As they say, if the sock fits.



But, I agree, politics are not something we should bring into the discussion.

I don't think it's a question of "better". At the end of the day, you'll have presumably eaten and drunk something, raising your body's hydration level and thus your weight. In the morning, most people have gone several hours without having consumed anything and won't have that water weight. What really matters is the general trend: are you losing or are you gaining? Physicsdiet accounts for the "noise" in the measurement via smoothing, but I don't think it hurts to try to minimize noise by weighing yourself under the same conditions. For most people, it's easiest to do this in the morning before they've consumed anything.

(Apologies for the delay on this, life always kicks my ass on the weekends. )





First Up, the last week's loss leaderboard:



MEN:



6/29/2007 7/5/2007 Lbs Lost % Loss

VM M 234.0 230.0 -4.0 -1.71%

Fred L M 220.0 217.0 -3.0 -1.36%

Kevin Elwell M 242.0 242.0 0.0 0.00%

Sebastian Massouf M 223.0 223.0 0.0 0.00%

Dan Doucette M 228.0 235.0 7.0 3.07%



WOMEN:

6/29/2007 7/5/2007 Lbs Lost % Loss

Shiny Penny F 129.2 127.0 -2.2 -1.70%

Kim A F 245.0 243.0 -2.0 -0.82%

Sarah F. F 252.0 250.0 -2.0 -0.79%

Kim H F 216.5 216.5 0.0 0.00%

Jessie A. F 148.0 148.0 0.0 0.00%



And now, the Final Results for the entire BL I period, 1/04/2007 - 7/05/2007.



For the Men: the competition was neck and neck, but Fred L nosed out a win over VM, losing an astounding 14.90% of his initial body weight. VM is also a Biggest Loser, losing the most, in terms of total lbs, of anyone in the competition (40 lbs lost, 14.81% of his initial body weight). Kevin Elwell also racked up an incredible double digit loss of 12.32%. Congratulations to all you guys and to Sebastian and Dan for sticking it out with us!



7/5 Start Total Lost Total % Loss

Fred L 217.0 255.0 38.0 14.90%

VM 230.0 270.0 40.0 14.81%

Kevin Elwell 242.0 276.0 34.0 12.32%

Sebastian Massouf 223.0 237.0 14.0 5.91%

Dan Doucette 235.0 230.0 +5.0 +2.17%





For the Women: Sarah F was the Biggest Loser in terms of total pounds (31 lbs, 11.03%) - way to go, Sarah! Largest % Loser was yours truly (25.8 lbs, 16.88%), the first and hopefully last time I'll ever be a Biggest Loser, sniff. Kim H, Jessie, and Kim A also racked up impressive double digit losses - proud to share a gender with you all.



7/5 Start Total Lost Total % Loss

Shiny Penny 127.0 152.8 25.8 16.88%

Sarah F. 250.0 281.0 31.0 11.03%

Kim H 216.5 240.0 23.5 9.79%

Jessie A. 148.0 162.5 14.5 8.92%

Kim A 243.0 258.4 15.4 5.96%



Total lbs lost - men: 121 lbs

Total lbs lost - women: 110.2 lbs

Total number of lbs lost (men and women combined): 231.2 lbs!



(I've uploaded my calculation spreadsheet to Google Docs here, if anyone feels like checking the numbers. )



Final Credits:



Huge props to Team P for starting this and a mega thanks to Fred L for keeping it alive each week. Thanks are also due to the Traineo team for giving us a forum to motivate each other - we're grateful for your hard work! Congratulations to everyone who stuck it out the entire 26 weeks and to those of you who joined us along the way. I feel privileged to have traveled the road with you these past months. You are all Biggest Losers and should give yourselves a pat on the back!

You have to read the Hacker's Diet page about weight smoothing and noise for more info:



http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/signalnoise.ht ml



I don't even know how Traineo approaches this issue - does it smooth weight at all?



If you're tracking weight on a daily basis, PhysicsDiet is the place to do it. What matters is the trend line, not the daily weigh in and PhysicsDiet will show you the trend line.



http://blog.physicsdiet.com/CategoryView,category, sitenews.aspx

My own philosophy is that I stop counting calories when I travel. It's just too hard to try to restrict and count calories when 1.) you're not involved in the preparation of the food and thus have no real way of even coming close to a somewhat accurate estimate; 2.) you're surrounded by temptation everywhere and people eating freely because they're on vacation too; and 3.) it's a vacation and you're supposed to live a little and experience new things.



