This is the main place to check in on the status of the Trim-down for Charity contest between The Man F.A.Q.’s James and John. For more information on the Trim-down for Charity competition, visit the feature’s news feed category.

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John		James
Stats		Stats
Height: 5-9.5 Starting weight: 237 Current weight: 230 (- 7) Percent change: -2.95		Height: 6-3 Starting Weight: 318 Current Weight: 312 (- 6) Percent change: -1.89
…		…
Make a donation in Mark’s name		Make a donation in James’ name
Donations made through PayPal. Don’t have a PayPal account? Don’t worry. You can still make a donation through PayPal’s credit/debit card service. Just update your donation total, and then click on the link next to the text “Use your credit card or bank account.” Proceeds will be donated to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. If, at the end of our contest, you’ve made a donation you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a prize from one of our sponsors. (More details on this later). With the help of our sponsors donating the prizes, every cent we make on the charity drive goes straight to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International.

Thanks to our sponsors for their prize donations
Grand Prize	Second Prize	Third Prize
$50 gift card	Assorted prize pack	Coming Soon!!!

How it all works:

The parameters: It’s simple, the deadline is July 1, 2010. The bottom line, which ever man loses the most percentage of weight (based on their respective starting weights) wins. It’s the same formula used on The Biggest Loser. James is the larger of the two, and will likely lose more weight. John’s lighter, and his pounds lost will count as a larger percentage. Who’s got the edge? Who knows … but we think it’s pretty even.

The formula: ((current weight / starting weight) x 100) – 100 = percent change. For example. If John weighs 205 pounds at the end of the contest, we would divide that by 237 (his starting weight) and get 0.8649. We would multiply that by 100, and get 86.49 (the percentage that Mark weighs at the end based on his starting weight). We would then subtract 100 from that total to get the percentage lost, in this case Mark’s change is -13.50 percent. James would have have a change of -13.06 or better to win.

A little about John: A perfect example of an overweight former athlete. He’s the more active of the two, running in the occasional charity 5K, and has plans for a triathlon in May and the 2010 Dipsea race in June. Regular bike rides, hikes and kayak trips fill his weekends, but he feels he could get a little more out of them if he dropped a few pounds.

A little about James: He’s a big hoss who has struggled with his weight his entire life. At 6’3 and with the bone structure of a wooly mammoth, James highly doubts he’ll ever be able to get under 230 pounds. But he also knows that at 230 pounds, he’d be a hot piece of man. His peak weight was 370 a few years ago, then he got down to 260 last summer. Now he’s hovering around 318 and not loving it.

What it’s going to take for John: “I’ve got to be honest, I have an idea of what I’d like to accomplish after this thing,” John said. “It’s not exactly the Biggest Loser-mentality I’m going in with. Don’t get me wrong, I’m carrying around quite a few extra pounds. But I’d also like to get back some of the strength I’ve lost from about a year without a gym. Overall, I’d like to lose about 32 pounds. That would put me at 205. The last time I was at 210, I started to show abs. I’d like to get five pounds past that point. That’s about three pounds a week, counting down to our Feb. 14 deadline. I know James over there has more ambitious goals for his total pounds lost. So, sure … I might lose my 30-or-so pounds. James might drop 50. I’d lose on paper. But if I lose the contest, but walk away from it with a six-pack, who’s the real loser?”

What it’s going to take for James: “This ain’t my first rodeo,” James said. “I’ve lost the same 70 pounds about two or three times. So I’ve got the edge in experience. There are no secrets to losing weight. All you can do is sensibly limit your calories and work out more. My strategy is pretty simple: get to the gym at least four times per week, alternate calorie consumption between a scale of 1,300 and 2,000 per day and envision success.”