Buddy Challenges are similar to the weight loss competitions you've seen between individual contestants on The Biggest Loser TV show, except that Buddy Challenges leverage the connections you have with your Buddies here on the Club site. 

Your chances of success and transformation improve significantly with support from your site Buddies, and Buddy Challenges are a fun way to motivate each other.

During the Buddy Challenge period, participants' percentage of weight loss is tracked, and Buddies are ranked based on who's lost the greatest percentage of body weight—at the end of the Challenge, the Buddy who's lost the most weight wins!

How Buddy Challenges Work

First, Create a Buddy Network!

• To start or join a Buddy Challenge, you first need to be part of a Buddy network.
• If you're newer to the site and haven't established a network of Buddies yet:

• Use the "Community" section of the site to search for or browse existing members with characteristics that match yours (like location, weight loss goal, gender or age group). More
• Or, you may meet fellow members on the Club message boards that you like, and you can reach out to them to be in your Buddy network. More

Start Your Own Buddy Challenge OR Join an Existing Buddy Challenge

• You can start a Buddy Challenge by inviting members in your Buddy network to compete one-on-one against each other for a set period of time that you define (Challenge start and end date). More
• Or, you can join a Buddy Challenge if one of your Buddies organizes one and invites you to participate. More
• It's up to you to decide if you want to start your own Buddy Challenge, or join one started by a fellow Club member. If you have a network of Buddies who might be interested in participating in a challenge, you have the time to organize and lead it, and/or you've already had some level of success on the program and want to coach your Buddies who look to you for guidance—you might be a great leader! Otherwise, you may want to simply join a Challenge that's being organized by someone else within your Buddy network.
• Remember that you can only participate in one Buddy Challenge at a time.

Tracking Buddy Challenge Results

• Each week, the weight loss progress for each Buddy participating in the Challenge is compared. On the Buddy Challenge home page (created when you or one of your Buddies start a Challenge), the participating Buddies are ranked based on who has lost the greatest percentage of body weight. Once the Challenge is set up, this page and info will be accessible by clicking the "Challenge Central" tab on the site's main top navigation bar.

• Please note, though, that these results are dependent on each Buddy weighing in on the Club site, so a weigh-in day will need to be scheduled each week to ensure that the results are always up-to-date. Weigh-in days and other Challenge rules set can be communicated to participating Buddies using the send message features here on the Club site.

Duration of Buddy Challenges

• The Club member who organizes and starts the Buddy Challenge determines the start and end dates when he or she is setting up the Challenge on the site. More
• If you start a Buddy Challenge and set a start date, you can change this date if you need to for up to one week after the start date you originally selected. It's a good idea to pick a duration that you feel is reasonable, as changing the timing may confuse the Buddies who participate.

Quitting or Ending a Buddy Challenge

• You can only participate in one Buddy Challenge at a time. If you're already participating in a Challenge that one of your Buddies organized, and you'd like to join another:
  • Go to the "Challenge Central" section of the main site, and click the "Quit This Challenge" tab in the global top sub-navigation bar.
  • Your Buddy who started the Challenge will be notified and remove you from the participants list (note that you'll be removed from the Challenge, and not necessarily from your Buddy's Buddy network).
• If you organize and start a Buddy Challenge yourself, and would like to end the Challenge to start or join another Challenge:
  • Go to the "Challenge Central" section of the site, and click the "End This Challenge" tab in the global top sub-navigation bar.
  • Your Buddies participating in the Challenge will receive a notification message that you've ended the Challenge.