The approach I take above is not a license to eat like a wild dog - just not to worry about everything you put in your mouth and feel resentful because other people are eating things you want to try, but aren't because you're "on a diet". This means I eat a bite of everything that looks good, but that I don't eat the whole thing (I usually try to stick with 50%-75% of whatever it is, if it's a main dish I've ordered, and then my companions and I usually share bites of our orders so that everyone gets a taste of everything). I also track my food - not calculating the calories (because how would I know, anyways?), but keeping a record of what I ate (this is serves as a nice remembrance of the trip as well).



The most important thing is that you get right back into your routine of tracking your food and calculating your calories as soon as you get back. I can't stress this enough. Every time I've done this, I haven't had any problems. If I procrastinate on getting back into the routine, it becomes a real pain. Don't let the vacation become a license to abandon your diet (which you shouldn't be thinking of as a diet in any case - it's a new way of living).

Height: 5'6

Initial Weigh-In: 152.8

Week 1: 155.4

Week 2: 147.2

Week 3: 146.8

Week 4: 147.2

Week 5: 145.8

Week 6: 144.0

Week 7: 141.2

Week 8: 141.6

Week 9: 138.6

Week 10: 138.6

Week 11: 139.6

Week 12: 137.0

Week 13: 134.8

Week 14: 145.5

Week 15: 148.8

Week 16: 141.8

Week 17: 140.0

Week 18: 136.8

Week 19: 136.6

Week 20: 133.8

Week 21: 133.4

Week 22: 133.0

Week 23: 130.6

Week 24: 130.0

Week 25: 129.2

Week 26: 127.0



Can't believe this year is half over already. Looking forward to BLII already. Will have the final tallies up by noon tomorrow, barring any emergencies. Good work everyone!

6/21 6/29 Lbs Lost % Loss

Kevin Elwell M 245.0 242.0 -3.0 -1.22%

Stacy Flynn M 269.0 266.0 -3.0 -1.12%

VM M 236.0 234.0 -2.0 -0.85%

Boris Pelakh M 226.0 1.5 0.67%

Fred L M 218.0 220.0 2.0 0.92%



(Boris, I'm calculating from the last time you participated on 6/14)



6/21 6/29 Lbs Lost % Loss

Kim H F 218.0 216.5 -1.5 -0.69%

Shiny Penny F 130.0 129.2 -0.8 -0.62%

Kim A F 245.5 245.0 -0.5 -0.20%

Jessie A. F 148.0 148.0 0.0 0.00%



And down the stretch they come! Congrats to this week's biggest losers and to everyone for sticking with it for so long! Remember next week please post three weights: your initial weigh-in, this week's weight, and your weight of July 4-5 so that I can calculate both the week's Biggest Losers and the Overall Biggest Losers. (Fred, if you can include this request when you open the thread next week, I'd appreciate it.) Thanks in advance!

A REMINDER FOR NEXT WEEK: Please post your Initial Weigh-In as well as your weight for weeks 25 (this week) and 26 (next week) so that I can calculate the overall Biggest Loser stats as well as the weekly stat. (I don't need your Initial Weigh-In this week, just next week.) Thanks in advance and have a great week!



Height: 5'6

Initial Weigh-In: 152.8

Week 1: 155.4

Week 2: 147.2

Week 3: 146.8

Week 4: 147.2

Week 5: 145.8

Week 6: 144.0

Week 7: 141.2

Week 8: 141.6

Week 9: 138.6

Week 10: 138.6

Week 11: 139.6

Week 12: 137.0

Week 13: 134.8

Week 14: 145.5

Week 15: 148.8

Week 16: 141.8

Week 17: 140.0

Week 18: 136.8

Week 19: 136.6

Week 20: 133.8

Week 21: 133.4

Week 22: 133.0

Week 23: 130.6

Week 24: 130.0

Week 25: 129.2

6/14 6/21 Lost % Loss

VM M 241.0 236.0 -5.0 -2.07%

Fred L M 220.0 218.0 -2.0 -0.91%

Kevin Elwell M 247.0 245.0 -2.0 -0.81%

Stacy Flynn M 269.0 269.0 0.0 0.00%





6/14 6/21 Lost % Loss

Sarah F. F 257.0 252.0 -5.0 -1.95%

Kim H F 219.5 218.0 -1.5 -0.68%

Shiny Penny F 130.6 130.0 -0.6 -0.46%

Kim A F 245.5 245.5 0.0 0.00%

Jessie A. F 148.0 148.0 0.0 0.00%



Congrats to the biggest losers, VM and Sarah, and to everyone else for sticking with it! In the homestretch now - 2 weeks to go! See you next week!

you should head over to fatsecret.com here. You can read the experiences of people on other diet plans too - pretty interesting.

