and the WINNER is.......

Congrats to Douglas Bean!  He won the weight-loss challenge, losing a total of 32.8 lbs and 12.3% of his total weight.  The silver medal goes to Christopher Whitney.  He lost a total of 29.8 lbs and 10.6% of his total weight.  The bronze medal goes to Valorie (Mom) Lystrup! She came from behind to lose a total of 16.6 lbs and 8.7% of her total weight.

Winnings are as follows:   Gold $170

                                                    Silver $61
                                                    Bronze $12

Here are the honorable mentions:

Aaron:           total of 25 lbs and 7.8%
Bob:                total of 19.6 lbs and 7.5%
Annie:            total of 16.2 lbs and 7.0%
Alison:           total of 9.8 lbs and 6.7%
Kim:               total of 11 lbs and 4.9%
Mindy:           total of 7.2 lbs and 3.7%
Kaden:           total of 2.2lbs and 2.1%
Kiel:              total of 1lb and .2%

*a few of us owe money:   Mindy you owe Doug $6

                                                     Kaden you owe Chris $1
                                                     Kiel you owe Doug $23

The total amount of weight loss for the group was an awesome: 171.8 lbs for a total of 6.7%

Great job everyone!! 

I know I really benefited from this challenge and it help me get a jump start on losing the extra pounds.  I definitely needed the motivation.  For those of you who want to continue to lose weight, I have another competition proposal for you.  The rules are a little different and ANYBODY can join and win!  Here are the rules (let me know how many of you want to do it):

1.  Everyone sets a goal weight (one that is worthwhile, but not impossible)

2.  Everyone votes on the fairness of the all the goal weights and adjust accordingly

3.  Everyone puts a certain amount of money into the pot (enough to make you really not want to lose it) (Think of it as a great way to save some Christmas spending money)

4.  For those who meet their goal weight and maintain it during the contest (Let's say until Thanksgiving day) they get their money back.  For those who don't:  they divide it among those who did. So basically you are competing against yourself for your own money, but you may end up with more.

5.  There will be a few surprise weigh-ins just to keep us on track.

6.  The first person to meet their goal gets to add some cushion weight to their final goal (so that they are more likely to get their money back)

It's just an idea...I know for me, this works better because I am working against myself but it is enough motivation for me to maintain my weight loss.  For those who want to join in, let me know and start thinking of a  weight goal and the amount of money we should put in. 

Once again....congrats to everyone!  Every single person lost weight!