PVP: 20 pounds, 10 weeks [Sept. 15 - Nov. 24]

[Stronkey Kong]

Some of us had some good success with our previous 20 lbs. challenge. The old thread continues to get a few newcomers, but overall participation and posting has been flagging, so I figured it was time for a reboot.
 
Thus, I challenge YOU, (and myself) to commit to 10 weeks of weight loss, and to lose 2 lbs. per week.
 
Can you do it?
 
The "rules" are simple:
 
Sign up by posting your name, and starting weight in the 20 lbs., 10 weeks challenge spreadsheet. You are also welcome to opt for less weight or less time.
 
Introduce yourself to the group, discuss your goals, motivation(s), and strategies.
 
Cheer the group on. Stay positive, support others and draw on the support and advice of others. One of the main benefits of doing this is for accountability and support. Make this a positive place that people will want to keep coming back to. Post your favorite motivational quotes, funniest gifs etc. Make everyone want to spend time here, checking-in, gaining knowledge, gaining motivation.
 
Weigh-in weekly. Add your weekly weights to the spreadsheet. Instructions are given therein. You can choose whichever day works for you, but do so by the Monday following that week. Most people choose a day that tends to be their lowest weight due to their weekly workout routine. You can report your lowest weight for the week, or your rolling average... whatever is most meaningful to you.
 
All guilds are welcome.
 
Try out sidequests. Whoever leads the pack in weight lost will propose a weight loss tactic for others to try sometime during that week. It could be something that you've done that works for you. OR it could be something new you want to try. Share your knowledge or drag other people into doing something new with you. All sidequests are optional and will not be scored or graded. BUT, they are a good opportunity to share ideas, and try new strategies.

 

 

[Stronkey Kong]

Darwins_Demon: 2 / 20 lbs. lost

10%

10%

 

kzacher: 2/ 12 lbs. lost

10%

10%

 

ShadowLion: 6 / 20 lbs. lost

30%

30%

 

Broba Fett: 1.8 / 20

13%

13%

 

Gainsdalf: 2.6 / 20

13%

13%

 

Caolan: 14 / 20

70%

70%

 

Forkboy: 8.2 / 10

41%

41%

 

WritingWeaver: 0 / 20

0%

0%

 

lolavictrola: 6 / 20

30%

30%

 

NightWatcher13: 4 / 20

20%

20%

 

Bekah: 0 / 20

0%

0%

 

Dasein: 14.2 / 20

71%

71%

 

Albeus51: 0.2 / 20

6%

6%

 

Endor: 0 / 10

0%

0%

 

Musuku: 0 / 20

5%

5%

 

Lwow: 6 /20

15%

15%

 

Rookie: 3.2 / 20

16%

16%

 

gijoe4500: 1 / 20

5%

5%

 

Hiroro: 7 / 15

16%

16%

 

MasterOfCows: 2.4 / 10

12%

12%

 

jcsimmons: 1 / 20

5%

5%

 

Dradis: 0 / 12

0%

0%

 

wovercast: 0 / 15

0%

0%

 

Briguy: 0 / 20

10%

10%

 

Whiskey_Shivers: 0.6 / 20

3%

3%

 

Blaid: 3.3 / 20

8.8%

8.8%

 

QuoththeDragon: 2 / 20

10%

10%

 

 

NOTE: I'm just playing around with the leader board format right now. Thought I'd do a progress bar for everyone, so it's easy to see everyone's progress at a glance.

 

Let me know if you'd like a different color for your progress bar. Preferably the RGB Hexcode if you know it. You can look some up here.

 

Updates and edits:

 

9/15/14

Challenge starts. Added new nerds and edited color preferences. QuoththeDragon and Briguy are not on the spreadsheet.

 

9/24/14

Updated leaderboard for week one. LolaVictrola is in the lead with 6 lbs. lost. Followed by Hiroro with 3.2 lbs., and Broba Fett with 2.6 lbs. lost.

 

10/1/14

Updated leader board for week two. Dasein is leading with 7.6 pounds lost. Followed by Caolan with 4.8, and Endor with 3.8.

