Posts: 25,831
8/6/11 8:07 A

You are doing a very fine "job" of coming up with new challenges. Thanks for doing that. :-)

Here are some comments (things I have learned from experience):
1. About walking challenges... there are step and mile challenges that are already on the team each month... in the Exercise Forum rather than the Challenge forum.
2. Also, about walking. There are quite a few people on the team who can not walk for one reason or another so it's best to have some challenges to Exercise....rather than using the word "Walk".
3. Most people prefer a challenge that is a day to a week long with several options...like one food option, one exercise option, one Goodie option, one to "avoid" a certain food, etc. That way they can pick and chose what they want to do for the challenge.
4. Try to start a weekly (or 4 day or 5 day etc) challenge one time a week to keep people coming back for more. :-) That also helps the MANY new people who join each week. If you only have very long challenges such as walking across a certain distance.... what are the new people going to do? Also, as Tammy says, people really love the ODC, One Day Challenges.

Keep up the good work and a big HUG to you!

Pounds lost: 5.0

0 3 6 9

12

Posts: 9,077
8/5/11 7:59 P

Coming up with challenge ideas can be hard.

A lot of people prefer the short-term ones because it's easier to commit to just a day or a week. But ongoing ones have their merits, too! On the 55+ Females team a former lead did one that was GREAT but requires a lot of work on the part of whoever puts it together (which is why we've not done it in a few years!). It's a walking challenge. Members kept putting in the miles they'd walked and steps they'd walked...and she converted it to distance in a virtual walk across Europe. Whenever we reached a destination she would post information about that location, and others would also add on to it. So it was great for exercise but everyone worked together rather than competing...and we had the extra bonus of learning about a variety of locations. There's a US government site for a virtual US walk if you think you'd want to do an ongoing challenge of a similar type:
exercise.lbl.gov/
Some people count steps but don't have mile conversion information:
There are many sites that can help, such as this one:
www.walk4life.com/customerservice/forms_st
epstomiles.aspx

That is an ongoing challenge that can be tallied weekly.
If individuals send the challenge leader their mileage-walked, she can tally them and see how far they're going.

Posts: 3,759
7/28/11 2:41 P

A few people told me that they like one day challenges.

Pounds lost: 74.0

0 32.75 65.5 98.25

131

SparkPoints: (26,086)
Fitness Minutes: (7,518)
Posts: 2,307
7/28/11 11:51 A

I agree with Sparklise. I think your challenges are great and my intention is to do them. Then I forget, or something else gets in the way. Maybe the challenge should first be to write the challenges down (like in our persoal daytimers) as soon as you give them so that it is easier for us to see it every day to remind ourselves to DO IT!! I think your challenges are great.

current weight: 130.4

139 134.25 129.5 124.75

120

SparkPoints: (150,692)
Fitness Minutes: (208,401)
Posts: 13,544
7/28/11 11:50 A

First, I love your challenges!! We need them!! And I love the idea of walking from Portland, Maine to Portland, Or. I walk all the time and I love to challenge myself to see how many steps I can get in a days time. So I really like that one!!!

Pounds lost: 15.6

0 5.5 11 16.5

22

SparkPoints: (21,373)
Fitness Minutes: (7,355)
Posts: 4,295
7/28/11 10:26 A

Your challenges are very good but i don't write them down and I seem to forget when i'm supposed to share how I did.
I did the more steps challenge,where i parked as far as I could from where i was going!
Sorry you feel as if you're not doing a good job.
I find what you have to write very interesting,but i guess my life just gets in the way of doing those challenges. I find it hard to keep up with everything that goes on in sparks!
Don't get discouraged! We hear you!

Posts: 1,640
7/28/11 10:03 A

How about seeing who can do the longest streak of no snacking after 8pm? That's when it hits me to want to snack.

SparkPoints: (44,217)
Fitness Minutes: (16,874)
Posts: 2,796
7/28/11 7:17 A

Chibikarate gave me an idea I saw in another forum (years ago and non-Spark related). Participants tracked their mileage for a virtual walk across the US (or anywhere). If we want to be ambitious, we could start in Maine and walk to the other coast (adding up all our mileage from day one to day whatever). A look at Google Maps tells me that Portland, ME to Portland OR is 3190 miles - that's a lot of walking to aim for! (It would take me more than 2 years to reach that many miles at the rate I am currently walking...maybe even 3 years.)

Or we could personalize it to make it realistic for us. For example, the width of Massachusetts (where I live) is approximately 190 miles (according to a web site I Googled). I could make that my own personal goal. At the rate I am walking now, it would take me about 2 months to walk that many miles. But for a challenge, I might up that.

Posts: 8,167
7/28/11 12:57 A

what about walkimg or biking to Maine

current weight: 166.0

208 188.5 169 149.5

130

SparkPoints: (5,532)
Fitness Minutes: (3,436)
Posts: 484
7/27/11 11:29 P

Hi all,
I need some ideas for challenges. I'm starting to get the feeling that perhaps I'm not too good at coming with challenges. I think I either make them too hard or too boring for you all. So, please send me ideas on thing you would participate on. Or tell me what I'm doing wrong to grab your interest. Thanks.

~~ Ellie

current weight: 232.2

253 226 199 172

145