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MyFitnessPal Community

"Biggest loser" type challenge question...

jessica182517

My family is wanting to all pitch in some money each month and have a winner every month for weight loss and getting healthy type challenge. I'm trying to put together a challenge group for us but we are all at such a wide range of weight loss goals so I'm trying to come up with a better way to pick a winner each month. I was thinking bf% but I wanted to ask here to see if anyone had any better ideas?

Replies

livingleanlivingclean

Bf would be hard to determine.... What about just % of weight lost?

Orphia

I second % of weight lost.

Also, if you can get everyone to use the same fitness app, give points for the number of workouts or steps done.

Rhayes38

I would go with tape measurements of the waist and possibly other areas. Sometimes it appears that you're not losing much weight but it could be that you've added some muscle whilst working out

Bigbenny2037

I know NOTHING about anything but here was an idea i had when i read this post:

No matter the method of weight loss how about make the reward something that rewards "the winner" but everyone also gets to share in it. That way you can use BF% or % of weight loss but at the end of the day everyone wins as long as everyone is participating but still gives some kind of incentive.

livingleanlivingclean

ObeseNoMoreFeasts wrote: »

I know NOTHING about anything but here was an idea i had when i read this post:

No matter the method of weight loss how about make the reward something that rewards "the winner" but everyone also gets to share in it. That way you can use BF% or % of weight loss but at the end of the day everyone wins as long as everyone is participating but still gives some kind of incentive.

If you had the opportunity to win $5 or $100 in a competition, which one would you try hardest in? Technically, everyone wins regardless of the end result as they have probably all lost weight and made steps towards becoming healthier... I think the results would be better overall if there was a bigger incentive for the one winner at the end

lowjax75

I have run about 8 of these and they have all been based on % of weight loss. I'm starting a new one on Jan 1st. Each person posts an initial weigh-in, then weighs in each week after that. Just calculate the % lost for each week and then do the final calculation at the end. We have biggest losers each week and then the final one which wins the grand prize. The winner gets 70% of the total pot (each person pays in $20), 2nd place gets 20%, and then the last 10% goes to someone who has weighed in each week. That last 10% is a bit of a reward for people to not give-up when someone shoots out to a big lead 1/2 way through the competition.

It's a bit of math, but once you get an excel spreadsheet setup, it is really pretty simple. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any additional questions.

Silentpadna

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

Bf would be hard to determine.... What about just % of weight lost?

This is probably the best idea, however, I would have a caveat in there. Because losing weight too quickly can be very unhealthy and achieve the opposite of what you are trying to do, how about setting a target % (edit: without going too much over)? If it were me I would hate to incentivize somebody to crash diet.

Not trying to rain on anybody's parade of course, because the goal of getting healthy together is, uh, healthy. Perhaps adding some sort of physical ability improvement in some area would balance it out? (Like improving your cardio endurance, or improving your weight lifting ability, or body weight exercise....something like that).

lorrpb

BF % is notoriously unreliable if measured by scales or other BIA device. Although percentage is very popular, I personally don't care for it because it is skewed based on weight and where someone is in the weight loss process.
How about everyone sets their own personal goal. Everyone who meets their goal gets entered in a drawing. Then draw a winner of the prize.

beaglady

There is a biggest loser challenge starting on January 8 at my work. It’s based on percentage of body weight lost over 12 weeks.

As someone who has been losing very slowly for the past year and a half, my first reaction was annoyance that it would reward an unhealthy rate of loss. Then I realized that there are 3 cash prizes for women, and only 3 or 4 other participants, and I’m intending to lose anyway, so I signed up.

LiminalAscendance

ObeseNoMoreFeasts wrote: »

I know NOTHING about anything but here was an idea i had when i read this post:

No matter the method of weight loss how about make the reward something that rewards "the winner" but everyone also gets to share in it. That way you can use BF% or % of weight loss but at the end of the day everyone wins as long as everyone is participating but still gives some kind of incentive.

Everyone wins.

Welcome to the new mediocracy.

jessica182517

Thank you everyone for the advice!! I definitely like the idea of weight% lost rather than bf% makes it a little easier. I also like the idea of having maybe a second place winner for "commitment" so first place could get like 75% of the $ for having the most weight loss % but second place would get the other 25% and that could be everyone who has completed all the weekly and daily challenges and put 100% effort in daily would be put into a random drawing for the rest. Because like posted above not everyone can lose quickly so that makes it a little more focused to not just weight loss BUT being consistent in getting healthy and not giving up if you goal isn't met.

ladyhusker39

I'm not a proponent of these type of challenges because fast weight loss is so often unhealthy or unsustainable especially over the long run.

Why not do something that encourages losing weight in a safer/healthier way. Like maybe have a pot that everyone contributes to. Then have everyone participating set a reasonable, realistic and sustainable goal for the end of the period. Everyone who achieves their personal goal splits the pot at the end.

Or anything along those lines.

Edited to add: I'd also add in some fitness goals like steps, etc to encourage more physical activity not just strictly weight loss.