I have the Omron HJ-112. It's awesome. Amazon has a sale on all its Omrons this month, so you might want to head over there. Alternatively, Costco also has some good prices on pedometers.

Height: 5'6

Initial Weigh-In: 152.8

Week 1: 155.4

Week 2: 147.2

Week 3: 146.8

Week 4: 147.2

Week 5: 145.8

Week 6: 144.0

Week 7: 141.2

Week 8: 141.6

Week 9: 138.6

Week 10: 138.6

Week 11: 139.6

Week 12: 137.0

Week 13: 134.8

Week 14: 145.5

Week 15: 148.8

Week 16: 141.8

Week 17: 140.0

Week 18: 136.8

Week 19: 136.6

Week 20: 133.8

Week 21: 133.4

Week 22: 133.0

Week 23: 130.6

Week 24: 130.0

Go to PhysicsDiet.com and start recording your weight on a daily basis. Get on the scale at the same time every day, but just once) and record the weight. Then put the scale away till the next day. Because weight is inherently "noisy", what really matters is the trend line (are you losing or are you gaining?). By recording your weight on a daily basis and focusing on the trend line and not getting caught up in the normal fluctuations, you'll get a much more accurate idea of what your weight really is, and more importantly, if you're losing or gaining.



For more information about how this works, check this out.



Remember - it's just a data point! Get on, record, get off and GO AWAY. You have better things to do with your life than hop on and off a scale 10 times in the morning.

MEN



6/7 6/14 Lbs Lost % Loss

Stacy Flynn M 270.5 269.0 -1.5 -0.55%

Fred L M 221.0 220.0 -1.0 -0.45%

Dan Doucette M 230.0 229.0 -1.0 -0.43%

Sebastian Massouf M 223.0 223.0 0.0 0.00%

Boris Pelakh M 224.0 224.5 0.5 0.22%

VM M 240.0 241.0 1.0 0.42%



WOMEN



6/7 6/14 Lbs Lost % Loss

Shiny Penny F 133.0 130.6 -2.4 -1.80%

Adara B F 124.0 122.5 -1.5 -1.21%

Kim A F 248.0 245.5 -2.5 -1.01%

Kim H F 218.5 219.5 1.0 0.46%

Jessie A. F 147.0 148.0 1.0 0.68%



Congrats to Stacy and everyone for sticking with it. So close to the end now!

Height: 5'6

Initial Weigh-In: 152.8

Week 1: 155.4

Week 2: 147.2

Week 3: 146.8

Week 4: 147.2

Week 5: 145.8

Week 6: 144.0

Week 7: 141.2

Week 8: 141.6

Week 9: 138.6

Week 10: 138.6

Week 11: 139.6

Week 12: 137.0

Week 13: 134.8

Week 14: 145.5

Week 15: 148.8

Week 16: 141.8

Week 17: 140.0

Week 18: 136.8

Week 19: 136.6

Week 20: 133.8

Week 21: 133.4

Week 22: 133.0

Week 23: 130.6

Hi Danielle!



Sorry about not getting back to you till today - been swamped with work and personal stuff. In any case, Shangri-La-ing is going well. I just haven't been updating my post on the forum because of the aforementioned craziness and because weight loss is sort of boring, really and I don't want to spam people with my personal progress reports. I'm now down to 130.6, 23.6% body fat according to the Tanita, about 16 lbs away from my goal. I've kept my data chart up to date and a detailed record of my weight loss and calorie consumption (you don't have to track calories with SLD, but since I think Seth is on to something with his self-experimentation thing, I log my foods into Fitday and Sparkpeople).



