Wellness Center's "Biggest Loser" Challenge allows area residents to win big by losing

by Jennyanne Hager
 
A number of Waukon-area residents recently took the first steps toward living healthier lives through the Waukon Wellness Center’s (WWC) first-ever “Biggest Loser” weight-loss challenge. While dozens of people started the inaugural program in early March, by the end of the 12-week competition only four participants earned bragging rights.
For the men, Greg Brink topped the field while Dan Sivesind finished second overall. On the women’s side, Bethany Ellingson and Jill Baxter claimed the first- and second-place honors, respectively.
 
GREG BRINK
Losing 65 pounds and more than a quarter of his starting body weight, Greg Brink recorded the biggest weight loss out of all of this year’s Biggest Loser competitors.
With a job that kept him behind the wheel of a vehicle for many hours, Brink found that he had gained 50 pounds over a 16-year span. With his 40-year class reunion scheduled for this July, Brink made a New Year’s resolution to drop those extra pounds before June 1.
Brink started working on his goal right away, but jumped at the extra motivation provided by the Biggest Loser contest. Brink found that a double dose of exercise helped melt the pounds off. He started with one hour in the morning and another 90 minutes in the evening. After four full weeks, he upped his evening regimen to two and a half hours. During the final month, he built up to a 90-minute or two hour morning session with an evening routine of two to three hours of work. Brink said he always gave his body a rest on Sundays, and kept careful track of his pulse with a heart rate monitor.
Using a varied schedule that included everything from walking and yoga to hard core training, plyometrics, and more, Brink made sure his routine remained fresh. Along with his exercise, Brink changed his eating habits to include five or six small meals each day, with an emphasis on getting good proteins, fats, and carbs to fuel his lengthy workouts. He also avoided sugars and white flour products. “I cut out all soda pop and beer and drank only water and tea,” he added.
Brink says it was his commitment that put him to the top of the standings. “When I commit to a challenge I give a 110 percent effort and do what it takes. I am proud of the commitment I gave to try and win the contest.”
He was also quick to give thanks to the Wellness Center for hosting the contest. “I want to thank them for putting on the contest. It pushed me to lose the weight.”
After weeks of hard work, Brink surpassed his original goal of getting down to 197 pounds. In fact, he far exceeded that number, weighing in at just 182 pounds the final week of the contest, giving him plenty to smile about as his class reunion draws near. “Looking in the mirror now, I like what I see,” he remarked.
 
DAN SIVESIND
Dan Sivesind saw the Biggest Loser Challenge as a chance to shed a few unwanted pounds to get in better shape. He focused much of his energy on running, and further challenged himself with the goal of completing a 5K run.
Although running was his exercise staple, Sivesind also incorporated biking, jumping rope, and exercises like sit-ups into his routine. When he wasn’t burning off the calories, he was keeping a watchful eye on what he ate. “I combined the exercise with a diet of more fruits and vegetables. I also focused on cutting carbs, sweets, and pop.”
Sivesind added that there were plenty of times that temptations reared their ugly heads. “The biggest challenges were the different events I went to. I was at a week-long conference, and then there was a month of graduation parties. You just need to concentrate and be disciplined and watch your portion sizes, which can be a little difficult while everyone around you is enjoying a big feast,” he conceded.
With a good measure of discipline, Sivesind was able to drop 40 pounds, a total of 22.86 percent of his starting weight. “My energy level is higher, and the running has really helped my cardio. I’m in better shape, I can last longer, and I can keep up with my kids,” he remarked.
And what of his goal of completing a 5K race? Sivesind did just that during the month of April, completing a 3.1-mile run hosted by St. Patrick School in Waukon.
“You just have to be disciplined, get your exercise in, and focus on what you are eating. Take it all a little at a time and stay on course,” Sivesind advised.
 
