REALLoser 2014 - Day One Weigh In!

Once again a group at work has decided to suffer the hardship of weight loss for improved health, physical and mental well-being! Much like the REALLoser 1.0 done in the early spring of last year, this year we have almost as many participants at 16 (last year we started with 18 and quickly whittled it down to 15). This year we also, somehow talked several of our female coworkers into participating! We're all really excited to get going.

The rules are basically the same as last year - we did modify the weigh in and have now made it mandatory on Fridays - this is to keep things interesting and competitive. To review the rules:

REALLoser 2014 Contest

 

1. The first weigh-in will be on March 3rd, 2014
2. Update weigh-ins will be every Friday beginning March 3, 2014 and ending April 25, 2014.  Please make every attempt to weigh in on these dates. Updates published each Friday.
3. Anyone may start the contest after the March 3, 2014 date, but no statistics will be taken before that date.
4. Weight will be measured with an official scale provided specifically for the Biggest Loser contest.  No shoes, coats, pocket objects, etc.
5. Clothing will be approximately the same as what you started with
6. No liposuction or laser fat removal may be used to decrease weight.
7. Winner is determined by greatest percent of weight lost to two (2) decimal places.
8. In case of a tie, the tied participants will have one additional week. After the additional week, if a tie remains, the contest will end in a tie.
9. Office winner:  The office (all participants in Atlanta) losing the most weight as a percentage will be awarded the 2014 REALLoser Trophy.

Beginning Weigh-In:

Name	Weigh In	One Pound	BMI In	Current BMI	10%
John	221.4	0.45%	31.8	26.9	22.14
Theologos	202.8	0.49%	29.1	31.0	20.28
Steven	261.4	0.38%	31.8	18.5	26.14
Shane	238.2	0.42%	32.3	20.8	23.82
Gary	186.6	0.54%	29.2	35.9	18.66
Scott	413.0	0.24%	59.3	35.3	41.30
Mike	239.6	0.42%	29.2	25.5	23.96
Jeff	291.0	0.34%	43.0	58.3	29.10
Kelly	173.8	0.58%	26.4	31.0	17.38
Joni	167.4	0.60%	25.5	38.0	16.74
Tammie	170.8	0.59%	26.7	30.8	17.08
Kevin	236.0	0.42%	31.1	28.0	23.60
Lisa	204.6	0.49%	36.2	42.2	20.46
Cary	259.2	0.39%	37.2	34.1	25.92
Dawn	167.4	0.60%	32.7	45.2	16.74
Average	228.9	0.46%	33.5	32.8	22.9

The Contestants: 

John - this is me of course and since I was the winner of REALLoser 2013 I've disqualified myself from winning this year. Since last year I've put back on about half of what I lost (last year started at 235.0, this year at 221.4) - this time I've decided to focus on less weight loss and more weight training. Sorry I forgot to take a beginning photo.

Theologos - new to the competition, Theologos comes in at 202.8.

Steven - returning once again from last year. Steven did well last year (starting at 272.6) but has gained a bit of the weight back and hopes to keep it off this year. Steven comes in at 261.4. Missed the image this year.

Shane - returning once again from last year (starting at 246.4). Shane had a tough time last year (he got married!) and hopes to keep it off this year. Shane's starting weight this year is 238.2.

Gary - new to the company, I think Gary thinks we're all lunatics. He weighs in at 186.6.

Scott - has been waiting for this competition. Scott comes in at 413.

Mike - returning once again from last year (where he started at 263.2). Make did a great job keeping the weight off last year and hopes to improve even more this year. This year Mike's at 239.6.

Jeff - returning once again from last year (starting at 282.2). Who knows what happened to Jeff? In any case, he hopes to both lose and win this year! Jeff weighs in at 291.0.

Kelly - I'm not quire sure why our lovely ladies think they need to lose weight. Kelly starts at 173.8.

