“The perfect way to get motivated on the path to wellness.”
Dr. Mehmet Oz, reflecting upon the Game On! Diet
Object of the Game: To score as many points as possible. At the end of the game, the team with the
most points wins!
What do they win? We will decide this as a group when we do the kick off meeting – many people
pony up a dollar amount and that becomes prize money, others win home made prizes or fake-o
trophies. Think about what might be motivating, and bring those thoughts to our kickoff meeting.
How the Game On! Diet Works: Assemble teams of 3 or 4 people, pick a team scorekeeper to collate
and report your points, and play the game for 4 weeks. These teammates can be ISTE colleagues or
outside players that you feel are worth including. We are targeting May 4 – June 1. Each week starts
on a Wednesday. Sounds simple enough, right?! There is a bit more to it than that, but it’s fun!
Here’s an excerpt (and a bit more) taken from the Game On Diet book by Krista Vernoff and Az
Ferguson to give you a better idea of what’s in store for you should you commit.
Keeping Score
Scoring is kept on the honors system. It’s not about guilt or feeling bad if you don’t get all the points
possible, it’s a guide to keep you motivated and a scaffold to set new habits. You keep track on the
spreadsheet I have attached in this email, and each week, you turn it into a designated team
scorekeeper. Only the team cumulative point score is shared and your team will have the choice of
appending names to their teams or just use a team name to the game organizer (that would be Jayne
and she will honor your privacy). In fairness, you have to have real people as team members. 
A perfect day is worth 100 points. A perfect day includes:
 30 meal points. You earn 6 points per each of the five, sanctioned meal times – you can use
their recommended meal ideas or a diet plan of your own. If your diet plan is different from
five meals, yet you follow your diet’s rules, then you get full points. No snacks between
meals unless they are cucumber slices or celery. (I’m not making this stuff up!) Here’s the
link to their food management plan:
http://www.thegameondiet.com/templates/tgod/images/food_chart-5-1.pdf
 20 exercise points. You earn your exercise points by doing some form of exercise for 20
minutes per day.
 10 water points. You earn your water points by drinking three liters of water per day – I
believe that is about 12.5 cups.
 15 sleep points. You earn your sleep points by sleeping for a minimum of seven hours a
night.
 20 transformation points. You earn 10 points a day for practicing a new healthy habit and
another 10 points for eliminating one unhealthy old habit.
 5 communication points. You earn your communication points by being in contact with at
least one teammate and one opponent each day. (Phone call, emails and text messages
count. I am thinking that I may set up a Google site where we could leave group comments.
Exceptions
Each week, each player gets one meal off in addition to one day off. The meal off and day off may
be taken at any time during a given week. They may not be saved and carried over in later weeks.
Your day off includes a respite from all rules. This respite may be spread throughout the week (i.e.
Monday can be your water day off, Tuesday can be your baits day off, Wednesday can be your sleep
day off, etc; or you can take one whole day off from everything and still record your points.).
Bonus Points
You can also earn a 10-point bonus each week by turning in your scores to your team’s scorekeeper
by a designated time (e.g. noon on Monday).
In addition, each week, a bonus equaling 20 percent of your points earned for the week is awarded
for losing one percent of your body weight. (Note: if weight loss is not a goal for you, you must set
yourself a fitness goal for which you will win your bonus points and inform your teammates and
opponents in advance of beginning the game).
Penalties
There is a 10-point snacking penalty for snacking between meals. I say we just deduct 10 points for
the day even if you snack a couple of times – in the end, your body will be responding to how much
you snack,
There is a 20-point collusion penalty. If any player suggests to any other player a compromise of
integrity, e.g. saying to an opponent, “If I eat a snack and you eat a snack, then we both lost points
and it all balances out!” the player suggestion the compromise loses 20 points.
There is a 25-point per portion alcohol penalty. A portion equals any amount of alcohol up to 6
ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor. One portion of alcohol may be
consumed freely on the day off.
Tie-Breakers
In the unlikely case of a tie, the game goes to the team with the highest number of 100-point days.
Why Play the Game?
The book offers seven reasons of why people feel they are overweight and offers a way to get past
those reasons:
Reason #1: “I developed body issues early in life. The issues were unrelated to the actual condition of
my body.”
Breakout Idea: The game takes the focus off the “issues” and puts the focus on getting healthy,
winning points, and having fun.
Reason #2: “I formed very unhealthy food habits very early on in life.”
Breakout Idea: The game empowers you to replace those habits with happier, healthier habits (and
still have candy, salt or fat sometimes)!
Reason #3: “I tend to go in extremes – all or nothing!”
Breakout Idea: The game teaches and rewards balance.
Reason #4: “I have a very sneaky mind. I can justify almost any behavior and convince myself it has
health benefits.”
Breakout Idea: The game teachers and reinforces the body basics you need to make healthy, lifesustaining, weight-dropping, self-esteem building choices.
Reason #5: “I have become complacent, and complacency had led to laziness. I am unable to even
imagine a world in which exercise is a daily possibility.”
Breakout Idea: The game motivates you to come up with exercise time every day and teachers you
how to maximize the time you have.
Reason #6: “I have spent years lying to myself about my actual weight.”
Breakout Idea: The game asks you to dust off the scale and give yourself all the information. Having
all the information is empowering.
Reason #7: “I find dieting boring!”
Breakout Idea: The game is fun!
For more on the game, you can buy the book, or visit the website at
http://www.thegameondiet.com/.
Vernoff, K. and Ferguson, A. 2009. The game on! Diet: kick your friend’s butt while shrinking your
own. Harper. New York, NY.