Two years ago, I started a weight-loss competition called the Biggest Blogging Loser, and I opened it up to anyone interested. It was both very, very awesome and very, very not awesome. On the one hand, I met incredible people through the group. I reconnected with a college friend who's now important to both Mike and me, someone he didn't even know before BBL. I met Caitlin, who is pure joy, and an incredible friend. But, it was much more stressful than I expected and with over 100 participants that first round, it was just too much. (I'm leaving this all purposefully vague, but there were some genuinely not good parts, trust me. Oof.)
I've managed a few additional rounds over the last two years, on a more exclusive basis--inviting people via email or word of mouth--and it was much more enjoyable when I felt I really knew the participants and the number of people was more manageable.
This fall, I handed the torch to Regan, and she managed it solo. She did a great job, and a lot of people have shown interest in another round. I think we're going to take all we've learned over the last couple years and manage this next round together. Here are the basics:
- I'm capping it at 50 people. This is more than the smaller rounds, but a lot less than the first (too-big) round. I think this gives enough people a chance to participate without making Regan or me lose our minds.
- Edited to add: The competition runs from January 7 - April 1, 2013
- The entry fee is $20. This is a totally non-refundable fee. As soon as you send your money, you can't get it back. Even if you drop out day three, the money stays in the pot.
- The pot will be split like this: 50% to 1st place; 30% to 2nd place; 20% divided weekly to a randomly chosen participant who weighed in that week.
- Winners are decided by percentage of weight loss, not pounds lost.
- You have to send your scale pictures (to me) each week (you can miss up to two weeks) or you'll be eliminated. (Again, with no refund.)
- You have to send full-body AND scale pictures the first and last week.
- Regan will be co-hosting this with me, so both of us will have access to your stats but no one BUT us will. Really, I've never been more of a vault than with your personal weight information. No one will know those numbers but us, swear it.
- By Friday of each week (no promise of earlier), we'll send the top-five leaders of the week with the percentage they lost included. No one in the competition will know your actual pounds lost unless you tell them.
- You'll email everything to ME each week ([email protected]). You can also email me any questions before starting!
If you want in, awesome! I'm really excited about this round. Send $20 VIA PAYPAL to [email protected] by JANUARY 4th and you can expect the first group email to go out a day or so after that with the final pot amounts and all this information reiterated.
Again, I'm capping this round at 50 people. If it seems like it's getting close to filling up, I'll let you know either here or on Twitter (@shelikespurple)!
Here's to a healthy 2013!