Teaming Up
The Rule: Form a team of two players or more. Your weekly score will be averaged with the scores of your teammates, so choose your team carefully and support each other daily!
You must be in communication with at least one member of your team and one member of an opposing team at least once a day to earn 5 daily communication points.
Note: You do not need an equal number of players on each team. A team of two or three can play a team of four or five or six because each team’s scores are added and averaged each week.
The Honor System
The Rule: Keep your own score and do it with absolute integrity. Judge yourself at least as harshly as you would judge your opponent.
The Weigh-In
The Rule: Weigh yourself on the Wednesday morning you start the game, within 10 minutes of waking. Then, weigh in once a week on the Wed. morning. Don't ever weigh yourself the morning after your day off.
Each week, you must lose 1 percent of your body weight to earn a bonus that equal 20 percent of your points scored for the week.
Calculations: Your weight x .01 = The number of pounds you must lose to earn bonus points.
Your points scored for the week x .2 = Your bonus points if you make weight!
If in any given week you do not earn your weight-loss bonus (lose 1 percent of your body weight), you lose your alcohol privilege on both your free day and during your meal off for the rest of the game.
Note: If weight loss is not a goal, you can set yourself a fitness goal instead.
Penalty: DO NOT WEIGH YOURSELF MORE THAN ONCE A DAY. IF YOU DO, YOU LOSE A POINT EACH EXTRA TIME YOU GET ON THE SCALE!
Food
The Rule: Eat five small meals a day. Each meal should include a combination of lean protein, healthy fats, carbohydrates like whole grains and fruit, and/or vegetables. Meals must be no fewer than two and no more than four hours apart. Meals must contain none of the F.L.A.B.B. foods you will find listed in Chapter 8. Each fully sanctioned meal is worth 6 points for a total of 30 possible meal points a day.
The Exception: Each day, in addition to your five meals, you may consume up to 100 calories of whatever you want (including the F.L.A.B.B. foods on the list, but not including alcohol, or soda.
Note: Between meals, you may snack on cucumbers and celery without penalty.
Penalty: If you eat anything between meals besides cucumbers and celery, you must deduct a 10-point snacking penalty. You must include veggies in at least two of your meals or you will not receive your meal points for these meals.
Exercise
The Rule: You must exercise (any kind of exercise that makes your breathing speed up) for a minimum of 20 minutes a day, six days a week, to earn 20 points a day.
You may do a seventh day of exercise but you will not earn extra points.
Water
The Rule: Drink a minimum of 3 liters (about 100 ounces or 12.5 cups) of water a day for a total of 10 points each day.
The Exception: As with everything else, you get a day off from this rule. It does not have to be the same day off as your day off from the food plan or your day off from exercise.
Sleep
The Rule: To earn 15 sleep points, you must be in bed with the lights out a minimum of seven hours before you know you have to wake up.
The Exception: If you suffer from severe insomnia—severe enough that you have been to see at least one doctor or specialist about your inability to fall asleep or stay asleep—then you can earn your 15 sleep points each day by practicing at least three of the sidebar suggestions from the National Sleep Foundation each night or by practicing the bedtime yoga routine described at the end of Chapter 11.
Transformation
The Rule: You earn 10 points a day by eliminating an unhealthy habit and 10 points a day by practicing a new healthy habit. You must declare your habit choices to your teammates and stick with them for the entire game.
The Penalty: Each time you change your habit choices, you lose 50 points, so choose carefully!
The Exception: You get a day off from this rule too—but be smart about it. If you are quitting smoking or something similar, don’t take a day off or you’ll destroy your progress.
Alcohol, Coffee, and Soda
-Alcohol-
The Rule: No alcohol is to be consumed while you are playing the game except on the day off. You may also have one portion during the meal off.
The Penalty: If you consume alcohol at unsanctioned times, you lose 25 points per portion. A portion is up to 12 ounces of beer, 6 ounces of wine, or 1.5. ounces of hard liquor.
The Escalation: If you don’t make weight on any given week, you lose the privilege of alcohol on your day off for the duration of the game.
-Coffee-
The Rule: You can have your coffee. Stop crying. We are not going to take it away. You just can’t have your frothy coffee drinks.
-Soda-
The Rule: Soda is not F.Y.T. nor a F.L.A.B.B. food. Each soda you consume carries a 10-point snacking penalty.
