starting a 6 week challenge at the gym.

When I first got fed up with my weight I used this website and app to lose 70 pounds. It has been about 3 or 4 years since I hit 215 pounds and I have yet to really dip far below that. I fell for one of those targeted Facebook ads for a local crossfit gym who is having a 6 week challenge. What made me choose this gym over another is the level of accountability. If I fail to hit what I consider to be a reasonable goal of losing 25 pounds I am out $500. They furnish us with a diet plan and you are required to send pictures of your weekly grocery bill so they know you are doing as you should.

Tomorrow is my official weigh in and the challenge begins June 25th. I am holding myself accountable by not purposely gaining as I enter the challenge. I am sitting at 216 which is right around the lowest I have been in a few months.

I am using this challenge as a jump start to a huge loss. At the weigh in tomorrow they will test my body fat percentage with a handheld device. They want to track lean gains along as well as weight loss. Since those devices are not known to be super accurate I got a Dex scan done today since it is the most accurate way to measure bodyfat percentage.

My results were shocking to say the least. 33.1% bodyfat.

Anyways, I will be updating this often for posterity and in case anyone was interested in what its like to be involved in one of these challenges.

One fun fact about the Dex scan. Next time I hear someone say they are "big boned" I will be able to laugh in their face. I am 5'11" and all my bones combined only weigh 7.6 pounds.

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Replies

  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    Can you get a refund before the start date? 25 pounds is not a reasonable goal in that time period.

    I didn't even take notice of how quick the weight loss needed to be. Yikes. They are not promoting long term health but I am guessing they don't want the goal to be overly achievable as they make more money that way.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    Can you get a refund before the start date? 25 pounds is not a reasonable goal in that time period.

    This or see if you can set a more realistic goal. Like half of your current one.
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
    edited June 2018

    .
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    It's scammy in the sense that they know you're probably not going to be able to lose that weight in that time. I actually think I was seeing these same ads for "local" crossfit gym challenges. I told Facebook to hide them.
  • Billy323
    Billy323 Posts: 182 Member
    Something else that merits mention here. The other guy who was at the initial sales pitch with me was pretty lean so they tailored the challenge to his needs and his goal is to gain lean mass. Anyhoo, follow along and see how I do. I will update often with a weekly weigh in and measurements.
  • PaulChasinDreams
    PaulChasinDreams Posts: 439 Member
    Billy323 wrote: »
    When I first got fed up with my weight I used this website and app to lose 70 pounds. It has been about 3 or 4 years since I hit 215 pounds and I have yet to really dip far below that. I fell for one of those targeted Facebook ads for a local crossfit gym who is having a 6 week challenge. What made me choose this gym over another is the level of accountability. If I fail to hit what I consider to be a reasonable goal of losing 25 pounds I am out $500. They furnish us with a diet plan and you are required to send pictures of your weekly grocery bill so they know you are doing as you should.

    Tomorrow is my official weigh in and the challenge begins June 25th. I am holding myself accountable by not purposely gaining as I enter the challenge. I am sitting at 216 which is right around the lowest I have been in a few months.

    I am using this challenge as a jump start to a huge loss. At the weigh in tomorrow they will test my body fat percentage with a handheld device. They want to track lean gains along as well as weight loss. Since those devices are not known to be super accurate I got a Dex scan done today since it is the most accurate way to measure bodyfat percentage.

    My results were shocking to say the least. 33.1% bodyfat.

    Anyways, I will be updating this often for posterity and in case anyone was interested in what its like to be involved in one of these challenges.

    One fun fact about the Dex scan. Next time I hear someone say they are "big boned" I will be able to laugh in their face. I am 5'11" and all my bones combined only weigh 7.6 pounds.

    I think you may be reading or interpreting something incorrectly on your Dexa scan. I get them every couple months. Your full skeleton should weigh somewhere between 13 to 15% of your total mass. If you are 215 lbs then your skeleton should come in at around 30 lbs.

    If you are going to be doing Dexa to try to keep track of fat loss and lean gains make absolutely sure your hydration level is the same every time you do it. Keep in mind this isn't easy to know exactly how hydrated you are comparing each time but the one thing that affects Dexa the most is the amount of water you have in your system or the lack of it. Also make sure you inquire with the people who own the Dexa whether or not the machine was calibrated for women or men. They will have different results if it was calibrated for a women and then you get on it to be scanned. Some places I have found out don't ever re calibrate them so those are some considerations you may want to know about.

  • 100_PROOF_
    100_PROOF_ Posts: 1,168 Member
    Billy323 wrote: »
    When I first got fed up with my weight I used this website and app to lose 70 pounds. It has been about 3 or 4 years since I hit 215 pounds and I have yet to really dip far below that. I fell for one of those targeted Facebook ads for a local crossfit gym who is having a 6 week challenge. What made me choose this gym over another is the level of accountability. If I fail to hit what I consider to be a reasonable goal of losing 25 pounds I am out $500. They furnish us with a diet plan and you are required to send pictures of your weekly grocery bill so they know you are doing as you should.

    Tomorrow is my official weigh in and the challenge begins June 25th. I am holding myself accountable by not purposely gaining as I enter the challenge. I am sitting at 216 which is right around the lowest I have been in a few months.

    I am using this challenge as a jump start to a huge loss. At the weigh in tomorrow they will test my body fat percentage with a handheld device. They want to track lean gains along as well as weight loss. Since those devices are not known to be super accurate I got a Dex scan done today since it is the most accurate way to measure bodyfat percentage.

