Its difficult for me to trust you becasue Im not new to weight loss. Ive been smaller, and the difficulty level was the same for me. I was once very close to my current goal, and the pounds were still falling off. Not everyone has the same body, so please dont assume mine is the same as yours.

I think everyone should work with what they have. If a person loses more weight than me because they have a faster matabolism, then by all means they deserve to be ranked higher. But if someone is getting ranked higher becasue they are smaller, it is only getting them a false sense of accomplishment.

In my honest opinion weight loss gets harder when you try to lose more than your target weight. If you are 5'6 and 120lbs, yes it will be difficult losing weight because you are already at a healthy weight for your body. So your body will fight you, and it will be an uphill battle.

I understand that. BUT it is still unfair.

And thats why I think challenges should be sectioned off by weight.

I wish people would stop trying to fight me on this, I already said I was in. :/

I don't think people are fighting you. You are just coming on a bit strong with words such as 'shady' and 'trust'. In the end it's all about supporting eachother in the weightloss and making it fun, right? :D Glad you are joining the challenge, and the best of luck!

Hi Exception. First of all - welcome to the challenge! I hope you find it useful and you can find support within this thread, which is full of such vibrant and awesome people so much so you can't help but feel loved posting in here!

Now, I will now attempt to answer some of your concerns. Personally, I don't think this is shady at all! But obviously I'm going to say that, right? I created it ;p. But moving forward, you say that it's unfair that smaller people get higher percentages of weight loss than the bigger people. What can I say? In all honesty, it's just maths at work here. We are also in week 3 of the challenge right now, the smaller people who are doing amazing and losing weight will eventually slow down as they get closer to their goals while the bigger people will continue to lose. We're working up until JUNE here so there is plenty of time for the charts to completely change!

I've run a few challenges on the boards (so I have seen a LOT of weigh ins in action), heard a lot of stories about weight loss AND seen a few series of The Biggest Loser and I really mean NO offence by this but you're the first person to say it's just as hard losing weight when closer to a goal that it is when you first start.
Let's also not forget CONTEXT here, we have just left the Christmas/New Year period where some of the smaller people probably gained some weight over the holidays. They are now getting back on track and getting back to where they were, losing water weight, the holiday bloat, the holiday pudge - all of it. The winner of week 2's challenge lost an incredible amount due to her holiday bloat.

As for your suggestion of splitting it up into weight sections - I'm going to be blunt here, I just do not have the time. There are 100+ contestants here, I go through all the results, I arrange all of the 3 different tables per week, I have to do a lot of messing around putting pieces of print screens together so they are big enough to read, and it sounds stupid but I have to colour code that spreadsheet whenever anyone new comes into the challenge. I also edit ALL the formulas, I move people around - I'm doing a lot here. It takes quite a chunk of my personal time that I could be spending doing something different. But I do it because I love this board, I love this challenge and I love seeing peoples results. The people who are in the top 20 are doing incredible work, but that doesn't mean I don't overlook the other people who are staying accountable each week and doing an amazing job. I'm not in any of the charts and I'm working my fine behind off every day to lose weight - because that's what it's all about all in all!

So all in all, while the charts are cool and fun and you can get a bit competitive - we're all here for the same reason at the end of the day. I also think it's disrespectful to me, someone's who is putting a lot of effort into this, to roll on in, point a finger at me and say it's not fair. If you don't like it, then don't take part! I don't mean that in a horrible way, but I don't want to feel any negative vibes going on here, I would hate to see that you don't think your efforts are being appreciated by others just because you're not making it into the charts - because that's such a shame and I wouldn't want anyone to feel left out.

The points system for this challenge is really just moot point. There's no huge cash prize or anything! We're all working to reach our goals and as such, we are ALL WINNERS HERE.
It takes a LOT of effort to lose weight and the points system is used to showcase who has had the most success that particular week. Going by percentage of weight loss is the fairest method. It measures how much of YOU you lost.
According to our SW/CW, Exception, you and I have both lost approx 10% of ourselves. In that regard we are equal. You however, have lost 32 pounds overall, and I have only lost 20 so in THAT regard you're ahead of me. In terms of our goal weight, you're 20% done, and I'm almost 50% so I'm ahead in that way. The percentage is the only one that takes into account that we were at different weights when we started , so it's the fairest way to compare successes.