 

10/7/14

Updated leader board for week three. Dasein still leads with 7.8 pounds lost, followed by Caolan with 7.6, and forkboy with 4.3.

 

10/14/14

Updated leader board for week three. Dasein still leads with 10.1 pounds lost, followed by Caolan with 9.2, and Briguy with 4.9.

 

10/24/14

Updated the leaderboard for week five. Half way done.

Dasein is still dominating with 12.4 pounds lost, and still followed by Caolan with 9.2. Forkboy and Shadowlion are tied for third with 5 lbs. lost.

 

10/29/14

It's Dasein, Caolan, and Forkboy still leading with 13.6, 11.6, and 6 pounds lost respectively.

 

11/5/14

 

Dasein is in the lead still (14.2 lbs. lost), but Caolan is right on his heels (14 lbs. lost). Forkboy has the best seat to watch the action unfold in third place with (8.2 lbs. lost).

 

 

Dasein: 14.2 / 20

71%

71%

 

Caolan: 14 / 20

70%

70%

 

Forkboy: 8.2 / 10

41%

41%

[Buff Brogan]

maybe the leader could suggest the side quest/challenge....  like a day of tabata, or only drink water for 3 days, etc.

 

i don't think i can lose another 20, but i'll be here to support and help motivate. 

[Stronkey Kong]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the goal doesn't strictly have to be 20 lbs.

 

If 10 is challenging then by all means go for 10. If 5, then 5.

 

Also, if you wanted to do less time that's cool too.

[ShadowLion]

Count me in! I'm currently 185 and have about 30 pounds to lose. Would love to take 20 off in the next 10 weeks. I'm working to get "fire fit" by mid-March of 2015 for AZ Wildfire Academy and get back out on an engine crew for the season next summer.

 

Will do an official weigh-in when the spreadsheet is up.

Thanks for rebooting this, Darwins_Demon!

[Buff Brogan]

awesome i'm in. my overall goal is to be at 200 before the end of the year. after the last 20lbs challenge i gained back up to 210ish (212 as of this writing). so i'll aim for 200. assuming we're going to start with a weigh in and then do a weekly weigh in as well?

[Stronkey Kong]

The spreadsheet is up.

[INSAIYAN]

I'm in. I'll get a starting weight tomorrow, since it's been a month since I stepped on a scale. I'm sure I've shot up a little bit - August was a party heavy month, bookended by my birthday at the beginning and my wife's this last weekend. I lost 20lbs last challenge and intend to do so again.

 

I keep my strategy simple - eat at a deficit and plan out my meals for the week. I use Amazon Fresh delivery groceries, so it keeps things very simple. I'll be getting back into the gym to work on my upper body, since I'll be avoiding engageing my knee until I see the physical therapist. I've been out of comission due to a minor miniscus tear.

 

I'm excited to do this again. Good luck, NFers!

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Read through your last challenge just in time for it to end in a link here. I'm in. I'm currently 262 after dropping 10 lb or so over the last 2 months, finally out of the IPF superheavy weights as 264 is 120 kg.

 

My long term goal is to get down into the 220s so that when I compete in the future, I can compete in the 105 kg class (231 lb). It'll allow me to bounce around between 220 and 230 during bulk/cut cycles without having to cut for meets. Not sure if it'll work out as since I have a good amount of muscle, it's hard to tell my bodyfat % which I'm esitmating is mid to high 20's, putting me around 190 lb lean bodyweight if I'm right. I'm going to reevaluate around 240, perfect for this challenge.

 

The other reason this challenge is perfect is that November 28th is my 10 year high school reunion. I graduated around 220 and I don't want to come back looking huge compared to what people expect. Getting into the low 240s coupled with the muscle I put on since then should make it so I'm not one of the 10-20 people are all "whoa" about in a negative way. That's 80 days away.

[Stronkey Kong]

So I rebooted this thing, I guess it's about time I introduce myself (to mostly people who's posts I already frequent). I guess a what's 'e up to now is warranted.

