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My friends and I are having a challenge between the three of us to lose weight. We all need to drop 20 lbs in 2 months. If you don’t hit the minus 20 pound mark by Oct 24th, you have to pay $100 per pound you missed. The max one person will pay is $2000. Split to 2 winners if needed.

If we all lose 20 pounds, then we are all fat losers! Which makes us winners.

It’s been interesting so far. I’ve eaten SO much differently this last month. Going to veggies and blue cheese dressing has had the most profound impact on satiating hunger in a way that doesn’t move the caloric intake that much. Also, I’ve grown to love peanut butter—the kind that is just nuts, none of that added sugar stuff. Get that noise out of here. So much sugar in everything that is not fresh, really astounding.

Water intake is key. I’ve been pounding water and the seltzer waters too. It has been just over a month for me, and I’m down from 191.7 –> 180.0 right now. Feeling good. I’d say the hardest thing is not eating when I’m bored. Just watching something on TV? Stomach/Brain: “WHY NOT EAT?” If that can be ignored, then the only thing I’ll need to change is the amount of walking I do. I average about 2000 steps per day. I’ll need to 3x that to move the needle on this back half of the weight loss.

If I can hit 171.7, I think I’ll be within the “normal” BMI range.. which is a totally bogus metric to live by. Seems the calculation is way off. Here’s my sample data, and the ranges.

BMI Categories:
Underweight = <18.5
Normal weight = 18.5–24.9
Overweight = 25–29.9
Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 191.7
BMI: 27.5

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 171.7
BMI: 24.6

Oct 16th update: I’m doing great. Today I’m at 177.9, which is almost 14 lbs down. I’ve got 8 days to drop about 6 more pounds. Not excited about that. The amount of food I’m taking in is waaaay less that before. If anything this competition has brought to attention the portion sizes I take on when it is not in the forefront of my mind. That and water intake. Always have water close by to curb the hunger. A lot of times when I’m feeling hungry, I think it just amounts to being thirsty and my mind is not able to distinguish between the two. I’ll post an update at the end.

Nov 2nd update: The contest ended on Oct 24th, and I lost a total of 17 lbs! The winner wound up losing 18, so I had to hand over $50, and it was worth it. Today is Nov 2nd, and I weigh exactly the same amount as 10 days ago. Hopefully 174 lbs is the new normal for me. I’ve been averaging 9000 steps a day and eating around 1800 calories. Not difficult. Weather has been great for walking and we also have a small walking treadmill for bad weather days.

Feb 17th 2025 update: I’ve kept my weight off, and lost a bit more too. I’ve hovering around 169 now, which is about 11% reduction in body weight. I’m feeling good, and continuing to walk as much as I can.