January 7, 2011 - Week 0 of Better Health
The results are posted at this random website.
It's that time of year again, when the turkey carcass has been hauled to the curb; the ham has been carved to the bone; and the seemingly endless arrays of sweets and desserts have been properly disposed of (for the safety of the children, of course). Yes, it's time for the recurring BFLG Diet Contest, when we remember that the laundry rack in our homes also functions as an elliptical exercise machine.
This year's contest will run from January 7, 2011 (this Friday) until April 15, 2011 (the week before Easter). The rules (with minor modifications) are posted below, but I want to remind everyone that the goal of the contest is to help us think about living a healthy lifestyle of exercise and good foods. At least on Thursday nights before the weigh-in.
If you are interested, please let me know as soon as you can so I can prepare the Excel sheet for tracking everyone's weight.
By the way, I have free chocolates at my desk.
2011 BFLG DIET CONTEST RULES
1.	The contest will start on January 7, 2011 with the initial weigh-in, height, and weight goal. Each Friday morning after that will be a weigh-in day until April 15, 2011 (14 weeks).
2.	Each location (Auburn Hills North and South) will have an official weigh-in scale. Weigh-in is done with shoes off, pockets empty. Clothing is optional, but highly recommended.
	If you cannot weigh in on Friday, please make arrangements with the person in charge of the scale at your facility. In Auburn Hills South, please see Andreas Knueppel. In Auburn Hills North, please see Emmanuel Garcia (B2014).
3.	Weights will be published on a website using an anagram of the participant's name. A participant may select an anagram, or an anagram will be chosen for the participant.
4.	Taunting is allowed, and sometimes encouraged. Complaining about the scale is tolerated, but fruitless. It is not broken.
5.	Cook Rule: There can be a total of 2 missed weeks that will be interpolated. At the third missed weigh-in, the previous week will be used. If 3 or more consecutive weeks are missed, then I will invoke mystical weight loss contest algorithms to make something up.
6.	Bonus points will be given if your starting weight is lower than either your starting or ending weight from the last diet contest, if you lost weight in the last contest. If your weight is lower than the previous starting weight, you will get 25% credit for that weight loss. If it is lower than your final weight, you get an additional 50% credit for being below that weight. Note that this bonus is different than last year's bonus calculation.
	For those engineers without reading comprehension, this can be summed up in the following formula:
	/* Bonus to be added to ContiScore (Percent_weight_loss + Weight_loss) */ if (prev_end_weight > current_weight )  bonus = (prev_start_weight - prev_end_weight)*0.25 + (prev_end_weight -current_weight)*0.50; else if (prev_start_weight > current_weight )  bonus = (prev_start_weight - current_weight)*0.25; else  bonus = The_Zero_who_ate_too_much;
7.	Points will be awarded based on weight loss and body characteristics, and how linearly you lose the weight. Please check http://mr-eman.homeftp.org/~diet/ for current point status (not yet updated). Highest point total wins the contest. The formula is roughly:
	Score = [ABS(2 * Percent_weight_loss + Weight_loss) + Bonus] ÷ Linear_Density * Weight_Slope_Correlation;
	(Please note that the ContiScore is an absolute value.)
8.	All participants are invited to the BFLG lunch at the Chinese buffet on Baldwin after the end of the contest, or if participants have health concerns regarding this location, we can choose a different venue. The date is tentatively for April 21, 2011.
Update: Formula in #7 updated to show 2 * Percent_weight_loss.
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