A Ceramical Explanation - By the Freakishly Tall Husband

There have been a lot of comments regarding the measurement system that has been instituted for this competition. I will attempt to address them all…

Cheating
OK, so we knew this would be an issue. And the only real way to avoid them is to require all future weigh-ins to be notarized. So go find your local notary public and invite them to your house weekly to weigh you in your skivvies.

Math Incompetence
For the sake of avoiding any errors in calculations, all contestants must now provide their actual starting weight and weekly weight loss figures to the freakishly tall husband. They will not be posted, except when my ceramical, math, or spreadsheet skills are questioned. As an alternative, I can provide a spreadsheet to all contestants that will perform these calculations automatically. Maybe Browser can write me a Java applet to do it on-line.

Required Contestant Information
All contestants must provide their weight loss percentage (for those of you who don’t remember, that is your current weight divided by your starting weight) as well as the length of time you have been working out (in weeks). Posting only your TFL is not adequate if I am to compile weekly results. In addition, beginning at the end of week 1 of the competition, you must submit your current weight loss percentage (for those of you who forgot already, that is your current weight divided by your starting weight). I will use that number, along with the time you have been working out, to calculate TFL.

Questions about the Measurement System
There are many different ways of quantifying weight loss for this type of competition. I chose to use a weight loss percentage, and then normalize it based on time spent working out. This method has the benefits of giving individuals of all sizes a shot at winning. While it is true that a 200 lb man losing 5 pounds has a lower weight loss percentage (2.5%) than a 100 lb woman losing 5 pounds (5.0%), it is an accepted fact that it is easier for the 200 lb man to lose 5 pounds just due to the amount of weight they are carrying. Taking it one step further, for a 5 pound woman to lose 5 pounds would be impossible! But for a 500 lb man to lose 5 pounds would require barely any effort.

In addition, normalizing the results by considering time spent working out increases the fairness. A person who has been working out for a year will easily lose more weight than a person working out for only a week. The addition of time into the calculation normalizes the individuals. The detriment to this method is that is gives individuals who have just started working out an advantage, as it is true that the highest weekly weight losses occur in the early weeks when people begin working out. However, since all of the current contestants have been working out for at least 6 weeks, this advantage is minimized.

The competition could be refined to instead consider body mass index (BMI) and use the reduction in BMI to calculate the winner. However, this is slightly more difficult to calculate (of course I could still perform these calculations), and would require contestants to provide me with actual weights weekly to perform the calculations. Of course, these would be held in secrecy (unless my calculations are questioned further, at which point your actual weight will be posted on multiple internet sites and on the wall of bathroom stalls all across the world).

However, measuring BMI has its drawbacks as well. For muscular individuals, it overestimates body fat and may hinder their results in the competition. In addition, since women tend to have more body fat then men, this measurement system can provide inaccurate results for them as well.

Additional measurement systems could be used such as skinfold thickness measurements, waist measurements, underwater weighing, or bioelectrical impedance. However, these measurements are much more difficult to perform and may required specialized equipment so they have been ignored.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, feel free to post them.