Svelte Challenge

A dinner with Zara last night had her asking, "what is a Summer of Svelte"? Well, Zara, here's your answer. About a month ago, I received this email from Liz:
In two to three business days your cushy lifestyle of eating apple pie in bed and watching the cats play tennis will end. You will be faced with the ultimate work out challenge: The Summer of Svelte -- a 15 week cardio, fat burning, muscle building contest.
Because the stakes are high (as many as 15 free drinks and possible bonus svelte challenge prizes), start stretching now, drinking lots of water and recruiting challengers who you can take down one-by-one with your stunning athletic abilities.
To help you win and ensure you are on your A-game, you will receive an official svelte package in the mail any day. This kit -- a fashionable, fun and inspirational bag of goodies -- is yours for free and includes everything you need to get started.
Are you ready?
Remember: You can do this. You are a star of track and field.
My Summer of Svelte package? A mix cd, Shape magazine, jumprope and a progress chart with foil stars...all in a brand new gym bag. I recruited Nora to be my local competitor and we've had 3 "challenges" so far. Week 1 was to do 10 pushups per day. I failed because I got a terrible cold that made it so I could only watch movies listlessly in front of the fan. Week 2 was to take the stairs whenever possible. This was good in theory, but the door to the stairs on the first floor of my office is locked, so that didn't really work. Week 3 was last week-- the 4th of July week. The goal that week was to just somehow counterbalance a week's worth of beer and hotdogs and break even at the end. This week's Challenge is to eat the FDA's suggested 5-7 servings of fruits and veggies per day. A food challenge, that's practically fun! Nora's response?
I feel sorry for anyone who goes against me in this challenge. Know why?! Because I'm a vegetarian and obsessed with fruits/veggies :)
In fact, I almost fell off of my chair when I found out how much Liz hates salads because I love them so much.
So far, so good. I've definitely had to up my intake. At 11 pm the other night I prepared strawberries and whipped cream.