The state of Delaware is 96 miles long and varies from 9 to 35 miles in width.

I'd LIKE to 'travel' the 35 miles across the widest part this week.
That is 5x the distance of the 'Road to Emmaus'.
It's 7x the distance from Bethlehem to Jerusalem.

Lofty goal, but that's my plan.

@ Nonna - I LOVE that you got so excited about surviving week 6 that you posted the summary for week 7 :bigsmile: THANK YOU for saving me a job :flowerforyou: I am ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED you got to stay in! I know you were prepared for the possibility of being eliminated, and you have a lot on your plate right now which makes last week totally understandable, but I just about whooped out loud when I saw you hadn't been eliminated! SO SO SO pleased you're still here with us! (Now just make sure you keep it that way :bigsmile: :bigsmile: )

@ Kristin - we are always here to pull you out of that ice cream tub :laugh: No need to drown in it :flowerforyou: Keep going! You are doing amazingly well at keeping on track - one day your little girl will be so proud of her mummy too

Only one thing to add to Nonna's superb summary: Yes, we need to do 25 miles each PLUS actual miles (so 28 in total) but as a team we need to be aiming for 32 MINIMUM each to hit team goal (and that IS counting Kristin, so if we want to give her a little break, we need to all aim for a little bit more than 32!) So set your personal goal for somewhere around that mark.

By the way, Nonna, I LOVE your mile goal I am going to have to go and goggle some distances now!

So it's the start of a new week, and although this image uses the word "day", we can easily substitute "week" in there :happy: :

I just put the following comments on my status and under my exercise update, but want to post it here too (with a little more info added!) to see what my Shark friends think.

I just used an elliptical machine for the very first time! (No gyms over here! But have an American friend who has one! In fact same American friend who is leaving:sad: and wanted to know if I wanted to use the elliptical. They are HOPING to come back to work here with a different organisation - but that would be after we leave - and so doesn't really want to sell her machine, but would like someone to take care of it and use it from time to time. I was having a little try out!) Anyway, I found it really hard! Much easier to run outdoors in my opinion! I run outside once a week, and (as you know!) exercise regularly, so why did I find this so difficult? I honestly nearly gave up SEVERAL times! And I never give up!!! (So I didn't :laugh: But SO tempted!) Different muscles used? Does it get easier? I only managed 30 minutes, and can run for almost an hour!

Also, when I put in 30 minutes elliptical machine on the MFP exercise page, it gave me 353 calories. I know the machine said I didn't burn that many calories! (Remember thinking it was low considering how tired I felt and how sweaty I was!) I didn't note what the elliptical machine said at the end (still a novice at this machine-lark! Will know better next time!) but I am sure it wasn't as high as MFP has it. Makes me think I might have been over-estimating calories burned if I have been using MFP as my guideline. Any else find that? And advice about how I therefore truthfully note my burns! Bearing in mind I can't just go out and buy a HRM here!!!!! Feeling like I might have been "cheating" a bit up to now if MFP overestimates so much. Or could it be that the machine was inaccurate? I did put my age and weight in at the beginning as it asked me to.

Any advice gratefully received!

What a great week for the SHARKS!! Yay!!

I wanted to reply to Pam's topic about logging. I measure and log every little thing that I eat, and sometimes that will stop me from going overboard. I am also paying more attention to serving sizes on packaged products.

Speaking of serving sizes, I wanted to share some information about serving sizes for fruits and veggies: A serving is usually four ounces (1/2 cup) of fruits and/or vegetables. Apples, bananas, etc. have a serving size of 1 medium piece of fruit. I found this information here: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=3970181

Knowing this, it should be easy for everyone to get in their 3 servings of fruits and veggies on 4+ days!

Have a great week everyone!

I HAVE to say: YOU SHARKS DID AWESOME THIS PAST WEEK!!!! but watch out for those Dolphins, they want the top spot again!!!

fr/veg: yes

@ Pam you have not stated number of fr/veg so have put you down for 3 on chart as that is minimum required - you can let me know if I need to up the numbers.

SPREADSHEET UPDATED TO HERE.

Just a little note for all, when logging your stats,

#1 please specify your workout miles and run/walk miles separately (once you have done your minimum 3 walk/run miles - all should be logged as workout miles)
#2 please specify number of fr/veggies
#3 don't forget to post your points for last week.

Sharks continue to rock this challenge - go sharks go

Thanks for all your answers to my questions! I think I will say yes to looking after my friend's elliptical - it certainly made me work and maybe I will grow to like it :noway: I have no idea about the resistance/incline! Will have to get her to talk me through all that. I think she presumed that since I exercise regularly I was used to these things! I need to admit my total ignorance :blushing: :laugh:

As to the calorie burn, I try not to eat all my exercise calories back anyway (generally aim for about half of them - which might now, it seems, be all of them!) so at least I feel OK about that. I will though take Nonna's idea and look at the machine (once I work out WHERE to look!) for the burns on that and use MFP for the rest.

Thanks Melissa for that guide to measuring fruit and veg. - very helpful! As to Pam's question about measuring other things, I tend to measure most things (at least the first few times I use them) but now there are some things I can just eyeball since I eat them so often ( I know EXACTLY how much of a bagette is 2 oz just by sight! :laugh: ) And I do note everything - even the small fun size chew my son gave me from his left-over halloween stock from the American's Fall party! (Yes I have a son who, unlike his mother, knows how to ration our sweet things and make them last! And is STILL generous enough to share!) I am not sure that it really stops me eating it if I know I will have to log it, but it certainly makes me feel bad enough when I DO log an excessive amount of treats, and makes me behave better the next day! Nothing like being accountable to make you behave! And I am in total agreement with Pam that sometimes you just "need" to have that splurge, but you can then balance it out the next day. That "French women don't get fat" book sounds interesting - must look into that!

I have been goggling distances for my week's goal. I would like to aim for at least 36 miles this week (average of 6 a day). Can't find a village exactly that distance from here (or half that if I want to go there and back)! I could "go" to see my sister-in-law's family in Baramba, but that is only 28 km away (about 34.5 miles, not quite my 6 miles/day average I want), so perhaps I'll go there and take a tour around the village at the same time :laugh: , OR maybe I'll push myself and pretend I'm back running in the UK (infinitely more pleasant in terms of temperature, and less likelihood of everyone staring at the strange white woman who thinks running is sensible!) In 20 miles I could go from my parent's house to my Nan's in Reading, so there and back would be 40 miles. Can I do it? We will see!

And on that note, here is my motivational image for today:

Oops! Forgot my week 6 points!

#1 Water: 35/35 pts
#2 Sodium: 35/35 pts
#3 Workout: 60/60 pts(yes, got in my 60 minutes on 6 days again :happy: )
#4 Bad Habit: 25/25 pts (6/7 days)
#5 Good Habit: 25/25 pts (5/7 days)
#6 Team Talk: 7/7 pts
#7 Smack Talk: - 5/5 pts - (Dolphins)
Total 192 points. - another full points week :bigsmile: