Weight loss challenges can be a fun and effective way to achieve your fitness goals, whether you're competing with friends, family, colleagues, or simply embracing a solo challenge. It’s a way to hold yourself accountable, build healthy habits, and make lifestyle changes. This article delves into the rules and considerations for creating and participating in successful weight loss challenges, covering various aspects from setting goals to maintaining long-term results.
Setting the Stage: Planning and Preparation
Before diving into a weight loss challenge, it's crucial to lay the groundwork for success.
Defining Your Goals
First things first, define your goals. What are you looking to achieve? Do you want to lose weight, tone and build muscle, or improve your overall well-being?
Securing Buy-In and Support
If you're organizing a challenge at work, you may need to secure buy-in from your Human Resources team or other areas of leadership before you can begin promoting your weight loss challenge in the workplace. This is often easier if you first define the overall goals of the challenge, how long the challenge will run, and whether the program will be individual or team-based. Consider presenting these plans to your HR leader, along with your promotional plans and how you will measure the program’s success, from total pounds shed to participation rates. Having support from friends, family, or colleagues is essential to success.
Establishing Clear Rules and Expectations
While inviting your team members to participate, establish rules and expectations for those who join the challenge. Create well-defined policies for all components of the challenge and provide this information to the participants in document form. If you are organizing the competition at work, ask management to sign off on the policies and procedures. What are the goals of your challenge? Who will collect data, like starting weights and weigh-ins? How often will you gather that data? It’s important to find a discreet way to gather this information so you aren’t putting people on the spot. Find the best way to track data in your office so that people will participate and feel safe while doing so. You’ll also need to establish the timeframe with a clear start and end date-anywhere from 6-12 weeks is a reasonable period to see a difference without dragging the challenge out a bit too long. There is a fine balance between keeping people engaged and focused compared to cutting people off before they start getting the results they’ve been working for, so you won’t likely need to exceed 12 weeks for the challenge.
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Setting a Timeline
Anywhere between 6 and 8 weeks is the shortest duration you should attempt for a weight loss challenge. Between 8 and 10 weeks is the most commonly used time frame for a weight loss challenge. 12 weeks should be the maximum duration for a weight loss challenge. Set this date in stone and establish a deadline for entries, so that the challenge follows a strict and manageable timeline.
Initial Weigh-In
Have the participants come in to be weighed and record everyone’s starting weight using whatever method you established at the introductory meeting. If desired, you could photograph each participant at the initial weigh-in and plan to do the same at the final weigh-in.
Key Elements of a Weight Loss Challenge
To ensure a successful and engaging weight loss challenge, consider the following elements:
Eligibility Criteria
Define who can participate. You must be 18 years or older to be eligible. Employees are not allowed to compete in transformation challenges. No person who has earned more than $5,000 (or equivalent in prizes) in a single year from any athletic event(s) and/or contest(s) and/or by offering athletic or weight loss training services of any kind (including via employment), for one or more of the last five years, may win the HealthyWager, including personal trainers, sports and athletic trainers, body builders, professional athletes and amateur athletes who meet the above-mentioned earnings threshold. In addition, no person, whether or not he/she has earned money from any of the above activities, may win a HealthyWager unless it is his/her intention to permanently lose weight. The HealthyWager is available to residents (aged 18 years and up) of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Latin America (including Mexico), Australia, New Zealand, and most of Europe and Asia. If you are participating through an employer, such as Halliburton, you are generally allowed to participate regardless of your location in the world. Participants who alter their height more than 1 inch or age by more than 1 year in InBody during the challenge period will be disqualified. Participants are not required to use any specific products to be eligible but may not use anabolic steroids or any strength-enhancing prescription drugs or medications unless prescribed by a physician to treat an existing medical condition (medication and medical condition must be noted in the written portion of your entry). Participants in the Transformation Challenge expressly release 5 Star Nutrition, affiliated companies, and the directors, officers, and employees from all risk, loss, injury, damage, or harm that may arise from participating in the Transformation Challenge.
Progress Tracking
Clearly outline how progress will be measured. Clearly outline how progress will be measured. You must get your weight verified twice for each challenge, once at the beginning (starting verified weigh-in) and once at the end (ending verified weigh-out). As part of our review, we occasionally request that some (very few) participants submit an additional weigh-out video. Go for it! All weekly weigh-ins should be submitted as unverified (You can do this by clicking the weigh-in button on your dashboard). Reporting regularly will allow you to see accurate tracking stats of how you are progressing throughout your challenge. However, you will NOT be disqualified for not submitting unverified weigh-ins regularly.
