Hello! I just recently joined your forum and I have a quick question. We just recently started a weight loss contest at work, and we have all weighed, taken measurements, and the scales we have automatically calculate the body fat percentage. We are going to weigh in every week and the one who loses the most for the week gets a prize. We are doing it until July 1, and the overall biggest loser, gets $400. Now my question is, how do I fairly calculate who wins for the week? We have some ladies that could drop 8-10 pounds in the first week, so I don't think weight alone is fair. I would appreciate any helpful suggestions. Thank you!

While it's great you're all losing weight, weight alone is a pretty poor indicator of progress. Your weight can fluctuate up to 5 lbs. a day just based on water retention. And a heavier person, being 65% water, will fluctuate a lot more than a lighter person.

Contests like this may drive up ratings for shows like the Biggest Loser, but I'm not so sure they encourage healthy weight loss, and loss that's permanent.

On top of that, if you are losing more than 4 - 6 pounds a month, you may be cutting deeply into your muscle mass, not your fat. Is that something you really want to do?

Sorry to be so "negative", but I see lots of problems with this approach to losing weight.

My office is also doing a weight loss contest but we are basing it on all sorts of factors. We broke it down to two teams so that we have individual goals and team goals. We have a weigh in day and a chart on the wall above the scales for people to chart their progress. We award each team points each week for both the amount of weight the team as a whole has lost and also on how much exercise the team has done. We have challenges each week some are individual and some are for the team and points are given to the winning team. We also pay a fee each week. One dollar for weight loss and 5 for weight gain. The money is just part of the winnings at the end. Our goal is not to see who can lose the most weight but to teach our company as a whole how to lead a better life style. Men and women both lose weight differently based on age, height, amount of exercise, and lifestyle. I don't think you should reward each week but at the end. Going to July means alot of ups and down in peoples weight so it should not be about who lost the most during a week because that can lead to unhealthy choices in the way people eat and exercise. Talk it over with the people you are doing this with and try to change the goals a bit to make it healthier for all of you! This forum is a great place for ideas and encouragement. Good luck in your weight loss!

for any contest i've done or been a part of - it's been percentage lost over the entire contest - not lbs lost...

a heavier person is bound to lose more weight than a thinner person - so by keeping it to percentages -it all pretty much balances out.. and some folks lose more some weeks than others - so by doing over the entire challenge - again it balances out to some degree.

But one challenge I did -because it was for money and people do strange things for money - if a person lost more than 3 percent of total body weight in a week - they got penalized... (1 percent I'm going with is the healthy range to lose)

Dragonlover -- that sounds like a much, much healthier approach.
maleficent - I like the idea of penalizing people for losing too much too quickly.

Man....if someone made me pay money for gaining weight....LOL!

I would probably lose a lot of weight...

It is a real incentive to make you think about what you eat during the week. I have actually had to weighed to consequences of that bowl of ice cream or that cheeseburger that just sounds so good. Yes it may cost only a dollar on a value menu but in the end it will cost me 5 more! It really makes you think about it and teaches you to look at fast food and desserts as a treat you give yourself once in a while as opposed to everyday eating! I have had to pay up my 5 bucks twice now and I am determined not to have to again!

So how did you calculate the percentage over all? And I appreciate everyone's advice. I will take it all to heart. I didn't expect feedback so soon. This is great!

overall percentage is calculated pretty easily

total starting weight - total end weight = total lost

total lost / total starting weight = amount lost x 100 to get the percentage

excel spreadsheets are your friend for this one

Other things you could add in as weekly challenges to keep it interesting: theyare honor system based.. but if you trust them - and these are all ideas from our halloween challenge last year - read thru the challenges forum for more of the rules


A five a day challenge - where people get bonus points for eating a minimum of five fruits or veggies a day
A water challenge -where they have to drink X amount of water a day
to encourage exercise as well- you could also do a walking challenge - where people have to contribute x amount of miles a week..

just be creative -

We have done all of the challenges that maleficent just talked about. The 5 a day challenge really opened up peoples eyes to how many different fruits and veggies there are out there and also to how much they don't eat. It was a great challenge. We did the water challenge and it really made a difference in how I felt. You have to remember to KEEP drinking your water everyday even after the challenge is over. If everybody keeps a journal about their progress then you can determine who really made the most changes in their life during your contest. Who lost the most weight, who lost the most inches, who exercised the most. That should be how you decide who wins. maybe have more than one winner. Maleficent brought up a good point that it is done on the honer system so people who cheat are really only hurting themselves in the end.

i am starting one of these as well among my family...we are all over 200 and not that healthy...everyone is putting in $100 and winner takes all...we are just using weight loss % but wish there was a cheaper way to do BMI!

BMI isn't really a realistic goal to track...

it's purely based on height and weight.. .and doesn't account for muscle mass or bone density or whatever...

Weight loss percentage tends to be the most fair to all - people who have more weight to lose, lose it faster than those who have less weight to lose...

We did one of these when I worked in a steak house! Some of us were unhealthily skinny while more of us were overweight. The manager was able to get some cool prizes from the beer reps and most of the restaurants in our district (West End Dallas, if you're familiar with it) joined in as well! It's common knowlege that servers are notorious for eating unhealthy. We weighed in every week and the person who lost/gained the most weight won. Unfortunately this was only a temporary solution to the problem!

We made it an ongoing thing that you could choose to renew every month! That way you began to practice healthy choices instead losing the most weight the fastest! The prizes were different every week, so it was ok if you lost one week and won another!