The most challenging event of the past 6 months was a two week long trip to Greece during Easter with my skinny family who are all foodies (as am I ). I went off SLD entirely (didn't take my flax oil) and I was a bit nervous about whether I'd be able to get back into the groove of things once I came back to the States. (A previous non-SLD diet of mine ended in failure due to another trip to Greece so I was filled with apprehension about this vacation.) I was really happy to see that I had no problems resuming my SLD flax oil dose (in fact, I had missed it, since the absence of its appetite-suppressing effect was really discernible in Greece). I'm now down about 4 lbs from my pre-Greece weight and have lost the 18(!) lbs I gained while on vacation (though I think (hope) most of that was water retention ). All told, I'm down 21.2 lbs from the January 3, 2007 post above.



Needless to say, I'm very happy with this diet. If you have any questions about it, please don't hesitate to ask me or people on the SLD forum over at sethroberts.net. It really has changed my life.

Just want to comment that you can lose weight and gain fitness by avoiding high-intensity exercise. I should know - I've lost 80+ lbs via a combination of diet and slow walking (15 min per mile) on the weekends. People who work out at a high-intensity will lose weight faster for sure, but if you don't feel like exercising at that level you don't need to to still see results.

MEN



5/31/2007 6/7/2007 Lbs Lost % Loss

VM 244.5 240.0 -4.5 -1.84%

Stacy Flynn 274.0 270.5 -3.5 -1.28%

Kevin Elwell 247.0 245.0 -2.0 -0.81%

Boris Pelakh 225.5 224.0 -1.5 -0.67%

Lazz B 305.0 303.0 -2.0 -0.66%

Fred L 222.0 221.0 -1.0 -0.45%

Sebastian Massouf 223.0 223.0 0.0 0.00%

Dan Doucette 230.0 0.0 0.00%



WOMEN



5/31/2007 6/7/2007 Lbs Lost % Loss

Brianna Krawczeski 148 146 -2.0 -1.35%

Jessie A. 149.0 147 -2.0 -1.34%

Kim A 249.0 248 -1.0 -0.40%

Shiny Penny 133.4 133 -0.4 -0.30%

Adara B 124.0 124 0.0 0.00%

Sarah F. 258.0 258 0.0 0.00%

Chelsea C 210 0.0 0.00%

Kim H 217.5 218.5 1.0 0.46%





Congratulations to the Biggest Losers and to everyone else for sticking with it. Have a great weekend!

Height: 5'6

Initial Weigh-In: 152.8

Week 1: 155.4

Week 2: 147.2

Week 3: 146.8

Week 4: 147.2

Week 5: 145.8

Week 6: 144.0

Week 7: 141.2

Week 8: 141.6

Week 9: 138.6

Week 10: 138.6

Week 11: 139.6

Week 12: 137.0

Week 13: 134.8

Week 14: 145.5

Week 15: 148.8

Week 16: 141.8

Week 17: 140.0

Week 18: 136.8

Week 19: 136.6

Week 20: 133.8

Week 21: 133.4

Week 22: 133.0



*waves to new people*

The Post had an interesting article about this very issue recently.



I'm with Judi P on this. I'd rather have as a trainer a person who is still working at overcoming her own diet and fitness challenges and only started working out later in life (like this person), than someone who has been fit all her life. I want competence and an understanding of where I'm coming from in my trainer, not a perfect body.

Apologies for the delay in posting these - very busy weekend.



Men



Name 5/24 5/31 Lbs %

VM 246.0 244.5 -1.5 -0.61%

Fred L 223.0 222.0 -1.0 -0.45%

Sebastian Massouf 223.0 223.0 0.0 0.00%

Boris Pelakh 225.5 225.5 0.0 0.00%



Women

Name 5/24 5/31 Lbs %

Adara B 125.0 124.0 -1.0 -0.80%

Kim H 219.0 217.5 -1.5 -0.68%

Sarah F. 259.0 258.0 -1.0 -0.39%

Shiny Penny 133.8 133.4 -0.4 -0.30%

Jessie A. 148.0 149.0 1.0 0.68%



Eligible for next week

Name 5/24 5/31 Lbs %Stacy Flynn M 275.0 275.0 0.0 0.00%

Jennie W F 154.0 152 -2.0 -1.30%





Congratulations to the Biggest Losers! Onward and Downward!

Thanks for the report, Sarah. You're so lucky to have a Bod Pod in the area. As far as I can tell, there are no facilities in the DC Metro region that offer such testing to the public. I'm using my Tanita, so I've been able to track the relative change in my body fat percentage, but I'd really like to be able to check the scale against an accurate outside measurement.