 

I grew up as a fat nerdy kid. Then in college I turned things around for a bit and lost over a hundred pounds by changing my dietary habits and studying the shit out of Kung Fu. Then, in the post undergraduate years, I got lazy and lost a bunch of my strength, endurance, and eventually gained back a bunch of weight during the middle of graduate school, where I am now.

 

About a year ago I said enough is enough. I got started on NF and joined up with the warriors and have been focusing on strength training. While I'm happy with the increases in strength, I'm still struggling to drop body fat. I've got some muscle, now I want to show it off.

 

During the first go at the 20 lbs. challenge I dropped about 9-10 lbs. in about a month. Short of goal, but as a group we all pushed and it kept me going good and steady for a while, and it was a good jump in progress that I hadn't seen in a while. Now its time to jump in and drive it home.

 

Right now I'm hangin' around 252 lbs. I habitually measure my waist, and lately its about 37.5", and I also take caliper measurements that put me around 25% body fat.

 

My goal is to get to 12% BF and somewhere just above 200 lbs.

 

During the last attempt at this challenge, I was lifting heavy and following a ketogenic diet. Unfortunately, this time around I have to back off on all those delicious meats... my budget won't allow it. So for at least until the end of this month I'll be doing this the low fat and vegetarian way (and not looking forward to it). Lentils and rice man... WTF?!

 

And for some damn reason I decided to start running again... I was drunk and made a promise to run a 5k with some friends. And to hold myself accountable for my impulsive booze brain, I started training for that and started losing weight again from adding in a few miles at the end of my workouts. So, even though I've backed out of the 5k (because I plan to be very hungover that morning). But of course I'll still be lifting iron, but less weight more reps.

 

tl;dr -- I used be fat, but got stronger, and now I want to show off muscles. And I'm going low fat and running now. WTF?!

 

Oh well, it's all about caloric deficits 'ey!

 

Good luck everyone!

[caolan]

This sounds like fun, so I am in.  I started the last 6 week challenge at 280 and finished at 264.  This group seems like just the thing to keep me moving in the right direction and at the right pace.

 

The food part of my plan is simple - I gave up fast food 6 weeks ago, and am now tracking everything I eat in MFP.  This has helped me so much, and I plan to continue this.

 

The exercise plan is a little more complex.  I am planning to participate in the 10 week YAYOG PVP Challenge that starts this week, but I hurt my back last week, so I can't do the bodyweight work for another week or two.  In the meantime, I will focus on things I can do safely with a sore back - walking and swimming.

 

Good luck to all!

[forkboy]

I'm in.  I will put myself in for 10 lbs and will weigh-in on Saturday.  That is a bit of a stretch goal for me at my current pace and deficit, but I will give it a run for sure.

 

For those of you I don't know, short introduction is I have been on NF for about a year, but I had a serious lapse in the spring and missed several challenges and regained all the weight I lost in the fall and winter.  I have been back on since June and after two consecutive challenges I am nearly back to where I was after 4 last time.  The biggest lesson I learned during my hiatus is that accountability is huge for me.  None of my friends or family are very health conscious and most don't have a weight problem so show little interest in my nutrition experiments or my exercise routines.  This challenge seems perfect for me.  I will enjoy the friendly competition and need the accountability.  I am currently at about 27% BF, 5'9" and 189 lbs.  My goal is to get to 15% BF regardless of weight.  I track macro contents leaning on high protein levels and caloric restriction.  I do sprints, body weight routines, weight lifting, and running on the fitness side of the house.  

 

Looking forward to it!  Cheers.

[Musuku]

In for 10lbs. Will do my introduction soon.

[WritingWeaver]

I'm in for 20lbs

Intro: In the last 6 week challenge which was my first official challenge, I lost 14lbs (though whether it was fat I don't know) and I'm looking forward to this upcoming challenge!

My challenge was eating Paleo and doing the NF Strength Guide level 1 @ 25lb each dumbbell (the max weight I have for them currently). This challenge I am switching my dumbells out for Insanity's HIIT in hopes to see slightly bigger results. I know, I know, impatient, aren't I? I've already started Insanity this week, but I'll be doing a weigh in starting every Monday for this group. Been eating Paleo for 2 months (coming up his Sunday) and I honestly can't see myself going back again with all the problems it gets rid of. 

