The Biggest Loser 2011: Missy Versus Jordan

Like many people, my boyfriend and I love The Biggest Loser.

But before I start rambling on about The Biggest Loser, perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Missy Nolan, and Jordan Bucher is my boyfriend. We both gained a lot of weight during my last pregnancy, and neither of us are happy about it. Because we are competitive people, a Biggest Loser- style weight loss contest seemed like the perfect way to meet our weight loss goals.

The Biggest Loser is such an inspirational show. Jordan teased me at first for crying during it, but now he's drawn into it as well. Each week, we laugh, cry (well, I cry), and sympathize with the contestants as they do their best to meet their weight loss goals.

One day, it hit us: The Biggest Loser contestants aren't the only people who can lose weight. I helped plan and execute a weight loss contest at my old job, and decided to incorporate ideas from that into a weight loss contest with my boyfriend. Keep reading for more details about The Biggest Loser 2011: Missy Versus Jordan.

Having a Biggest Loser weight loss contest appealed to both of us, but it required some planning:

• What would the prize be?

• How long should the Biggest Loser challenge run?

• How often would we weigh in?

• How would the winner be determined?

• What if there was a tie?

• How would we track our progress?
  

We decided to run our weight loss contest the following way:

• Every Thursday night, we will weigh in on the same scale.

• Our weigh loss challenge will run from January 20th until May 1st.

• Our weight loss progress will be tracked in an Excel spreadsheet.

• The winner will be determined by calculating the percentage of body weight lost, not pounds.

• If there is a tie, we will split the cost of the prize 50/50.

Our first weigh-in was Thursday, January 20th.

I wanted to start on February 1st, but Jordan convinced me to start early.

Our Biggest Loser weight loss contest will run until May 1st.

Anything food-related, such as a fancy dinner, was out of the question. We also have enough stuff in our crowded apartment, so that eliminated quite a few prize options.

We agreed that the loser would pay for a hotel room at the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles, Missouri. With 2 young children at home, we don't get to have a night out very often. We live in Missouri, so this is our way of getting to enjoy a mini vacation together.

I have a sister who wears a size 2, but I've always had to work hard to control my weight.

Growing up, I was a runner. I could run for miles without stopping. These days, I can barely walk out to the parking lot without feeling winded.

For me, weight loss isn't just about appearance; I want to feel good and have more energy. I want to be able to keep up with my kids.

Don't get me wrong, though; I'd love to get a hot body. In addition to being a freelance writer, I'm a promotional model and brand ambassador. I'm currently too overweight to feel confident enough to apply for any gigs, and that absolutely kills me.

Jordan loves to complain about how overweight he is, and even though I tell him he looks fine, he doesn't believe me.  That's okay, though- good or bad, my opinion really shouldn't matter; when somebody decides they want to lose weight, they need to do it because THEY want to.

He wants to lose weight so that he can have a body that he feels good about. He wants to look great in his favorite jeans and shirts.

He also wants to stay healthy; as a father, he needs to be around for awhile.

Recently, Jordan learned that he has borderline hypertension. Achieving his weight loss goals will help to lower his blood pressure and keep him healthy.

I love fresh fruits and vegetables, and I don't eat red meat or drink milk.  I tend to avoid processed foods, and cook most of my meals from scratch. You'd think that winning our Biggest Loser Challenge would be easy for me, but it's not.

My problem is portion control. Although I usually eat healthy foods that are organic or all natural, I eat too much of them.

I also tend to binge on junk food if I'm stressed out or bored. I'm an emotional eater. If I'm having a bad day, you'll find me sitting here with a Peanut Butter Snickers and a pint of Haagan Dazs Vanilla Swiss Almond.

I enjoy exercising, but get bored easily.  I'd rather take a walk or jog outside than be trapped inside of a gym full of people.  Since it's January and we currently have 6 inches of snow outside, this is bad for me.

In order to win the Biggest Loser challenge, I'll need to watch my portion sizes and start hitting the gym.

Jordan eats whatever I cook, so he consumes a lot of healthy food here.

The problem is that he has 2 jobs. At one job, his coworkers constantly bring in delicious baked goods. At his other job, he's surrounded by candy bars, chips, and soda. If he goes directly from one job to the other, it's easy to snack on whatever is convenient when he's hungry.

Like me, Jordan will be working on portion control, but plans to focus on improving his efforts at the gym. Jordan is the kind of guy who can work out for 1.5 hours without stopping. There are times when he burns over 1000 calories at the gym.

Jordan and I share a different mentality about calories and what can be considered a healthy food. With that in mind, he plans on winning our Biggest Loser challenge by increasing the length and frequency of his work outs at the gym.

Our weight loss goals are similar:

• Jordan is 6'1'' and weighs 270.6lbs.  His goal weight is 220lbs.

• I am 5'3'' and weigh 180.2lbs.  My goal weight is 135lbs.

That means Jordan wants to lose 50.6lbs, and I want to lose 45.2lbs. 

Although I've never been this heavy in my life, I'm no stranger to weight loss.  A few years ago, I lost 20lbs by increasing the amount of jogging I did each week.

Jordan is no stranger to weight loss either; he has lost over 20lbs since we started dating.

Since our weight loss goals are similar, and we have similar experience with losing weight in the past, this should be an interesting contest.

Jordan is braver than I am, so he agreed to let me post pictures of him without his shirt on.

I, however, will be keeping as much skin covered as possible.  When I uploaded the pictures with my stomach showing on the computer, I was horrified.  Maybe I'll share them with you at the end of our weight loss challenge.

While Jordan and I aren't morbidly obese, we are both at a weight that we are not happy with.

A variety of factors led each of us here, including stress, depression, boredom, pregnancy, and lack of time to exercise.  I just had a baby 6 weeks ago, but I definitely wasn't this overweight after my first child.

Our scale measures percentage of body fat. Standing on it last week, Jordan had a body fat percentage of 33%, and I had a whopping 42.7%.

Our Biggest Loser weight loss challenge is long overdue.

I will be posting weekly hubs on the success of our Biggest Loser weight loss challenge.  I know we're not as fun to watch as the people on TV, but I hope you'll join us on our weight loss journey.

If you have any great diet or exercise tips or stories to share, please post them below in the Comments section. We'd love to hear from you.