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Frequency of Check-Ins
Specify how often participants will report their progress.
Reward System
Establish clear criteria for earning rewards. You can encourage joining the challenge with fun or unique rewards, a great community to connect with, and other enticing benefits. Each friend you refer will receive a $40 HealthyWager prize boost, and you'll get a $40 prize boost for each referral that signs up. Holy cow! Past winners are also eligible to participate in our referral program, with boosts going directly to your HW Points account (instead of being added to your prize).
Team Dynamics
For large groups, or workplace weight loss challenges, consider a team-based competition. Working in teams can be a lot more fun (and effective) for everyone involved. If you decide to do teams, the process will be slightly different. Create small groups of 2 to 6 people, with one of them acting as team captain. A team leaderboard can add an extra layer of motivation and foster teamwork.
Community Building
Finally, stay in touch with people! One of your primary goals is to build up your team and help people bond, so try to open up several different social and communication channels. You could use a literal channel on Slack to post motivating content, set weekly progress meetings to discuss successes and frustrations, or connect on social media. Create opportunities for the participants to get together periodically during the challenge. Mid-challenge events could be almost anything that you think would pique the interest of your participants. Encourage them to share their personal diet and exercise tips there, as well as their experiences and progress photos.
Dos and Don'ts for a Successful Challenge
Here are some key dos and don'ts to keep in mind when implementing a weight loss challenge:
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Dos
- Determine a winner by the percentage of total weight lost, not total pounds.
- Organize fitness activities to complete as a group. Not everyone is going to know quite what to do, especially on their own.
- Promote body positivity! Celebrate all body types and efforts made to improve.
- Encourage long-term habits.
- Encourage the use of health benefits. Employees are not on their own when trying to lose those pounds.
- Encourage Sharing: Promote a culture of sharing experiences, challenges, and successes.
Don'ts
- Don’t: Hold in-office weigh-ins.
- Don’t: Force participants to share their progress.
- Don’t: Make the program mandatory. Not everyone will want to participate and that’s okay!
- Hijack HealthyWage brand terms or otherwise do things that are adverse to HealthyWage's interests as outlined in the Services Agreement.
- Register under a different/new account in an attempt to bypass this rule will result in immediate disqualification with no refund.
Mid-Challenge Activities
Need some ideas to get your employees involved? Try some of the following activities.
- Team fitness classes
- Smoothies in the office
- Lunchtime walk-a-thons or other daily walks
- Eating delicious healthy food at a work potluck
- Hikes before work
- A volleyball or basketball game
- Host a step challenge at work
Promoting Wellness and a Healthy Lifestyle
Promoting Wellness = Promoting Happiness. Offering more support at work for healthier lifestyles is one of the best ways to help people have a fulfilling life. But if you’ve ever tried to boost your fitness or lose weight, you know it’s no easy task! Social support can be a compelling force when it comes to staying motivated and committed to weight loss, especially because peer support can be a great source of positive reinforcement . When you do a weight loss challenge at work, you’re reminding each other every day that they don’t have to make wellness efforts all on their own. A 2021 survey found that 79% of employees thought that their company’s wellness programs helped them be as productive as possible, while about 4 out of 5 also believed such programs had helped them avoid getting sick. So not only will employees be more effective at work, but they and their employer are likely to see some healthcare savings too.
Addressing Potential Challenges and Concerns
Safety and Health Considerations
Caution your participants about using extreme measures and unhealthy methods to lose weight, and warn them about the dangers of losing too much weight too quickly. Emphasize that they should use diet and exercise to lose weight, not starve themselves. If anyone on staff is uncomfortable with the contest because of past (or current) eating disorders, or for any other reason, let the group know when the contest is announced that the employee should speak to the HR department privately about it.
You may not have bariatric surgery during your challenge or within one year prior to your challenge start date. You may not have liposuction or any other surgery that causes your weight to decrease by more than 5 pounds, regardless of whether weight loss was the intended purpose of the surgery, during your challenge. If you need to have surgery, we may grant you a dispensation to continue your challenge or we may suspend your challenge or we may reduce your goal weight or we may cancel your challenge (with or without refund, depending upon the circumstances).
