Hi L.D. and Sharina! Glad to have you guys. That makes 8 players. Hmmm... that may be enough for 2 teams, but I'll have to switch some things up since it seems like most (if not all?) of us would rather focus on losing body fat than lbs. But that's fine. I'm still hoping a few more of my buddies will join us, and there's still plenty of time, since we're not officially starting for a while still.

A few things I'd like for y'all to do before we get started (if you haven't done them already):

Start drinking lots of water. Aim for 1 glass for every 20 lbs of body weight. My goal is 7 glasses per day, but I usually drink around 100 oz. I sweat a LOT when I work out, and I feel like I need that much to stay hydrated. We're gonna be doing a lot of sweating during this challenge, so I'd like for everyone to be well-hydrated.

Start walking. I'd like for each of us to build up our speed and endurance during this challenge. I realize that a lot of you that have signed up so far are already avid exercisers, so I doubt this really applies, BUT everyone has room for improvement. I'm just saying, if you're not active, start getting active now, because I want even beginners to be jogging by the end of this challenge. And for those who are already active, who knows? Maybe we'll be in marathon shape at the end of this. I personally would sure LOVE that.

Stop buying junk food. I don't know what you have in your cabinets right now, and far be it from me to suggest to anyone to throw perfectly good food away. At the same time, please try to be sure that any junk food you may have accumulated in your pantry is no longer there by the start of this challenge. Sure, we all need the occasional treat, but it'll be so much easier to succeed at our lofty goals if we don't have a gallon of ice cream in the freezer tempting us, or if those chocolate chip cookies aren't staring us in the face every time we walk into the kitchen. It'll be a lot easier if you have plenty of fresh fruits and veggies on hand.

Just some suggestions. You can take them or leave them, and most of you probably didn't need me to say that stuff cuz you've already done it. I just think those are some really important keys to success, and what kind of person would I be if I didn't throw them out there?