Summer Shape Up RI Introduction

Let the competition begin!

We’re excited about this third year of our summer health competition, because we have some fun new challenges for you and your team. Not only will this summer’s Shape Up RI give you the incentive to accumulate thousands of steps all around our beautiful state during the year’s best weather (and lose some weight doing so), the competition will encourage you to get healthier in several more significant ways.

We have added a fruit-and-vegetable tracking function to Summer Shape Up RI. The 8-week competition division are now Pedometer Steps, The Nutrition Challenge of the Week, and Fruit-and-Vegetable Tracking. All during the 8 weeks of competition, you can record if you hit your goal of eating at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies every day. For help setting a personal goal use this tool from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control). We suspect once you get going on eating more fruits and vegetables during this bountiful time of year, you’ll want to keep going!

Second, we’re adding a required competition category, the nutrition challenge of the week. This competition category is a food based challenge that changes every week. The first week is, “Get Cooking!”. During this week you are required to eat at least one home cooked meal each day. If you eat at least one home cooked meal, you get credit for that day. Your weekly score is based out of 7 days in the week, and you can get up to 7 points if you eat at least one home cooked meal each day of the week. The second week is, “Most Important Meal of the Day.” During this week you must eat breakfast every day. The third week is, “Delightfully D-licious”, where you need to eat at least one vitamin D enriched food each day. The fourth week is, “The Whole (Grain) Truth”, where you must replace all white grains with whole wheat grains. The fifth week is, “Write it Down”, where you must write down everything you eat or drink for the entire week. (We will provide you with a printable form to fill out, or you can use the online calorie counter once you log into your profile. The sixth week is, “Portion Distortion”, where you must have smaller portions for all of your meals by eating from a small plate, ordering a small portion or putting half your meal is a doggy bag if out to eat, and not eating any second helpings. The seventh week is, “A Sweet Deal”, where you much replace all candy and desserts with other healthy options such as dried fruits, nuts, etc. The eighth week is, “Liquid Diet”, where you must limit all high calorie drinks including soda, liquor, sweetened coffee, etc., to only one serving (12 oz) per day.

We have added a Summer Shape Up RI Resources section the web site to include information on our four new health topics as well as on the benefits of eating more fruits and veggies, and we encourage you to explore it.

Why Increase Your Fruits and Veggies?

Fruits and vegetables are low in calories and can fill you up, leading you to shed more pounds. Besides that welcome idea, fruits and vegetables contain vitamins, minerals and other substances that protect you against chronic illnesses such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers and stroke. Happily, controlling your weight also helps fight these chronic diseases. So we should all be gung-ho to eat more fruits and veggies, right?

We know it’s not so easy: Many Americans don’t eat the amount they need. So the idea behind our new fruits-and-veggies tracking component of Summer Shape Up RI is to help you figure out how many fruits and veggies you’re already consuming every day, and to encourage you to step it up to improve your health and manage your weight. This component will last through the entire competition. Summer is a great time to set this as a goal, because everything from juicy raspberries to luscious tomatoes will spill from grocery store and farmers’ market shelves during the competition.

How much of these healthy foods do you need? U.S. health officials say the average adult should eat at least 1 ½ to 2 cups of fruit a day and 2 ½ to 3 cups of vegetables a day (depending on gender and age). Summer Shape Up RI's goal is to have you consume at least 5 (five) servings a day, and if you do so, you put a check in the logbook box for that day. For help setting a personal goal use this tool from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).

Our website contains extensive information on how to figure out serving sizes, what counts as a fruit or vegetable (juice and dried fruits count), and how to get more of these foods into your diet. We know it can be a challenge -- the office vending machine doesn’t usually offer apples, does it? So we’re here to help!

To go to the Summer Shape Up RI Resources here.

 

Getting started with your pedometer

Once you pull the little white tab on your pedometer, it’s ready to record your steps. Don’t forget to tie on the clip and string that comes with the pedometer. Participants tell us the clip is very helpful in preventing the pedometer from being lost if it slipped off during activities. Remember, 10,000 steps a day – about 5 miles – is considered an active lifestyle. If you need another pedometer for any reason, they’re $6.00 or $8.50 delivered. Visit our Shop to Support page or call Shape Up at 421-0608; you can pick it up in Providence or have it sent to you.

Please contact us with any questions at support@shapeupri or 401 421-0608.