BETHANY ELLINGSON
A desire to lead a healthier life with her family got Bethany Ellingson into the Biggest Loser contest. “I have three children and I wanted to be able to be more active with them,” she stated. “I wanted to lose weight to gain energy, and this program was a way for our family to jumpstart a new lifestyle.”
With her husband, John, also participating, it was indeed a total family effort at the Ellingson house. “We were able to plan healthy meals together and we motivated each other throughout the 12 weeks,” Ellingson noted. “The kids noticed that we were eating more fruits and vegetables and that there was less junk food around. Our oldest is eight, and she was learning about carbs, sugars, and proteins.”
To keep everything in perspective for their children, Bethany and John said the focus was not necessarily on shrinking the number on the scale. “We really try to focus more on living a healthier life, not just losing weight,” she said, adding that John was able to come off his high blood pressure medication thanks to the changes the family has made.
Due to some issues with her feet, Ellingson said her workout regimen consisted entirely of biking, logging many miles on the stationary bikes at the Wellness Center. “I also counted calories and kept a food journal, focusing on eating lean protein, veggies, fruit, and keeping sugar down.”
With this balanced attack, Ellingson shed the most weight of all female contestants, losing 43.5 pounds overall for a 20.71 weight-loss percentage. She’s already noticing the difference. “I have a lot more energy and we are more active as a family. I have more confidence in social situations because I know I’ve overcome some big hurdles in losing weight.”
Ellingson also attributed her success, in part, to the attainable goals she started with. “I started out with the goal of losing 25 pounds during the 12 weeks, but I was able to do that in six weeks.” Support from family, friends, and WWC staff was also key. “It was very helpful to have so many supportive people around me, the Wellness Center staff really put on a good program. Other Wellness Center members were also so supportive. I don’t know that I could’ve done as well if I wasn’t part of that community.”

JILL BAXTER
The Biggest Loser contest was not the first WWC challenge event for Jill Baxter. Earlier in the year, she’d completed the Indoor Ironman Challenge by amassing 140.6 miles of exercise in a single month. When she saw the signs advertising the Biggest Loser event, she decided to go for it. “It’s just neat to have the Wellness Center and all the different programs they offer. They do a nice job with these incentive programs to get you moving.” Baxter pointed out.
Relying mostly on the treadmill, elliptical machine, and stationary bike, Baxter moved forward with her weight-loss goals by leaning on a strong support system. When it came to exercising, she used several of the workouts suggested by WWC employees. She also studied the handouts regarding nutrition and healthy eating.  “I did use a lot of the handouts the girls put together for us. I tried to eat more fruits and veggies and cut out other things from my diet. Mostly, I just focused on making little changes and not doing anything drastic. I wasn’t starving myself,” Baxter stated.
There was one stretch in particular that Baxter found difficult. “I had one week that I knew would be bad for me,” she noted. “It was a frustrating week, but I got a note from one of the Wellness Center girls telling me to keep trying and keep working and that really helped.”
Baxter said everyone at the Wellness Center was encouraging, as were her family members, friends, and co-workers. “I really have a strong support system and that helped so much.” In fact, Baxter advised anyone who is trying to lose weight to get everyone they know involved. “Tell people about your goals and they will help you stay on track,” she said.
With 32.5 pounds lost in 12 weeks, Baxter ended up losing 14.32 percent of her starting body weight, the second best total of all female participants. Her higher energy levels are allowing her to try something she had never pictured herself doing: running. “I’ve started running, which is something I didn’t think I’d ever really want to do. I don’t even think I tried running the mile back in high school!”
 
OVERALL RESULTS
As a group, a whopping 635 total pounds were lost during the challenge, about 5.62 percent of the group’s combined starting weight. Of the 52 individuals that started the contest in March, only 24 were able to complete the 12-week program. Those 24 participants, however, experienced enormous success, accounting for 575.5 of the total pounds lost. Further crunching of the numbers reveals that 46 percent of the participants tallied 91 percent of the overall weight loss.
WWC Director Danielle Bucknell said the entire program was a surprising success from the very beginning. “We didn’t know what to expect for participation, and we thought if we had 20 people sign up it would be awesome,” she said, “so 50 participants were way more than we expected.”
More participants meant more opportunities, too, as original plans were to recognize just one male and one female winner. Instead, a winner and runner-up were announced for each division. Prizes were also awarded to the owner of each week’s top weight-loss percentage.
Bucknell pointed out several aspects of the contest that helped participants be successful. While WWC provided nutrition information and workouts to try, contestants were free to experiment and find the exercise and nutrition methods that fit their individual lifestyles best. The flexibility of the contest also meant that workouts did not need to be done at the Center. In fact, Bucknell said that some people only stopped by to weigh-in on site, doing all of the work elsewhere. Both WWC members and non-members were involved, with Bucknell guessing that non-members made up at least half of the participants.
Those weekly weigh-ins, though, were perhaps the key to success. “A lot of people said it was nice to have the accountability of weighing in each week. It can be easy to disregard the scale, but people said they worked harder because they knew someone was watching,” she said.
To help participants keep off the pounds they’ve already shed, WWC staff will continue to do weekly weigh-ins and keep track of results at no further cost. People who were not involved in this year’s program can still get the added benefits of a weekly weigh-in, and anyone interested should stop at the front desk.

With so much success experienced in 2010, Bucknell said it is very likely that the contest will become an annual event. “We’re planning on doing this again next year at about the same time, so people can watch for information next year,” she added.