[lolavictrola]

I'll sign up for 20lbs! I like PVP challenges, because they keep me coming back

 

I'm currently 356 lbs. I'm pretty close to my highest weight, even with revamping my exercise routine. My favorite workouts are barre class (so fun), hikes/walks, lifting, and bodyweight. I'm doing well with exercise - what I need to curb my compulsive eating!

 

I'll probably weigh in on Saturdays!

[Bekah]

I'm in. 

Signed up. Would like this color for my progress bar please: #339900 (is that the right format?)

Intro: I was thin all my life, and fairly active (anorexia and overexercising at times) and was a power lifter in high school. Stayed thin till I married J, gained 100 lbs bc of stupid meds and bullshit. Lost 80, life went to shit, gained it all back. Found NF almost 2 years ago, lost 40lb, had surgery in February and was in bed for 3 months just about, gained it all back...and here we are. 

through all this, I learned that--
a.) I eat to stuff my feelings (mostly anger and anxiety) 
b.) I do REALLY poorly on Keto anything and anything too far under 100g of carbs is not my friend, but I need autoimmune dietary restrictions. 
c.) I love yoga and it makes me feel amazing
d.) I need to get this weight off to do it properly again
e.) I am a badass and can go through just about anything and come out with a smile. 

I have a somewhat unrealistic goal, I want to lose 50 lbs by Christmas, which I know is pretty tough and I probably wont make it, but I am going to try. We are taking a trip to DC over Xmas and I was 200lb last time we went and it was rough, and I was in much better shape than now, and I would prefer not to die, so its kinda important to get as much off as possible before then, but as far as my "official" goal goes, I am sticking with 20. I am going to do mostly veggies with chicken and moderate fat and somewhere between 90-110g carbs per day. I am doing yoga, and being walked by my master (the dog runs shit round here ) and am going to do BBWW after I talk to my doc about something (my joints and tendons and muscles feel loose after I do it and I walk all shaky like, but its not like weak muscle shaky, its like my knee is going to pop out shaky? any ideas?) 

My WI day will be Wednesdays. 

and nice to meet all of you! I think Lola is the only person I am familiar with, although I have seen all of you around of course. 

[dasein]

I am Dasein.

 

Although I stop into Nerd Fitness every now and then when I am feeling particularly down on myself for my lack of fitness, I have yet to post (me thinks). I caught a glance of some poor pudgy chap in a window this evening and just when I was going to give him some advice on caloric intake, I realized it was me.

 

I am an old runner. I did that gig through childhood and college. I was relatively quick and weighed in at 135 at 5'11".

 

During my post-college recovery years I packed on the pounds as Beer and Wings became my study breaks through two masters and a PhD program. During that time I started drinking like post-2002 Rust Cohle and smoking like Margot Tenenbaum (that is under the veil of secrecy). These bad habits continue to follow me (ah, I'm a victim, yeah, that's it).

 

During dissertation hell I was up to 210.

 

When it was all said and done, I rocked the 4 Hour Body diet and got the ol' running shoes back on. I dropped to 173 after five months. To congratulate myself for all that discipline, I slowly put weight back on.

 

Not sure where I stand now. But I will wait until Monday to step on the scale. 

 

Here's my goals:

1. drop the 20

2. run a 5k in the next 6 months under 22 minutes

3. run a 5k in the next year under 20 minutes

4. Figure out what the hell all of your acronyms mean

 

In ways I fit the nerd category as my work is talking about seemingly complex things in front of seemingly disinterested college students.

 

It appears that to be a nerd I am supposed to be into gaming. My gaming lifestyle is one of simplicity and nuance. It is called tournament Yatzee. But now my friends and I are getting into darts to work on a different muscle group.

 

Nice to meet you all.

 

I care not what color my progress bar is.

 

If you don't see me here again, I dare you to taunt me via PM.

[Rookie]

Hello! 

 

I am in... I need the motivation lol.