Height: 5'6

Initial Weigh-In: 152.8

Week 1: 155.4

Week 2: 147.2

Week 3: 146.8

Week 4: 147.2

Week 5: 145.8

Week 6: 144.0

Week 7: 141.2

Week 8: 141.6

Week 9: 138.6

Week 10: 138.6

Week 11: 139.6

Week 12: 137.0

Week 13: 134.8

Week 14: 145.5

Week 15: 148.8

Week 16: 141.8

Week 17: 140.0

Week 18: 136.8

Week 19: 136.6

Week 20: 133.8

Week 21: 133.4

Nah, it's ok - rules is rules.



This week's results



5/17/2007 5/24/2007 Lbs Lost %

VM M 249.0 246.0 -3.0 -1.20%

Boris Pelakh M 228.0 225.5 -2.5 -1.10%

Fred L M 224.5 223.0 -1.5 -0.67%

Sebastian Massouf M 223.0 223.0 0.0 0.00%

Paul Erickson M 221.0 221.0 0.0 0.00%

Kevin Elwell M 246.0 247.0 1.0 0.41%



5/17/2007 5/24/2007 Lbs Lost %

Kim A F 252.0 249.0 -3.0 -1.19%

Kim H F 220.0 219.0 -1.0 -0.45%

Sarah F. F 260.0 259.0 -1.0 -0.38%

Jessie A. F 148.5 148.0 -0.5 -0.34%



Late Check-Ins

5/17/2007 5/24/2007 Lbs Lost %

Amanda Kelly F 150.0 145.0 -5.0 -3.33%

Shiny Penny F 136.6 133.8 -2.8 -2.05%

Lazz B M 305.0 305.0 0.0 0.00%





Congratulations to the biggest losers! Onward and Downward!

Assuming you're ok with posting the info, please consider reporting back and leting us know how your caliper measurement compares with the BodPod. I've been relying on my Tanita so far, but I really want to get my body fat measured using DEXA/BodPod/water-displacment test. For some reason I've not been able to find any facilities in the DC metro area that offer such testing.

WSJ arrived at the opposite conclusion



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117996420232112747 .html?mod=home_health_right



Surprised me too. I've always read that DEXA is supposed to be the most accurate method outside of water testing.

Gah, missed the cut off. ;_;



I know this doesn't count, but I'd feel weird if I didn't post:



Height: 5'6

Initial Weigh-In: 152.8

Week 1: 155.4

Week 2: 147.2

Week 3: 146.8

Week 4: 147.2

Week 5: 145.8

Week 6: 144.0

Week 7: 141.2

Week 8: 141.6

Week 9: 138.6

Week 10: 138.6

Week 11: 139.6

Week 12: 137.0

Week 13: 134.8

Week 14: 145.5

Week 15: 148.8

Week 16: 141.8

Week 17: 140.0

Week 18: 136.8

Week 19: 136.6

Week 20: 133.8



80+ lbs lost! 18 to go.



Will calculate and post the % losses tomorrow when I'm less tired.

I can't recommend this bra enough.



This was the first and only bra that enabled me to run without pain or breast bounce and without that feeling of having to cradle my chest to avoid looking like a freak show (40DDD). Now that I'm down to a significantly smaller size (36D), I'm wearing a much smaller Enell. It still does a great job and lets me run comfortably like those lucky smaller-breasted women out there. The thicker material also eliminates nipplage. Assuming you live in safe area, you could definitely just wear the bra as a top without anything over it when you run.

Last Week This Week Lbs Lost %

Sebastian

Massouf M 227.0 223.0 4.0 -1.76%

Fred L M 226.0 224.5 1.5 -0.66%

VM M 250.5 249.0 1.5 -0.60%

Lazz B M 307.0 305.0 2.0 -0.65%

KM M 206.4 206.4 0.0 0.00%





Last Week This Week Lbs Lost %

Sarah F. F 263.0 260.0 3.0 -1.14%

Kim H F 222.0 220.0 2.0 -0.90%

Shiny F 136.8 136.6 0.2 -0.15%



Congratulations to the biggest losers and to everyone else for sticking with this. 19 weeks in! Y'all inspire me! Newbies and people who missed this weigh-in come on back next week! It's never too late to join!