Back in Feb. 2009 I organized a weight loss competition with six of my fellow co-workers. I was interested in doing this because I felt that I would be more likely to succeed if I felt accountable to people I knew and respected (I didn’t want to lose $50 either but hey…) I orginally got the idea to do this from this article in the NYTimes. Over the course of three months we lost over 60lbs (and one person dropped out.) It turns out weight loss competitions are a pretty popular way to get in shape and stay motivated online. One of the more popular transformation contests is run by Turbulence Training. I recommend checking it out if you are looking for extra encouragement and accountability.
Running your own contest with a group of friends and family is pretty simple and straightforward. All you need is agreed upon standards for what constitutes winning. Here are two examples of the emails I used:
“The weightloss bet
As a member or friend of our department, you probably know many of us enjoy a wager or two. Usually our wagers leave us poor and worse for wear not healthy, fit, and devastating attractive. Until –
THE WEIGHTLOSS BET
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/health/nutrition/05fitness.html?em
That’s right, crunching carrots and lifting weights is boring – but losing weight, beating a co-worker (Sleeman – cough), and the chance to win money? Well now that’s the kind of opportunity you’d be a fool to turn down.
This is what I propose – unlike the competitions described in the New York Times – I think we should not use pounds lost or Body Mass Index as our standard. Losing healthy body mass is not ideal and if you are already skinny, well then you couldn’t play. I think the best method is a competition based on fat lost (who needs it?) and muscle gained (even you skinny!).
Interested? Let me know and I will get you on the list. (Know anyone else who wants to play? More women couldn’t hurt.) More details to follow.
What do you have to lose? Oh that’s right nothing – because I’ll be bringing in the brownies on Monday sucker! ”
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Here’s the plan
This is the plan as I see it -
We start Friday Feb 20th. This gives everyone two weeks to plan, pork up, buy groceries, etc. We do a group weight-in and body fat check (melvy has a device – all we need is something reasonably accurate and consistent.) This will be done individually in our storage room so no one has to see your stats. I realise some people don’t care who knows what and that’s fine – but other people don’t necessarily want that to be public knowledge. Right now my plan is to take down everyone’s info and manage it. I hope that works for everyone. Your statistics will be based on the following – % lean body mass and % body fat. These are our two categories. Lean body mass = weight – pounds fat. Every two weeks you will come in and I will calculate whether your lean body mass has increased or decreased and by what percentage. Same will go for body fat. I will then rank people in each category and post the percentages. This way you can see where you stand.
The idea I have right now is for the contest to run three months – each month we will have a winner for each category – a small prize of some sort will be given out. At the end of three months we will have a winner for each category and this will result in the main prize. $50 sounds like the right amount to put in per person. Alvin Smith is in charge of the money.
Did I miss anything? ”
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