Let the Games Begin

Now that everyone has weighed in and been told about the blog, all the communications about the competition are going to be centered here.

Everyone should now have been invited to be an author on the blog so feel free to post whatever you like. You can look back at the posts from the last competition to see how supportive we all were of each other.

So before all the "encouragement" begins, here is some of the information you probably want to know about how this all is going to work.

We have two divisions this time around: the Men and the Women. There are 5 men and 10 women competing and the prize for the winner of each division will be the buy in from the rest of their competitors. That means there's $250 up for grabs for the Men and $500 for the women.

So how does one win all this money? Well, the short answer is by losing the most fat of anyone in your division.

The long answer goes like this:
We've taken down everyone's weight and body fat % from a collection of different scales: two weight/body fat foot scales and one hand-held fat scale.

In order to get the participants official weight, we average the weight reading from the two foot scales.

To get the official fat %, we average the two foot scale numbers to get a lower body reading and then average that with the upper body reading (from the hand scale) to get the final body fat %.

Math types might like to see it like this: (((foot1 + foot2) / 2) + hand1) / 2

Everybody with me so far? It gets just a little more complicated...

What we're going to be comparing is actual fat weight, i.e. pounds of fat. Fat weight is just weight times fat %. Basically someone who weighs 200 pounds and is 10% fat is carrying 20 pounds of fat. That 20 pounds is what we're interested in losing.

We've already done all this work once and we'll do it all again at the end to come up with two numbers: initial fat weight and final fat weight.

To determine improvement, we get the percent difference between the two: (((initial - final) / initial) * 100%).

This last number, the percent difference, is used to determine the winner. Whoever loses the most fat wins, just like I said.

We'd like to post everyone's initial numbers up here on the site but if you aren't comfortable with that, just let me know either by email or by commenting on this post.

I think that's it (if you've even gotten this far) so, finally, good luck to all the losers!

Here is a body fat % chart...

Not sure if you'll be able to see this chart but apparently I fall into the OVERFAT category. How encouraging!

Weigh-in Weekend

It's time to get started!

All participants should weigh in this weekend either at the cottage on Saturday/Sunday or at the funeral home on Sunday/Monday.

We're going to to record weight, body fat using a foot scale, and body fat using a hand-held scale. How the final calculation is made is still up in the air but, similar to last year, it will be based on who loses the most body fat. We'll likely average the readings from the two fat scales to try and get a more accurate picture.

We'd also like to get everyone's entry fee ($50) when they weigh in, so have your money on hand.

Good luck!

Round 2

The challenge is gearing up for 2007... Watch this page for all the details!

Crowning the Biggest Loser!

Well, the eight weeks is finally over and now that we've all had some celebratory Dairy Queen, we'll be getting right back into those newly minted healthy habits.

In terms of the results, Cam took home the prize in astounding fashion by losing more then a third of what little fat he had to begin with. Doping allegation have already begun to fly...

The official results are below. Congratulations to everyone for showing off how big a loser you can be!

Name	Weight Loss (lbs)	Fat Loss (%)	% Weight Loss	% Fat Loss	Rank
Cam	12.5	6	7.84%	37.50%	1
JP	20.5	5	10.99%	27.78%	2
Barb	1	7	0.74%	21.21%	3
Andrew	17	4	7.91%	14.81%	4
Jamie	14.5	3	7.02%	13.64%	5
Kim	13	3	8.23%	8.33%	6
Stuart	2.5	1	1.32%	5.88%	7
Oliver	-1	1	-0.59%	4.55%	8
Wendy	13.5	1	8.91%	3.13%	9
Laura	7	1	4.08%	2.50%	10
Fatima	7	-1	4.52%	-2.78%	11

Some other stats of interest:

• Total pounds lost by all participants: 107.5
• Average pounds lost by each participant: 9.8
• Average pounds lost by each male participant: 11
• Average pounds lost by each female participant: 8.3

Now all we have to do is decide what the next competition will be... Thoughts?

we could use a dose of Montezuma's revenge about now....we went out yesterday to buy a new desk chair and came back with...well, alot more than that, and no desk chair. $550 is looking extra good!

Yikes!!

Early numbers coming in…….. Cam was %16 now %10Yikes!!!

like a fat kid on a smartie....

I have to admit, when this is all over, I'm going to miss it....
anyone in for double or nothing?

It's the Final Countdown...

Well this whole crazy thing is finally coming to a close. For most of you, there's only one week left but everyone is now less then two weeks from the final weigh-in.

Any thoughts on how this should go down? Should we keep all the results basically secret until the very end or post them as they come in?

Also, on the Thursday night when Laura and I weigh-in to officially end the competition, we were thinking that we should all get together at the funeral home for the prize presentation and quite possibly some gorging on Dairy Queen cake or Blizzards...

Don't worry JP, we can go roller-blading after that if you want.

A side of JP...

So, my family and I were enjoying a relaxing swim at the TLTC on Sunday night when JP and family showed up. Wow...I mean being proud of your body is one thing but neon is so 1980's!

I guess I should thank my lucky stars that the hairy gene skipped me!

You be the judge.

Jamie’s girlfriend (cant think of her name right now) was over on the weekend complaining that she couldn’t tell if she’d made any progress.Take a look at her before and after pics and you be the judge.

I found this picture in a box of old photos Jamie had, and, uh....

Thanks for not embarrassing me with that picture,,,, but I can tell you digitally altered it… I have WAY more hair then that… not to mention the acne.
p.s. Stu you can gain all the weight you want…. as long as it muscle.

because it's really funny

trip photos

cancer of the skin

well we are back in competition mode, after melting away the pounds in the Dominican. Thankfully all those mango daquiris i was drinking had no alcohol in them (false advertising...no wonder i wasn't getting drunk) or i may have packed on more pounds.
And someone please tell me how long until the family members remember who I am? I was the one at Stu and Sandra's wedding, remember?

True love of my life.

Ahh Meghan.... the one that got away... we'd have this thing wrapped up.

Almost dodged that bullet...

Thank goodness the prize for the couple that loses the most is up for debate! Protein shakes gone (horribly) wrong.
Hey Stu, subtle edit to your posting, too bad it came just a little too late!