Joni - ties with the lightest at 167.4.

Tammie - hopes to slim down a bit (not too much!) and comes in at 170.8. (Sorry about the blurry photo)...

Kevin - started this whole mess this year and starts at 236.0.

Lisa - petite Lisa is starting at 204.6.

Cary - one of the original starters last year, Cary dropped out after the first week. He's ready this time and weighs in at 259. No photo...

Dawn - the other tie with the lightest weight at 167.4.

One note, if you're a contestant you might want to look for the MyFitnessPal app for iPhone/Android - I use it and several others and we've all found it very helpful.

I got started posting late this year so I've already got 2 weeks of weigh ins - I'll update with them in the next day or so. That's it for now - more in a couple of days.

-- John

Preparing for REALLoser 2014!

Next week we're starting REALLoser 2014 at work. This is similar to the first REALLoser program from 2013 (there was a second attempt last year but it only garnered about 6 participants). Program to start March 3, 2014 and end about 8 weeks later.

Through about August of 2013 I managed to keep my weight under 210 but it's crept up as I took on a new role at work and have had little time at the gym. I've managed to keep off about half of what I lost last year - this year the focus is less on weight and more on strength training...

More to come...

-- John

Art and the Art of Body Maintenance

We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and bones.
- Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

So after the competition I took about two months off with very little exercise and no calorie limitations. I did this both to reward myself for the hard work and also as an experiment as to how long it would take to pack the weight back on. I started working out again when my weight tipped over 200 (I originally thought I could easily maintain a weight less than 195 just through moderating my food intake - seems I need to be better disciplined than that).

As of today, 2013.06.21, I weigh 198 lb and still look and feel moderately fit. I'm working out about 3 times a week - sometimes I get an extra workout in and others only get two days - I'm trying to juggle a lot of balls these days and sometimes they feel like bowling balls. I still have the short term goal of getting down to 195. I'm at the point that I need to get back into heavy weight training - so far I've only been doing the hour to hour-and-a-half of cardio when I go to the gym or walk the neighborhood.

My plan is to introduce my heavy weight lifting routine after 4th of July weekend - I'd also like to hit the 195 weight by then - I keep drifting close to it after workouts so I believe I can get there but I may need to go to the gym daily to get to that level - we'll just have to see how my scheduling works out.

-- John

Weight Loss Competition - Befor and After

So what's been happening this past week, since the end of the competition? To start, I regained 8 pounds on the same day of the final weigh-in. This was mostly water weight as I dried-out to an extreme to win. We also, as a group ate mucho meats at Fogo. I ended up dropping another pound or so over the course of last week - my current "running weight" is around 192-193 pounds. I've also changed my workout - less cardio and have gone back into weight-training mode. I'm going to try to keep the weight under 195 while weight training, upping the cardio when I go over, to maintain a strength-to-weight balance.

I did want finish up the work competition as I haven't done any Before-and-After photos or analysis. I'm breaking this down by participant (some images weren't available, so the focus will be on those that allowed photos on the first and final days). The Starting Position provides context as to how far down on the list each member was at the start, from lightest at the top (so Starting Position 1 is at the top) to heaviest at the bottom

John Eaton (me)

Starting Weight: 235.0
Starting Position: 5
BMI Start: 33.7

End Weight: 187.6
Ending Position: 1
BMI End: 26.9
Total Weight Loss: 47.4
Weight Loss Percentage of Body Weight: 20.17%

Carlos L

Starting Weight: 268.8
Starting Position: 12
BMI Start: 31.9

End Weight: 215.8
Ending Position: 2
BMI End: 25.6
Total Weight Loss: 53.0
Weight Loss Percentage of Body Weight: 19.72%

Kevin Lu

Starting Weight: 178.6
Starting Position: 1
BMI Start: 24.9

End Weight: 152.4
Ending Position: 3
BMI End: 21.3
Total Weight Loss: 26.2
Weight Loss Percentage of Body Weight: 14.67%

