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Weight-loss competition organizer hopes to inspire community

By Anthony Rimel, Corvallis Gazette-TimesCorvallis Gazette Times

Next Wednesday marks the end of a competition between a small group of local residents who have been waging one of modern society’s most perennial battles over the past 12 weeks: trying to shed their excess weight. Modeled after the NBC show “The Biggest Loser,” the competition is called the “Corvallis Greatest Loser,” and its 12 participants already have lost 139 pounds collectively.

Sue Long, a Corvallis real estate broker who organized the competition, said she hopes their efforts will inspire other local groups to organize similar competitions.“My goal is to make Corvallis the healthiest community in America,” she said. Long, who was a dietitian before she became a broker, said she modeled parts of the program on a similar competition in Lebanon.

At the start of the competition, participants each contribute $20 to a pool and agree to pay an additional $10 if they miss their weekly weigh-in at Long’s office, or if the weigh-in indicates that they’ve gained weight. At the end of the competition the money collected will be split between the male and female contestants who lost the greatest percentage of body weight.

Participants meet every few weeks for a discussion with experts on various exercise, health and nutrition topics. Long said they also have weekly challenges aimed at healthy living, such as drinking a total of 64 ounces of water each day for a week or getting eight hours of sleep every night.

Long said she participated in the competition herself, so she “felt the pain of what was going on, too.”
Being the leader of the group inspired her to stick with the program — even after she broke her ankle four weeks in — because she felt accountable to the group.

Donna Helm, a wellness coach from Corvallis, was one of the contest’s participants, and she said that she and her husband participated because they thought it would help to motivate them.  “I think accountability is the big thing we needed. That, and support,” she said.  Helm said she has lost 23 pounds over the course of the competition; she has lost 85 pounds since June 2011.  She chose to participate in part because, she said, she had reached a plateau in her weight loss, and she thought this would be a good opportunity to push herself more.

“My husband and I tended to not make the best food decisions,” she said, and now they eat less meat and more vegetables. She added that they are exercising more, and have started to use the gym equipment they had bought in the past, but never used.  “We kept thinking buy the machine, and you’ll get thinner. We forgot you had to use it, too,” she said.

After the competition ends next week, Long plans to start it again April 15. Helm said that she will participate again.  “It has been really beneficial to be part of this challenge,” she said.

Anthony Rimel covers K-12 education. He can be reached at 541-758-9526 or anthony.rimel@lee.net.