Biggest Loser Contest? Nah! Get Fit Contest!

icecolecarl

6 Months ago I won a Biggest Loser contest at my job among 27 participants. ($20 entry fee) I lost 14% of my starting wiegh in weight (29 pounds) in 8 weeks. From day one I was confident I would win. Why? Because I knew if I pushed myself to do more cardio and reduce my calorie intake a little more than I normally would, I would lose enough weight in 3 to 4 weeks to discourage more than 75% of the participants to continue trying, since they would have hardly any shot at the grand prize. Kinda mean huh?? It was just down to 3 of us at the end. Everyone else seemed to pretty much give up. Well, I didn't like the way the contest was ran. It shouldn't be a winner take all. (Oh, 2nd was $40 and 3rd was $20...WOW! So it was like a winner take all contest) I hated that so many gave up and I started feeling like I was taking their money, which should not be the goal of the contest.
So I created my own contest with help from a co-worker. I call it the Get Fit Motivational contest where everyone recieves something at the end. It is $20 to join the goal is for every participant to lose 7% of their starting weigh in weight in 12 weeks. (A fairly attainable goal for most) At the end of the contest everyone who reaches the 7% goal splits the pot. So if all participants lost 7% or more, all would get their $20 back. So its not a winner take all contest, but a contest that encourages all participating to work towards the same goal. And to make things better, we took $5 out of each entry fee and purcased $5 Subway gift cards so that at the end of the contest everyone recieves a gift card whether they reach the 7% goal or not. There is no big pot winner here. We jave about 20 participants weigh in and it starts this week. I'm excited. That is, unless no one hits 7%... Ha, that won't happen!

aunt_hbomb

That's a great idea. A group of us are doing a biggest loser contest right now and it is a winner take all event. Some of us are talking about doing it again after the 8 weeks are up, but I think this might be the perfect altnerative. Especially since most of us have lost our initial water weight and the "losing" has begun to slow down.

Thanks for the inspiration.

spackham

Great idea! That is what it really should be all about! It's about exercise and eating well. I have thought about a contest to see who can go the longest without eating out. Or the longest to go without any type of dessert. I honestly cannot think of any harder goals for me. It makes losing weight EASY compared to THOSE goals.

icecolecarl

The great thing about this contest is that those who lose 6%, 5%, or 4% can still hold their heads up because at the end they still lost a percentage and it only cost them 15 bucks! Pounds they might not have lost by themselves. Now they can treat themselves to a Subway meal.