If you become pregnant during your challenge, you are entitled to postpone the challenge until a future date. If you enter a challenge while pregnant, you will be disqualified. Weight loss caused by giving birth to a baby (/-ies) does not count. Your challenge is suspended the minute you think you might be pregnant -- just let us know. You have 60 days after that to supply proof of pregnancy from your clinic/doctor. Once you confirm your pregnancy with documentation, we will stall your remaining installment payments and pause your challenge. After your doctor clears you to start again, we will reinstate your installments and either start your challenge over or let you complete your remaining months. If you choose to start over, you will need to submit a new verified weigh-in. Regardless of which option you choose, you will only need to pay the remaining number of installments from your original wager.
Mental and Emotional Well-being
Remember: this is an invitation that should encourage all of your employees to participate if they feel comfortable doing so . Do your best to destigmatize what weight loss must look like-all bodies are different, and getting to a healthy weight isn’t just about being skinny. Genetics, lifestyle, body type, mental health, outstanding health concerns, and many other factors play into both health and weight, so make sure your challenge is imbued with positivity, inclusivity, and sensitivity. Employees shouldn’t see this as stressful or demeaning, but instead as an opportunity to feel like their best selves while connecting with coworkers. Be nice, please! Harassment of any kind, whether of your own teammates or other teams or non-participants is prohibited. You are encouraged to support your teammates, but you covenant and agree that unwelcome emotional, physical, or other abuse is absolutely forbidden.
Setting Realistic Goals
10% is the minimum weight loss goal for the HealthyWager. For example, if your starting weight is 200 pounds, then your HealthyWager goal must be at least 20 pounds of weight loss. If your starting weight is 160 pounds, then your HealthyWager goal must be at least 16 pounds of weight loss.
Strategies for Sustainable Weight Loss
Sustainable weight loss is about building healthy long-term habits to cultivate a healthy lifestyle. A fitness challenge should foster long-term well-being rather than just short-term results.
Diet and Nutrition
On average, you need to burn 500 to 1,000 calories more than you consume each day, by way of diet and exercise, to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week. Consider encouraging whole foods and limiting processed options.
Exercise and Physical Activity
Expect to stay active during the 75 Hard Challenge, as the guidelines call for TWO workouts a day. Each must last at least 45 minutes. One has to take place outside - no matter the weather. (The workouts need to be three hours apart, too.) How you break a sweat is up to you, though. Any type of exercise checks the box, including:The goal is simply to commit to doing activities to boost fitness while also building determination and dedication.
Tracking Progress
Workouts, and meals. Consider using a fitness tracker, smartwatch, or app on your smartphone. As simple as a spreadsheet if you prefer.
Lifestyle Factors
Stress management and quality sleep are also crucial, so offer relaxation techniques and sleep education.
Celebrating Success and Maintaining Momentum
Don’t forget the final, vital step for a work weight loss challenge: celebrating your success! Highlight total pounds lost by all participants, and make sure to recognize achievements outside of the numbers on the scale, too. See how many miles everyone collectively walked, ran, cycled, etc. On the day the competition ends, have everyone come in for their final weigh-in. Let everyone know how and when you will be revealing the results of the challenge. For each participant, calculate the average of their weekly weigh-ins. Gather everyone together and reveal the winner. After the winner is announced, make sure everyone sticks around for a mini-celebration.
Now that you’ve completed the weight loss challenge don’t just stop; this might undo all of your hard work. Go through each of those steps again until it becomes a new habit.
Alternative Approaches
The HealthyWager
Pick the number of pounds you want to lose; the amount of money you want to wager; and the number of months you want to lose weight. The HealthyWager algorithm then offers you a prize amount. You can run as many "experiments" as you want until you find the right bet for you. After you place your bet, the prize amount is locked in. To win the prize, you must achieve (or beat) your goal by the end of the last day of your wager. You can get your verified weigh-out any time during the Weigh-Out Window, which is the last two weeks of your challenge, ending on your challenge end date. If you lose the weight earlier, you must maintain the weight loss (or lose additional weight) until your Weigh-Out Window begins. You can lose more than your goal weight and still claim the prize. If you win the HealthyWager, we will award your prize in cash via check or Paypal. Note: There is a processing fee for a paper check of $7.00.
The 75 Hard Challenge
The 75 Hard Challenge is a lifestyle program that debuted in 2019 and developed a zealous online following. It’s the brainchild of Andy Frisella, a motivational speaker and entrepreneur with a focus on the health and fitness industry.The program asks you to follow five strict rules (or core values) on a daily basis for 75 days to build a better you. No breaks allowed, no variations permitted, no excuses for failure accepted.