Hi-

To give you a little background, I am a proponent of fat acceptance and health at any size. I have chosen to lose weight for my own health, to feel physically and emotionally better and for vanity reasons and I am happy with my decision. But I respect the rights of people to weigh what they want and think our society as a whole is too obsessed with weight.

Just so you know my thoughts on all of this, which are a little unusual.

Anyway, I belong to a gym and they are having a weightloss contest. The prize is $500. I would like a little extra motivation though the pre-holiday parties but I feel very conflicted. I do not want to compete to lose weight. I only want to compare myself to myself. My husband thinks it's a bad idea for these reasons. I also want to avoid anything at my gym that might piss me off and demotivate me from going because I have been very pleased with working out there 3x a week for almost a year. I should note that I still have almost 40 lbs. to lose and have been plateaued for a month.

Any thoughts on this? Am I totally "out there" or afraid of failing? Advice is welcomed.

If you think it'll discourage you, don't participate. Some may see it as just another motivational tool, to help people who are committed to change for the right reasons. If you think it may stop you from going to the gym because of your very sincere beliefs, I would suggest not. You've done such a great job with your gym commitment (I have NEVER been faithful to exercising for a year). You obviously have enough internal motivation (which I truly admire).

Cheering you on to goal!

How involved is the contest? If you're just weighed at the beginning and end of a time period and no one really knows that you're participating it doesn't seem to me like it would change your routine at all and you'd still just be "competing" with yourself. In that case I would say sign up. But if you have to do a lot of stuff and you'd be getting constant updates about other people's progress and you know that would just make you angry just skip it.

free1, thanks for that.

ERHR, thanks for the advice. There would be weekly weigh-ins, measurements, nutritional guidelines, etc.

I'm glad that there are other supporters of the fat acceptance movement and HAES here on 3FC. I often feel like a traitor to both movements by losing weight, but if it truly is about "Health at Every Size" then I suppose that includes a reduction of size? Still, I'm often conflicted when it comes to my own weight loss.

As someone who holds some of the same beliefs as you, I personally wouldn't go with the contest. You're right in thinking the only person you should compare yourself to is yourself and the contest really won't allow you to do that. $500 is a really nice prize, but is it worth the extra headache of being compared to other people who have entirely different bodies (and therefore will lose at a different rate)?

I don't do weight loss contests, period. I think it's a stupid thing to compete over--and that includes Biggest Loser.

One person wins, and the rest feel like they didn't do enough. Why go through that? It's hard enough to lose weight.

There is more to life than competing against others, although looking at the culture, you wouldn't know that...

If you need extra motivation for getting through the holidays, you can find it other places.

Good luck on finding better choices.

Jay

Slow and steady wins the race!!!

I would probably join w/o being too serious about it. Just in case the others fall through- you will automatically get the money. But, odds are, someone participating has JUST started dieting and thus will lose the 10lbs of water at the beginning and you won't win anyway since your weight loss is now at a slower pace.

I could imagine many cheating and taking laxatives for a larger swoosh - I mean, I'd take a laxative or two for $500.

In general, I agree with ERHR.

I agree that it sounds like a bad idea considering your feelings. You sound like you know what motivates you and what doesn't, which is the real gist of things.

You could always try behavior mini goals, like adding this, or upping that, or cutting out this, or substituting that.

Good luck!

Thanks for all the comments and support. Sontaikle I deal with that "traitor" issue a fair amount since some of my FA friends don't want to engage with me anymore.

This has reinforced my initial feelings that a weight loss contest is not a good idea for me.

I don't think it hurts to get involved in the competition as long as you focus on yourself. It may be a great way to break through your plateau. You don't have to win, but if it moves you towards your goal then great!

My office regularly has weight loss competitions (fitness challenges, whatever you want to call them) and the competition aspect is friendly. It provides a dialogue on healthy eating and habits around the office and brings people together. It's not discouraging, nor does it conflict with my personal weight loss goals or require me to compromise those goals. It's a good kick in the butt and reminder to keep going.

That said, if you get too involved in the competition it can be troublesome. I've heard of weight loss competitions, especially those with cash prizes getting out of hand with competitors starving, using pills, and doing other unhealthy things to win the cash. Beware of that kind of stuff!

Just a little follow up, I did decide to join the contest and try not to worry about it either way. We just had the six week weigh in and measurements and I have lost the most inches and won $50.

Dies of shock!

Great job! Keep going.

I recently won a weight loss contest at my office (lost 20lbs in 6 weeks) and it was great motivation, but I've completely fallen off plan because it wasn't realistic to keep doing what I was doing.

Yeah, the only change I have really made it to up the intensity of my workouts because I am not going to cut calories below a level where I am hungry/don't feel healthy.

Sounds sensible. It may be worth remembering that a bad result wouldn't be losing the contest, a bad result would be that it ends up messing with your head. Keeping going happily is your main priority.

Well done to you! I was reading through this and was going to agree with the others that said go ahead and join for a chance at scooping the cash, but just continue your own agenda.

Seems a bit irresponsible to me that a gym would have a weight loss comp though where the biggest weight drop wins. It seems to be encouraging short term drastic weightloss.

The 'more responsible' comp would be one where the person wins who loses a small amount consistently in a sensible fashion over a long time scale. Not very exciting obviously, but that's all the more reason why it should be rewarded!!

In fact you'd think they would be more interested in rewarding EVERYONE
(who joined the comp) that achieves a tiny loss each month over a yearly period (or something like that) - with an achievers board up in flashing lights!!

Ok, that's the end of the off-topic ramble.