A new month, a new challenge

Recently I have mentioned my "weight watchers" group on several occasions. It is simply a group of friends and acquaintances that weigh in individually and report their findings to the whole group. We discuss our goals, successes and obstacles. We encourage one another, and most importantly keep each other accountable, which can be the most difficult part of losing weight alone. But as a group we have lost over 60 lbs! It is simply amazing!

The group is paying off on other dividends. Lisa, one of my weight loss partners, mentioned that she had a friend holding a friendly "biggest loser" competition in the month of February. The premise is again very simple, one pays $15 to join the competition and then at the end of the month there are two ways to win, either losing the greatest percentage of weight and/or logging the most miles running/walking/biking/ellipticalling. I am very excited to have another competition to keep me motivated and I think I have a good shot of winning some money.

As an overweight male, I have a good shot for the percentage half of the kitty; I have more weight to lose and men generally lose weight faster than females. However, there are other males in the competition, and there just might be a very motivated women in their ranks. For the mileage part of the competition, I have some experience on my side. I have been working out diligently for almost two years and now I run about 16 miles a week and walk another 6 miles per week. I only wish I could count my 90 minutes of strength work every week.

Any way you look at it I am very excited about participating in this competition. Thank you Lisa and Megan for inviting me to compete!