Batavia women start a little healthy competition

Weight-loss experts often recommend teaming with a friend for success. You're less tempted to hit the snooze button on the alarm clock if there's somebody counting on you to take a 2-mile walk with them at a particular time.

Tammi Groesbeck and Jill Stevens, both of Batavia, also figured a little competition couldn't hurt.

"I am hooked on 'The Biggest Loser,'" Groesbeck said of the TV show. Last fall, when she turned 40, she decided it was time to drop weight and lost 10 pounds by herself. She gained it all back by spring.

"That's it," she said to herself, disgusted. She knew she needed accountability and motivation, and challenged friend Stevens to a contest.

Stevens wrote about their effort on her Facebook page. Friends began asking to join in.

Now 47 people - 38 women, nine men - are sweating their way through an eight-week contest at RiverWest Family Fitness Center in downtown Batavia.

It was Stevens who had the gumption to ask the gym's owner, Chris Hylton, if they could have some free temporary memberships for the contest and to keep track of the weekly weigh-ins. He offered 50 free eight-week memberships plus discounts on classes.

One such class is the boot camp he runs. One contestant exercised so hard in boot camp the first week she lost her lunch, just like the TV show contestants.

Hylton said he sees the gym's participation as a community service, to improve Batavia's wellness. He also affirms that having an exercise buddy helps people stick with a program.

"It is easier to come when someone is telling you should be here," he said.

The contest is free, but those who wanted to contributed $30 to a prize pot.

There are weekly winners who get fitness-related gift certificates or items worth about $30, and the remainder will go to the contest winner.

Winners are determined by percentage of weight lost, not pounds. And while there are plenty of jokes about how men lose weight faster (men usually have more muscle tissue, and muscle burns more calories than fat tissue), "the women have really, really been bringing their game," Stevens said.

Jennifer Baerren of Batavia is using the contest to resume a fit lifestyle after she broke a hip falling off some steps. She likes to put in 45 minutes on an elliptical cardiovascular machine. "I used to be a runner in high school," she said.

The person in the lead, through week 4, had lost 7.5 percent of the body weight, or 13.8 pounds. The person had dropped 4 percentage points of fat on their body mass index, which measures how much of you is made up of fat.

So far, Groesbeck has lost about five pounds. "A pound a week is good," said an encouraging front-desk employee, Dick Wilson of Aurora, charting her loss.

"Ninety-five percent of losing weight is up here," he said, pointing to his head. "We have to focus."

Loss: Winners are determined by percentage of weight lost