Angie Griffin never considered herself obese, but when her Body Mass Index revealed she fell into that category, she knew something had to change. Together with her husband, Derek, Angie signed up from the YMCA’s first ever Lose Big contest, an event designed to mimic NBC’s popular weight-loss reality show, “The Biggest Loser.”
Patty Knepler, marketing director for the YMCA, says she was overwhelmed by the positive response. More than 100 people signed up, and 65 completed the 12-week program. Cindy Kropid, YMCA fitness coordinator, and other fitness experts worked with participants as fitness and nutrition coaches, putting them through various classes, programs and weigh-ins. Some cried, some made excuses and some quit, but those who stayed lost weight.
Although the Griffins didn’t win the competition, they benefited from the camaraderie and encouragement that comes with group exercise. The Lose Big participants shed more than 1,000 pounds in total, as teams of various numbers vied to lose the biggest percentage of their starting body fat. Damon and Sonya Perkins dropped 11.1 percent to win the competition, followed by A.J., Tijuana, and Alicia Akers, who lost a combined 93 pounds to finish in second place.
For the Griffins, the contest came at a good time and brought significant changes to their lives. “It was the start of the year, we have two small kids, and I’m turning 40,” says Derek. “The kids eat what we eat, and we want them to have a healthy lifestyle.” Like Angie, Derek was shocked to see his actual weight on the scale at the first Lose Big weigh-in day, a day that he
calls “depressing,” because he didn’t realize how much he actually
weighed.
A day after weigh-in, the real work began with the initial Ultimate Workout, a boot camp-style event designed to push participants hard. One group of teams (team sizes varied since the scoring is based on percentage of body fat lost) met at Centennial Park, where Kropid instructed them to run up the park’s steepest hill with an egg in hand, leave it atop the incline, and repeat the process.
The next week, somebody brought her horns and a pitchfork. The coaches push their teams hard because they are concerned about individual health and care about results. Kropid says that the trick to sticking to a workout regimen is discovering ways to make exercise work. On her team, people with certain physical limitations or injuries were provided with options and alternatives that allowed them to participate in spite of setbacks. “This isn’t reality TV, this is reality, and everyone can find a program that works for them,” she says. With a busy schedule built around their two young kids (ages 3 and 5), the Griffins were aware of every excuse. “You can say you’re too busy, or it’s too expensive, or it’s too hard, but the real trick is finding the lifestyle changes you can actually move forward with,” Derek says. For his family, success
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