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Fittest Loser trainers ramp it up a notch

The Fittest Losers, five Daily Herald readers and one editor, have been working for weeks to lose weight as part of a three-month competition.

Now it's time to get serious.

With the end of the contest just a couple of weeks away, the trainers from Push Fitness, which sponsored the Fittest Loser competition, are making special plans to help their assigned competitors drop significant weight in the final few days. The contestant with the greatest weight loss by percentage of weight will be declared the winner.

The trainers are secretive about the details but shared their overall plans for the final days of the competition.

Tony Figueroa (working with Daily Herald Editor Gerry Alger)

“I will be pushing Gerry very hard until the end and eliminate her water increase on the last three days to drop the water weight down. I will be more strict on her calories with no cheese from now until the end of the contest. She is about to go through some brutal cardio-intense workouts, for sure. I just hope at the end of our contest she will be a client and continue to further her health. Tell her to be ready for the worst stair climb in history on our last week.”

Josh Steckler, co-owner of Push Fitness (working with Bob Pearson, a painter and home inspector)

“For the final few weeks, we will severely limit simple sugars such as dairy and certain fruits. We will also be adjusting his calories slightly and increasing his overall activity and water intake. These are temporary adjustments, but they will help his body rid more fat weight as the contest comes to a close.”

Wade Merrill (working with John Novak, an assistant principal at Hersey High School)

“The way things are going we're not going to change too much. John's seeing fantastic results, and we can only tax the body of calories and of energy for so long until it won't respond positively anymore. We've already implemented some fat restriction throughout his training and didn't see too much change in his weight loss from when he did take in fat. In the closing weeks the workouts will only progress, and he will need all the energy he can muster from the calories he is taking in to make sure that the caloric deficit isn't too high.”

Mark Trapp (working with Jayne Nothnagel, a customer service representative for Waste Management)

“I changed her diet up, and we are getting a little more intense with that. There will be a few more alterations with her diet, and we will increase her cardio workouts. As far as the workout routine goes, we are pushing harder and harder and she is responding very well. I am at a point where I am so proud of where she is right now. I'm able to push her extremely hard right now.”

Michelle Amsden (working with Kristen Kessinger, a public relations representative)

“With the final weeks approaching, I'm sure we all have a few tricks up our sleeves. As for Kristen, her workouts will become more intense as we are still progressing her more and more every workout. Kristen's food choices will also be very limited, more than what it is now. Kristen participated in her first 5K run this past weekend ... a great challenge for her.”

Steve Amsden (working with Dee Levine, a childbirth nurse and care professional)

“In the final weeks, we have made only small changes by cutting out certain foods and replacing them with even more weight-loss friendly options. We have also ramped up her training consistently each week to the point that she is probably the only 59-year-old woman on the planet that trains as intensely as she does (not really by choice, but she does). For contest and competitive purposes (Dee really wants to win), we are exploiting every avenue of weight loss while still maintaining a normal day-to-day life.”

Editor's note: As we approach the end of the competition, weekly status reports will not be given.

Hard to call training regimen fun and games

  As the end of the competition approaches, trainer Michelle Amsden says Kristen KessingerÂ’s workouts will be more intense and her food choices more limited. Bill Zars/bzars@dailyherald.com