Friendly weight loss challenge

Who would be up for some friendly competition....

As part of my training as an apprentice, I'm working on a goal to lose weight and get into shape.. A coworker and I are doing this to of course better our selves.. I thought it would be a great idea to do the same here at the temple

The idea is to lose the most weight percentage wise....
So it would start out with the initial weigh in...post your weight. You may add a photo if you'd like. If you are not comfortable posting your weight then post how much you would like to lose... But you would have to post before and after weight to keep it fair... If any wants to they can pm it to me instead.

The duration of the challenge will be from tomorrow till January 20 2015...
On that day post your new weight or how much you lost
I'll see what i can do for a prize for the winner...

Would anybody be up for this....?

This is a great idea... for anyone who isn't considering celebrating Thanksgiving/Chanukkah/Midwinter Solstice/Christmas/New Year in the usual gluttonous manner.

If you manage to pull off any weight loss at all over the proposed time-frame, I for one will stand in awe!

Callan wrote: This is a great idea... for anyone who isn't considering celebrating Thanksgiving/Chanukkah/Midwinter Solstice/Christmas/New Year in the usual gluttonous manner.

If you manage to pull off any weight loss at all over the proposed time-frame, I for one will stand in awe!

The true challenge is revealed

Oh, I've got a joke too....

A Jedi, Templar and Teutonic Knight walk into a Sith Bar...

What?.... Not in the humour section you say?....

Oh dear, sorry.

Yes, Well, he started it....

Well, by suggesting the world needs another thread about some arbitrarily useless non-measure of fitness....

Yes, well ok, but I thought it was funny what the Sith said....

Yes, yes, I'll go to the humour section....

I do not mean to offend by asking, however what are you currently at, and how much do you feel you want to lose. My doctor told me I had to get down to 170lbs ( with clothes) so roughly 165 lbs. Last time I checked, I was 186.4 lbs. that is down from originally being 195 lbs. I would be up for the challenge, but I do not want to go below 165 lbs. just so you know up front.

If you guys are gonna go for percentage of weight lost, I encourage you to focus on cardio as it's really the best way to shrink fat cells. Fun fact, fat cells never go away, they just shrink. The longer you keep your heart rate up, the more calories you burn, and the more you shrink those cells. If you're going to do calisthenics, I suggest doing bodyweight exercises as they are better for building up stabilizer muscles and joint strength and you're less likely to injury yourself. Unless of course you have a trainer or experience lifting weights, but cardio is still the best for weight loss.

Oneiros wrote: If you guys are gonna go for percentage of weight lost, I encourage you to focus on cardio as it's really the best way to shrink fat cells.

I disagree. Cardio is nice while you're actually doing cardio, but for a really lasting effect weightlifting or HIIT are amazing. When you build muscle, your body uses more energy. Not just while you're exercising, but all the time. You're burning more calories at rest than you did before, because those muscles still need energy and power even when you're not doing lifts or presses or butterflies or what-have-you.

I also read in a study somewhere (that I'm Googling for, and can't find) that somewhere in the neighborhood of 78% of your caloric expenditure is at rest, agreeing with the above statement that you use more energy at rest just doing living-person things like breathing and stretching and not-falling-over-dead, percentage-wise, than you do while working out.

NerdFitness has an article that compares cardio, HIIT, and weight training, and you can use the Google-ma-tron for other articles or studies if you don't like the one I've given.

steamboat28 wrote:

Oneiros wrote: If you guys are gonna go for percentage of weight lost, I encourage you to focus on cardio as it's really the best way to shrink fat cells.

I disagree. Cardio is nice while you're actually doing cardio, but for a really lasting effect weightlifting or HIIT are amazing. When you build muscle, your body uses more energy. Not just while you're exercising, but all the time. You're burning more calories at rest than you did before, because those muscles still need energy and power even when you're not doing lifts or presses or butterflies or what-have-you.

I also read in a study somewhere (that I'm Googling for, and can't find) that somewhere in the neighborhood of 78% of your caloric expenditure is at rest, agreeing with the above statement that you use more energy at rest just doing living-person things like breathing and stretching and not-falling-over-dead, percentage-wise, than you do while working out.

NerdFitness has an article that compares cardio, HIIT, and weight training, and you can use the Google-ma-tron for other articles or studies if you don't like the one I've given.

Alot of people actually dont know this fact...but you also need cardio for it to work... It's a different combination for everybody

Garwa Mayharr wrote: Alot of people actually dont know this fact...but you also need cardio for it to work... It's a different combination for everybody

That's one of the reasons I have chosen HIIT as my primary exercise technique. Keeps my heartrate up without the dullness of traditional cardio, and I can still get the weight training (or bodyweight training) in.

I've just had too many cupcakes recently to be a poster child for its success. lol