Need help in comparing weight loss between men and women

September 14, 2004 3:50 PM

Need help in comparing weight loss between men and women and for various weights for a competition [mi].

My friends and I are all trying to lose weight so we have a small wager going on to spur each other to stick with it. Unfortuantely, we all have various weights to lose and want to make it equitable so those with 10-20 lbs. won't get shafted by those needing to lose 100 lbs. It's also a mix of men to women.

Anyone have an idea of what would be fair? With me needing to lose 100 lbs. and a guy, what would be a fair amount for a woman to lose 15 lbs. for example? We are planning on now through the end of the year as a timeframe.

posted by karmaville to Health & Fitness (4 answers total)

There were some good suggestions here.
posted by nixxon at 4:11 PM on September 14, 2004

I would suggest, first off, comparing percent body fat lost as opposed to comparing either absolute or relative weight lost -- a consciensiously followed diet is going to result in dumping water weight in the beginning and that effect is much more noticeable if one has farther to go. Comparing the percent body fat eliminates that bias. Second, the last 15 (10 or 5) are the hardest, even if someone hasn't been overly aggressive with the target weight (which women are likely to do), so you may want to change the competition so it's a combination of weight loss and exercise goals -- I.e. 100 lbs and 300 miles versus 15 lbs and/or 1000 miles, or something.
posted by dness2 at 4:13 PM on September 14, 2004

Response by poster: Aww crap. Sorry about the previous post. I looked but didn't see it. I even posted in that question how a friend and I did it last time, which obviously didn't work so well...
posted by karmaville at 4:21 PM on September 14, 2004

If you include weight training in your workouts, you may even add more weight (thanks to the muscle) while losing body fat.

Go by inches, not kilos.
posted by madman at 12:08 AM on September 15, 2004