I don't see much difference between landing a plane and breaking a ribbon. It gave team leaders an excuse to find new memes, so that was a plus.

I found the Healthy Habit for Protein to be very strict, and disastrous for my weight loss, cuz I tend to be competitive, but I resent being short and therefore deprived of more flexibility in caloric intake, and being old and therefore more limited in ambitious cardio. (I also had to contend with a change in DH's hunting schedule; I normally have free rein this time of year, but he lost his main hunting outlet for October and early November, plus he suffered another reminder of "last man standing" (fewer friends still living).)

Why on earth did you all set an upper limit on Fiber? Just worry about getting sort of enough. Most people get hardly any, and that's why the "bar" is set low, so they won't get discouraged. (Just like the recommendations to get 150 minutes of exercise in a week: people need more, but authorities don't want to overwhelm people with a higher bar.)

cmfarrell36 wrote: »

Have to agree with @Kateljm .

It was good to be able to claim points for trying to get the fibre. Plus or minus 3 seems very arbitrary, but I suppose you have to provide a number in some way.

But surely the bonus points for protein should have been for trying to do protein from food rather than supplements whether or not we managed to get within plus/minus an individual protein total?

But it was certainly interesting to meet some new challenges for healthy lifestyle - thank you.

Awwww TY TY TY for the positive feedback. Week 6 protein read as: ✔️To score points this week
Using your MFP Nutrition Tracker (or whatever you use), please view what your daily allowance should be. (This number may be different for different people). If you are within 5 grams of your protein goal (either over or under), you have earned 10 points. Add an additional 2 points if you have reached this goal by eating Using your MFP Nutrition Tracker (or whatever you use), please view what your daily allowance should be. (This number may be different for different people). If you are within 5 grams of your protein goal (either over or under), you have earned 10 points. Add an additional 2 points if you have reached this goal by eating food only (not including supplements/powders etc though in many diets they are essential) You may count any supplements/powders etc in your 10 points just not the bonus. Why not? We are striving to see how our members are doing with food and nutrition. Keep in mind this is a challenge, for myself and many others, getting enough protein through food is a challenge

We are loving the feedback. We are hoping more will comment here.

I liked the new format of just walking. I was able to make my own destination each day to get to and from a destination that took me through my personal challenge of 10000 steps per day.
e.g. milk run to the supermarket with a backpack when I needed it.

While I didn’t once meet the protein or fibre goals I appreciated the wake up call. My competitive spirit will challenge me to get there gradually FOR MY OWN BENEFIT.

I’ll concentrate on these two for a couple of weeks then I may just tackle my personal nemesis. Drinking water! I know it must be doable since I stopped drinking coffee a couple of months back because I suspected it was causing my tummy grumbles and I don’t miss it.

A challenge isn’t a challenge if it doesn’t challenge!
Just as monkey won’t find swinging through trees challenging so doing things you do automatically, like brushing your teeth everyday isn’t a challenge.
You do a great job and some folk don’t appreciate the time you give up to set them up.

Destinations are nice but not at all necessary. The ribbon breaking was good.

I like the format for the challenge. All team leaders are doing a great job!

I like doing challenges, but I really didn’t enjoy this one too much. It was a constant struggle to get my fiber count, perhaps this is because I’m close to my goal weight. I didn’t care for the way the points were accumulated. However, I really appreciate the work our leaders put in to coming up with ideas for the challenges - please understand that these are my personal thoughts, not any reflection on the our leader’s ideas.

I ENJOYED THE NEW FORMAT AND THOUGHT IT WAS AN IMPROVEMENT FROM THE OLD FORMAT. I THINK CHANGING IT UP MAKES IT MORE CHALLENGING AND THAT IT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT-CHALLENGING YOURSELF TO THINK SERIOUSLY ABOUT BEING HEALTHY(WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU) AND DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

I THINK EVERYONE WHO VOLUNTEERS THEIR TIME AND ENERGY TO RUNNING THESE CHALLENGES DESERVE A LOT OF PRAISE AND CREDIT FOR ALL THEIR HARD WORK.

