I'm The Biggest Loser

As I've mentioned recently, I was in a "Biggest Loser" contest with 12 of my co-workers. Today, my efforts paid off as I was the runaway winner. I started the contest 12 weeks ago, tipping the scales at 200 on the nose. I'm 5'11" and all the wight was pretty much in my gut. At my final weigh-in, the scale read 152 pounds, which was a 24% total weight loss, or 48 pounds, and almost 3% more than the runner-up. Besides the obvious health benefits of dropping 50 pounds, I've now got an extra $240 bucks in my pocket. Winner winner chicken dinner.

My goal for the 12 weeks was to get to 165-170 pounds, but as the contest drew to a close and I was near the top of the ladder, I put an all-out blitz on it in the final week to try and seal the W. I was losing by 1.4% going into the last week which is about 3 pounds. I knew to win I'd have to drop at least 7 pounds, assuming the person ahead of me lost what they typically were losing. Over the last 7 days, my intake was probably 700 calories a day and I made 3-5 trips to the gym at work, logging about 95 total miles between the treadmill and the elliptical machine. The result was a 10 pound loss in the final week. I'm glad it's over and done with because it was quite tiring there at the end.

If I can do it, anybody can. Ask my wife. I'm one of the laziest people at times. It's all about getting it into your head and sticking to it, something I definitely plan on doing. About 4 years ago, coincidentally when I got married, I weighed about 165. 4 years later, next thing I knew, 200. I've gotten it down before but never dedicated myself and sticking to it. It takes a lot of will and once you get started it's all downhill from there. An odd thing I used for motivation, and this may sound corny, and it's a little hard to explain, is that I always try to wear some kind of Yankees gear when I'm working out. Who am I kidding? I wear something Yankee-related on most days regardless. But the reason I do that, besides being a die-hard fan, is that I take some kind of pride in having the interlocking NY over my heart or having the team name across the chest. It's my own little form of Yankee pride. The way I kind of look at it, is that the guys on the field (usually or try hard to) give it their all when they don the Pinstripes. They wear the uniform with pride. And that's how I try to roll and for some reason wearing the gear motivates me to do that. Like I said, corny. But that's me.

To celebrate, the wife and I are hitting up Red Robin tonight. Burger, shake and unlimited fries. Can't wait.

J-Boogie