After some quick opinions here (well they dont have to be that quick, take your time writing them if you like. I'm not going to stand next to you, pointing a gun at your head telling you to hurry or anything). I've decided to try lose some weight, hence starting the forum in my sig. But as ever I know me and I know that I always lose motivation for dieting soon enough (exercise works but cant do it now on health grounds). So I thought maybe trying to make my weight loss for charity would be a good idea But I'm wondering the best way of going about doing this. From all aspects to be honest. Should I ask for sponsorship per lb lost? Or maybe set a target weight loss in a target time and try hit it, sponsors pay charity if I do? How do I 'prove' weight loss to people who sponsor me online? Has anyone done this before and have some guidelines? Any advice would be appreciated!
plz give me some more information abt loosing weight .My brother is too heavy to walk. he is 125kg now.
While I'm unsure of how common it is, I've seen/heard of people running in marathons and getting sponsored at a per mile or km basis. If you were to set up something you should either do it by X per lb or body fat percentage. If you could get your BF% accurately measured then you can display just how overweight you really are to the sponsors. Then, assuming you're at least fairly overweight, you can set a price per 1% of body fat lost. However, that's not the important part. If you're going to set up something like this you have to consider whether your potential sponsors are really willing to make the donation and if they trust you or not. It might be a good idea to get them to send the money directly to the charity. Since they don't know how much the total donation will be yet though that would be an issue. Maybe you could work it out where every sponsor donates a flat rate (a small amount equivelant to 5lbs or less in value) and when confirmed they can participate as a sponsor. Once you have figured out the charity you can look to see if they offer affiliate linking. I noticed one link to a charity site (I think it was for Red Cross, not certain though) and I would assume that you can keep a record of donations under you even though you don't get anything from it. It'll be a lot harder then you may think. It's not just as simple as making the site and expecting sponsors. You have to actually get them to your site and to have interest. Your weight loss forum isn't active or built up yet either so that wouldn't be the best route. It could be a great promotion for your site and a great benefit for multiple parties if done right but it will be difficult. I had a similar idea at one time. I was thinking about ways to make a site where people suffering from weight problems could join and do a group loss 'competition' to keep them motivated. The members could add pictures, meal plans, exercise tips, etc...it would be similar to some threads in weight loss forums where a group will challenge each other and keep tabs on their status throughout the time frame, eventually claiming a winner from the group. Good luck though
Yeah, was thinking my efforts could be a 'trial run' and if successful then bringing in others to the site for the same reason. For myself there is a 'just giving' site in the UK (not sure if it is elsewhere) that sets up a central place for donations that will go straight to teh charity you choose - so no need for the trust issue of looking after money. Also gives useful charts and things to show how much donated, how close to a total you choose etc. Also by going through there you allow the government to give back tax money to the charity if the donations come from inside the UK. I have plenty to lose - as with the other posters brother I weight roughly 120kg (I think. In real money I am just shy of 20stone - 280lbs). Whilst that sounds dreadful (and it is) it is far from constraining in general life as I am also a very big built (50 inch chest, massive shoulders) 6ft4 - so even if i got down to about 10% body weight (as I have in the past) I would weigh a tad over 17stone (238lbs). The route wouldnt be through the forum - thats only just set up. I have a sports blog that has a strong following and a lot of people looking for my opinion on twitter - it would be via that i would be looking to get sponsors - though obviously getting the forum up and running would also be part of it. Like your thinking re body fat %'s - my gym has a way of measuring it and I can access to that whenever i want.