GI Fitness Battle: Week 1

Five Game Informer editors are squaring off in a weight loss competition to shed 25 pounds. After a week of working out and eating well, the results are in. If you missed last Friday's introductory posting, check it out here if you'd like some background on the competition.

From left to right: Meagan, Jeff C, Dan, Annette, and Bryan

As you can see from the Wii Fit chart above, everyone managed to lose weight in the first week. Who's that jerk with the black line? It's Dan, or Starving Dan, as I have decided to call him. Here's the current rankings on pounds lost:

1) Dan: -9
2) Bryan: -4
3) Jeff C: -2.5
4) Meagan: -2
5) Annette: -1

This week we'll take a look at the competitors' strategies:

Dan:
My strategy lies in a mixture of eating way better and way less than I usually do, along with a lot of running. When I started this competition 8 or 9 days ago, my mile time was 11:30 and I've worked it down to 8:12 as of yesterday. Outside of the treadmill, I'm spending a lot of time with the stationary bike and sit-ups. Phil Kollar mentioned to me that EA Sports Active was surprisingly effective, and I learned he's definitely right. I combined the game with some gym-quality resistance cords, set the intensity to the highest level, and the game kicks the crap out of me in about 30 minutes every time. Tracking my exercises and calories with the iPhone app Lose It! has been incredibly helpful as well.

Bryan:
I bought an elliptical last year and it's been collecting dust for the most part. So now this is a good opportunity to start to get some worth out of it. Right now I'm finally getting around to watching The Wire (on season 2 right now) while I work out so it's not excruciatingly boring. Dan showed me an iPhone app called Lose It! Where I can track eating and exercise from day to day. Trying to hit under calorie budget for the day provides kind of a gaming feel to the proceedings. Plus, I like stats!

Jeff C:
My strategy is simple: Load up on cream-based stew and beer in the morning and eat ice cream just before bed. (And maybe sabotage the competition.) Mostly I'm just being much more vigilant about what I'm eating and going to the gym on a regular basis. Another strategy is to start off by being the heaviest, ensuring victory.

Meagan:
It's complicated: eating healthy and working out. In reality, I am changing my diet a bit and pushing myself harder to get more out of my workout time. I already do 60min on the elliptical each morning while I watch TMZ (really guilty pleasure) and The Daily Show. I'm just pushing myself a bit harder now. Sometimes I use my cat as a free weight while running. For some reason he likes to be picked up while I work up a sweat. As far as food, the hardest thing for me to cut is beer. But I've done it before, and I will do it again. Also, lots more water and fresh fruits and veggies. I usually keep veggies around, but now they act as my free food whenever I get hungry between meals. Perhaps I will staple a photo of Leeloo to the wall in front of my elliptical.

Annette:
I have the good fortune of having a gym in my apartment building so I've definitely been making use of the fitness selection there since the competition started. I also have been using aerobics DVDs and will soon start jumping rope (once I get a jump rope). Music usually helps me through the workouts. I figured if I mix up the kinds of workouts I do I won't relapse into laziness. I've eliminated all junk food from my apartment and just keep healthy food and snacks in my cupboards so I have no choice but to eat healthy when I'm hungry. To keep track of my workout and eating activity I use the iPhone LoseIt! app with Dan and Bryan. We can see each other's stats so it's always a motivator to see your competitor has lost 400 calories from elliptical work. That usually is enough to get me on a treadmill to run twice as hard.

To follow the fitness competition, type "GI Fitness" in to the search field or hit the blog tab above the story.