 nights) If you want fundraiser ideas, i can tell you what we've done.

anyway, I really like the baseball contest...before i joined MFP, it really helped me get on track because I wanted to be able to get as many bases as i could!! I think it was the only time that I would keep a food record...and i'd always end up losing weight. I wish i would have connected the dots back then! LOL. It's also nice because it gets everyone up and moving, even if it's just between bases.


Thanks for reading if you have gotten this far!! Told ya I talk a lot!! haha. If you have any questions, just ask, or send me a message.