Recruiters are some of the most competitive people I know, and every year — around January 2nd — I decline an invitation from a friend in the recruiting industry to join a weight-loss competition.
It starts out as an email from the event organizer who bemoans the copious amounts of food & alcohol that have been consumed by Americans since Thanksgiving. Once it’s established that I am a lard-butt — like most Americans — I am invited to participate in a 90-day contest of healthy eating & exercise to help achieve my own personal weight-loss goals.
- For $500, I can buy into a Biggest-Loser-style pool where I am expected to eat right, exercise, and lose weight.
- I am asked to ‘weigh-in’ on a bi-weekly basis.
- Depending on the size of the pool, the people who lose the least amount of body weight are kicked out of the contest.
- To continue in the contest, the remaining participants must pay another $25 on a bi-weekly basis.
The person who loses the highest percentage of body weight at the end of the competition wins the entire kitty.
That’s quite a bit of money, yo.
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I call shenanigans on the concept of group weight-loss at work. It’s nice to be healthy and exercise, but you won’t be successful in your life and in your career if you are starving your body and your mind.
I would ask you, as both leaders and recruiters, to stop encouraging this kind of excessive, OCD-style competition right after the holidays are over. It’s okay to have personal goals, and I would certainly encourage you to eat right and exercise; however, there isn’t a better, thinner, faster, younger version of yourself waiting to be discovered. There is only you, fat or thin, and the way to succeed in your profession and make more money in 2009 is to improve your knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Losing 15 pounds won’t change your world, but finishing your MBA or expanding your presence on the social networking sites will make all the difference.
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December 19th, 2008 at 11:27 am
The Biggest Loser is intense. Work is intense. No need to combine the two.
December 19th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Give me a competition and I’m in….but there’s no way in hell I’m weighing in in front of my coworkers. Not happenin!
December 19th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I welcome challenges like this. Obesity is a huge problem our country is facing. Also losing weight by working out and eating properly will actually increase the amount of energy that you have. If you feel better about yourself and are healthier you would most likely be more efficient at work. A little friendly competition is a great way to achieve this and with a cash prize at the end, I say why not!
December 19th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
As to “why not,” I’d say because people often resort to unhealthy or at least unsustainable methods to lose weight during these competitions. “Working out and eating properly” are great, but I think weight loss competitions in general are not actually conducive to health, and when they take place in the workplace they are also intrusive and create a bad situtation for your coworkers who may suffer from eating disorders. Personally, I have lost about 100 lbs. over the past 2 years (though I believe that the type of moderate eating and exercise I undertook to do this would not result in weight loss for most fat people–I also don’t believe fat people are more likely to lead an unhealthy lifestyle than thin people) and I would be totally opposed to such a competition in my workplace.
Plus, on a personal pet peeve note, my in-laws’ church recently had a weight-loss competition between the pastors, and this empowered my father-in-law to comment negatively to the pastor’s face about what was on his plate at a recent funeral luncheon. If my coworkers were similarly empowered by a weight-loss competition to behave in such a tiresome, self-righteous, and irritating manner, then I would be compelled to punch them in the face, which would be bad both for my career and for the organization. :)
December 19th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
@Hayli I can barely get to work. Why would I want to combine another awful thing with it?
@Breanne No thanks. Why can’t we learn to have some balance in our lives? Weight loss fails 95% of the time, and I wonder if it’s not due — in large part — to the binge/starve cycle we have in our lives?
@Anthony We have an obesity problem, but we also have a problem where industries market to obese people to both keep them obese and make them feel bad about it. It’s a circle of stupidity. I say, opt out. Be jolly, be chubby, and be happy with yo’self.
@SpaceCowGirl There’s nothing more righteous than ex-smokers and people who’ve lost weight.
December 19th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Well, the whole thing is ridiculous, because it excludes everyone at the workplace who doesn’t WANT to lose weight: for instance, people who are actually trying to gain, pregnant people, and people who are happy with their size. Then there are people who are recovering from a wasting illness (cancer, for instance, or anorexia nervosa).
Not everyone wants or needs to lose weight. If workplaces want to encourage healthy eating and exercise, they should do so directly.
December 19th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Laurie, competitions No, incouraging healthy lifestyles Yes…companies big and small can and should encourage healthy living, however in the end its personal. Taking responsibility for who you want to be is an intrinsic event…Encouragement and support are ok in my book…leave the competition for after hours…
December 20th, 2008 at 10:18 am
I say, instead of holding “Biggest Loser” style competitions, we need to reward those “Longest Sustainers” instead. The Biggest Loser kinds of competitions might see some quick weight loss, but because of the ways in which its attained, it’s not generally sustainable. Studies have shown that yo-yo dieting and cycles in weight are probably more to blame for so-called weight-related health issues than if a person were fat and stayed fat.
