Biggest loser mistake?

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daniwilford
daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
A friend of mine suggested I join with some other ladies and do a biggest loser contest. We each paid an entry fee and then everyone who isn't one of the top two losers for the week pays a penalty. This week I lost a tiny bit over 1% of my beginning body weight and I was near the bottom of the list. Even ladies that I know have been dieting for awhile were losing faster than I. I think I made a mistake joining the group because I feel encouraged to lose at an unhealthy rate. I will just ride it out, pay my fees, and be a much sadder but wiser girl.

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  • amgreenwell
    amgreenwell Posts: 1,268 Member
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    Are you judged each week on lbs lost or % lost? I was part of a biggest loser contest years ago and luckily on a team of folks that needed to lose a lot of weight. I told them right off the bat that I would participate but that over the 8 weeks I could only be responsible for losing about 10 lbs. I lost my share and our team won but there was no way I was going to get close to losing as much as the other people on the team.
    With that said, if you are losing 1% of your body weight a week you are doing really well. Don't resort to any fad dieting or starvation. Just do you and keep it up.
    How bad is the penalty?
  • daniwilford
    daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
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    It is by percentage of body weight. The fee is nominal.
  • 1BlueAurora
    1BlueAurora Posts: 439 Member
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    It's possible that much of the weight you lose will be from your wallet. I would personally find it counterproductive and depressing to be judging my rate of weight loss against what other people are accomplishing. We're all built differently, have different metabolisms, are in different age groups with varying hormone levels, and while friendly competition may motivate some people, I'd find it demotivating myself. I think your 1% reduction is commendable, regardless of what other people are doing. By the way, I lost some of my weight way too fast by being a little competitive with myself. I lost muscle mass and a lot of my hair. A word to the wise: don't eat too little just to win a prize.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
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    I really dislike those programs. I'm not in competition with anyone besides myself; I'm certainly not motivated by trying to game the system to "lose" more weight than my friends or co-workers (as everyone seems to do in those contests), and as you said - it encourages unhealthy weight loss. No thanks. Sorry you got talked into it :(

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