Good Morning Ladies,

Here is one of the sites that I found on the tops message board that has a lot of great ideas as far as programs, contests, fundraiseing and more.

Check it out: I printed some contests from it this morning to use in my chapter.

http://hometown.aol.com/bobbierae/MainPage.htm

I am really getting motivated reading all these contests and getting ideas for my chapter. These are things I never thought about before so they will be new happenings in my chapter this year. So they won't be bored.

Here is a contest/fundraiser you could all do this year. I would like to start it when we take office and run it for the full year.

Each week every member puts in a dime or quarter in a jar. If the member loses weight that week they also put their name on a pc of paper and put it in a box next to the jar. KOPS losing weight or staying at goal or in their leeway for the week can also put their name on a pc of paper and add it to the box also. Then at the end of the year you draw one name. That person gets 1/2 the money and the rest goes into the treasury.

What do you think of that idea. That was on the message board. I really liked it.

Also you can give out as prizes for contests a free fine pass for a month. Meaning that you make up a pass for the winner/winners if you have teams. They are given the passes and can use them for 1 month. For that month they can avoid paying any fines if they have to pay fines that is. I thought that was a neat prize to give away and it doesn't cost any money. It might motivate someone to win so they didn't have to pay fines for a month.

Another idea I just found this morning was this:

You make up ducky dollars. You put a duck in the middle of the bill. You can make them on the computer. You make 1,5,10,20's. Then you put them individually in a security envelope so you can not see through it to see what dollar amount you have. Then everyone takes one envelope (it is sealed) and writes their name on it. If you gain weight you have to take your envelope out of the box. Then open your envelope to reveal what dollar amount you lost. The last person to have their envelope in the box opens it and wins the dollar amount they have. If they have a 1 dollar bill then you can automatically give them 5.00 so it was worth it to them. You can do this and not mention it at the beginning. Save it as a surprise.

I thought that was a neat one also. There are so many ideas out there. We have all been looking for new ideas these are great. You should all check out the message board at tops site and you can find more ideas also.

One I found for a christmas present exchange is this. There is a story you have to print it from the message board. Everyone brings in a wrapped gift and sets it on a table. Then at the beginning of the story everyone goes and picks out a present off the table. Then you sit in a circle. You read the story and there are the words right and left in it. Everytime a direction is said you have to pass your present to that direction. At the end of the story you keep the present that you have in your lap.

I thought that was a neater way of exchanging a 5.00 gift for christmas and it puts some fun into it.

My scale is down today so I am having a great day. I wanted to go to the buffet last night but I didn't go. I am so glad today that I didn't go. I ended up telling my husband that I would rather lose weight then go to the buffet and gain more. So we didn't go. It paid off because my scale is back down again. I will have a loss this week for sure.

Have a great day everyone.

Sherri

Good Morning Everyone,

Sherri....I have another good site for you. www.aicr.org . They have lots of good information for programs and healthy eating. I went to a lecture on healthy eating this morning and talked to the dietician. She had a wheel, similar to a color wheel, only this was for foods and serving sizes. It was excellent. She got it from the american institute of cancer research. I looked them up on line and saw all the free booklets and then called 1-800-843-8114 and was told that 2 of the wheels are free and that more would be .50 cents each. I told her that I wanted them for TOPS, which was a non-profit weight loss support group and she is going to send me a few more without charge. I thought these would be good to give out when we need some small prizes.

Coco....I like that idea of walking 100 miles in 100 days. I'm wondering how we could use that idea in TOPS. Like maybe challenge other chapters in our area. I may talk to our area captain about it. Can you tell us more about it.

Wendy...Did you get the new puppy? What kind is it?

As for me..I did okay over the weekend. I didn't show a gain this morning and I am motivated to stick with it this week.
My friends step son got out of the hospital, they just needed to change one of his meds a little. So, now he is driving her to the hospital everyday again, which is good. She really needs the support that he gives her.

Hope everyone has a good day and always believe in your ability to succeed. If we really believe that we can, we will succeed in reaching our goal.

Nita

well good morning-afternoon.
Sherri-you are awesome, great job on not going to the buffet. you will do great.
Thanks for the sites. I'm sure we will use them.
Nita-yes we got the puppy. Her name is now KC. that's it. She is yellow lab, and golden retriver mixed. Already potty trained. She is going/is awesome.

Everyone hi-hope all is going well with you. Not sure what tonight will bring. Had a fun night on sat. and may pay for it tonight. I'm trying to get my water in.
Brandon is sick. running a temp. of 101.8
so we are home. I hope he feels better tomorrow. Can't get him to go to sleep. And he is really tired. Really not much more going on here.