Mike J

Starting Weight: 263.2
Starting Position: 11
BMI Start: 32.0

End Weight: 229.0
Ending Position: 4
BMI End: 27.9
Total Weight Loss: 34.2
Weight Loss Percentage of Body Weight: 12.99%

Jeff B

Starting Weight: 282.2
Starting Position: 16
BMI Start: 40.5

End Weight: 246.2
Ending Position: 5
BMI End: 35.3
Total Weight Loss: 36.0
Weight Loss Percentage of Body Weight: 12.76%

Kevin Li

Starting Weight: 236.8
Starting Position: 13
BMI Start: 32.1

End Weight: 209.6
Ending Position: 6
BMI End: 28.4
Total Weight Loss: 27.2
Weight Loss Percentage of Body Weight: 11.49%

Verlin H

Starting Weight: 434.0
Starting Position: 1
BMI Start: 54.2

End Weight: 394.6
Ending Position: 7
BMI End: 49.3
Total Weight Loss: 39.4
Weight Loss Percentage of Body Weight: 9.08%

Stephen M

Starting Weight: 223.8
Starting Position: 16
BMI Start: 33.4

End Weight: 204.2
Ending Position: 8
BMI End: 29.3
Total Weight Loss: 19.6
Weight Loss Percentage of Body Weight: 8.76%

Steven T

Starting Weight: 272.6
Starting Position: 3
BMI Start: 33.2

End Weight: 250.2
Ending Position: 9
BMI End: 30.5
Total Weight Loss: 22.4
Weight Loss Percentage of Body Weight: 8.22%

Alex V

Starting Weight: 209.6
Starting Position: 17
BMI Start: 28.4

End Weight: 196.6
Ending Position: 10
BMI End: 26.7
Total Weight Loss: 13.0
Weight Loss Percentage of Body Weight: 6.20%

Week 8 - 11 Pounds Lost and End of Competition!

Update for Week 8, ending 2013.03.01

OK, so now we're at the end of the competition and based on the last weigh-in there's a fierce battle going on for the win. Carlos L was really peeved at being edged out by me the previous Friday - seems he had gone into an extreme dieting mode (I had heard 400 or so calories per day - note that I don't recommend that anyone else do something like this). When I came in the Monday following last week's weigh-in I had heard that Carlos had lost 4 pounds over the weekend by going to the sauna. I knew that if I wanted to win I would need to ramp things up a bit. I'll talk a bit about my strategy after the team performance statistics.

Name	Weigh In	Age	Height	BMI In	Current BMI	Weigh Out	%	Total Weight Loss
John Eaton (me)	235.0	50	70	33.7	26.9	187.60	20.17%	47.4
Carlos L	268.8	36	77	31.9	25.6	215.80	19.72%	53.0
Kevin Lu	178.6	27	71	24.9	21.3	152.40	14.67%	26.2
Mike J	263.2	37	76	32.0	27.9	229.00	12.99%	34.2
Jeff B	282.2	45	70	40.5	35.3	246.20	12.76%	36.0
Kevin Li	236.8	40	72	32.1	28.4	209.60	11.49%	27.2
Verlin H	434.0	37	75	54.2	49.3	394.60	9.08%	39.4
Stephen M	223.8	56	70	32.1	29.3	204.20	8.76%	19.6
Steven T	272.6		76	33.2	30.5	250.20	8.22%	22.4
Alex V	209.6	32	72	28.4	26.7	196.60	6.20%	13.0
Chris D	224.6	40	70	32.2	30.5	212.60	5.34%	12.0
Shane M	246.4	41	72	33.4	32.3	238.00	3.41%	8.4
Patrick M	237.4	40	73	31.3	30.5	231.40	2.53%	6.0
Stan Y	249.6	45	69	36.9	36.3	245.60	1.60%	4.0
Jeff M	271.2			N/A	N/A	271.20	0.00%	0.0
Mark F	269.6		72	36.6	36.6	269.60	0.00%	0.0
Cary A	258.4			N/A	N/A	258.40	0.00%	0.0
Mark M	243.0		73	32.1	32.1	243.00	0.00%	0.0
Average	255.8	40.5	72.4	34.3	31.7	236.4	9.78%	348.8