FOR THOSE WHO ARE NEW YOU SHOULD ALWAYS FEEL FREE TO MESSAGE ANY LONG MEMBERS WITH QUESTIONS OR THE NEED TO GET CLARIFICATION- THOSE OF US WHO HAVE BEEN HERE A LONG TIME ARE MORE THAN WILLING TO EASE THE LEADERS' ROLE.

OBVIOUSLY A CHALLENGE IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT AND WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE-SUGGESTIONS ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED AND APPRECIATED BY THE LEADERS.

I'm fine with the new format. I appreciate all your work on setting up the LTGL challenges. I felt some of the new LTGL's were overly restrictive this time and a little heavy on food challenges. I prefer more of a mix of food and other challenges.

*Intentional Eating - Making a daily meal plan the night before - is very helpful. I am continuing that. However, staying exactly on your plan for the day seems unrealistic - days don't always go as planned. It would be more realistic to require that changes during the day not increase your total calories for the day.

*I see no reason to put an upper limit on Protein and Fiber, especially not such a tight limit. It really complicates planning for no good reason that I can see. I managed it five out of seven days but it was time consuming and fiddly and not something that seems of value to me.

*Having protein and fiber challenges the same week without increasing calories was very difficult for me. Mostly what is good for increasing one decreases the other. Most high protein foods are low fiber (except beans) and most high fiber foods don't have much protein (except beans.). I found it extra hard on a low carbohydrate diet since most high fiber foods have a fair amount of carbs. I did manage to do it, but had to use psyllium powder for part of the fiber. I plan to continue that habit.

*Five fruits a day - I only managed the 5 fruits a day because my team leader said it was OK to include "vegetables" that are botanically fruits. Five fruits a day is way too much sugar for my low carb diet. This LTGL was not helpful for me.

Thanks again for your leadership.

I liked the new ribbon format. While the destinations are interesting, it's negative is that it requires more time for others to prepare.

LTGLs, Prefer: Meet the Cheerleaders, BMR, Measurements, Food Diary, Freggies (all encompassing and more flexible than fruits or vegs), Read Labels. It might be good to award points for planned and executed exercise WITH recording on that day, as it has been hard to get members who post at the end of the week to change their posting habit to a daily post.

It is important to post the weekly status on weekly finish across the teams, though I recognize how much work that requires. And life happens.
Is there a different format that might lighten this load? Perhaps extra, rotating help can be recruited next round to make that more possible? It seems too much to have it on one OALs shoulders, and perhaps some of the leaders from the teams could possibly help, if the responsibility can be shared?

I appreciate all that the leaders do to keep the Challenges organized, thoughtful, and operational. Thank you!

Kateljm wrote: »

I don't see much difference between landing a plane and breaking a ribbon. It gave team leaders an excuse to find new memes, so that was a plus.

I found the Healthy Habit for Protein to be very strict, and disastrous for my weight loss, cuz I tend to be competitive, but I resent being short and therefore deprived of more flexibility in caloric intake, and being old and therefore more limited in ambitious cardio. (I also had to contend with a change in DH's hunting schedule; I normally have free rein this time of year, but he lost his main hunting outlet for October and early November, plus he suffered another reminder of "last man standing" (fewer friends still living).)

Why on earth did you all set an upper limit on Fiber? Just worry about getting sort of enough. Most people get hardly any, and that's why the "bar" is set low, so they won't get discouraged. (Just like the recommendations to get 150 minutes of exercise in a week: people need more, but authorities don't want to overwhelm people with a higher bar.)

Hey there, my friend! I really appreciate your input on some of these. SOMETIMES when writing the Challenges, we are not thinking about 'getting the most points for this or that' but instead when we have to make a member say hmmmmmmmm - and the member may not always be able to get the 'most points possible' - that means that they are thinking about what was written and they are working the challenge before them.

The Overall Leadership Team wrote these Challenges because if we didn't write something we wouldn't have had a Challenge. That said, we do realize that having several of us writing as opposed to one of us, there may have been some inconsistencies ... that could be because our writing styles are different; our research styles are different; and once you've written something and read it several times - 'mistakes can be easily overlooked'. We've actually talked a lot about that and have decided that there IS a solution and will be implementing it. More to come on that - but, hopefully things will be a little easier to read/digest.

