[ehyatt]

Originally Posted by ABDenver

In the book, there is a section on how you can setup your own challange with co-workers, friends, etc.

A good friend of mine got into one with the other teachers at her school. The prize money is tiny (15 of them put $50 a piece in the pot) but the ultimate goal is health! They did a lot of great things. She just gave me the stats, so I'll share them...

total starting weight of all 15 participants: 3047
total ending weight of all 15 participants: 2611
total Percentage lost: 14.3%
Biggest Weight lost was 59 lbs (a male contestant)
Second was 57 lbs (a female contestant)
Biggest % lost was 29% by a different female contestant than the 1 listed above.
They did their first weigh in at the start of the fall semester, and did the final weigh in at the start of the january sememster so that they all would have to stick to the diet/exercise over the holiday season.

their payouts were small, they gave out 15 $25 gift certificate to Whole Foods (a healthier grocery store) after each weigh in to the person that had the highest percentage of weight lost between each weigh, but you couldn't win in consecutive weeks.

they bought 3 sets of books and dvd's, for 4th, 5th and 6th place, paid 3rd place $100, 2nd place $150, and 1st place was $250.

Feel free to use these metrics if you wish, or build your own, anyway you do it, the goal is health, not wealth!

Good luck!

My school is starting a competition on Tuesday we will weigh in and then weigh out on March 10th. Each person pays only $10, but I think it would be a cool way to jumpstart people to start working out.