A pound is a pound. It doesnt matter which way you slice it, we all have to burn the same 3500 calories to lose a pound, not matter how much we weigh.
It doesnt matter what I weigh, I worked to lose those pounds just as much as the next woman.

We're all burning the same calories, and lsoing the same pounds, so we should be ranked accordigly.

But Riestrella, I totally understand where you are coming from, and I appreciate you for keeping everything nice and neat. I, personally, would neer dream of hosting such a challenge, it would be too much work for me. So thanks for being a good organizer.

Im shocked that you say Imthe first to ever say that losing weight is the same when you are smaler or bigger. The thing is, most people dont adjust their diet, or excercise plan for their new weight. And thats why weight loss slows down. As your body changes, your diet has to be tweaked if you want to lose more weight. Your body changes, your diet should also change. Thats the reason why some people who use weight loss surgery often gain it all back. Their body changed rapidly, but their diet didnt.

It also slows down when you are underweight, or at the target weight for your body.

Meaning, if a woman who is 120lbs and 5'6 tries to lose weight, it will be difficult because she is already in the target weight zone for her height.

But again, thanks for the challenge.

Okay... Well um, to get back to the point of this whole thing... I totally kicked butt today. Drank all my water, ate not only within my calories limits but. had super nutritional meals, and I worked my not so little behind off on some cardio. I just had to share, because I'm so happy with myself and excited for this weeks weigh in. :D

Ok, I'm going to clarify that I specifically stated that all of our bodies are different and never made the assumption that yours worked like mine. No one is arguing with you but merely trying to explain why this challenge isn't "Shady" as your originally stated. We are all here to lose and support each other in doing so

Im also going to say that someone who is heavier burns more calories doing the exact same thing as someone who isn't as heavy, since they have the extra weight to lug around. Its easier for most people lose faster when they first start out simply because of this It doesn't mean one or the other isn't working as hard. Its just the way it is.

Alot of us have adjusted our diet the more we have lost :) Otherwise, like you stated, we would have slowed down. I have no idea why(and maybe I should look this up now) xD, but many of us do struggle with getting off the last few pounds. Even though we are allowing ourselfs a decent deficit, exercising extensively, and working our butts off. If you are not one of these people, then more power to you. I am still in the overweight category. And yet, my body doesn't want to let go of this freakin fat.

Song of Surly- Congrats on the great day :) What kind of cardio exercises do you do? I need to start mixing mine up more os

Honestly, I joined this Challenge to see how far I would go.
The standings do not matter unless you want to compare yourself to a group of people that you may never meet in person in your life, which at the end of the day it's all about kicking your own @$$ and being happy with YOURSELF.

I am constantly Challenging myself because let's face it, as of right now I have 120 lbs still left to lose. and It is difficult. If it wasn't hard, it wouldn't be called work, but you cannot say your struggle is any harder than another persons' because you have not walked in their steps.

Hows everyone's week been so far?

Have any of you decided to drink more water and at your next workout session end up sweating profusely?

seriously, guys?! :(
i think the whole point of this thread is to make a support group that helps you with being on plan because of the weekly weigh-ins. the point thing is just for fun, to add a bit of a challenge fever - don't take it too serious, tho! :)
relax, breathe, ... :D

Hey guys!