Bigbenny2037

Yea you guys make some fair points all good sorry all

ashharris424

Nutrishop does challenges like this all the time. They have an InBody machine in their stores that measures muscle mass, body fat, water weight, etc. With their challenges, you get 1 point for every pound of muscle gained, 1 point for every pound of fat lost and 1 point for each percentage of body fat lost. You can go to the InBody website to see if there's any stores or gyms with their machines in them. They're free to use.

paperpudding

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

ObeseNoMoreFeasts wrote: »

I know NOTHING about anything but here was an idea i had when i read this post:

No matter the method of weight loss how about make the reward something that rewards "the winner" but everyone also gets to share in it. That way you can use BF% or % of weight loss but at the end of the day everyone wins as long as everyone is participating but still gives some kind of incentive.

If you had the opportunity to win $5 or $100 in a competition, which one would you try hardest in? Technically, everyone wins regardless of the end result as they have probably all lost weight and made steps towards becoming healthier... I think the results would be better overall if there was a bigger incentive for the one winner at the end

I disagree with this logic for a family competition - Ive been in family challenges before (footy tipping games and the like, nothing to do with weight or health) and the prize doesnt have to be big at all to be incentivising - really the 'game ' is more fun than the prize itself.
You know ,the journey is the destination type thing.

Same with poster who thought it was mediocre if everybody wins -It's family, you want everyone to win, dont you - and nothing wrong with a prize that encompasses that whilst still haveing a winner

livingleanlivingclean

paperpudding wrote: »

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

ObeseNoMoreFeasts wrote: »

I know NOTHING about anything but here was an idea i had when i read this post:

No matter the method of weight loss how about make the reward something that rewards "the winner" but everyone also gets to share in it. That way you can use BF% or % of weight loss but at the end of the day everyone wins as long as everyone is participating but still gives some kind of incentive.

If you had the opportunity to win $5 or $100 in a competition, which one would you try hardest in? Technically, everyone wins regardless of the end result as they have probably all lost weight and made steps towards becoming healthier... I think the results would be better overall if there was a bigger incentive for the one winner at the end

I disagree with this logic for a family competition - Ive been in family challenges before (footy tipping games and the like, nothing to do with weight or health) and the prize doesnt have to be big at all to be incentivising - really the 'game ' is more fun than the prize itself.
You know ,the journey is the destination type thing.

Same with poster who thought it was mediocre if everybody wins -It's family, you want everyone to win, dont you - and nothing wrong with a prize that encompasses that whilst still haveing a winner

I disagree with this logic for a weight loss competition, when the individual's effort determines the outcome. If there was no definitive winner, every one could just bumble along and not put in a great effort because "everyone wins" - if there's a substantial gain from being the winner, you put in more effort (and technically everyone would win in that respect).... By golly I'd be putting in more effort to make sure I beat everyone else!

musicfan68

How about something entirely different - everyone contribute money each month, everyone set a reasonable weight loss goal for say 6 months, 1 year (or however long you want) and at the end those that reached their goal all go on a family vacation? It would encourage everyone to work hard, also wouldn't make one person feel like they have to lose more weight than is healthy, and it would be something fun at the end when people have reached their goal.

paperpudding

No livingleanliving I wasnt suggesting not having a definitive winner - just that in family competitions the prize does not have be higher to be incentive.

and being family, a prize shared by all eg a night out whereby winner gets shouted out and is guest of honour, could be a good prize, not mediocre because everyone wins.

livingleanlivingclean

paperpudding wrote: »

No livingleanliving I wasnt suggesting not having a definitive winner - just that in family competitions the prize does not have be higher to be incentive.

and being family, a prize shared by all eg a night out whereby winner gets shouted out and is guest of honour, could be a good prize, not mediocre because everyone wins.

Haha - that's not a shared prize though, which is how I interpreted the original comment. Nor does the prize need to be higher because it's family - there just needs to be an actual winner, with a prize to that winner.

paperpudding

Well it sort of is a shared prize, everyone gets to enjoy an evening out together - but anyway was not suggesting not having a definitive winner so seems we are not too much on different pages with this.

PS I meant shouted out as in everyone else pays for winners evening - just in case 'shout' used as such is not common language elsewhere, I sometimes forget about slang being parochial.

PaulaWallaDingDong

I do one of these at work twice a year (both administering and participating). It's a 12-week challenge. Everyone weighs in at the beginning and the end on the same scale. Participants get prizes based on the % of their initial weigh-in that they lost. The brackets are 4% ($5), 7% ($75) and 10% ($100).

Then to prevent yo-yoing, if you join the next challenge, the % goes down and the prizes go up, BUT your initial weigh-in is automatically your final weight from the last challenge. So you have to maintain your loss in between or else have a lot of damage to undo in order to win another prize. Subsequent prizes are 3% ($100) 5% ($200) and 7% ($300).

It's company sponsored and we don't pay into it, so obviously you'd have to figure out your own prize structure.

tess5036

How about ball setting a goal at the beginning of the month, and use the pot for a day/night out for every one who meets their goal