 

I am a gamer and a programmer and a pretty sedentary one at that. I also love horses and I quarter-board a horse I ride Thursdays and Saturdays. For awhile I was riding 3 times a week and jogging and I started to lose weight pretty steadily. I don't run much anymore and I only ride twice a week so the weightloss has stalled. I have also been tracking my food and trying to eat around 1800-1900 calories a day. I haven't been very good lately lol so I need the extra motivation.  I am currently 240lb (down from 265lb) and I would like to be down to 190lbs by August 2015. So I suppose for this challenge I would like to aim for 20lbs in 10 weeks because that would help me a lot!  

 

I will continue to track my calories and I am going to be starting the basic 10-week program of You Are Your Own Gym So it fits perfectly. And just so happens I am starting next week so it fits with this PVP. I will be working out M, T, W, F.

 

Color: #FF8C00 

[Briguy]

Since I haven't been in a challenge in while I will join this here PvP challenge.

 

I was never thin.  I wasn't all that big either, in high school I weighted in at 208 my freshman year for football and during wrestling I went down to the 189 weight class.  after that I wrestled heavyweight never getting over 220 until after my senior year.  I went up a little and then back down when I was in the military.  after that I slowly gained to 260, then a few years ago I hit 300.  In January I was 315 and started tracking everything and started to loose a little, actually back down to 284.in   Then went on a little trip in June and went back up to where I am now, around 300.

,

 

I detailed my BS in another thread so I don't really want to write it down again, but anyway.  My weight loss is contingent on what I eat and how much.  I don't much care for the taste of processed crap anymore, but find it easier to make than remembering to thaw out dinner.   But for the sake of this challenge I will start doing everything I can to meet or exceed its goals and go for the 20 in ten weeks.  I know I can do it, hell, I did it before more or less, and it only took me a little more than a weekend to put it back on (rafting trips are great, but when you have a hosted even for Vets sometimes there is a little to much food)

 

Oh, and the whole exercise part?  I will work on that too, I went on an elliptical machine today and got my heart rate all the way up to 107, while the trainer-ish-  guy was doing the same pace at 170 BPM

 

But on the bright side I didn't get paced there yet, and that is my goal for now, continue to exceed with what I can do, loose the weight, and don't go into heart failure while I am doing it.   Also as a plus I would like to stay breathing without hyperventilating or whatever when sometimes just walking a few feet at a normal pace and get my leg so it doesn't give out on me. 

 

 

So:

current is 298.6 this morning before going to exercise class, I will weight on Mondays, Wednesday and Friday there.

If it drops before Monday I will use the lower one, if it goes up I will loose the lower one as well.

20 pounds in 10 weeks. 4 of those and I will be at 220, my goal.

[ShadowLion]

Please make mine #68228B, D_D.

 

Great to see this thread taking off! (May we all take it off!)

[ShadowLion]

I didn't put in my history or the methods I plan to use...

 

Once upon a time (about 10 years ago), I was a firefighter - wildland, structure and EMS - and I could carry one of my crew down a ladder with both of us in full turnout gear plus a whole lot of other crazy firefighter stuff. I had health issues/surgery/was on bedrest, complications that made exercising difficult, yada, yada, but I still kept eating like a firefighter... I gained a lot of weight (60 pounds) and now I'm fighting my way back. After 15 months on NF, I've lost 24 pounds by the scale, but more than 30 by BF% and I'm getting my strength and endurance back. Oh yeah, I'm female and I'm old - 56.

 

Like caolan, I'm doing the YAYOG PVP this time for strength and using MFP - good stuff! Also continuing the No Soda PVP (will be halfway to my year during this challenge!), plus getting in shape for hiking and carrying a 45# pack to go with my quest to get back out on an engine next summer.

[dasein]

I didn't put in my history or the methods I plan to use...

Once upon a time (about 10 years ago), I was a firefighter - wildland, structure and EMS - and I could carry one of my crew down a ladder with both of us in full turnout gear plus a whole lot of other crazy firefighter stuff. I had health issues/surgery/was on bedrest, complications that made exercising difficult, yada, yada, but I still kept eating like a firefighter... I gained a lot of weight (60 pounds) and now I'm fighting my way back. After 15 months on NF, I've lost 24 pounds by the scale, but more than 30 by BF% and I'm getting my strength and endurance back. Oh yeah, I'm female and I'm old - 56.