Finally, as I stated above - please, PLEASE remember this is a CHALLENGE (or a contest, if you will) team members against each other and then the overall teams against one another. Most importantly, these weeks / challenges are written for YOU. YOU need to CHALLENGE YOURSELF, first and foremost ~ end of sentence. It shouldn't be easy; it shouldn't make you say oh yeah - I do this all the time, no big deal. You should MINDFULLY work the challenge(s). If some of the Challenges are easy for you that is fine - but all of them should not be. They are designed to make you THINK about what you do and then try to execute as best as you can. Not everyone will get 100% and THAT is really the point.

I hope that makes sense to you!
Best,
hicim705 (Heidi)

cinebibliophile wrote: »

My thoughts —

As this was my first challenge, I didn’t know this was a changed format until I asked about some of the terms (flight attendants?). I didn’t have much of an issue with the format itself, but ….

*** I personally disliked the prompts to ‘post your data if you haven’t already because two teams already broke their ribbon’. Some have multiple jobs, families, etc, and can’t check in every day. I also don’t think I fully understood before joining that this challenge required a daily check in, so that could be my fault.

*** The lack of weekly updates - the participants who enjoy the progress of a challenge can get bored without updates. There hasn’t been an overall status update since week 3 — it’s hard to motivate some to reach goals or ‘beat’ another team in a vacuum.

*** lack of response to questions — in a weekly thread on a team board, I asked a clarifying question on the rules (I don’t recall which week) — the question was never answered.

I get it — people are busy, life happens, and this is all volunteer, and I appreciate the opportunity to participate, but from before the challenge even started, there were issues. (I STILL don’t understand why a date was set to RSVP to a group invite & then that invitation was canceled/deleted before the date arrived.)

I love the feedback!! I'm going to try to answer, if I may:
Post your data if you haven't already because two teams already 'broke their ribbon' - WELL, the CHALLENGE is a RACE. I thought that this was well published and understood; but apparently not. Can you suggest another way to write this so that it makes sense??

Weekly Updates - I honestly struggle with this one!! I have been one of the OAL's (Overall Leaders) that have been responsible for posting daily updates and making a big deal out of those that have met their first part of the Challenge (breaking the ribbon in 1st, 2nd, 3rd place) and then overall at the end of the week it is fun to see what teams got the most points, etc. When we were on SP, this was fun and many just joined in and cheered on teams that came in on top and encouraged those that were further behind. I don't get that here on MFP - I'm not sure why!??!!!!!! Could you perhaps suggest a way that we can make that happen and make the teams that are at the 'front of the pack' be the ones to beat to get EVERYONE engaged?

Lack of response questions: I truly am sorry for this. By now, you may have gotten your answer or figured it out. If you have a question, the best place to ask is in your team's Chat Thread. If you don't get an answer there - please, PLEASE reach out to your leadership team and, finally - if you are still confused, please reach out to an OAL. We are the ones that brought the Challenges here to MFP and have gone through several years of answering questions - so please make sure that you reach out to us. If you don't know who the Overall Leadership Team is ... here is a refresher:
As far as an invite being extended and then retracted: We try to balance the teams and have no way of knowing how several hundred people will respond. Sometimes we have very little time to get people to join and then balance the teams, that is something that we should perhaps look at - but the deadlines have A LOT to do with balancing the numbers so that the teams all have an even chance to be competitive with one another.

colleentalamantes wrote: »

This was my first challenge plus I’m pretty new to MFP. I don’t have a preference for the mile or destination format as I see both as motivating. I found the protein portion very challenging as I would be under one day and overshoot the next. I got pretty frustrated until I read something to the effect of “challenges are not supposed to be easy.”

I'm so glad that you read and 'got it' that Challenges are not supposed to be easy! They aren't that is why they are 'challenges'. I'm so glad that you joined and stuck with it ... we strive to make adjustments in Winter and hope to see you with us again.