OK. Let's take a moment and talk about the strategy and philosophy of weight loss challenges. Most challenges are structured to reward those who lose the highest percentage of their body weight over a fixed period of time. Fairly simple. To calculate the percentage of weight lost you divide the total pounds lost by the participant by their starting weight. The idea of using the percentage of weight lost is it tends to be easier for larger individuals to lose more pounds.
So with this in mind, I have a weigh in today for a 10 week weight loss challenge - The Biggest Winner, which is part of the Las Vegas Corporate Challenge. I am actually the captain of a 5 person team representing my company. It is our combined percentage of weight loss, when measured against the other teams, that will determine or placement at the conclusion of the challenge. To prepare for this weigh in, I have been eating lots and today am adding in salty foods and drinking lots as well. By my estimation I will have added about 10 lbs. over where I was last week. Is it wrong to "stack" the deck like this for a challenge? Personally I think it falls into the realm of game play and have no doubt that other teams are doing exactly the same thing.
Right now I'm predicting my weigh in weight to be about
440 435 lbs. I will consider my competition to be a success if I can get below 400 over the next 10 weeks. Towards this end I will be tacking my progress here. Every Tuesday morning, I will weigh in and track how much weight I have lost both in lbs. and percentage of initial. My secret weapon will be that I am going to start walking and riding like a mad man. I have the Tour De Cure coming up next month and the 5k in May. All that training and exercise, along with maintain a strict accounting and adherence to a total calorie intake of 2000 per day will get me where I want to go.
By the Way, If you haven't done so, could you please support my effort to stop diabetes by donating to
my Tour De Cure ride? Every little bit helps!
Thank you.
Dan,
ReplyDeleteNothing like a challenge! And being part of a team puts that added pressure to keep on track. Good luck to you during the next 10 weeks. I hope you make your goal.
BTW have you seen Bill St. Onge's latest ride idea? From Michigan NW to the Arctic Circle. That guy is AMAZING.
Steve Z
Thanks Steve! I agree that being part of a team helps to keep one motivated and on track.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've been reading Bill's plans for his upcoming ride and I am blown away. Totally self-supported and basically living off his panniers and the land. WOW!
Dan