Michael & Liz are Bloggable

So I realize this blog is reserved for the lives of Liz and I and what we do on a daily basis. But I have taken on another project at work that I just couldn't resist sharing. I personally don't think it falls into the scope of the blog but oh well...

So I'm sure most people don't know what I do and while everyone has their main job role at work, they also understand that they are constantly thrown other projects that keep you very busy. Well one outside project of mine is that I manage the websites for our department and a few others. And recently I took on another project that is somewhat related to the website but has nothing to do with work. Let me explain:

A week before Thanksgiving I was talking to a friend of mine at work named Charlie and he was telling me about how he just started his own weight loss program. He was really excited about it and said he would really love to work out with me because he knows I am really into exercise (not so much into the eating healthy though). I told him since we were members at different gyms it couldn't happen but I offered him some motivation. I told him that in order to do any more marathons, I would have to drop 20 pounds because this recent marathon would have gone better if I was lighter. So I made a bet with him, the first person to drop 20 pounds wins. The loser would pay for the movie tickets on a double date between Liz and I and him and his fiance. Or at least that was the origin of this story.

So we tell my boss and a few other people in our department about it and we very soon are getting a lot of interest from them to participate. After some braintstorming we came up with a biggest loser competition that involved around 6 or so departments in our area. So far we have about 20 people participating with people trying to lose anywhere from 20 pounds to 150 pounds. There are no winners or losers, we are just equal motivation for each other to make changes. It's an amazing thing what we've started and even though we are just a week into it, it has been crazy enjoyable.

So why do I mention the website I manage? Well I have set up individual pages for everyone participating that only they can see. This keeps their weight secret in case weight privacy is a big issue for someone. That is the place where they log their starting weight, weight loss and weight goals. I then created a common page that everyone can see where it has a table that shows the percent that everyone wishes to lose and the current percent that they've lost. This common page is dynamic too so anytime anyone joins the competition or anytime someone updates their individual pages, the common page shows the update immediately. I have to be honest, I'm very proud of the pages I've created in order to track the competition. I have gotten a lot of great comments about it, how everyone enjoys seeing the goals and status of the other participants.

Another feature of the competition is that the first Tuesday of every month, everyone participating is going to go to lunch together to talk and discuss strategy and accomplishments. We are also setting up daily lunch walks in small groups to keep exercise motivation up.

Every Tuesday Liz and I sit in front of the TV and with cold and sweaty palms we squirm over the stress and anticipation of what is going to happen on our favorite show, The Biggest Loser. There are a ton of narrow-minded people who hate reality TV and would refuse to watch it for that reason. But this is not a drama-filled popularity contest, these are real people changing their lives right in front of your eyes while advertising a healthy lifestyle of eating right and exercising hard. What more could an American want out of a TV show? And hey, if it rubs off a little motivation, then fantastic. I always thought it would be cool to be a part of it, from the perspective that your life revolves around being healthy and exercising with a trainer. If my full time job would be to lift weights, run, and exercise, I'd be the happiest person on earth. So even though we don't have a Bob or Jillian or an awesome biggety scale, it would be cool to see some people at work change their lives and I can only hope I played a part in it.