I'm starting to struggle a bit in the last couple of days. Just not been exercising and eating too much. Sometimes I hate how my friends want to meet around food, it's so hard to say no to tasty options! Usually I'm fine, but when I'm not working out I know it's just adding up! So today I'm going to hit it hard with Insanity and get my a$$ into gear again. Only 21 days left until my trip to America now!

~~~

Exeption - I think you're going far being the original point here, Exeption, you should take a step back and realise that we're all trying to tell you that it's easier for bigger people to lose more pounds. Surely having multiple people say basically "hey, I think you're mistaken" might get you to reconsider what you're saying. Sometimes you might post up something about your weight loss plan on this board and people will say "I don't think that's going to work." Are you going to ignore the advice of others then?
This is a 25 week long challenge, in 25 weeks it's more than likely the bigger people are going to continue to lose more weight than the smaller people as the smaller people are likely going to start hitting their goals and start maintaining. Whereas the bigger people simply have more to lose hence why they keep on going. So in the long run percentage of weight loss is fair here.

I think it's quite stubborn to keep on going when all we're trying to do is make you realise why 113 people here don't have any problem with the format of this challenge. At the end of the day I'm not changing the format of this challenge, I'm not splitting people up into groups and I'm starting to think you just want me to do so so you have some sort of chance of winning some challenge that's meant to be about staying accountable and support. I'm hoping that isn't the case, so choose your battles wisely and be careful with how you're coming across to others; as I said before it's quite insulting to have someone strut in and try and shake things up when no one else has had a problem. If there were blatant flaws in this challenge people would have voiced them when this challenge was posted in December. There was plenty of time for discussion but everyone seemed cool and here we are.

Song of - Great! I love it when you stay on track and feel like shouting from the rooftops! Good luck this week =)

darlingBrit - I don't find any sort of correlation between the water I drink and the amount I sweat to be honest. I think I sweat a lot less now as I'm losing more weight, that I have noticed!

Originally Posted by Ana Chambers:
The points system for this challenge is really just moot point. There's no huge cash prize or anything!

Wait....there isn't a huge cash prize?! Riestrella?? No huge cash prize?
That's it. I quit the challenge. ;) ;) ;)

Only kidding. :D

song of Congrats!! Great job.

darlingbrit If I drink too much water when I work out, it just sloshes around in my stomach and I feel a little green. So I have to watch how much water I drink.

My week has been okay. Good food wise, not good exercise wise. The weekend that I was super-super-SUPER excited about didn't go as planned at all, so I'm feeling a little down about it.

I'm glad it's nearly the weekend so I can curl up with some lifetime movies and have a good cry. If it doesn't rain (it's supposed to on Saturday, 90% chance I think) I'll get out for a nice long walk...try to clear my head.
Could use some good vibes.

Originally Posted by Quiet Ballerina:
Wait....there isn't a huge cash prize?! Riestrella?? No huge cash prize?
That's it. I quit the challenge. ;) ;) ;)

Only kidding. :D

My week has been okay. Good food wise, not good exercise wise. The weekend that I was super-super-SUPER excited about didn't go as planned at all, so I'm feeling a little down about it.

I'm glad it's nearly the weekend so I can curl up with some lifetime movies and have a good cry. If it doesn't rain (it's supposed to on Saturday, 90% chance I think) I'll get out for a nice long walk...try to clear my head.
Could use some good vibes.

Oh, didn't I tell you all? YOU WIN A MILLION DOLLARS IF YOU WIN THIS CHALLENGE! In Monopoly money.

I've been bad food wise and exercise wise! Aww, sorry you didn't have a good weekend, what was wrong with it? Hope you're ok! If you want to cry, watch Pixar. You'll be happy AND you'll cry!

So, I'm doing this new thing where after breakfast I wait untill I get hungry before I go for lunch. And it took my till now, which is 2pm. I noticed the other day already that I was full from only 1000 calories. I ate super healthy and had a big green smoothie. Maybe that has to do with it. Just saying.

Hey didn't have the greatest day yesterday as I baked some weight watchers cookies what a mistake! Even those where too yummy to resist so hit it hard today and managed to do my first 10k run! Just shows what a little bit of determination can do for you :D
Hope everybodys week is going great :D x

Yes, let's move on!

Philana- I just watched a movie on Netflix where a guy had nothing but fruit and vegetable smoothies for 60 DAYS! After day 4 or 5 they became filling. Apparently it's the unprocessed nutrients (well according to the video)