    My results were shocking to say the least. 33.1% bodyfat.

    Anyways, I will be updating this often for posterity and in case anyone was interested in what its like to be involved in one of these challenges.

    One fun fact about the Dex scan. Next time I hear someone say they are "big boned" I will be able to laugh in their face. I am 5'11" and all my bones combined only weigh 7.6 pounds.

    I think you may be reading or interpreting something incorrectly on your Dexa scan. I get them every couple months. Your full skeleton should weigh somewhere between 13 to 15% of your total mass. If you are 215 lbs then your skeleton should come in at around 30 lbs.

    If you are going to be doing Dexa to try to keep track of fat loss and lean gains make absolutely sure your hydration level is the same every time you do it. Keep in mind this isn't easy to know exactly how hydrated you are comparing each time but the one thing that affects Dexa the most is the amount of water you have in your system or the lack of it. Also make sure you inquire with the people who own the Dexa whether or not the machine was calibrated for women or men. They will have different results if it was calibrated for a women and then you get on it to be scanned. Some places I have found out don't ever re calibrate them so those are some considerations you may want to know about.

    I know this is off topic but how are you able to edit your posts after the one hour mark? It is something with the app version rather than logging on from my browser?
    I was just curious because sometimes I wish to edit my posts later on ( example like if I try to make a joke and see that nobody else got it or someone took me seriously, I may want to edit much later then the one hour)
    It seems like your able to edit your posts repeatedly but yet I haven't found a way?
  • 100_PROOF_
    100_PROOF_ Posts: 1,168 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    100_PROOF_ wrote: »
    Billy323 wrote: »
    When I first got fed up with my weight I used this website and app to lose 70 pounds. It has been about 3 or 4 years since I hit 215 pounds and I have yet to really dip far below that. I fell for one of those targeted Facebook ads for a local crossfit gym who is having a 6 week challenge. What made me choose this gym over another is the level of accountability. If I fail to hit what I consider to be a reasonable goal of losing 25 pounds I am out $500. They furnish us with a diet plan and you are required to send pictures of your weekly grocery bill so they know you are doing as you should.

    Tomorrow is my official weigh in and the challenge begins June 25th. I am holding myself accountable by not purposely gaining as I enter the challenge. I am sitting at 216 which is right around the lowest I have been in a few months.

    I am using this challenge as a jump start to a huge loss. At the weigh in tomorrow they will test my body fat percentage with a handheld device. They want to track lean gains along as well as weight loss. Since those devices are not known to be super accurate I got a Dex scan done today since it is the most accurate way to measure bodyfat percentage.

    My results were shocking to say the least. 33.1% bodyfat.

    Anyways, I will be updating this often for posterity and in case anyone was interested in what its like to be involved in one of these challenges.

    One fun fact about the Dex scan. Next time I hear someone say they are "big boned" I will be able to laugh in their face. I am 5'11" and all my bones combined only weigh 7.6 pounds.

    I think you may be reading or interpreting something incorrectly on your Dexa scan. I get them every couple months. Your full skeleton should weigh somewhere between 13 to 15% of your total mass. If you are 215 lbs then your skeleton should come in at around 30 lbs.

    If you are going to be doing Dexa to try to keep track of fat loss and lean gains make absolutely sure your hydration level is the same every time you do it. Keep in mind this isn't easy to know exactly how hydrated you are comparing each time but the one thing that affects Dexa the most is the amount of water you have in your system or the lack of it. Also make sure you inquire with the people who own the Dexa whether or not the machine was calibrated for women or men. They will have different results if it was calibrated for a women and then you get on it to be scanned. Some places I have found out don't ever re calibrate them so those are some considerations you may want to know about.

    I know this is off topic but how are you able to edit your posts after the one hour mark? It is something with the app version rather than logging on from my browser?
    I was just curious because sometimes I wish to edit my posts later on ( example like if I try to make a joke and see that nobody else got it or someone took me seriously, I may want to edit much later then the one hour)
    It seems like your able to edit your posts repeatedly but yet I haven't found a way?

    I noticed this as well. I thought maybe it was a glitch in the forum software and I was going to start a thread about it in Feedback/Support to make sure MFP staff was aware of it, but after checking some of my own posts it seems that the standard/usual 60 minute edit window is still in place - at least for me. Weird. Maybe it only happens sometimes.

    No, it's not just sometimes because I noticed it with the same user before. So I'm thinking he knows of a way to do it. Maybe he's using the app? I just recently returned to mfp but was a member back in 2011 so a lot has changed and I'm still getting the hang of the new layouts here. I'm not privy to the tricks on how to use it all properly yet.

    I think a new thread about it would be a good idea though because I don't want to derail this thread and cause even more confusion. I'm just curious though because there's been many times that I really would have liked to go back and edit. ( I have an odd sense of humor lol)
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    Billy323 wrote: »
    Completed my first workout yesterday. It was an intense full body workout. The lack of long periods of rest between workouts turned it into a cardio session too. This is everything I hoped it would be. I think the first week will not show a huge loss on the scale as my muscles refill with glycogen that I depleted from my low calorie diet. After that weight should be falling off.

    Official weigh ins are Mondays so I'll post my progress here too.

    Best of luck. One can do pretty much anything for 6 weeks if they put their mind to it. Hopefully it will jumpstart your efforts to get to your desired weight and you can learn diet/techniques to stay there.