Hello all Thanks for the sites. I will check them out in a minute.
I noticed some are putting the position they hold on their signature. That is not a bad idea. actually I like it.
Today was ok. I have been on this thing since I got home And I still have to do Richard. I wish my new tapes come soon.
I ate way too much over the weekend so I am hoping for a turtle by being good the rest of the week.
I can not go to any buffets . I can not control myself and always eat enough for 2 or 3 people. So I have to stay away.
We have a bingo game that is made up of food servings. It helps people to see what a serving should be.
Wendy Congrats on new dog. Hope your little boys is feeling better. When the little ones are sick no one gets a lot of rest.
Well I hope everyone is ok. I have to rush. I have a lot to get done

Hi Everybody
Sounds as if everyone had a pretty good weekend. Mine was ok.
I start to post once. Hit the wrong button and lost it. So now I have to start over.
Had to run today. Took our pup to the groomers today. She looks so cute. They cute her a little to short though. Then hubby and I went to the DMV to get new license for the camper. Then went to Aldi's. Went to KFC. Had the chicken strip meal. Which is about the best thing there. If I figured my points right. Went back and got the pup. Then went of Office Max. Had to get ink for our printer. Then went to KMart. I am proud of myself. The only bad food I got was lunch cakes for my sons bucket. He takes his lunch to school everyday. But I bought enough for 2 weeks. That way I know that I can't have any. Because I need them for him.
Shortstack. Congrats on the puppy. How old is he/she?
Flgal Thanks for the info about the booklets and food wheels. I will check them out sometime.
Sherri Sounds as if you are back on track. Go going girl. You can do it. Thanks for all the info you gave today also. I will have to check out the TOPS site. One time I thought about the chat site. But I think you have to pay for that. I will have to check again. But I will check out the other things.
To everyone else. HI!! Hope you all have a good week.
Well I better get off here. Need to get ready to go to the Cancer meeting. We meet twice a month. And tonight is the night.
Everyone have a good evening.
A TOPS PAL

Nita,

I am glad you friend's step son is out of the hospital and doing well. That is great.
Sounds like you didn't do too bad over the weekend.
You were a leader last year maybe you can share some of your ideas with us so we can incorporate them into our chapters at home. I am sure you had a lot of great ideas and still do. Did you like being leader?

Wendy,

How is brandon feeling? Better I hope. I hope the fever came down. How did weigh in go tonight. You are doing great. You just keep up the great work and you will have a loss next week.
How did it go finding gift certificate donators today?

Eleni,

The bingo game is a neat idea. I like it. As for your eating. You always eat out all weekend and you still have a loss. Get back on track tomorrow lady and remember to drink a lot of water. I am with you on the buffets. I was doing great but it was for lunch. Now going there for dinner is a whole other story.

Just eat at home and keep pacing the floor at work for exercise and get busy with richard. You will do fine this week and come in with a loss of some kind.

CoCo,

How was your meeting tonight? Is it a support group you go to for that?
Sounds like you had a busy day. Great job on only getting enough of the lunch cakes for your sons lunch. Now don't you be sneaking into them you hear.
Keep up the great work. How did your weekend go? Did you stay on track?
Let us know. I hope you enjoy the sites I told you about. You will learn a lot.
Didn't you get elected for a position this year? If so put it as part of your signature. All you do is go into edit profile and type it in the signature box.

I have another idea for great prizes for your chapter. I spent like 2 hours on the phone today calling area businesses to ask if they donate gift certificates to non profit groups. I found some that will.

Some of the great gift certificates are:

1 night stay for 2 at a hotel. (This is the hotel where the SRD is being held this year)

1-2 night stay at a resort for 2

Hair retail product from a beauty salon

1 mineral bath at the spa

a make over from a beauty school for 1

2 free passes to a movie at a theater/grille

complimentary dinner for 2 at a very fancy hotel/resteraunt

Some type of gift certificate from a gym. They haven't told me yet what it will be. Hopefully a one month free membership for someone.

10 free tanning visits at a beauty shop

These are the ones that I know for sure I am getting. I am working on more. Like possibly a gift certificate from a nursery for plants or flowers or something for the spring time. A free massage or hair cut, manicure, pedicure. Anything that will make us feel great.

I don't know how we will give these prizes away. But I am very excited because first off they are great prizes to give away and they didn't cost the chapter any money. Second it beats a dollar store item. Next hopefully having such great gifts will motivate more people to lose weight in order to win these gifts. If I get more it will be great.
One idea to do with these gifts are to wrap up the gift certificates in a box then put them in a basket. We want to start having a tops member of the month. We can then let them chose a prize out of the basket and they will receive one of the above gift certificates.
Then when we have contests we can award, a months free dues, a get of fines free month pass, or other prizes.

I figure the more places I call and the more donated prizes I get the better off the group will be for prizes. Remember this does take time to call all these places. You never know if they will donate or not. So you have to be patient and keep trying. But also remember it is free and you are saving the chapter money on prizes and they will definetly motivate people.

Also the other idea I had today was this. If you want to bring in new members then maybe you can start a referral program with the members. Like if you sign up a new member then you get one month of free dues. So kind of incentive to get others to bring in people. I don't know if it will work but it can't hurt to try.
Or if you can't get people to do programs then maybe you can do the same for presenting a program. Or you could give them a charm.
As you can tell I did a lot of thinking today. I have been so excited about all the prizes I had donated to our chapter and you can do the same.

I hope someone gets something out of some of these ideas. That is why I posted them.

I have not been hungry all day but tonight I can't seem to get full. I am so hungry. Tomorrow is another day.

Have a great night everyone.

Sherri

I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to post before tonight. I gained again this week-2.75 pounds. I'll do better next time I weigh-in. This will be my last weight report until April 8th. I will be leaving for my vacation on Friday.