December 20th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Oh, and to add to the above… if we’re also talking about these kinds of competitions in terms of the challenge it brings, sustaining a weight loss is much more difficult than losing it.
December 20th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
If there is one characteristic of peoplesharkery, it’s eternal optimism. So I signed up for one of those office weight loss challenges. I didn’t win (despite countless hours daydreaming about the Gucci handbag that would be mine as the result of winning). I did purchase a pedometer and take several walks in the cayony-hilly area behind work, but I think I saw some havelinas, so I had to end the lunch hour nature walks. I never came in last, even if I had to weigh myself three times on the digital scale and remove mascara for the official reporting. I also remember that there were several occasions when I refused office treats (usually on weigh in day). Overall, I would call it a successful venture.
I think I will skip the challenge in 2009, but I still have that pedometer and there are a couple of walking trails near me that are havelina-free. Who says I can’t have it all? Brains, beauty, sharkiness and a Gucci purse!
December 20th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I spelled “javelina” wrong. So much for “brains”.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:40 am
I think people at work should be working- focusing on their work, talking about their work and actually doing their work. Sure we all take little breaks and chat or have some social time at lunch, but mainly workers should be there for work. It bothers me when work tries to intrude on my private life, which is what would happen if I was at home fretting over what I should eat in order not to be embarrassed at the office weigh in.
But besides all that, I do not think employers need to encourage a “healthy” life style – whatever that is. It seems to me the definition changes every few years. I have worked with people who have all kinds of lifestyles, and I saw no connection between their exercise/eating habits and their work ability. The woman who lived on coffee and ciggs and no exercise did a great job and worked long hours just like the dancer/vegetarian health nut. They both did good work. In fact, the only employees who had outside behavior that effected their work life were the substance abusers, and I don’t think diet and exercise tips would help them. What employers need to do is provide a safe workplace with an atmosphere that is conducive to getting work done and to pay their employees on time. That’s it. My lifestyle, healthy or otherwise, isn’t any of their business and I don’t need them to be my parent and tell me how to live it.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:15 pm
@lynnie…actually, as an HR professional, you may want to rethink your position on whether or not employers should encourage a healthy lifestyle. Talk to your Benefits leader. He or she will tell you that insurance premiums continue to rise and it’s in the employer’s best interest to promote wellness rather than foot the bill for preventable “lifestyle” related disease and illness. Not to mention the costs related to absenteeism and loss of productivity as a result of health issues. Should the company snatch the donut out of my hand? No. Should they provide more of those cute little bags of carrots in the cafeteria. Absolutely.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Actually, a loss of just 10 percent of your body weight, if you are currently obese or overweight, can have an enormous impact on your overall well-being. And as someone who lost and has kept off 45 pounds (ahem), I can tell you that it makes a HUGE difference (no pun intended) in my energy level, my self-confidence, my ability to interface with the public (a requirement in my position), and my knowledge that if a hard assignment comes my way, I have a precendent showing me I can tackle it and get it done. Losing weight (when you need to) is about WAY MORE than looking cute.
And from the healthcare perspective, your benefits folks might have a few things to point out. Just in my own case, I dropped my blood pressure from 145/90 to 102/52; and I completely eradicated my sciatica.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:14 am
Whether or not weight loss is necessary and healthy in some cases, I still say that the workplace is not the engine by which it should be pursued. In fact, I agree 100% with lynnie on all counts. I could maybe get behind Rachel’s arguments, but I just don’t see any reason for the workplace to be “rewarding” anything other than good work. I usually get outvoted on this one, though, so if they must reward something I think it should be healthy behaviors (again, those are pretty tricky to define). Two people could engage in the exact same set of behaviors and have totally different weight outcomes. Most people can choose to adopt healthier habits, but they cannot necessarily “choose” to lose weight in the same way. Different bodies respond differently to different things.
Anyway, as I said, these competitions do not actually usually promote health. They promote shaming your coworkers and intruding on their privacy in the service of getting people to eat “healthy” (as if “fewer calories” is always “healthy”), not to mention they promote questionable methods of weight loss and disordered behaviors on weigh-in day. It probably doesn’t go this far in most workplaces, but people have done some crazy stuff to achieve huge losses on The Biggest Loser.
Finally, there is a difference between “panicking about the ‘obesity epidemic’ and foods that you perceive as evil” and “doing something constructive to improve your own or others’ health.” I am totally in favor of doing positive things for your health, but I don’t think the culture we currently exist in where food is pathologically feared is actually that healthy, and weight-loss competitions are a symptom of that IMO.