So if you've been following along, you may not be surprised that I won but in fact, I thought I had lost all the way up until I got on the scale. My official weigh-in at work was 187.6 (starting weight of 235.0 so a loss of 20.17%). No one is as surprised as me - after Carlos got on the scale and showed a weight of 215.8 I said to him "Well I guess that's it - you've won!" When I got on the scale and the calculation came up 20.17% I was honestly shocked.

At home that morning, my weight came in at 187.6. I knew based on what I had heard the day before (that Carlos had lost 10 lb) that to win I would need to be even lighter, so I left early for work and stopped at the gym. I'm not quite sure what my "at home" weight would have been, but when I dressed for work at the gym that morning I weight 185.0 on the scale there so I input 185.5 as an average and figured that I had successfully hit my latest 185 lb goal weight - yay! for a total loss of 42 lb (226.6 - 185.0).

 My progress via graphs generated from MyFitnessPal:

 

So now a bit about strategy:

When I heard that Carlos had pulled all stops, I had to consider whether I should just throw in the towel or try to go to the extremes that he was going through. I had heard he reduced his intake to 400 calories a day and towards the end going to the sauna and using diuretics to eliminate as much water as possible, and frankly it showed. He looked emaciated and really transparent, like he was sick. I just wasn't willing to go to that length - if you look at the efforts I've made since the beginning, I've used exercise to increase my caloric burn and moderated my caloric intake, never going below about 1200 calories per day - it's my opinion that for someone my age and weight, 1200 is about as low as a person can safely reduce without having some impact on health - just my opinion but even MyFitnessPal produces a warning when it seems you going below that level.

I had already thought that I might need to do some water restriction via a technique I was familiar with from my body building friends. Basically, you increase your water intake about a week before a competition (doubling your normal) and consume salty foods. Then a couple of days before the show you start restricting your water intake (never going below 2 oz of water per hour). You end up "drying out" which highlights your vascularity for a show. I had also thought about doing the sauna but I was never a big fan of them - I don't think I've ever spent more than 10 minutes in one.

So when Carlos started escalating, I committed to the water trick. When I saw the results of his sauna, I started incorporating the sauna into my routine, I had also increased my routine to about 1200 calories of burn a day and stopped the weight training. Three days out I did 1200 calories of burn, ate about 1200 and did 30 minutes of sauna, only consuming a liter of water the entire workout. Two days out I did the same thing but reduced my calories to 800. One day out, again the same thing but did a protein shake for dinner along with a spinach salad, for a total of 943 calories. The morning of the competition I did 1 cup of coffee in the morning and worked out for an hour before going into the sauna for 30 minutes. I consumed about 4 oz of water, total, before the competition at 11:00 AM. I think that morning workout allowed me to win.

After the competition, we went to Fogo de Chao, a Brazillian steak house. I think I ate about 40 oz of meet (my nickname for the place is "death by meat" - it's a really fantastic experience). I also drank a liter of water before leaving for lunch and about 6 glasses during - when we got back to the office I had gained 8 lb! That evening I ate Italian at Ippolito's (eggplant parm with spaghetti, fried calamari with garlic rolls, ending with an Italian creme cake). I didn't bother tracking or weighing in but by Sunday morning I was coming in at 192.6 lb. So today, Sunday, I've reset MyFitnessPal for a goal weight of 190 lb and have started counting again. I think that's a good weight for me to "park" for a while. I'm next going into a muscle building phase again - although this time I'm going to try to keep the weight down and my belly to a size 34.

-- John