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You are here: Home / food / Five Week Weight Loss Challenge – TBT

Five Week Weight Loss Challenge – TBT

May 8, 2014 By Shannah Coe 3 Comments

You guys?! Did you realize that at the end of the month pools around the country start to open?  Well, in some places they are probably already open but ours officially open on Memorial Day.  You know what that means…bathing suit season is almost here!  I doubt I am the only one who has  few {or more than a few} pounds they would like to lose before they throw on their bathing suit so I am doing a little throw back Thursday thang here and resurrecting the five week weight loss challenge!

A five week weight loss competition where you compete with friends. Great motivation to get healthier.

When I first shared this weight loss challenge last year, I never expected for people to want so much information about it.  Of course, I am super excited that people are interested because it means they are looking for ways to get healthier. 

If you aren’t familiar with the weight loss challenge, let me recap:
The Basics:
The idea of the weight loss challenge is to motivate you to stick with the plan in the hopes of losing the largest % of weight so you win a pot of money at the end. Looking great and getting healthy is obviously the best reward but a little extra money doesn’t hurt at all either.

The Buy-In:
To participate, each person pays an entry fee {ours was $15.00}. All that money goes into a pot and is distributed to the winner(s) at the end of the challenge.

The Challenges:
Each week, a new challenge is introduced and the challenges are cumulative! The whole idea is to really help you start to establish healthier lifestyle habits over the course of the five weeks along with losing some weight in the process.

Great ideas to stay motivated to get healthier and lose weight

Here is how we structured ours:
Week 1: Hydration Nation – You have to drink 64oz of water per day.
Week 2: Sweet Tooth Cured – Elminate sweets (i.e. cookies, brownies, etc.)
Week 3: Bust a Move – Work out for at least 30 minutes per day.
Week 4: On the Wagon – Eliminate all alcohol {beer, wine, cocktails} from your diet.
Week 5: Clean it Up – Start a clean eating regimen and eliminate all processed foods.

Infractions:
One of the ways the pot of money grows is through infractions.  Sure, in a perfect world, everyone would do exactly as they are supposed to each and every week.  I’m definitely not perfect though and the challenge is structured to recognize that.  So, whenever you have an infraction {i.e. you miss a piece of a challenge}, you pay $1.
For example, you only drink 5 eight ounce glasses of water one day, you pay a dollar.  Eat a candy bar…that is another $1!

Reporting:
Generally, one person is selected or volunteers to act as the organizer of the challenge.  That person is in charge of reporting. Each week, as a participant, you give your % of weight lost and the number of infractions you have to the organizer. Weigh-in day is the same day each week and is done as the first thing you do when you wake up to make sure you capture your true weight.
To calculate the % lost, you need two pieces of info {and for me…a calculator}:
– Your starting weight (the weight you start with at the beginning of the challenge)
– Your new weight

One of the biggest questions I get about this is what is the best way to keep track of the challenges, your infractions and your data.  So, I paired up with Kim from Seven Thirty Three to create the perfect printable to help you out!

5-week-weight-loss-challenge-tracker

All you have to do is go visit Kim to print your own weight loss challenge tracker!

The Prizes:
We had two prized for our group:
– The person with the largest % of weight lost got the pot of money minus $15.
– The person with the least number of infractions got their $15 entry fee back.

Some More Fun Ideas:
– Definitely think of ways you can personalize the challenges.  Maybe eliminate soda for a week if that is problem area for people in your group.  Or, have a challenge to replace one meal a day with a salad.
– Throw in surprises to really keep people motivated.  Our organizer would throw out an bonus like “you can lose one of your infractions if you try one new fruit or vegetable this week.”   

So, is this something you would try?  I had a ton of fun with it and am thinking of trying to find some people to start a new one with this week.  If you do try this out, I would love to hear your feedback in the comments!

 

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Filed Under: food, Non-House Stuff Tagged With: diet tweaks, dieting, diets, five week weight loss challenge, Free Printable, getting healthy, group weight loss challenge, lose weight, printables, weight loss ideas, weight loss tips

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Comments

  1. Cherri Engle says

    May 9, 2014 at 4:01 pm

    This sounds so doable. Thank you for sharing this with us. I think I will drum up some participants and get this started for us.

    Reply
  2. Wilson says

    December 10, 2021 at 1:28 pm

    This is a goldmine!

    I normally don’t read many articles as they seems to be all same. However, I love this article.
    Keep up the good work…

    Thanks

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 5 Week Weight Loss Challenge Printable Tracker | seven thirty three – - – a creative blog says:
    May 31, 2014 at 12:00 am

    […] the end of the 5 weeks, the one with the greatest weight loss wins the cash!Find out more about the 5 Week Weight Loss Challenge at Just Us Four. Download the 5 Week Weight Loss Challenge Tracker via Google Drive Stay […]

    Reply

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About Me

Hi, I'm Shannah! Welcome to My Suburban Kitchen, where you'll find tons of recipe ideas including family friendly dinners, sinfully delicious desserts and even Paleo and Whole30 recipes. I love spending time in our kitchen and also share little glimpses of my life as a wife to one awesome Mathlete and working mom to 2 cute kids! I hope you'll grab a seat at our table and enjoy your time in the kitchen with us.

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