Like caolan, I'm doing the YAYOG PVP this time for strength and using MFP - good stuff! Also continuing the No Soda PVP (will be halfway to my year during this challenge!), plus getting in shape for hiking and carrying a 45# pack to go with my quest to get back out on an engine next summer.

You're pretty much a badass!

I wince over carrying my nine year old to bed and her turn out gear is unicorn pj's.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I too forgot to include the methods I will be using to lose the weight.
 
The only way I've ever been able to lose weight is by tracking calories and measuring portion size. I suck at guestimating how much I'm eating, and it always ends up being more than I think. So, as part of the last challenge, I got back in the groove of tracking everything that went in my mouth with a goal of 2500 kcal a day as well as weighing myself a few times a week to get a weight loss trend line figured out at that intake. Here are the results:
 

The weeks went like this:

Week 1: 59 kcal under
Week 2: 500 kcal over
Week 3: 34 kcal under
Week 4: 900 kcal over
Week 5: 350 kcal over
Week 6: 950 kcal over
Total 2557 kcal over

So I was under 2/6 weeks. Let's call that a C-. My main problem was social situations in which I either drank a shit ton of beer (football tailgate), ate a ton of cookies and desserts (house warming party and Eagles game), or went overboard on a night out (anniversary). Those things account for all of those overages. Apart from those 4 days, I was on pace the rest of the 38 days of this challenge. Too bad I screwed it up, but at least I know where I can improve.

It's not a complate fail though because the real benefit here was that I got myself back into the habit of tracking in a sustainable way. I track religiously every day, but the bar scanner on the MyFitnessPal app makes it less of a hassle than in the past. When I can, I measure out my food. When I can't measure, I guesitmate as best as I can.

The trend line in the graph above shows i was losing .14 lb a day, which comes out to 0.98 lb a week, or a 3430 kcal weekly deficit. Combining my 17,500 kcal weekly goal, my average weekly overage (2557 kcal/6 weeks=426 kcal), and my weekly deficit gets me a weekly TDEE of 21,356 kcal. That comes out to a daily TDEE of 3050 kcal. This information will be useful for my next challenge where I plan to try to lose 1.5-2 lb a week.

So, this time around I'm going to aim to lose 1.75 lb a week based on the above, which requires a deficit of 1.75 lb/week* 3500kcal/lb= 6125 kcal/week. My TDEE is 21,356, so taking that deficit out, I'm aiming for a total kcal intake over the entire week of 15231. That's a daily 2175 kcal, but that just gives me somehting to aim for each day. What I really care about is weekly intake. This helps because going over on a given day doesn't derail me because I can make it up the rest of the week.

 

The other reason it helps is because typically when I get to the end of the day, if I've been good all day, I have 100-300 kcal left after dinner and supplementing with whey protein to make sure I hit my 200g/day goal. I can choose to either have a small snack like 2 servings of ice cream (1/2 cup each, smaller than you think), or I can "bank" it for the weekend. I do the later unless I'm having a real sweet tooth. At the end of the week I end up with 500-1500 kcal to play with from all that banking. I can go have a big ass milkshake or real desert like apple pie ala mode, or I can spend it on 3-5 beers during the game. This flexibility lets me let loose a bit on the weekend and not go crazy due to restriction for weeks on end.

 

The last 0.25lb a week I'm hoping will come from adding another lifitng workout in per week, as I was down to only two due to life.

[QuothTheDragon]

Ah, what the hell, I'm aiming for 2 lbs/week anyway. Count me in! I have a better plan than last time anyway (karate 2x week, YAYOG 4x week, 5K + 10K coming up to train for) and I want to be in Onederland by the end of the year. Might as well get cracking!

 

You can make my progress bar #FF7F00, pretty please.

 

I also vote for posting motivational videos/quotes/pics up here too. I'll look for some tonight, if people like the idea.

[forkboy]

You're pretty much a badass!

 

 

Agree.  ShadowLion = badass!