Fittest loser winner still committed to staying fit
The best thing that ever happened to Jan Vitullo is still happening.
Vitullo, who turned 51 last Wednesday, was the winner of the 2010 Fittest Loser contest sponsored by the Daily Herald. In the competition, five readers who had a lot of weight to lose and were willing to work hard to lose it, were pitted against each other to see who could shed the most weight, percentage-wise, over a three-month period.
The contest ended in May, and Vitullo won by losing 47 pounds, slimming down to 185. She used the motivation of an upcoming high school reunion and a highly developed competitive streak to beat out the four other contestants.
Today, Vitullo continues working with the trainers at Push Fitness, who were assigned to work with the contestants to help them improve their health and diet. Vitullo won a free three-month membership to Push and continues working with her trainer Ryan LeBreux.
“I'm working out two days a week with Ryan, and one or two days on my own at a new gym,” Vitullo said. “My weight is the same (185 pounds) as when I won. I did lose a little bit more for my high school reunion, but I put those back on. But I have lost close to 30 inches all over, and everything fits me differently.”
The contest was an exciting one for Vitullo, who discovered she had gluten intolerance during the three months. She also discovered a love for boxing, and has since expanded that into a developing relationship with a speed bag.
“Ryan taught me how to use it, and it is absolutely addictive,” Vitullo said. “I was going to the gym just to do it. The speed bag takes more focus than the heavy bag. You can't miss the heavy bag. The speed bag was a mental thing for me.”
Vitullo, who lives in Lombard, experienced a complete life change during the contest, and has accepted it as her new life.
“I had a sense of relief when the contest was over, but I can't go back to the life I had before,” Vitullo said. “I got rid of all my fat clothes. I have nothing to fall back on. I'm at a comfortable weight, but I'm not at a happy weight. I need to lose more. But I am a lot healthier and happier. It was one of the absolute greatest programs I have ever been involved with.”
Mike Anderson, 25, of Palatine, said he is “exactly where I was when the competition ended” at 310 pounds. Anderson lost 72 pounds during the contest.
“I am not working out twice a day like I was, but I am still going in and doing cardio and trying to find a new gym to go to,” Anderson said.
Anderson knew he was in a race with Vitullo at the end of the competition. But Vitullo made a hard, extremely competitive push in the final week to win.
“There is still clearly a benefit; I feel it every day,” Anderson said. “I feel a lot better, and I still know why it all happened.”
Frank Valenti, 54, a former baker from Bartlett, wanted to lose weight for his daughter's wedding last summer, and he did, dropping 56 pounds by the end of the competition. But he could not re-create the motivation of the wedding or the push of the trainers in his everyday life once the competition ended, and he has regained 30 pounds from June.
“I got so many compliments at the wedding,” Valenti said. “Everybody said I was a different person. But now I feel bad for my wife and my daughter. My wife sacrificed so much by cooking those special meals, and she says ‘Now you just let it go.' I didn't let it go, I just don't have the incentive.
“I go to my regular gym a couple of times a week, but it is not like when you have a trainer on top of you and you are in a contest,” he said.
The contestants were all put on special diets by their trainers at Push Fitness, and the diet required them to eat five small meals a day. Every contestant said the meal plan was the hardest part of the task.
“It sounds stupid to say it's hard to eat five times a day, but it is,” said Vitullo, who noted the diet remains a part of his life.
“I am more conscious of what I am eating right now,” Valenti said.
Like Vitullo, Wendy Kreiser of Streamwood had health issues during the contest, including a bout of tonsillitis the last week of the competition.
“I had to be admitted to the ER because I could barely breathe and couldn't eat,” Kreiser said. “I lost 10 pounds that week, but I don't think that really counts since I couldn't train.”
Kreiser is now at 320 pounds, down 81 pounds from her greatest weight.
“I go for a three-mile walk almost daily right now, even in the cold,” Kreiser said. “I also take water aerobics and play basketball every other day with my husband.
“The contest was a good experience, but extremely stressful,” she said. “I still am a hard worker and keep myself moving.”